We are reading through the book of Proverbs in the month of October!  One proverb a day for each day of the month, 31 in all.  Even if you missed starting with us yesterday, you can start today!  Come back tomorrow for Proverb 3.  blessings, Lisa

Thirty-one days in October, thirty-one Proverbs!  Join us in reading a proverb a day, starting today with Proverbs 1:

 ¹ The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

 ² for attaining wisdom and discipline;
       for understanding words of insight;

 ³ for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
       doing what is right and just and fair;

 ⁴ for giving prudence to the simple,
       knowledge and discretion to the young-

 ⁵ let the wise listen and add to their learning,
       and let the discerning get guidance-

 ⁶ for understanding proverbs and parables,
       the sayings and riddles of the wise.

 ⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
       but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

 ⁸ Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
       and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

 ⁹ They will be a garland to grace your head
       and a chain to adorn your neck.

 ¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you,
       do not give in to them.

 ¹¹ If they say, "Come along with us;
       let's lie in wait for someone's blood,
       let's waylay some harmless soul;

 ¹² let's swallow them alive, like the grave,
       and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

 ¹³ we will get all sorts of valuable things
       and fill our houses with plunder;

 ¹⁴ throw in your lot with us,
       and we will share a common purse"-

 ¹⁵ my son, do not go along with them,
       do not set foot on their paths;

 ¹⁶ for their feet rush into sin,
       they are swift to shed blood.

 ¹⁷ How useless to spread a net
       in full view of all the birds!

 ¹⁸ These men lie in wait for their own blood;
       they waylay only themselves!

 ¹⁹ Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
       it takes away the lives of those who get it.

 ²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud in the street,
       she raises her voice in the public squares;

 ²¹ at the head of the noisy streets she cries out,
       in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:

 ²² "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?
       How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?

 ²³ If you had responded to my rebuke,
       I would have poured out my heart to you
       and made my thoughts known to you.

 ²⁴ But since you rejected me when I called
       and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,

 ²⁵ since you ignored all my advice
       and would not accept my rebuke,

 ²⁶ I in turn will laugh at your disaster;
       I will mock when calamity overtakes you-

 ²⁷ when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
       when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
       when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

 ²⁸ "Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
       they will look for me but will not find me.

 ²⁹ Since they hated knowledge
       and did not choose to fear the LORD,

 ³⁰ since they would not accept my advice
       and spurned my rebuke,

 ³¹ they will eat the fruit of their ways
       and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.

 ³² For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
       and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

 ³³ but whoever listens to me will live in safety
       and be at ease, without fear of harm."

 

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

In case you missed Casting Crowns this morning, get to know them by watching this video about their new song/album "Until the Whole World Hears." 

Students in Clinton KY (thanks to Facebook friend Kristia Peery Reynolds for the picture.)

A young man named Josiah began one of the greatest revivals and awakenings in the Old Testament. Josiah had become king of Israel at the age of 8. Scripture tells us that at the age of 16, he began to pursue God passionately. Like his forefather, David, he began to show signs of godliness early on and gained the respect of the people. 2 Kings 22:2 states, “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father, David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.”

This resulted in radical obedience — getting rid of everything that did not honor God and challenging everyone around him to do likewise. These actions resulted in a mighty move of God in his day — actually, one of the greatest ever!

Our theme verse for See you at the Pole™ comes from the heart of this story. Right after the newly discovered scriptures were read to Josiah, the Bible says, “When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.” In other words, his heart was pierced with conviction. (Read the full story.)
King Josiah heard the words of God and proclaimed:

“Go and pray to God for me and for the people . . .“ —2 KINGS 22:13a (The Message)

syatp.org

Angie Smith's blog is very popular.  Her husband Todd is one of the members of the group Selah (they sing You Raise Me Up on K-LOVE).  People are frequently calling or emailing me asking if I read her blog.  So, since you're reading this, you must be interested in reading a blog.  Take a moment and read this lovely woman's tender hearted blog about loss and hope and Jesus.   ~Lisa

Enjoy this article from Rick Warren, and sweet dreams... Lisa:)

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is just go take a nap. That's because when you're physically down, it's hard to be emotionally and spiritually up. The legendary football (U.S.) coach Vince Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." That's true. It's amazing how much better things look when you're rested.

If you're discouraged right now, it might not mean you have to make a change; it may simply be that you need some rest.

Farmers know that soil needs rest, so they rotate their crops and systematically leave a portion of their land fallow. They do this because land that has rested produces a greater harvest.

About one hundred years ago, a businessman named Frederick W. Taylor did a scientific study on the workplace and productivity. Do you know what his study proved? That people will produce more if they have periodic breaks; and from that, he introduced the coffee break.

Resting is spiritual. The Bible says God "enjoys giving rest to those He loves" (Psalm 127:2 MSG). You may need to put that verse on your refrigerator. The Bible says it's vain for you to rise up early and stay up late.

The Bible also says, "You made my body, Lord; now give me sense to heed Your laws" (Psalm 119:73 LB). What are His laws for the body? Eat right, get your sleep, exercise, and relax.

Rest is so important, in fact, that God put it in the Ten Commandments. In essence, He said, "Every seventh day you are to rest."

Don't ignore what God established. A good night's sleep makes a big difference. And even a quick nap can help you see things clearly.

After 9/11/01, many of us memorized this passage of scripture, speaking it as a prayer for ourselves and those we love...

Psalm 91

New King James Version (NKJV)

Here are some cool 9 things I found in the Bible today...

Psalm 9:9  The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
       a stronghold in times of trouble.

Psalm 99:9 Exalt the LORD our God
       and worship at his holy mountain,
       for the LORD our God is holy.

And then, check out these cool "nine" verses in the New Testament...

1. Luke 15:7
   I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
   Luke 15:6-8 (in Context) Luke 15 (Whole Chapter)
2. Luke 17:17
   Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
   Luke 17:16-18 (in Context) Luke 17 (Whole Chapter)
3. Acts 2:15
   These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning!
   Acts 2:14-16 (in Context) Acts 2 (Whole Chapter)

Reading the whole passages of the above "9" verses, I was so touched with God's passionate love over us, the importance for sincere and readily given thankfulness to Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit filling us so we can impact the world.  POWERFUL "9" STUFF!  The Bible never ceases to amaze me.  There is so much to read, so much to learn, so much to discover.  It is alive.  It changes us.

peace and k-love, Lis

 

Thinking about Jesus and radio and K-LOVE and the morning show.  I do that a lot:)  I think about the big picture, the plans of God, our purpose, my involvement, your involvement, our mission, our response to God's grace, and what it all really means. 

In thinking about K-LOVE, I really started to focus in on the "love" part of our name.  I've been spending a lot of time reading and pondering "the love chapter" of the Bible.  Below are the words of I Corinthians 13 paraphrased in Eugene Peterson's The Message. 

Enjoy:) Peace and K-LOVE, Lisa

 ^8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

 ¹¹When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

 ¹²We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

 ¹³But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Amy Baumann shared this with me yesterday and I so loved reading it.  I thought you might want to read it, too.  enjoy...Lis

Living With Purpose

Published on 12 August 2006 in Health - Bio Ethics
Source: CCNews Portal

This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life" and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, what is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.

God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ-likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life,there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter owbad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God nd others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

In the happy moments, PRAISE GOD. In the difficult moments, SEEK GOD. In the quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. In the painful moments, TRUST GOD. And, in every moment, THANK GOD.

Visit Rick Warren's personal blog: http://www.rickwarren.com