Fervent! - Liz Rogers

As the wife of an evangelist, most evenings I find myself sitting in a church service somewhere in this wonderful country of ours. I often tease that the Lord let me marry my husband because He knew that I needed to be in church every night! Because we’re in church so often, I’ll tell you a preacher’s wife’s secret; sometimes my mind wanders. (Insert gasp here!) It was one such evening, that the thing that caused my mind to wander was a word--fervent! I’m not even sure why I gave the word a second glance, but later that night, I grabbed my concordance app to see how many times the word was mentioned in Scripture. The answer is seven. Seven times the word fervent is mentioned in God’s Word--fervent in spirit, fervent mind, fervent prayer, fervent heat, fervent charity. It’s such a descriptive word, it just evoked a mental picture to me, so I looked up the dictionary definition.

Be Carefull for Nothing - Joannie Rodriguez

. KEEP YOUR MIND IN CONTROL… verse 6a – In other words, don’t be too worried or

dedicated to the problem or situation. Paul was reminding us to not worry about

anything. Yes, nothing at all! I know this can be really hard to do, especially when it

involves marital and family problems, sickness, and problems at church which can often

be difficult to ignore. I, myself, have had the tendency to rethink things too much. I put

too much focus on the problem or on the person creating the problem. I often have to

be reminded to not get too emotionally attached to the problem or to someone that I

feel has offended me. We cannot allow these problems or thoughts to take over our

minds and reside deep in our hearts. If we do, we will soon find ourselves having to deal

with the issue of anxiety.

Renewing Your Mind NOT Just Your Resolutions - Missy Pallini

Our Bible is our renewal. It's a living book full of truths and the more that we input it into our heart, the more we'll look like Christ and His joy will reflect off you. Let's take this new year not just for fleeting resolutions but let's take a step forward for the Lord, renewing and updating ourselves until we are secure in Him.

Christian Life, Christian Service, Encouragement, Faith, Trusting GodAmy SappJanuary 31, 2022Renew, Refresh, Resolutions, New Years, New Year, Mind

Love the Lord Thy God - Rebekah McCullough

How can I love the Lord with all my heart? We use this term loosely and without much thought. I believe God is asking us to love him with all our passion, all our feelings. There's things I'm pretty passionate about, my family (obviously), missions, politics, history, coffee.... Most of these things, just thinking about it, can bring me to great joy, anger, or tears. It's easy for me to get emotional and passionate about these things because I care about them so much. I've invested time, energy, and money into them. I think God is saying for us to love Him with all our emotions, our feelings, our passion. That will require time, energy, and frankly, money. (Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.) Honestly, loving God with all our heart might be the easiest one for us ladies since we tend to be more emotional creatures by design. That leads to the next one.

Disciplined Thoughts - Erica Koske

Don’t Worry. Let God know about it. Did you notice Paul didn’t counsel us to discuss our problems to

our mom, sister, or even our husband? Bring it to God in prayer first. This would solve a majority of

problems and save us from making others the dumpster of our thoughts. I love Claudia Barba’s study on

worry in her book, Refresh your Heart. She explains, “Worry is not an emotion. It is a thought process- a

process that you can, and must control, because worry is sin.” There is a difference between worrying

and thinking through a problem. When difficulties arise, Claudia Barba explains that “disciplined thought

moves in a straight line through a tangle of difficulties to possible solutions. Worry is a swirling tornado

of thoughts centered on a fear. They repeat themselves over and over, making you dizzy but

accomplishing nothing else.” Learning to control our thoughts is vital. Remember that your mom, sister,

or friends can’t change the situation, but God can!