Welcome to New Life Design

Listening Under The New Covenant

Prayer & Praise

I Corinthians 2:9-14 “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”  But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit.  For the Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.  No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.  And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.  When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom.  Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain truths.  But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit.  It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. ”

I Corinthians 2:16b “But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”

A wonderful aspect of living under the New Covenant of God’s Grace is that we have the priviledge of fellowship and union with Christ.  Part of that fellowship and union is being able to hear God speak to us.  Yes, He speaks!  We often miss it due to our busy lifestyles or our impure motives etc… But I am learning if we stop, take time to listen and be still, He speaks!

Under the New Covenant we now can receive wisdom from the Spirit because we now have the Spirit of the living God within us to talk to us and guide us.  The Holy Spirit is the key to everything in a believer’s life!  I think the enemy of our souls does everything in his power to cause us to miss this because it offers such a vital link to victory.  Because no one knows the thoughts of God except the spirit of God and we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit of God inside us.  So we can now understand what God has freely given us.  We literally have the mind of Christ so we can know God’s thoughts and heart on an issue/decision.  This is marvelous news!!

Dana

The Evidence of A True Believer Part 3

Prayer & Praise

Sorry I have been away for awhile.  Here is the next part of “The Evidence of A True Believer Part 3 and I have listed the first four points that we have already discussed so far for you:

1.  True Believers believe that Jesus is the Christ.  I John 5:1

2.  True Believers will live in the light as Jesus is in the light.  I John 1:5-7

3.   True Believers have a deep since of their sinfulness.  I John 1:8

4.  True Believers will keep His Commandments.  I John 2:1-2

Now for number 5….

5.  True believers will have a geniune love for others.  I John 2:7-11 

If anyone claims to live in the light yet hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness.  In the NLT the end of verse 11 says that, “such a person is lost, having been blinded by the darkness.”  On over in chapter 4 of I John verses 7–8 say, “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.  Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  But anyone who does not love does not know God-for God is love.”  Chapter 4 in I John comes right out and tells us what “real love” is…..have you ever thought about it?  Verse 9 confirms that God showed us how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.  We did not love God first but He loved us while we were unlovely, while we were yet sinners as Romans 5:8 says.  Real love is not what Hollywood promotes but real love is that God loved us and sent His only Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  Obviously this is our standard to love others but we must remember that we can’t do it in our own strength which is why we so need to humble ourselves before our father and examine ourselves and then allow Christ to love others through us.  The last part of verse 16 is quite direct….”God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.”  Now hear verses 20-21, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see how can we love God, whom we have not seen?  And God Himself has commanded that we must love not only Him but our Christian brothers and sisters, too.” 

I have purposfully put all the verses in here today so that you can see clearly what the Word of God says.  This is not opinion or even a good idea, it is God’s holy Word spoken to us.  We can’t fake this one….we must have His Holy Spirit living in us and loving through us as we embrace the love that God has for us all.

I John 3:1 “See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for He allows us to be called His children, and we really are!”

Dana

Proving Myself

God Concept, Identity

For many years, I have believed the lie that  in order to be accepted, I must prove my value/worth to others by my performance/achievements/success .  Entangled with this lie was another lie, that other people must accept me in order for me to accept myself.  God spoke the truth to me recently in a very special way:  I don’t have to prove my worth because God has already created me valuable.  He is the judge, not other people.  Therefore, if God accepts me (which He does with open arms), then I can accept myself.

This morning, God gave me an opportunity to practice this newly revealed truth.  I got up late, had barely enough time to shower & dress, grabbed a frozen dinner for lunch, and ran out the door without any breakfast.  The road I normally take to work is closed this week for construction, but I forgot that, and out of habit headed that way.  When I realized what I’d done, I had to take a roundabout way to work.  I just knew I would be late, and I was stressed.  Then I remembered what God said, “You don’t have to prove anything.”  I didn’t have to prove that I was good by being on time to work.  I began to relax and slow down.  The pressure was gone.  I was believing God.  I arrived at work with 2 minutes to spare and a whole lot less stress.  Thank you, Jesus!!!!

“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;”           ~Psalm 139:14

“to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. “            ~Ephesians 1:6

The Evidence of A True Believer Part 2

Grace Insights, Identity

Well, I have had a break in posting this last week because Tony and I have been on Vacation!  We had a great time visiting with my family and enjoying a couple of days of beach time!  We had some good time to rest so I guess we are ready to get back at it.

In part 2 of our discussion of the evidence of a true believer we left off with ending chapter one and looking at point 3 that showed us that we will have a deep sense of our own sinfulness if we are true believers.  Chapter one ends with verse 10 stating, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 

Let’s pick up with point #4 that will start us off with I John 2.

#4.  If we are true believers we will keep His commandments.  I John 2:1-2 tells of the wonderful grace that is ours through Jesus Christ being the propitiation for our sins and He is our Advocate with the Father if we sin.  How truly blessed we are in the abundance of grace that we have received.  That grace and mercy poured out on us will lead us naturally to verse 3 that says, “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.”  A true believer will welcome Jesus’ teachings into their lives and they will process that teaching and make the needed adjustments.  I John 2:4-6 says, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in Him the love of God has truly been perfected.  By this we know that we are in Him:  the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”  I don’t know about you but that is putting it in pretty plain language for me! 

Here are some questions to ask ourselves:

*Do I obey His commandments?

*Do I tend to continue in sin without any sense of sorrow and repentance over my choices, actions and attitudes?

*Do I welcome His teachings into my life and make the proper adjustments in my lifestyle?  If not….why?  If so….How have I done this recently?

*Is there a genuine desire to walk in the same manner as Christ walked?  You can check out Phil. 2 for an idea of the manner in which Jesus walked.

* Do you sense a true humility about yourself before the Lord?

Take time to examine yourself.  This idea that if we are truly in Christ we will obey His commandments comes up several times in I John and in other places in Scripture.  If you do know Him in a personal and intimate way, you will not be able to continue in sin.  His kindness will lead you to repentance and true lifestyle change and you will not be able to continue in your sin…..not if you truly know Him.  Do you know Him today?

Dana

The Evidence of a True Believer

Prayer & Praise

Hello Everyone,

As I mentioned in the previous blog, this is the first of several blogs about the evidence that will be in our lives reflecting that we are indeed children of God.  We must start here….

#1.  True believers believe that Jesus is the Christ.  I John 5:1

I don’t know that anyone could communicate it any clearer than Steve Green when he sang, “There is no other name but Jesus…”.  What a powerful message that is not very popular with the world due to it’s need to be politically correct.  Jesus himself is quoted in John 14:6 as saying that He is the way, the truth and the life.  Acts 4:12 tells us that there is no other name by which men might be saved.

#2.  If you are a true believer you will live in the light as Jesus is in the light.  I John 5-7

If we say that we are in the light, yet live in spiritual darkness we are only lying and we are not practicing the truth.  God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.  So there is going to be a difference in our lifestyle verses the world’s lifestyle.

#3.  If we are a true believer we will have a deep sense of our sinfulness.        I John 1:8

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  My friend, do you understand repentance?  Are you humbled when you look at the enormous price our Savior had to pay on behalf of your sinfulness?  I Corinthians 6:20 tells us we were bought with a price.  The price that Christ paid for our sin was one that was very, very expensive.  We are literally dead in our sins and transgressions.  We were helpless to save ourselves and doomed to spend an eternity completely separated from God.  Our state “in Adam” was a helpless state and only God could do anything about it.  Out of His deep love for us even while we were yet sinners, Romans tells us, that Christ died for us.  My friend, without Christ we were dead and doomed.  When I think about what my sin caused our Savior to have to endure it breaks my heart and yet….I worship and reach out to Him because without him, as the hymn says, “how lost I would be.”  I realize even now that my feeble attempts at righteousness is as filthy rags before Him.  So you see, our only hope is Christ alone!

Well, I hope these are thought provoking for you and allows you to examine yourself as well.  I was reading in Revelation 21 & 22 this morning and oh, what a glorious place we are going to be called to one day soon.  I feel such an urgency to remind the church to examine herself!  I feel such a burden to participate in the disciplining of the church because there is still much to be done and eternity is so close – even at our doors!  The fields are rich and ripe with the harvest but our workers…..where are they?  Many have been wounded and have abandoned their post.  Many have fallen to temptation and are caught in the holds of sin.  I’m telling you, our time is drawing nigh and many are lost all around us. 

Now, I know some of you may be thinking, “yea, yea….people have been saying that, “the end is coming” or that, “we are living in the last days” for years now and we are still here!”  First of all, we must be careful of our interruption of the term “last days”.  We think that term means within the very near future.  But in the Bible the term was used several times in the New Testament and that was over 2,000 years ago.  So, it is important to note that the Hebrew term “the last days” can also be translated as “in the distant future” (NLT) or “in the days to come” (NIV).  Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that the term “the last days” refers to an indeterminate period of time leading up to the second coming of Jesus Christ.  Now, with that said, I will say that no other generation that has lived has seen what our generation is seeing.  Prophecy fulfilled!  If you are a student of eschatology (the study of end times) and you have been keeping up with what is going on in our world then you know what I am talking about.  You are seeing events unfold and fall into the line of Bible prophecy like never before.  My friend, it is amazing!  It was behoove all of us to pay attention to the Word of God and what is going on in the world today….and literally….. for Heaven’s sake….let’s be busy accomplishing Kingdom agenda items!

Dana

Examine Yourself!

Identity

2 Corinthians 13:5-6 “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is really genuine.  Test yourselves.  If you cannot tell that Jesus Christ is among you, it means you have failed the test.  I hope you recognize that we have passed the test and are approved by God.”

Well….ok….some events that transpired recently got me looking at this verse again.  Growing up I remember hearing several sermons on it and in my home church around the fall of my freshman year in High School we hired a new pastor.  He was a great preacher and during the first year and a half at our church we experienced a serious revival.  I’m not talking about the bring all your lost friends kicking and screaming type revival….for that is not true revival.  I’m talking about a word from the Lord for the church….a cleaning house sort of thing.  God began to move amongst our congregation and people confessed sin, made things right with fellow believers, and low and behold….people who thought they were saved years ago came marching down that isle weeping and repenting confessing that they needed Jesus!  I remember being exhorted to “examine myself” to see if I was in the faith.  After this happened in our church we were a different congregation!  The Spirit was alive and well in our church, we experienced a love for one another that unified our hearts, our worship was moving and sincere and our hearts were palatable to the Word.  Our congregation began to reach out to our community and we began to grow in record numbers.  It was a sweet time in my life that I will always remember and praise His Name….I was forever changed!

Have you experienced the change that Jesus brings?  Do you really know Him?  Do you sense a deep burden and sorrow over your sin and a urgency to confess and repent before the Lord?  Do you recognize your depravity without Him?  These are things we need to ask ourselves.  Upon my experience in my home church in High School and my examining myself, I am convinced that there are many who sit in our pews/seats each Sunday week after week and they are lost.  Oh….they say that they ” I took care of that a long time ago” or “I prayed that prayer….” or “me and the ‘Man upstairs have an understanding”….but where is the change?  The humility?  The love for God and His children? The obedience to the Word of God? 

I am embarking on a little study right now in I John on the Evidences of Our Faith.  I will post a little everyday so join us and see what comes to light

I was going to put this on the New Life Design Facebook page but the Facebook page is down right now and my dinner is just about ready so I am heading home to eat with my Honey!  I am sure you will understand!  For those of you wondering, “So, is she saying her husband cooks??”  The answer is a resounding YES!!!  If you are wondering how I landed that….well, that was one of the things I prayed for while I was single because I hate to cook!  Sorry if you are already married and you missed out on that one!!  🙂

Dana

Favorite Quotes

Our Faith Journey

Here are two of my favorite quotes.  I keep these on an index card in my Bible.  They are by Bruce Wilkenson in his study “Secrets of The Vine”.

1.  “Our lives can be ‘full’ only when we surrender our whole life to Christs’ will and purpose.”

2.  “Only in Christ can a man or women become an instrument of impressive, unquestionable might, yet remain a vessel of humility, an object of grace.  You see, a person full of the Holy Spririt can not be full of self.  Pride never accompanies power in a fully yeilded life.”

Ponder these thoughts today and let me know your thoughts.

Dana

Realizing What You Already Have

Prayer & Praise

Well…I hope you are ready for this one! 

This past Tuesday morning I was obviously so tired from all our activity over the weekend and had not yet recovered so I was not able to think clearly.  I was taking my dog (Nissi-miniature Schnauzer) out to potty after she finished eating and Tony (my husband) was headed out for work at the same time.  I decided just to head out the back door with him and said goodbye, yet there was this sinking feeling in my stomach and something just said – go out the front door with her like you usually do, but of course….I ignored the thought.  (Big mistake!)  While Nissi and I were in the back yard Tony was about to get in the car and it dawned on me that he might accidental forget I was out there and put the garage door down as he drove off leaving me locked out of the house with no form of communication.  So – I did what any other reasonable person would do.  I hollered up the hill and ask Tony to please leave the door up so I could get back in the house which he was happy to do.  Well, as fate would have it, his mind was on the busy day before him and in about 20 seconds flat he has forgotten my request and hit the button for the garage door as I am still in the backyard with Nissi.  I hear the door going down and see that he is about to be to the street so I tear off running like some mad woman waving my arms in the air and screaming, “Tony!!!”.  Yea – I know….not a pretty site!  At least it was not a Sunday morning when I would have just had in my robe!  Thankfully I was planning on doing a short run so I had put on my running shorts and top but I still had flip flops on and it is pretty difficult to sprint up hill in flip flops while waving your arms in the air and shouting.  Well, I gave it my best effort and was probably just about 5 seconds off from catching him.  I thought he might fiddle with his phone or GPS or something but not on this day.  As I got to the stop sign he had just turned from the next street and my fate was sealed!  I envisioned myself sitting on my back porch with Nissi from 7:30 in the morning until 6:30 in the evening.  Within an instant I am rehearsing thoughts like, “Gee, I’m glad she has eaten already….at least we have cool water from the water hose to drink…I guess I’ll be potty-ing in the woods today….etc…”  As I was still running with the fumes of the exhaust from Tony’s car already evaporating I came face to face with this lady out walking.  The expression on my face must have been one of panic because I think I frightened her a bit.  She ask me if anything was wrong and could she help me.  As soon as I could catch my breath I ask if she had a cell phone and she did.  Thank the Lord for cell phones!!  I was trying to call Tony quickly as he was heading to a clients office on the other side of Atlanta.  I knew if I couldn’t get him then my chances would be hopeless for getting back in the house until he came home that evening.  Well….wouldn’t you know, I couldn’t remember his cell number!  See, we have these engenious little things built into our cell phones called “Contact Lists” and we no longer memorize numbers!  I couldn’t even remember his parent’s numbers, my good friends number or anything!  Strangly, I could only remember my office number!  I tried calling that and leaving a message for Rebecca, our Office Manager hoping that she could call Tony as soon as she got in and maybe he could come home during lunch and let me in.  This would also mean that Rebecca would have to cancel my morning appointments.  I was just fit to be tied.  It is not like me to panic in emergency situations but on this day I just lost my head!  After leaving a very long message for Rebecca, wonder upon wonder….I remember Tony’s cell number!  I was so relieved!  When he gets on the phone and I share my plight he was so sympathic and apologized profusly for putting the door down, but….he then ever so gently reminds me of that little steal gadget that is coded and has a spare key inside!!!  UGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I felt like a crazy women!!!  I thanked him for his help….I’m sure he was laughing on the inside, but to his honor he saved me some dignity.  If he did laugh, he never let me know it and then I said my goodbye and let him get back to the task of work.  The lady that was allowing me to use her cell phone walks down to my house with me to help me find Nissi because I tore off like a banchie and left her in the back yard.  Bless her heart….she was sitting on the front porch waiting for me.  She must know her mother is insane sometimes! 

Well, I share this with you because a huge spiritual truth hit me as I came back inside.  I was laughing at myself first and then told the Lord that He would really blow me away if He had something to show me out of this situation and immediatly it hit me!  2 Peter 1:3 “…seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”  Christ is all we need and if we are Christians then we already have all we need for any situation that we face.  All the provision, power, love, compassion, patience, strength, self control etc….that we need in this life has already been given to us.  Christ meets all of our needs!  Why then do we go chasing after what we think will satisfy and either it remains just out of our reach or we get what we are chasing only to find that it doesn’t completely fulfill us so the chase continues.  All that I need as a child of God I already possess.  As a Christian, I have the answer and that answer is in the person of Jesus Christ. 

Thank you God for being my everything!

Dana

Lessons Learned On The Journey To 26.2

God Concept

Have you ever analyzed or studied something to death and had it worked out in your mind as to how you thought it should happen?  Well, I sure did when it came down to the Marathon.  On one of our particular training runs we ran 22 miles and those 22 miles were done at our goal pace which would have put me finishing at 4 hours and 9 minutes!  I was so excited.  That was the fastest I had ever run 22 miles before and I had felt good during the run so I was very optimistic about race day!  Well….as you have seen from the previous posts about the marathon that is not what happened!  I was incredibily discouraged later thinking about it and my thoughts immediatly turned toward my relationship with God. 

Often times we have something worked out in our head and think we know how it should all come about and we pray and pray and pray….yet, things just seem to come apart at the seams!  What do we do when things don’t turn out the way we want them to?  What then?  Maybe we thought we were walking in God’s will – maybe we thought we had heard clear direction from God…..what do we do now?  Have you ever felt that discouragement that comes in these times?  Have you ever felt hurt with God during times like these?  You may not care to admit it out loud but my guess would be that we all have encountered those same old feelings when things just don’t work out the way we planned or hoped that they would. 

One of the reasons why so many Jews in Jesus’ day missed seeing who He really is was that many of them had it built it up in their own minds that He was going to be a present day radicalist and overthrow the Roman Government  which they ovbiously opposed.  We tend to get just a little bit of information about God and then mix it with the influences in our lives and then put our own twist and ideas on it and that becomes our concept of who God is and how God should move and act in the affairs of life and the world.  When we do this we will miss Him by a country mile just as many of the Jews did in the gospel writtings.

I want to share with you some very special verses that I encountered for the very first time when my father passed away in March of 1992.  You may find it interesting to know that the first time I heard these verses it was not from a preacher, teacher or from my own Bible readings but from God himself.  I had been reading the night before and my load of grief blurred my understanding of what I was reading and I found myself in the midst of my own anger over the grief that I felt.  I just did not understand why God would not have chosen to heal my father when he had loved and served Him and we had prayed in faith.  I had several doctor appointments scheduled the next morning while I was still home and the second visit was at the eye doctor’s office.  I knew I would be waiting for awhile and as I began to wait Father invited me into a dialogue with Him.  As I poured out my questions He spoke truth into my heart and peace has been the result ever since.  Part of what He shared with me I later found out was taken straight out of Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thought are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

On this side of eternity we are never going to understand some of the ways in which God moves and some of the decisions that He makes for we think with earthly minds that are finite and our God is so infinite!  He is beyond our understanding and comprehension while we have to function with the limitations of these earthly minds and bodies; but isn’t it wonderful that He still desires relationship with us and loves us unconditionally?  Wow….He amazes me – daily!  Just another reason that shows why He is God and I am not.

Dana

Flesh Unveiled

Grace Insights

I was reading an article about listening to God this week.  It talked about a closeness, an intimacy with God that involved communicating with Him throughout the day each day.  As I thought about how I would like to experience more of this, I was reminded of two missed opportunities earlier in the week.  I thought of two separate occasions where I sensed God prompting me to spend time with Him, and I didn’t.  It was as if God said, “Rebecca, come sit with me.  I want to talk to you,” and I responded, “I can’t right now.  I’m too tired.”  I wondered why I respond this way because I do want to spend time with Him. 

Then came the insight, the unveiling of my flesh.  I was trying to control life to make it work the best way I knew how.  I thought that, because I was so tired, the only way I could make it through the evening, or through the next day, was to make sure I got some rest (which is usually by sleeping or watching TV).  What God showed me was that if I will let go of my way (I HAVE to rest!), and choose His way (go sit with Him and let Him love on me), He will give me the rest I need and so much more!

~Rebecca