Meditations

Psalm 33

 ²⁰ We wait in hope for the LORD;
       he is our help and our shield.

 ²¹ In him our hearts rejoice,
       for we trust in his holy name.

 ²² May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
       even as we put our hope in you.

Psalm 46

 ¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God;
       I will be exalted among the nations,
       I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 51

 ¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
       and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

 ¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
       or take your Holy Spirit from me.

 ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
       and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

 Psalm 62

 ¹ My soul finds rest in God alone;
       my salvation comes from him. 

 

 ² He alone is my rock and my salvation;
       he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

 

Psalm 67

 ¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us
       and make his face shine upon us,

 ² that your ways may be known on earth,
       your salvation among all nations.

 DJ

“. . . the worries of this life. . .”

“Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” Mark 4:18-19

I’m reading through the Gospels this week, and the parable of the sower has popped up a couple times, and I guess I have never really sat down to think about all the different areas where the seed landed. I mean, I’ve read this and know what the parable is about, but I don’t think I’ve ever ‘really’ read these verses and stopped to think about them.

It’s so easy to let the worries of life overwhelm us, so my prayer over these next couple of weeks is for wisdom to see these “worries” for what they are and that God will help me pull out those things in my life that have been causing me to not produce the fruits that I should.

DJ

Song Lyrics

I love pandora… and so does my iPod touch. We’ve been on the “tenth avenue north” station, which is the station it will be on for the next 18 days and I am sure for many, many days after. It’s been playing the most randomest, thoughtful, inspiring music I could want. It also broaden my horizons to Christian artists… they are so many I haven’t heard of that are amazing, the songs they write just blow me away. There is one song in particular that I keep hearing. It’s by Matthew West and he wrote the song as if God was writing to us…

Take a look at the mountain
Stretching a mile high
Take a look at the ocean
Far as your eye can see
And think of me

Take a look at the desert
Do you feel like a grain of sand?
I am with you wherever
Where you go is where I am
And I’m always thinking of you
Take a look around you
I’m spelling it out one by one

I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine and you shine for me to
I love you
Yesterday
And today
And tomorrow
I’ll say it again and again
I love you more

Just a face in the city
Just a tear on a crowded street
But you are one in a million
And you belong to me
And I want you to know
I’m not letting go
Even when you come undone

I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine and you shine for me to
I love you
Yesterday
And today
And tomorrow
I’ll say it again and again
I love you more

Shine for me
Shine for me
Shine on, shine on
Shine for me

I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine and you shine for me to
I love you
Yesterday
And today
And tomorrow
I’ll say it again and again
I love you more

I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine and you shine for me to
I love you
Yesterday
And today
And tomorrow
I’ll say it again and again
I love you more

And I see you
And I made you
And I love you more than you can imagine
More than you can fathom
I love you more than the sun
And you shine for me

“More” by Matthew West

Tatum

A Rough Start . . .

Well, the first 2 days of the Fast have been a little bit more difficult than anticipated.  I have Fasted and gone without food before, so the restricted diet didn’t seem like it would be too difficult.  However, as was mentioned this past Sunday during the message at Buckhead Church, when you know you can’t do something, the desire to do it grows stronger.  As previously mentioned in my earlier post, I have decided to give up a lot of different things – none of which are all that challenging – until you know you can’t have it.

Shopping for items without salt, sugar, chemicals or animal products in them was a lot more difficult than previously anticipated; however, I did find things I could eat and that should be healthy & tasty.  Of course, not being able to salt my food or use other items as seasoning (i.e. butter, bacon, etc.) has made the food quite bland.  I’m sure it will just take some getting used to, but I definitely miss the taste of the foods I have become so accustomed to.

Fortunately, I have not had any issues with the absence of caffeine in my diet, but I did have an interesting evening last night.  I got home & fixed dinner (corn, green beans, rice & an apple), but shortly after finishing dinner, I got extremely dizzy – room spinning, etc.  That followed quickly with cold sweats and nausea – to the point that everything I just ate came back up.  This all lasted a little over an hour, but afterwards, I really didn’t feel like doing much of anything, so I laid on the sofa and finished reading Matthew and fell asleep somewhere around 8pm.  I woke up this morning after 10 hours of sleep feeling fully refreshed and ready to start a new day, and I’m praying that the nausea & dizziness from yesterday will be gone and not bother me today.

Along with reading the Gospels during this time, I also decided to read Daniel (since this is the Daniel Fast), and with the time it appears that I will have without watching TV, I will probably continue reading the rest of the New Testament as well, though I have no set plan to finish it all before Easter, I do intend to read it all before we depart on our trip for Romania in June.

DJ

What am I giving up with the Daniel Fast?

OK, so this is a little hard to start off with, but I wanted to lay it out there, because I will definitely need help keeping accountable over these 21 days (3/22 to 4/11).  I figured the best way to do so was to clearly lay out what I will be doing.  So, as I sit here about a little more than a week before we begin this Fast, it doesn’t seem like an awfully spiritual thing to do, but I do see it as a necessary first step for me.

I do have some more reading to do on the subject of the Daniel Fast, but from what I have already read and been able to gather, there are strick guidelines as to what we can & cannot eat, and I’m not going to go into all those details at this point, but here is a link to another blog providing more info if you are interested: http://danielfast.wordpress.com/daniel-fast-food-list/.  On top of this, I am personally commiting to the following during these 21 days as well:

• No Salt (it is a spice & acceptable under the Daniel Fast, but I do use this more than I should and will be avoiding this during the Fast as well).
• No Sugar/Sweeteners (certain ones are acceptable, but again, I am chosing to give this up as well).
• No TV
• No Movies
• No Facebook
• No Twitter
• Limited Blogging (since this is still new to me, to give it up doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense at this point, but I am going to focus what I write to be only about what God is dealing with me during this Fast and not other “non-essential items”).
• Listening only to Christian music when choosing to listen to music.
• Wednesdays – Will be set aside for a standard Fast day, where I will forego food from midnight to midnight and will strictly rely on water & prayer during the day, and my mealtimes will be additional times of prayer those days.
• On top of my normal devotions, I will commit to increase my time of prayer and Bible reading, and will also be doing a small group study entitled “Growth: Training vs. Trying” from the “Pursuing Spiritual Transformation” series of study guides available at the church’s resource center.
• Since this is being done leading up to Easter, I also plan to read the 4 Gospels during this time.
• I will put additional effort into learning Romanian through the resources I already have.
• I will also commit to exercising 5 days a week as I also consider my body God’s Temple and it should not be neglected.

Well, as I said – not too spiritual – just a bunch of guidelines I am setting for myself during this time.  As far as I know, this will not change between now and when we start the Fast, but I may actually think of something else that I may choose to do without, and if so, I will update with any changes.

I know this Fast is probably going to be quite difficult already, and adding things to avoid only makes it more so, but I truly feel that it’s not meant to be “easy”, but to help us rely more on God and put Him first instead of all the other things that we have allowed to come into our lives these days, and I believe that God will provide for us during this time.

DJ