"To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administation of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might be now made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places." ephesians 3:8-10
Okay, so not only is it amazing the kind of grace God has towards Paul, to allow him to tell of this great mystery-what Jesus did for us and God's love for us-to the gentiles. But angels, good and bad, didn't understand it either until it was revealed through the church! I don't know, yesterday my mom and I had a long conversation about angels, demons, satan, evil, free will...and a lot more.. so, when I read that this morning, it made me really excited! It then brought me to.."it was reavealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in theses things which now have seen anounced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven-things into which angels long to look." 1 peter 1:12
that's insanity! i mean, angels must've been going, "Lord, why did you even create these things?" for thousands and thousands of years until that mystery was revealed to them through us, the church! crazy. I just think it's so cool the nature God has, the longing to love us and be loved by us-companionship. That's why He made us! and it finally makes sense to all those angels, good and bad, why God would make such funny creatures like us... Ha..well, I don't even know if this is making any sense, but it all makes sense in my head and when I talk about it, writing it is a little harder. It's just so cool!
i love Jesus :)
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
matthew 11:28
i love how simple and straightforward Jesus is.
"come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I wil give you rest. take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. for My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
i try so much in my human weakness and in my flesh to carry all these things when the Lord is clearly telling me, " Bethany, come on, just let me do it!!" i guess i like to act macho or something because ill just say, "No Lord, really, i think i can handle it. look at me, im all super-christian and stuff!"ha....NOT. being home in this different season and time of rest compared to China has been hard because ive been noticing so much more that needs prayer and then sub-consciously thinking that i can do it without relying on the holy spirit. which is not smart. theres so much need for the Lord in carp, and its really overwhelming trying to deal with it all alone. i just felt really burned out, like, "Lord, i dont know what to do, theres just too much for me to pray for and too much that needs to be fixed by You!" and then, in His tender patience and mercy(AHH THANK YOU LORD haha)He was just like"Um, bethany...MATTHEW 11:28!!!!!" and its that simple. just take off my burden, give it to the Lord, and take His. no if ands or buts. He's so good to us! i can't get over it, and i know i'll never EVER be able to understand it. and He didnt make prayer to overly burden and weigh us down. He wants us to give it to Him through prayer, because prayer changes things!!!! im so excited to see what He's going to do this year:)
"come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I wil give you rest. take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. for My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
i try so much in my human weakness and in my flesh to carry all these things when the Lord is clearly telling me, " Bethany, come on, just let me do it!!" i guess i like to act macho or something because ill just say, "No Lord, really, i think i can handle it. look at me, im all super-christian and stuff!"ha....NOT. being home in this different season and time of rest compared to China has been hard because ive been noticing so much more that needs prayer and then sub-consciously thinking that i can do it without relying on the holy spirit. which is not smart. theres so much need for the Lord in carp, and its really overwhelming trying to deal with it all alone. i just felt really burned out, like, "Lord, i dont know what to do, theres just too much for me to pray for and too much that needs to be fixed by You!" and then, in His tender patience and mercy(AHH THANK YOU LORD haha)He was just like"Um, bethany...MATTHEW 11:28!!!!!" and its that simple. just take off my burden, give it to the Lord, and take His. no if ands or buts. He's so good to us! i can't get over it, and i know i'll never EVER be able to understand it. and He didnt make prayer to overly burden and weigh us down. He wants us to give it to Him through prayer, because prayer changes things!!!! im so excited to see what He's going to do this year:)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
college..
i know i still have two years to figure it out, but i've been begininning to think of where id like to go for college...
its really overwhelming, so many choices.
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path"
ps 119:105
yup
its really overwhelming, so many choices.
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path"
ps 119:105
yup
Friday, August 10, 2007
me!
"One thing that I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple...when You said, 'Seek My face,' my heart said to You, 'Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.'"
Psalm 27:4,8
:)
Psalm 27:4,8
:)
Thursday, August 9, 2007
James...
"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. "
james 1:27
okay, that's crazy.
just think about what james is saying right there. it seems like one of the themes of james is purity, especially purity of speech. in the verse right before that it says "if anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not BRIDLE HIS TONGUE but decieves his own heart, this man's religion is worthless."
and worthless meaning idle, fruitless, useless, etc..
so we as christians can think were striving to live out a pure religion before God, but really because we dont live a life of purity, were decieving ourselves.
we can donate thousands of dollars every year, we can go to the soup kitchen every month, we can even travel overseas and do "good things", but its not real religion in the eyes of our Father unless were trying to keep ourselves unstained from the world. verse 27 isnt an either/or instruction, it says AND to keep oneself unstained from the world.
it goes both ways too, we can try to be as holy as we want, but without an outpouring of the love Christs poured out on us in our lives it's also useless...i guess it all comes down to love. Christ's love for us, our love for Him, and that love being put into action through us. when we have a pure love for Christ and His word, it comes natural to want to love others and to try to glorify God through our lives by walking in the righteousness He's given us.
haha there were probably a lot of run-on sentences in there...but i just felt like sharing that. it's something God has been revealing a lot to me lately:)
james 1:27
okay, that's crazy.
just think about what james is saying right there. it seems like one of the themes of james is purity, especially purity of speech. in the verse right before that it says "if anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not BRIDLE HIS TONGUE but decieves his own heart, this man's religion is worthless."
and worthless meaning idle, fruitless, useless, etc..
so we as christians can think were striving to live out a pure religion before God, but really because we dont live a life of purity, were decieving ourselves.
we can donate thousands of dollars every year, we can go to the soup kitchen every month, we can even travel overseas and do "good things", but its not real religion in the eyes of our Father unless were trying to keep ourselves unstained from the world. verse 27 isnt an either/or instruction, it says AND to keep oneself unstained from the world.
it goes both ways too, we can try to be as holy as we want, but without an outpouring of the love Christs poured out on us in our lives it's also useless...i guess it all comes down to love. Christ's love for us, our love for Him, and that love being put into action through us. when we have a pure love for Christ and His word, it comes natural to want to love others and to try to glorify God through our lives by walking in the righteousness He's given us.
haha there were probably a lot of run-on sentences in there...but i just felt like sharing that. it's something God has been revealing a lot to me lately:)
Saturday, August 4, 2007
IM HOME
wow, okay, I'm home!!!! There's so much to talk about...so I dont know what to say. Regardless of that, GOD IS GOOD! He did awesome things and I'm excited to get to share what He did and spoke to me this trip. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS! I'll see most of you tommorow at church! blessings!!!
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