Monday 16 May 2011

Summer reading with Good Morning Girls

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts about how the Lord used my Good Morning Girls group to challenge me about memorising the scriptures.

Today, they have just started their summer reading session.  It will based around the book by Sally Clarkson "The Ministry of Motherhood".  You can read a review of it here.  Sally Clarkson is a woman with a real heart for the Lord, and for encouraging ladies in their role of motherhood.  I am really looking forward to reading this book with my group.  It's not too late to sign up with a group.  If you go to the forum on here you can find others looking for a group, or if you know others who would be interested, then you can start your own!  The book is available from many online retailers.  They also have a daily scripture to read and study, if you would rather do that.  Or, you can carry on with a study of your own, but just have a group to be accountable to.

This week is just the week to introduce yourself to your group, so they haven't started reading the book yet.

I know how much it has blessed my heart and life by having an accountability group for my devotions.  I am sure it would be a blessing for you too!







Wednesday 11 May 2011

Wednesday in the Word

So sorry this is a bit late going out, but I am in "holiday mode"!







"For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; 

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"   Philippians 1:5-6 

I have taken great encouragement from verse 6.  Christ is doing a work in my life.  It's a good work.  There are so many days where I feel that I have let the Lord down - I don't do what I should do - I don't speak to others the way I should  - I don't have the right attitudes.  But, do you know what?  God is working in my life!  HE began that work, the day that I trusted in Him as my Saviour.  HE will continue to work in my life - day by day - hour by hour - moment by moment.  No matter how I seem to fail, He is still working.  Like a potter moulding a piece of clay - there may be multiple re-mouldings, and corrections of flaws, but there is a good work in progress! He won't give up on me - cast me off as a failure, or not worth the effort.  The work will continue until I am perfected in Christ in glory.

I am so thankful to the Lord for the work that He is doing, and particularly from the encouragement of learning His Word. 

So, will you share with us what you have learnt this week?  Looking forward to hearing from you - don't forget you can just share in the comment section below.

Monday 9 May 2011

A wonderful example

Last week I had the give-away for the Journible.  These books promote the concept of writing out God's Word for yourself, just as they had to do in the days before they had the Scripture's in print.  The discipline of writing it out helps to cement it in out minds.


On the topic of memorising and writing, I came across this excerpt, here.


Learning from the Persecuted

The persecuted Christians place much importance on heart knowledge of the Scripture. Our dear friend Sabina Wurmbrand told us that before she was arrested in Romania she was very poor. But while in prison she became very rich.
This was because as a pastor's wife she was not well off with this world's goods. However, she was rich in the only currency that mattered in prison - the Word of God. And because she had stored up such spiritual treasures through Bible memorisation, Sabina Wurmbrand was able to make fellow prisoners rich in the Word of God.
The persecuted Churches of Eastern Europe placed a high priority on Scripture memorisation. Many congregations had corporately memorised the entire Bible. So at any given service the pastor could call upon some member to recite from memory any chapters of those books of the Bible which he had been assigned to memorise.
Some Christians had wrapped a spare Bible in a plastic bag and buried it in anticipation of later confiscation. Often I came across families engaged in writing out the whole Bible by hand. When Bibles were very scarce precious copies were rotated amongst members of the congregation. Many families then used their night to copy as much of the Bible as possible - by hand. Most Christians had memorised a wide selection of hymns and chapters of the Bible.

(Learn more about Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand here )

I wonder, if the Pastor's of our Churches called upon US to recite scripture, in the Western world, would we be able to do it??


Friday 6 May 2011

And the winner is.....

........ VICKI!

You are the winner of the Journible!

If you could contact me with your address, then I will get it sent to you ASAP!!

I hope that folks have been inspired to get one for themselves.  I will certainly be buying myself one!

Trust you are all getting on well with your memorisation - please feel free to share how things are going!


Wednesday 4 May 2011

Wednesday in the Word




Well, it's Wednesday again!  Time to share what has spoken to your heart from the verses for this week.

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 
 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy," Philippians 1:1-2


The thing that struck me today was regarding the first verse.  "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." Once again, I was struck by the persoanl way that Paul refers to God  - "MY God".  He is our God, when we are saved and belong to Him.  He is my God in times of joy, when I am able to rejoice in His goodness and greatness.  He is still my God when things are difficult or sad - because He never leaves us or forsakes us.  He can be relied upon, because He is unchanging - "great is thy faithfulness".  

However, the other point that struck me, was that Paul said he was able to thank God upon "EVERY remembrance" of them.  Are others able to thank God for every remembrance of me, or do I give them a reason to try and forget me?  Do I say things, or do I behave in a way people would rather forget?  I really trust that I don't, and may God forgive me if I do!

Or, on a different note, is Paul just reiterating the sentiment that he expounds in other places - that "in everything give thanks".  We should be able to give thanks for the good and for the bad, so, no matter how the people in Philippi treated Paul, he was going to be thankful anyway?

Or, is the reality (for which we do have support, based on the rest of the book!....), that they really behaved in a way that was God-honouring, and for which Paul was truly thankful?!  As much as we know this is the case, it certainly made me think of things that challenged me in my behaviour and attitudes!  God's Word truly is a two-edged sword!

So, please share your thoughts - I would love to hear what you have gleaned from the verses this week!

Every blessing



Tuesday 3 May 2011

Grab a great give-away!

I mentioned a give-away last week, and here it is, but you will only have a couple of days to enter.

My lovely husband had a terrible ear infection for a couple of weeks, and so was unable to preach in the midst of it all.  We were blessed to have a young man come and preach for us on the Lord's Day evening.  He and his lovely fiancĂ©e came back for some supper and fellowship after the evening service.  It was a great opportunity to chat about many things, and a delight to talk about the things of the Lord.

My Bible memorisation challenge came up in conversation (funnily enough!).  The young lady then mentioned that she and her fiancĂ© had found something called a Journible.  "What's a Journible?" I hear you ask?  Is it a journal?   Is it a Bible?  Yes, and....well....YES!  It is a journal, where you write out portions of the Bible!


"Rob Wynalda's The 17:18 Series encapsulates the biblical mandate to write Scripture on the tables of our hearts. By writing out Scripture ourselves and buttressing that with answering questions and  taking notes about the texts, we will grow immensely in hiding the Word in our hearts and exemplifying it in our lives.
This series of books is suitable for children and adults, for lay people and pastors, for Bible study class and private devotions.
Try a volume yourself. By the Spirit's grace, your soul will prosper, and you will want to write out the whole scriptures."
Dr Joel Beeke
President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

 There are various ones for different books of the Bible.  I believe they are planning to add more.

The format is that the right hand page is for writing out the scripture, and the page on your left is for taking notes about what you have read.  It also has some questions to think about what you have been reading and writing.

This video explains their motivation behind producing this

Yes, I KNOW you could do it yourself, in a notebook.  I love pretty notebooks.  However, with this, you know that there will be the right number of pages and space for what you are doing, and there will be no danger of it all not fitting in! It will also be a great keepsake for you to look back on, and will look smart on your bookshelf.

This video explains why this is a better plan than a notebook.



Soooooooo - hands up who would like to have a chance to win a copy of the one that, *surprise, surprise*, includes the book of Philippians?!


To be in with a chance of winning you can 1. Post a comment under this post, 2. Share about the give-away on your blog/website and share your link in a comment below, or 3. Share about it on FB, and if someone comes on here and leaves a comment stating your name and that they found out about the contest on your FB page, you will get your extra chance (make sure you tell them to mention you on their comment!)  (Winners will be chosen using www.random.org)

There is still time for people to join in with this challenge.  They could just start and work at their own pace, or they could learn a bit more in their first week or two, and then they would be in synch with everyone else.  Let's spread the word to people about learning THE WORD! Let's get people challenged about their commitment to hide God's Word in their heart.

This contest will only be open for a short time - you have until Midnight on Thursday to leave a comment, and the winner will be announced on Friday!

Just to add, for those who may be struggling, if you don't have an account with any of the listed server's, you add your comment using the "name/URL" option - you will then see a box where you type your name - just leave the URL box empty.  Then, you will be able to post your comment.  Hope that helps some of you who have not been able to comment, and don't want to have to sign up with Google etc.