MORE LIKE YOU, JESUS: WHATEVER!

WOMEN IN THE WORD WEDNESDAY

What a rich life GOD has blessed me with! I had so many opportunities to be in His WORD yesterday that I'm having a hard time zeroing in and choosing what I want to share with you! Okay, here goes... Please join me in reading these scriptures from the WORD of GOD. Then, I'd like to make some brief connecting comments afterwards.

1. 2 Corinthians 5:7 "...for we walk by faith, not by sight — "
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2. 2 Corinthians 5:9 "So we make it our goal to please Him..."
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3. Colossians 3:2-4 "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
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4. Colossians 3:10-16

• "PUT ON the new self...a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all."
• 12 And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, PUT ON a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
• PUT ON love, which is the perfect bond of unity...And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...be thankful...Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. .

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5. Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."
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6. Colossians 3:22-24 "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.:
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On Sunday, we were to turn in our 10 favorite scriptures for our upcoming Ladies Retreat. Not our ten favorite chapters. Well, it took me until yesterday to narrow it down to my ten favorite chapter blocks. Go figure how their going to reduce it all to ten cards. Sorry Annette, Stephanie, and Janet! Oops, did you say we're not rooming together anymore Janet?
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Yesterday two of my favorite scripture blocks kept surfacing to my mind: 2 Corinthians 3-5 and Colossians 3...every situation that I was in I found myself making connections: in our morning PATRIARCHS class, at lunch with my sisters in Christ, running errands, preparing classes, trying to catch up on email, cleaning the living room, dining room, and kitchen, visiting with Jessica and cooking her supper, going with Steve to meet someone for supper at THE PALACE, and having a Bible Study at the Hall's.
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I had just turned these scriptures in as two of my top ten. They are fresh on my mind. Last time we were at the Hall's, Steve led a study on 2 Corinthians 3-5. One of his scriptures that he keeps ever before him is 2 Corinthians 5:9, making it personal - I MAKE IT MY GOAL TO PLEASE HIM! Soooooooooooo, last night, I found out that he was going to lead the study on Colossians 3. Coincidence? Not a chance! The Holy Spirit of God works in just these kinds of ways!
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Did you notice any themes or connections as you read the above scriptures from 2 Corinthians 5 and Colossians 3? Here's just a few:

a. I need to make it my goal to please GOD first and foremost.
b. In pleasing God, He asks me to walk by faith and not by sight, just as He asked the Patriarchs and now asks those of us who sat around the table at Wendy's:

• Sister A. as she struggles with the challenges of a new baby and two other little ones who have some special needs of their own... and preparations with her husband to bring his parents over from the Phillippians
• Sister B. as she struggles with her migraines, a husband who has to work tons of overtime, and two children with special needs
• Sister C. as she faces two brothers who are already deployed and now a husband who has orders to be away for many months and then be deployed
• Sister D. as she and her husband face financial challenges and being the parents of a strong willed child
• Sister E. as she experiences exhaustion from the extreme dietary needs of her child with special needs and the surfacing of two of her own siblings that she did not know that she had and all the emotions connected with getting to know them, making up for lost time, etc.

Whew! I have a feeling if these gals were gals who walked by sight, they would have given up a long time ago.

c. To keep the spiritual focus of "PLEASING HIM" and "WALKING BY FAITH AND NOT BY SIGHT"...we need to continually SET OUR MINDS to think like this! Each morning is a new opportunity to RE-SET MINDS because "His mercies are new every morning!" This was one of my mom's favorite scriptures as I was growing up. She'd go through a tough time and then I'd hear her say, "I need to focus on what's important.. I have set my mind!" I talked about this in a recent post honoring my mom's 80th birthday: http://momstransformed.blogspot.com/2008/10/lighthouse-it-is-no-secret-what-god-can.html

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d. Last night Steve emphasized the OLD LIFE AND NEW LIFE in Colossians 3 by looking at the PUTTING ON AND TAKING OFF. We discussed three examples that were really helpful.

• going into a dressing room at a clothing store to try on clothes...taking old clothes off,,,putting new clothes on. It's much like that spiritually - getting rid of the old clothes and putting on the new clothes. If you happen to try on the old clothes again...get them off quickly!
• planting a garden, unfortunately, does not mean that only plants grow...weeds come up everywhere...we put the seed on the soil but still have to keep pulling the weeds to keep them from choking the plants...
• this one really resonated with Tim and Kristi...putting a dirty dish in the sink and letting it set overnight leaves it to crust up and become very difficult to remove the food from the dish. Yet, if the food had been rinsed off the plate immediately, there would have been no extreme effort needed later to chisel it off.

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SO WHAT ARE WE PUTTING ON? PLANTING? WATERING? Our new self! Compassion! Kindness! Humility! Gentleness! Patience! Bearing with one another! Forgiving one another! Love! Peace! Thankfulness! The WORD of Christ indwelling! Songs and hymns sung from thankful hearts!

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SO WHAT ARE WE TAKING OFF? PULLING UP? CHISELING OFF? Old self! Immorality! Impurity! Passions! Evil desires! Anger! Wrath! Malice! Slander! Abusive speech! Greed! Idolatry! Lying!
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I'm not one to say "Whatever!" alot. We have a daughter who went through a stage when that would be her response to almost anything. Yet, I just love these WHATEVER verses. In fact, when our kids were little we put them on a poster board and hung them in our hallway. Each of us signed the poster board in an agreement to try to live our lives this way. May these WORDS sink deep within your soul. They have the power to put everything into perspective:

Colossians 3:17

"And whatever you do in word or deed,

do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks through Him

to God the Father."

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Colossians 3:23-25

"Whatever you do,

do your work heartily,

as for the Lord rather than for men;

24 knowing that from the Lord

you will receive

the reward of the inheritance.

It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."

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I

MAKE

IT

MY

GOAL

TO

PLEASE

HIM!

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