I. Following Hard after God

In a previous post, I talked about how I had just finished reading "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer.  It was really a great book on pursuing a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God.  This is something that every disciple of Christ desires and strives for. 

I'm finding so many ways that Tozer's writing is applicable to my life today. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

I.  Following Hard after God

"My soul followeth hard after thee; thy right hand upholdeth me."
Psalm 63:8

• "Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him; imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow."
  It's amazing to me how much importance we tend to put upon ourselves.  We seem to think that all of our efforts are somehow credited to us.  But it is not so. If we think of God, it is because He has done a work in our hearts.  When we accept him, it is because He first pursued us. We wouldn't even be able to comprehend a single verse from His word if He hadn't first opened the eyes of our hearts. 
  
  Out of His amazing love for us, he has chosen to work in our hearts so that we might know him. 

• "Being made in His image we have within us the capacity to know Him.  In our sins we lack only the power.  The moment the Spirit has quickened us to life in regeneration our whole being senses its kinship to God and leaps up in joyous recognition."
  
  Whenever we have truly become regenerated in Christ, our souls leap for joy in the recognition of our Creator.  A sense of rightness, a familiarity that is instantaneous. 

• When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself.  The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation.  In the "and" lies our great woe.  If we omit the "and" we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing."
  
  Pursuing only God is extremely fulfilling.  We are all guilty of adding our own desires onto God, but when we strip all of that away we are left with only the longing for God Himself. 
  
  This may seem detrimental to some:  to make our God our all at the expense of all else.  However, when we forsake everything else, we are able to find the deep joy in knowing that God is our everything.
  
  It's so easy to misplace our priorities.  If our main motivator for pursuing Christ is to prosper, or gain peace, or be free from trouble, what happens when we achieve our goal?  Or, what if we fail to find what we're looking for? 
  
  In life, we will have trials and suffering.  There will be days that everything goes wrong and our patience has been worn over thin.  What do we do when we aren't living "our best life now", despite all of our efforts?  (Don't worry, I'll be addressing the unbiblical ministries of many of today's leading teachers in the future)When we pursue God simple to be close to Him, we find that even when we are sick, even when we are suffering, even when the kids are testing our patience and we feel like giving up, we still have God.
  
  When we are sick, we know that God is caring for us and waiting for us at the end of the road.
  
  When we face persecution for following God, we are able to know that He is fully there and fully understands.  In the end, our reward is in heaven.
  
  And when our patience is gone, we know that we have a Heavenly Father that we can run to.  How wonderful to know that when I am at my wits end, my God can fill me up with his love and patience! 

These are just a few of my thoughts about the first chapter of The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.  What are your thoughts on the book?  How is the wisdom found in this chapter applicable to your life? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Our Family's Favorite Bible resources

The most important aspect of our homeschool is our relationship with God.  It's one of the main reasons that we felt led to homeschool.  It's also the reason that we decided to go with the curriculum from My Father's World.  We love how it is all bible based.

My Father's World: Learning God's Story includes My Big Book of 5-Minute Devotions as well as the Bible Reader and Bible notebook, so we will be using those as needed throughout the year.  We are also memorizing the Proverbs along with the lesson plans.

As great as I think these resources are, our family still likes to include more Bible time.  In the mornings, we usually read from 365 Read-Aloud Bible Stories if there isn't a reading from the Devotional book.  These stories are short and sweet and include a couple of questions at the bottom. 



In the evenings before we go to bed, we like to read out of one of our other bibles. We've been reading through the Jesus Calling Storybook the past few months.  They kids seem to really enjoy the stories, and the illustrations are captivating. 

We recently bought The Rhyme Bible Storybook, and have been reading from it some nights as well.  It's a joy to read and keeps all three of our young children's attention.

We also bought The Mystery of History Volume I: Creation to the Resurrection.  Although we haven't done much out of this yet, what we have read has been wonderful.  Our kids loved the lessons and we also did some crafts to go along with the stories.  

 

 

Do you use any of our favorite bible resources?

What does your family use?  Let me know in the comments! 

The Pursuit of God

I recently read The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer.  I had actually never read the book before, but I had seen some great quotes from the book and decided that it was time to read it for myself.  And I'm so glad that I did!

I read the book on my Kindle, and if the pages of notes and the amount of highlighting I did say anything, its that the book is just wonderful.  Tozer's insight and writing highlights a way to a deeper relationship with God.  It's a book that I think can be of tremendous help to Christians that aren't satisfied with the status quo of Christianity today.

Having been written by Tozer in the late 1940's, the style may not be what many are used to reading, but I definitely think that it's worth the effort.  I loved how Tozer addressed the issues pertaining to the Christian's walk with God.  Each chapter also ends in a prayer, which I enjoyed. 

The Pursuit of God  isn't just some formulaic outline promising to bring us closer to God.  It is more an explanation of how we go about living this.

“We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can.” 

When Chris and I began dating, we wanted to be near each other all the time.  I wanted to know what his hopes and dreams were, what his favorite food was, and what made him feel happy and loved.  Through all of this, we forged a strong connection and grew closer and closer to one another.

It is the same with God.  When we become a Christian and are regenerated, we should desire to pursue a deeper understanding and relationship with God.  He has drawn us to himself, and now he is waiting for us to pursue Him just as he continues to pursue us. 

Over the coming weeks, I am going to be writing about each chapter in detail.  I'd like to share my thoughts about the writing as well as share how I find it applicable in my everyday life.

 

Please, join me on this journey!  Grab your own copy of the book, a cup of coffee, and let's pursue our God together!

2014-2015 Homeschool Verse

This is our second year homeschooling, and since Squirrely Girl is now a First grader, I am now doing something more structured.  I've already spoken some about our decision to use My Father's World curriculum.  I had seen it on quite a few blogs, and when I was researching curriculums I kept being drawn back to this one.  God has a way of weeding through all of the unnecessary stuff for us!

In addition to doing the MFW 1st Grade: Learning God's Story, my husband and I are really wanting to focus on biblical character training.  This led us to adopt a verse for the year.  Since our kids are still so young, we wanted to start them out with a good foundation on how we should act. 

So I sat down, bible opened before me, and prayed that God would lead me to the perfect verse for our coming school year.  As I began reading, I was drawn to Galatians 5.  I immediately knew that this was a wonderful verse for our family for the upcoming year.  With all of us trying to become more structured with our schooling, we are bound to have hard days where the tears flow and the frustration levels rise.  What better thing to cling to than our Savior's provision to handle all these things?!

 

 

With everything that I am wanting to include in our day--from the math facts and phonics lessons to the science experiments and cooking lessons--I don't want to forget to focus on what's truly important.  One of the most important reasons we decided to homeschool was so that we could "train our children in the way they should go" (Proverbs 22:6). 

If in my zeal to check off my lesson plans and cram as much fun, interesting instruction I can into their little brains I forget the weightier matters such as love and mercy, then it is all for naught.  God gave me these three little blessings to raise into people that love and praise Him with every fiber of their being.  How will they know unless I point them to the One who did it all? 

Above all, if my children learn nothing else this year, I want them to learn to rely on God and know that in Him we can be victorious in all things.  Through Him we are able to truly love, have pure joy, a peace that surpasses understanding, patience in all things, show kindness at all times, goodness in all circumstances, faithfulness in following Him, a gentle spirit, and self-control. 

To help the kids memorize the verse, I got the bible verse printout as well as the fruit basket printouts from Christian Preschool Printables.  I laminated the verse and hung it in our living room so that we would see it often throughout the day.  I also laminated the fruit basket pieces and used some Velcro to make a game for the kids to practice our verse.  We've played many variations with it, and already Squirrely Girl has memorized our verse.  Bear in well on her way to having it memorized as well. 





Does your family have a verse for the homeschool year?  I'd love to hear your story in the comments.

Easy Mama... Getting past feeling unappreciated

Nearly six weeks ago now, our family moved from a little town in New Mexico to Fort Worth, TX.  My husband made this decision, and after much prayer and discussion, we decided that this was the direction God was taking our family. 

Overall, I love our new city!  There is so much more for us to be able to go and do as a family.  There has also been so much that God has opened up for our family, that it’s unbelievable!  As with any time you’re heading out the direction that God is leading you, the devil will try to make things more difficult and derail you.  We’ve had several mishaps, from our new electric company accidently charging us twice our deposit amount and having to refund it to some hurtful comments from some close to us. 

I’ve been having an extremely difficult time dealing with some of this.  I have felt very hurt, and personally attacked, by a lot of what has been said.  And I have been dealing with it in all the wrong ways.  At first, I was taking it to God and discussing things with my husband, and I felt better.  But as it has continued, I’ve felt like my feelings don’t really matter.  I’ve felt like I’m dealing with this alone. 

Add to that, the kids normal but aggravatingly crazy behavior at times, the stress of having sick kids for a couple of weeks, the laundry piling up, all that needs to be done around the house, and wanting to explore our new city, and I feel like I’m running on empty.  This stress is carrying over to my attitude.  I have been snippy with my kids, frustrated with my husband, and on the verge of tears a lot of the time any more. 

This isn’t me.  Sure, I can get this way from time to time, as we all slip up.  But this overwhelming sense that I don’t have anything in life together isn’t normal. Yesterday morning, I was frustrated with my husband before he went to work, and I almost didn’t give him a real goodbye because I was so upset.  I had to run outside as he was about to pull out of the driveway to apologize and tell him how much I love him. 

I think the devil deserves a roundhouse kick right to the throat. 

I’ve been getting hurt, upset, frustrated, and mad at the wrong people.  Yes, I may be justified in some of my feelings, and certainly others need to evaluate their own actions, but that isn’t something that I can control.  This is Satan’s goal.  He sees the blessing, and he is bent on destruction. 

All too often, we are quick to get defensive when others wrong and offend us.  Instead, maybe this is God’s way of putting us through his refining fire.  Although it may not change the fact that we find things hurtful, we do not have to face these things alone. 

My goal now is to deal with these in an appropriate way.  Instead of getting hurt and closing myself off, I want to take it as an opportunity to show God’s love and display his grace.  Instead of getting frustrated that no one seems to appreciate the home cooked meal or the fact that their laundry is done, I need to do it unto the Lord. 

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” Colossians 3:23

In heading Christ’s call to follow him, we are able to break through even the most difficult circumstances.  We can also separate people’s actions from them, knowing that sometimes they are unknowingly aiding the enemy’s purposes.  Instead of getting mad at the person, we should deal with the source:  Satan.

“For though we live in the world, we don’t wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with aren’t the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have DIVINE POWER to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take Every Thought and make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-6.

Praise is what we do

Just like everyone has a different love language, each one of us has an individual prayer language.  Whether we serve the Lord through working in the office or staying at home, we've all been given gifts to glorify Him.

One of the ways I like to worship God is to write poetry.  This is an original piece about how good God is. 

Renaissance of a Contemptible Mind

Everything around me’s changing,
Bending, moving, molding, shaking
Transforming, uplifting, truth brought to light
Under the wings of my God, the Christ

From the flow of the dance to the song on my lips
All is formed anew, a fresh life in this
A new forgiveness. Redemption, love, life
An airy devotion, a revitalized sight

A love, a fidelity that I’ve never known
A fondness that only the Maker can show
Exoneration poured out, one so well undeserved
A balm freely given, to ease all sorrows and hurts

The One who’s so grand, with His glory stretched high
Has brought this heart of mine change, made my vision so bright.
So unworthy, and selfish, as the prisoner I am
He has fostered revival by the strength of His hand.

With miracles so eternal; and favor reaching the sky
This salvation, this redemption, it’s claimed now as mine.
So gracious, so lovely, is my Father’s great love
Nothing can separate this, nothing beneath or above.

Life blossoms, life blooms, it swells and I swoon
But His strength and protection is afforded me soon
And the play, it continues; just an act, a mere scene
And I run, and I dance, and I cry, and I scream

His arms are wide open, always comfort and peace.
A renewal of spirit, to those who deserve it the least.
So magnificent, so astounding, this unending grace
From the King of all Kings, the Lord of all days

Through His truth and His might, He is awesome in power
All of immoralities ink, has been from me been scoured.
A continual, yes unending, a great refining fire
And it fans the flames of this everlasting desire.

To please, and to worship, to serve, yes to love
A contriteness of heart; weakness admitted of
And all’s been changed, is different, His mercy entered into
All the praise, all the honor, belongs Lord only to You.

 

What is something special you do to praise God? 
Please, leave a comment and share your stories with me!

 

God Bless!

 

Rhiannan