My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less

As Seth encouraged us to do on Sunday, I have spent most of my day looking up the words to the song, “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” and searching for scripture that goes along with this hymn. Doing so has been very beneficial to me. I’m so thankful to God for song writers like Edward Mote who have used their giftings in the area of songwriting to proclaim God’s truth.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteous;
No merit of my own I claim
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils his lovely face,
I ret on his unchanging grace;
In every high and story gale
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, his covenant, his blood
Sustain me in the raging flood;
When all supports are washed away,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in him be found,
Clothed in his righteousness alone,
Redeemed to stand before the throne!
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

God is our rock:

Psalm 18:1-2-“I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Psalm 40:2-“He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”

God is our hope:

Psalm 42:11-“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Romans 5:3-5-“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Romans 8:24-25- “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 12:12-“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

We’ve been redeemed:

Lamentations 3:58- “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.”

By God's Grace:

2 Corinthians 12:9- “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Ephesians 1: 7- “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

Ephesians 2:4-5-“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

Titus 2:11-12-“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”

Happy Father's Day to My Dad!

Dear Dad,

Over this past year, I’ve seen God’s grace working in your life in so many different ways. Thank you so much for your hard labor every day! I’m sure their have and are many days that are VERY difficult to get through but you are always strong to push through them no matter what. Though you are always tired after long days of work, you always come home ready to talk to the family and ask us "how our days have been?" In doing so, you are always faithful to make us laugh and lift up our souls with encouraging words if we are feeling down. Thank you also, for your constant fear of God and lack of fear of man. The way you trust in our Savior day to day spurs me on to do the same. No matter what circumstances our family has found ourselves in, we knew our future was secure because you were leading us as God was leading you. Now the fruit of your faith and prayer has shown in the many blessings God has sent. You’re not only a spiritual leader in our family. You’re a shining example for me to look up to. Know that I pray and thank God for you each and every day that goes by. It is truly a privilege for me to call myself “your daughter.”

Happy Father’s day!

I Love You!

Candace

Family Fun on The Boat

Quest For Joy

I’ve been doing quite a bit of studying on the topic of Joy and I’ve found a lot of helpful insite from the Desiring God website. You’ll probably be seeing a lot on this topic for the next week or two. Everything I’ve been reading is outstanding!

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)

1) God created us for his glory

"Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth,... whom I created for my glory" (Isaiah 43:6-7)

God made us to magnify his greatness - the way telescopes magnify stars. He created us to put his goodness and truth and beauty and wisdom and justice on display. The greatest display of God's glory comes from deep delight in all that he is. This means that God gets the praise and we get the pleasure. God created us so that he is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

2) Every human should live for God's glory

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

If God made us for his glory, it is clear that we should live for his glory. Our duty comes from his design. So our first obligation is to show God's value by being satisfied with all that he is for us. This is the essence of loving God (Matthew 22:37) and trusting him (1 John 5:3-4) and being thankful to him (Psalm 100:2-4) It is the root of all true obedience, especially loving others (Colossians 1:4-5).

3) All of us have failed to glorify God as we should

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

What does it mean to "fall short of the glory of God?" It means that none of us has trusted and treasured God the way we should. We have not been satisfied with his greatness and walked in his ways. We have sought our satisfaction in other things, and treated them as more valuable than God, which is the essence of idolatry (Romans 1:21-23). Since sin came into the world we have all been deeply resistant to having God as our all-satisfying treasure (Ephesians 2:3). This is an appalling offense to the greatness of God (Jeremiah 2:12-13).

4) All of us are subject to God's just condemnation

"The wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23).

We have all belittled the glory of God. How? By preferring other things above him. By our ingratitude, distrust and disobedience. So God is just in shutting us out from the enjoyment of his glory forever. "They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

5) God sent his only son Jesus to provide eternal life and joy

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..." (1 Timothy 1:15)

The good news is that Christ died for sinners like us. And he rose physically from the dead to validate the saving power of his death and to open the gates of eternal life and joy (1 Corinthians 15:20). This means God can acquit guilty sinners and still be just (Romans 3:25-26). "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). Coming home to God is where all deep and lasting satisfaction is found.

6) The benefits purchased by the death of Christ belong to those who repent and trust him

"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out" (Acts 3:19). "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31).

"Repent" means to turn from all the deceitful promises of sin. "Faith" means being satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Jesus. "He who believes in me," Jesus says, "shall never thirst" (John 6:35). We do not earn our salvation. We cannot merit it (Romans 4:4-5). It is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is a free gift (Romans 3:24). We will have it if we cherish it above all things (Matthew 13:44). When we do that, God's aim in creation is accomplished: He is glorified in us and we are satisfied in him - forever.

My Birthday!

This past weekend was my Birthday and it was great! On Saturday some friends came over and we hung out at the pool. We then went to see Kung Fu Panda and went to the Jacksonville Landing to have dinner. On Sunday I had a Birthday party at our community pool and then we all went back to my house for dinner, fellowship, and cake. It was fun! Thank you everyone for all the gifts, cards, texts, facebook messages, etc. You all made my Birthday VERY special! I'm grateful for you all! Here are some pictures!

My Plan

At New Attitude John Piper spoke a message titled, “Fighting for Faith with God’s Word.” This message was outstanding and I highly recommend you to listen to it. You can download it here!

After Piper’s message Josh Harris got up and challenged all of us to come up with a “plan” that we would follow for our daily devotions. Here’s what I came up with:

This is what I feel the Lord is calling me to do for this particular season of life I'm in right now.

What Time: I’ve always enjoyed reading my Bible at night before I go to bed. In doing so, I have let myself stay up so late sometimes that I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning to do devotions. I would like to be spending more time in God’s word in the morning. I definitely still want to read my Bible at night but, I need to be more diligent in getting to bed at a descent hour so I can wake up rested in the morning to do devotions.

What Place: Personally I've found that I need to be in a place where I’m not distracted from other things around me. I’ve started doing devotions on our back deck and sometimes walking down to the dock in my neighborhood when the weather permits to do so. Otherwise I find a place in my house that isn’t too loud or comfortable. I’ve found that if I stay in bed to do devotions I will find a reason why I need to go back to sleep. So NO devotions are aloud in my bed!!!

What Plan: Here are a few things I would like to accomplish during my morning devotions:

1. Start reading through the Old Testament. I definitely want to have a greater knowledge and understanding of all that took place in the Old Testament which is something that I’m not too strong in.
2. I would like to start memorizing some of the Psalms and scriptures that have to do with Joy and Trusting God.
3. Finally, I would like to spend more time praying. Praying for grace for my day ahead of me and for other people. Like I’ve said before, I would love to know how I can be praying for you! Please let me know!

It will probably take me a little while to get into the habit of following this plan everyday. I’m definitely going to need God’s grace to help me be motivated! My prayer is that I wouldn’t use this plan as a daily chore for me to do but, that it would be a delight as I rise in the morning to spend time in God’s presence. If you ever see me, please feel free to ask me how I’m doing with all I mentioned above.

2 Corinthians 12:9- “For Jesus said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Delighting In God's Word

Throughout the New Attitude conference the Lord convicted me of my lacking in studying His word. I might have been reading the Bible daily but I was viewing my time with the Lord as a duty, not a delight. In our community groups on the first morning we meditated on Psalm 119. Here are a few verses that stuck out to me while reading:

V. 2-“Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart.

Vs. 10-11-“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Vs. 15-16-“I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in you statutes; I will not forget your word.”

Going into the conference I was definitely not someone that was seeking the Lord with my whole heart! In doing so, I was sinning against God and ultimately not honoring Him! My prayer since I returned home from New Attitude is that I would be one that “stores Gods word up in my heart”
With that said… I will share more tomorrow about the plan I have created to help me accomplish “storing God’s word up in my heart.”

My Top 15 Memories from New Attitude 2008

1. Being filled with the joy of the Lord!
2. Worship 4 times a day!
3. My awesome family group.
4. Fellowship in the lobby.
5. Fighting for a t-shirt before they all sold out.
6. Late night conversations with the girls.
7. Hanging out in our hotel rooms.
8. Ryan and Kaleb fighting to catch cheeze its.
9. Leaving a day late!
10. The biblical fellowship with Caleb, Ryan, and Amber on the way home.
11. Steeling Amber’s shoes so she couldn’t get out of bed.
12. Walking the tunnel the last night to stay dry
13. Being convicted to be in the word more then I have been.
14. Dodge ball and pop the balloon game in my community group. (I’m going to be honest, I didn’t play but… I did get lots of good pictures)
15. Fantastic speakers!

These are all just a few things that made New Attitude 2008 a memory for me. In all seriousness though God really did do a work in my heart! I went into the conference praying and fighting for joy in this season that God has ordained for me and left feeling the deep, deep love of my Savior pouring upon my life. Many of you know this but, I had decided to fly (rather then driving with the rest of the Jacksonville group) to NA because of an event that came up at work well…. It turned out that we canceled that event. At first my attitude wasn’t a very good one! I basically had to pray and say to myself, “God must have a reason for me staying back a day later then everyone else” it turned out that, that night the Lord spoke to me in numerous ways. He was preparing my heart for the conference in ways I wasn’t even aware of! After getting to the conference it all became very evident to me! I will share more in the next few days about what God did in my life through the conference. For now here are a few pictures!