Lisa notes

Be a placeholder – Intercessory worship

By LisaNotes November 2, 2015 Community, Encouragement, Trust, Worship 41 Comments

It was happening again.

For the third time within a month, my friend Sandy was having excruciating stomach pain, an indicator of another pancreatitis attack.

She thought she could drive herself to the ER, but wasn’t sure.

I didn’t want her to find out. I drove her to the hospital Friday myself.

She was weak. She was tired. She was down.

There are times when life hits us with one punch too many. Sandy had been taking hit after hit.

After seeing an ER doctor, she was admitted to the hospital (again, the third time within a month).

So she couldn’t be with our church yesterday for corporate worship.

I wished she could have been with us as we sang together:

Sickness can’t stay any longer
Your perfect love is casting out fear
You are the God of all power
And it is Your will that my life is healed

Then our worship leader paused midstream. He asked us to shift our focus. Instead of praying and singing for our ourselves, let’s do it for a family member, for a coworker, for a friend.

Intercessory worship.

I sang for Sandy, worshiping our Father and trusting for healing on every level on her behalf.

As her hope fades, I am holding hope for her.
As she prays, I join my prayers with hers.
And when she can’t be with us to worship together in person, I can offer worship in her stead.

I know she’d do the same for me. God places us in community for such times as these. To be placeholders for hope, for prayer, for worship.

We see fresh futures for those who are trapped in unsatisfying pasts.
We believe in God’s goodness for those who have become discouraged.
We anticipate grace for those who’ve forgotten there’s a new supply every morning.

I trust my friend will return. We won’t have to hold her place for long.

But until she does, may we stand strong in her absence.

* * *

Has anyone ever held your place in line, physically or spiritually? Please share in the comments.

[click here if you can’t see the video below]

On the blog – October 2015

By LisaNotes October 31, 2015 Archives No Comments

Day 31: Keep moving forward (10/31)
Day 30: Closer than your phone (+ video) (10/30)
Day 29: Why Jesus quoted scripture (10/29)
Day 28: No regrets (10/28)
Books I recommend – October 2015 (10/27)
Day 27: Depend on grace (10/27)
Day 26: Expect to use later (10/26)
Day 25: Pray the scripture (10/25)
Day 24: Plan for next time (10/24)
Day 23: Notice the light (10/23)
Day 22: Take it personally (10/22)
What does God wants from us?—6 ways to hear from God (10/21)
Day 21: Plan to review (10/21)
Day 20: Don’t give up (10/20)
Day 19: Sing it (10/19)
Day 18: Meditate on it (10/18)
Day 17: Say it out loud (10/17)
Day 16: Share it, review it (10/16)
One way to handle anxiety (10/15)
Day 15: Why you memorize (10/15)
Day 14: Notice first words (10/14)
Praise God for his jealousy? (10/13)
Day 13: Research the text (10/13)
Day 12: Add more words (10/12)
Day 11: Pray through it (10/11)
Day 10: Recite it (10/10)
Day 9: Share it with others (10/9)
Day 8: Make it personal (10/8)
Is God mad at you? (10/7)
Day 7: Make a mental map (10/7)
Day 6: Use 1st letters and commentaries (10/6)
Day 5: Dig up the root words (10/5)
Day 4: Pray through the chapter (10/4)
Day 3: Set up Scripture Typer (10/3)
Day 2: Create a schedule and print your cards (10/2)
Links, books, and other things I love – October 2015 (10/1)
Day 1: Choose your chapter (10/1)

Day 31: Keep moving forward {Tools for memorizing}

By LisaNotes October 31, 2015 31 Days Memorize Bible Chapter 2 Comments

We made it!

Today is the final day in our 31 days of “Tools to Memorize a Bible Chapter.” I hope you picked up a new tip along the way, and that you were encouraged by a new verse or two that you memorized.

TO DO

* Review and pray through your chapter one more time.

Include thanks to God for sharing his Spirit with us in so many ways this month.

1 You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.
2 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4 And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 12 (ESV)

TODAY’S TIP

* Keep going.

In the weeks ahead, I hope you’ll continue to both look back over the chapter you memorized as well as keep moving forward with new scriptures to memorize.

Scripture memorization is a spiritual discipline you can practice your entire life, regardless of age or season.

FINAL WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT

God is always willing to send us fresh insights into eternal truths if we’re willing to accept them.

Sometimes that means being uncomfortable. Occasionally we have to release an old belief that we’ve been clinging to, if we discover that it was wrong.

But the temporary discomfort of releasing old patterns of thinking and behaving is worth the trade for the lasting peace of transformed minds and renewed relationships.

God is consistently at work in us, bringing us into alignment with his beautiful message (and action!) of love and grace.

Scripture is one of his many tools he uses. As we learn how to properly discern and act on them, let’s stay dependent on God to lead the way and to motivate us to follow.

LINKS and Week-in-Review

Tips and resources for memorizing Bible verses at LisaNotes
More Bible memory resources at Do Not Depart
Day 25: Pray the scriptures
Day 26: Expect to use later
Day 27: Depend on grace
Day 28: No regrets
Day 29: Why Jesus quoted scripture
Day 30: Closer than your phone (+ video)

* * *

THANK YOU for walking alongside me on this journey this month. What wonderful traveling companions you’ve been!

Please share your own thoughts here.

Day 30: Closer than your phone (+ video) {Tools for memorizing}

By LisaNotes October 30, 2015 31 Days Memorize Bible Chapter 8 Comments

TO MEMORIZE

Repeat 3-5 times, twice a day.

6 “Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 12:6

Practice using 1st letters, twice a day.

6 “S, a s f j, O i o Z, f g i y m i t H O o I.”

TO REVIEW

1  You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.
2  “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
3  With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4  And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.
5  “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.”
Isaiah 12:1-5 (ESV)

1  Y w s i t d: “I w g t t y, O L, f t y w a w m, y a t a, t y m c m.
2  “B, G i m s; I w t, a w n b a; f t L G i m s a m s, a h h b m s.”
3  W j y w d w f t w o s.
4  A y w s i t d: “G t t t L, c u h n, m k h d a t p, p t h n i e.
5  “S p t t L, f h h d g; l t b m k i a t e.”

TO DO

1. Share this message with somebody else.

What in your verse stands out the most? How can you encourage somebody else with it?

When I heard Beverley reciting Isaiah 12 in her beautiful British accent, I decided to get brave too and make a 1-minute video of Isaiah 12 (but alas, replacing her lovely accent with my Alabama one).

[click here if you can’t see the video]

2. Practice the whole chapter in Scripture Typer.

Try typing verse 1 through verse 6 without stopping, using the “Review all verses combined together” option.

TODAY’S TIP

* Pack verses to go.

If you’re a family that travels for holidays, you may want to take memory verses with you. Make use of your time together in the car to hide God’s truths together, as a family, to enhance both your relationship with God and your relationships with each other.

FINAL WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Like me, you may have a Bible app on your phone that’s with you all the time. Why memorize anything when you can look it up? I ask myself that question.

My answer is because we need the truths even closer than our phones. We don’t want to outsource the words to our device. We want them inside of us. In our hearts, in our heads, in our lives, not just on our phones.

Our phones’ batteries may die; our wi-fi connections may fail; our YouVersion apps may crash.

But the Spirit inside of us isn’t dependent on anything exterior to us. He is a power greater than anything man can create, and it’s him that we want to stay connected to.

LINKS

* * *

Can you make a video or audio to share of your memory chapter? Please share in the comments.

True priority of our day – To know God

By LisaNotes October 29, 2015 Knowing God, Knowing God_J.I.Packer 6 Comments

This week finishes our Knowing God book discussion with the group at Tim Challies. Overall, I highly recommend this classic (originally published in 1973) because author J. I. Packer reaches his aim in encouraging readers to not only know more about God, but also to know God.

“So many in our day seem to have been distracted from what was, is, and always will be the true priority for every human being—that is, learning to know God in Christ. . . .

If this book moves any of its readers to identify more closely with the psalmist at this point [Psalm 27:8], it will not have been written in vain.”

However, before we enjoy the good parts of the final chapter 22, “The Adequacy of God,” I have a small conflict with Packer (again) in the next to last chapter 21, “These Inward Trials.” It’s a recurrence of the issue I had with Packer earlier, “Does God toy with us in his wisdom?” from chapters 9 and 10.

First, our points of agreement.

1. Packer says it’s worse to promise someone they’ll have no problems once they become a Christian than to warn them they’ll have too many. Agreed. We don’t want to overly glamorize the Christian life, denying that physical, emotional, and spiritual struggles continue as long as we’re here in the flesh.

“Such suggestions [the impression that normal Christian living is a perfect bed of roses, a state of affairs in which everything in the garden is lovely all the time, and problems no longer exist] are mischievous because they are false.”

2. Second, we agree that it’s wrong to pile on guilt when new believers do have troubles even after being saved. It’s cruel to equate their struggles with “‘defeat’, as a a relapse caused by failure to maintain ‘consecration’ and ‘faith.’”

But where I disagree with Packer is the source of our struggles.

While yes, God does discipline those he loves (Hebrews 12:6), just as all responsible parents discipline their children to help them grow up, Packer still doesn’t convince me that God intentionally “fills our lives with troubles and perplexities of one sort and another [to] ensure that we shall learn to hold Him fast.”

Jesus promised us each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34), making no reference that God will need to intentionally pile it on even heavier just to make us crumble quicker.

Jesus also said that if we, as human parents, won’t give our children a snake if they ask for a fish (Luke 11:11-13), how much less will God do so.

So while I agree with Packer that God wants us to “learn thankfully to lean on Him,” I disagree that God wants us to “feel that our way through life is rough and perplexing” just so we’ll see him as our strong rock.

I know he’s my refuge without having to believe he’s the one chasing me into it.

To close, here are some beautiful truths from Packer from the final chapter that we can all agree with.

“In saving us, God went to the limit. What more could He have given for us? We cannot know what Calvary cost the Father, any more than we can know what Jesus felt as He tasted the penalty due to our sins.”

* ~ * ~ *

“Have you been holding back from a risky, costly course to which you know in your heart God has called you? Hold back no longer. Your God is faithful to you, and adequate for you. You will never need more than He can supply, and what He supplies, both materially and spiritually, will always be enough for the present.”

* ~ * ~ *

“The idea of Christ condemning us is absurd. He died to save us from condemnation, by bearing the penalty of our sins as our substitute.”

* ~ * ~ *

“Your faith will not fail while God sustains it; you are not strong enough to fall away while God is resolved to hold you.”

* * *

Your thoughts?

All chapters:

Why do you want to know God? (chapters 1-2)
What does it mean to know God? (chapters 3-4)
You know God & Jesus. But the Holy Spirit? (chapters 5-6)
Is reading the Bible worth it? (chapters 7-8)
Does God toy with us in his wisdom? (chapters 9-10)
Why doesn’t God give up on us? (chapters 11-12)
When we don’t believe in grace (chapters 13-14)
Is God mad at you? (chapters 15-16)
Praise God for his jealousy? (chapters 17-18)
What does God wants from us? (chapters 19-20)
True priority of our day – To know God (chapters 21-20)

Day 29: Why Jesus quoted scripture {Tools for memorizing}

By LisaNotes October 29, 2015 31 Days Memorize Bible Chapter 2 Comments

TO MEMORIZE

Repeat 3-5 times, twice a day.

6 “Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 12:6

Practice using 1st letters, twice a day.

6 “S, a s f j, O i o Z, f g i y m i t H O o I.”

TO REVIEW

1  You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.
2  “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
3  With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4  And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.
5  “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.”
Isaiah 12:1-5 (ESV)

1  Y w s i t d: “I w g t t y, O L, f t y w a w m, y a t a, t y m c m.
2  “B, G i m s; I w t, a w n b a; f t L G i m s a m s, a h h b m s.”
3  W j y w d w f t w o s.
4  A y w s i t d: “G t t t L, c u h n, m k h d a t p, p t h n i e.
5  “S p t t L, f h h d g; l t b m k i a t e.”

TO DO

1. Record your thoughts in a journal.

Read back over this week’s verse, especially in light of the previous verses. How does it affect you? Does it have any meaning in your world today? How is God speaking to you through it—to do, to change, to love? Spend a few minutes capturing these thoughts in your journal.

2. Review all the verses in Scripture Typer.

TODAY’S TIP

* Listen for your words.

Now that you’ve made these words your own by capturing a chapter in your brain and heart (or mostly captured it; that’s okay), listen for it in other places. Don’t be surprised at how God will bring the words back to you.

Maybe you’ll be reading a book and the author will directly quote from your chapter. Or you’ll hear a sermon at church or a podcast that mentions it. Or a song on the radio will be on the same theme.

God won’t waste the words. Keep listening for them. They will return.

FINAL WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Even Jesus recited scripture, from 24 of the 66 books that we now call our books of the Old Testament.

Why did he? And can we do it for those same healthy reasons, too?

In a post here, I listed these 6 reasons why Jesus quoted scripture, and why we can to:

•    to fight against temptation (Matthew 4:10)
•    to answer others’ questions (Mark 12:28-31)
•    to bless others with God’s gracious words (Luke 4:22)
•    to free the poor, captive, blind, and oppressed with Good News (Luke 4:17-18)
•    to share God’s truths (Matthew 19:4-5)
•    to worship and honor the Father (John 7:16-18)

We’ve all known people who quote scriptures for negative purposes: to tear down, to condemn, to shame. But that’s not God’s way.

Reciting scripture in a healthy way is meant to build up and encourage and strengthen. May God lead you to a beneficial opportunity today to share his love through words.

LINKS

* * *

Where have you heard “your words” lately? Please share in the comments.