Test Yourself!

Lukewarm people are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control. This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God. Excerpt taken from Crazy Love by Francis Chan


Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith: examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you - unless indeed you fail the test? 2 Corinthians 13:5


I've been thinking about these quotes and this one too: Jesus said, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...I will be with you always even to the end of the age, from Matthew 28:19-20. The command in the middle of these verses is to GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES. Am I playing it safe when it comes to making disciples? Hey, I made disciples of my children as they were growing up - I've done my duty. Right? What a poor excuse! It's not something to check off my list of things to do - it should be a way of life. Look what comes before the command : ALL AUTHORITY HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME and what comes after: I WILL BE WITH YOU ALWAYS. Do I really believe this? Is my faith real in my life? Am I trusting the One who has authority and is with me? I have no excuses. The Lord commands it - it's His mission and there is nothing to fear as He goes with me.


I used to think that going door-to-door to talk to strangers, cold turkey, and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ was for certain people with a special kind of gift.  I would say that's not my thing. I was really saying that I didn't believe that my God would be with me as I met new folks. I wasn't acknowledging the command to go. It was fear of the unknown and imagining the worst that kept me from getting involved. I certainly don't have control over how someone will respond to me or what hard questions they might ask, but is that important? I know the One who has all control and has the answers, so there is no need to worry.  I don't want to be lukewarm; I want to be on fire for the Lord. I believe that means stepping outside my comfort zone and seeing what God will do. He wants to reach people to add more worshippers to His church. I'm certainly being selfish if I don't want to share Him with others. Praise the Lord that He works with me and nudges me along, as always, in His loving and patient way. No more playing it safe! Jesus said, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men."

Christians, take heart...

God's ultimate purpose for Christians is not to bring them out of this world and into heaven but to use them to bring heaven into this world. As we hallow God's name and do God's will in how we think, feel, and act- even when it means being unfashionable- the power of Christ's resurrection flows through us, and as a result we bring heaven's culture to earth; we give people a fortaste of what's to come. In this manner we continue the work Christ began and will one day complete.
~pg. 61, Unfashionable, by Tullian Tchividjian~

This can only be accomplished through humbling ourselves before the mighty God and receiving His strength, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to do His will.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble...Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. ~James 4: 6-10

...I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. ~John 15: 26

...He has given us of His Spirit...Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.~1 John 4: 12- 15

Will You Have This Dance, Anyone?!

Alright, all you Austen lovers, here's a new quote from Emma, Chapter 29:

It may be possible to do without dancing entirely. Instances have been known of young people passing many, many months successively without being at any ball of any description, and no material injury accrue either to body or mind; but when a beginning is made-- when the felicities of rapid motion have once been, thought lightly, felt-- it must be a very heavy set that does not ask for more.

Dancing is for old people too; it keeps them young! When we had our Resurrection Ball at a retirement home, it was a joy to see the residents sitting around the dance hall where families were taking part in the dance. I spoke with several elderly asking if they would like to dance, and they said no because they were participating while watching. Many reminisced about their younger days doing the swing or foxtrot. They seemed surprised that even the 6 yr olds (or younger) were getting into it. It gave them a few hours of reliving a happy time.

I enjoy watching couples that know how to dance well. They move together with fluid movements and unity, which amazes me. Knowing what the other is doing, they move simultaneously as one. The beat of the music drives them on. I have to be careful not to stare with my mouth open in awe! The Jane Austen books bring us back to that recreation and entertainment enjoyed for centuries; surely not only young people like a dance, but all ages enjoy the felicities of rapid motion!

I'm looking forward to the next ball and trying again some basic steps, hoping not to step on my husband's feet!

What is Your Faith In?

I've often heard comments like: "my faith helped me," "if you just have a little faith," or "faith will get you through." What do these phrases mean to the people saying them? My guess is that this kind of "faith" is a positive attitude that you can do whatever task is before you. Like The Little Train That Could was trying to get over the mountain saying, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can," you just might have the strength to get through your difficulty.

Most would agree that faith is believing in something you can't see---that seems unattainable, but faith is more than that. What is your faith in? If you believe you can do something like the Little Train, you are putting your faith in yourself and that is an enormous responsibility to carry. What happens when you mess up or when you are so weak you can't keep going? What happens to your faith then? Someone might say, "at that point I have to rely on my family and friends to pull me through." Certainly family and friends can give love and support; however, some time they will be weak also, what then? Maybe you can still "make a wish" that something good will happen, but who are you wishing to? A star? A birthday candle? Faith in self falls short and faith in others or things such as stars or birthday candles cannot assist you. All are finite.

Someone I know said---Faith is not stirring up something in ourselves; it's knowing that God is faithful.

This kind of faith is directed toward the infinite God of the universe who knows all things and gives lasting help. He is the faithful One who will never grow weary. He is always present and delights in those who put their trust in Him. His very Word, gives guidance in all situations.We might not always want to do what it says, but if we know the One who has said it we can't argue. He is the heavenly Father who specially cares for His children.

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Psalm 34:8-10

This is our God who loves to bless those who put their faith in Him!

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10:17

Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step. -Joni Erickson Tada

He will complete it

If we indulge in any confidence which is not grounded on the Rock of ages, our confidence is worse than a dream, it will fall upon u, and cover us with its ruins, to our sorrow and confusion. All that Nature spins time will unravel, to the eternal confusion of all who are clothed therein. The Psalmist was wise, he rested upon nothing short of the Lord's work. It is the Lord who has begun the good work within us; it is He who has carried it on; and if He does not finish it, it never will be complete. If there be one stitch in the celestial garment of our righteousness which we are to insert ourselves, then we are lost; but this is our confidence, the Lord who began will perfect. He has done it all, must do it all, and will do it all. Our confidence must not be in what we have done, nor in what we have resolved to do, but entirely in what the Lord will do.

-Charles Spurgeon

Good Quotes

I found these in the Oke Family Cookbook. I thought they were pretty good! Enjoy!

Eating slowly helps to keep one slim: in other words, haste makes waist.
A. H. Hallock

When pleasures to the eye and palate meet, the cook has rendered his great work complete. William King

Doing little things with a strong desire to please God makes them really great.
St. Francis De Sales

God's Law is relevant

"Over against the autonomous ethical philosophies of men, where good and evil are defined by sinful speculation, the Christian ethic gains its character and direction from the revealed word of God, a revelation which harmonizes with the general revelation made of God's standards through the created order and man's conscience."

By This Standard
by: Greg Bahnsen

Why Worry?!

The God of the Bible is not weak; He is strong. He is all-mighty. Nothing happens without His permission or apart from His purposes- even evil. Nothing distrubs or puzzles Him. His purposes are always accomplished. Therefore those who know Him rightly act with boldness, assured that God is with them to accomplish His own desirable purposes in their lives. James Boice

The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance. Psalm 33:11-12

God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the people have gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted. Psalm 47:8-9

Psalm of the day

Psalm 47

O clap your hands, all peoples;
Shout to God with the voice of joy.
For the LORD Most High is to be feared,
A great King over all the earth.
He subdues peoples under us
And nations under our feet.
He chooses our inheritance for us,
The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah.
God has ascended with a shout,
The LORD, with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
Sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is the King of all the earth;
Sing praises with a skillful psalm.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits on His holy throne.
The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham,
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is highly exalted.

Humility before God

"The spirit of our age is essentially that of boasting and glorifying in the flesh. The achievements of man, his development and progress, his greatness and self-sufficiency, are the shrine at which the world worships today. But the truth of God's sovereignty, with all its corollaries, removes every ground for human boasting and instills the spirit of humility in its stead."
-A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God

His Life For Mine

You have trusted Him as your dying Savior; now trust Him as your living Savior. Just as much as He came to deliver you from future punishment did He also come to deliver you from present bondage. Just as truly as He came to bear your stripes for you has He come to live your life for you. Hannah Whitall Smith

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20

Our Purpose

God created us to live with a single passion to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.

-John Piper

A Couple Quotes

"The Bible is a rock of diamonds, a chain of pearls, the sword of the Spirit; a chart by which the Christian sails to eternity; the map by which he daily walks; the sundial by which he sets his life; the balance in which he weighs his actions." Thomas Watson


"A Christian is a strange person. He is both dead and alive, he is miserable and glorious...He grows downwards and upwards at the same time; for as he dies in sin and misery, and natural death approaching, so he lives the life of grace, and grows more and more till he ends in glory." Richard Sibbes

Trapp Family Singers

A while back Molly & I read together The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, by Maria Augusta Trapp. We enjoyed the book, although we didn't get to finish it because it was due back to the library. I hope we can find it again and read it in its entirety! Here is an excerp after the family started reading the Bible together six weeks before Easter, Maria says: The reading of the Gospels together proved to be wonderful. It proved to be the Book of Books, the only one in the whole world to which a four-year-old girl would listen with enraptured interest, while all the philosophers are not yet able to get to the bottom of its divine wisdom.
-Peggy-

Miracle of miracles

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles-
God took up Daniel once again,
Stood by his side and- miracle of miracles-
Walked him through the lions den!

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles-
I was afraid that God would frown,
But like he did so long ago, at Jericho,
God just made a wall fall down!

When Moses softened Pharaohs heart, that was a miracle.
When God made the waters of the red sea part, that was a miracle too!
But of all God's miracles large and small,
The most miraculous one of all
Is that out of a worthless lump of clay,
God has made a man today.

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles-
God took the tailor by the hand
Turned him around and- miracle of miracles- Led him to the promised land!

When David slew Goliath (yes!), that was a miracle.
When God gave us manna in the wilderness, that was a miracle too.
But of all God's miracles large and small,
The most miraculous one of all
Is the one I thought could never be:
God has given you to me.

-Fiddler on the Roof

"Those that have given themselves up to the direction of God's Word and Spirit steer a steady course, even when they seem to be bewildered. While they are sure they cannot lose their God and guide, they need not fear losing their way."
-Matthew Henry

Posted by Peggy