00005. Journaling Through Romans. Romans 1:5-6.

EVENING PRAYER JOURNALING

Written 04.25.2015, Saturday, 826 p.m.

Lord, thank You for this day and for helping me to go deeper and better grasp Romans 1:4.

Also, thank You for Mom's cat being okay.

Thank You for a beautiful, memorable day.

I feel like I am missing something, like You want me to do something and I am not hearing You. Tune my ears, Abba. Help me hear You and Your guidance.

First, I will read and pray these verses:

Romans 1:1-6 Expanded Bible (EXB)

1 From Paul, a ·servant [slave; bondservant] of Christ Jesus. ·God called me [L …called] to be an ·apostle [messenger] and ·chose me [set me apart; appointed me] to tell the ·Good News [Gospel].

2 God promised this ·Good News [Gospel] ·long ago [beforehand; previously] through his prophets, as it is written in the Holy Scriptures. 

3 The Good News is about God's Son. ·As a man [or With reference to his earthly life; L According to the flesh], he was born ·from the family [a descendant; L of the seed] of David [2 Sam. 7:11–14]. 

4 But through the Spirit of holiness [C a Jewish way of referring to the Holy Spirit] he was ·declared [or designated; appointed] to be God's Son with great power by rising from the dead [C though eternally the Son of God, Jesus was appointed such "with power" at his resurrection; see Ps. 2:7; 110:1–2]. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. 

5 Through ·Christ [L whom], ·God gave me the special work of an apostle [L we have received apostleship; C "we" could be a formal way of saying "I," or could refer to Paul and the other apostles], which was to lead ·people of all nations [the Gentiles] to ·believe and obey [or the obedience that comes from faith; or the obedience that is faith]. I do this work for ·him [L his name]. 

6 And you who are in Rome are also among those [C Gentiles] called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Expanded Bible (EXB). The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.

~*~

Romans 1:1-10 Living Bible (TLB)

1 Dear friends in Rome: This letter is from Paul, Jesus Christ's slave, chosen to be a missionary, and sent out to preach God's Good News. 

2 This Good News was promised long ago by God's prophets in the Old Testament. 

3 It is the Good News about his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who came as a human baby, born into King David's royal family line; 

4 and by being raised from the dead he was proved to be the mighty Son of God, with the holy nature of God himself.

5 And now, through Christ, all the kindness of God has been poured out upon us undeserving sinners; and now he is sending us out around the world to tell all people everywhere the great things God has done for them, so that they, too, will believe and obey him.

6-7 And you, dear friends in Rome, are among those he dearly loves; you, too, are invited by Jesus Christ to be God's very own—yes, his holy people. May all God's mercies and peace be yours from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord.

8 Let me say first of all that wherever I go I hear you being talked about! For your faith in God is becoming known around the world. How I thank God through Jesus Christ for this good report, and for each one of you. 

9 God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to the one I serve with all my might, telling others the Good News about his Son.

10 And one of the things I keep on praying for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you and, if possible, that I will have a safe trip.

Living Bible (TLB). The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

~*~*~*~*~

04.26.2015. SUNDAY

ETC. AND MISC. 

Let me get a couple of housekeeping elements out of the way. Email. Check. Now, checking news for prayer points and to stay informed:

NEWS ARTICLES TO PRAY ABOUT

Not in any order, except as I found things to pray about, I copied then and pasted them to my online journal.

1

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/04/26/british-pop-stars-team-with-iraqi-clergy-to-condemn-isis-in-song/

2

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/04/26/bakers-must-pay-135000-for-refusing-to-make-cake-for-gay-wedding/

3

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/04/25/johns-hopkins-university-student-government-says-no-to-campus-chick-fil/

4

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/26/russian-hackers-obtained-obama-unclassified-emails-report-says/?intcmp=latestnews

The implications of this are major. How was our National Security put at risk, and is it still? Are they blackmailing him?

5

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/26/republican-stance-on-death-penalty-appears-to-be-shifting/?intcmp=latestnews

I take it these people have never dealt with rape or murder in their lives. I have dealt with both.

6

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/04/25/inquiry-claims-brian-williams-lied-half-dozen-times/?intcmp=features

7

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/240110-clinton-cash-author-you-see-a-pattern-of-benefit

8

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/240106-cruz-warns-of-liberal-fascism-targeting-christians

9

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/240115-gop-governor-clinton-book-shows-mistakes-not-quid-pro-quo

10

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/240094-rubio-the-wrong-people-run-america

11

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/danieldoherty/2015/04/25/mitt-romney-it-sure-looks-like-hillary-was-bribed-at-state-n1990015?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

~*~

Thank You, Lord, for the rain! May we get a lot more of it, slow and steady, for several hours, please. We sure need it here.

~*~

MORNING PRAYER AND COUNTING MY BLESSINGS

Good morning, Lord! Thank you for such a beautiful and rainy day. The birds are singing. My dog and orange cat are sleeping in the room I am in, and I have a cup of warm coffee to my side on this cool day. The simple pleasures.

Thank you for how cats lick their paws and then wash their faces and heads. Orange cat, Sinan, just started doing that. It's so precious! And inventive.

Thank You for bird feeders and bird seed to feed Your creation, and to give our indoor cats something to watch.

Thank You for veterinarians.

Thank You, Lord, for...

Doctors.

Medicine.

The sound of the water filters in our turtle tanks, an indoor water fountain sound. So relaxing.

Doughnuts.

Protein and fiber shakes.

Water to drink and also to wash.

Frolicking squirrels in the yard and up and down the trenches.

Downey woodpeckers.

Flickers.

Doves.

Tulips.

Lilacs.

Trees and their leaves bursting forth after their winter sleep.

How rain makes a tree's bark turn darker colors.

Box finches.

Red wing blackbirds.

The Bible.

Being constantly in Your presence and for the Holy Spirit being in me.

For all these blessings and more I sure do not deserve.

For Your unconditional love.

For You are my Real, True Hope.

For my husband  and his generosity.

Baseball and the Colorado Rockies.

Making memories of watching baseball games with my husband and father.

For emailing with my mom.

Thank You for this day, an opportunity to be with You.

For Your guidance.

For Your way. For You are THE Way.

The weekends.

Listening to my beagle sleep. The sweet sounds he makes.

My online journal.

My tablet.

My laptop.

All of our stuff in storage.

Zack.

Sinan.

Shelly.

Harry.

Kara.

Swimming turtles.

Basking turtles.

A temporary place to love between jobs and houses.

New insights. A new vision. A new way to journal, pray, and read the Bible.

All these blessings.

LAST NIGHT

Father... Daddy. Friend. Lord. Rock. Way. Truth. Life. Creator. Sustainer. Counselor. Guide. Sure Foundation. My Strength. You are my all and everything.

Lord, last night You spoke to me. You reminded me of the spiritual disciplines. I realize, Lord, the word discipline here is not the negative connotation of the Word, but is discipline, as in exercises, practices, or methods.

You reminded me of different ways to read, pray, study, ponder Your Word, of different spiritual methods to use to get closer to You and Your Word. The methods are meant to deepen my time with You and my relationship with You.

You told me last night to put them into practice in my own Stacy way. So, I will. It will help make my time with You and the Word extra special, memorable, and something to cherish and treasure.


WORD OF THE DAY

1112 a.m.

Romans 1:5-6 New Living Translation (NLT)

5 Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

6 And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.

New Living Translation (NLT). Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Wow! What incredible verses. They are what ALL Christ Followers are supposed to do. Including me. Tell what You, Lord, have done for me. Too easy.

SOMETIMES I WILL DO A LITTLE TEACHING IN MY JOURNALING, KNOWING OTHERS WILL READ THIS JOURNAL

I will then address you, the reader, along with myself. For, everything I write and teach you, I am looking in the mirror and making sure to apply it in my life as well. Therefore, regarding this next section of my journaling, I am addressing you, the reader.

WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR ME

God has become my everything. He is my absolute hope.

But, for me to get to this point, it has taken me several years. It has been a growing and maturing process. It's also taken experience for me to get to this point.

The truth of the matter is I am in the middle of what most would consider a crisis. We do not have a home, my husband and I. We are waiting for a job to come through, and get the paperwork for it, so we can buy a house. We moved across the country, from Virginia to here at the very end of February, sure we would only be in our temporary home for six weeks. Well, it will be at least six weeks longer (waiting to close on a house the moment we get that paperwork).

So far, we are okay financially. We will be until June. We do not want to start to have to rely on our down payment on a house to provide for us. The job will open up any day now. We just do not know when. It is a guaranteed job. We just need to wait for the company to get to the point where they can send us the official paperwork. They cannot until they are ready to slide my husband into the position. Red tape is what is holding it up. It is a fairly decent sized company. So... Ugh.

Do you see the stress that could happen here?

But, it isn't happening. I feel confident that things will work out without a doubt. I am at peace with it and am not feeling too impatient as I wait. I am doing everything I can to use this waiting room time for my benefit, not to my detriment. This is something that goes against my very nature. My old nature. You see, I used to be emotional. Highly emotional. Skin? I surely had little to skin, certainly not thick skin.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still ahve to fight that emotional side sometimes. Old natures still try to pop out every now and then. So, I fight it and remind myself of TRUTH, of REALity, not perceived circumstances. Not my own perceived, faulty truth, which is nowhere based on reality.

Not having a definite income past June would freak me out before. Not having a home would also freak me out. I use that ugly phrase, "Freak me out," because that is a very ugly side we have. Worry and anxiety are ugly. They do not do any good for us at all. They signal we are focusing on the bad and negative, not on the good and positive.

If we worry or are anxious, it signals we are trusting in false hope, not in real hope. False hope is fragile and does not last. Real hope is lasting.

Believing in Jesus Christ is Real Hope. It is True Hope. It is not imaginary, wishful thinking, imaginative hope.

Now, let me make a clarification here. A person can say that they believe in Jesus and still worry and have anxiety. I have been that way--and am that way from time to time, I cannot deny it and have to face reality. I worry and get anxious until I get right in my head and in my thoughts. I have to have intentional and controlled thought combined with Real Hope. It required me to think the thoughts I want to and not allow m thoughts or emotions to control me.

You see, emotions are fickle. They blow around like the wind and are never steady or true. They change quicker than the weather in Colorado. The old adage here in Colroado is how if you do not like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change. That is how emotions are.

Thoughts can be just as fickle. If we do not control our thoughts, they can blow with the wind and change like the weather as well. In fact, we can become obsessed in our thinking, for the bad and detrimental, not the good.

Controlled, disciplined thought is what is always needed, without fail. This is logic. It means thinking things all the way through, from every angle, and arriving with a thorough logic based decision.

How have I been able to get to this point? It is one thing to say I believe in the Real Hope Jesus Christ is and offers me and my life. It is another thing altogether to put the belief into practice, as I have already said. So, how have I gotten to this point?

The secret is a combination of knowing God and His Word plus (combined with) believing God and His Word, then applying this knowledge of Him and His Word. So, the full equation looks like this:

Lack of anxiety and worry = Knowing God + Knowing His Word, the Bible + Believing God + Believing the Word of God + application of the Word

Whenever I said God above, I mean God + Jesus Christ + the Holy Spirit.

Each part of the equation is far more simple than it seems, but also includes more than I just stated. I will explain.

Now, if you are not a Christian, I might have lost you with all of that. However, as I just shared, I will explain and break things down. In order for you to know what God has done to me, you need to know the simplest answer is this:

God has given me Real Hope, for Jesus Christ is my Real Hope.

Real Hope is eternal, everlasting hope, that continues after this life on earth, because it transcends this life on earth. Real Hope cannot be found in earthly things because everything and everyone on this earth will die and has died. It has a shelf life. Real Hope never expires.

I know for a fact God is infinite, all powerful, all knowing, always present, is sufficient, and is beyond time and space, for He created each. Also, He is and has unconditional love and grace (if you believe in Jesus Christ, that is, for that is the one and only condition). God is perfect and has no flaws and never changes.

Since I know all of that about God, I know He has perfect plans for each of our lives. For my life. He has perfect plans and perfect planning. He knows all, so He knows what He is doing.

I, however, an flawed. I am sinful and make errors. I am far from perfect. I am finite as well. So, I cannot see or know His perfect plan or His perfect timing. It is impossible. I have none of the perfection of God. I am flawed in every way in my earthly and fallen body. My vision for the future is one such example.

Not one time in my life have the things happened the way I wanted them to happen or when I wanted them to happen. Not once. My plans never turn out the way I want nor when I want. After all, I am finite and am in an earthly body with earthly, finite sight. Therefore, it is okay. Things always turn out for the better. Things make sense later as to why they turn out the way they do. This is my Real Hope. I can stand on it because I know it, believe it, apply it. I do not need to worry or be anxious. God's so got this (whatever it is--and this can be said about everything, without fail).

It has taken time and experience for me to get to this point.

How do I know God, Jesus, and the Word and believe them? Through lots of prayer (which involves 95% listening and 5% talking) and lots of reading the Bible so I can get to know God and Jesus.

Yep. That is the secret. It's a trillion plus a trillion dollar secret and tip.

There are a few verses which support this as well:

Psalm 1:2 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

New American Standard Bible (NASB). Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

Being in the Word of God, the Bible (the law as they called it in the Old Testament), all the time--morning, noon, evening, and night--and all moments in-between is the key. Combined with:

1 Thessalonians 5:17 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

17 pray without ceasing;

New American Standard Bible (NASB). Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

Praying all the time, without stopping is the other key. and remember what I said prayer is: 95% listening to God and 5% using words to pray.

This is what God has done for me.

I do not need to worry or feel anxious. Ever. I can KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt the perfect, infinite God has perfect plans and perfect timing. His vision is holy and perfect. Mine is not.

I can rest assured. Have peace. Not lose sleep--for I have Real Hope.

... To think, I got all of that out of Romans 1:5-6. (Wow. Wonder of Wonders.)

Blessings,
--Stacy Duplease

Email:
agodlyvision@gmail.com
rememberingyourpresent@gmail.com
Blogs:
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http://rypstories.blogspot.com
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