Author: Jessica

Spiritual attack (Geeky Analogy)

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Here’s an analogy that just came to me: The attacks of the devil are like script-kiddie denial of service attacks against Livejournal that happened recently. Knocknocknocknockknock (It kind of helps if you visualize Miles imitating the devil’s ceaseless knocking) Yeah, the attacks kind of suck, we’re all sitting here in withdrawal for a day or two cuz we can’t hardly get to the site cuz they’re just hammering the site so badly.

But a couple days later, when Brad and the development team came out victoriously, Brad had only surprisingly good things to say about the attack. He was like “thank you script-kiddie, cuz thanks to your attack efforts, not only did the site become more robust against that kind of attack in the future, but it also tested the load-capacity (testing…like a “refiners fire”) in ways they hadn’t really tested before so they were able to greatly reduce some bottlenecks they didn’t even realize they had, making the overall performance of the site more robust.

Is spiritual attack not the same way? If the evil one doesn’t win, don’t you come out stronger than you thought possible after the brief period of suffering and troubles? “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.” Ha. Take that. Whack.

Luke 8:4-15 ~ The Parable of God’s Seed (and how the devil tries to eat you alive)

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Ways the Evil One will try to keep you from being a fruitful Christian:
1) fill you with worries
2) distract you with riches
3) distract you with pleasures of the world
4) encourage you to give up easily at the first sign of trouble
5) encourage you do doubt God and doubt the truth of God’s teachings
6) choke you with “weeds” (aka something “useless, detrimental, or worthless”)
7) leave you somewhere “rocky” and unforgiving
8) starve you of the water you need to survive (being washed in water is symbolic of repentance in Mat3:11, so this might mean you are being kept from repentance or don’t know you need to repent)
9) be eaten alive (revelation 19:21) – interesting parallel: birds gorging themselves on flesh, and here birds eating living seed)

To Produce Good Fruit:
1) Have a good, honest heart
2) Obey God
3) Be patient and let your fruit have time to ripen
4) See and understand, don’t just look and listen
5) let your light shine before mankind (light being symbolic of God’s presence)

and the fire in my soul is back! I feel that radiance bursting through as the truth becomes evermore clear. Just as it says but a couple verses later, “Everything that is hidden will become clear”…”so make good use of what you have”

Feeding of the 5000

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Wow, I just had the coolest revelation as I was reading my bible. I was reading Luke, chapter 9, the section about how more than 5000 were fed. Like all of a sudden, as I read that Jesus told them to sit in groups of 50, it just popped into my head the statistic that the “average” church has about 50 people who go to it. They were fed–like how the church feeds “spiritual food”. Wow, how blindingly obvious, of course he’s talking not just about bread, but of the “bread of life”–Jesus. The churches are feeding Jesus to the people. So cool.

Hmm, maybe there’s a good reason for that size of 50 in terms of a group and effectiveness at being spiritually fed. The other interesting thing is there were 5 loaves and 2 fishes. Five loaves is about 1000+ people, well, families really per loaf–they didn’t count the women or children in their number of people, making 20+ groups of 50 per loaf. And the coolest part, all that leftover bread? Being left with crumbs of 12 loaves? That is SOOO cool when you think about what that means at a spiritual level–you end up with more of the spiritual food than you started with by sharing it, and they had to have picked up some new followers to share God’s glory with along the way.

The two fish…that’s a little tougher, symbolically. Luke 5, Jesus tells his disciples “from now on you will fish for people” and in John 21 Jesus tells his diciples they’re fishing in the wrong place, they reason they weren’t catching “fish” was because they were not looking in the right place, or perhaps not at the place AND time where the fish were where they looked. Here’s another interesting thing about that–when they were under the direction of Jesus to find “fish” they reaped a great harvest, but when they just went out looking for fish without Jesus’s guidance they came back empty handed. Now, in the context of fishing for people what would that all mean? It would have to mean something about fishing for believers… 🙂 But as for the two fish along with the loaves of bread…the only thing I can really think to say is that maybe the fish are like men, like believers. Matthew 13:47 “the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish”. And then, as people, some are good and some are bad: “When it was full…they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.” So it seems as though maybe those two fish represent starting with a small harvest, kind of like the seed that starts the sprouting of faith, just a couple steadfast believers who know God and his joy and glory?

Verses of the Day ~ “What to Read when you are challenged by dark forces”

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Matthew 6:26 ~ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or
store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not
much more valuable than they?

Luke 12:24
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or
barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!
~~
My little red letter NIV bible that I had at Remnant on Friday (the one I
normally leave at work) is awesome because instead of having a normal hefty
concordance in the back it has a simplied “kids version” of the concordance
with “what to read when…” topics. And what do you know but I find an
outpouring of encouraging verses as a result…Sorry there’s so many and
some of them so long…but it was just in my heart that none of this was
superfluous and unnecessary, but every last word of these something I want to
go back and reread over and over and not forget 🙂

Joshua 1:6-9
6 “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit
the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very
courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not
turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful
wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth;
meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything
written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not
commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be
discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Psalm 56:1-4
1 Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press
their attack. 2 My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me
in their pride. 3 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. 4 In God, whose
word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2Corinthians 4:7-18
7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing
power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side,
but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not
abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in
our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed
in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for
Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then,
death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 13It is written: “I
believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also
believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the
Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with
you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that
is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the
glory of God. 16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are
wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our
light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on
what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal.

Ephesians 6:10-18
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full
armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on
the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able
to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with
the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with
the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all
this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the
flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all
occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be
alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

2 Timothy 4:3-5
3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.
Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great
number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will
turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you,
keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an
evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

2 Timothy 4:16-18
16At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me.
May it not be held against them. 17But the Lord stood at my side and gave me
strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all
the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.
18The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely
to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Verses of the Day

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wisdom verses:
“Many times a man plans his steps but the Lord directs His path” Proverbs
16:9 or 20:24
“even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief” – proverbs
14:13

Resisting temptation:
“Be self-controlled and alert. your enemy the devil prowls like a roaring
lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in faith…”
-1 Peter 5:8
“Be clear minded and self controlled so that you can pray” -1 Peter 4:7

Convicting verse:
“For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans chose to
do–liking in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and
detestable idolatry” -1 Peter 4:3

How to live life instead:
“Above all, love earch other deeply, because love covers a multitude of
sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling…” -1 Peter 4:8-9

Encouraging verse of the day:
“If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides” -1 Peter
4:11

Go out and Serve God!

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“the last thing many believers need today is to go to another bible study. they already know far more than they are putting into practice. what they need are serving experiences in which they can exercise their spiritual muscles” -Purpose Driven Life

Boy Meets Girl – Quotes & Notes

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“But do you see who’s being forgotten in the equation of ‘two consenting adults’? The almighty Creator of their two bodies.”

“Learning to recognize true affection can be difficult, especially if you’ve learned to equate sex with love…Do you want to demonstrate your passion for them with more than words? Then guard against sin, fight lust, and refuse to arouse them sexually.” and that came to life as I read a story posed about temptation and the closing thought “Even though there was a part of her heart that wanted me to stay, she felt my love for her as I turned my back on temptation.” That, my friends, is love–to say to your fiance, I love you too much to let evil ruin our relationship by starting us down a road of temptation and unsatisfiable lust, and as much as I don’t want to do this, I know its what’s good for you, so I will anyway, even though part of me doesn’t want to.

“God not only wants to maximize a couple’s enjoyment of sex in marriage, He also wants them to learn to trust Him *together*. When a Christian man and woman systematically deny their own physical desires as an expression of mutual faith and submission to Jesus Christ, they are laying a solid spiritual foundation for their marriage. They’re learning to fight sin as a team. They’re learning to care for each other, pray for each other, and challenge each other.”

Lawlessness vs. Legalism. To be lawless is to throw away God’s commands and live for the self, do whatever you want with no concern for righteousness, no concern for others. Obviously, that’s bad. Legalism is said to be just as bad, following rules to the letter, rather than to the intent, placing the guidance not on God, but on human rule. Yet, at the same time, we can’t throw away “rules”–like them or not.

Rules are like the yellow line in the center of the road, the analogy was drawn. “We need the yellow lines on a road even though they can’t stop a car from swerving into the wrong lane and having a head-on collision.” a vague definition of righteousness quickly leads to compromise. “You don’t need [yellow lines painted in your relationship] when you’re feeling strong and spiritually sharp–you need them for the moments when your resistance is weak and your sense of conviction dull. In those moments of weakness you don’t want to start having to decide what you should and shouldn’t do. If you make your choices then, you’ll wind up in compromise.”

Specific guidelines for your physical relationship can never replace your humble reliance on the Holy Spirit–but they can reinforce your biblical convictions”

LUST IS NEVER SATISFIED. Don’t waste your time chasing it, it will only bring your destruction. profound to think how true it is that lust cannot be satisfied, it is only replaced for a craving for more or worse or additional.

Also, sometimes we forget we need to pray every time we feel tempted for God to ease our temptation and praise him for how wonderful it is that he could give us such strong feelings (desire?) so that when we ARE married it is absolutely a wonderful gift (what good of a gift would it be if it weren’t desirable??)…and ask for patience…

“Wisdom calls to you like someone shouting” -proverbs 8:1

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Yesterday I had some profound realizations that were just shall we say, soooo cool! God’s given me the answers. He’s turned my “tears for the night” into “joy in the morning” (psalm 30:5), literally. Tuesday night I was in tears over my profound need for God, and got back out of bed to write some prayers in my journal.
Purpose driven life explains it well–“Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days–when your heart feels abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain is great–and you turn to God alone.” THAT is something I’ve been learning here–to turn to God alone, that he is the only thing that can satisfy and remove the hurt and pains. You don’t need somebody else, you need to learn how to turn to God. And when you do turn to God instead, the blessings are enormous.

Its better off this way

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“All your relationships would go smoother if you would just pray more about them.” -Purpose Driven Life

Well, umm, duhhh, speak of the obvious…but umm, yeah, doesn’t mean I don’t need a reminder 🙂

“Many people experience deep hurt when they open themselves up emotionally and physically only to be abandoned by someone who proclaims he’s not ready for a ‘serious commitment'” –I kissed dating goodbye

as Jennifer Knapp puts it quite nicely “its better off this way” and I know it. Sometimes the biggest blessings are not getting what we want 😉

And….Inspiring bible quote of the day from today’s reading…

4 Sing praises to the Lord, you who belong to him; praise his holy name. 5 His anger lasts only a moment, but his kindness lasts for a lifetime. Crying may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
11 You [, Lord,] changed my sorrow into dancing. You took away my clothes of sadness, and clothed me in happiness. 12 I will sing to you and not be silent. Lord, my God, I will praise you forever.
–Psalm 30

Highlights From Zechariah

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So I woke up with this sudden inclination that I should go read Zechariah..not to be confused with Zephaniah in any way…

” ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you’ ” 1:3

I’ve been having a kinda selfish week–where I consciously realize I could be more seeking after God’s own heart than I was. Priorities… When you’d just rather sit there obsessively working on hobbies rather than being useful to God… well, time for some prayer for a change of heart right?

” ‘Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the Lord” 2:10

Praise God and his love. When I got home last night, that whole making pancakes for God story email Mandy had sent me earlier that day just echoed in my heart. “God, I love you so much” and ohh man, how much God loves me, even when I do make a mess of everything or… He’ll be there waiting for me to come back to him and rejoin in his love.

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.” (8:8)
Ohh, just praise God. “so will I save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.” (8:13)

“I will strengthen…I will restore…because I have compassion…for I am the Lord their God….rejoice in the Lord” (10:6-7)

God’s promise to believers… “I will refine them like silver, and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘the Lord is our God.'” 13:9