Psalm of the Week - Psalm 36:5-9 - Week of June 2, 2014

5 
David's meditation upon the grace of God.



5 Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
    your justice like the great deep.
    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
    you give them drink from your river of delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

Psalm 36:5-9 Scripture Prayer

Lord, your love and faithfulness reaches to the sky and heaven. Your righteousness is as tall as the highest mountains and your justice is like the great deep. Lord, you protect me and keep me alive. You protect all people and animals. Your love is unfailing and without price! I take refuge in the shadow of your wings. Lord you provide everything I need from the abundance of your house. You give me drink from your river of delights. You are the fountain of life. In your light I see light.

The Captivity of Activity - Week 5

Sallee's Notes

• Healing our souls takes time
• Life is hard
• We need to get to where we can tell God about it
• Maturity isn't stuffing our emotions
• Maturity is when we let God get to us through and through. We are intimate with Him.
• Be a tattletale to God, then we won't be prone to tell someone else about it
• We can get too busy to sense the tender care of God.

Luke 10:41 KJV

40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

Luke 10:40-41 NIV

40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,

• Martha said,"Don't you care?"
• Latin word turba means a crowd
• Martha had a crowd in her head
• Maybe your mind is on a hundred different things
• Look at the word worry.
• Word play in the original Hebrew?
• KJV shows the word play more clearly
• Martha says "Doest thou not care?" Christ replies,  "...thou art careful and troubled about many things:"
• care vs careful
• Martha meant tender care, concern. Does it matter to you? 
• Martha had the personality that would have used a lot of room spray!
• Christ answered back that Martha had care plus anxiety
• What makes us slide into anxious care?
• We are to be anxious about nothing

Philippians 4:6 NIV

6 Do not be anxious about anything,but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

• Anxiety driven care
• We have authentic care for the people in our lives, but when we slide into anxiety with our care it isn't right
• anxiety is from feeling out of control
• anxiety = out of control
• What issue is causing this for you?
• 
  

Digging Deeper

Beth's thoughts always make me want to dig deeper into the Bible. I love reading Matthew Henry's Commentary because it gives me more insight into the scriptures. Listed below are two quotes that go along with this week's lesson.

" He (Christ) will be the patron of the poor and injured, but not of the turbulent and injurious."

Matthew Henry's Commentary

Luke 10:38-42

"...avoid anxious care and distracting thought in the wants and difficulties of life. Observe, It is the duty and interest of Christians to live without care."

Matthew Henry's Commentary
Philippians 4:6

Psalm of the Week - Psalm 35:1-3 - Week of May 26, 2014

1 Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.

2 Take up shield and armor; arise and come to my aid.

3 Brandish spear and javelin^aagainst those who pursue me. Say to me,“I am your salvation.”

"If God, by his Spirit, witness to our spirits that he is our salvation, we need desire no more to make us happy, if God is our Friend, no matter who is our enemy."      Matthew Henry

Personal Application

Lord I am asking you to fight against those who fight against me. Contend with them Lord. Take up your shield and armor and come to my aid. Show them your spear and javelin so they will no longer pursue me. Say to me, "I am your salvation." 

The Captivity of Activity Week 4

Sallee's Notes

• Point 1 from Week 3 If the Enemy can't tempt us with destruction, he'll settle for distraction.
• Please don't miss that Martha was busy serving Christ. She was so busy serving Christ that she was missing sitting at Christ's feet and taking in what he had to say.
•  Make sure that you don't get so busy serving him that you totally miss him and wonder where you joy has gone.
• We can serve Christ and still miss Christ. 

Luke 10:40

 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 

• Point 2 We Can Get Too Busy to Sense Christ's Tender Care
• We can get too busy to sense God's tender care
• We aren't abiding in the love of Christ and aren't continually reminded of how much he loves us. 
• We are too busy and distracted. It takes some time.
• Beth's personal point about joy of being a grandmother or watching a daughter with her baby 

Luke 8:14

14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 

• We think being busy in Christ makes us mature.
• Busy in Christ doesn't mean we are mature in Christ

• We gain maturity by sitting at His feet (so to speak) and let his word soak in and come alive.
• spending time with him is what we need.
• Beth's personal point about a situation and conflict that caused her to be too busy.
• A truth Beth received from the Lord, You have not let me take the time to heal you of your hurt feelings in this situation and it is coming out in anger.
• Paid for not taking the time with irritability and frustration
• Healing our souls takes time. It takes time!
• Life will bruise us up and beat us up just because we are living it.
• Stuffing down feelings is not maturity.
• Maturity is when we take our hurt feelings to God. We are intimate with Him.
• Be a tattle tail. He doesn't care. AND then we won't be taking it to other people.
• Just tell it to God and then we are done
• Tending takes time. Spend time with God and let him heal you.

Scripture Prayer is a Powerful Weapon

The Word of God is the sword of the spirit. When we speak scripture in prayer, we are brandishing our sword in the fight against our enemies while holding our shield of faith. The Lord will engage in spiritual battle for us and with us when we pick up the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, and  use them in spiritual battle.


15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:15-17

The Captivity of Activity - Week 3

Sallee's Notes

Lesson we can learn at Martha's house.
Pull up a chair at Martha's house. The Lord is going to show us what Christ would say to us at Martha's house. Christ is also going to show us some lessons from our environment as we look around while we are at Martha's house.

1. If the Enemy cannot tempt us with destruction, he will settle for distraction.

• Self destructive personalities really help him with his job of distracting us.
• Hating yourself is a form of self-loathing and this is still self-absorption which is pride.
• We are still full of ourselves which is sin. Destruction.
• God and I have done a lot of work on me since that time. Not only a deep healing work on my heart, but also on my broken mind. 
• Years and years of treating me with his word has renewed my mind.
• I am not beyond destruction, but it does not work as often now.
• Distraction works beautifully though. 
• All this captivity of activity.
• Moms especially have bought into this.
• Martha is the kind that would not be without her Lysol or her Oust. How do I know this? I'll show you in the scripture.

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39“Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

John 11:38-40 NIV

• Jesus is about to raise Lazarus from the dead and Martha speaks up about the bad odor. 
• The King James Version is priceless on this one. "But Lord, he stinketh"
• Where is my Lysol?
• Can you imagine the look on Jesus' face?
• Glory stinketh not!
• Martha would not have wanted the kids to play in the house or teenage boys to be locked up until they smell better.
• Mary and Martha both in me. Are you a MarMary?
• I think all of us can relate to Martha and Mary.

Psalm of the Week - Psalm 34:18 - Week of May 19, 2014

18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Personal Application

Lord,  I am brokenhearted. Please stay close to me. The scripture says you save those who are crushed in spirit. Save me Lord

I've Been Brokenhearted and Crushed

This verse reminds me of the many times I reached out to the Lord when I was brokenhearted and felt crushed. My life was black and white. All of the vibrant colors surrounding me had been leeched away by depression, addiction, and abuse.

I know what it is like to medicate yourself with drugs and alcohol.
I know what it is like to be depressed and put on a happy face mask to make it through the day. I know what it is like to be called crazy, stupid, and dumb.

I remember that time clearly, but that time is also the reason why the Lord called me into ministry.

If you feel like this, please talk to me. I minister to women, and my husband is available to minister to men. Bill has the same background that I do with addiction and depression. The comments for the blog do not appear on the blog page until I approve them. You can leave a private comment for us this way.

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Jesus Had Drama in His Life Too

A recent post on Facebook started this blog post. A friend of mine in Arkansas posted, "Drama, Drama, Drama!" Many friends posted how they disliked drama and tried to keep out of it. This sparked the following thought for me," What would Jesus think or say about drama?" Hmmmm this thought tumbled around in my head for awhile before I realized that Jesus lived with drama too.

Jesus went home for a visit and guess what happened? DRAMA

 54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Matthew 13:54-58

They Took Offense

No one in that village was going to listen to Jesus, son of Mary, brother of James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. Jesus comes home and wants to preach a new message and heal people. Get outta town!  Jesus was in a conflict with his whole hometown. Talk about drama. I bet Jesus' family had to endure a visit from every politician, elder, and gossip in town. I can just hear it, " Do you know what your son, Jesus, is doing down at the synagogue?" Then, the brothers had a little conversation with Jesus. Can you imagine the brothers talking to Jesus? "Jesus you are ruining our name in town. No one will buy anything from us. Our business has dropped to nothing! My boss is hinting that he might fire me.  You have got to stop preaching at the synagogue or we are going to be ruined!" Sound right to you? I'm sure you have had a family talk about a family member who is causing the town to talk. Jesus knew the drama wasn't going to quit so he left his family and hometown. Yes, Jesus knew what drama was.

Do You Know...?

Matthew recorded the following conversation between Jesus, the Pharisees, and Jesus' disciples:

1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”...Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” Matthew 15:1-12

Jesus' Social Skills

This conversation matches the definition of drama, "an ongoing conflict between two or more people, such as a continuing exchange of insults or slanderous activity against the person(s)." Do you agree? The disciples wanted to make sure Jesus knew the powerful Pharisees were upset. Did they think Jesus lacked social skills?

 How would you react if your friends asked you this question? "Do you know that S.... was offended when she heard what you said?"

Yes, Jesus knew what DRAMA was. He answered with a parable.

13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” 16“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them.
 Matthew 15:13-16

Jesus was exasperated.  I know he was because of his question, " Are you still so dull?" 

I have thought this question. More than once or twice. How about you? Jesus knew he was doing what God wanted him to do, but he was having trouble getting the disciples to understand his mission.  

How Jesus Dealt With Drama

Jesus dealt with drama by withdrawing from the situation and praying. He does this over and over in the New Testament. Getting away from the crowd, the disciples, the situation, and praying was his response to the drama in his life. Jesus' example is the standard that I want to follow.

 Social media is full of emotion outbursts and drama from people who should know better. Pray for them, clean up your friend list, and stay out of the situation. 

The Captivity of Activity - Week 2

Sallee's Notes

• Martha is named Martha, but why is Mary called Mary?
• Mary comes from the Hebrew Miriam, which comes from the Hebrew root - Mara. Mara means bitter.
• Ruth 1:20

“Don’t call me Naomi, ” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.

• Could something could have happened in Mary's life to make her withdraw and become bitter?
• Could she have said," Call me Mara."
• What may have happened to her?
• Could that be why she is sitting at the feet of Jesus while Martha was rushing around?
• Desperation can be the sweetest gift that God offers you.
• Without a doubt, desperation brought me to the Lord.
• I was messed up.
• I was either going to truly live or truly die.
• I wonder - What would you be called if you were called by your state, or condition.
• In all three scenes where this woman appears she is at the feet of Jesus.
• Something drove her there.
• Was she just smarter than Martha? No just more desperate.
• Are you tired of being bitter?
• People characterize you by your bitterness.
• Hebrews 12:15

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

• We will never keep our bitterness to ourselves.
• It invades the space around us.
• It is the gift that keeps on giving, if you will
• Call me blessed, call me healed, that happens at the feet of Jesus
• Any teacher worth their salt is a student, too.
• When we sit so close that nobody can sit in between Jesus and me. We are going to get some healing.
•  Mary to invited women into the classroom of Christ teaching.
• Water of the Word.
• Crawl right up next to Jesus at his feet so our heart and mind can receive healing.
• Thank-you Lord.

Psalm of the Week - Psalm 34:11-14 - Week of May 12, 2014

11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,

13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.

14 Turn from evil and do good;seek peace and pursue it.

Personal Application

I am a child of the Lord. I will listen to my teachers. My teachers will show me the awe and reverence of the LORD. I love life and desire to see many good days. My tongue will not speak evil and my lips will not tell lies. My desire is to turn from what is evil, or wrong, and do good. I seek peace. I want peace and will pursue it.

A Reflection About Teachers

As an adult, I have had, and continue to have, many good teachers. First, is my mother who continues to share her love of the Lord with all of her children. Next, are my Sunday School teachers. Good, godly women who seek to teach adults the ways of the Lord. These women  have an impact in my life just because they treat me with  respect and love. Finally, is my bible. By reading scripture and seeking to apply it to my life, The Holy Spirit teaches me the lessons I need so I continue to grow and develop as a spirit-led, joyful, and victorious servant of my Lord Jesus Christ and my Father God.

Psalm of the Week - Psalm 34:4-7 - Week of May 5, 2014

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;he delivered me from all my fears.

5  Those who look to him are radiant;their faces are never covered with shame.

6  This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;he saved him out of all his troubles.

7  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,and he delivers them.

Personal Application

I searched for the Lord and he answered me;he delivered me from all my fears. When I look to him I am radiant; my face is never covered with shame. This poor woman called and the Lord heard her; He saved her our of all her troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around me because I have reverence and awe for him. He delivers me.

The Motorcycles Are Out of the Garage!

Mid-Missouri is having a heat wave! Finally, we can get the motorcycles out of the garage! Last Saturday, Bill and I rode with about twenty-five or thirty of our Christian Motorcyclists Association brothers and sisters. Our group consisted of eighteen motorcycles and trikes, plus one car. 

Your red headed blogger and hubby Bill (on my right) getting ready to pray before  we start our trip.
The Arcadia Valley eatery, Baylee Jo's BBQ and Seafood, is our lunch destination.

Leaving Belgrade, MO. See the car? I am slightly below and to the right of the car. Bill is directly ahead of me. The blue motorcycle in the bottom left corner belongs to my parents. Yep, my folks are in their seventies and riding a motorcycle.

Riding down the highway,  headed for the junction of Old Route C and Hwy. 21 South. We are between Potosi, MO and Caledonia, MO.

What a gorgeous trip! Now you know that I temporarily deserted writing endeavors in favor of traveling the open road. However, I will resume posting in a week.