A Zeal for Him

Tonight, as I was reading, I read a familiar verse in Titus that says, "...who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people zealous for good works."
Unlike on previous occassions, I immediately stopped after reading the last phrase "zealous for good works." Now there is a challenge for Christians today!
In one of my previous posts, I talked about Phinehas and how the Lord described him as, "Zealous with My zeal." The dictionary defines zeal as "filled with or inspired by intense enthusiasm or zeal, ardent, fervent." Can you imagine if all Christians had zeal when it came to there walk with the Lord? Can you imagine what might happen to the world around us if we were "zealous for good works"? What an impact we would have for Christ then! That's how I want to live my life! Throughout the Old Testament,there are many great men who are described as having a zeal for God, and it is amazing to see what these men can do (or rather Christ can do through them) because of that! I don't know about you, but I would like to be characterized by that kind of ardent and inspired enthusiasm and zeal for God!
Lord Jesus, please give me a zeal for You and for Your work!

....Just imagine what this world would look like if all Christians could have this said of them! Wow!...

It's a Choice.

Deuteronomy is one of those books that offer boundless challenges to the reader. As I read through Deuteronomy, I found that each and every chapter had some important challenge or truth to offer me. However, I think all of the things I learned have one common theme: choosing to be 100% sold out for Christ everyday and in everything that I do. This is really the basic theme of the entire book. God presents the people of Israel with a choice: follow Him and be blessed, or reject Him and be cursed. We are all presented with this same choice every day of our lives. Every morning when we get up, we decide if we are going to choose to serve the Lord that day or our self.
Deuteronomy 11:18-20 commands us, “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Thus, the question is: are God’s commands this important to you? Do you allow them to control and change the way that you choose to live your life? What you and I choose to do with the things the Lord tells us is going to affect your entire life. Further on, in chapter 30 of Deuteronomy, it says, “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments.” Granted, it isn’t always easy—in fact, it is never easy. Each day it is a battle, but a battle well worth fighting!
I think that much of what Deuteronomy has taught me personally can be summed up by the lyrics from John Waller’s popular song “The Blessing.” It says:
Let it be said of us,
while we walked among the living,
Let it be said of us,
by the ones we leave behind,
Let it be said of us,
that we lived to be a blessing for life…
…This day,
you set life, you set death right before us, this day
every blessing and curse is a choice now;
and we will
choose to be a blessing for life.
Let it be said of us,
that our hearts belonged to Jesus,
Let it be said of us,
that we spoke the words of life,
Let it be said of us,
that our heritage is blessing for life.
This day,
you set life, you set death right before us, this day
every blessing and curse is a choice now;
and we will
choose to be a blessing for life:
for Your Kingdom,
for our Children,
for the sake of every nation!

I want to be a blessing! Every day I want to get up and choose to live that day for Jesus Christ in everything I say and do. Just as God offered the Israelites the choice between life and death and blessing and cursing, He offers us that same choice everyday! I want to choose blessing!

Good Grapes or Wild Grapes?!?

I have recently begun reading in the book of Isaiah (one of my personal favorites), and there are so many different things that jump out at me. I would like to share just one of them for now!
Isaiah 5:1-4 says, "Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?"
As I read this passage, it made me think about the verse in 2 Peter 1:3 that says, "He has given us everything that we need for life and godliness." Just as the verses in Isaiah talk about, God gave us everything we could possibly need--His Word, the Holy Spirit. Despite this, we still fail to follow Him and bring forth fruit in our life. If you continue reading in 2 Peter, after explaining how God has given us everything need to successfully navigate through life, Peter tells us what to do next. KNwoing these things we need to "with all diligence, add to our faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Now, I know that all this is alot to chew on, and I would really like to expound on it more. However, I think I am going to save that for another day. But, for now, I know that I was really challenged by thought that God has given me everything I need...now what am I doing with those things? Am I using the resources and gifts He has given me? Am I being a good steward of all the things the Lord has gifted me with and the responsibilities He has given to me as His child? Am I striving to "diligently" add these fruits to my life? Or am I bringing forth wild grapes? I told you it was alot to think about!

Caleb, Balaam, and Phinehas!

While reading through the book of Numbers, I was not stuck so much by the events described as by the different characters within the events. As I was reading, there were several specific men that really caught my attention because of the choices that they made and the action they took. The three men that impacted me most throughout the book of Numbers were Caleb, Balaam, and Phinehas. Each of these men caught my attention for different reasons, but what they all have in common is that none of them were passive in their faith. They took action!
First was Caleb. Most people know the story of the spies that went into Canaan to spy out the land and how only Caleb and Joshua brought back a favorable report from among them. However, as I read this passage again, there was one particular verse concerning Caleb that caught my eye. In Numbers 14:24, the Lord said, “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.” In that verse God said three things about Caleb. First, Caleb was his servant; second, he had a different spirit; and third, Caleb followed God fully. I want the Lord to be able to say that of me! I want to be the Lord’s servant—not a servant of self or money, popularity or other people. I want to be the servant of God, and I want to have a different spirit—different from the rest of the world! I want a spirit that, as the third quality says, follows God fully!
Besides Caleb, I was also greatly challenged by Balaam. Although Balaam was by no means perfect as can be seen when the angel of the Lord appears to him on the way to Moab, there is still much to learn from him. Multiple times he made the statement: “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord, to do good or bad of my own will. What the Lord says, that I must speak.” He also stated, “All that the Lord speaks, that I must do.” It was statements like these ones that really caught my attention and further challenged me in my own personal walk. I want to be able to, like Balaam, say and do all that the Lord tells me. Regardless of punishment or reward, I want my only thought to be, “If the Lord says it, I will do it” or “If the Lord says it, I will speak it.”
The last character was Phinehas. Although I have heard of him before, I was not very familiar with this story and found it very fascinating. Phinehas especially caught my attention because there was nothing passive about him. When he saw wrong, he took care of, no questions asked! That is the kind Christian I want to be—a no-compromise, all-action Christ-follower! God described Phinehas in Numbers 25 as, “zealous with My zeal.” I want God to be able to say that of me. I want to be zealous with the zeal of the Lord so much that I can’t just be an all-talk, no-action Christian, but one who stands up and does what he knows to be right!
I want to be like these men!

The Race that Counts

This entry is some of my own thoughts as well as some of the things I heard in a church message this past Sunday. The pastor was in Hebrews 12:1-2 which says, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
One of the first things the Pastor asked was, “Have you ever had one of those days where you just want to give up?” I wanted to just laugh and cry at the same time—it seems like lately I have had that kind of day everyday! He then explained that the race we are in takes self-denial, discipline, effort, and commitment. I will be the first to stand up and say I need to work on all of those things; however, I was especially struck by “effort.” How much effort do I really put into doing my devotions? How much effort do I put in to reaching out to others? Most of the time I just wait around for God to throw an opportunity in my face, rather than taking the effort and initiative to go out and do something for Him. I was also challenged thinking about the different kind of runners there are in this race Hebrews is talking about. There are those who start off really strong and fast but then get worn out and sidelined, those who get discouraged half-way through and just kind of stop and stand on the sidelines, those who never really took the race seriously to begin with and just stroll through, and then those who run the way we ought to as Christians. I didn’t even want to think about which one I might be because of what answer I might get. Further on in the passage, when it says to lay aside the sin that easily ensnares us, it is referring to doubt. I think in all honesty, doubt is most definitely the thing that cripples me most in my spiritual life. I need to lay that doubt aside and press on in the race that has been set before me. The Christian race is a marathon, not a sprint! There will be points when you will get cramps, or trip and fall, or feel like you can't go another mile...but that is when God gives you your "second wind" and third, and fourth!!!
Keep running the marathon! The end is near!

Why read Leviticus?!?

I have read the book of Leviticus many times, and probably like most other Christians, when I get to this book I tend to just skim through, skip a chapter here and a chapter there. I mean it isn’t like we are actually responsible for all these sacrifices and commands anymore; so what is the point of reading through the book? However, God promises his Word will not return void and this promise includes the book of Leviticus! To my surprise and delight, I found as I read through Leviticus this time, I felt differently about it. When I changed my attitude about the book, God used it to provoke and challenge me as He does with every other book in the Bible.
There are so many things that I read in Leviticus that God used to challenge my thinking and actions; however, I will only share the most prominent one. I first came across it in Leviticus 10:3, “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified.” Then, in Leviticus 19:2, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Lastly, Leviticus 20:7-8 says, “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. And you shall keep My statues, and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” These verses address two key things. First, God is holy and we need to view Him that way; and second, we need to imitate His holiness so that He is manifest in our own life. In the first verse, God stressed the importance of regarding Him as holy and glorifying Him. I think that too often Christians (specifically myself) become desensitized to the holiness of God. We serve a holy God! Because we serve a holy God, we need to honor, glorify, and exalt Him as such. Furthermore, in the other verses previously mentioned it says that we need to apply that holiness to our own life. In the book Pursuit of Holiness, Jerry Bridges offers as the definition of holiness: “Living a life of conformity to the Bible, and in contrast to the world,”—a life that is characterized by “putting of the old self and putting on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness.” I know that I often fail to live that way, but I need to live it daily.
There really are many lessons that can be learned from Leviticus, and I know that I have barely touched the surface. However, throughout the course of reading Leviticus during the past week, if nothing else, this command for holiness has hit home. Be holy! I need to learn to view God as He is, a holy God; and I need to approach Him as such. Then, I need to live in a way that is contrary to the world—a way in which I put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness!

Make This Your Prayer!

These verses, have been continually challenging me for the past several weeks now. I have them written on a notecard and placed in a spot where I can clearly see them each morning when I get up, and everyday I make them my prayer. That is really all the introduction these verses need because they definitely speak for themself!

Psalms 143:8,10
"Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You.
Teach me to do Your will, for you are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness."

I could go on and on about what these verses are saying and what they mean. But instead, let me just say: ponder them, pray them, apply them, and live them!

One Sentence...

This morning when I did my devotions, I read alot of different things that stood out to me, made me think, and challenged me. However, out of everything I read and sought to apply to my life, there was one thing that keeps coming back to me. "May my meditation be sweet to Him." Psalms 104:34. That's it! One sentence! Out of everything I read that little phrase jumped out at me and hit me in the gut! My meditation, what I think about, is it sweet to Him? Probably not! If only all the things that we think about and dwell on throughout the day were honoring to Him....no, not just honoring, sweet! Psalms 19:14 says, "Let the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer." There are many other passages, espcially throughout the Psalms, that refer to our thoughts and meditations. This obviously must be important, and I think we all know that it is definitely a challenge. I hope that you will make this your prayer as I have made it mine. Reading this verse this morning, set me up for the entire rest of the day as God has constantly brought that verse back to my rememberance. Is everything I dwell on sweet to Him? Remember, all the different things you think about, God knows every single one of them. You are not the only one who knows your thoughts! Make them pleasing to the Lord!
"MAY MY MEDITATION BE SWEET TO HIM!!!!"

Just Some Personal Reflections

The book of Exodus has had a large impact on me as I read through it throughout the last two weeks. Although I have read through this book on many other occasions, God continued to use this portion of His Word to encourage me and exhort me during what is proving to be an extremely difficult period of my life. When God called Moses, he didn’t feel able or adequate. He wasn’t really sure what to say or do and probably felt very overwhelmed, but that was ok. God choice to use him anyway. In Chapter six of Exodus, it tells the genealogy of Moses showing us that Moses was just a normal guy. He was nobody extraordinary from an all-important or well-known family. Moses was a real person just like anybody else. Despite this, God used him in extraordinary ways. God can use me too!
I really like the character of Moses because he was real. He didn’t really know what to do or say, and he wasn’t afraid to speak his feelings and to ask God why. In Exodus 5:22, Moses asks, “Why is it You have sent me?” Furthermore, when God called Moses, Moses was uncertain. Moses didn’t know what he should say or do. In Exodus 4, God tells Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” Later in the chapter, God also tells Moses that not only will he teach him what to say, but “I will teach you what you shall do.” This was so encouraging to me because in the last few weeks I have had to ask God so many times what He is doing. What I should do. What I should say. Oftentimes, I feel as if God isn’t answering, but then I reread this part of Exodus. God knew what He had planned for Moses to do and he used him. The fumbling, mumbling, questioning, afraid Moses—God used him! I guess that means God can use me too. If I could hear God audibly speak to me right now, I suppose He would tell me something similar to what He told Moses: “Jacquelyn, I made your mouth and your eyes and your ears. Trust Me. I will show you what you should do and say, but you have to trust me. You have to go.” Then just like when Moses asked God why, and God responded with the simple statement, “I am the Lord.” God would tell me the same thing. I don’t need to know all the answers or exactly what He is doing I just need to wait on Him. Then, maybe Go d will be able to use me just like He used Moses!

Position Yourself!!!

Over the last few weeks, God has been bringing one verse to mind over and over again. I have to say it is a pretty cool verse; so I would like to share it with the rest of you (the rest of you being whoever reads this)! 2 Chronicles 20:17 says, "You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you." Seems like a pretty simple verse right? Well, it just really got me thinking. Oftentimes, I try to fix things and work them out when that isn't my job. God tells me that the battle isn't mine--that I don't need to fight. Instead, I am told to simply position myself! My job is to seek the Lord and be ready to do whatever it is He asks me to. That's it. If I would just be ready and willing to serve Him, then all I have to do is wait and watch and see God work. Now, that is awesome! So today I am going to go out and position myself wherever God calls me to because He is with me! I don't know about you but I can't wait to see what He does today--to see the salvation of the Lord!!!!

What is a "Student of the Word"?

I am beginning my first ever post in my first ever blog! This is exciting--kinda! This blog is called "Becoming a Student of the Word," so you are probably wondering: what on earth does that mean? Well, basically the purpose of this blog is simply to share what God is teaching me through the Bible, His Word. God is my teacher, and I am His student. It is the student's responsibility to listen to, learn, and apply what his professor is teaching. Therefore, in order for me (and you) to do this we need to become students of the Word of God, reading and applying it to our lives! So now you know what this blog is all about! It isn't anything extraordinary merely my thoughts on what God is teaching me and a record of different verses God has recently shown me or is using in my life. I hope that maybe these verses can be an encouragement to you too! So here it goes.....