E-mail Encouragement: Don't Give Up

Teamwork can happen whenever two or more people work on accomplishing a known task. I was more than pleased tonight when people worked together to accomplish more than one task. Some gathered things together for the Thursday School tent (and then went to set it up), while others folded a total of 300 flyers. I applaud all these efforts which caused both tasks to be completed in a reasonably short amount of time! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

The thought of teamwork brings me to this weeks quote of encouragement...

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it
together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true
strength.” ~ Unknown

It is easy to give up. I cannot say that I've never given up. With that said, I can easily relate to this quote. However, there is a lot of strength that is gained through working through self, adversity, compromise, doubt, and a host of other "things" you could name. I have been on that side of the coin, too. It allows you to see that it was worth persevering!

May we be a people of perseverance who show others that the "joy of the Lord is your strength" and not be ones who "give up" on God, Jesus, our church, ourselves, etc., no matter what life hands us!

Pressing on ~

Monday Mentionings: The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength - Nehemiah 8:9-12

God is Good....

Did you say or start to say "...All the time?" If you are at all familiar with that phrase, you are probably familiar with that response. No matter what goes on in our life our God is good! The joy that is found in our Lord is our strength. Maybe you've already needed that strength today (whenever you read this).

As we looked in Nehemiah 8:9-12 yesterday, we examined a phrase that we can use over and over in our lives today..."the joy of the Lord is your strength". There is so much gold found in that phrase! Not only is there gold in just "panning" the words to see what is found, but being able to recite that phrase and get comfort. I have said it over and over to myself last week and each time it seems to give me a jolt of comfort. I pray that you will find joy and strength in that phrase!!! See if you can use any of these additional applications this week...

1. "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it" - Psalm 118:24. If you know the song, try singing or humming it to yourself. See if it doesn't give you a bit of joy to your day. If you know of someone who is going through a rough patch, maybe this might be a verse you could write on a card/note to encourage them.
2. LORD, YHWH/Yahweh, Jehovah - names of power, of mystery, and of royalty. Say those names...what emotions did you feel? Tell Him that He is LORD of your day...see how your day goes as you remember that phrase through the day.
3. Knowing that God is with you as you go through life is something to give you strength as you encounter difficulties. David went up against a giant. David was smaller and had less "man" power, but he had a lot of God-power! His confidence didn't come because of his size or his weapon, but because he put his confidence in God! As you go up against "giants" this week, remember to pray and put your confidence in Him. (Scriptures from the David and Goliath incident that I used are at bottom)

This is a busy month for us with Fall Festival and Dolan Lake. Also, there are some other opportunities for us to be involved in: Power of Praying Husband, Power of Praying Wife, and Men's Ping Pong League. If you're interested in any of these, contact the appropriate people to get involved!

The next couple of weeks we'll be taking a small break from Nehemiah - resuming it on the 30th of September. If you have any ideas that you would like to hear a series on, let me know.

Have a Jesus-filled week!!!

Because of Him ~

------------------
SCRIPTURES:

1 Samuel 17:4-7
4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him. (NIV)

Verses 38-40
38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. (NIV)

Verses 45-47
45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands." (NIV)

E-mail Encouragement: Fearing Shadows

Light is practically always a good feeling. The sun coming up in the morning reminds us that a new day is dawning. Lights coming back on after they went out due to power failure allows us to feel safe again. You could probably think about other instances where light made someone feel good.

Light causes shadows. Do you fear shadows? Read on...

Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light somewhere nearby. ~ Ruth E. Renkee

The system of sacrifices in the Old Testament has been referenced to being a "shadow" of what Christ does for us in the New Testament. Based on the inabilities found in the sacrificial system, it would be easy to "fear" them. As the sacrificial system was such a system that required many, many sacrifices to be done throughout one's life.

If those in the Old Testament knew that Christ's death meant never having to sacrifice again, they wouldn't have "feared" these sacrifices. As those sacrifices simply meant that Christ (i.e. the Light) was "somewhere nearby"!

May we revel in the idea that we have the Light to "walk in" (I John 1:7) and a "light" to illuminate our path (Psalm 119:105)! So remember not to fear shadows because a light (of comfort) is nearby!

I hope you have a great end of your week!

Walking a "Lit" Path ~

Open Door: Subbing

Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to sub in our local high school. I love doing this because it gives me a purposeful opportunity to be in the environment of the kids of the community. I hear things that I don't normally hear. I see people who I rarely see. And the reverse happens in each instance.

On one such occasion, last week, I was subbing in what most know as "home economics" class. One class was the "Foods and Nutrition" class. This is a two period class, where they will later be cooking, so extra time is needed. I finished all of what was asked of me with about 25 minutes to go in the total time. I decided to ask about what I and/or our church could do to give kids something to do. It was a total off-guard question, so, needless-to-say, they had nothing immediate to share. I didn't leave the situation disappointed. I took it as God opening a door for me to talk to them. I told them that if they ever thought of anything, they would have an opportunity any time they saw me to share their thoughts with me. I returned to my seat and shortly thereafter a student came up and was asking me questions regarding some of the thoughts I had expressed. We had a good conversation and I expressed appreciation for him coming to me. I told him any other time he wanted to, I was always open.

God is good...all the time! He makes doors open when we least expect it!

I don't consider it a defeat...regardless, I still praise Him!

What has God been doing in your life?

Monday Mentionings: Built for God Before Self - Nehemiah 6:15-7:4

Happy Labor Day!

I hope you all are having/did have a great day! It is good to have those three-day weekends from time to time.

With the opportunity to play softball next week coming up quickly, I enjoyed getting re-familiar with the game of softball Sunday evening with Shawn, Heather, Aubrey, & Shawn's friend, Adam. I have a feeling I am going to be getting re-familiar with sore muscles come Monday morning! :) We had a lot of fun and I am looking forward to playing with the Dale Christian Church next Sunday!

The wall that Nehemiah started is now built. All that witnessed or heard about the wall knew that it was because of God that it was completed. As we live our lives, may people see that our lives are "built by God" too! Here are a couple of other applications to use for this lesson...

1. What is a characteristic in you that people would have no problem identifying as being "built" by God? In other words, what do you do different than others to show that God is a priority in your life? i.e. your prayer life, handling your temper, encouragement, etc.
2. When was the last time you suffered a defeat? Did you praise God, then? If not, do it now. We must remember that we still serve God and praise Him in our victories AND our defeats! (From "Facing the Giants")
3. God before self. Easy to say, tough to put into action. What is an area where you've been struggling to put this into practice? Pray that God would help you prioritize things. Keep this verse in mind...“and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern” - Matthew 6:33 (NLT)

May you be blessed to have the easy road in serving Him with no roadblocks to prevent that service! May you be ever saying something like this...“I don’t know how I’m going to serve you today or what you are going to put on my plate, but no matter what, I’m standing in the circle that says, ‘I’m serving You, Lord.’”

Have a God-strengthened, Jesus-oozing, and Spirit-led week!

Looking for surprises ~

E-mail Encouragement: Your Definition

Ever felt dampened about your abilities because of something someone else said? I remember a comment my father made to me my freshman year of high school. It definitely felt "dampening". Because of it, I didn't want it to become true. I did everything I could to prove the comment wrong. I am sure he never even thought about it after he made it, but it struck a cord with me. This leads to this week's quote...

We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us. ~ Virginia Satir

When we allow other people to define us, we definitely limit ourself. People's comments will generally limit or empower us. Thinking about this, we can either be the one who does not let others limit us or think about what we say as to empower others to explore their abilities. And we are continually walking the line and stepping on one side or another depending on the situation.

I hope you will view your definition of your self by listening to the empowering comments and not the limiting comments. And I hope you will be the one who empowers and not limits others.

Have a great week and I'll see you Sunday!

Continually surprised ~

Monday Mentionings: A Great Work - Nehemiah 6:1-14

It is almost always nice to start something new. In this case, it is nice to start a new week each Monday morning. You can put last week's business behind you and press on to making this week a great week!

God has a "great work" that He is doing all the time and everywhere. He guides us in carrying out that "great work" and that makes me excited to be a part of it! I hope that you can join in with an excitement of being a teammate of God's. Nehemiah had a "great work" going on and he was faced with opposition. See if you can use any of these applications to help you apply the lesson...

1. Though it is Monday morning at 11:30 AM, has Satan called to meet you somewhere yet? Nehemiah's opponents tried to take him away from a safe place to meet up with him. Our Enemy tries to get us to go away from Jesus and meet him in a place where we're more susceptible to being weak. Keep this idea on your mind as you go throughout the week.
2. Kids are taught at an early age that they can't have everything they want. I just visited with my 7 year-old nephew yesterday and he had just been at the store and wanted something but didn't receive it. However, this lesson never sinks in. Sure, some are more disciplined than others, but there is still a desire to want. The opposition to Nehemiah wanted them to not get the wall built so they could still have an influence on Jerusalem. We may want our "way" or may want a product. Either way, damage can be done in our pursuit to achieve that desire. Pray that the next time you "want" something - whether it is "your way" or something else - you think how it will affect your life and any others involved.
3. This week is a new week and Satan will be serving lots of different ping pong opportunities at you. How will you respond? Peter encourages us to be "preparing your minds for action; be self-controlled" (I Peter 1:13a). Pray that God will keep you strong and under control as you "fight the good fight of the faith".

Have a Jesus-filled week!

Keeping up my shield ~