Vicky writes – To be quite honest, it was a bit overwhelming for me to review these two sessions. The main reason is because they are both chock full of great information.

The series of five comments (below) hardly touch the surface and there is so much more to hear and learn from each of these sessions.  I’ll just start with these few comments…

Five comments from session 1
“Refresh: A Woman Who Kneels Before God Can Stand Before Anyone”
(REFRESHING our relationship with the Heavenly Father)

1. You cannot have a growing relationship with anyone unless you spend time with them. That includes the Lord.
2. Daily quiet time helps us get the strength we need to make it through the day.
3. None of us have enough time to spend time in Bible study and prayer – we must MAKE time.
4. Time with the Lord should not be a “chore”- it is a privilege.
5. Meditate on Scripture. Pick a verse each day and read it over and over. Focus on it throughout the day. Incorporate it into your life and it will help you to maintain a right frame of mind.

Five comments from session 2
“Rekindle: Red Hot is So Cool”
(Ideas to help wives REKINDLE our relationships with our husbands)

1. Loving our spouse MORE than we love ourselves is the key to keeping a marriage strong.
2. Flirt with Him. Treat him the way you treated him when you were dating or first married.
3. A lack of desire from you is not a reason to deprive him.
4. Nagging doesn’t work. If you consistently feed him love, encouragement and affirmation, he will feel loved, desired and safe. This is when he is more likely to listen to you, versus your nagging at him. Its not your job to change your husband. Its your job to love him, and God’s job to change him.
5. Intimacy is tied to love and respect. If wives don’t feel loved they withhold respect. If our husbands don’t feel respected, they don’t act in ways that make us feel loved. This cycle is found in Eph. 5:33 – “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” (NIV)

4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

Verses 3 and 4 really stuck out to me, “When I consider Your heavens, the works of Your fingers, the moon and stars, which You have ordained.”  We can see many stars in the sky, but think of how many we can’t see.  There is a vastness out there, which we can’t see with our eye (which will come later) and God created all of it.

After you are overwhelmed by what God has created in the sky–the moon, the stars, and other heavenly bodies, David brings it back to earth in verse 4.  “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?”  We are sinful creatures, but God cares for us and, at times, we forget about God, but he loves us and enjoys when we communicate with him.  He has provided a way for us to have eternal life with Him.

What a contrast in these two verses.  We go from the immenseness of what God has created beyond earth and then it is brought down to us.  God loves us–don’t ever forget that.

Acts 6:1-4

The Hellenists were murmuring that their widows were being neglected at the table when compared to the Hebrew widows.  Table in Greek (τράπεζα-trapeza) either can mean table for serving food or a money table.  The apostles were giving charity to the widows by means of either food or money.  A case can be made for either of the items.  In either case, the Hellenists (Greek Jews) were complaining their widows were being ignored.

The apostles discussed the matter as they “called the multitudes of the disciples unto them..”, who were the heads of the Christian churches in Jerusalem.  They reasoned it wasn’t good for them to leave their preaching and spiritual ministering to serve the tables.  They asked the brethern to look for “seven men of honest report,…” to whom they would give the responsibility of this business.

In v.4 comes the main point.  They stated, “we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”  They first thing they would do is pray and how would they pray–continually.   I don’t believe continually means to always be praying.   When researching the word in Greek, it means to adhere to, to be attentive to, to persevere,  to be in constant readiness.  We should always be prepared to pray and that should be first on our list.

I want to leave you with two quotes, one of which I can’t remember the author.  I trust all of you will have a Blessed week.  Spend time in prayer every day.

We need to speak to God about men before we speak to men about God.

If Christians spent as much time praying as they do grumbling, they would soon have nothing to grumble about. -Anonymous

My pastor recently stated the sins we commit after becoming a believer are all paid for at the cross. What happens then is we either serve the Lord in the flesh or in the Spirit. If in the power of the Holy Spirit we have reward. If we are in the power of self, those works (as good as they may be) will be burned as wood, hay and stubble. We believers need to start working in the power of the Spirit.

He has a great point here. I would add, we can be so busy “working for Jesus” that our relationship is weak. Maybe we need to re-enter the Joy of the Lord and rekindle that relationship. Victory is just a prayer (confession) away.

Forgiveness of sin is instant, even though we may not “feel” forgiven. The fact of the Word is that when we confess our sin, HE is faithful and just to forgive and to restore. The Lord forgives and restores at the point of agreement and confession of sin. Like a parent and child. Yet we still may have to go through the consequences of the actions of our sin however. For example, if we have a fit of rage and put our fist through a wall and then confess that sin, we still have to fix the hole in the wall.

It would be a Godly practice for believers to forgive others instantly and practiced walking in the Spirit. Life is to short to hold things against others. If the Lord forgives us, what would allow us to not do the same?

Practice keeping short accounts with God and with His people. More on this later…
Dr jim 

Life has had many challenges at work for me since moving to _______.  The Lord has been molding me trying to teach me, and maybe even to prepare me for some task/challenge???  Whatever His reasoning, I know ultimately it is to bring HIM glory. 

I have had my moments of resistance, but He did not stop.  Consider the clay in the potters hands… the clay has defects in it that if not removed will ruin the project when it is placed in the heat of the kiln if not removed and worked with.  In fact, not only does that molded object get ruined, but often a nearby piece is damaged or destroyed as the shrapnel from the unprepared projects blows up.  The potter has to kneed the clay, pound it, work on it and separate the impurities, remove the air bubbles, and prep it for the heat it will endure.  Once the preliminary work is accomplished, then there’s the molding, shaping and building… if all it done right, when the clay is all prepared to go into the heated oven, it will come out as a vessel that can eventually be used as it was intended.  But that’s the first cooking… after the clay is hardened from the first kiln cooking, it must have glaze placed upon it for decoration and to seal it.  Without the glaze, the porous object won’t be able to hold liquids without the moister seeping through the dry clay.  This means a second heating in the kiln’s fire must occur.  Depending on the project and what the item will be used for, sometimes a 3^rd or 4^th heating is required.  But when it is all finished, the item is ready for use as the master intended it.

Some scriptures uses the clay and potter. 

Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

Jer 18:6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!

 La 4:2 The precious sons of Zion, Valuable as fine gold, How they are regarded as clay pots, The work of the hands of the potter!

Ro 9:21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

(nkjv)

+++++++
Thank you anonymous. Remember, What the Lord begins in the believer, He WILL finish. I also think of the clay getting too hard to mold and then may have to be broken. I want to be the usable vessel for the Lord Jesus Christ now.
Dr jim

In this Psalm, David states four of God’s attributes:

& Omniscience (vv. 1-6)

& Omnipresent (vv. 7-12)

& Omnipotence (vv. 13-18)

& Holiness (vv. 19-24)

David talks about God’s omniscience as a fact, not questioning it or asking about it as he uses the words; “…thou hast searched and known me”, “Thou knowest my downsitting…”, “…art acquainted…”, “…thou knowest it…”.   He can’t hide from God’s omniscience as he states in v. 5.  He is before and behind as almost confining one; he knows every word we speak.  As David states in v. 6 such knowledge is so high we cannot attain it.

God is omnipresent.  Again, David is stating a fact, not asking a question.  David asks the questions, where can I flee your spirit or where can I escape from your presence?  He answers these questions in the next few verses by stating extremes.  From the highest of highs in heaven to the lowest of lows in sheol, where one can see God’s judgment and justice.  I can fly in the morning or go to the depths of the sea, but God will still lead in those places.  We try to hide in the darkness—do our dirty under the cover of dark, but dark is like day to the Lord.

God’s omnipotence is shown in creation in the forming of a baby in the mother’s womb.  David praises Him for He is “fearfully (not afraid, but reverence) and wonderfully (marvelously) made”.  And then David repeats it again, “…marvelous are Thy works…”.   He has seen our inward parts as He wove us together in the womb.  He has seen and known us from an embryo to when we are born.  He has known us before birth, so how can we hide from Him after we are born.  We can’t.

God’s holiness is so above us in that God will kill the wicked men as he cannot stand the sight of evil.  David’s desire is to be like God as he hates those who hate God and he is grieved when people rise up against God.  Finally, David asks for God to search him and try him to see if there be any wickedness in him.  He desires to be lead “…in the way everlasting”, which is to everlasting life.

If I have done something wrong, I can’t hide it from God.  He made me, knows me, and has many precious thoughts toward me.  God needs to be able to continually sift through my life and my heart to show me any un-Godly thoughts or actions.  He is my creator and Father.

Friends, don’t think you can hide your actions and thoughts from God.  God knows us and sees us.  Our hearts need to be inline with His in relation to wickedness.  We need to abhor and flee from it.