As you all know I have been relieved of my design duties for now. I am also working very hard at listening to Jesus. It is very difficult to cut through the garbage to even see Jesus let alone hear him. I have filled my brain with so much evil stuff that he has to wade through sludge and goo to get to the stuff he needs to use to help me but Jesus is not adverse to getting his feet dirty. I am very grateful that it isn't a brick wall he has to tear down.
In the past 6 weeks since I have been unemployed much has happen in my mind. I have been reading the Word very closely every morning. I read until I can understand no more. I have read the New Testament and am now beginning at the Beginning. I am with Moses in the wilderness preparing God's people to enter the promised land. We are grumbling right now because we have no water. For me no water is no money. I am grumbling because I have no money and of course no job. I feel as if I am not accomplishing anything. But I am wrong.
The number one rule of Christianity is to love Him with all our hearts, minds and souls. How do we do that? Well the first thing we have to do is get to know Him. We do that by reading and absorbing His word. God provided us with ample information to get to know him and ourselves. To know Him is to get closer to ourselves as well. He reveals in us why he created us and for what purpose we are here. He provides us with people to teach us and with people that we are to teach. He provides us with ways to forgive and ways to show our faith. He loves us so we can love others. It is our first purpose to love Him. As we get deeper into His word we will love Him deeper. He knows that so he provided us with a way to do it. His love amazes me even as I look at what he has had to forgive of me even one second ago. He reveals what we most want to know - Why?
The second rule is to love our neighbour. This can be even harder than loving God. What we don't blame on God we blame on people. When we learn to love God unconditionally that is when he teaches us to love our neighbours as well. I have an issue with this 'loving my neighbour' stuff. I have had to work with loving the person even though they sin. A good example would be Hitler. The man was a good representation of what Satan looks like to me but Hitler was a man who was responsible for bringing Germany out of poverty and making them a super power. He had great leadership skills even though he used them for evil. He knew what he wanted, he was patient with receivig it, he was confident he would get it and he was above all focused. Hatred drove him to do everything he wanted but God wants love to drive us Christians to get what we desire. God knows that if we developed a love for Him first that it would work as a background to learn to love our neighbour. True love comes between God and you, while unconditional love comes between you and your neighbour. Unconditional love comes from passion. Passion comes from God. They are intertwined - the more we love the more our passion is apparent the stronger our passion will become.
This year I give you a challenge for the whole of 2008. You will never ever regret working on this challenge. You will learn so much you will get sick of learning. Learning is hard as well so don't give up. When the Holy Spirit convicts you with something - do it and do it fast so that you can learn what you are supposed to learn. You will understand this more as you go along. Now on to the challenge for 2008.
Discover your God given passion. You say, how do I do that? Well for the year of 2008 get to know God the best way you can. Be sure to attend church weekly, make some new Christian friends, find a Christian mentor, read the Bible and attend extra Bible studies. If you live in the LaSalle area you can attend Women Graced Women's Ministry or if you are a man find a man's group that you can attend. I believe that you should learn from your own gender. I am not a proponent of separating genders just a proponent of having a deep bible study with your own gender to ensure total comfort in sharing issues and dreams. No one can help a man better than another man and the same goes for women.
So your challenge for January is to set yourself up with all the stuff you need to begin your journey finding your passion in 2008.
Recap
Your 2008 Challenge is to find your passion - if you know it already and are not implementing it seek Gods face for discernment on how to use it for your neighbour. If you are using it but not with Gods blessing seek his face to discern what you should be doing. If you don't know it or are confuse about your passion seek Gods face to discern his plan for you and how to implement it. His plan is how you will become passionate about your passion.
Your January Challenge is to get a plan in place to seek Gods face. Find groups, churches and Christians to help you. Buy a bible that is going to teach you plus keep you in His word. I love the New King James version, some like the Message, some like NIV. Choose something that will lead you to a new conviction to read His Word. It is all about planning and sticking too it. Self-discipline will become a habit once you do something 21 days in a row. So exercise your soul with Biblical push ups and your spirit will reap the benefits.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good 2008
May God bless all of your journeys
Kathleen
In the past 6 weeks since I have been unemployed much has happen in my mind. I have been reading the Word very closely every morning. I read until I can understand no more. I have read the New Testament and am now beginning at the Beginning. I am with Moses in the wilderness preparing God's people to enter the promised land. We are grumbling right now because we have no water. For me no water is no money. I am grumbling because I have no money and of course no job. I feel as if I am not accomplishing anything. But I am wrong.
The number one rule of Christianity is to love Him with all our hearts, minds and souls. How do we do that? Well the first thing we have to do is get to know Him. We do that by reading and absorbing His word. God provided us with ample information to get to know him and ourselves. To know Him is to get closer to ourselves as well. He reveals in us why he created us and for what purpose we are here. He provides us with people to teach us and with people that we are to teach. He provides us with ways to forgive and ways to show our faith. He loves us so we can love others. It is our first purpose to love Him. As we get deeper into His word we will love Him deeper. He knows that so he provided us with a way to do it. His love amazes me even as I look at what he has had to forgive of me even one second ago. He reveals what we most want to know - Why?
The second rule is to love our neighbour. This can be even harder than loving God. What we don't blame on God we blame on people. When we learn to love God unconditionally that is when he teaches us to love our neighbours as well. I have an issue with this 'loving my neighbour' stuff. I have had to work with loving the person even though they sin. A good example would be Hitler. The man was a good representation of what Satan looks like to me but Hitler was a man who was responsible for bringing Germany out of poverty and making them a super power. He had great leadership skills even though he used them for evil. He knew what he wanted, he was patient with receivig it, he was confident he would get it and he was above all focused. Hatred drove him to do everything he wanted but God wants love to drive us Christians to get what we desire. God knows that if we developed a love for Him first that it would work as a background to learn to love our neighbour. True love comes between God and you, while unconditional love comes between you and your neighbour. Unconditional love comes from passion. Passion comes from God. They are intertwined - the more we love the more our passion is apparent the stronger our passion will become.
This year I give you a challenge for the whole of 2008. You will never ever regret working on this challenge. You will learn so much you will get sick of learning. Learning is hard as well so don't give up. When the Holy Spirit convicts you with something - do it and do it fast so that you can learn what you are supposed to learn. You will understand this more as you go along. Now on to the challenge for 2008.
Discover your God given passion. You say, how do I do that? Well for the year of 2008 get to know God the best way you can. Be sure to attend church weekly, make some new Christian friends, find a Christian mentor, read the Bible and attend extra Bible studies. If you live in the LaSalle area you can attend Women Graced Women's Ministry or if you are a man find a man's group that you can attend. I believe that you should learn from your own gender. I am not a proponent of separating genders just a proponent of having a deep bible study with your own gender to ensure total comfort in sharing issues and dreams. No one can help a man better than another man and the same goes for women.
So your challenge for January is to set yourself up with all the stuff you need to begin your journey finding your passion in 2008.
Recap
Your 2008 Challenge is to find your passion - if you know it already and are not implementing it seek Gods face for discernment on how to use it for your neighbour. If you are using it but not with Gods blessing seek his face to discern what you should be doing. If you don't know it or are confuse about your passion seek Gods face to discern his plan for you and how to implement it. His plan is how you will become passionate about your passion.
Your January Challenge is to get a plan in place to seek Gods face. Find groups, churches and Christians to help you. Buy a bible that is going to teach you plus keep you in His word. I love the New King James version, some like the Message, some like NIV. Choose something that will lead you to a new conviction to read His Word. It is all about planning and sticking too it. Self-discipline will become a habit once you do something 21 days in a row. So exercise your soul with Biblical push ups and your spirit will reap the benefits.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good 2008
May God bless all of your journeys
Kathleen
