Monday, January 01, 2007
2007 Meditations
Hosted by Laurel Wreath.
Meditate-To dwell on anything in thought; to contemplate; to study; to turn or revolve any subject in the mind; appropriately but not exclusively used of pious contemplation,or a consideration of the great Truths of religion. From the American Dictionary of the English language Noah Webster 1828
The mind is a great thing,created by God, and what we think and meditate on can make us who and what we are. I have been very convicted lately through our pastor's teaching on Romans 12:1-2.
I urge you therefore,brethren,by the mercies of God,to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,acceptable to God,which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the RENEWING OF THE MIND,that you may prove what the will of God is,that which is good and acceptable and perfect.Our pastor is preaching through Romans and has been on these 2 verses for the last 10 weeks! He is thorough,to say the least. We are greatly challenged by His preaching and this series has been no exception. He has emphasized the Christian mind--what is the Christian mind...how do we have the mind of Christ,and why is that so important in the Christian walk? I can not even begin to cover all the things he has taught and the scripture he has covered,but we have been concerned about what does enter our minds...through meditating,reading,memorizing,etc. Not all *christian books* are Christian...not every book in your local Christian bookstore is biblically sound. As a believer,I want to fill my mind and heart with the right stuff...choosing to meditate on books and writings that speak correctly about God and His Word. I must focus on God's Word and books that elevate His Word. We must all be more discerning to know what is Truth and what is not...to have a discerning mind....to have a more biblical mind....I must work on this because we are bombarded with all kinds of things that claim the Christian title. If we are meditating on God's Word,this will be an easier process.
I desire to meditate on God's commandments,which are all through scripture. They are right and perfect and show me how to live.
Psalm 19:7-14 say it well. The law of the Lord is perfect,restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure,making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right,rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure,enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true;they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold,yes,than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover,by them Thy servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins:Let them not rule over me; then I shall be blameless,and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the *meditation* of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight,O Lord,my rock and redeemer.
Meditating on God's Word and making sure my meditations are pleasing to His sight are my number one goal for the year....if I fail to do this,I will fall flat on my face.....because I have no strength on my own.
Also,as we look to the year of 2007,we see our family growing. We are in the process of waiting on our daughter from China. This will be our 5th child and we are so blessed to have 4 biological children and now the wonderful blessing of an adopted child. We are very excited about what this year holds....with the wait being a little longer for China,it may or may not be in 2007(although we think it will be)...but what we learn in this process will be so good for us. Adoption is a beautiful picture of what God has done for us...by making us His children. We are adopted into His family...we were alone,fightened,separated from God,but He loved us while we were His enemies...while we were sinners,Christ died for us. Christ's death was the substitutionary death that we deserved....we became God's child...chosen before time began. On our own,we would never choose God--our hearts are sinful and deceitful,but because of His sovereign grace,He chose us. To the praise of His glorious grace. You can read more of our adoption story here.
Thank you for reading and I pray everyone has a wonderful 2007,full of God's goodness and grace.
How blessed are those whose way is blameless,who walk in the law of the Lord.
How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,who seek Him with all their heart. They also do no unrighteousness;they walk in His ways.
Thou hast ordained Thy precepts,that we should keep them diligently.
Oh that my ways may be established to keep Thy statutes!
Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Thy commandments.
I shall give thanks to Thee with uprightness of heart,when I learn Thy righteous judgments. I shall keep Thy statutes;Do not forsake me utterly!
Psalm 119:1-8
Thank you,Laurel Wreath for hosting this. May we all dig a little deeper to see what is really important.
I am a stay at home mother to 4. I am very blessed to have a godly husband who loves the Lord and his family. I welcome the days of much needed grace,the times of sweet victories,and the tears of trials,knowing it is all for God's glory. I want my lifesong to sing to Him,the author and finisher of my faith. Soli Deo Gloria--To the Glory of God alone.
16 Comments:
Kim thank you so much for your meditations. I like what the verse in Psm. said "the testimony of the Lord is sure,making wise the simple." I am so glad.
I agree that there are so many things set up to be "Christian" that are not biblically sound, we need to be aware and KNOW God's word.
Happy New Year!
Many, many prayers for your new family addition this year. What a huge blessing indeed.
And Romans is a wonderful book---we read it often at church and everytime I'm amazed at things I didn't "realize" before.
Happy New Year to your family from ours!
I once heard it said that those who look for counterfeit money do not study the counterfeit. There are so many new ways to do counterfeit that they would surely fail if they looked for what was wrong.
What they do instead is study the real deal... the real bill. By doing this, knowing the real thing so intricately, they are able to spot the counterfeits without much difficulty.
That is what I am reminded of as I read this post. There is so much "counterfeit" beliefs and "Christianism" in our world today. If we are sure and passionate about studying the "real thing", God's Word, then recognizing the false teaching is so much easier.
What a great reminder that to study God's Word is a lofty goal indeed!! One that deserves our greatest focus and attention!!!
What a nice post.
I pray that all goes smoothly for your new little gift from China.
New Year's blessings to you.
Beautiful post. Lots to think about. My cousins adopted a little girl from China nearly two years ago. She called the waiting her longest pregnancy. When Amanda arrived she was instantly a memeber of the family. She takes after her Mama soooo much it's scary! She had me (her cousin) at hello! And furthermore her father is a minister and he gave us a dvd of his sermon on God's adoption of us. This sermon touched my dh deeply and he has had trouble connecting to his faith lately. So no matter how long it takes- it is such an amazing thing when that child transforms your life and even that of your cousins!
Kim, these are such good thoughts. That is one of my goals this year too, is to get into God's word more than I ever have.
Thanks for being my "friend" the last year and I look forward to hearing more of your rich insights in this year.
Kim thanks for sharing all this, very helpful. Praying that you will meet your daughter in 2007!
Kim,
I love this passage in Psalm 19, one that I meditate on often. The older I get, the more I realize that everything I need for this life is in His word, (If only as young wife and mother It would have had the urgency that it has today). But, it is meditating on His word and Knowing Him where I want to be found and living it out in everyday life.
Psalm 19:14 is one of the first verses I teach my children to memorize. I love the words.
Blessings to you and your family in 2007!
You are right, Kim. If we don't start off with His Word, we don't know how to discern what is biblical and what is not.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Laurel's meditation for 2007.
I pray that your dreams of adopting from China will come true.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
What a beautiful post. I love the scriptures you quoted. As I desire to know, more and more His "perfect will" the key is to be renewing my mind, meditating on His truths. Thanks for the reminder today! I have prayed just now for your adoption, for your sweet new daughter, for your homeschool and for your mind. May 2007 be an Eph. 3:20 year for your family!
Your words are rich with His wisdom. My husband and I were just discussing this today and he was saying that our ability to "discern" is based on our consistent study of the word. How true and evident this is in American church today.
Our pastor has been in the book of Romans since this time- last year :) You gotta love a pastor who is *thorough*! You can't come away from a study of Romans without wanting to examine each and every thing that claims to be "of God".
I am prayerful with your family as you wait for your little girl. What a day of rejoicing that will be!
Love this post :) Blessings!
Philippians 1:9 is part of my prayers for this year--"that your love my abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ, to the glory and praise of God."
Excellent post!
Very beautifully written Kim. Just remember "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it." Psm. 37:4,5
Blessings to you in the coming years and I pray that your new daughter will arrive soon.
Beautiful post, Kim!
I do hope that 2007 is the year you bring home your new little girl. What a blessing.
And, what a blessing your blog is to me. I love reading your posts. This one is truly uplifting. I just taught my SS class on Romans 1:1-2 (just one week though, not a year). ha ha
Happy New Year!
I'm so glad I found your blog. After a chaotic evening, your post really centered me.
We too, are adopting from China so I know how excited you must be.
I look forward to spending more time on your blog, I can tell I will learn a lot from you. :)
Blessings,
Terri
I've been thinking of these verses ALL YEAR. For me it's both filling my mind with the right thing, and allowing my actions to reflect what I know is truth (His Word) not my circumstances. A constant battle. Thanks for the encouragement - I need it!
PS-Your family is beautiful - enjoyed perusing your holiday pics.
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