Christians and Bikinis

Ok ladies! I have a bit of a challenge for you. Or maybe just want to start a bit of a discussion. Came across this blog post on Facebook today, and I thought it appropriate to share for discussion within our group. Please have a look at it.

Should Christian Women Wear Bikinis?

Personally LOVE the 3rd online bathingsuit shop she links there. I think I'm going to get one of those. Even at $99 I can justify.

Anyway, in light of recent plans for Mexico or for sitting on the beach in hot places, and in light of what the bible has  to say about modesty and leading others to sin, what say you to the question???

Rejoice in the Lord

Philippians 4:4-7
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.  The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

God's timing is so amazing.  I really needed a reminder such as Philippians 4:4-7. I recently did a study on this passage.  It is very familiar to us.  We all find encouragement in it... but do we actually take it to heart?  I know I'm not alone when I say that I have been feeling overwhelmed and tired.  It's not a negative, for I am so very grateful for my family and the work that I do.  But I sometimes look at the date and wonder where the time has gone... summer is already around the corner.

Yet I am so grateful to God.  Even as I sit here and type this, I am overwhelmed by His faithfulness.  There have been so many things we have been lifting to Him in prayer and we have seen Him in everything.  Yes, life is busy.  Yes, there is sometimes so much frustration and discouragement.  Yes, there is overwhelming pain.  Yes, there are heavy burdens to carry.  BUT... then I am reminded again what Paul implores us to do in this text in Philippians:

• Rejoice!
• Let your reasonableness/gentleness be evident.
• Don't be anxious.
• Pray!

The result?  Peace... and not just peace, but the peace of God... and this peace will also guard our hearts.

Amazing.  Do you know that peace? 

Thank you, God!  I continue to look to you and I am ever grateful for your provision, for your strength, for carrying my burdens.  I know that it's you who provides.  I know it's you who knows what's next in store for us, even when we don't.  So I want to always give thanks.

Hey, I finally made it to the blog! :)

I hope everyone is doing well, its been a while since I saw some of you but I trust God is keeping and guiding you all and everything you do. Our last Bible study was on fruitfulness and I wanted to post a video that I was talking to Juliet and Dolly about; it was an amazing new years sermon that my pastor preached on the 31st that blessed me and radically changed the way I view everything I do - my relationships, my career everything. I hope youll all be blessed by it as well. If it doesnt work right away click on download mp4 video and it should work. Feel free to comment on it because im sure we'll all learn something different from it
Blessings
Sham

http://calvaryonline.ca/newwestminster/sermon/2012-the-year-of-fruitfulness

Spring Heart Cleaning

Ok, so since I will have to miss Bible Study this coming Saturday, I decided I would give my input via blog. Also, seeing as how the subject is completely unrelated to our study, it will give you something else to think about as the week progresses. So let me get started…

Ezra and I have both been doing our separate “read through the Bible” devotions, though he plans to read through the Bible 4 times this year, and I have been working on my first time for more than a year now. Somehow, we ended up at the same spot just before spring break (in Isaiah and Jeremiah) and were discussing how each of those were very difficult reads. Ezra began talking about how he was being convicted severely of some idols that are in his life that he needs to get rid of. That got me thinking about it too, but at the time and seeing as how I do not have vices in the same areas, I couldn’t think of what idols might be in my own life. So I did a dumb thing and asked God to reveal any idols to me that might be getting in the way.

I wracked my brain, trying to think of anything that I put before God, or that distracts me from his Word. Then, slowly, over the next two weeks, I began to see (especially with all the time I spent in bed last week) that the little thing that had slipped in between the cracks, was so ridiculous, it was almost laughable. I was wasting ridiculous amounts of time playing the little games on my phone. Yes, I said it Phone Games. Then, on Saturday, I was reading Ezekiel Chapter 14, and somehow the verses about idols hit me smack in the face.

Now this is something a little more recent, as I have felt other things taking too much of my time in the past, such as Facebook or computer puzzles etc, and have pulled back from them. But I really felt convicted. So, I thought, in order for me to really see if this is an idol in my life, I need to take a whole week off of phone games. I know it sounds silly, but that’s just it, idols hide in little innocent things, where you would never think to look. And the result was really terrible. It has been quite hard for me not to open a single game. When I’m sitting at work with not a single customer for two hours, or when I’m waiting for 10 minutes for Ezra to run into the store, or when I’m at home and need to relax my brain for a bit. I have been choosing to read my Bible instead, since the program is on my phone too, and I’m only on day 4, and already I can see that I allowed those games to take up so much time that I could have been using to hear from God. What a wake up call! So all the spring cleaning that I had hoped to do in my house this spring break, actually ended up to be more of a heart cleaning. Do you have any spring heart cleaning you need to do???

Let your light so shine before men...

Yipee I found it finally!

The last few days God has been speaking to me through different ways about letting my light shine.
Mathew 5:¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Sometimes I find myself hesitant to speak about God in different circles for fear of offending someone. But now that I think about it, he reminds me again in 2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control. ⁸ Do not be ashamed, then, of witnessing for our Lord;

And so in anticipation of another year beginning in my life, I will let my light shine that others may see my good deeds and glorify my Father in heaven...

Encourage one another daily...

Here I am the one writing again.  This blog has been on my mind for a while... and to be honest, I feel like closing it down.  No one else has written... we are all so busy.  I really hope that doesn't give an indication of us being too busy to read the Word, even though we are not writing anything here.  It's been almost 7 weeks since the first post.

Ah, well, I'll write something anyway.  In the last couple of weeks I have started going through the book of Hebrews.  Just looking at it again today, even the first four chapters, there are so many things I could point to or write about.  Today I am choosing Hebrews 3:12-14:

"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.  But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.  We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end of the confidence we had at first."

This text is actually quite in line with the purpose of us starting this blog - to encourage each other.  Do we?  Do we build each other up?  Do we encourage each other not only in the positive, but to turn away from sin?  My first answer would be... not enough.

In the Word

I didn't think that I would be the one to start the blog, but it's actually been on my mind lately, especially since we are to be meeting again this coming weekend!  When we were in Kelowna, we had agreed that it might be a good idea for us to keep a blog, and each of us taking a day during the week to post what we have learned through our time in God's Word.

Since we are to encourage each other to be in the Word, I thought a good place to begin would be for us to read Psalm 119.  It is the longest psalm, having 176 verses.  When you read through this psalm (I'm reading an NIV translation), you will see how many different ways the psalmist describes the Word of God.  He uses words like:  the law, statutes (not statues... ha ha... almost let that slip by), precepts, decrees, commands, word, ways.  These are noted just in the first few verses!  In fact, one note from my ESV Bible states, "Only a few verses in this psalm lack an explicit mention of God's Word."  In this psalm, the writer talks about how much he longs, loves, desires, yearns after the word of God.

Now before I get myself into a long commentary on this psalm, here's my challenge to each of you.  In the next few days, read through Psalm 119.  Then publish a post here for us to all read:  Let it be your favourite verse (or two) of this passage, and explain why it resonates with you.  So, I'll start:

Psalm 119:92
If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

Without God's grace, without his love, without His Word to guide me, I would have gone my own way, and what that way would be would have been to my own detriment.  I am daily amazed at how God chose me, a sinner, a person who's thoughts are not His thoughts.  Yet He loves me still, forgives me, and uses me.  And it is because of this love that I delight in his law.  When I delight in it, I love Him even more and desire to do his will all the more. And this not just for me... for all of you!

I look forward to how we can spur each other on.  Please don't be scared by my long post... a few phrases from each of you... that is all.  Blessings to you all!

Dolly