Today's edition of Thirstin' for the Word Thursday comes complete with a new button! A big thank-you goes out to Kysha of Love's School for creating this button for me! Feel free to copy the HTML code and post this button on your own blog! I would love for others to know about TftWT!
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." (John 7:37b)
Feeling a bit parched? Searching to quench that thirst with an iced tea or Diet Coke? Dive into the Word for real refreshment!
I try to be diligent in my Bible reading and am often rewarded by God's speaking to my heart through particular scriptures. I pause and sometimes even write them down. The reflection usually ends there, however. This year, I would like to pursue the verses that God lays on my heart by pondering how He wants me to apply these verses in my life.
Here is what spoke to me this week:
Now fear the LORD and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24: 14-15 NIV
Have you seen all of the pretty items with this last sentence from this verse on them? Here is one. Here is another. Check out this whole site (I love going in this store whenever I visit my parents). I must confess that I've really wanted something with this verse to put in our new house, consecrating it in a sense, to God. What, though, does it mean to make this choice?
When Joshua spoke these words to the Israelites, they had entered the Promised Land and received their inheritance. They had seen God's faithfulness in rescuing their fathers from Egypt and providing for them in the wilderness. They had seen God drive out the nations before them in Canaan. They were living out His promise to them: "So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant" (Joshua 24: 13 NIV). (How this verse should resonate with us today!)
Why then would serving God seem "undesirable?"
It isn't easy to serve God. Joshua tells the people so in verse 19. James also tells us to expect difficulty because it brings about spiritual maturity. We are able, though, to serve God because the Holy Spirit lives within us when we accept Christ. Through Him, we are equipped to serve God. Paul is incredulous that the Galatians would attempt to live the Christian life on their own without relying on the Holy Spirit, and this is what we must do also.
As for me and my house, serving the LORD means yielding and relying on the Holy Spirit in order to live a life that is pleasing to Him.
So, what verses have spoken to you this week? Post those verses on your own blog, along with how you see that God wants you to apply them in your life. Then, provide your link below so that we can drink from one another's wells of scripture.
3 comments:
Well said. "As for me and my house, serving the LORD means yielding and relying on the Holy Spirit in order to live a life that is pleasing to Him." My thoughts exactly. It isn't always easy but thank the Lord for the Comforter. Thanks for sharing another great post, Celly!
Beautiful! I will be joining you on this soon, I promise... life is so crazy still but slowly and surely it is getting some normalcy (what is that exactly?!?)
Thanks for visiting my blog. I, unfortunately, cannot claim the beautiful girls in the picture... they are Candace's girls... she is the lovely lady who wrote the unit study and was kind to let me use pictures that she posted last year when she did the study herself! :-) But I will take the compliment anyway because my girls are lovely, ha! :-)
Have a great Thursday!
I enjoyed your post Celly. I am glad that Jesus did not leave us as orphans, but that he sent us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and lead/guide /help us. I did laugh a little when you were talking about how you can find that scripture everywhere. You can even add a ribbon to the corner of your blog page with the scripture on it except it says "As for me and my blog we will serve the Lord" Have you seen that?? I tried to put it on mine but it covered up my blogger sign in area and I couldn't click it! Oh well, just something funny;')
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