PSALM 119 JOURNEY

As I've been working my way through Psalm 119, I honestly had every intention to post more of the blessing that has been. Life is busy, but today, I just couldn't resist!

Psalm 119:79
"Let those who fear You turn to me; those who know Your testimonies."

-- We need to be diligent to PRAY FOR Godly people to come into our lives (and the lives of our children, husband, etc.). People who fear God, and love His Word. There is nothing sweeter than fellowship with like-minded people. I'm going to start being diligent about praying for this!

Psalm 119:64
"The earth O Lord is full of your mercy; Teach me Your statutes."

-- My response to God's steadfast love -- Lord keep me teachable!

Psalm 119:66
"Teach me good judgement and knowledge, for I believe Your commandments."

-- Praying for good judgement and knowledge is of utmost importance!! Knowledge without discernement is dangerous.

PLEASE PRAY FOR JOEL -- He's pretty sick right now. Thanks.

BARN/BUILDING PROGRESS

As always, things move slow when you do your own work and have a busy life, but we have managed to make a little bit of progress on our building project. We are grateful for a few extra hands who have helped out as well. We are scheduled to have the concrete poured tomorrow, and the materials for the framing will be delivered next Wednesday!




Only God knows what all His plans are for this building, but it's exciting to think about all the possibilities. It will have some living quarters on the second floor, with a bathroom. So, if you have ever thought about visiting here, once this is built, our visitors will have their own space, and there will be plenty of room for larger families! :) It will also be nice to have for the mission teams that visit us from Indiana!!!

PLEASE PRAY FOR JOSEPH

He is back in Montana. Evan met him at the airport, and took him, his brother and sister-in-law (who he will be staying with) out for lunch. He seems to be doing well, but this is a pivotal time in his walk, as he has to come home and face temptations. He told Evan he will call him everyday for accountability. We are still HIGHLY encouraging him to go back for phase 2. We ended up getting him a round trip ticket, because it was cheaper, so he can fly back the end of the month. For the first time, he showed some interest in possibly doing that. Please pray that he does, as we really think it's the best way to help him stay strong. Please pray for him to have strength and fight the temptations he will be facing here at home. Pray for him to stay in the Word, and keep his focus on the Lord. He plans to share Thursday night at the study.

JOURNEY THROUGH PSALM 119


When I heard that one of the things the people do at U-Turn is go through Psalm 119, write out each verse, and write out what it means after each verse, I wanted to do that! So, I started, and I have been SO blessed by doing this little exercise (though I do have a long way to go yet!). As Camille commented in the last post, studying God's Word takes effort and time, and that is why it so often is put aside. It needs to be a priority in every believer's life, however. My desire is that through this little exercise, you can see how fulfilling it is to really dive into it, with hopes of encouraging you to do the same. No time spent in God's Word is EVER wasted!! So, I leave you with just a few verses at a time to ponder and think about...

(1) "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord."

We are blessed when we walk clean and in obedience to His commands. We are blessed (or happy!) when our lives are conformed to the Word of the Lord.

(2) "Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!"

We are blessed (or happy!) when we obey and passionately strive to know God -- a deep enormous desire to please Him with the whole heart!

So many people look for happiness in all the wrong places. These two verses alone show us that we are blessed, we are happy, when we walk in obedience to Him, and desire to please Him with our whole hearts. Counseling made easy, right there!!!!

LADIES BIBLE STUDY

For 3 weeks now, we have been studying the book of 1 John. I wish I would have been posting all along and writing about what we've been learning. Some days I just have so many things running through my head, that I'm not even sure how to process it all, let alone put it into words on here. I feel that way now, but I'm still going to try. :)

Last week, we talked in depth about assurance of salvation, which is one of the main purposes John wrote 1 John. (1 John 5:13: These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life...) Assurance of salvation comes from looking at our lives right now and examining ourselves and testing ourselves to see that we are actually in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). Make your calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).

This week, we are going to cover 2:12-29.

There is so much I could write about, but to narrow it down, I'm going to talk about 2 warnings given to believers in this section of Scripture. 1) The World 2) False Doctrines. We will see that our attacks against both these things is THE WORD OF GOD!! Not books written about the Word of God, or someone's opinion of what the Word of God says, or different gospels that people claim still coincide with the Word of God (but don't), but the Word of God. Period.

The "world" refers to any sphere which Jesus is not loved and welcomed. We are not to love these things. I love in verse 13, where it talks about the young men being strong, and they have the Word of God abiding in them, which is enabling them to overcome the wicked one -- who we know often pulls us towards himself through the love of the world. Verse 14 emphasizes the importance of constantly feeding on the Bible and having it ready to repel the attacks of Satan. "Abide" means to stay, dwell, tarry, remain, endure, stand in... We are to do these things in the Word of God.

How do we ABIDE in the Word of God? Spend time in it personally -- lots of time. Lisen to godly teachers on it (using the anointing talked about later in this chapter from the Holy Spirit to guide us). Fellowshipping with other believers about it. Chewing on it. Meditating on it. (Ps1:2, 119:15) The word meditate in these verses in the Hebrew gives us a picture of "verbalizing" it. Conversing about it -- pray it, speak it, talk it, etc. I think often of a cow chewing it's cud. It goes down, and comes back up. He spends time chewing it. It goes down, it comes back up... chewing some more... that's what we need to do with the Word of God -- chew on it all day long.

The Word of God is also what will protect us against John's second warning here -- False teachings. They are EVERYWHERE. All around us. And it shouldn't surpise us, because we are told they will only increase the closer we get to the coming of Christ. These false teachers in this passage were professing Christians who once associated with the apostles, however, they were not truly one with believers. Proof of this is that they went out of fellowship with true believers (vs19). The sad thing is, this is exactly what is happening today.

"If a man has truly been born again, he will go on for the Lord. We are not saved by enduring to the end, but rather those that endure to the end are really saved" (BBC).

So, how can believers discern truth from error? According to vs.20, we have an anointing from the Holy One. The Holy Spirit enables a believer to discern truth from lies. An example. I have a friend who was in a circle where things were being taught that didn't line up with Scripture. Being new to the faith, she didn't dare question them, but she had a check in her spirit. She went home, and was a Berean, and searched and searched the Scriptures and couldn't find what they were teaching her. The Holy Spirit gave her a check, she went home and searched. God gave her discernment. She later came to me and said, "Where is this in Scripture? I can't find it anywhere!!"

"With the Word of God in our hands, and the Spirit of God in our hearts, we have all that we need for instruction in the truth of God" (BBC).

The ONLY book we need is the Word of God. Not that all books are bad, but there is just so much out there that is wrong, I would much rather stick with the one book that I know to be true. We can spend a lifetime studying it, and never understand all that God has to speak to us through it. I'm so frustrated with how the "Christian" "help books" or "different gospels" are pulling people away from the one source where people will find truth and help -- the Word of God.

I exhort you... pray for discernment. Study the Word of God. There are people out there waiting to tickle your ears, and we are commanded to "be watchful in all things" and yes, we will have to "endure afflictions." If we aren't watchful for it, it will be much easier for us to fall prey to it.

This barely scratches the surface of what is tucked away in this wonderful Scripture God has given us, but I do hope it makes us think! I know it does me!

I end with this quote by Dr. Ironside. "If it's new, it's not true, and if it's true, it's not new."

"COWBOY"

Cowboy is the newest addition to our pasture. He is the horse Myah will be using for 4H this summer. Dixie just needs too much work for her to be ready by this summer, and we picked Cowboy up about a month ago. He's 15, had lots of experience riding in the mountains, and seems to be a good fit.

SHELTER MINISTRY



Tandra put together this great slide show video of the ministry taking place at the shelter. The first few times I saw this, I couldn't watch it without tears. Through the highs and lows, the joys and frustrations, it's been amazing to watch God work. It's also been very humbling, but a huge blessing to watch Him change and mold me personally in so many areas through this ministry. We have all been stretched so much this past year in so many ways. Please pray for each of these people, as we know God desires to change hearts and heal the deep brokenness. Each of these beautiful people has a story.

Please pray for God to continue to pour out His wisdom and discernment in every circumstance we face -- many days and situations are really tough and are way beyond us. Also, please pray for our children -- that through the interactions we have through this ministry, sometimes in front of them, that they will always remain safe, and that they will learn the importance of sharing the Gospel to every person! Knowing Christ more intimately, bringing Him glory in all things, and proclaiming the Gospel to all people.... that is our focus.