The mission of this blog is post devotions that will encourage and challenge ladies in our endeavor to become Proverbs 31/Titus 2 women. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:49:00 -0600 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:49:00 -0600 Infected   The writer of Psalm 119 knew well that bad company corrupts good character.  In verse 115, he told evildoers to get away so that he could keep God’s commands.   I got to thinking about how some of my activities pull me away from God’s commands.  Now, I’m not referring to what most of us would classify as “big” sins such as adultery, murder, or homosexuality.  I am thinking of seemingly innocent things like using the computer.  While the Internet can be a wonderful tool, how many times do we find ourselves spending more time there than necessary?  After all, we could be spending that time in the Word or in making the house look nice for when our husband comes home at the end of a long day.  We could have spent that time reading to our children or playing with them.  When we realize we have wasted too much time on the computer, our attitude usually changes for the worse.  We realize that we are suddenly pressed for time in getting the evening meal ready or whatever the case may be.  The result is often that we tend to get crabby.  Add a short fuse to our temper, and we can quickly infect those around us.  Before we realize it, the whole family is in a bad mood, thus slightest offense leading to much bickering.   I admit it – I am a FOX news junkie.  With all that is taking place in the world, I find it difficult to turn off the television.  Yet, when they begin to talk about Madonna, Miley Cyrus, or Lindsay Lohan, do I really need to hear it?  To put it bluntly, it is gossip, and God’s Word tells me to avoid it.  If I ignore His commands, I become spiritually infected.   A real wake-up call to me was one morning when I told my daughter that I had a nightmare about Muslims the previous night.  She had an astonished look on her face and replied, “So did I!”  My husband and I knew immediately that the excessive watching of the TV news was not only infecting us, it was also infecting her.   You see, when we allow spiritual infection into our lives, it doesn’t just affect us.  It affects others.  Just as the psalmist took a stand against spiritual infection, we also need to do the same.   Do you need to treat any “infection” in your life? © 2008, Stacy R Miller http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/745191/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:49:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/745191/ ~~~~~  Loaves and Fish ~~~~~   Many years ago, I kept having dreams that I was singing solos at church.  I would wake up and think, “That is weird!  I can’t sing!”  Well, I could sing, but it sounded more like a joyful noise!  Yet, as I continued to have those dreams, I started to hear the Lord telling me that one day I would be singing solos.  About nine months later, I went Christmas caroling with our nursing home ministry team.  I loved it!  I quickly signed up to join the team that went out each week to a local nursing home to do a Sunday service.  Wouldn’t you know it?  The very first Sunday I went, they handed me a microphone and said, “Sing!”  I honestly thought I could hear God laughing!   Now, when I started singing at the nursing home, it wasn’t as if God said, “Start out singing Sandi Patty songs.”  No, He only asked me to sing.  And He was wise enough to start me out in a small setting with people whose hearing wasn’t all that good.”  Later, He led me to join the church choir.  As I began to strengthen my voice, He built my confidence.  A few years later, I did end up singing several Sandi Patty songs.  I offered to the Lord what little ability I had in those early days at the nursing home, and He took it and multiplied into something bigger.   In Mark 6:30-44, we find the story where Jesus fed the five thousand.  What I love about this story is that Jesus didn’t ask the disciples for what they didn’t have.  He only asked them for what they did have.  “How many loaves do you have?” (verse 38)  Then He blesses it, multiplies it, and uses it far beyond what we can imagine.   When the Lord first told me to start my Internet ministry, I had no expectations of what He was going to do.  I just knew that I had a passion to share with other ladies things I had learned over the years that made a huge impact on my life.  The Lord made it clear that He was going to gift me write in devotional format many lessons I’d learned over the years.  He wasn’t asking me to write a book.  He was only asking of me what I had – a love for writing.  My love for writing is similar to the five loaves and two fish in Mark 6 – that is what I had to offer.   Over the years, the Lord blessed my “loaves and fish.”  I am still amazed that people from every continent have signed up to receive my monthly devotions.  What amazes me even more is that some of my devotions are being translated into three different languages. Now, I don’t share these personal things with you to brag about myself.  Rather, I brag on the Lord because this is His doing!    Often, I think we get overwhelmed when the Lord begins to show us a new place of ministry.  Dear one, don’t allow yourself to overly burdened with what the Lord reveals to you.  Offer Him what you have.  That is all He asks.  He will be the One to bless your efforts.  You don’t need to worry about whether this new place of ministry will succeed or not.  That is in the Lord’s hands.  Just give Him your “loaves and fish” and watch how He blesses and multiplies them!   © 2008, Stacy R Miller http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/712849/ Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:27:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/712849/ Unity   Unity is something which God truly desires for His church, yet very few churches have a strong sense of unity.  I came up with an acrostic to help us in striving to remember what unity is all about.   Use your gift and talents for God’s glory and never for your own. Never put someone else down to try and elevate yourself. Invite the help of the Holy Spirit so you will only speak that which is edifying. Trust in the Lord at all times, even when you do not understand what He is doing. Yearn for God’s presence to saturate you every day.   Remember that any gift or talent you have is from the Lord.  Every good gift comes from the Father. (James 1:17)   We are to do nothing out of selfish ambition, but consider others better than ourselves.  By keeping an attitude of humility, we will protect ourselves from a prideful heart that tries to make us look good on the outside, while polluting us on the inside.   The place where I struggle the most is with my words.  If I do not diligently seek the help of the Holy Spirit, I will easily be swayed to complain.  I am more likely to be critical if I am not mindful of the Lord.  If I fail to be faithfully in the Word, I resort to my “B.C” (before Christ) language – a language which should be completely foreign to me now.   Many times we see things in the church which we do not understand.  Rather than grumbling or gossiping about it, we need to trust the Lord to work out the situation for His glory, and our good.   When the body of Christ yearns for God’s presence seven days a week, great things will take place.  Relationships will be healed.  The sense of Christian family will grow stronger within the Body of Christ.  Visitors will not only sense God’s presence, but they will see His presence in our love toward one another.  Factions, dissensions, and gossip will cease.  We will be concerned about the Father’s business, rather than our own agenda.   © 2007, Stacy R. Miller http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/708815/ Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:32:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/708815/   Priorities   Do you struggle to keep your priorities in the right order?  I certainly do!  It can be quite frustrating at times.  We try to keep our husbands happy, take care of the kids, manage a home, keep on top of all the outside activities, keep up with extended family, and suddenly, there is no time left for us, nor time to spend with the Lord.   Psalm 1 gives some wonderful insights into how to change this merry-go-round that seems to spin out of control.  Verse 2 tells us the godly delight in doing everything the Lord wants.  Hmm…..how many times do I find myself doing things everyone else wants me to do?  That happens more often that I care to admit.  Perhaps that is our problem.  Sisters, we need to learn to say “no!”  If you don’t think you can say no up front to someone who asks you to do something, train yourself to say, “Let me pray about this and discuss it with my husband, then I’ll get back to you.”  This will train you to be a God-pleaser, rather than a man-pleaser.  You will learn to pray before saying “yes,” and it may lessen your load because you may discover that God wants you to cut many activities from your life.   The second part of verse 2 says the godly think about God’s law day and night.  This means they take time to read the Word, meditating on it until it is in their spirit.  This way, even when they are going about their daily grind, they can still be thinking about what they have learned.  This takes practice and diligence.  Ok, I can hear some of you saying, “I just don’t have time for this!”    Verse 1 tells us the godly don’t follow the advice of the wicked.  We may claim to not have time to read the Word, but how often do we turn on secular TV and listen to the ungodly advice given there?  How often do we pick up a magazine or newspaper and read ungodly advice in those pages?  Verse 1 also mentions the joy the godly have because they aren’t filling their spirit with ungodly advice.    This verse also tells us the godly do not stand around with sinners.  In other words, they find wise, godly friends who will be like iron sharpening iron.  The godly also refuse to sit down and get comfy with those who scoff the very Lord they serve.  Yet, how many times do we sit down and turn on a situation comedy to relax and wind down for the night?  Often, these shows portray the fathers as idiots, and they frequently make Christians look like morons.   Verse 3 tells us the godly bear fruit in each season.  If we make time with the Lord a priority in our lives, it will enable us to stand firm regardless of what comes our way.  We can bear fruit: n       when going through a desert experience, n       when the children are squabbling, n       when a family member is ill n       when our marriage is in a rut, n       in the midst of a job loss, n       while grieving the death of a loved one.   I don’t know about you, but with the trying times in which we live, I’m finding much more life in the Word than on television.  It refreshes my spirit and gives me hope, even when the evening news makes me want to tremble in fear.   Do your priorities need to be adjusted? © 2008, Stacy R. Miller http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/693858/ Fri, 29 May 2009 13:26:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/693858/ Worship That Moves the Lord   Have you ever been so desperate in prayer that you begin to beg God for His help, yet feel as if He is ignoring you?  A Canaanite woman experienced that very thing.  In Matthew 15:22, she is crying out to Jesus as He passes by.  Yet, the Lord doesn’t even acknowledge her.   Now many of us become discouraged when we feel as if the Lord is ignoring us.  We may even fail to pray since we feel as if our fervent prayers are falling on deaf ears.  Yet, what this Canaanite woman does next fascinates me.  She refuses to give up.  She comes and humbly kneels before Jesus and again asks for His help.  Her humble posture speaks volumes to the Lord, for not only does He notice her, He speaks to her.  Her humble response shows her great faith in Him, even though He previously ignored her.  He commends her for her great faith and grants her request.   We can learn much from this story.  When we don’t get an immediate response, we must not get mad and become too proud to ask again.  We must humble ourselves before Him and keep asking, for the Lord will not reject a humble, contrite heart. (Psalm 51:17)  Our humble worship may be what moves Him to act quickly on our behalf.   © 2008, Stacy R Miller http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/683342/ Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:03:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/683342/ Drained and Scarred   Several years ago, I began to donate plasma.  I wish I could say that I did it to save lives, for that sounds so noble.  In all honesty, I did it for the money.   After donating twice a week for over a year, there was a period of time where they were having trouble with my veins.  This resulted in being deferred from donating for thirty days so that my arms could have a chance to heal.   About two weeks later, I realized that I felt so much better!  I had much more energy.  In fact, I felt like a new person!  It dawned on me that donating plasma twice a week had subtly drained my energy level.  After discovering that donating had led me to feel like the “walking-dead,” I decided that the money just was not worth the price I was physically paying.  After all, you cannot put a price on your life!    This experience got me to wondering how many times we allow ourselves to get involved in things which subtly zap us of energy.  We may be involved in activities that drain us instead of refreshing us.  These are often things which have become a drudgery instead of a delight.  Perhaps we have been involved in an area where God is telling us we need to step down, yet we have failed to yield to that call.   There may be things that take a lot of our time.  Time is a precious resource we need to guard wisely.  It is a good idea to evaluate how we are spending our time.  I recently had to do this in regard to an activity I was coordinating and leading.  After weighing the pros and cons, it was clear that I needed to step down.  Though this endeavor was a good one, it was requiring a lot of my time with very little results.   It has been a few years since I have donated plasma, yet I still have scars on both arms from where they inserted those large needles.  It is the same with us in a spiritual sense.  We can end up scarred when we keep giving of ourselves in areas where we have not been called.  When we fail to discern the Lord telling us it is time to leave a certain place of ministry, we can end up with huge spiritual scars because we have failed to obey Him.   For instance, maybe you feel called to help in the nursery.  After a few years, you have a baby.  It could be time to give up that “calling” for a season.  Later, when the baby is older, the Lord may draw you back to that place of ministry.   Spiritual scars can also develop through words spoken to us.  When we choose to harbor bitterness, rather than taking it to the Lord, we can end up scarred.    We may neglect to spend time with the Lord, discerning His will for our lives.  This not only can lead to more scars on us, but it can also cause us to scar others.    Do you need to reevaluate your daily commitments?  Are there any activities that drain your energy, your resources, and your time?  Are there things in your life that are causing spiritual scars?   © 2007, Stacy R. Miller http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/673603/ Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/673603/ Staggering Drunk   It was a busy Friday night on the highway which runs through our city.  We were out on family excursion when I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw his red eyes, all glazed over.  Drunk….and he was swiftly approaching the rear end of my car.  Of all things, my precious daughter was sitting in the back seat.   I wish I could tell you that was the end of our encounter with the drunken man.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t.  He lives next door to us.  There have been numerous occasions when we have observed him staggering to the door.  We have even viewed him swaying as he walked down the street to the landlord’s house because, in his drunken stupor, he locked himself out of the house.   Ephesians 5:18-19 admonishes us not to get drunk on wine, but to constantly be filled with the Spirit.  John warns us not to love the world because he knew that getting too intimate with worldly things could cause us to develop a spiritual stagger that would lead us from the straight and narrow path. (First John 2:15)   When we are “drunk” on worldly passions, we lock ourselves out from the blessings of God, much like neighbor locked himself out of the house.   When we “drink” too much on earthly things, it is much harder to resist temptation.  When my neighbor couldn’t resist the lure of the bottle, he faced the humiliation of having his name appear in the paper after being arrested for drunk driving.  We may also end up in an embarrassing position when our sin finds us out. (Numbers 32:23)  Let us be determined to continue walking a godly path so that when Jesus returns, we can stand before Him, confident and unashamed. (First John 2:28) © 2008, Stacy R Miller http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/664404/ Mon, 2 Mar 2009 19:44:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/664404/ Finding Sanctuary   Have you found it a bit disheartening to see the economy plummeting, yet hear stories of how top executives are still going on lavish retreats?  We hear stories of those who run the mortgage companies and auto industries living the lifestyle of the rich and famous, while we struggle to put food on our table and pay our monthly utility bills.  It reminds me of what the psalmist was observing in Psalm 73.   He began to notice how the proud would prosper despite their wickedness.  They seemingly lived painless lives, with strong, healthy bodies.  They didn’t appear to be troubled like many who were daily plagued with one problem after another.  The wicked would even flaunt their pride – wearing it like a jeweled necklace.  It seemed as if they could boast and scoff against the Lord, yet face no punishment.   As the psalmist beheld these activities, he couldn’t help but have negative thoughts.  He even began to question God’s goodness.  He wondered if he had been serving the Lord in vain.  It is the same for us.  First, we begin to take our eyes off the Lord.  Next, we begin to magnify the circumstances we are in, as opposed to the God who rules those circumstances.  Our feet begin a slippery, downward slope; we find ourselves doubting the very God we have trusted for so many years.    What are we to do?  The psalmist found a remedy in verse 17.  He went into the sanctuary.  Suddenly, his perspective began to change.  Instead of focusing on the seemingly prosperous lives of the wicked, he focused on their destiny.  He realized that while on the outside, it looked as if they were succeeding.  Yet, in reality, they were really heading over a cliff to destruction.  The dream they were currently living was going to come to an abrupt end.   Next, the psalmist realized that in spite of his foolish thinking, and his temporary doubts about God’s goodness, the Lord continued to hold his hand.  He realized that God had never left him.  God was still there, guiding him.  That realization leads him to declare, “Whom have I in heaven but You, Lord?”    To adjust our focus, we also need to come to the sanctuary.  This “sanctuary” is more than just attending church.  It is living in God’s Word, for that is what will strengthen us.  Our health may fail us.  The shape of the economy may cause our spirit to falter and grow weak.  Yet God is strength of our heart.  He can only be the strength of our heart when we daily seek Him and diligently get into His Word to find the strength to sustain us in these uncertain times in which we live.   Go find your sanctuary in the Word of God today.  © 2008, Stacy R Miller http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/652142/ Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:56:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/652142/ Resolutions   As the end of the year approaches, people begin to make their resolutions for the New Year.  We resolve to lose weight, to focus on a character issue, to read a certain number of books each month, to mend broken relationships, and the list goes on.  We find ourselves disillusioned when we break our resolutions after only a few weeks, and in some cases, after just a few days.   I made a resolution several years ago that I would not make another New Year’s resolution.  However, I'm about to break that resolution!  I don't want my new resolution to be a New Year’s resolution.  I want it to be a daily resolution.  My resolution:  I want to know Christ, and Him crucified! (First Corinthians 2:2)   Most of our resolutions are things we try to do in our own strength.  My new resolution is one I want to make, and keep, with the Lord’s help.  Philippians 4:13 tells us that we can do all things through Christ.  Won't you join me in this journey to know Christ in a deeper way?  Perhaps as we diligently seek to know Him better, we will find the ability to conquer some of those other resolutions as well.   © 2008, Stacy R Miller http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/638227/ Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:00:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/638227/ Chosen One   The only good memories I have of school are from the very early years.  Once I reached middle school, everything changed.  I remember feeling so confused because I was intelligent and very outgoing.    I quickly discovered that in middle school, it wasn't cool to be smart, unless we were doing a spelling bee.  I was always the first one chosen for those.   In gym class, however, my mastery of spelling didn't help me.  Whenever they would pick teams, I was always one of the last three chosen.  It was humiliating.  I remember the jeers and taunting I would face every time I had to go to bat.  I would purposely strike out just so I would be off home plate quickly, allowing my classmates to pick on their next victim.   It was a very difficult time for me.  I wasn't chosen unless my peers could somehow benefit from my presence.  I was never chosen to be friends with the popular crowd.  I remember how I would wait for the bus in the mornings, fearing that I was going to have diarrhea, all because of the fear of the awaiting torture by my peers.   Yet, there is One who did choose me -- Jesus.  He chose me to go and bear fruit. (John 15:16) He chose me before the foundation of the world, and in His love, He adopted me and takes pleasure in me. He has redeemed me, lavishly pouring Gods grace upon me.  The God of the universe has even made known to me the mystery of His will.  My Creator has a plan and purpose for my life, and it is to bring glory to Him. (Ephesians 1:4-12)   As much as it hurt to be rejected by my peers, I believe all of the pain helped to lead me to Gods magnificent grace and bountiful love.  I realize now that while many are invited, few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14)   Aren't you glad that you are one of the chosen? © 2008, Stacy R. Miller http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/626975/ Tue, 2 Dec 2008 10:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbs31devotions/626975/