Spiritual

Don’t be Greedy for the Good Things of this Life

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We have so much stuff in my home. I get tired of all the toys that the kids have, the clutter all around the house. I have just as much as the kids do. Some days I long to live a simpler, clutter-free life. I dream about selling most of the toys. (Notice, I didn’t say sell my stuff.) But, then I worry that I’m “damaging” my kids. If I’m honest, I want to live through them. Let them have what I didn’t have growing up. That’s not good.

Colossians 3:5 says “Don’t be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry.”

Ouch. I’m pretty sure I’m materialistic even if I don’t want to be. And I’m teaching my kids to be materialistic and how to idolize “stuff”.

I have a fear of letting go of my “stuff”. What if I need it?

The bottom line is where is my heart? Where do I place my value? In God or possessions? Have I set up an idol above God?

Those are hard questions. Ones I don’t really want to answer.

Solution? One way to guard against greed is to be a giver. I can definitely be more of a giver and not a hoarder of what I have. I’d rather lay up my treasures in heaven than on earth.

Praying for Your Elephant: Boldly Approaching Jesus with Radical & Audacious Prayer

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praying for my elephant

 

I’ve been reading this book – Praying for Your Elephant: Boldly Approaching Jesus with Radical and Audacious Prayer” by Adam Stadtmiller. While, I got this from Amazon, it looks like there is a free downloadable ebook on his website.

Praying for your elephang

The book is about revolutionizing your prayer life. What if we did pray big bold prayers? What if we did pray for that huge elephant? The elephant represents the huge or small things that we are afraid to pray for because we don’t want to appear greedy or ungodly.

However, the author suggests that God wants us to pray boldly to Him. Yes, there is a balance and no, we don’t pray to God thinking he’s a sugar daddy (my word choice, not the author’s) and that He’ll give us everything we want. Our hearts have to be right with God.

Stadtmiller challenges the reader to come up with 10 different areas to pray for. Then, under each area, we are to write down 10 prayers and then pray for them every day. Areas could include: friends, ourselves, finances, family, work, health, the world, our country, etc. As time goes on, God may impress upon our hearts to change certain prayers to be more specific.

Stadtmiller also challenges the reader to put down prayers they are afraid to pray for. Ex: you may want to pray for a new laptop, but you feel like that’s too materialistic or greedy. Stadtmiller would say, put it down! Or, you may want to pray about going on a vacation, but again are too afraid since it seems like a frivolous idea. Put it down!

Don’t limit God. God may just answer that prayer you are afraid to pray for.

My takeaway: I struggle with praying for small things like wanting my son to stop sucking his thumb or money for a vacation. I wonder if it’s ok to pray so. God wants us to pray specifically, but I don’t want to appear “greedy”. This book reminded me that God cares about all areas of our lives. He wants to know what my desires are. He wants me to pray boldly.

I made my own list of 10 areas and have been praying over them for a few weeks now. I don’t quite have 10 prayer requests under each category, but there are at least a few I wrote down. I can’t wait to see how God works through them!

Jesus the One and Only Bible Study by Beth Moore

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jesus

I’m doing Jesus the One and Only Bible Study by Beth Moore right now. Just listening to the intro video had me hooked. I love how Beth describes the silence of God between the Old and New Testaments and how it served a purpose in creating a hunger in the people.

Imagine – you feel God has been silent. However, behind the scenes, he’s setting the stage up for something great. He sends an angel to Zechariah, then to Mary and Joseph. God speaks again. To the average person, God is still silent, but to these few select people they knew that God was up to something – something great! Then, the climax comes – the birth of Jesus! God was announcing to the world that He was indeed here. God is back. Actually, He was never gone. He was always there, doing something. The people of the day just didn’t know.

How does this relate to my life? When I feel like God is silent and not answering my prayers about certain situations, I know that God is still working. He may be working to create a spiritual hunger in the other person so that they will eventually have the strong desire to “know” God like never before. God is always at work. He has a plan that will eventually unfold before my eyes. That’s exciting!

The Armor of God Study by Priscilla Shirer – The Helmet of Salvation

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armour

I’ve been doing Priscilla Shirer’s Armour of God Bible Study. We are currently working on the Helmet of Salvation.

Within this section, I love what she says about making neural connections. “When we control our thought life, new neural connections and pathways are visibly and measurably formed in the brain – which affects the health and wellness of our physical bodies”. So, when we start changing the way we think, we can renew and restore “our minds from a state of unhealthiness and deterioration to a state of wholeness and strength in God.” (Shirer, Armor of God Study, pg 168).

I love that! There is so much hope in that thought. We can have control over our lives. You would think that I should’ve known this, but sadly I was never taught this growing up. It’s only been recently that I have learned about taking control of my thoughts and breaking down strongholds with God’s promises/scripture. Hopefully, I can impart this wisdom to my children so they can learn it at an earlier age than I did.