: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition : the action or condition or an instance of persevering : steadfastness (directly copied from the website)
So my opposition this morning is the DEVIL. He has been attacking me since last night! I have been doing some work in preparation for this mommy & me meeting today, meeting with Pastor and having a good long talk about things in general, including where we would like to see this group go, doing research on topics we could discuss in the future, ideas for outings we could do, etc. It has been actually quite interesting to do these things. Not like work at all. Just something that is satisfying a thirst for knowledge/organization inside of me.
While I was doing my research on topics, something I read said that Proverbs has a wealth of biblical parenting advice. So I decided to start reading Proverbs. Well, I got stuck on Proverbs 1:7, which reads:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
This struck me as interesting because the first 6 versus of Proverbs 1 are instructions on who is to use Proverbs, and how to use them. Then before they go into all the Godly wisdom and advice, Solomon (who has been said to be one of the wisest kings/men/people of God to ever live) said that in order to know ANYTHING, you must first start with fearing the Lord. So I went online to read what others had to say about Proverbs 1. And it is interesting some things I found. There is a page that I really got some good info from:
I will be spending some time summing up what was said on that page, as well as what I find interesting and where I feel emphasis is necessary in MY life.
What does that mean to me exactly? That to gain wisdom, knowledge, SMARTS, that it all starts with a good, healthy fear of the Lord!! But.... what does it mean exactly to fear the Lord? Does that mean we are to be afraid to approach him because he is that scary? Does it mean that we don't ever provoke him? Well, yes, we should never provoke God. But that statement DOES NOT mean we should fear approaching God. Quite the opposite! The page I was reading from said that fear of the Lord meant two things: to run away from sin and pursue righteousness. In other words, we should fear the punishment of sin from God so much that we turn away, RUN away, and pursue righteousness. God is SO HOLY that he cannot even be around sin, and if we are born with sin, than that goes to say that he can't be around us, but alas! There is hope! Jesus died for our sins so that we may be forgiven and we CAN be around God. But we are to struggle every day with our current sins, and we are to turn away, ask for forgiveness, and pursue what is right, Godly, and just. That being said, we should NEVER BE AFRAID OF APPROACHING GOD, JUST OF OUR UNFORGIVEN SINS THAT HE WILL PUNISH US FOR!!!
In verse 29 and 31, Solomon goes on to say in response to rejecting wisdom (as in from God): (parenthesis are my comments, not part of the verse)
Since they hated knowledge (which we know now comes from the fear of Lord) and did not choose to fear the Lord... they will eat the fruit of their ways (reaping what you sow much??)
Proverbs 2 begins to describe the benefits of heeding wisdom, he says that if you search out wisdom with your heart and open ears (mind/heart/soul), accept the wisdom, ask for insight and understanding and search it (insight/understanding) out as you would precious stones and valuable metals (specifically he says silver and treasure, vs 4)... [all this is my summary of 2:1-4], then vs 5 says:
then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD (emphasis is mine alone)
I mean, wow. In order to gain the wisdom of GOD, not just plain ole, boring, HUMANLY wisdom, but HIS perfect, awesome, powerful wisdom, then it starts with "fearing the Lord". Which brings us full circle that in order to get this wisdom, we must TURN away from sin and REPENT! We must approach God humbly, with reverence, asking for forgiveness NOW, TODAY, which we know is only offtered through the sacrifice of our Jesus, who died for us.
So last night I was so struck in awe about this revelation, I mean, I knew it anyway, but to hear it again, God must have been speaking to me. I humbly came to him, asking him for all the things I have done, and the things I cannot remember doing but he still finds pungent in his perfectness. And the devil started attacking me! My throat started hurting so bad and I couldn't actually swallow. I mean, it was pretty bad. I didn't think anything of it really because my throat has been scratchy for days, (looking back now, I think the devil has really been attacking me for my decision to be the spokesperson for mommy & me). I posted just a summary of what I was feeling on FB and I went to bed. I slept AWESOME!! Although I woke up with a headache, sore throat, and stuffy nose. The devil was still attacking me. He only had a few short hours to convince me I was sick and couldn't go to Mommy & Me and share my revelations and my love for Christ and my heart for getting this group up and running and growing. Myself and two other mothers (as well as any other ones that decide to come today) have a huge heart for the success for this group, and together, with Jesus by our side, we WILL accomplish great things! But the devil does not like this! He wants to ruin my testimony. He wants to break my fellowship with God. He has had enough of this Jesus stuff! BUT I WON'T ALLOW IT! I asked a very good friend to say a prayer for me that I was being attacked by the devil, and she is SUCH a prayer warrior, that I knew she would drop everything to pray a very powerful prayer over me, and together, we both prayed. Instantly my headache is gone, my throat feels normal, and I can breath again. Really devil, is that all you got for me?? BRING IT, I got Jesus by my side and you will NOT succeed in bringing me down!!!!
Then I looked on FB for my comment, and I just LOVE what someone posted about my status
Randi, I do not profess to be a Bible Scholar by any means, but I do study God's word. God cannot begin to teach us what we need to know until we learn to fear Him with reverence and respect. When we display this healthy type of fear then we become teachable. Fools depend on their own knowledge and do not want to or think that they need to listen to anyone else, much less God. That is why they are fools. American Heritage Dictionary defines a fool as one lacking judgement or sense.
Wow! I LOVE that. So a fool is someone who flat out rejects the opportunity or the teachings or really anything that is besides themselves, and most of all, the smartest being in the universe, God. Stupid fools. I mean, literally, Stupid. Idiots. Fools. What is wrong with them?? Why would you turn away from something that could give you such an advantage in this life and in the next?? I just am so baffled by it.
Going back to my prayer warrior friend. At the beginning of the year, she sent me a BEAUTIFUL purple leather Christian daily calendar. I have been using the HECK out of it since she sent it to me, for meal planning, and for whatever else I wanted to make sure I needed to remember (if you come into our apartment, and look around, you'll see that I have that calendar, a dry erase board I have turned into a calendar, one on my fridge, I use one to pay bills, and I use my phone calendar, I really use a lot of calendars because I hate forgetting things!!). Every day has a scripture down at the bottom. So this is HOW awesome God is. He KNEW when the creators of this calendar were picking out verses that on April 25th, Randi Marie Mann would need to hear Proverbs 16:3. He encouraged my friend to buy the calender. He encouraged me to use it. He encouraged me to leave it open last night on tomorrows (which is now today) page. He encouraged my friend to read hers first (she got one for herself too). Then to call my attention to it. Wow, how amazing in my GOD!!!
Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. (Proverbs 16:3)
That is SO powerful to me, that I have literally written it (including typed just now) 10 times. I know it by heart, and I want to remember this one forever, so for the next few days, I will repeat this scripture in my heart over and over and over, believing my LORD, GOD, JESUS, is above all things and will MAKE OUR MOMS GROUP SUCCEED. TAKE THAT DEVIL!!! BOO YA!!
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