Gimme' that Old Time Religion

A think lot of people now-days have this idea of past Christians as being stuffy, legalistic, and hypocritical; considering the outward show of religion, as more important than true salvation. But as I have been reading some writings for young women, on outward conduct and the workings of Christian religion; I would have to challenge that long held belief. These people got it! Their religion (yes, I said the "R" word!) was more than pithy sayings and raising hands because of an emotional high. It was more than, empty words and time wasted on self. These people, allowed religion to change their lives! They carefully ordered their lives around the pursuit of God, and guarded their time against idleness and self-gratification. They regularly came before Christ, whether they felt like it or not. And they came to him with a (horror of horrors) righteous fear of Him. They recognized Him as their Lord and King, and didn't brush Him off as a causual 'buddy' or 'best friend' as we are apt to do today. Of course there were some who took it too far and became fake, but unless you can look around today and say that some people haven't taken this "relationship, not religion" thing too far, then there is no question that we have something to learn from our elders.
   Now I have some questions. What if we, today, took our que from the great Christians of the past and lived out our belief's instead of hiding behind our Christian freedom? (Which, by the way, is a valid belief, as long as it is kept within the proper bounds.) What if we chose prayer and Bible study, over fleeting amusement? And what if we did this all, in the spirit of loving Christ and honoring Him? I think that we could make a huge difference!!!

Not Our Time

  This is an excerpt from an old book for young ladies,and is alot like a post I did a few months ago, though of course, he says it better. I like to remind myself of this perspective often, and I wanted to remind you too!

 
   When you entered into solemn covenant with the Lord, you consecrated your whole life to his service. Your time, then, is not your own, but the Lord's. If you waste it, or spend it unprofitably, you rob God...       Suppose you waste only ten minutes at a time, six times in a day; this will make an hour. This hour is subtracted from that portion of your time which might have been devoted to active employments. Sleeping, refreshment, and personal duties, generally occupy at least one half of the twenty-four hours. You have then lost one twelfth part of the available portion of the day. Suppose, then,you live to the age of seventy years. Take from this the first ten years of your life. From the sixty remaining, you will have thrown away five years! These five years are taken from that portion of your time which should have been employed in the cultivation of your mind, and in the practical duties of religion. For, the common excuse for neglecting the improvement of the mind, and the cultivation of personal piety, is want of time. Now, if you employ one half of this time in reading, at the rate of twenty pages an hour, you will be able to read more than eighteen thousand pages; or sixty volumes of three hundred pages each. If you employ the other half in devotional exercises in your closet, in addition to the time you would spend in this manner, upon the supposition that these five years are lost, what an influence will it have upon the health of your soul? Or, if you spend the whole of it in the active duties of Christian benevolence, how much good can you accomplish? Think what you might do by employing five years in the undivided service of your Master.

Newcomb, Harvey (2009-10-04). A Practical Directory for Young Christian Females Being a Series of Letters from a Brother to a Younger Sister (Kindle Locations 2108-2115). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

*p.s.- I would recommend this book to any young lady seeking to grow in God. I haven't been all the way through it yet, but the parts that I have read, have inspired and motivated me in my walk with God. It's free on Amazon for the Kindle version, and I had it delivered to my PC, so it works out well!

Seeking Wisdom

   So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
   If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
⁵    Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.

                          -Proverbs 2:2,4-5

   It has always been my philosophy, that wisdom comes with age and experience, and that I may have some wisdom, but until I was really old, I could only have a small measure. I had never seen anything to challenge that philosophy until recently. In fact, all that I had heard from others, and seen for myself confirmed that view of wisdom! Until I met up with the word of God, that is. I have highlighted (or bolded, but I don't think that's a word) some of the words in the verses above this, and if you have even a rudimentary knowledge of English, you should see a pattern in them. Exactly, they are all action verbs! God does not want us to passively for wisdom to find us, but He desires for us to 'search for her as for hidden treasures'. Isn't this exciting? We can do something about becoming wise!

   I also wanted to share some ways that I am going to use in my search for wisdom, just to get you started thinking.

         1.) The 'Five Fat Files' system- Elisabeth George recommends this system in her book "A Woman After God's Own Heart". The way it works is, you take five manilla file folders and on each of them write a topic that you want to learn more about. (My topics are: Biblical Femininity, Prayer, Health with a Biblical perspective, Time Management and Purity. Just to give you some ideas!) Then you read books on these topics, look up verses on them, listen to lectures on them, ask experts and I'm sure you can think of many other ways. As you glean information about each of your topics, you put it into your folders, and make them nice and thick! 

          2.) I am currently learning the Inductive Bible Study Method, from Kay Arthur's book, "The New, How to Study Your Bible". It is the most effective method of Bible study, and is relatively simple to learn. Since the Bible has the best wisdom you can find, learning a method of Bible Study, will be a huge benefit in your search for wisdom!

      What are some other ways you can think of to 'incline' your ear to wisdom? I would really love to hear some more great ideas for seeking wisdom, so feel free to comment! 

I shall yet praise Him

 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

                                                                     - Psalm 42:5

   There isn't a lot I have to say on this verse. It has just been on my heart alot lately, and I wanted to share it.

   It seems like alot of times, when I want something from God, (Not like new clothes or a new phone or anything 'surfacy' like that, but truly legitimate requests, as in seeking His will or His strength), I come to Him with a demanding attitude. Not a persevering attitude, but a demanding, impatient attitude. I believe that we are to come boldly before God and present our requests with an audacious spirit, but I sometimes forget, in my desire to be bold and audacious, that I must have faith. I can't storm God's throne room and lay out my petitions, if I don't believe that He can fulfill them. And I think that's been my mindset for far too long. I've been crying out to God in desperation, without remembering that "I shall yet praise Him". 

   I hope this verse speaks to your heart, as it did to mine, in a different way, of course. In fact, I would really encourage you to read the entire chapter and even the next one, as they go together and lay out the idea in even broader terms. Have a wonderful day, and don't forget to praise God!

   

Faith...

  "Faith honors God. God honors faith and goes wherever faith puts Him. Faith, Biblical faith, can do all that God can do. (Because it's sole desire is God's glory, it would not ask anything amiss- 1John 5:14.) Faith's supreme longing is for the return of the glory that has departed from the sanctuary. It's ambition is not colored by the clay vessel. Faith is wedded to the love which 'seeketh not her own.' Faith longs for an overthrow of the powers of darkness. Faith yearns that the world might know the message of redeeming love, and aches for enslaved millions to be unfettered from the chains of sin. Faith has compassion for those
                            'Bound who should conquer-
                            Slaves who should  be kings.'

                                                                      -Leonard Ravenhill
                                                                          "Revival Praying"

Beautiful Femininity

I watched this movie a couple years ago, after reading the book. ("A Man Called Peter" by Catherine Marshall ) I have never forgotten this speech, and it has inspired me many times when I have been tempted to accept the worlds version of femininity, rather than God's. I was so excited to find it that I wanted to share it with all of you. I know it's not typically what I post about, but maybe if you like it, I could post more on it. Enjoy!

p.s. sorry for the poor quality, this was the best I could find

My Defender

" You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."  -1 John 4:4


   I have heard, for most of my teen-age career, that Satan is a roaring lion, and is bent on destroying me. That he will stop at nothing because he hates me, and I can never be too sure of myself lest I fall. I'm sure that this advice has come out of a genuine desire to warn and prepare me for the trials to come, but I believe that this is only half of what needs to be said. The other half, the better half, is that though Satan hates me and is bent on destroying me, my God loves me and is bent on keeping me. Think about that for a minute. Isn't it common knowledge that love is stronger than hate? Isn't it true that Jesus died? Satan will stop at nothing to destroy us, but my God didn't stop at anything to gain me, and I don't believe that He will give me over to Satan's fiery darts without a fight. A fight, which, I believe that we can all guess the outcome to. (check Revelation if you are unsure) I think that instead of morbidly waiting around for Satan to strike, so we can go ahead and fall already, we should be fortifying ourselves with God's love and power, so that when He does strike, we can hold out our shield of faith and say boldly, "My God is greater, stronger, and higher than anything that you can throw my way, and He is my defender. Whom shall I fear?"