Proverbs 4:25-27
“Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe. Don’t get sidetracked.”
This week I learned a valuable lesson that reminded me of this verse. I learned that we cannot reach the next season in our life if we do not accomplish our tasks in the here and now. If we become so focused on future opportunities, we will never reach them because we have become too distracted.
God brought this to my attention the other day when I was thinking about all the things I am excited about that will be happening in the next few weeks – graduating, starting a new job, spending time with my mom, etc. But as stated above, these things cannot happen if I do not continue fixing my eyes on what lies before me. If I only think of the future and become so distracted with that, I will lose my concentration with school and get behind. Being a student in this season of my life, God has called me to work hard on my homework, study, and pay attention during my classes. So this is what I need to fix my eyes on at this time.
I am not sure what God has called each of you to fix your eyes on during this season of your life, but I encourage you to seek Him out and ask Him to reveal this to you. Once you know what it is, I pray that God will give you the strength and undistracted devotion to stick to that path.
Ecclesiastes 7:13 – “Notice the way God does things; then fall into line. Don’t fight the ways of God, for who can straighten out what He has made crooked?”
Ecclesiastes 11:4 – “If you want for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.”
And lastly…
Ecclesiastes 3:1 – “There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under Heaven.”
With love and prayers,
Many blessings!
<3 Shannon
“Captivate Us” – Watermark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcezx5Rl7sA
About Me
- shannonlynn
- I'm just a simple sinner who received God's good grace, somehow!
Our Value to God = PRICELESS!
"Allow God to place His own values." - A.W. Tozer
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Let’s Stop Playing It Safe
This weekend I went with my friends to their church and the man who was filling in for their Pastor gave a wonderful message on faith! He was discussing the difference between taking “safe jumps” and leaps of faith when following God. The man told us a story of a time he went rock climbing to demonstrate this idea.
He said he was about halfway up and he came to a spot where he could not reach the next ledge to grab onto. He yelled down to his friends that he was stuck. They suggested he jump up to reach it. He was a bit apprehensive of jumping, afraid he would fall, so he took a “safe jump” and completely missed the ledge and fell. The second time around, he took a “leap of faith” and grabbed onto the ledge. After a few more steps, he reached the top!
In Hebrews 11, we see a number of Biblical examples of people who took leaps of faith for God:
•Noah (verse 7) - believed that God would send rain even though he had never seen it before.
•Abraham (verses 8-19) - willingly left for an unknown land and trusted that God would keep his promise to make him father of a great nation even though his wife had no children.
•Moses (verses 23-29) - led the people even against difficult odds.
•Gideon (verse 32) - that God would use him to defeat his enemies even though he felt insignificant.
•Samson (verse 32) - that God could still use him despite his mistakes.
•David (verse 32) - God can use even young and small people!
•Samuel (verse 32) - listened to God's instructions and obeyed them.
“All of these people, we have mentioned received God’s approval because of their faith” (vs.39).Because they had faith, “their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight” (vs. 34).
The story above does a great job at portraying the Truth that in life we must take leaps of faith when following God. We must demonstrate our faith and trust in the Lord by completely abandoning ourselves to His plans. Safe jumps will always miss the mark.
"Everything is possible for him who believes.” – Mark 9:23
“That’s what faith is. It’s putting your belief and trust in something or somebody outside of yourself, and then acting on that belief. “ – Joe Stowell, RBC Ministries
Today I challenge us to be “Faith Leapers!” Let us trust that the Lord is in control and has our best interest in mind. I pray that the Lord will give us the courage to stop playing it safe and make that leap of faith. After all, we can’t get anywhere if we aren’t moving.
Blessings,
Shannon
“Dare You To Move” by Switchfoot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOTcr9wKC-o&a=0l0T6_mJ2JA&playnext_from=ML
He said he was about halfway up and he came to a spot where he could not reach the next ledge to grab onto. He yelled down to his friends that he was stuck. They suggested he jump up to reach it. He was a bit apprehensive of jumping, afraid he would fall, so he took a “safe jump” and completely missed the ledge and fell. The second time around, he took a “leap of faith” and grabbed onto the ledge. After a few more steps, he reached the top!
In Hebrews 11, we see a number of Biblical examples of people who took leaps of faith for God:
•Noah (verse 7) - believed that God would send rain even though he had never seen it before.
•Abraham (verses 8-19) - willingly left for an unknown land and trusted that God would keep his promise to make him father of a great nation even though his wife had no children.
•Moses (verses 23-29) - led the people even against difficult odds.
•Gideon (verse 32) - that God would use him to defeat his enemies even though he felt insignificant.
•Samson (verse 32) - that God could still use him despite his mistakes.
•David (verse 32) - God can use even young and small people!
•Samuel (verse 32) - listened to God's instructions and obeyed them.
“All of these people, we have mentioned received God’s approval because of their faith” (vs.39).Because they had faith, “their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight” (vs. 34).
The story above does a great job at portraying the Truth that in life we must take leaps of faith when following God. We must demonstrate our faith and trust in the Lord by completely abandoning ourselves to His plans. Safe jumps will always miss the mark.
"Everything is possible for him who believes.” – Mark 9:23
“That’s what faith is. It’s putting your belief and trust in something or somebody outside of yourself, and then acting on that belief. “ – Joe Stowell, RBC Ministries
Today I challenge us to be “Faith Leapers!” Let us trust that the Lord is in control and has our best interest in mind. I pray that the Lord will give us the courage to stop playing it safe and make that leap of faith. After all, we can’t get anywhere if we aren’t moving.
Blessings,
Shannon
“Dare You To Move” by Switchfoot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOTcr9wKC-o&a=0l0T6_mJ2JA&playnext_from=ML
Friday, April 9, 2010
Letters to God
Tonight I went to an AMAZING Christian movie called “Letters to God.” Some of you may have heard of it, but if you haven’t, here’s the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBDK2LGn4p0
There are so many lessons that I learned (or was reminded of) through this movie! I know a few devotionals back, I mentioned that I was struggling a bit to keep my focus on God and remember His goodness and faithfulness…Well today, through a number of experiences (Bingo at the senior center, praying with a friend at Bible study, and this movie) I was reminded just how great our God truly is! :)
One thing I was reminded of was how our prayers are like letters to God. Even more so, the Bible is ultimately God’s love letter to us. How encouraging!? This definitely gives me a desire to read it more!! Who doesn’t like getting letters explaining how much someone cares about you and how much they value you?! :-D Since prayers are like letters to God, and some of us (including me) may struggle with prayer at times, I recommend writing down your prayers if you’re struggling to find the words. I definitely find it a lot easier to write things down than say them aloud…helps me think through what I want to say. :)
The song that I chose to include today (that is from the movie) brings up another lesson: Even the weak can be used by God! (Actually, it may be better to be weak so that we are humbled before the Lord and not too prideful in our strength to allow Him to work in our lives.) The main character, Tyler, is an 8 year old boy who has cancer yet, rather than blaming God for his circumstance, he uses it to draw closer to Him. This was so encouraging to me, because if I am going through a hard time, this may result in me feeling spiritually weak. Whereas, Tyler, who is fighting for his life, continues to write to God and share with Him the pain and trials He is going through. The main thing is that Tyler does not let his cancer get in the way of his faith and he allows the Lord to work in His life, and therefore, impacting many. I think we could take a lesson from Tyler in that, throughout the whole movie, he was the one person whose faith remained strong and he inspired so many others to turn to God in prayer (through letters).
The other lesson I took from this movie was a lesson of finding strength in the Lord. I’ve written a devotional on this before so I won’t say too much. But I do want to encourage us all to go back to God and find our courage and strength in Him alone. For me personally, I know I sometimes rely too much on my friends or family for assurance and encouragement, so this movie did a great job of convicting me to be filled with the Lord’s power. It’s crazy how we dismiss Him so often when we know He is the only One who can give us anything that’s worth Eternal value! I’m referring to the need for approval from others. So often we go to boyfriends/girlfriends or anyone else who will make us feel good about ourselves. But in reality, this is only temporary and the cycle will continue with us wanting more assurance. However, when we go to God in prayer and read His Word, we will find our worth in Him and see how much He values us. Knowing this Truth will give us more than the strength we need to face any obstacle!! :)
As you can probably tell, I absolutely loved this movie and it has some great insight into living a life for Christ and loving others! I highly recommend everyone checking it out!!
I pray that today we are reminded that we are like fine china to our Heavenly Father – we are treasured possessions! Let us find strength in knowing God created each and every one of us as He saw fit and not allow the enemy to feed us lies that cause us to believe anything different. And remember…
YOU ARE LOVED! :)
God bless!
<3 Shannon
“You Give Me Hope” – Between The Trees
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=103768007&searchid=509fa8c3-e3a6-4c3a-95ab-6889e7b6832c
Lastly, here is the movie’s website:
http://www.letterstogodthemovie.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBDK2LGn4p0
There are so many lessons that I learned (or was reminded of) through this movie! I know a few devotionals back, I mentioned that I was struggling a bit to keep my focus on God and remember His goodness and faithfulness…Well today, through a number of experiences (Bingo at the senior center, praying with a friend at Bible study, and this movie) I was reminded just how great our God truly is! :)
One thing I was reminded of was how our prayers are like letters to God. Even more so, the Bible is ultimately God’s love letter to us. How encouraging!? This definitely gives me a desire to read it more!! Who doesn’t like getting letters explaining how much someone cares about you and how much they value you?! :-D Since prayers are like letters to God, and some of us (including me) may struggle with prayer at times, I recommend writing down your prayers if you’re struggling to find the words. I definitely find it a lot easier to write things down than say them aloud…helps me think through what I want to say. :)
The song that I chose to include today (that is from the movie) brings up another lesson: Even the weak can be used by God! (Actually, it may be better to be weak so that we are humbled before the Lord and not too prideful in our strength to allow Him to work in our lives.) The main character, Tyler, is an 8 year old boy who has cancer yet, rather than blaming God for his circumstance, he uses it to draw closer to Him. This was so encouraging to me, because if I am going through a hard time, this may result in me feeling spiritually weak. Whereas, Tyler, who is fighting for his life, continues to write to God and share with Him the pain and trials He is going through. The main thing is that Tyler does not let his cancer get in the way of his faith and he allows the Lord to work in His life, and therefore, impacting many. I think we could take a lesson from Tyler in that, throughout the whole movie, he was the one person whose faith remained strong and he inspired so many others to turn to God in prayer (through letters).
The other lesson I took from this movie was a lesson of finding strength in the Lord. I’ve written a devotional on this before so I won’t say too much. But I do want to encourage us all to go back to God and find our courage and strength in Him alone. For me personally, I know I sometimes rely too much on my friends or family for assurance and encouragement, so this movie did a great job of convicting me to be filled with the Lord’s power. It’s crazy how we dismiss Him so often when we know He is the only One who can give us anything that’s worth Eternal value! I’m referring to the need for approval from others. So often we go to boyfriends/girlfriends or anyone else who will make us feel good about ourselves. But in reality, this is only temporary and the cycle will continue with us wanting more assurance. However, when we go to God in prayer and read His Word, we will find our worth in Him and see how much He values us. Knowing this Truth will give us more than the strength we need to face any obstacle!! :)
As you can probably tell, I absolutely loved this movie and it has some great insight into living a life for Christ and loving others! I highly recommend everyone checking it out!!
I pray that today we are reminded that we are like fine china to our Heavenly Father – we are treasured possessions! Let us find strength in knowing God created each and every one of us as He saw fit and not allow the enemy to feed us lies that cause us to believe anything different. And remember…
YOU ARE LOVED! :)
God bless!
<3 Shannon
“You Give Me Hope” – Between The Trees
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=103768007&searchid=509fa8c3-e3a6-4c3a-95ab-6889e7b6832c
Lastly, here is the movie’s website:
http://www.letterstogodthemovie.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)