When Discipline Turns into the Norm

At the end of chapter 3 in the book, "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God," by Lysa Terkeurst, there is a place to journal about this quote:

"Soon, saying yes to God will no longer be a discipline of your heart but rather the delight of your life."

That's a great hope!

This morning during my run, I was reflecting on physical discipline. I have never been an athletic type, and only started running just a few years ago. Recently, I had a slight set-back from a strained achilles tendon. This put my running on hold for a few months, and when I started back up, I started experiencing several different issues with my hip and ankle. I decided to enlist the help of a personal trainer to get me past all of these problems.

My trainer gave me some strength training exercises, some stretches, some foam-rolling exercises to do and told me to run slower in order to keep my heart rate down. I have been doing these things pretty dillegently and have started to notice some improvements.

During this morning's run, which was a slower run to keep the heart-rate down, my running partner said to me, "This is a very comfortable run. It feels good. When we are pushing ourselves to go to fast, it can cause a lot of discomfort." I reflected on this and said, "I can't wait until after doing all of this work to improve, that a faster run will feel this good too."

I have the hope that when I am disciplined and follow the program that my trainer set out for me, at some point in the future my runs will get faster and will feel good at that speed too. I think this is very similar to thinking about the discipline of saying Yes to God.

Right now, I need reminders to stay in God's word. I struggle with some of the changes I am working at allowing God to make in me. There is some pain and "foam rolling" (prayer and help from God) that is needed to help in the process. Yet, there is hope! I have hope that one day, it won't feel like such a discipline, but it will be a joy and will be natural. To run the race for God naturally without all of the extra need for discipline. I look forward to this!

Hebrews 12:1-2

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Race of Faith

12 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Is that Really You God?

 

How do we discern God's voice from other voices?

This week in the online Bible Study, "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God," we are looking at what it means to hear from God and obey Him. One of the things we are learning is about the 5-Question Filter that we can use to help us discern if what we are hearing is from God or not.

Today, I really learned the importance of this filter, although, I didn't catch it at first...God had to point it out to me.

I was working on the questions at the end of chapter 2. They were some tough questions! The questions that were most difficult were the ones asking you to reflect on the areas in your life that need sacrifice or change, and also to reflect on ways that you have conformed to the "world's way."

Tough right?

So, I thought about it, and wrote some things down. That's when it happened. I started feeling very defeated and down. I started feeling like I will never measure up, and I will never be good enough. My feelings of depression were getting worse and I started praying and asking God to show me what He wanted me to do in these areas. I listened for awhile, and didn't feel like I heard anything. My mind started going down the road of saying, well, I guess that He has already told me. I have a lot of things that need work. I'm a mess. I'm a failure.

Yikes! You see it pretty clearly what is going on here, don't you? I do now. After the fact, as I write this it's really clear, but in the middle of it I sure didn't. I was hearing a subtle, very convincing voice. But, it wasn't God's voice.

After a little while of feeling my sadness increase, I said to God, "I don't want to feel this way!" And that's when I heard from Him. He reminded me of the 5-Question Filter. He pointed out that all of the thoughts I'd been having did not fit with His character. I let out a big sigh. "Thank you Lord."

The devil is so sly isn't he?

1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

Today, he found me, in the middle of doing my Bible study! The good news is, that he didn't devour me. Jesus saved me from this by reminding me of His character.

I heard from God a bit more too. Not audibly, but in my thoughts. He reminded me, that of course I wasn't "good enough", because I'm a sinner, but the good news is that I don't need to be "good enough" because Jesus was more than enough in my place. He also pointed out to me that He is at work in me in all of the areas that I wrote down, and that He was making changes in me already and there was evidence of this. He reminded me that he is not about legalism and following a bunch of rules and do's and don'ts, but He is interested in my heart. He is longing for me to be a YES GIRL and to live in total trust of Him and total surrender to Him, but that this doesn't mean that I have to do it on my own! He is there to work in me, change me, give me strength, lead me, and pick me up.

Now, I knew for sure that those thoughts were from God. Why? Because they pass the 5-Question Filter test. I'm not saying that these 5 questions are some magical method to use to discern God's voice, but they certainly do point us in the right direction. I encourage you to spend some time listening to God this week and discerning His voice. It definitely is a great part about being a YES GIRL.

Here is the 5-Question Filter for you, put together in such a beautiful way from the Proverbs 31 Ministries blog.

created by group leader Jenny Armstrong

These questions are a great resource.

Another great place to learn more about listening prayer is:

LISTENING TO GOD FORUM at http://rustyrustenbach.blogspot.com/ This is the blog by the author of the book: A Guide for Listening and Inner-Healing Prayer, written by Rusty Rustenbach who works for the Navigators.

 

This book is really great. The website has some free tools such as guidelines for Listening Prayer that you may find really helpful.

 

 

Take Time to Rest in Jesus

Welcome to today's post. Since today seemed to be a draining day for me, I'd like to share a few links to some beautiful songs that help me focus and rest and find peace. Enjoy!

 

Total Surrender, No Matter What Life Brings or Doesn't

I was reviewing chapter one from "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God," by Lysa Terkeurst. This paragraph stood out to me today:

"You don't need perfect circumstances to be a woman who says yes to God. You don't need the perfect religious attitude or all the answers to religious questions. You simply have to surrender all that's clamoring for attention in your heart with the answer God is longing to hear spill from your lips, "Yes, God."

I had to stop and think about what was clamoring for my attention right now. I could list many things that are on my mind right now, and I'm sure you could too. I also asked myself, "Is God more important to me then having all of these issues resolved for me?" I believe that I need to get to a place where I can say yes to this in order to be able to call myself a YES GIRL.

I have a lot of things that I would like solved in my life right now, and many of those things are pretty valid and important, but if my focus is on them instead of on God, then I'm not really surrendering. God knows my needs, my wants, my hopes, my dreams and my desires, and He may give me some of them. But, fully surrendering means that I need to be okay if His answer to me is "No."

I need to let go of my wants, hopes, dreams and desires, and instead say YES to God's wants, hopes, dreams and desires. Ultimately, as I grow closer to God, mine will be the same as God's and there won't be a need to surrender anymore! I definitely look forward to that.

In the meantime, let's ask ourselves if the things that are clamoring for our attention are pushing God out of the way, and if they are, will we let them go in order to give God his rightful place in our thoughts, minds, hearts and souls? I'm ready to say yes to this, but I know that I will need God's help to do it.

Whatever God Says Do...Do it!

Do you remember back when you were a kid, putting your hands up like this and saying in a snarky tone, "Whatever!" It was not said in an open and expecting tone was it? It was said to close the conversation shut and walk away.

As a YES GIRL, the statement of the day is, "Whatever God Says Do...Do it!" This is a much different whatever! I can't imagine being snarky to God, turning around and walking away. But, have I done this? I'm sure that God could point out several occasions to me where He was asking something from me and I just blew Him off. That's sobering to think about.

God wants us us to be open and expectant. He wants to use us, work in us, work through us, bless us and change us. He can only do this if we go to Him with our palms up with expectation, willing to take whatever it is that He will place there.

Today, I've desired so much to have a quiet day where I could be reflective and spend time listening to God so that I could hear what it is that he is asking me to do. However, my day just hasn't been turning out that way. It's been very busy with lots of demands. Every time a new demand has been placed before me, I've sighed, wishing for something different and reluctantly going forward to take care of it. In fact, it seems like every time I come back to working on this post, I'm called away from it again. I kind of want to pout and have a pity party. I guess that God is showing me what this YES GIRL business is really all about. He's showing me what it really means to have my palms up and to be willing to do whatever God tells me to do.

When I have my palms up with expectation, I need to be willing to do whatever is placed there. Just because I am showing a willingness doesn't mean that life will be easy and filled with blessings (although that might be some of what God places there). The things that God asks me to do may be fun, exciting and joyful, but they might also be difficult, frightening, exhausting, frustrating or something that feels awful!

So, my day hasn't been full of rainbows and lollipops, but I don't have to live it in my own strength. I don't have to be reluctant and full of self-pity. I can lean on God and depend on Him. My goal for this study is to become more dependent on Him and to find my satisfaction in Him. He is giving me the perfect opportunity to practice this today. I almost didn't recognize it! Thank you God for giving me what I wanted, even though it came in a package that I didn't recognize, understand or want!

What are your expectations about having your palms up, ready with openness and willing to accept whatever God puts there and asks of you? Do you need to lay your expectations aside in order to see and hear what God is asking of you? Let's just remember, that when God asks something of us, He is also there, right alongside of us, giving us the strength to accomplish the task.

Sometimes being a YES GIRL means saying NO

created by P31 OBS Small Group Leader Stephanie Solberg

Today is day one of the online Bible study through Proverbs 31 Ministries, "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God" based on the book by Lysa Terkeurst. It is very exciting to be a part of this study with over 22,000 other women from 120 different countries! I am so curious with anticipation about what God is going to do over the next 6 weeks through this study.

This week is about "A Soul that Longs for More." Along with the above Bible verse which includes the line, "Love the Lord with all your Soul", I'm asking myself the question, "What does it mean for a soul to long for more? What does it mean to love the Lord with all your Soul?"

I do long for more, but more of what? Often my desire for more stems from a desire for my circumstances to change. I feel discontent, weary and I long for change. Ultimately, these longings are about me. I want things to be different so that life won't be so hard, or so that I can spend more time doing the things I want to do. But, these longings are focused on secondary things.

This does not sound like a YES GIRL to me!

My true longing, the one underneath those secondary things, the one that God has placed inside of me but that I don't often recognize, is my longing for Him.

I long to know God's presence throughout the day. I long to feel His Spirit directing me. I long to depend on Him and to find my satisfaction in Him rather then through all those secondary things and in even when life isn't the way I want it to be. If I'm honest with myself, I should recognize that life never is what I want it to be!

My prayer is that God would help me long for Him more then I long for other things. Even in this I am dependent on Him to make this a reality in my life.

However, I think there are a few things I can do to come along side Him in this. I can have fewer distractions in my life. I can carve out more time in my day for Him by saying "no" to distractions. I notice that distractions, which for me come in the form of playing games on my ipad, watching shows on Netflix, or spending too much time on facebook, take up a lot of time. If I say NO to these distractions, and instead say YES to God, I might sense His presence more, or feel the Spirit guiding me. When those distractions take up so much of my day, I could easily get to the end of the day without connecting with God at all!

I want to be a YES GIRL. I want my longing for God to be strong. I want a soul that longs for more, but not just "any" more...more of God. I want to love the Lord with all of my soul.

Today, being a YES GIRL means saying NO to distractions. What does it mean for you?