Good morning, Sweet Sisters!
Well, here we are at the end of our winter study. It's not technically spring yet, but March is right around the corner and the weather has went from cold to hot and hot to cold so much, my mind thinks it's time for spring! We have 6 chapters left in II Corinthians, so we are going to throw all six of them into our study this week. But, don't panic because we are taking next week off, so you will have ample time to catch up before we start our Spring Study on March 13th. Here is this week's reading plan: Monday- II Corinthians 8 Tuesday - II Corinthians 9 Wednesday - II Corinthians 10 Thursday - II Corinthians 11 Friday - II Corinthians 12 & 13 As we are heading into a small break next week, I want to go ahead and announce our Spring Study. Starting March 13th, we will begin a short, 5-week, study of Song of Solomon and Mark. We should be finishing up this study right before Easter. Please pass this study on to all the ladies you think might be interested! Have a great week and keep reading God's Word! Joyfully His, Andrea
0 Comments
Good morning, Ladies!
Well, my week is starting off overwhelming already, so today I am going to just post our reading plan for the week! Monday- II Corinthians 3 Tuesday - II Corinthians 4 Wednesday - II Corinthians 5 Thursday - II Corinthians 6 Friday - II Corinthians 7 Keep reading God's word and I will try to recap later this week! Joyfully His, Andrea "If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others,I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!.....Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love." ~ I Corinthians 13:1-8,13 This is the true definition of love. This is how God commands us to love others. So often we see these verses at weddings and it is absolutely perfect to share, read and promise at a wedding, but this is not a command for spouses, only. This is a command for ALL people. "Jesus replied, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbors as yourself.'" ~ Matthew 22:37-39 "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." ~ John 13:34-35 "This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." ~ John 15:12-13 "Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other." Romans 12:9-10 "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love." I John 4:7-8 "But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike." ~Matthew 5:44-45 Love is action! It's not just a word. If you truly want to love others, take action! Love with your whole heart and don't look back! Be patient, kind, selfless, merciful, honest, never give up, don't lose faith, be hopeful, endure through all circumstances and love everyone in your path, this way. Love your spouse, your children, your parents, your siblings, your friends, your neighbors, your extended family, your church family, your community, and your enemies. Only three things will last forever - faith, hope and love - and love is the greatest. So, love today and every day as if it's your only day! Love those , that God has placed before you, and love them deeply and completely! Happy Valentine's Day, Sweet Sisters! Joyfully His, Andrea Good morning, Sweet Sisters!
It's Valentine's week and I hope each and everyone of you know TRUE LOVE. Love from God our Father! You are His masterpiece. He adores you, He is delighted with you and He loves you so much - He gave up His Son for you. You are loved, sweet girl! This week we will finish up in I Corinthians and begin in II Corinthians. Here is this week's reading plan: Monday- I Corinthians 14 Tuesday - I Corinthians 15 Wednesday - I Corinthians 16 Thursday - II Corinthians 1 Friday - II Corinthians 2 Quickly, I want to share the verses that popped out at me during our reading last week, and share a few of my thoughts. Our purpose is to share Jesus with others, bring glory to God, and serve other people. It's hard to do this if we are only thinking of ourselves. "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Don't give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don't just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved. And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ." ~ I Corinthians 10:31-33 Chapter 11 seems to be controversial in the church. It shouldn't be. God's word is TRUTH and we, as believers, are to obey God's Word. I understand that it is no longer socially or politically correct for women to be submissive to their husbands and to be under his authority. I'm not here to debate this. I just encourage you to read God's Word. GOD'S WORD. Ask God to open your eyes and heart to His direction for your life as a woman and I encourage you to seek Biblical womanhood. Be careful about seeking direction of Biblical womanhood from any other source or person, than God and His Word. If you choose to follow the "crowd" and look into other sources, you will be disappointed if it does not line up with Scripture. Among many different denominations, Chapter 12 can also be controversial for the church. Many denominations choose not to teach the gifts of the Spirit, but again... God's Word is TRUTH. Spiritual gifts are real and they come from the Holy Spirit. This chapter is so beautiful to me, as it shows how each of us are gifted in unique ways to all fit together as a unified body of Christ. It takes each of us and our gifts to make the church work. I can not write it any better than the Bible does itself: "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other." ~ I Corinthians 12:4-7 Isn't it beautiful? Our gifts may be different, but we serve the same God and our gifts are to help each other. Wow! What is your gift, Sweet Sister? How do you serve God and others? Pray for God to show you the gift He has chosen for you. Ask Him to give you the opportunity to use your gift for His service. Ask Him to place you exactly where you need to be to fulfill His purpose for you. Seek Him, Sweet Sister! Have a wonderful week! May it be filled with God's love, joy and abundant blessings! I'm praying for each of you! Keep reading God's Word! Joyfully His, Andrea Good morning, Sweet Sisters!
How are you this week? Are you ready for another week soaking up God's Word? We are knee deep into I Corinthians and my prayer is that we are learning so much. Paul wrote these letters to the church in the city of Corinth. As I have been reading through these books, I see some strong similarities to today's church. How relevant is God's Word! Do you know what the Corinthian church's most serious issue was? Worldliness. Did you hear that? Worldliness. They just couldn't let go of the culture around them. They struggled, as believers, to let go of their old, selfish and immoral ways. Their sin had a stronghold and they couldn't let it go. Does this sound familiar? It does to me. Every where I look, worldliness is pushing in. It's on our tv's, coming through the radio, all over the web, it's in our work places, it's at our schools and it's even found inside of our churches. Wow! It's hard to let go! The world and it's ways are trying to catch us believers. Some things seem okay, even acceptable, but if everything we see, watch, do or go- does not line up with God's word, then we must let go of it. Walk away and pursue God's way. Please note: Paul is writing here, to the church. He is writing to believers. One of the first things he covers in I Corinthians is unity of the church. Oh how important is unity among believers! I have been a part of churches that have fallen apart because there was no unity. I've seen it with my own eyes. I've watched as people get hung up on what "they" want instead of looking at what God wants in their church. After all, the church is not ours, it's God's. If we can't work together as God's church, it will be awful hard to reach a dying world. "I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather be of one mind, united in thought and purpose." ~ I Corinthians 1:10 Be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. Yes, this should be the heart of the Church. As we continue to read, we see that the church in Corinth struggled with sin within the church and we are told how to handle it. (Chapter 5) Chapter 6 brought light to injustice for me. Here, Paul rebukes the church for taking disputes between believers to the secular court. Verses 7 and 8 brings a great challenge to us: "....Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated?..." ~ I Corinthians 6:7 (Please note, this verse is addressing disputes between believers, not disputes between believers and the unsaved.) The most prevalent sin at that time and, I believe, today, is sexual sin. The temptation of sexual sin is around every corner or behind every click. Standing in line at the grocery store with my sons has become a workout for me just trying to hide the half-naked women on the magazine covers. If the image is enough to grab my attention, I know my young and teen sons' eyes are going to notice! We are living in an age where sexual sin is okay, accepted and even overlooked by Christians. I want to teach my children differently. I want to teach our youth how important purity truly is. I want them to know how important their bodies are to God and I want them to desire to be pure. Chapter 6, verses 12-20 were astounding for me. Oh how I wish this was taught to me when I was young! Yes, I was taught to be pure til marriage, but I was never taught why. Paul covers it in these verses. We are to stay away from ALL sexual sin for three reasons: * Because our bodies were made for the Lord. (I Corinthians 6:13) * Because our bodies are a part (a piece) of Christ. (I Corinthians 6:15-17) * Because our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 6: 19) So this is the one that really got me. If you wouldn't commit sexual sin in the church building, you shouldn't commit it at ALL. For our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit! Our bodies (as believers) are the Holy Spirit's "church building". Just think about that for a minute. "For God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." ~` I Corinthians 6:20 Well, my review has become quite long, so I'll stop here, but I would love to know how God spoke to you this past week through His Word. What stood out to you? Here is this week's reading plan: Monday- I Corinthians 9 Tuesday - I Corinthians 10 Wednesday - I Corinthians 11 Thursday - I Corinthians 12 Friday - I Corinthians 13 I'm praying for each of you this week! Keep reading God's word! Joyfully His, Andrea |
For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. " AuthorHi! I'm Andrea, wife to my handsome hubby, homeschooling mama to my 7 amazing blessings, and daughter of the King of kings. I am so glad you have stopped by my little piece of the web. My prayer is that the Lord will use this blog to encourage you in your personal, daily walk with Christ. Archives
October 2021
Categories |
Photos from John Beans, Noel Feans, Noel F., wuestenigel (CC BY 2.0), kinglear55, It's No Game, faktor1komma5, Noel F., Ted Rabbitts, Lisa Zins, irio.jyske, James Brennan Hawaii, Evim@ge, polipao, mysterykatt123, deziluzija, The Sleep Judge, Tony Armstrong-Sly, John Brighenti, ikarusmedia, Pavel K, amy32080, Matthew Paul Argall, Bennilover, Maria Eklind, kennethkonica, eye of einstein, kinglear55, Bennilover, Tony Webster, mothernaturebeauty, ForestWander.com, GoToVan, wuestenigel, Kenneth Vetter, greenoid, verchmarco, i threw a guitar at him., Art4TheGlryOfGod by Sharon, verchmarco, r.nial.bradshaw, Noel Feans, Art4TheGlryOfGod by Sharon, Schneidersphotography, sagesolar, flickr./com/photos/amanda_munoz