Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Day 20: Selah

SELAH. PAUSE.

Selah. Pause.

Do not press forward for a moment.

Savor the moment instead.

Listen to God and stop speaking.

Pause. Rest.

Do this all day long. Focus on listening to God and being with God.

A good practice is to do this once a week. This is what a Sabbath is, after all. So, rest in Him and in the Word.

Day 19: Ephesians 5:1-2

Ephesians 5:1-2 (HCSB)

1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. 2 And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

-- HCSB: Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Prayer journal your thoughts before you continue reading. Take some time and pause here. How can you live these verses this year?

Spend all day reading and re-reading this passage.

Add these verses to your memory verse list of: Philippians 4:4-8; Psalm 90:12; 1 Samuel 2:1; Colossians 3:23-24; Ephesians 5:1-2

Monday, January 6, 2014

Day 18: Day 17: Keeping Our Priorities Straight and in Order, Part 3

THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING OUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT AND KEEPING THEM THE PRIORITY

You have your priorities and they are in sequential order at this point. This is a major start that few have accomplished. Case and point: Those who say they are too busy. If we are too busy, we are not keeping our priorities. Keeping our priorities straight keeps us from being far less busy and we are then more focused.

If we are tired, again, we have not kept our priorities straight.

If we haven’t been in the Bible and in prayer each and every day, have we kept our priorities straight?

Do you feel stressed or anxious? Irritable or frustrated? Are you really keeping your priorities straight.

Believe it or not, but any negative reaction we experience has a direct correlation to keeping our priorities straight. It really is this simple.

How can I say the previous paragraph? Philippians 4:8 explains the answer in particular, but so does Philippians 4:4-8. So, do the other memory verses we have been memorizing. If we are Christian, then all of our number one priorities should be God and the Bible. Period. End of story. Any questions? Living those things is living with God and the Bible as our number one priority. If we do that, then we will live our memory verses, among all the other verses of the Bible, the New Testament in particular.

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT?

One, make sure your husband, children, family, and friends know your priorities. This is important because they will be less likely to rope you into things that don’t meet with your priorities.

Two, make sure that if someone ever asks you to do something, you remember your priorities. Does this fit any of those? If not, don’t do it. It’s okay to say know. You do not have to say yes to everything. Also, you never owe anyone an explanation. It’s okay to just say no.

Three, if you’re thinking of doing something, is it one of your priorities? If not, spend little time on it or don’t do it at all.

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT?: PUT THEM ON YOUR CALENDAR

First of all, put them on your calendar.

In fact, put it all on your calendar.

I recommend using a digital or internet based computer because it’s far easier to change if you need to, like if your work schedule changes. If you handwrite it, you’ll need to do a lot of writing and re-writing. Save yourself the hassle and put it on an internet based computer. Not just that, you will never lose the calendar if you have it on the internet and on the cloud. Then, you can access it anywhere in the world.

If you do something today that isn’t on your calendar, add it. But, first, make sure that it is one of your priorities and that you are keeping your priorities in the proper order.

Go ahead. Put your priorities on your calendar now. Do it now and do it for the next year. Yep. You heard me. The next year. Put down your daily quiet time(s). Put your work schedule on it. Put in times of exercise. Put all the others on your calendar as well.

Then, every month from this point on, add another four months until you are to the point you are ten years into the future. I’m not kidding.

Day 17: Keeping Our Priorities Straight and in Order, Part 2

Yesterday, we spent the day trying to identify everything and everyone important in our lives through making a list.

Now, today, we will take a look at that list and assess our proper priorities and what to do with them.

SEQUENTIAL ORDER

Yesterday, you made a list of everything and everyone important to you. Today, in your prayer journal, number them in sequential order. Wait to do this until you read the rest of this section. I will let you know when to begin.

It’s important to put on the page what is important to you and get it all there in front of you, in writing, where you can see it and analyze it. For instance, here is mine:

1 God

2 Hubby and marriage

3 Health: Exercise and eating right

4 Home

5 Writing (which is my job and passion)

6 Critters/4-legged kids

7 Reading

8 USA, politics, current events, and history

9 Family

10 Friends

A great deal of things, events, and people come under those 10 categories. But, everything and everyone important to me is listed there.

You may be surprised how family and friends come at the bottom of my list. They do. Let me explain before you start rushing to judgment.

My priorities, I put in sequential order, based off of what is most important to me each and every day. In other words, what has direct impact on my life today?

Do my family or friends live with me? Do they pay my bills? Do they work for me and make me money? No. They do not. So, they do not have a direct impact on my life each and every day. That being said, if one of them has a health problem or a life challenge, then my priorities today would change, wouldn’t they? Of course they would. But, it’s not a permanent change to the sequence and priority order of my life’s priorities. It’s something temporary (the health issue or life challenge, that is). That’s different.

Also, know where my job is on the list. It’s number five on the list. It’s not one of my top three. Why would I say that? Easy. Again, is my job the most important thing on a day in, day out, for all 80 years of my life basis? No. I can always get another job. But, my job does not crawl into bed with me each night or greet me with a hug and kiss when I get home, so to speak. My job isn’t there during the tough times. My job is my job. It does not offer me eternal life and it didn’t choose me. I chose it.

Also, if I had a child, and I still hope to soon. Then, my child would become number four on my list and all others from there would move down my priority list. Let me explain.

A child is never number one, because only God and my faith takes that slot. Period. That never changes. No matter what.

A child never comes before my husband. Will that child bring me an income and pay my bills? Will that child sleep with me? Will that child not leave the house? Who makes decisions with me? My child does not. My husband is the one who makes money, pays bills, chose me, and will be there when the child leaves the house. I chose him and he chose me. That’s why my husband comes before a child.

Why would health come before a child? If I’m sick and can’t take care of myself, how can I take care of a child? I have nothing to offer a child if I do not take care of myself. Also, if I do not model for my child how to be healthy inside and out, then what a tragedy that would be.

I hope all of that makes sense.

So, make sure when you put your matters of importance in order, you think seriously of the ramifications of the order in which you place each item. It’s very important.

Also, note, how I kept my priorities simple. I put them in categories and in groupings as well and that helps.

My entire life is summarized in these 10 priorities.

PRAYER JOURNALING QUESTION

Put your priorities in order. In other words, put them in sequential order of importance.

REVIEW YOUR MEMORY VERSES

Write them in your prayer journal without peeking. No cheating. See how far you get. Then, after a couple of minutes of trying to find the words, then peek and write out the rest and make corrections as necessary.

Then, prayer journal your thoughts today, right now, on those verses.

They are: Philippians 4:4-8; Psalm 90:12; 1 Samuel 2:1; Colossians 3:23-24

Day 16: Keeping Our Priorities Straight and in Order, Part 1

HOW CAN WE LIVE THE BEST LIFE AND THE BEST YEAR FROM THIS POINT ON?

How can we live the best life possible for the next year and for the rest of our lives? Isn’t this the main question we’ve been trying to answer the last 16 days? And, isn’t this the question we’ll continue asking over the next 24 days?

The answer to all of the previous questions is: Yes.

So, what does that look like in reality and in practice? How can we live the best life possible?

The answer is simple: Keep our priorities straight. In other words, keep our priorities the priority.

There. That’s it. Any questions?

Well, it really is that simple. But, how do we put it into practice?

PRAYER JOURNALING QUESTION

Make a list of everything and everyone important to you. Spend all of today, throughout the day, writing that list. Make sure you include everything on it. Be thorough.

MEMORY VERSES

A Little Reminder…

Don’t forget your yearly Bible verse or your memory verses. Pray them back to God at this time, whether by memory or by looking at them.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Day 15: Colossians 3:23: MEDIOCRE LIVING AND THE GOOD ENOUGH MENTALITY

I am afraid there are too many of us who settle for mediocre living or doing life “just good enough.” We do not give our best to all we do.

We’re tired.

We’re too busy.

We just have the time.

We’re… Fill in the blank with a million other excuses.

This includes how we do in school, at work, in our marriage, raising children, with housework, etc. We just aren’t giving it our all.

Then, we stop and wonder why we aren’t happy. We feel like we’re missing something. It seems like no matter what we do, it just isn’t enough.

But, when was the last time we spent all day and night in the Word and in prayer? Or, were we too busy, too tired, lack the time, etc.

I guarantee if you live in the world today, you’ve been here done that. It might even be commonplace for you. I know it sure has been for me.

Why are we allowing ourselves to live these excuses? Why are we allowing ourselves to have a mediocre, good enough existence? Why are we not keep our priorities the priority?

And, then, how dare we be foolish to wonder why we aren’t happy, joyful, peaceful, fill in the blank. We are missing something. We are missing God and the Word. Again, we are meant to be in the Bible morning, noon, and night, 24/7/365. Look again at Psalm 1:2. And, we are to always be in prayer as well, rejoicing, and giving thanks. Look at this passage:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 HCSB

16 Rejoice always!

17 Pray constantly.

18 Give thanks in everything,

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Why do we forget all of this? If we actually lived Psalm 1:2 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, wouldn’t our lives be a great deal easier, better, fulfilled, and complete? Wouldn’t we be happy, joyful, peaceful, and content?

If we stopped saying mediocre and good enough living was good enough, then we would see how little our lives really were, how shallow, and how they lacked meaning.

According to God, this kind of living is not good enough.

But, we know that, don’t we? Come on. We do. We just try to deny it or ignore it. After all, we’re too tired, busy, too… Fill in the blank…

We know there is a better way to live. So, why aren’t we living that way? I think there are two main reasons. One is we forget why we are living and why mediocre, good enough living isn’t enough. But, it’s also because we don’t keep our priorities straight or in order. We’ll talk about the latter tomorrow.

Why is mediocre, good enough living not good enough? Let’s look at the following verse to answer that question:

Colossians 3:23-25 NASB

23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.

PRAYER JOURNALING AND CONTEMPLATION QUESTIONS

Let’s look at some verses which should help us know what to pray and how to pray for the next year and our new beginning. With each verse listed after this section, prayer journal these 7 things about EACH version of this verse:

1 What jumped out at you and why?

2 What did you learn from this verse?

3 How did this verse differ from the others and how does that difference deepen your understanding of the verse?

4 What did God say to you through this verse?

5 What does this verse mean to you and your life today, this week, this month, this quarter, this year, etc.?

6 How will you apply this verse to your life from now on? Make an action plan.

7 Write out a summary of everything that you’ve learned and what jumps out at you most from your journaling and from the different versions of this verse, Psalm 90:12.

Colossians 3:23-24 NLT

23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.

-- NLT: Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.