Emma Kate Highlights - March 09

Author Unknown

He is the First and Last,
The Beginning and the End! 
He is the keeper of Creation and the Creator of all! 
He is the Architect of the universe and the Manager of all times. 
He always was, 
He always is, and He always will be... 
Unmoved, Unchanged, Undefeated, and never Undone!

He was bruised and brought healing! 
He was pierced and eased pain! 
He was persecuted and brought freedom! 
He was dead and brought life! 
He is risen and brings power! 
He reigns and brings Peace!

The world can't understand him, 
The armies can't defeat Him, 
The schools can't explain Him, 
and The leaders can't ignore Him.

Herod couldn't kill Him, 
The Pharisees couldn't confuse Him, 
and The people couldn't hold Him!

Nero couldn't crush Him, 
Hitler couldn't silence Him, 
The New Age can't replace Him, 
and Oprah can't explain Him away! 
He is light, love, longevity, and Lord. 
He is goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, and God. 
He is Holy, Righteous, mighty, powerful, and pure.

His ways are right, 
His word is eternal, 
His will is unchanging, 
and His mind is on me.

He is my Savior, 
He is my guide, and
He is my peace! 
He is my Joy, 
He is my comfort, 
He is my Lord, and
He rules my life!

I serve Him because
His bond is love, 
His burden is light, 
and His goal for me is abundant life.

I follow Him because
He is the wisdom of the wise, 
the power of the powerful, 
the ancient of days, 
the ruler of rulers, 
the leader of leaders, 
the overseer of the overcomers, 
and is to come. 
And if that seems impressive to you, 
try this on for size.

His goal is a relationship with ME! 
He will never leave me, 
never forsake me, 
never mislead me, 
never forget me, 
never overlook me, 
and never cancel my appointment in His
appointment book!

When I fall, He lifts me up! 
When I! fail, He forgives! 
When I am weak, He is strong! 
When I am lost, He is the way!

When I am afraid, He is my courage! 
When I stumble, He steadies me! 
When I am hurt, He heals me! 
When I am broken, He mends me! 
When I am blind, He leads me! 
When I am hungry, He feeds me!

When I face trials, He is with me! 
When I face persecution, He shields me! 
When I face problems, He comforts me! 
When I face loss, He provides for me! 
When I face Death, He carries me Home!

He is everything for everybody everywhere, every time, and every way. 
He is God, He is faithful. 
I am His, and He is mine! 
My Father in heaven can whip the father of this world. 
So, if you're wondering why I feel so secure, understand this...

He said it and that settles it. 
God is in control, 
I am on His side, 
and that means all is well with my soul. 
Everyday is a blessing for GOD Is!

Hebrews 1

What we learn about Jesus from Hebrews 1

• Heir of all things (1:2)
• The world was made through Him (1:2)
• He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature (1:3)
• Sustains all things by His powerful Word (1:3)
• Made purification for our sins (1:3)
• Sits at the right hand of God (1:3)
• Is better than the angels (1:4)
• All the angels of God worship Him (1:6)
• He is the Unchangeable One. (1:12)

Lord I praise you because You are these things and so much more. Please let me never settle for just a basic understanding of who You are, may I never be satisfied with just milk Lord but in the same breath may I never overlook the simplicity of the gospel and get bogged down in theology. I want to press on towards maturity as Heb. 6:1 commands me but I need your discipline to keep my eyes fixed on You the author and perfecter of my faith (Heb. 12:2). When theology gets in the way Lord remind me of Emma Kate who simply picks up Your Word, turns the pages, and says, "Mommy do you know what this page says, it says Jesus loves me."

Let Us:

Part of our homework this week for Hebrews was to write out all the Let us phrases in the book of Hebrews. As much as a moan about all the detail stuff that is required for Precept studies I always come away very thankful that I chose to do it!

"Therefore since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us, be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it ." Heb. 4:1

"Let us, therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience." Heb. 4:11

" Therefore since we have a high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess." Heb. 4:14

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Heb. 4:16

" Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death and of faith in to God. Heb. 6:1

"Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." Heb. 10:22

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for He who promised is faithful." Heb. 10:23

" And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Heb. 10:24

" Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Heb. 10:25

"Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Heb. 12:1

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb. 12:2

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe." Heb. 12:28

"Let us then go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore." Heb. 13:13

"Through Jesus therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise- the fruit of lips that confess His name." Heb. 13:15


Today let us be encouraged that He who promised is FAITHFUL to complete the work He has started in us. My prayer for me is that I do run this race with perseverance with my eyes fixed on Jesus because He indeed is the author and perfecter of my faith.

Blog Lift!

So I have been on a blog hiatus for awhile but now I am back! The sweet ladies at http://thesiestafiestablog.blogspot.com/ gave my blog a face lift :) Thank you so much Holly. I love it and look forward to actually using it more now! I am currently studying Hebrews so there will be a post in the next few days on what God has been teaching in His Word.

Trust

Orginally posted on Aug. 17, 2008

I don't know if this will ever be published but I need to sort out what the Lord had been speaking to be about. I have found, for me, it helps to just write it out. I say that only to give you the warning up front...if you are reading this it was not written to make sense or to be free from errors....I am simply writing to solidify in my mind what the Holy Spirit is saying.
I am currently in a season where God is requiring A LOT of trust from me. My heart and my mind can not seem to catch up with each other to believe the same thing at the same time! I feel like I am being blown in every direction by a wind that I can not control. I long to just get out of the boat and on walk 0n water but just when I think I can do it.....doubt sets in and I sink. I have not been calling out to God about my situation, because if I am real honest, I don't think I want to know His will.

What if what He ask is to hard?

What if I don't want to?

What if I already know what He wants but I just don't agree?

Today, God has used the sermon this morning by Andy Stanley and my "homework" from No Other Gods to speak truth in my life about the trust issues that I am having. This morning Andy talked about The 5 Things that Grow your Faith. However, what really spoke to me was just little side note he mentioned about the fall. He said that everyone talks about how the fall happened when Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit. In essence when people say that they are right. However, the fall started to happen when Eve questioned God. Satan planted the seed that God could not be trusted. Satan told Eve, " For God knows that when you eat of the fruit your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil" (Gen. 3:4) Eve for just a moment questioned if she could really trust God or not. Did he really want what was best for her and Adam? Could God be trusted to follow through on His promises? His point was Eve's downfall to did not start with the bite. Eve's downfall started when she stopped trusting that God was good.

He concluded by saying " When you have absolute confidence in God, obedience is a natural overflow."

Now on to my homework. First, I must say that I am 1 week behind. I had grand plans to finish tonight because I am starting 2 new Bible studies and their homework begins tommorow! However, I felt strongly encouraged to untangle these things. Bible knowledge gets you NO WHERE without obedience. Back to tonights homework. She asked us to read Jonah 2-4:11. To be honest with you, I almost did not read it. I mean come on, I know the story of Jonah and I am trying to finish 1 week of homework in 1 night! But I knew it was short so I thought I would be a good girl, follow the rules, and read! The first verse that really stuck out to me was 2:8. " Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs." I don't have much to say about that other then....I have forfeited a lot of grace along the way because I simply could not/ would not let go of what was familar or easy and cling to THE ONLY ONE who can satisfy. Kelly (the author) started the homework by asking, " Do you obey God while not relating to Him? Have you surrended to Him while not trusting Him?" Ok Kelly....can you please watch my toes??
In Jonah chapter 3, Jonah obeys and Nineveh repents. You would think that the chapter would end. We have our happy ending with the pretty bow on top. However, it does not. God allows us to see a heart issue of Jonah's. Jonah is angry with God because God is going to show compassion to the Ninevites and he does not think they deserve compassion. God calls him out on it and asks "Have you any right to be angry" (4:4) At this point in the story Jonah is so mad he says it is better for him to die.

Seriously.

Kelly makes the following point, " Isn't it interesting in the midst of his obedience- or his ultmate surrender to God's directon-we can find a man who is so mad at God that he wants to die? I think the bottom line for Jonah was obedience without heart, surrender without trust."
A few paragrahps latter she continues, " God is not calling me to merely seek an answer from Him but to seek an answer with Him. To trust Him during the process of exploring His heart for my life decisions, not just to throw my hands up in resignation, sighing Thy will be done!"
That is when it hit me. I have been throwing my hands up and begrudgley saying, "whatever you want Lord" but what God desires from me is not to just follow His will and direction but to TRUST Him.

Like Eve, I been saying,
"Does God really want what is best for me?"

"Can He be trusted to work all things out for His good?"

I know the answer is yes....but do I REALLY believe it?

Then 4:10-11 brought it home for me.
" But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this vine (the vine for me is my circumstance) though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more then a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

The Holy Spirit really convicted me that I am not concerned with the things that God is concerned with. Here I am worried about the vine (my issues) and God is saying those things don't matter. You did not make them succed or fail....I DID. Please get your eyes on what is important. MY PEOPLE. MY GLORY. MY RENOWN. The rest are just vines. They go and come. Don't get caught up in the vine (even though I gave it to you) Keep your eyes focused on what matters to me.

Lord, I long to trust you. I can say until I am blue in the face that You are good. I know that you have plans to prosper me and not to harm me. I know that You are all that matters. Please continue to speak to me through Your word . I want to be concerned with what you are concerend about. Teach me to take my eyes off myself and love what you love and hate what you hate.

I am...

Orginally posted on July 1, 2008

This past Sunday in Life Groups (I teach 11th grade girls) we talked about who we were in Christ. I started the time together by asking them what label other people have put on them. The good, the bad, and the ugly. We made a list on the board. I have been thinking about labels lately because I attended Deeper Still this past weekend in Atlanta.

Priscilla Shirer made the statement that God is the only one who has the right to label/NAME ME. She then mentioned Rev. 22:4 that says, “ They will see HIS face and HIS name will be on their forehead.” I love the picture of when someone sees me the first thing they see is JESUS written on my forehead. It got me thinking about the names that I have NOW because of my identity in Christ. I turned to Ephesians and read all the highlighted parts through Revelation and came up with this list. The awesome thing about it is this is not an extensive list. I did not read the entire books just what I had highlighted! I hope you are blessed and find great encouragement in knowing who you are in Christ.

I AM A:
v Overcomer (1 John 5:5)
v Child of God (1 John 3:3
v Chosen (1Peter 2:9)
v Royal Priesthood (1 Peter 2:9)
v Holy Nation (1Peter 2:9)
v People belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9 Eph. 2:19)
v Stranger in this world (1 Peter 1:1 1 Peter 1:11)
v Forgiven (Hebrews 9:28 Eph. 1:7)
v Redeemed (Col 1:14 Eph. 1:7)
v Reconciled (Col. 1:22)
v Alive with Christ (Col. 2:13 Eph. 2:5)
v Hidden in Christ (Col. 3:12)
v Holy and Dearly loved (Col. 3:12 Eph. 5:1)
v Called to suffer (Philp.1 :29)
v Blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:13)
v Holy and Blameless in His sight (Eph. 1:4)
v Marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13)
v Saved by faith (Eph. 2:8)
v God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10)
v Created to do good works (Eph. 2:10)


Can you imagine what my life would look like if I started living out those things? What if I/we started believing the names/labels that Christ gives us instead of what the world says? My prayer is I/we will STOP BELIEVING who and what the world says we are (good and bad) and start acting like an heir to the throne!
In the comments I would love for you to share some of your favorite I am…. statements