This post first appeared January 6, 2012 on www.7sistershomeschool.com.  On Fridays at the 7 Sisters website, we like to link up to a mom named Lisa-Jo and all the writers over at her site, www.thegypsymama.com for a 5-minute blog.  5-Minute Friday blogs mean that mean Lisa-Jo picks a prompt word, and I do my best to write for 5 minutes on that word without overthinking or editing myself…..just write!

The prompt word on January 6, 2012 was:  Roar. 

Here’s what I came up with in 5 minutes!

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I’m a word-geek.  I love to play with words.

One of my favorite words is PRAYER.

If you get goofy with the spelling and the pronunciation, it can become -

PROAR!

What would 2012 look like if you were livin’ on a PROAR instead of just a wimpy prayer?

How does prayer become PROAR?  Add your voice to the voices of other believers!

I read a really interesting book a few weeks ago called Lioness Arising by Lisa Bevere.  In it, she examines lionesses and their habits, and applies those images to the life of believers.  The roar of a lioness is mighty, but when the other lionesses in her pride raise their voices with hers, the sound is mind-boggling.

When I pray alone, it is mighty.  Conversation with the God of the universe has unlimited potential.  But my praying becomes PROARing when I pray with other believers.

I pray with my husband, faithfully, all the time.  It is the only thing that has preserved what little sanity we have!

I pray with my kids.  We don’t do little “token” prayers, we sit together and talk to God about the stuff that’s bothering us, the stuff we’re longing for, and the stuff He’s laid on our hearts.

I pray with other homeschool moms.  I cannot find words (word-geek that I am!) to describe how praying with these other women has changed me personally, and changed our little world over the years.

I pray with the kids I get to teach in day-school classes, co-ops, drama camps, and anywhere else we find ourselves together.

I pray with my church.  I see amazing things happen in the lives of others even while I am impatiently waiting to see God’s answer to my own concerns.

I pray with others around the world.  The internet allows me to join in to the PROAR being voiced around the world.

Will you join me?

Let’s live life in 2012 on a PROAR!

by Pastor Alex

Yes, winter is here!  Although we have not had much snow in the Delaware area, the cold air has truly arrived.  One unique distinction about winter is the need for heat.  Across the nation as winter sets in, fireplaces all over begin to blaze with hot coals and bright flames providing families with necessary warmth.  There is such an affinity to fire during this time of the year.  We load up on wood, pellets, or coal.  We clean out the chimney, and open the flue.  We crumple the newspaper, and place the kindling on the grate. Then we strike the match, place it to the paper, and watch the small flame burst into a blazing fire. My how we adore the glow and enjoy the heat radiating from our fireplaces.

If you are anything like me, you do not enjoy the cold.  I don’t like to be continually bombarded with the frigid air, and especially in the morning crawling out of my nice warm bed with extra covers on top!  The cold is a reminder of our need for heat and to regulate our body temperature to prevent us from slipping into a severe state of hypothermia.

It is interesting to find the unique parallel between our physical bodies and our spiritual life.  I am reminded of Paul’s exhortation to Timothy when Paul instructs his young son in the faith to fan into flame the gifts in him.

1 Timothy 1:5-7(NIV)

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.  For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Paul is instructing Timothy to remember the gifts that are in him are for a specific purpose and they need to be fanned like a fire.  God has imparted to each of us power, love, and self-discipline.  In order for these gifts to be present in our lives we have to do a couple of things.  We have to get rid of  the worldly build up in our lives (clean the chimney/open the flue).  We have to read His word for fuel for our spirit (gather wood). We have to make preparation for God’s presence in our lives (crumple the paper/ arrange the kindling).  We have to pray and interact with God (strike the match / place it to the paper).  Lastly, we have to allow God to consume every part of our lives (watch the small spark turn into a blazing fire).

If we do this on a continual basis then we will prevent ourselves from falling into spiritual hypothermia.  Hypothermia is an awful state that could take our very life. As a follower of Christ, at the first sign of feeling cold or indifferent towards the things of God, we need to stir up His gifts in each of us.  We need to be on guard against that spiritual enemy we call apathy.  Apathy, like the cold air, allowed to go unchecked in our lives will eventually destroy us and render us powerless in our lives spiritually and physically.

So, the next time you are warming yourself by the fire, I encourage you to remember God is a consuming fire. He wants each of us to not live a cold spiritual life.  But, He would rather us fan into a blazing fire the gifts that He has deposited in each of us.

What are some things that you do to prevent spiritual coldness from setting in, in your life?

My parents named me.  Your parents probably named you, too.

My birth certificate says that my name is Sabrina Gay Culley.  (Just save the jokes…I’ve heard them all before.  It was a long time ago, and my parents wanted me to be a happy child.)

The first name was one my folks chose for me.  Personally, I like it.  There’s that classic poem titled “Sabrina Fair.”  There have been a couple of cute movies called “Sabrina.”  And it’s pretty unusual, so I don’t meet a lot of other Sabrinas.  That satisfies the unique streak in my personality.

(We’ve already agreed to skip the middle name, so let’s move on.)

My last name was my father’s family name.  I grew up in a college town, and from time to time I would meet someone and they would say, “Are you Dr. Culley’s daughter, the classics professor?”  Yup, that’s me!

We all start with a name that was given to us, usually by our parents.  But over the years other people name us.

Maybe a close friend gives us a nickname.  I was Bree all through high school.  About ten years ago a friend started calling me Savvy and it stuck.

Maybe a sweetheart gives us an affectionate nickname.  Fred calls me Lovey.

My kids call me Mom, my students call me Mrs. J, and my mother-in-law calls me Babydoll.

But what about the names we receive that cause us pain or fear?

What if someone names you Stupid?  Fat?  Ugly?  Annoying?  Loser?  Screw-up?

How about the more subtle “names” we can be given?  Many years ago, I was told by a man I respected that I was bound for trouble because I was intelligent and articulate…he said that men don’t like that in women, and I’d better remember my place.  I am still working through the healing process from the damage he did with that name.

I know men who have been told that they are selfish and undependable when all they did was refuse to give in to another person’s utterly unreasonable demands.  I’ve seen them walk in fear of their own judgment for decades because of it.

Do you know people who were given names that were harmful to them?

Have you ever been named in a way that damaged you?

Revelation 2:17 has a really interesting phrase in it.  Jesus is talking to believers, and He promises that to the Christian who overcomes sin and lies in the world around him — who doesn’t buy into the stuff that surrounds us because it is contrary to the word of God — He will give a white stone with a new NAME written on it, a name that only the believer will know.  I think He’s promising me a deep, deep knowledge of His personal relationship with me as His bride.  Just like I took Fred’s name when I married him, I bear the name of Jesus Christ because of His great love for me.

All through the book of Isaiah there are promises that the children of God will be given a new name by Him.  He will call us what we SHOULD be called, according to His unique design in us, His great love for us, and His perfect plans for us.

I liked having my dad’s family name when I was a kid; it was nice to know that people knew I was Dr. Culley’s kid, and he was a good guy, so they were happy to meet me.  I was excited to take Fred’s name when I married him; I liked knowing that I was publicly recognized as his wife.

I don’t like some of the other names that people have tried to pin on me over the years, but I don’t have to bear those names if I realize they aren’t true.  I have been given a NEW NAME by the Lord Jesus Christ.  I have been called Beloved.  I have been called Daughter.  I have been called Righteous.

I think I’ll stick with the names He chose for me.  How about you?

SO many blessings!  Over the course of our lives we receive so many blessings.  Blessed with health.  Blessed with a home.  Blessed with a family.  Blessed when I serve.  Blessed to live in a country where I can worship Him freely.  Blessed when I seek Him.  Blessing upon blessing.

These blessings are typically plainly seen.  A house, a car, food on the table, or the computer I am typing on are all physical things we can touch and see.  We can enjoy the company of a wife and enjoy the relationships we have with our children and grandchildren.  When we are sick, we know when God has restored us to health.

Psalm 103 says:

Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy Name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. 

Forgiveness, healing, redemption, love, and strength as in our youth are all described as benefits the Lord provides.  And it is good and proper that we remember these things and thank Him for his intervention in our lives.  David recognized in Psalm 18 that God was his rock, fortress, deliverer, his shield and the horn of his salvation.  Remembering all of these benefits, in verse 49, David says:  “Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing praises to Your name.”

Do a quick word search in the bible for the word ‘thanks’ or ‘give thanks’.  We are directed to give thanks for the remembrance of His name.  For His mercy.  For His wondrous works.  Because of His righteous judgments.  We have been given so much, and therefore we have much to be thankful for.

But what about the things that didn’t happen?  At this point you might be wondering “Why should I be thankful for things that didn’t happen?”  Let me explain.

Galatians 3:13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) 

Deuteronomy 28 lists these curses as poverty (your basket and your kneading bowl), cursing your family (the fruit of your body), cursed health (boils, tumors, scabs), your relationship (someone sleeps with your spouse), and so many other things.  We have been spared from all of these things, things that DIDN’T happen because of our relationship with God.  Things that might have happened but, because we are redeemed, they never occurred.

Specifically what I was protected from I will probably never know.  But I will praise Him and give Him thanks anyway for the things that didn’t happen, for the hedge He has placed around me (Psalm 139) that I can’t see but is there nonetheless.  And I will give thanks for the Things that DIDN’T Happen!

We sang a new song during the worship service this past Sunday, Aaron Keyes’ “Sovereign Over Us.”

The idea of sovereignty is really intriguing to me.

The definition of sovereign says that something is “possessing supreme or ultimate power.”

Here are the lyrics to that song we sang:

V1
There is strength within the sorrow, There is beauty in our tears
You meet us in our mourning, With a love that casts out fear
You are working in our waiting, Sanctifying us
When beyond our understanding, You’re teaching us to trust

CHORUS
Your plans are still to prosper, You have not forgotten us
You’re with us in the fire and the flood
Faithful forever, Perfect in love, You are sovereign over us

V2
You are wisdom unimagined, Who could understand Your ways
Reigning high above the heavens, Reaching down in endless grace
Youʼre the Lifter of the lowly, Compassionate and kind
You surround and You uphold me, Your promises are my delight

BR
Even what the enemy means for evil
You turn it for our good, You turn it for our good and for your glory
Even in the valley You are faithful
Youʼre working for our good, Youʼre working for our good and for your glory

Words & Music by Aaron Keyes, Bryan Brown, and Jack Mooring.
 Copyright (c) 2011 Thankyou Music (admin. worldwide by worshiptogether.com  songs excluding Europe, which is admin. by kingswaysongs.com) (PRS) 

What I see around me are circumstances.  Some of them I can control, some I can affect, and some I can’t do a blessed thing about!

What I often fail to see is God and His supreme and ultimate power over my circumstances.

My financial struggles?  God can provide the money I need.  He can remove bills that are hanging over me.  He can give me additional chances to work for additional pay.  He can give me favor with those who seem to be in charge because they are under Him.

My health?  God can touch and heal miraculously.  He can give doctors the wisdom to treat my illness.  He can teach me to care for my body in the ways that it needs for health and strength.  He can take me home to heaven and give me a new and flawless body when the time for that is right.  Every cell of my body is under His supreme and ultimate power.

Relationships in trouble?  God can move hearts that appear to  be made of stone.  God can move in my heart (no matter how stony or shattered it may feel!) to produce the love I need for others.  God can bring forth His wisdom through Godly counsel.  Every person who touches my life in any capacity is ultimately under His sovereign power.

When I sing this song, I am reminding MYSELF that I am under the supreme and ultimate power of a God who loves me unfailingly, who has good plans for my life, and who has promised to never leave me nor forsake me (Heb. 13:5).

by Pastor Alex

Have you ever asked the question, “What’s the difference?”?  Maybe you were comparing one computer to another.  Or maybe you were looking at purchasing a new vehicle and was shopping around for the best deal.  By asking the question, (what’s the difference?) you were wanting to know value.  What makes this object far better than the other one available.  Maybe it’s price.  Maybe that computer has more RAM.  Maybe the other car has butt warmers and you don’t like to be cold in the winter.  Whatever the difference is, we make our decisions based on the value being presented.

Now, have you ever asked this question about your experiences with God?  What’s the difference if I sit here quietly while everyone is singing and lifting their hands during worship?  What’s the difference if I commit my life to Jesus, but never share my faith with others?  What’s the difference if I come to church and never get involved and help?  What’s the difference if I only pray when I need something and things are going wrong?  The difference is the value of our experience as being a follower of Jesus.

To have the best value in a relationship we have to engage in the relationship.  We can’t be idle spectators thinking that our presence is enough.  Here’s a little test for those of us that are married:  Try telling your spouse that you’re present, but your just not going to do anything.  You’re not going to wash the clothes.  You’re not going to pay the bills.  You’re not going to be intimate. You’re just going to call on them when you need something.  Let me know how your marriage works out, will ya?  The difference is our involvement.

Do you want to get the most out of your relationship as a follower of Jesus?  You have to be engaged in the relationship.  In John 15:5 Jesus said,”I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  This is a great illustration of how we can experience the full value of our relationship with God.  Through this verse we can see that the branches(us) have to be connected(engaged) to the vine(Jesus) if we are going to experience a vibrant life with Jesus.  When a branch is connected to the vine, it should produce growth.  If the branch does not grow; the branch withers, dies and is cut off.

We were meant to experience the fullness of God in our lives.  In order to experience true value in our relationship with Him, let’s realize the difference is our actions and willingness to engage in every opportunity to live for Jesus.

What are you doing to add value to your relationship with Jesus?

I have songs playing in my head all the time.  I am wired for music, love to sing, am fascinated by chord progressions and timing….plus, I’m a word geek, so there’s always the lyrics to a song grabbing hold of me and running my brain.

I don’t hate it when a song gets stuck in my head, but I do hate it when I forget to “set the station” in my head to a GOOD song.  Imagine if you hated mariachi band music, but that was the only channel your car radio could receive clearly, and you kept the volume up every time you drove.  Wouldn’t that mess with your mood?  (Ole!)

The songs in my head are sometimes good for my mood; other times they are not so good.  Since the volume is permanently “up” in this girl’s brain, that means I need to make sure I’m tuned in to a good song for my background music.

I must know a million hymns and worship songs, and I regularly take a second to tune my brain into one of those to keep my mood on track with God’s good plans for my day.

“To the left, to the left….everything you own in a box to the left…” is not actually going to help me accomplish anything good with my time and energy today.

But if I “switch the station” to, “Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God, You are higher than any other!” I will see a good result.

Maybe music doesn’t play in your head constantly like it does in mine, but the principle is the same for everyone’s brain.  You are always thinking about something…..the Bible calls that “meditating.”  It doesn’t mean meditation in the eastern religion mystical way, seated on the floor in lotus-position, chanting.  It means something running over and over in your brain; it means trying to make greater and greater sense of whatever an idea is.  You can’t turn it off; your brain is always thinking about SOMETHING.

Sometimes those thoughts are things that will drag you down.

“He’s two-faced. He’s not a real friend to me. He let me down when I needed him most. He claims to care, but obviously he doesn’t.”  On and on, we replay things that make us frustrated, hurt, angry and depressed.

What would happen if you switched the station?

“God sees the broken hearted, and He wraps them up in His love until they heal. He is the God of all comfort. He wastes none of my tears. He is the lover of my soul.”

What song is stuck in your head?

Does life just happen to you?

Some days that’s how I feel!  I thought I knew what to expect, and WHAM! I get blindsided by something that changes my whole day in an instant.

There’s no way for us to predict how each day will go.  Only God sees the whole picture.

But we DO have control over our response to the unexpected in life.  We can choose to be PASSIVE or ACTIVE participants in all of it.

To be PASSIVE means:

* I watch my plans go down the tubes.

* I feel frustrated by the change in plans.

* I feel discouraged at my inability to stay on top of things.

* I feel paralyzed to move forward.  After all, something else will probably just hit when I try!

To be ACTIVE means:

* I see my plans disintegrate and choose to ask God for a new agenda.

* I feel frustrated and confess with my mouth that I am nothing in my own strength, but can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

* I feel discouraged, but seek God for the wisdom and power to accomplish what He has for me to do today.

* I may FEEL paralyzed, but I KNOW that I belong to the God who says, “Get up, take your mat, and go home.” (Mk. 2:11)

Because of His authority in my life, I can get up in spite of paralyzing circumstances, I can take up my mat (whatever the thing is that is a sign of my crippled condition — an addiction?  my anger?  my fear?  depression?), and I can go home.

“Home” is where I have an unshakable place to live:  the center of God’s good and loving plans for my life.

On Sunday, Pastor Perry preached about freedom from addiction.  He spoke of the worship of these idols that we KNOW have no power to help us, yet we serve them anyway.  In Jesus’ name, he proclaimed freedom for believers in Christ to no longer be passive when life hits us with trials and temptations we were not expecting.

We can be ACTIVE participants in the good things that God has for us.

Get up, take your mat, and go home.

How important is “ONE DAY” to us?

As I started the 21 days of fasting and prayer this year I started looking at the end of the fast before the first day was over. Last year our corporate fast ended with such power. The Holy Spirit moved on our church in such an intense way. I started looking forward to that day. The Holy Spirit reminded me that if I did that I would miss out on 20 very special days of blessing. Every day with the Lord is special. The Psalmist said it this way in Psalm 84:10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; (NIV)

The Message Bible says it this way: One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.

Today is “ONE DAY” and I am going to make the best of it. This day that I have spent with God is better than anything that the world can offer me. Day 21 will come but it will have to wait its turn. I have 17 more days of amazing blessings to enjoy first.

Pastor Perry

Lots of people can recite the first verse of the Bible:  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Gen. 1:1

I can remember my kids playing a game where they would pass a ball from one child to the next while reciting the verse together in rhythm.  Round and round the ball would go, and faster and faster they would say the words….until finally someone dropped the ball, or someone’s tongue got tied up, and they’d all dissolve into laughter.  It was a fun way to learn a Bible verse when they were little!

There is so much more to the first chapter of Genesis than just this one verse, however.  I’ve been studying Genesis 1 in depth since the new year began, and I’ve found some exciting things that I had never noticed in this passage before.

* Genesis 1 shows us His presence, even while everything else is in chaos.  Before there even was an earth, while there was darkness and emptiness, GOD was present.  He is still present today even when things appear to be all darkness and emptiness.  Is there chaos in your life?  God is there; call out to Him!

* Genesis 1 shows us that God does not always remove the darkness, but He does control it.  He separates it and limits it so that it cannot overwhelm us.  Then He gives us His light to overcome it.  If He simply removed all the dark, difficult places from our lives, we would not gain as much as we do when He instead shows us His power over it, and then shares that power with us.  Can you trust Him to share His power over the darkness with you?

* Genesis 1 shows us that God set boundaries right from the start of creation.  The waters were separated into their correct places.  The night and the day were firmly set in place.  He is a God of order, and His plan for our lives involves carefully keeping all the elements of our lives in place.  Healthy boundaries are a part of His original plan.  If you are living in chaos, all jumbled up and overwhelmed, will you ask Him to re-set those boundaries that have broken down? 

This is only a taste of all of the wonderfulness I’ve been finding in Genesis 1…a chapter that I have read and studied countless times over the years.

Why am I finding new things in a familiar chapter of the Bible?  Because God’s Word – the Bible – is not just words typed on a page….it is alive!  The Holy Spirit teaches us to understand the things of God every time we open our Bibles.  I am praying and fasting for a renewed passion for studying the Word of God in 2012.

Is that something that you want to ask God for as well?