Bringing Down The House!!!

 

After reading this verse today, I thought about how I was building my house and what was I doing to tear it down?

 

Am I doing enough to lift my house? Am I praying enough for my husband, for our marriage for our future children if God allows? Am I gossiping, and causing strife?

 

I take the role of a wife very seriously. It is my desire to love my husband and put God first in our marriage. I want to see my husband excel and succeed in many things. Most of all I want him to excel and succeed in his walk with Christ.

 

I try to make sure I encourage him and pray for him every day. Am I doing enough?

 

How many times at home do I work on the actual house instead of praying for my house? I have a clean freak problem. I cannot stand clutter, a dirty bathroom or kitchen. I’ve have stayed up late just to make sure my house is clean. What about my spiritual house and my duty as a wife to the spiritual leader of my home?

 

I wonder if I am doing more building or demolition. Sometimes we need to get our spiritual house in order. We need to check ourselves to see where we stand.

    

Each week before I go to the store, I check the cabinets and the fridge to see where I stand in supplies. I make a list so I won’t forget. I also look for things that are going to expire soon so I can use them and I throw out things that are expired and rotten. They make your house stink. After I do that I take the garbage out so the smell of the rotten food won’t make my house smell.

 

In our lives and our spiritual houses we need to look for rotten and expired things and do a check to see what we need so we can get it. We can clear out the dead things that are weighing us down and giving us a spiritual stink. Once you throw it in the trash, take out the garbage so it’s not even in your house anymore.

 

I encourage each of you to think about what things you may need to clean out of your house to get rid of the spiritual stink. Think about if you are building up your house or tearing it down. If you’re tearing it down, what things do you need to do to build it up and fix the parts that are torn down?

 

 

 

Some examples of things to get rid of:

Gossip, envy, strife, pride, bitterness, jealousy, idols, lying, and anything else you can think of.

 

Examples of things to take stock of:

Prayer, daily reading and devotions, fruits of the spirit, encouragement, and joy

 

The First Commandment

In Exodus Chapter 20 God gives Moses the 10 Commandments. The very first commandment is Thou shalt have no other gods before me (verse 3).

What is the definition of a god? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary a god is a person or thing of supreme value.

What things in your life could be considered a god? TV, computer, best friend, spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, work, hobbies, sports or phone?

What things do you put before God? I am very bad about putting my favorite shows, comics and other books before God. I come home from work, eat dinner and sit down to watch my shows or read. I have time to read my bible or go to church I just chose to do something else instead.

I am not sure why that I do it, but it just happens that way. At lunch I also watch Netflix on my iPad. I have a bible ap on my iPad. It makes me upset that I do it. Sometimes I don’t even think about it. I just sit down and eat my lunch and watch a show or movie.

I had been good about reading my bible every morning. Recently work has been more stressful than usual and instead of reading my bible at lunch, I choose to watch a show to give myself a mental break. I’ve noticed that my days haven’t been as pleasant and I’ve found myself being more stressed out. The other day I had a meltdown. I do not normally have melt downs. I was upset about everything and worrying about everything. I had no faith about the situation. I was fretting when I should have been reading and praying.As a Christian I need God’s word to grow. It helps us with so many things!

I am striving this week to make time to read my bible.

 

Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

 

God made the first commandment to not have any other gods before him because he knew that if he was in the center and at the head of our lives all other things would be right in them.

My challenge to you is to examine your life and think about what you put before God and how you can make changes to put God first.

Sorry there’s not been a post for a while. It’s hard to get things from God when I hadn’t picked up the word! I apologize and promise to not let it go so long between posts.

Love in Christ!

Iva Mae

Praising God…Even When You Don’t Feel Like It

This week I have not felt like praising God. I have been so tired and mentally exhausted. My plans for this past Monday were to go home, eat dinner and go to bed. I knew we had revival at our church but I didn’t want to go, I wanted to sleep. I needed rest.

 

My husband really wanted to go to revival, so I went. I thought, I’m not going to get anything out of this. I am way too tired to comprehend anything. We sang a few songs and had prayer. During prayer, I literally fell asleep. I really began to think it was a bad idea for me to come to church. Our pastor called the singers up and it was a group my Grandma Wagoner used to sing with, The New Jerusalem. I thought oh great, I am already tired now I’m going to be upset. I love to hear them sing, but it is hard for me when they sing because I don’t see my grandma at the piano anymore. I closed my eyes and decided that even though I didn’t feel like it, I was going to praise God. He has been too good to me and is so worthy of our praise. I got a huge blessing. By the third song I was ready to shout! The message was wonderful as well. I was glad that I went to revival.

 

I am glad I decided to go to church and praise God even when I didn’t feel like it. I can be a doofus sometimes. Instead of thinking about and praising God, I think and do what I want. The last sentence had a lot wrong with it. I think. I want. We should think about and do what God wants. He designed us to praise him and give him glory. He is truly worthy of praise. He is an awesome, mighty, powerful and wonderful God!

 

Hebrews  13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

 

He never changes! He is the same all the time. He is constant and good. We are blessed to have a Heavenly Father who is constant and never changing in an ever changing world.

 

Sacrifice– surrender of something for the sake of something else; something given up or lost; an act of offering to a deity something precious

 

Praise – to express a favorable judgment of; to glorify

 

Towdah is a Hebrew word meaning praising God when it isn’t easy or when you don’t want to.

 

Hebrews 13:15 & 16 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

 

Jeremiah 33:11 “The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord…”

 

Psalms 54:6 “I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O Lord; for it is good.”

We should praise God when we feel like it and when we don’t feel like it. It says in God’s word that God is well pleased with such sacrifices. Sacrifices can be time, money, sleep, work, hobbies and anything else you value precious and dear. I gave up my time to worship and praise God and I was blessed.  Next time you don’t feel like praising God think of the word towdah. Think of how much God will bless you for sacrificing to praise him. Think of how much God sacrificed so that you could have life and salvation. He gave his only son to die for our sins. We can sacrifice time or sleep to give him praise.

 

Love from above,

 

Iva Mae

Who is this Jesus?

Self Mutilation & Destructive Habits Part 2

The other day I did a post about Self Mutilation. I wanted to add a few things today in Part 2.

Some of the things that were triggers for me were the following:

1.      Feeling alone

2.      Feeling isolated

3.      Feeling unworthy

4.      Feeling like everyone hated me

5.      Feeling not good enough

6.      Feeling not pretty

7.      Having people be mean say negative things about me and me believing them

I found the best thing to do is to find something to occupy your mind or and replace the bad activity with a good activity instead.

I love to read. I found reading was an escape from reality for a while. In the books I read I was the main character. I could go to China and Texas in the same day. I could be anyone or do anything I wanted to.

I also found going on a walk was a big help to me. I love nature and seeing all of the trees and flowers. I love walking in the park. I sometimes take my dog with me. Watching her enjoy nature is soothing.

I am not a big fan of working out. (GASP) I know the benefits are great though. When I do work out, it helps me to release stress and negativity. Exercise gives you endorphins which make you happy. It sounds cliché but it is true. During my work out’s I’m usually yelling at the DVD and calling the instructor a devil woman but afterwards I am happy.

The key is to know what triggers the self mutilation and to know what activity to replace the self mutilation with.

Remember you are beautiful! You are unique! You are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Psalm 139:14 “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

Light of the World

My heart has been heavy since yesterday at church. We had several kids in junior church share what it is like to be picked on and to grow up without fathers and mothers. Listening to some of the horrible things these kids have gone through breaks my heart. It also reaffirms my calling for this blog. Life doesn’t always deal the best cards. Life can be cruel and very hard. We have a God who can take on the burdens of our lives and heal our broken hearts. We have to remember that no matter what people say about us or what happens in life, if we are Christians, we are advocates of Christ. How we handle situations can make or break others thoughts about Christians. I’ve been guilty of flying off the handle when someone has been mean to me or says something mean to me. I have to remember that most people who make fun of others and are bullies are the most insecure and unhappy people.

Matthew 5:3-16 “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. ¹⁰ Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹ Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. ¹² Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. ¹³ Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.“

Those verses talk about a lot of good stuff. Verses 10 & 11 say Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Persecute– to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict; specifically : to cause to suffer because of belief; to annoy with persistent or urgent approaches (as attacks, pleas, or importunities)

Revile– to subject to verbal abuse; to use abusive language

Jesus says that those who get made fun of or are harassed, punished, or suffer for his name sake are blessed and theirs is the kingdom of God. It’s not easy to remember when you are being made fun of or pushed around that God is on your side and that you are blessed. I have learned that the best thing you can do when you get made fun of or pushed around, is to pray for the person who is bothering you and to forgive them. That is not easy to do trust me. I have learned that when you carry around anger and hate for someone else it eats you alive. Being angry and hating someone doesn’t do anything but hurt you.

 

Matthew 5 is full of a lot of good stuff! Verse 43-46 “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans do the same?”

 

What does Jesus say in the verses above? Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. This is not easy. Remember that as a Christian, your reward is in Heaven and is a greater reward than any reward on earth. Focus on God. Let him be your guide. Pray for those who make fun of you and pick on you. As I have gotten older, I have started feeling sorry for people who make fun of me and are mean to me. I wonder what has happened to them in life that has made them that way. The more you pray for the people who make fun of you the easy it is to endure it.

 

If someone is bullying you at school and physically abusing you or mentally abusing you, please talk to a teacher, guidance counselor, pastor, parent or someone else you trust. I don’t want any child or person to be hurt. Another thing you can do is to tell the person bothering you to stop. If that doesn’t work and they continue or it gets worse, you need to get an adult involved.

Love in Christ,
Iva Mae