Showing posts with label Christian Journaling. Show all posts

Monday, May 18, 2015

Into Iraq #2: What the News isn’t telling You & Why We Can’t Afford to Pretend It’s Not Happening [Sozan’s Impossible Choice — and Our Very Possible One] | A Holy Experience

A CHRISTIAN BLOG POST

This is a blog post by Ann Voskamp. Something to ponder. Take a look.

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2015/05/into-iraq-2-what-the-news-isnt-telling-you-why-we-cant-afford-to-pretend-its-not-happening-sozans-impossible-choice-and-our-very-possible-one/?utm_source=email+marketing&utm_campaign=daily-newsletter&utm_medium=email

Journal your thoughts and prayers.

Blessings,
--Stacy Duplease
Email:
agodlyvision@gmail.com
rememberingyourpresent@gmail.com
Blogs:
http://rypjournaling.blogspot.com
http://rypstories.blogspot.com
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Tablet

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Bible Verse of the Day

1 Corinthians 2:14-15Living Bible (TLB)

14 But the man who isn’t a Christian can’t understand and can’t accept these thoughts from God, which the Holy Spirit teaches us. They sound foolish to him because only those who have the Holy Spirit within them can understand what the Holy Spirit means. Others just can’t take it in. 15 But the spiritual man has insight into everything, and that bothers and baffles the man of the world, who can’t understand him at all.

Living Bible (TLB)

Christian and Prayer Journaling:

Answer each of the following and be thorough in your answer.

1 Journal your thoughts.

2 How does this verse and/or passage apply now to the world of terror?

3 What has God said to you as you read this and journal?

4 What have you said to God?

5 How can you apply this in your life today and how should you apply it?

Bible verse of the day

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+john+4%3A4-9&version=TLB

1 John 4:4-9 Living Bible (TLB)

4 Dear young friends, you belong to God and have already won your fight with those who are against Christ because there is someone in your hearts who is stronger than any evil teacher in this wicked world. 5 These men belong to this world, so, quite naturally, they are concerned about worldly affairs and the world pays attention to them. 6 But we are children of God; that is why only those who have walked and talked with God will listen to us. Others won't. That is another way to know whether a message is really from God; for if it is, the world won't listen to it.
7 Dear friends, let us practice loving each other, for love comes from God and those who are loving and kind show that they are the children of God, and that they are getting to know him better. 8 But if a person isn't loving and kind, it shows that he doesn't know God—for God is love.
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death.

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.

Journal your thoughts.
What does this mean in our times of terror?
How can we apply this verse to our lives today?

Blessings,
--Stacy Duplease
http://RYPStories.blogspot.com
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Tablet

Friday, February 20, 2015

Psalm 37:34 TLB - Don’t be impatient for the Lord to - Bible Gateway

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+37%3A34&version=TLB

***

Psalm 37:34 Living Bible (TLB)

34 Don't be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you with every blessing, and you will see the wicked destroyed.

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.

***

1 Journal your thoughts in general about this verse.

2 Journal your thoughts given this verse and that it is Day 3 of Lent.

3 Journal your thoughts given this verse and terror.

4 Journal how this verse applies, or can be applied, to your life right now.

Blessings,

--Stacy Duplease
http://RYPStories.blogspot.com
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HDX Tablet

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Remembering the Cross #2

A Journaling Devotional

I cannot (and refuse to) look at the Cross the same. My faith has changed.

How about you? Journal your thoughts and turn it into a prayer.

Today marks four days since the beheadings of the 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt.

It has been four days since a new war, one by terrorists, was declared on the Nation and People of the Cross.

Today is Day 2 of Lent.

It is not just the fact that 21 Christians were beheaded. It's not just because another American was killed by the terrorists. It's far more than that. People have been burned alive, beheaded, raped, sold into sex slavery, organs have been harvested, and so on... all because of a difference in belief. I do not care who the victim was, where they lived, or what they believed. No one deserves that. And I take a stand for them and will no longer remain silent.

I must admit, though, with how war has already been declared on the USA and on the People of the Cross, it gets my attention all the more and slaps across both cheeks as a wake-up call. This forces me to look inward and upward. It makes me look at the Cross with a capital "C" and that is new to me. I always saw a small "c," but terrorists capitalized it and makes me realize Cross should have been capitalized all along, particularly in my life.

It's interesting to be called the Nation or People of the Cross... not Christian. Is it that they cannot say the name of my Lord, Savior, Redeemed, Messiah--Jesus Christ? Is it easier to refer to a hunk of wood or the manner of death?

Terrorists constantly focus on the past, from centuries ago, from decades ago. Nothing is fair. They cannot see beyond the past. It's where they dwell.

The Nation and People of the Cross focus on the future. On eternity. On never-ending life with our God and King, the only One True God and King. Our future is full of hope.

Their past is nothing but dark, full of hatred and violence. They do not hold fast to a future of hope. They also do not know about unconditional love.

The Nation and People of the Cross know unconditional, undeserved love. Abundant love. Eternal love. For, God is Love (1 John 4:7-8) and He is eternal.

The Cross is not steeped in death, but in life. Death was required so anyone who believes can live and have a future of eternal life and love. What a future of grace and hope.

***

John 17:3 New Living Translation (NLT)

3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.

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.

***

Journal your thoughts.

Journal about how your life has been impacted by the beheadings of the 21.

Journal about how it impacts you how a war has been declared on the Nation and People of the Cross.

*******

Verse of the Day from BibleGateway.com

1 John 4:11-12 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

********

Journal your thoughts and prayer to the One True God.

*******

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Remembering the Cross #1

An Easter, Lent, and Christian Journal:

Remembering the Cross

Easter has a whole new meaning this year after 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt were beheaded by ISIS--by terrorists. (This was announced in the news on Sunday, February 15, 2015.)

Today, Wednesday, February 18, 2015, is Ash Wednesday and the first day of Lent.

ISIS has declared war on the Cross. On the nation and on the people of the Cross.

The people of the Cross. That's me. And, all the people of the Cross are my family. Just as what happened to those on 9/11/2001, my American family, so has this happened to my family.

The people and the nation of the Cross...

I am one of the Cross.

Questions I am pondering and journaling (you can answer them for yourself as well):

1 How have I lived as though I am one of the people of the Cross? Today? This week? This month? This quarter? This year? The last five years? The last decade? The decades before that? How am I living as a person of the Cross each and every single moment of all the days of my life?

2 How am I remembering the Cross today? How do I want to remember the cross tomorrow?

3 What does the Cross mean to me and my life?

The Cross:

Jesus was murdered so I could be forgiven for my wrongdoings, because He loves me.

I do not deserve it and I cannot ever do anything to deserve it, but eternal life is freely given to me.

His grace shows His love.

The Cross is about His death, not mine.

He died so I, nor anyone else, has to.

The Cross is about love and peace.

The Cross is about unity, not division or us versus them.

The only thing required of me, ever, is to believe in the Cross.

The Cross is about faith, hope, and love.

The Cross is about a God who is All-Powerful, All-Knowing, Ever-Present, All and Ever Loving--and He does not require anyone to defend Him, or die for Him, for He can stand on His own.

Jesus died on the Cross, not because God forced Him, but because He gave His life freely.

I can place my worries, concerns, frustrations, burdens, emotions, thoughts, wrongdoings, and anything else I want at the foot of the Cross. It will never fall over or be crushed from the weight for my God is the Only God. He can handle it. He is God.

The Cross is my firm foundation and solid rock. It is my light and is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The Cross is love.

Love is the Cross.

Grace is found there--the Cross.

Journaling Prompt:

1 Please journal your thoughts.

2 Now, journal your thoughts about the Cross given the terrorists actions over the last couple of months. What does this mean for you and your life?

The Cross and the First Day of Lent

Today is the first day of Lent and given the war declared on the cross, I thought reading the lyrics of one of my favorite hymns would be appropriate.

Link:
http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/r/oruggedc.htm

Words & Music: George Bennard, 1913 (MIDI, score).

The Old Rugged Cross was written in Albion, Michigan. Or Pokagon, Michigan. Or Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. All three towns claim to be the birthplace of this hymn.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Refrain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

Refrain

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

Refrain

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.

Refrain

Please journal your thoughts and take some time to contemplate, think, and meditate on these words given what's happened in the world the last couple of months.

(Image Credit: Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present, LLC 2011-2015. Cross at First Landing, Virginia.)

Monday, October 6, 2014

Today's Bible and Prayer Journaling: October 06, 2014: THE READ THE BIBLE FIVE TIMES IN 15 MONTHS BLOG POST SERIES

2014-10-06 09:01:03, Monday

I decided two days ago (today is day 3) to start a "Read the Bible in 90 Days Program." After all, I want to read the Bible cover to cover between now and the end of the year, which means I technically need to read it in 88 days, not 90. I'm reading the readings from BibleGateway.com at this link:

https://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/bible-in-90-days/today?version=HCSB

This means my readings didn't start at Genesis 1, which I'm just fine with. I will get there between now and the end of the year, but just am not starting there. It works for me. I want to read all of the Bible for 2014 and then maybe twice or three times in 2015. I want the Bible to be the first book I go to and read each day, not any other book.

I didn't get all of yesterday's reading done, but have finished it this morning. My reading today is: Nehemiah 13:15 - Job 7:21. I hope to get to Job 15ish or so in order to make up for the two additional days I need to read of the 90 day Bible reading plan.

And, yes. I think I've just decided I want to incorporate the 90 day reading plan into my life all year. If I did this, it means I would read the Holy Bible four times in 2015.

Wow.

I'm pausing and letting that set in for a moment.

Read the Bible five times between now and the end of 2015? Yes. This seems like a life-transforming goal. Count me in! What an incredible journey it would and will be.

Hence, welcome to:

THE READ THE BIBLE FIVE TIMES IN 15 MONTHS BLOG POST SERIES.

(Image credit: Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present LLC 2014.)

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Prayer and Bible Journaling

2014-10-02 08:02:59, Thursday

-------

If you are reading this blog post as a daily devotional Bible study for prayer journaling, then please prayer journal after you read each verse and answer all of the questions.

-------

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Expanded Bible (EXB)

9 But he said to me, “My grace is ·enough for you [sufficient for you; all you need]. ·When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you [L For (my) power is perfected in weakness].” So I am very happy to ·brag [boast] about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can ·live [reside; or rest] in me. 10 For this reason I am ·happy [pleased; content] when I have weaknesses, insults, ·hard times [times of need], ·sufferings[persecutions], and ·all kinds of troubles [distress] ·for [for the sake of] Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am truly strong.

Expanded Bible (EXB)

Is this true for me? Is His grace enough for me?

If His grace is enough, why is it? Is this true at all times?

If His grace is not enough, why not and how can I change my thinking so it is?

Read Psalm 10 and 11.

Reading Ephesians 4 and 5.

Passage I want to meditate on, contemplate, and prayer journal at least three times today:

Ephesians 4:17-27 New Living Translation (NLT)

17 With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

20 But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. 21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Lord, help me to know what to do and what not to do, according to the Ephesians 4 verses. Help me know what to apply to my life and how. Guide me and teach me, God. I want to live for You alone and want to bring You glory. And, I thank you in advance for showing me Your Way through these verses.

Ephesians 4:17 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

17 Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

What thoughts do I have, Lord, that are not of You?

Lord, I know the answer to that one. Most of my thoughts are futile. Help me to live Philippians 4:8; Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 10:5-7. I want to focus on your and Your Word alone. I want to live Your Way. I want to live according to Your purpose, not mine, for my life. I want to live a life that's intentionally focused on You and Your Word alone. Thank You for giving me the want, Lord. I also realize it is what I need. Thank You for helping me to see this as well. And, thank You, in advance, for showing me how to live like this.

How can I focus my thoughts on You alone?

What beliefs do I have that are futile?

I want to believe, and have opinions, based off of You and your Word, not off of man. I am thinking of my Christianity, politics, current events, war, terrorism, all of it. I want to take a stand on what You want me to, not on what I think I should, what others say I should, or anything based off of what others say. I want to stand on you and the foundation of Your Word alone. I don't want any of my thoughts or beliefs to be futile, but to be eternally based.

Abba, show me how.

Show me how to make Your grace enough for me, today, every moment, for the rest of my life.

To You, alone, be the glory!

(Image credit: Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present, LLC 2014.)