Growing

I got a new Bible a few days ago! I'm so excited! It's a NLT study Bible. My first study Bible. I look forward to transferring all my notes from my tiny pink Bible into this new one.

Ok, so today's verse to study will be......Hebrew 12 (it was the first thing that caught my eye in my new Bible) - but first prayer!

PRAYER: A.C.T.S.

.adoration.
Jesus, I love that song, "The Face of Love". The words really make me think and just get to me. They make me think of you and it brings me back to show me what love really truly is-You. i have really enjoyed learning so much about you and how the words and meanings you created are so pure and so different from the world. I love learning these new, well actually original, definitions of words i thought i knew like love. I'm so excited to share this knowledge and gift you've given me to Russell.

.confession.
This is hard, I have to admit :/ but it's good cuz I need to come to the reality I sin EVERYDAY! so i should always have something to confess here that needs to be worked on. I guess for today I need to confess that I really have a problem spending money. Not necessarilly on material things (which I do do) but more so on spending money on to go out to eat with friends and family. quality time is one of my biggest love languages and I cherish any moment I get to spend time with friends or family. So when a lunch date is mentioned or I am invited it feels worth it to me to spend the money for the outcome i get of bonding with friends and family. Even though I feel God has really blessed me and Ryan monetarily lately, I do feel like i am out of control on the spending, especially when I do it without asking Ryan....I feel soo bad. Ryan trusts me so much and I am betraying that. Lord, I want to make sure this section is never just a confession but a repentance too. i pray Holy Spirit that you would help me with this, thank you.

.thanksgiving.
Lord, I thank you that you have really changed my heart a lot in the past years that I've known you. I am so happy I have realized I can still thank you even when I'm throwing up or when you tell me I need to give up my ipod. I'm happy to becoming more like you. I pray Lord I never lose the truth that I would never be this way without you. I pray for reminders like the notes you showed me awhile back that I wrote to Ryan in high school with all that awful language and sexual references. (gosh, i'm so scared Russell will be this way when he's a teenager-Father, i pray Russell could be the first generation in our new Christian family that would follow you throughout his adolescense and not go through that stuff)

.supplication.
what i said in adoration, confession and thanksgiving

MEDITATION: S.O.A.P.

.scripture.
before i put the scripture I just had to share something Pastor Jim said tonight that I really liked. He said that if there is not some sort of warfare against the enemy in our daily walk with God (whether it be battling the thoughts in our mind or being on our guard against a tough questioning person) then we are not putting up a fight. I think that can relate to me right now with my discipline in dedicating myself to the Word and realy prayer. So here is my fight I putting up, staying disciplined to doing my devotional on here. and thank you Jesus for using Maryann to have found my blog to help keep me accountable to keeping up with this blog!

ok so the scripture! Hebrews 12:1-2

.observation.
i really liked verse 2 that says, "do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith." It is interesting to me because part of me understands it and part of me doesn't. The part I understand i that Jesus is definitely the initiator of our faith and growth, because i've experienced it in my own life. But I don't quite understand how He perfects our faith. i guess because He allows the situations that will make us think or cling to Him. it's all kind of a mystery how God works but I trust Him and know He's real.

.application.
it seems like I can apply this to the reason why I've started this blog. God gave me the tools to do this and from there I am working on building my relationship with Him and in turn my faith as well. But it's all thanks to Him, I just need to constantly keep looking back to Him "keeping my eyes on Jesus".

.prayer.
Jesus, I love the feeling I get collectiong more of what I've learned about you in my brain. I love that saying I've heard before that when we become your children our DNA starts to change so that we resemble you more in our actions and speech. I want to keep growing - I'm addicted to it! I know there is some tough roads ahead and don't know exactly what that means but I know it's been great so far and I'm happy to be where i'm am in comparisson to where I was and want to keep seeing how you change me! Not to feel good about myself but because it it soo cool to see my progression because I see you soo much! Nothing else can explain why I would change, especially continually.