Mostly everyone is waking up to very cold temperatures this morning. It was 18 degrees here in Boone, NC. I have a little electric heater (for supplemlental heat) sitting in front of me. My feet get really cold so I have on 2 pairs of socks. Rocky, my dog, is sitting on a warming blanket. And I have a fresh cup of hot tea in my hands. The things we do to get warm and stay warm. I reported on facebook yesterday that it was snowing in our mountainous area. Others closeby chimed in with similar weather reports. Folks talked about hot chocolate and Russian tea. The first few snows of the season provokes excitement in us--and we actually enjoy the cold weather. Here, the skiing business thrives on the coldness and the ability to make man-made snow. Everyone dreams of going to a ski lodge and sitting in front of a rock fireplace with a big roaring fire and sipping on hot chocolate. And as the season of winter moves forward the excitement dies down but the need for warmth stays.
The ups and downs of our spiritual lives can look very similar to our physical need and search for warmth. Events happen in our lives that may affect our outlook on ourselves and God. The relationships with Holy Dad and ourselves may reduce to nothing. How about this: are you even speaking to God right now or giving Him the cold shoulder? And just how badly are you talking to yourself? Are you calling yourself nasty names? If you find yourself in this place then obeying the most important and 2nd most important commands is very difficult. Do you know what those commands are? Look up Luke 10:27. NIV says: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, love your neighbor as yourself." So your relationship with Holy Dad and yourself is stunted at the moment and you don't feel like obeying this command. Friend, He doesn't tell you to do this because He is arrogant and disrespectful to you. He created you to love Him and He created you so that He could love you. Back in Genesis we were the ones who messed up the perfect situation He had put us in--keep that in mind. And in the here and now, we are the ones messing up from having a better situation. I know, I know--it's hard to force yourself to love. I'm not asking you to force yourself. In fact God's not asking you to force yourself. He has given us the Holy Spirit, living inside of us--available for service upon request--to help us with this difficult task. Use Luke 10:27 as a guide in a prayer request to Holy Dad. Tell our sweet Lord that you are having difficulty in the love department but you wish to love Him like He wants you to. And then ask Him to help you love Him with all your heart/passion, soul/prayer life, strentgh/energies, and mind/intellect. And ask Him to clarify how He wants you to feel about yourself and to achieve that level of care. Once you have those 2 things flowing in the right direction the flow continues on to others. And then give Him huge thanks.
With all that love swirling around in us our lives warm up and blossom. There is a warm light at the end of the tunnel. Now look to see what your life can become: 2 Peter 1:5-8 (MSG): "So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus." Did you pick out the word "warm" in this scripture? How about "basic"? And "passionate"? And "grass"? I really love these verses and what it means for my life. The quality of life is definitely raised by following the formula outlined here.
I used that same portion of scripture in the next 21 day journal note. See how I used it and perhaps you will use it and benefit from it.
21 Day Journal Note # 19
Who is Resposible?
My thoughts continuouslly zero in on people--what they are doing to me and what they are not doing for me. Lord, this is bad behavior that I am responsible to deal with. Psalm 118:8 (GWT) says: "It is better to depend on the Lord than to trust mortals." Father, You are helping me to depend on You and not put my responsibilities off on others! 2 Peter 1:5-8 (MSG) advises: "So don't lose a minute in building character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus."
end of journal note.
Just in case you are new to this site, it is proven that handwriting God's word once a day x 21 days rewires your brain and in turn changes your life. And it doesn't take much time to perform this very helpful task--you just have to do it.
So friend, will you warm up your soul today for God, for others, for yourself?
Sisterly love to all, Wynndy
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