Pulling Weeds...

"I'm not smart enough."

"I'm not pretty enough."

"I will never be good enough..."

Does this sound like a conversation you have had with yourself? Maybe it varies and you have other self-destructive phrases which twist and turn through your head, making you doubt who you truly are.

This world will push and pull at you through TV shows and magazine photos telling you that you are less than everyone else. You might hear from a bully at school that you are ugly or stupid or weak. Maybe you have heard that from someone in your own family. Those words - those lies - begin to take root in the softest part of your soul...and the devil waters the seeds of lies and watches them grow and take root. The words of hate we hear from the world can bend and twist our views of ourselves...but only if we allow those weeds to grow and flourish in our spirits.

Words of hate, of disgust, of hurt, are not from God and as long as we allow the self-destructive language to reside in our hearts, eating away at the persons we were created to be, we cannot make room for the love God has for each of us - a love He intends for us to share.

^"My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves."

1 John 3: 18-20 (MSG)

For God is greater than our worried hearts... The lies and the self-doubt which is planted and nurtured in our hearts by the evil one can destroy our ability to be at peace at home with God, but God is greater than even our most destructive thought. He can pull the weed out by its roots and toss it to the winds, freeing us from the yoke of self-doubt and self-destruction. He is bigger than the boogie man who tries to overtake our lives.

A cycle of self-doubt talk and self-criticism will halt any of the good God has created you to do. You cannot be free to be God's light in this world if you are rooted in lies and deceit.

"God doesn't make junk..."

You are more than smart enough...

You are more than beautiful...

You are good...

You are wise...

You are brave...

You are a CONQUEROR!

You have it within your power to defeat the one who is trying to destroy you from the inside out...one name will make the devil run in fear...

Just call on Jesus - the Great Deliverer.

He will destroy the weeds that are growing in the garden of your heart so that you can make room for the abundant harvest the Father intends to plant in you.

Scripture

1 John 3:16-24 (MSG)

Quote of the Day

All that man achieves, and all that he fails to achieve is a direct result of his own thoughts.

James Allen

Question of the Day

What lies do you hear...What are the truths from God that can override the lies?

Today is Veteran's Day...Let us all take a moment and thank God for the brave men and women who are more than conquerors and who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom we enjoy.

Thank you!



Praying Through the TO DO's

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

Romans 8:26

Do you ever start to pray, but find you do not have the words?

Are all of your thoughts focused on other things than being with God and what to say to Him?

This is a perpetual problem I face nearly every time I sit down to pray. I start and then my mind creates a "To Do" list of all of the other things in my life:

• Check the presentation for work
• Schedule Christmas party for GUMY
• Read new training manual
• Clean the kitchen
• Do I need to make cookies for someone?

The list will keep going and going until I physically stop myself and refocus on talking with God. I can have several rounds of starting and list making before my spirit lets go and I allow God's Spirit to work in me so that I can truly communicate with God. Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, my prayers are weak and broken filled with starts and stops and not a great deal of content.

Prayer is our two way communication with God and just like in our communication with other people we have to be fully present to understand the other person and to be coherent in what we are trying to communicate. When we rush through communication - whether we are giving a speech in class or talking to a friend on the phone - we often do not say exactly what we intend and the other party often misunderstands what we are trying to communicate. Prayer is not different.

When we stop and take time to pray, we must focus our whole being on God and being present with Him. By focusing your mind and your heart on God, your spirit will know how you are to pray and for what you are to pray. With your mind and heart focused, your ears will become tuned to God's still, quiet voice and His direction will become clear.

Prayer is a learned behavior. Just like we expand our vocabulary each week with new spelling words or through reading new books, we grow our ability to communicate with God through intentional practice. Intentional communication with God can be hard in the midst of the bombardment of external voices in the world, but through God's grace and your willingness to try, He will cut through the noise and whisper in your heart.

Prayer is powerful - - and prayer is up to you. You have a choice to communicate openly with God - with anyone - you need to decide if communicating with God is a high priority in your life.

For me, prayer ranks pretty high up on my list....and even in the midst of the crazy "To Do" list - prayer always wins.

Scripture

Romans 8:22-30

Quote of the Day

There is a vast difference between saying prayers and praying.

Unknown

Question of the Day

Where do you pray?





Praising God...Who's it for?

Why do we praise God?

God already knows He is awesome. He is God after all. So, why does He need us to tell Him that He is great?

God doesn't need us to praise Him; We need to praise God.

God requires our worship, not because He needs to feel better about Himself, but because we need to remember how awesome and wonderful He is. God knows that we as human beings are pretty miraculous beings and sometimes we could start to think that we are doing everything all on our own; that we make it happen....that we don't need God. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Every breath we take; every sunrise we see; every raindrop we feel; every success we earn; every smile we feel...everything is from God.

And, that is so worth praising.

When we praise God...when we worship Him...it is our opportunity to remember all that He is done in our lives and to be thankful. Our praise of God also gives us the occasion to stop and simply be in God's presence - to allow His awesomeness to wash over us and to simply celebrate God.

Praising God is all about us looking to our Creator and saying, "thank you" and "God, it is all about You". Praising God is about each of us humbling ourselves before Him and recognizing that without His grace we would be lost. Without His love we would be incomplete. Without His presence we would be...we wouldn't be who were are meant to be.

We need to praise God...it is in our DNA. We were created to praise Him.

Praising God is all about God...but ultimately our praise of God is about us remembering Who God is.

God is I AM.

God is the One and the Only.

God is worthy of all praise.

He doesn't need the praise - but only He is worthy of the praise.

Scripture

1 Chronicles 16

Quote of the Day

"Our first communication in the morning is to give praise to God and each other and to thank the Lord for his promises.”
Martin Brown

Question of the Day

What do you want to praise God for this day?

GUMY JR/SR - - Check out the GUMY Calendar of events....

http://gumyblog.blogspot.com/p/gumy-events-schedule.html

5th Sunday Fun is next week and we need you to RSVP by FRIDAY, October 28th...

Don't miss out on VIP Bowling at Rule 3

Ask.Seek.Knock

When we go before God with a request, Jesus promises us that God will listen.

God responds to our requests as a loving father responds to his child. He listens patiently and then discerns what is best for his child. But if the child never asks, the father will still do what he feels is best for his child.

God is quite similar. He wants us to come to Him; to ask Him for what is on our heart. However, if we do not ask, He will still do what is best for us. Sometimes, what is best for each of us is a path we would not choose on our own, but we have to trust God, as we would trust our fathers that the path He has placed us on is the best one to travel.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7)

God wants us to be active in our faith. He wants us to come to Him. He wants us to ask Him for guidance, for direction, for comfort, for...for everything. When we do not go to God first, we run the risk of walking outside of the path that God has created for each of us. If  we do not first seek out His desire for our lives, we will be placing our will above His and will likely fall into sin...the sin of pride.

When we think that our way is the right way without first seeking out God, we essentially tell God that we do not need Him...when in fact He is all we need.

Go to God. Ask Him for the desires of your heart. Ask Him for direction in your life. Ask Him. He will always listen and He will always welcome you.

Ask.Seek.Knock...Pretty simple steps to follow to step out on God's path for your life.

Scripture

Matthew 7:7-12

Quote of the Day

Christ encourages fervency and constancy in prayer. We must come for what we need, as a man does to his neighbour or friend, who is kind to him. If God does not answer our prayers speedily, yet he will in due time, if we continue to pray. Observe what to pray for... For by the influences of the Holy Spirit we are brought to know God and ourselves, to repent, believe in, and love Christ, and so are made comfortable in this world, and meet for happiness in the next. All these blessings our heavenly Father is more ready to bestow on every one that asks for them, than an indulgent parent is to give food to a hungry child. And this is the advantage of the prayer of faith, that it quiets and establishes the heart in God. (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary) Question of the Day What request have you not gone to God with? Will you go today?



Finding the Wheat in the Weeds

^"Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

   “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

(Matthew 13:24-30)

As people of faith we hear that we are called to be in this world but not of this world. We are often "wheat amongst the weeds".

Wheat gives nourishment. It is a fundamental ingredient in hundreds of food products we consume daily. But weeds choke out the wheat. They stunt the wheat's growth and can even overtake the wheat, never allowing the wheat to grow into its full potential.

The same thing can happen to us as Christians. We can be planted with a strong seed of faith - solid in knowing who we are and Who we belong to - and yet we can be strangled by the people whose selfish motivations surround us. Our access to the light of Christ can be derailed because we choose to focus on the weeds in our midst rather than seeking to grow around the weeds, rather than through them.

Our focus cannot be on the weeds it must be on the wheat. It is our responsibility to help nurture the wheat so that its roots grow deep; seeking out the nourishment from both the soil and the light.

With wheat there is always the risk of not enough nurture or not enough light; We as Christians must be cautious about these pitfalls as well - - as we grow and prepare for the Harvest we must be constantly seeking out The Light and growing in the nourishment of The Word so that we are healthy stocks which can nourish those around us. Our attention must be placed on the nuture of the wheat so that it grows healthy.

The weeds cannot be our concern - God will take care of the weeds. Just as He has a plan for the wheat, God also has a plan for the weeds.

The weeds will be there - - we just need to work around them to ensure as many stalks of wheat can grow into maturity as possible.

Scripture

Matthew 13:36-43

Fun Fact

Wheat grows best in a dry, mild climate. Climates that are too hot or too cold will ruin the crop. Farmers add fertilizer if their soil doesn’t have what the wheat needs to grow well. If a farmer grows wheat in the same field every year, the crops take away nutrients from the soil. The farmers put this back when they add fertilizer. They test the dirt often to be sure the crop grows well.


Just a little farming lesson for the day...


Question of the Day

 If you had a farm - what would you grow or raise?