This morning I decided to to sit in my backyard with my Bible for my quiet time.
It's amazing what you can learn when you sit still for just a few moments.
On April 27th my family lost a dear friend. He weighed about 80 pounds, had brown hair, brown eyes, and smiled when he looked at you. His name was Otter. Otter was with our family for 13 1/2 years. He was the very first dog my boys ever had. My family has been grieving over his lost for a month now. Some days we just laugh about all the things he use to do and some times we shed some tears and our talk is quiet.
A couple of days after he died and we buried him in the backyard near a dogwood tree, I went to a local nursery to buy a plant or two to mark his grave. I told the lady at the nursery that the spot never received any sunlight. She looked at me kinda funny and asked if I was sure. I was very sure.
This morning during my time with God watching his sunlight begin to creep in my yard I was amazed to see just a little light fall right on the plants. As I have continued to watch the sun shine brighter and brighter on the plants that should receive no sunlight, I've thought of how God pours His blessings on me and on others when we never know it is happening because we are not being still enough to see it.
I guess I will go back to the nursery and tell the lady that my plants are receiving full sunlight every morning. I will ask her if she has another plant that I can plant that will thrive in that spot.
This has been just another ramble but what a lesson for me to Be Still and not just know He is God but to look for God.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Difference between "being still" and "standing still"
What is the difference between "being still" and "standing still"?
Can a human being really be still? We are alive - we are active even when not moving - we blink, we think, our heart beats, blood is flowing. . . . .
Don't have the answer to that question just pondering it? Actually I do know we can "BE STILL" because I do not believe God would instruct us to do something that we could not do.
And in scripture we are told to "BE STILL".
Just pondering -
Habakkuk 3:11
Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lighting of your flashing spear.
(My note: the effect is first mentioned and then the cause)
Ezekiel 10:17
When the cherubim stood still, they (4 wheels) also stood still; and when the cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.
(My note: cause then effect)
Ezekiel 1:24
When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
(My note: The sounds of the first sentence are excited. The sounds of the second sentence are quiet)
Ezekiel 1:21
When the creatures moved, they (wheels) also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
(My note: cause first then effect)
The Hebrew word "amad" (6641) leads to 522, 5096, 5097, 6642, 6643, 6644, 6647
Alot of meanings, I will bold the ones that stood out to me:
to cause to stand, present (be there), be caused to stand, stopped, appointed, stationed, stay, stop, assigned, endure, put in place, set, stayed, remains, stand firm, came to a halt, propped up, protect, resist, stayed behind, take stand, unchanged, wait, emerge, enduring, gives stability, gives way, halt, joined together, keep on, leave alone, linger, making strong, on duty, occupied, pillar, post, put in charge, rebuilding, repair, resist, resisted, rise up, serve, stand the strain, stared with a fixed gaze, stood waiting, surviving, to feet, uphold.
Sometimes in life we have "to cause" ourselves "to stand" for God.
Sometimes we just have to be "present" with God.
Sometimes we are "appointed" to a task by God.
Sometimes we are "assigned" to a job by God. (Like being appointed but appointed has a happier sound to me than being assigned.)
Sometimes we need to "linger" where God has placed us.
Sometimes we are "on duty" because it is our turn for whatever.
Sometimes we are the "pillar" in a situation for our Lord and Savior.
Sometimes we are in a "rebuilding" period with God.
Sometimes we just have to "stand the strain" with God by our sides.
Sometimes we are just "surviving" by waiting on the LORD.
Still just pondering the difference between "being still" and "standing still".
Have a wonderful day pondering along with the Holy Spirit.
Can a human being really be still? We are alive - we are active even when not moving - we blink, we think, our heart beats, blood is flowing. . . . .
Don't have the answer to that question just pondering it? Actually I do know we can "BE STILL" because I do not believe God would instruct us to do something that we could not do.
And in scripture we are told to "BE STILL".
Just pondering -
Habakkuk 3:11
Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lighting of your flashing spear.
(My note: the effect is first mentioned and then the cause)
Ezekiel 10:17
When the cherubim stood still, they (4 wheels) also stood still; and when the cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.
(My note: cause then effect)
Ezekiel 1:24
When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
(My note: The sounds of the first sentence are excited. The sounds of the second sentence are quiet)
Ezekiel 1:21
When the creatures moved, they (wheels) also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
(My note: cause first then effect)
The Hebrew word "amad" (6641) leads to 522, 5096, 5097, 6642, 6643, 6644, 6647
Alot of meanings, I will bold the ones that stood out to me:
to cause to stand, present (be there), be caused to stand, stopped, appointed, stationed, stay, stop, assigned, endure, put in place, set, stayed, remains, stand firm, came to a halt, propped up, protect, resist, stayed behind, take stand, unchanged, wait, emerge, enduring, gives stability, gives way, halt, joined together, keep on, leave alone, linger, making strong, on duty, occupied, pillar, post, put in charge, rebuilding, repair, resist, resisted, rise up, serve, stand the strain, stared with a fixed gaze, stood waiting, surviving, to feet, uphold.
Sometimes in life we have "to cause" ourselves "to stand" for God.
Sometimes we just have to be "present" with God.
Sometimes we are "appointed" to a task by God.
Sometimes we are "assigned" to a job by God. (Like being appointed but appointed has a happier sound to me than being assigned.)
Sometimes we need to "linger" where God has placed us.
Sometimes we are "on duty" because it is our turn for whatever.
Sometimes we are the "pillar" in a situation for our Lord and Savior.
Sometimes we are in a "rebuilding" period with God.
Sometimes we just have to "stand the strain" with God by our sides.
Sometimes we are just "surviving" by waiting on the LORD.
Still just pondering the difference between "being still" and "standing still".
Have a wonderful day pondering along with the Holy Spirit.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Cause to be still - A Choice
Zechariah 2:13 - Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from His holy dwelling.
Nehemiah 8:11 - The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve."
Just a note - When you read a verse, please make sure you stop long enough to read the verses before and after the verse you are targeting. If you don't, you just wind up taking the verse out of context and then you will miss what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you. My lesson for the day with a particular passage of scripture may not be your lesson. Read passages allowing the Holy Spirit to direct your thinking/pondering.
The Hebrew word in the two verses above is "has" (2187) which leads to "hasa" (2188).
The meanings - Silence! Quiet! Hush! be silent, be still, hush, quiet, silence; to silence, cause to be still: - silenced.
I noticed that the first three definitions were capitalized and had an exclamation point following them. I have a friend who teaches high school English. Whenever she is at Sunday School I hit her up for grammar lessons. Those first three words are not just telling someone to do something, they are COMMANDS.
I think if Zechariah was standing beside me and told me to be still because the LORD had roused himself from His holy dwelling I would BE STILL. I mean, HELLO, the LORD is moving and His man tells me to BE STILL. I'm going to BE STILL. I wonder how many times I miss hearing God telling me, "be still child, hush child, quiet now child". And because I miss those words I get to hear, "Silence! Quiet! Hush!".
I said this would ramble and this is my study so the next verse just really touches my heart. Ezra had opened the book - the word of the LORD - and then the Levites had been instructing the people in the LAW, "making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read". The people had been weeping as they listened to the Word. Isnt' that just like us, sometimes when we read the Word of God we just weep. Sometimes because we are rejoicing and sometimes because we are grieving because of sin. But here all of their leaders are telling them, stop that crying, be still, and they went on to tell them to celebrate. In the midst of their grief they were to be happy.
My family lost a precious man last September. My father passed away. Yep I still grieve, I still cry, I truly miss him. I miss him answering the telephone and saying, "Hello daughter" or "Hello middle girl" or "Hi Rebecca". The last one was fun because my name is NOT Rebecca. He named me "Beckie" with an "ie" or so my momma tells me.
Anyway, I can still my grief when I remember that my father is with THE FATHER, my father is whole, my father may just be fishing or gardening or sewing a beautiful cross stitch piece, or he may just be singing with the heavenly choir praising our Lord. I can smile when I think of that.
So I will cause myself to hush my grief for a moment and be still and thank my LORD for His mercies being new every morning. And I will go forward this day with my eyes wide open to see where HE is working since He has roused himself from His Holy Dwelling.
Nehemiah 8:11 - The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve."
Just a note - When you read a verse, please make sure you stop long enough to read the verses before and after the verse you are targeting. If you don't, you just wind up taking the verse out of context and then you will miss what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you. My lesson for the day with a particular passage of scripture may not be your lesson. Read passages allowing the Holy Spirit to direct your thinking/pondering.
The Hebrew word in the two verses above is "has" (2187) which leads to "hasa" (2188).
The meanings - Silence! Quiet! Hush! be silent, be still, hush, quiet, silence; to silence, cause to be still: - silenced.
I noticed that the first three definitions were capitalized and had an exclamation point following them. I have a friend who teaches high school English. Whenever she is at Sunday School I hit her up for grammar lessons. Those first three words are not just telling someone to do something, they are COMMANDS.
I think if Zechariah was standing beside me and told me to be still because the LORD had roused himself from His holy dwelling I would BE STILL. I mean, HELLO, the LORD is moving and His man tells me to BE STILL. I'm going to BE STILL. I wonder how many times I miss hearing God telling me, "be still child, hush child, quiet now child". And because I miss those words I get to hear, "Silence! Quiet! Hush!".
I said this would ramble and this is my study so the next verse just really touches my heart. Ezra had opened the book - the word of the LORD - and then the Levites had been instructing the people in the LAW, "making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read". The people had been weeping as they listened to the Word. Isnt' that just like us, sometimes when we read the Word of God we just weep. Sometimes because we are rejoicing and sometimes because we are grieving because of sin. But here all of their leaders are telling them, stop that crying, be still, and they went on to tell them to celebrate. In the midst of their grief they were to be happy.
My family lost a precious man last September. My father passed away. Yep I still grieve, I still cry, I truly miss him. I miss him answering the telephone and saying, "Hello daughter" or "Hello middle girl" or "Hi Rebecca". The last one was fun because my name is NOT Rebecca. He named me "Beckie" with an "ie" or so my momma tells me.
Anyway, I can still my grief when I remember that my father is with THE FATHER, my father is whole, my father may just be fishing or gardening or sewing a beautiful cross stitch piece, or he may just be singing with the heavenly choir praising our Lord. I can smile when I think of that.
So I will cause myself to hush my grief for a moment and be still and thank my LORD for His mercies being new every morning. And I will go forward this day with my eyes wide open to see where HE is working since He has roused himself from His Holy Dwelling.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Rambling about BEing STILL
For quite awhile I have been doing a word study on "still". I pulled out my "Strongest NIV Exhaustive Concordance" and chose 23 verses to study. Out of the 23 verses I found 1 Greek word and 12 Hebrew words for "still". Twenty-seven definitions struck a cord with me and one verse just stuck with me.
I am just following the lead of the Holy Spirit completely on this one and just needed some place besides my notebook to jot down/write down what I am learning. I will do it here. I would love to hear what anyone thinks of what I write down. I need to hear if I am going off on a wrong path, I want to know if you hear the Holy Spirit saying something new to you about being "still", and I just want to learn how to be truly "still" and know He is God.
Mark 4:39
He (Jesus) got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
The word rebuked (epitimao) means to warn, gave orders, said sternly, strictly warned.
That word jumped out at me. Jesus rebuked the wind. Jesus said to the waves. I saw a difference here.
I don't know what words Jesus used to rebuke the waves but he warned, he gave orders, he said sternly, he strictly warned.
Jesus said (I didn't look up this word - might need to do that) to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!". STILL here is the Greek word phimoo (5821). It means to muzzle; to silence; to be quiet: -quiet; muzzle; silence talk, silenced, speechless,still.
As I studied my thoughts turned to Cause and Effect. The wind being the cause and the waves being the effect. It was the first time I thought about having to think about the cause of needing to be still. Hope that makes sense. What is causing me to be in a situation that the Holy Spirit needs to tell me to BE STILL? It made the word, STILL, active to me. Being still has always been a stopping, a ceasing of something. I know it is that but to "Be Still" I have to make a choice.
CAUSE AND EFFECT.
The two words that jumped out at me from the definition of phimoo were: muzzle and silence talk. Silence talk has played in my head over the past month or two. Last week I read in Psalm 39:2-3
But when I was silent and still,
not even saying anything good,
my anguish increased.
My heart grew hot within me,
and as I meditated, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
What spoke to me was that David did not SILENCE TALK. He didn't speak out loud but he did continue to speak in his heart. He meditated on whatever was going on in his life at that time and when meditated long enough he spoke with HIS tongue. He didn't speak God's word at that time, he spoke HIS word.
How many times do I silence my actual speech but I do not silence my heart? I've been chewing on that. When I start meditating on a situation and getting all hot and bothered I have been trying to turn to God recalling Psalm 46:10 and Psalm 39:2-3.
That's all the time I have. Hope to hear from someone.
I am just following the lead of the Holy Spirit completely on this one and just needed some place besides my notebook to jot down/write down what I am learning. I will do it here. I would love to hear what anyone thinks of what I write down. I need to hear if I am going off on a wrong path, I want to know if you hear the Holy Spirit saying something new to you about being "still", and I just want to learn how to be truly "still" and know He is God.
Mark 4:39
He (Jesus) got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
The word rebuked (epitimao) means to warn, gave orders, said sternly, strictly warned.
That word jumped out at me. Jesus rebuked the wind. Jesus said to the waves. I saw a difference here.
I don't know what words Jesus used to rebuke the waves but he warned, he gave orders, he said sternly, he strictly warned.
Jesus said (I didn't look up this word - might need to do that) to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!". STILL here is the Greek word phimoo (5821). It means to muzzle; to silence; to be quiet: -quiet; muzzle; silence talk, silenced, speechless,still.
As I studied my thoughts turned to Cause and Effect. The wind being the cause and the waves being the effect. It was the first time I thought about having to think about the cause of needing to be still. Hope that makes sense. What is causing me to be in a situation that the Holy Spirit needs to tell me to BE STILL? It made the word, STILL, active to me. Being still has always been a stopping, a ceasing of something. I know it is that but to "Be Still" I have to make a choice.
CAUSE AND EFFECT.
The two words that jumped out at me from the definition of phimoo were: muzzle and silence talk. Silence talk has played in my head over the past month or two. Last week I read in Psalm 39:2-3
But when I was silent and still,
not even saying anything good,
my anguish increased.
My heart grew hot within me,
and as I meditated, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
What spoke to me was that David did not SILENCE TALK. He didn't speak out loud but he did continue to speak in his heart. He meditated on whatever was going on in his life at that time and when meditated long enough he spoke with HIS tongue. He didn't speak God's word at that time, he spoke HIS word.
How many times do I silence my actual speech but I do not silence my heart? I've been chewing on that. When I start meditating on a situation and getting all hot and bothered I have been trying to turn to God recalling Psalm 46:10 and Psalm 39:2-3.
That's all the time I have. Hope to hear from someone.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
God's burdens
"Difficulty is sent to reveal to us what God can do in answer to the faith that prays and works." Bible Devotional Commentary
I read the above quote during my quiet time this morning. It made me think about what I took away from a book I recently read.
Do I just pray the burdens that are on my heart or do I ask God to reveal to me the burdens of His heart?
I now ask God to place on my heart His burdens. Maybe I will experience some added difficulty but I can't wait to see the revelation of the prays and works that God will accomplish.
I read the above quote during my quiet time this morning. It made me think about what I took away from a book I recently read.
Do I just pray the burdens that are on my heart or do I ask God to reveal to me the burdens of His heart?
I now ask God to place on my heart His burdens. Maybe I will experience some added difficulty but I can't wait to see the revelation of the prays and works that God will accomplish.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Bible Study Workshop
This is the 4th Sunday of a class I have been leading for the women at St. Luke. I have learned so much preparing for them that I just might put the info I've found here. I almost don't want it to end - the study to get ready, the writing, then just giving it out. I have been so blessed.
Today we will use Psalm 138 as a devotion right in the middle of class. So excited to change things up on the last day.
The last verse (8) is so awesome:
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever
do not abandon the works of your hands.
Can't wait to meet with the ladies
Today we will use Psalm 138 as a devotion right in the middle of class. So excited to change things up on the last day.
The last verse (8) is so awesome:
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever
do not abandon the works of your hands.
Can't wait to meet with the ladies
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