As For Me and My House

Today I’d like to highlight two verses from the reading. The first comes from Joshua 22-24. In these chapters Joshua wraps up his leadership over the Israelites. He warns them to always keep God first and foremost. He tells them that the decision about who they would serve was ultimately up to them, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15b). I love this verse, it’s such a testament to standing strong for your faith. Joshua was not afraid to admit who he followed. My husband and I want this same mantra in our own household as well. We want our very lives to exhibit our love and devotion for the Lord. We want our future children to grow up in a house where God’s love is shown day in and day out. So what do we do now? For now we continue to work on our relationship. We spend time daily talking, praying, and reading the Bible together. And most of all, we keep our eyes focused on Jesus.
In Luke 12:1-31, the apostle finally gets to one of my favorite portions of scripture, the section on worry. I’ll admit it, I’m a world class worrier. And I come by it naturally. My mother is a worrier and her mother was a worrier. Just the same, I always feel that God is calling me, daily, to lay my worries at his feet. Why? Jesus says it best of all, “Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes” (vs. 23). Instead of worrying about the little day-to-day things, Jesus calls me, and you, to instead “seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well” (vs.31). In these verses, Jesus says to not worry, but to instead focus our attention on heavenly things. For that, truly, is all that matters. As Joshua reminded the Israelites, God faithfully fulfills every promise he makes (Joshua 23:14). He never fails us. If we keep our eyes focused on Him, he will never fail to provide for us in the end. All he requires from us is trust. Trust that he will provide. Trust the He is God and Lord over all.
And so I’ll continue to trust Him. I’ll continue to devote my house, and my life to the only one that can truly sustain me.

This Little Light of Mine, I’m Gonna Let It Shine

Hello everyone. I have to admit that I skimmed through today’s reading in Joshua (ch. 9-21). It was once again a list of the land allotted to each of the tribes of Israel. I did take the time, though, to find a map, so that I could see what the divisions of land actually looked like. Here’s a link to one of the maps I found. It’s rather interesting to look at. After spending some time with the map, I moved on to Luke 11:29-54. There’s something interesting stuff here! Jesus was definitely getting after people who had all of the right words to say, but didn’t truly live their lives for the Lord. In Luke 11: 33-346 he gives the illustration of a lamp, and how the eyes are a window to the soul. If the eyes are evil, then no light is shining through them, only darkness. But if the eyes are good, all of you is good. In particular, I was struck by verses 33-34 which say, “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.”
There are times when I ashamedly try to hide my light. A part of me is afraid of what the world might say if they found out I was a Christian. Isn’t that awful? I’m quite sad to admit that I’ve acted such a way. Sometimes there’s a human part of me that just wants to fit into a group and have friends. I laugh at the wrong kinds of jokes, tell the wrong kind of stories, and feel horribly convicted in the end. For that person, who was hiding her light, truly isn’t me. I truly do want my light to shine for all the world to see. I never want to be ashamed of the wonderful freedom I’ve found in Christ. And I want my eyes to always be clean and full of light. If these means avoiding certain books, movies, or people, then that’s what I’ll have to do, to make sure that I’m truly living for my savior the next time the situation arises.
Have you ever struggled with letting your light shine?

The Remedy for Laziness: Prayer

I’ve been asking myself lately if I pray the way I should.
My pastor likes to refer to the Christian walk as a four-legged stool. On leg is worship, one is fellowship, one God’s word, and the last is prayer. At different times in my life I’ve definitely struggled with one more than the other. Lately it’s been a toss up between time in God’s word and prayer. I’m great about looking up a quick verse, saying a one-word prayer, and then running about my day. But do I really pause long enough to hear God’s voice? Am I getting everything out of my quiet time that I should? Today’s reading was from Joshua 16-18 and Luke 11:1-28. In Joshua we saw the continued division of the land among the Israelites. The tribe of Manasseh was grumbling because they didn’t have enough land, yet, as Joshua pointed out to them, if they got up the energy they could clear the forests and chase out the Canaanites (Joshua 17:14-18). It honestly looks like this tribe was a little lazy. They didn’t want to do the hard work of clearing the land, so they lived, squished in by their enemies.
I, too, can be lazy at times. I get stuck in a rut and don’t want to clear out the junk in my life, just like the tribe of Manasseh. Perhaps I’m afraid of the change involved. Perhaps I’m concerned that the task would be too hard for me to handle. In these moments I’m most definitely looking at myself, instead of looking to God for help. In those moments, I’m not really trusting God to survive.
I know that those are the times I need to turn to the word of God and pray. Those are the times I need to be immersed in his word. In Luke 11: 2-4, Jesus gives us a prayer we should say at all times:
“‘He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

This prayer reminds us of so many important things. First, that the name of God is holy. It is He we should always be looking towards.
Second, to pray continually for His kingdom to come. We live in an imperfect world, so it’s wonderful to think about eternity in heaven with Him.
Third, to pray for food on our table, each and every day. We should never forget that He provides for us each and everyday.
Forth, to pray for forgiveness for our sins. We may be Christians, but we still mess up each and everyday. It’s important to remember that it’s not by our own strength, but by the strength of God that we are saved. Also, this scripture is a good reminder that we are supposed to forgive others, which is not always easy, but necessary.
Fifth, to pray that we not be tempted. We are in a world filled with temptations, day in and day out. Being Christians doesn’t make us immune to this, thus it’s important that we pray for help to keep our focus on Him.
I know that if I focus on praying these things each and every day, my attitude would improve a lot and I would feel a lot more focused. What about you? What do you struggle with in your daily walk?