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On Purpose

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

The decisions we make dictate the schedules we keep.  The schedules we keep determine the lives we live.  The lives we live determine how we spend our souls.  So, this isn’t just about finding time.  This is about honoring God with the time we have.

– Lysa Terkeurst

 

Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days. Don’t be vague but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God.

– Ephesians 5:15-17 (PHILLIPS)

 

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

– Deuteronomy 6:5 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Grateful Trust

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Ungratefulness can be traced to a failure to find benefits in everything we experience and an unwillingness to trust God to fulfill our deepest needs.

– Gary Smalley

 

I realize anew that, just as we must learn to obey God one choice at a time, we must also learn to trust God one circumstance at a time. Trusting God is not a matter of my feelings but of my will. I never feel like trusting God when adversity strikes, but I can choose to do so even when I don’t feel like it. That act of the will, though, must be based on belief, and belief must be based on truth.

– Jerry Bridges

 

Begin to rejoice in the Lord, and your bones will flourish like an herb, and your cheeks will glow with the bloom of health and freshness. Worry, fear, distrust, care – all are poisonous! Joy is balm and healing, and if you will but rejoice, God will give power.

– A.B. Simpson

 

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
He is my God, and I trust Him.
For He will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
He will cover you with His feathers.
He will shelter you with His wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.
If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
For He will order His angels
to protect you wherever you go.
They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love Me.
I will protect those who trust in My name.
When they call on Me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”

– Psalm 91 (NLT)

 

Photo by Arik Stewart

Dirty Little Secret

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

You have a dirty little secret

 

Your life that people see

is not what they don’t

 

Your outward

is not the same

as your inward

 

God and people

are not truly honored

behind closed doors

 

Lies and deception

are disguised as piety

and truth

 

And people are hurt by secrets

especially the one doing the hurting

 

Because what you don’t realize

is that the one who truly has

a dirty little secret

 

is the enemy of your soul

 

He has you in his grip

and you thought you were in control

 

of the facade

 

Nothing is truly secret

Except the way you are being deceived

 

– Susie Stewart

 

There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. There is nothing kept secret that will not come to light.

– Luke 8:17 (GW)

 

Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!

– Luke 12:3 (NLT)

 

For God will judge every action—including everything done in secret—whether it be good or evil.

– Ecclesiastes 12:14 (VOICE)

 

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable.

– Hebrews 4:13 (NLT)

 

* Disclaimer — This is not written about anyone within the walls of our home. Friend, if your life inside your home does not match up with your life outside your home, if you are putting on a facade, if you are being deceived by the enemy into not living out God’s grace and honor toward the people you are closest to, please wake up!  Your enemy prowls and looks for those who he may devour.  Don’t be deceived, God is not mocked.  Bring all into the light and let God’s Spirit cleanse and mend.

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Attachment

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Our Lord did not teach detachment from other things:  He taught attachment to Himself.   Jesus Christ was not a recluse.  He did not cut Himself off from society.  He was amazingly in and out among the ordinary things of life; but He was disconnected fundamentally from it all.  He was not aloof, but He lived in another world.

– Oswald Chambers

 

For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.

– Hebrews 13:1 (NLT)

 

I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by Your truth; teach them Your word, which is truth. Just as you sent Me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give Myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by Your truth.

– John 17:15-19 (NLT)

 

A divided heart loses both worlds.

– A.B. Simpson

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Sacred

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A worshipful lifestyle entails an orientation that views all of life as sacred.  Whether you are at church, home, work, or in your community, whatever you do, it is to the glory of God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son.

…My mother would reference anything and everything in life as connecting with God somehow.  She wanted us to know that God was in the midst of everything, and that everything in our lives was somehow tied into His providence, involvement, and plan.  Even if what she said or did bothered those around her, she wouldn’t budge from connecting the sacred to all of life, because her life was lived in an attitude of worship.  Paul indicated that spiritual maturity…ought to produce a lifestyle of reverence and worship.

– Tony Evans

 

All of it, Lord,

Yours

 

No part hidden from Your eyes

Everything touching the Sacred

 

A Life of Worship

Not just Sunday demonstration

 

Poured out

Focused

Intentional

 

All of it, Lord,

Yours

– Susie Stewart

 

So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to Him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to Him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to Him and what is perfect.

– Romans 12:1,2 (NCV)

 

…give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

–  Romans 6:13 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Gracious

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Divine Graciousness

is what I desire

 

A gracious attitude

of the heart

 

showing

in the most difficult

of circumstances

 

showing

with the most difficult

of people

 

showing

so that the world knows

it’s not me

 

But YOU

 

for You are gracious

humble of heart

slow to anger

abounding in love

 

Gracious to those

who don’t deserve it

 

Grace personified to me

showing through to them

 

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Let your speech at all times be gracious and pleasant, seasoned with salt, so that you will know how to answer each one [who questions you].

– Colossians 4:6 (AMP)

 

A Christian must always be kind, gracious, and wise in order to conquer evil by good.

– John of Kronstadt

 

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!

– Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)

 

But the Eternal One was gracious and compassionate toward them. He was good and turned His face to them because of the covenant He had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Eternal, true to His promise, had protected them and remained near them until now.

– 2 Kings 13:23 (VOICE)

 

And you know, when you’ve experienced grace and you feel like you’ve been forgiven, you’re a lot more forgiving of other people. You’re a lot more gracious to others.

– Rick Warren

 

Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.

– Joel 2:13 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

All About Him

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Jesus has many who love His Kingdom in Heaven, but few who bear His Cross.  He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering.  He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting.  All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake.  Many follow Jesus to the Breaking of Bread, but few to the drinking of the Cup of His Passion.  Many admire His miracles, but few follow Him in the humiliation of His cross.  Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them.  Many praise and bless Him, as long as they are receiving any comfort from Him.  But if Jesus withdraw Himself, they fall to complaining and utter dejection.  

They who love Jesus for His own sake, and not for the sake of comfort for themselves, bless Him in every trial and anguish of heart, no less than in the greatest joy.  And were He never willing to bestow comfort on them, they would still always praise Him and give Him thanks.  

Oh, how powerful is the pure love of Jesus, free from all self-interest and self-love!  Are they not all mercenaries, who are always seeking comfort?  Do they not betray themselves as lovers of self rather than of Christ, when they are always thinking of their own advantage and gain?  Where will you find one who is willing to serve God without reward?  

– Thomas Kempis

 

Whoever does not carry his own cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow after Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me] cannot be My disciple.

– Luke 14:27 (AMP)

 

The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by Him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.

– Philippians 3:7-9 (MSG)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Place With Purpose

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Notice God’s unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world.  God plants His saints in the most useless places.  We say – God intends me to be here because I am so useful.  Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use.  God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is.

– Oswald Chambers

 

Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer.

– Luke 2:36-38 (NLT)

 

And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

– Acts 20:22-24 (NLT)

 

There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room. But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!”

So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them. But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up! He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive.

– Acts 9:36-41 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

 

Aware

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Aware

Alert

Awake!

 

to Your presence God

 

Seeing

Hearing

Perceiving

 

YOU

 

Not sleeping

 

for You have made me ALIVE

in You

 

– Susie Stewart

 

…for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

– Ephesians 5:14 (NLT)

 

But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us.  We were dead because of our failures, but He made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness that saved you.)

– Ephesians 2:4,5 (GW)

 

When we were baptized into His death, we were placed into the tomb with Him. As Christ was brought back from death to life by the glorious power of the Father, so we, too, should live a new kind of life.

– Romans 6:4 (GW)

 

Photo by Arik Stewart

 

Serve & Savor

/ Susie Stewart / 1 Comment

Trying to work for God without worshipping God results in joyless legalism. Work minus worship magnifies your will power not God’s worth. If you try to do things for God without delighting in God you bring dishonor upon God. Serving God without savoring God is lifeless and unreal.

– John Piper

 

We don’t serve God to gain His acceptance; we are accepted so we serve God. We don’t follow Him in order to be loved; we are loved so we follow Him.

– Neil T. Anderson

 

Make this your one purpose: to revere Him and serve Him faithfully with complete devotion because He has done great things for you.

– 1 Samuel 12:24 (VOICE)

 

To serve God, to love God, to enjoy God, is the sweetest freedom in the world.

– Thomas Watson

 

And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.

– 1 Chronicles 28:9 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart