XYZ - eXamine Your Zeal

Since I fell behind, I am finishing with a triple, but I am finishing. I hope to spend May visiting the other A to Zers because I fell behind on that as well. It's called a challenge for a reason, but it's also a fun way to stretch myself. I'd like to thank Arlee Bird again and all the team of A to Z helpers. You all are a wonderful inspiration and encouragement. Thank you for putting this together and inspiring so many. Here goes:

A to Z Challenge

XYZ - eXamine Your Zeal. When you think about what’s been breaking out in cities across the U.S. right now, the riots and the mobs and the protests, can you help but wonder what’s going on? Is their zeal well grounded or unfounded? What is under it or behind it?

I believe within each of us there is a need, a desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We may not know it or see it or understand it, but it is there and it shows itself in someway. I believe we are witnessing the ugliness that it can produce when we misidentify what that bigger something is. That the need was placed in us for a purpose. Yes, we have a real need which fuels a real desire, and it is for the something bigger that we were created for, God Himself. We were created to belong in the family of God.

However, we also have something else naturally in us, a rebellious nature. So when that need for something bigger intertwines with our nature to rebel, it can produce the kinds of things we are witnessing in our society. We search to belong to something bigger in all the wrong places. Only God Himself can give us what we long for, what we are created for, relationship with Him. The Bible tells us God has made Himself known within us.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 

                                                                               Romans 18-23 (NASB)

We should eXamine what we are Zealous for. With what do You Identify? In what do You find You Reality? How do You determine Truth? What is You Ultimate? Are You Equipped to defend or offer an Apologetic Your Worldview? Can You Lay it Out for someone? How do You deal with Your Doubts?  Are You willing to make some Observations to Make the Most of  the Quality of Your Life?

EXamine Yourself and direct Your Zeal towards the One You were created for. You were made to be an Heir of the kingdom of God. Jesus has made a way to restore us to what we were intended for, Glory as children of the King of Kings.

God bless, Maria

WORMS

I am catching up on my A to Z Challenge. I fell behind due to an accumulation of circumstances that occur in life.

A to Z Challenge

Worms - any of a number of creeping or burrowing invertebrate animals with long, slender, soft bodies and no limbs.

As I walked this morning, there were lots of little squirming worms about on the sidewalk. I couldn’t help thinking about them. They were seeking refuge from the rain. I thought about their purpose, burrowing through the soil to aerate and fertilize.  Amazing little creatures aren’t they?!

Could they have evolved from nothing? I mean, when I think about the importance of the worm and its purpose, I think about the other things in the world. I think of how it all fits together and works together. Could it have just come about randomly? No, I don’t think so. It takes too much faith to look at a world that is clearly designed and believe it just happened. I mean, consider the worm.

Consider the worms:

Wonderful Worms

Wonder Worms 

Worm Evolution in Pollution? 

God bless, Maria

V is for Virtue

Well, I am running behind, but I vow to finish. So let me start by catching up with V.

A to Z Challenge

Virtue:  Behavior showing high moral standards, goodness, virtuousness, righteousness, moral excellence, integrity, dignity, honor, decency, nobility, rectitude, purity, conformity of one’s life and conduct to high moral and ethical principles, uprightness, rectitude

Where is the virtue today? Where are the high moral standards, standards of goodness and excellence, righteousness, honor? Have they died as we negate God in our world? Without God, where does virtue come from anyway?

In a search for ‘virtue’ on the internet, I found many organizations attempting to recreate the virtuous that has been lost. There are some that admit religion plays a role. There are others that identify other mechanisms to instill virtue like sports, work, or stable relationships like families or schools. However, this neglects a deep question. Why should anyone desire to be virtuous? Who defines virtue and where does the idea of virtue originate?

To have true virtue, we need a standard by which to measure that virtue. We need a definer of virtue. That standard definer is God.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:12-15(NIV)

Here are a few websites to check out to:

Voices for Virtue 

The Character of Virtue 

What is the Biblical Value ofVirtue? 

God bless, Maria

U is for Ultimate

A to Z Challenge

Ultimate: The highest, the greatest, the unsurpassed, the most valued, the most important

What’s your ultimate thing? What is it that you put before all else, that guides your decision-making, that most important, most valued item in your life? That is your idol, your ultimate.

Then God spoke all these words, saying,

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” Exodus 20:1-4

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Romans1:20-23

If we allow something to take the ultimate place in our hearts, in our lives above the place that God should have, then we actually reduce the value of all things in our life. Why? Because God IS the ultimate; so to put anything in His place devalues the ultimate place and consequently devalues everything else in relation to the false ultimate. Only by giving God the place in our lives that He should hold to we give appropriate value to all in our lives. It is in dignifying truth, that we dignify all else by the standard of truth.

Here are some websites to help you consider if you have idols for your ultimate.

Idolatry is Alive Today

Household Idols

SIN

As I have been navigating my way through the 2015 A to Z Challenge, I've been examining briefly various words and concepts in apologetics, that is the defense of what we believe, and for me that is Christianity and the Christian worldview. Today's word is sin.

A to Z Challenge

Sin: The violation of God’s expectations; transgressing divine law; rebelling against God; making something other than God our ultimate thing, our ultimate standard, our ultimate.

…All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus, Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

People in America today don’t like to hear the word sin. They think no one has the right to pass judgment on them, even God. Who is anyone to declare something sin? That argument easily falls apart with a little thought, however. If God made us, He knows how we work best, and He has the right to set the guiding principles for how the world and we in the world should operate. If there is a God, then He is the ultimate, and He determines our purpose. In fact He gives us purpose and meaning. If there is a God, as A. W. Tozer said,

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Why do I bring up God in the topic of sin? Because according to the definition of sin, it is God who determines what it is. If He is the King of Kings, then He has the authority to say what sin is and why it is significant.

We must determine what we think about God first in order to have a right view of sin. Otherwise sin has no meaning. Someone who says, "There is no God," likewise must say there is no sin to be consistent, and rightly so. However, if there is no sin, what is the basis for determining right and wrong? If it is just us and our own conclusions, who gets to decide? Think about that to its logical conclusion, and you will understand why Voltaire said,

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him."

Are you willing to consider the reality of God and sin? What do you think of Tozer’s statement? Do you have an alternative thought to Voltaire's statement?

Here are a few websites to help you consider what sin is and what to do about it.

What is sin? 

Forgiveness of sin 

Freaked Out by Ordinary Sin 

Maria

Reality

A to Z Challenge

Reality: The quality of existing; the state of being real; something that is true.

So is God reality? Is Jesus real? Did he live? The evidence is there to examine. If one is looking for reasons to reject God, one will find them. However, if you truly are seeking truth, seeking to find God, clearly the God of the Bible says you will find it if you are seeking it. What are you looking for?

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew7:7-8 (NASB)

Reasons to Believe in the Reality of Christ 

 God is a Reality 

The Reality of Supernatural Faith 

O is for Observation / P is for Prayer

O is for ObservationA to Z Challenge

Observation: an act of recognizing and noting a fact or occurrence; to be aware of one’s surroundings; to listen and pay attention; to see, watch, recognize details, to collect information through one’s senses

It seems today, we have lost the art of using our brains when told something or even when looking at something. We no longer observe. Instead we absorb. Time to reawaken those observation skills that engage our reason and thinking. Yes, think and weigh the evidence presented to us. Is it logical? Does it make sense? Are we truly open to where the evidence leads?  

Here are a few websites to challenge you to be an engaged observer.

Observation Techniques 

The Christian Observer

The HolyObserver

P is for PrayerA to Z Challenge

Prayer: Talking to God from your heart; 

Prayer has an effect not only on the person praying, but God affects things and events because we pray. How do I know? I look at what God Himself says He does when we pray as in this example of His response to Hezekiah's prayer.

          Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.”

          Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.’ This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him….

           ‘Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, “He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. …‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

          Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. From 2 Kings19

There are different approaches to prayer, different techniques to help us. Here are a few approaches.

The Lord's Prayer, a model

The 5 finger prayer

Prayer Cards

Thanks for visiting,

Maria

Identity

A to Z Challenge

Identity – How I define myself, who I am, where I find my value and meaning.

Where do I find my identity? Is it in my job, in my roles as wife or mother, child, sister, friend? As a Christian, my identity is  something that is not limited by the constraints of this world or by my success in a role. I know that I have value as a sacred creation of God, and as a child of God, that I am loved and precious to Him. Pretty awesome for all those who accept God's invitation to be in His family through faith in Jesus Christ.

  

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27

Yet to all who received [Jesus], to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. 

John 1:12

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:27-28

Here are some websites to explore what it means to find one's identity in Christ.

Who we REALLY are - Our identity in Christ 

My identitiy in Jesus

Who Am I?

Heirs of the Kingdom of God

A to Z Challenge

Heir – Someone destined to receive an inheritance.

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Romans 8:16-17

Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

Galatians 4:1-7

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Titus 3:5-7

The first two recommendations today are bloggers worth a visit who give their perspective on what it means to be an heir of the kingdom of God. I hope you find all three expand your understanding of the Biblical promise of becoming a child of God, an heir of the kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ.

Hired Servants and Heirs of the Kingdom

Heirs of the Kingdom

Heirs of God

Glory

A to Z Challenge

Glory: What is Glory? John Piper puts it like this:

“I believe the glory of God is the going public of His infinite worth. I define the holiness of God as the infinite value of God, the infinite intrinsic worth of God. And when that goes public in creation, the heavens are telling the glory of God, and human beings are manifesting His glory, because we're created in His image, and we're trusting His promises so that we make Him look gloriously trustworthy.

The public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God is what I mean by "glory," and I base that partly on Isaiah 6, where the seraphim say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his—" and you would expect them to say "holiness" and they say "glory." They're ascribing "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of His—" and when that goes public in the earth and fills it, you call it "glory."

So God's glory is the radiance of His holiness, the radiance of His manifold, infinitely worthy and valuable perfections.” 

Other websites to help unfold God’s glory and His grace:

Giving Glory to God

Grace to You

What is the glory of God?

FAMILY

A to Z Challenge

Family: Traditionally the family unit would be defined as a husband and wife with the possibility of children produced by said union. It would also extend to the father and mother of said husband and wife, so grandparents, and aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews and so on. The word family has come to include a whole host of different unions today.

In our Sunday school recently, we considered what a Biblical family looks like and what the idea of a Christian family should look like. If you look in the Bible at families, it doesn’t pull any punches in identifying an assortment of dysfunctional families. So we are left with the question, “what would God want from family and in family relationships?”

It is my belief that God wants a family to be the source of learning about Him, the place where we find strength, refuge, character, among other empowering and good things.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ...

Matthew 5:43-48 (NASB)

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:5-8 (NASB)

Clearly God wants us to be loving and kind to reflect what it means to be a member of the family of God. To find out more about living as a Christian in family visit:

http://www.familyrenewal.org

http://www.focusonthefamily.com

http://www.cftministry.org 

This is another “F” website I came across in my search with some excellent short clips on living as a follower of Jesus Christ in the family of God..

https://flannel.org/store/films/nooma