What are you filled with?

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 which leads to debauchery... debauchery- corrupt; excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures. Sensual pleasures are anything that satisfies the sensations. The categories that were listed in Strong's Concordance for this were: physical sexual worldly immoral spiritual heavenly When we fill our senses in corrupt and unhealthy ways it will lead us into sin; such as, worldly possessions, dependency on alcohol or drugs, sexual addictions, infidelity, immorality, pride, etc. It doesn't necessarily have to be wine, it can be anything that controls our thinking. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look nice or have nice homes. Sex, within the covenant of marriage is not sin. However, when we are excessive in these things it begins to corrupt our thinking. What about the spiritual and heavenly senses? These are the tricky ones! See, there are a lot of people that believe that they are going to heaven because they grew up going to church their whole lives. When actually, they never had a relationship with Jesus Christ. We also can become so spiritual that we become prideful. Before you know it, we are not allowing the Spirit to lead us in ministry. We can become judgemental of others and forget to love others. We have to remember that Christ died for all people and he loves all of us unconditionally. We have to also remember, that it is about a relationship with Christ, not church membership or serving. We serve and attend church because of what Christ has done and we want our relationship to grow in Him. When we try to fill our bodies, minds and souls with sensual pleasures, we are often left wanting more. We are never satisfied and we will continue to indulge excessively in these sorts of pleasures until we are controlled by them. The Bible tells us "Instead, be filled with the Spirit". filled- (v.) put into, satisfy,possess,place a person in, complete, supply repair, to fill or supply to the fullest extent. That last phrase is my favorite! Let's rephrase this scripture using the definitions we have found. "Do not get drunk on wine and indulge excessively in sensual pleasures; they will only lead to corruption and dissatisfaction. Instead, let the Spirit supply satisfaction in your life to the fullest extent." So, here's the question: What are you filled with? The word in its original Greek form, implied that it was a daily routine. Like filling your water pitcher, it had to be done daily. Just as being drunk with wine controls your thinking; likewise, being filled with the Spirit controls your thinking. We want to ask God daily to fill us with His Spirit so that we will be controlled by the Spirit instead of being controlled by sensual pleasures. Ask God to show you the areas where you have indulged excessively. Then allow God to repair those areas and to fill them with His Spirit to the fullest extent. "God, fill us with your Spirit. We want you to supply and satisfy us as only you can. Through your Spirit, Lord, we will come to know you and understand your will for our lives. Through your wisdom, Father, we will be complete in you. We love you and we thank you for providing for us. We ask this in the name of your son, Jesus. It's through Him that we are able to find satisfaction in our life". AMEN.

1st week of Summer

Well, it's Friday and the kids have been out of school all week! We have had a pretty good week. It has been nice not having to worry with school or ball. We have been at home a lot this week, which has left me time to work on studying and writing. We went to my parents house on Tuesday so that I could work, we saw some friends on Thursday and other than that we have been here, taking it easy. The house so far, has been kept up nicely. Laundry still going okay. Still trying to get rid of three more kittens, anyone that wants one, they are FREE! Rebecca, of course, has done a "getting ready for summer" cleaning job of her room. I mean right down to cleaning under the bed and washing the curtains. She is getting ready for her BIG trip next week to Grandma's for camp. Randy got his NEW guitar this week and has barely put it down! He loves it! I must say, it is a pretty cool guitar! He fixed up an old one for Tanner and they have "lessons" now! Tanner has constantly walked around saying exactly what his Daddy used to say when he was little, which blows my mind that he is saying this, cuz we haven't taught it to him! " I'm boring"!, which is what what Pat used to say when he was little and he was bored! Now, Tanner has begun to say the same. I think that is just sweet! I will post the next "lesson" on Ephesians this evening. Hope you all are enjoying your summer! Bridgette

The Lord's Will

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Ephesians 5:17 The Lord's will... What is the Lord's will? First, let's look at the meaning of the word "will". The original word in Greek comes from the root word Theleo. It means: to determine, choose, prefer, wish, to be inclined, desire, intend, please, will. The context of the word that was used in the original translation for this verse is Thelema and it specifically means: desire, pleasure, will. What is the Lord's desire? What is the Lord's pleasure? What is the Lord's will? In John 6:40, Jesus tells us: "For my father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes Him shall have eternal life." He desires to give you eternal life. In order to receive it, we must believe in His Son. "For God so loved the World, that he gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not die but have eternal life." John 3:16 We believe in God. We believe that He sent His Son to die for us. We believe that he wants to give us eternal life. We believe we want eternal life! But what exactly does it mean to believe? Believe in the Greek language is, Pisteno, which means: to commit, put in trust with. It comes from the root word, Pistis, which is from the word Peitho, meaning: to agree, assure, believe, have confidence, make friend with, obey, trust, yield. What is the common factor? TRUST! To believe, we have to trust! How do we trust? Do you trust people you do not know? Of course not! You are not going to put your life, or your families lives, in the hands of someone you do not know! When you meet someone, and as you come to know them more, you will start to trust them. Then one day, you might be more willing to trust them with your life, after they have proven themselves trustworthy. The same applies to our relationship with God. When we meet Him for the first time, we agree with him that we are sinners, we believe in His Son, and we ask for him to forgive us of our sin. We make friends with God, but what is the next step? How do we get to the next level of having confidence in God and putting our trust in Him? I mean really, truly, trusting Him with our lives. Our husbands, our children, our grandchildren, our homes, our jobs, our ministries, our finances, our cars, even our eternity! If we are going base our decisions on what God says, then we have to know what He says! We have to know who God is! Wisdom comes from knowing God. When we have searched and know who God is; we will ask Him, we will hear Him, and we will OBEY Him! By studying God's Word, talking to Him, and listening to Him; we will come to know him so well we won't second guess his commands anymore, we'll just do it! We'll say, "Because God said so!". His desire is for us to believe him. It brings him pleasure when we come to know him and put our trust in Him. When we trust Him and obey Him, we will be careful and we will seek Him. We will not be foolish! We will make wise decisions and make the most of our opportunities. We will be in agreement with him. We will be confident in who we are in Christ and to what he has called us for. We will know what the Lord's will is. Greek translations and definitions come from Strong's Concordance of the Bible. Thelema, thel'-ay-mah Theleo, thel'-ay-o Pisteno, pist-yoo'-o peitho, pi'-tho

Making the most of every opportunity...

Ephesians 5:15-16 "Be very careful then how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil". Be very careful...because the days are evil. When we watch T.V., especially the news, we see evil. We can go to the grocery store and see evil. We can probably go to any of our schools, and we will see evil there as well. Does this mean that we stay inside and lock all of our doors and windows because the days are evil? NO! God says: Be very careful. Be wise. Make the most of every opportunity. I love those words: making the most of every opportunity... There are many opportunities that come our way. Here are a few that came to mind almost immediately. MOVIES Look for Christ- I'm one of these people that when I watch a movie, I'm trying to figure out how to write a Bible study on it! Notice I said, look for Christ. Remember, the days are evil, of course you can easily find the evil in it. Look for the Redeemer to come and save the day! Look at the content of the story. Who are the characters and what are they experiencing? How do they handle their situations? How did they resolve them? Christlike or Worldly? What was the result? My favorite movies on this particular subject are the Spiderman movies. Every time I have watched those movies, I am amazed at the lessons in them. I taught the lessons to my children. When Spiderman 3 came out, we were at the theatre, and I was worried that they were going to ruin my movies! Spiderman started to turn bad, but he chose to turn back to good. He realized that everyone has a choice. I can't write this Bible lesson now! But, the third one, was such a good portrait of ourselves choosing and fighting for what is good and for what is right. It is hard to take your family to see a movie anymore that does not have some sort of bad language, crude humor, suggestive content and the list goes on. You rarely see a movie with a G-rating anymore. We have to be careful as to what and how much we allow our children to be exposed to. The Bible itself is full of violence, sex, substance abuse, bad language, you name it! It could be R-rated! It's much better than watching soap operas! However; when we teach our children stories from the Bible, we teach it to them on their level of understanding and for their age. We should consider the same for the movies that we select for our children and then make the most of the opportunity. Use your judgement based on your family and your children. Be careful! Be wise! HOLIDAYS Halloween- Now here's a touchy one! Me personally, I take my kids trick or treating. We have family and friends over for spaghetti or hot dogs, depends on what I feel like fixin! We dress the kids up and go get us some candy! Some of the folks stay back at the house and continue to give out candy to our visitors! We come back, check our candy and start eating it! (In my house, the candy don't even make it a week! Which is fine by me, because when it's gone, it's gone, the sooner the better!) Whether you choose to trick or treat or not there are still opportunities that you should consider. Something that either I've read somewhere or somebody told me, that I have not forgot, is this: What other opportunity are you gonna have where that many people are coming to YOUR door? Use it! 1. Pass out tracks or information cards about your ministry or church. still give them candy though, that's what they are coming for, CANDY! 2. Let your kids help pass out the candy 3. Carve a pumpkin with your kids. tell the story of salvation while you are cleaning out all that yucky sin from inside that pumpkin and then when his inside is all clean, he is so happy, you carve him a happy face for all the world to see and you light his candle so that he can shine for Jesus! Be creative and have fun with it! 4. Make a hot chocolate stand in your driveway and serve it to your neighbors. We had a home that did this in our neighborhood last year. They served hot chocolate and Water. Several people from their church was there helping. They had their church info on the table for people to take. I thought it was a great ministry opp. SCHOOL- This one has been on my heart lately. I am missing opportunities in this area and I have been praying about this. God has used this scripture to show me what opportunities I am missing: 1. Building relationships with teachers, my kids friends, other parents 2. Helping my children to have a good experience and better achievement 3. Having a Christian influence within the system through myself and my children One thing I know, this has been a challenging year, keeping up with the three kids in school! I know Randy's teachers real well, I can tell you that! He will be going to 10th grade next year, Rebecca starts middle school and Tanner just graduated Kindergarten tonight! Lord, help me! It will be even harder next year, but I plan to make this opportunity a top priority. Pray for me! How about you? What opportunities can you think of that you have experienced and would like to share? If you are missing opportunities and need prayer, share that too! Thank you for letting me share mine. I pray that this site will be a ministry tool for all us, so that we can pray for one another and encourage one another. You all have a good day!

Ephesians 5:15-20

Here are the verses that we will be studying over the next few days. Familiarize yourself with them. Write them down. Pray them. Try to memorize them! I know, I know! It's hard! But we can do it! Write it on a sticky note. Attach it to your mirror, your computer screen, carry it in your pocket! Read it whenever you think about it! Start with the first verse and then when you get it, add to it! Whatever makes it easiest. I have a hard time with this as well! I have been trying very hard to memorize scripture and I'm not real good at it. But it gets easier the more we do it! Here you go! Be very careful then, how you live- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to the Father for everything, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Tattletale

I told on you to God today A mouthful's what I had to say About the way you've treated me And in plain sight for all to see! Don't think you've gotten by with this I took Him quite a detailed list You can bet you'll hear from Him He'll get you back! So until then... Expect a Blessing! I thought this was cute! I am working on something and I will post it by morning. It will consist of two or three different posts. Hope everyone has a great day! Until then.... Expect a blessing! Bridgette this poem was written by Beth Moore. It is from her book Further Still.

All The Time

I was in the bed reading my Bible, and Tanner came in and wanted to read. So, I turned it to Deuteronomy 6:5-9. This is the verse that I pray for my family, so I figured I would show it to him. Well, I was amazed! He could read almost all the words! He read the word strength with no help and commandment was said something like this: come/mend/ment! So, I helped him with that! But we started talking about what all that meant. Before you know it, the whole family is now on the bed and we are discussing what it means. We talked about the meaning of the word commandment; what are the commandments? Then we asked Tanner, what do think it means when God says to talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road? He said, "think about them all the time!". Then we asked what does it mean to impress them on your children? Rebecca says, "Teach it to us just like you're doing now, Mommy"! When it came time to bind it on our foreheads, I thumped Randy on the head! Then we all started bumping each other on the foreheads!

When I was at school, I told Tanner's teacher how well he did reading those scriptures. She told me that he is doing well reading. But, she asked me an important question. I can't remember word for word, but it was something like this! When you read to them out of the Bible, is it better to read to them from your Bible or their children's story Bible. We started discussing how hard it is sometimes to make a specific time for a family devotion and how and what do you do. Of course, we're at school and she does have a classroom, so we had to make it very brief! However, this has had me thinking all week. Almost everyone I know struggles with the same thing. When do we have family devotions? How do we start it? What do we do? I know my life is crazy and I know everyone Else's is just as crazy! We work, go to school, we have church activities, sports, dance, and we have other family members that would love to see us, too! We still have to cook, clean, do laundry and don't forget, HOMEWORK! Sometimes, I think we get so caught up in thinking that things have to be "just right" or we can't do it; so therefore, we end up not doing it. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength. We just need to love him, all the time. When we sit, drive, play, work. Whenever, Whatever, Wherever. Love him. If we talk about them all the time, then we will have all the time to impress them on our children. I do feel that it is important to have times where we are sitting together reading our Bible. Which one do we read from? Whichever one fits the moment. I think it is good to read from their own personal Bible, as well as ours. The other day in church, Randy and I were following along in my Bible and he was noticing the notes I've written in the margins on different occasions. They are prayers or notes that I've written to remind me to pray for myself and others. There may be times when the whole family sits together and everyone brings their own Bible and take turns reading from it. You could also let Dad or Mom read straight from their Bible or you could let one of the kids lead the devotion and read from theirs. Sometimes, it might be that you are having to quote scripture while driving down the road and you don't even have your Bible handy to read from! (all the more reason to memorize! I'm working on this myself!) The point is this: Let's take every opportunity, all the time, to impress them on our children and bind them on their foreheads. If we get so caught up trying to figure out how to find the time, we will never find the time. We just do it. All the time. The family devotion that we had the other night was not planned. It just happened. We should make it a point to plan special times just like with anything else, but let's not forget the little things either. We ended our family devotion by singing the chorus to Love the Lord by Lincoln Brewster and everyone took turns praying. Right there, sitting on the bed, in a circle, holding hands. All because Tanner wanted to read. All the Time, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6: 5-9

Field Day

Well, this is my first post on my first blogsite! What do I put? I'll tell you a little about my day, that way I can give you a reason to laugh! I get up and get ready to go to the school today because the kids have field day. Tanner had field day and Rebecca was helping with the younger kids. SO...I thought it would be a great idea to go and take pictures. I send Tanner to school in his new yellow shirt, water bottle and sunscreen. I send Rebecca in her new yellow shirt, water bottle and sunscreen. I go to the school, camera around my neck, ready to take pictures! I found Rebecca....... where's Tanner? Here's Rebecca working at the Hula Hoop stand. TANNER'S FIELD DAY WAS YESTERDAY :(

Oh well, I still had a good time! I took pictures of Rebecca and her friend helping at the hulahoop station. Then I got to go to Tanner's classroom and play with his class pet, Rufus! After centers, I was able to join him and his friends for lunch. I was a little disappointed, but then I started thinking, it was nice to just go and be a part of his everyday routine. I got to see the little things that he does on a daily basis and see him interact with his friends.

This is Rufus. He's so cute! They need a family to keep him this summer. Not us! He would surely get ate by the cats! Or the kids would think, "let's take him to the woods to play in our clubhouse!". Then Jazzy girl (our beagle) would eat it!

Tanner had chicken nuggets for lunch. There were other things, but he didn't like them. No wonder they come home starving! It was fun. I had a picture of him with his friends but it didn't turn out right. I'm glad I went even if it wasn't field day, he was glad, too! When he got off the bus, he came in screaming, "Mommy, you came to class with me today!".