Quiet Blessings

     Beginning tomorrow my husband and I will be relaxing and rejuvenating for a week. My blog will resume on Monday, February 8^th.

Try the introvert’s passion for quiet and spend time with God over the next week. Take some good time to read His Word and to pray. You will be blessed. Here ae some ideas for chapters to read.

Psalm 100

Proverbs 3

Isaiah 55

Colossians 1

Philippians 4

John 1

John 14

Jesus,

Protect us with Your sovereign grace. Surround us with Your love and remind us of our blessings each day.

Amen

Find Your Spot

     Embrace the way God has made you. Some of us often make our decisions with our hearts and others with our heads. Some of us prefer to have a plan for each day. Others love to “go with the flow.” Some of us are intuitive and others need to see, hear and touch the world around them in a practical way. The extroverts love social settings; the more the merrier! Introverts need to regain energy by themselves in contemplation and quiet.

     Find the place where your heart sings. Don’t compare God-given gifts and talents to another person’s gifts or abilities. God honors the quiet gifts. Maybe no one else notices, but your heavenly Father does. The body of Christ needs you.

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. 1 Corinthians 12:22

     Absolutely no one can take your place in God’s kingdom. No one. You are indispensable.

Lord,

You love us more than we can comprehend and You allow us to serve in our churches, in our communities, in our families in just the way you choose. We want to listen to You and Your Word. You have a spot picked just for us.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Introverts in the Church?

     In an extroverted culture and an extroverted church, how do we find a spot to shine? We are often looked at as mysterious, anti-social, and uninvolved. The truth is our brains take in and process information in a very different way from the extrovert.

     Extroverts continually process information, immediately able to speak and think on their feet. Introverts process more slowly and need to take time in quiet to sort through information. The quiet ones at a meeting may have just as much to offer, but are often not heard or are simply overlooked.

     The introvert may be the best listener, the one-on-one counselor, the teacher, the one behind-the-scenes. Find your place. God has a purpose and a plan for each of us. He made you just the way you are. This verse may sum up our quiet demeanor.

My brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. James 1:19

     Extroverts, take note! Take time to draw us out and listen. Don’t be offended when we leave early or stay quiet. We are just observing and taking our time, reflecting and thinking before we take part.

Jesus,

How wonderful it is to recognize the beauty in our differences. We hope to understand one another and to take the time to listen in patience. Help us all to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

Amen

Introverts in the Church?

     Can introverts survive in the church? How do we use our skills and gifts and yet retain our energy? So much of church life is geared around socializing, fellowship and doughnuts! As introverts, both my husband and I are uncomfortable with the “sharing the peace” every Sunday. Our new extroverted and energetic Pastor says something like this: “Stand up! Move around! Get away from your pews and say hi!”

     Help! I am reading a book called, “Introverts in the Church” and it is changing my perspective. It acknowledges the rich gifts of the introvert and how to recharge and make sure we don’t become burnt out or filled with self-conscious doubt.

     Have you ever thought that Jesus might have been an introvert? Remember, after being with large crowds of people, He always took time away in solitude. His group of closest friends was small. There were Peter, James and John, the closest of the twelve to Jesus.

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6:31

At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for Him and when they came to where He was, they tried to keep Him from leaving them. Luke 4:42

One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. Luke 6:12

 Lord,

We thank You for all of our varied personality types. Help us to understand one another and to take the time to listen. You love us just the way we are made and You have made each one of us able to serve.

Amen

Changes

     Our final and eternal transformation will change these earthly vessels into eternal bodies. The perishable becomes the imperishable. Living forever with Jesus on the new earth and in the new heaven will be more spectacular, more colorful, more invigorating, more worshipful, more fascinating than anything we can imagine.

…in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound. The dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.: 1 Corinthians 15: 52-54

However, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard and what no human mind has conceived,” –the things God has prepared for those who love Him-1 Corinthians 2:9

    Nothing we can conceive in our minds, see with our eyes, hear with our ears can prepare us for heaven. One day we will be imperishable and immortal. Changed forever into glory!

Jesus,

Our final transformation awaits us. Keep us ever-mindful of the anticipation of heaven. It will get us through the deepest hurt, the most difficult days, the suffering of our hearts. We know the end of ths story and it is all about You.

Amen

Changes

     Two of the definitions for the word “change” include, “a change of clothes” and “substitution.” When Jesus died for us on the cross and rose again from the dead, He offered to us a substitution for sin. He offers us a change of spiritual clothing. The spiritual realm, both evil and good, can see that we belong to Jesus.

     You are clothed with Christ and with His righteousness.

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me in garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest and like a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:27

     Clothed with Christ and arrayed with His salvation and righteousness as a bride adorns herself with jewels. You are covered with the beauty and glory of Christ. Live as His child. You are covered with hope and adorned with light, now and forevermore.

Jesus,

We clothe ourselves with You. You have saved us from our sins and promise us eternal life. It is the only true hope for us on earth. Adorn us for the journey today.

Amen

Changes

     It’s hard to imagine that this unchanging, steadfast, faithful and loving God can change us in the most astounding ways. It may not even be evident at first.  Our outward appearance and actions may appear and feel the same, but the change begins. It is a work of the heart.

                                                                                                   

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone. The new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

     You are a new creation. The changes can be subtle at first, a little more loving here, a little less anger there, a sprinkle of forgiveness here, a touch of kindness there. The annoying becomes bearable. The bitterness softens. The cravings of the old life, melt away into a hunger for goodness and righteousness and holiness.

For you were once darkness; but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light; for the fruit of the light consists of goodness, righteousness and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord. Ephesians 5:8-10

     Our gracious God creates in us a new heart that transforms our way of life. Walk as a child of the light! And find out what is pleasing to God.

Lord,

Let our lives shine with Your goodness and righteousness. We are blessed to have Your Word available to us daily. Let us soak ourselves in it until we recognize Your voice above everything else. Guide us into truth and holiness.

In Jesus name,

Amen