Mustard Seed Sisters

Mars Hill has a new series they are studying. It is The Peasant Princess and it is on the Song of Solomon. I am excited to  to look and study this with them. What fun to look at what the Bible says about Sex! I thought you might be interested as well

The whole series is complete now. You can view or listen to them all

THE PEASANT PRINCESS

or watch here

Hi, me Melissa  here again.

I want to recommend reading Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God“. Wow, I’m in the process of reading it right now. What has stood out to me so far, is how the closer we draw to God, how much more clearly we can view and perceive the truth of our own selves. The closer we draw to God and see God’s perspective, how much more vile our sins become to us.  

I believe the more we see our sin in light of God’s perspective, the more we truly can “love our enemies” as God has called us to do. In light of the fact that we are sinners and know how vile our sin is in God’s eyes, we also see through His Son and His work on the cross, how long-suffering and forbearing God is with us as well even when we fall.  This fact should help to ease the sting of loving our enemies.  Knowing that sometimes the very thing our enemy is doing to us, we could also plead guilty to doing to our God and brothers and siters in Christ.  God who saved us and redeemed us by giving his only son for us, and yet we still spit in his face sometimes.

 ”Prone to wonder Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love, here’s my heart, oh take and seal it, seal it for they courts above!”

This is one of my favorite songs, because how true these verses are in my life. So how then can we stand in judgement of others, thinking to ourselves, “How could they do that to me?” Well, the answer is simple, it’s because they’re a sinner, just like you and I, even if they are a believer, they still wrestle with their flesh, that’s how they can do that to you (whatever “that” may be). But God asks us no more than what He Himself has done for us, and that is to to forgive them as He has forgiven us, and warns us that if we cannot forgive them than He cannot forgive us.

I think we should be diligent to remember this, before we let our natural reactions and flesh take over after someone has wonged us. We are to be like-minded with Christ, and say “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.  When we have been wronged it gives us the wonderful opportunity to walk as Jesus walked and to pray for people when they have hurt us in some way. It is indeed a tool for God uses to prune us as well as those who have hurt us. God’s purpose and plan far exceeds what we can always understand is a way to draw the leaven of our lives as well as in the lives of those who sin against us.

•  
  • Mat 7:1  Judge not, that ye be not judged.
  • Mat 7:2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
  • Mat 7:3  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
  • Mat 7:4  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
  • Mat 7:5  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Let us pray in all of our trials and tribulations that God would show us what he is trying to teach us out of each trial. And that we would not only be concerned with the area in which we can so clearly see that the other person needs to change, but what area God is trying to show us we need to change and grow in.

Love,

Melissa

Oh, I just have to share this. So after care group the other night,  Greg, our care group leader, asked if anybody had a chance to share the gospel. I admit I was convicted when he asked that question, because I felt like I never really do that. While it may not seem so, I’m really shy when it comes to standing up for my God. This led to conviction, but in a good way.

That night at home, I talked with the Lord about this and that He might intervene, and sure enough wouldn’t you know it, the very next morning out at the bus stop a conversation about God came up and I was able to share Christ with someone.  You just never know how the little things we do can plant seeds and spark conversation. The child I was talking with had attended church with our neighbor. The girl began to talk to me about  Sunday School, which I happened to teach that weekend (isn’t it cool to see the sovereignty of God in motion). It was not long before her mom became engaged in the conversation., as well as other listening moms who were near by to listen. The conversation lead me to explain that Jehovah-Jareh means the Lord will provide and we were able to talk about the story of Abraham when God had asked him to sacrifice Isaac. The little girl’s mom said that just so happened to be one of her favorite stories from the bible. So let’s pray for these people, because I’m thinking the Lord is at work and subtly speaking to them.

This morning, the Lord provided another window of opportunity, because it happened to be bike safety day at school and I was priveledged to go with my son Billy.  On the way home, I was talking with Billy’s friends’ dad from down the street. Our relationship in the past has been a casual one with the appropriate hi and byes. This morning was an exception to the rulesince we were heading back together and again the conversation  once again it ended up in the conversation of religion. As we were talking, a Christian brother drove by and I asked this man if he knew him, and then we saw some others from our church on my Christian brother’s porch and so I explained that they’re all members of my church. He began telling me about his church. Our conversation has given me a heart for this man and and a heart to pray for him. His views on church and leadership is very different and according to the Bible very skewed and I believe once again God is at work by just giving me the opportunity to pray for this man.  His thoughts and views of God and church made me sad because I felt as though it was just religion and that the purpose of going to church is to make moral people and not for the joy of knowing and worshiping  one true God found in the Trinity. While the result of knowing and loving God does sanctify us and make us more holy and moral, that is a result not the purpose.

Opportunities to share our faith are everywhere and can be so profitable if we put feet to our faith. They may not always end up in a changed heart right right away. Conversations may end up showing the pains and wounds and blindness of those around us and give us as believers an opportunity to pray, serve and love those we might never have gotten the opportunity to know to pray for.  In the end God is Glorified and  we get the privilege to see Him work. What a great thing!

Please join me in prayer for these 2 families together. To ask God to perform the miracle of salvation that only he can perform, to open eyes to see and ears to hear, and to use any of us anyway he sees fit for this ultimate goal of salvation for others. Pray for God to use us more everyday and that our eyes would be opened to see and seize the opportunities He has given us. Pray that we may be instruments in a redeemers hands in bringing others the Good News of Jesus Christ with those He puts in our path.

I’m just so rejuvenated to feel God answering my prayers again, it feels good. I prayed for Him to use me and he has provided, Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide, that was the lesson I just taught last Sunday! Isn’t God AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Love You God and I love you saints!

Love you all,

Melissa

As I read the newsletter for dear Barney and Karen Davis who are on the Mission field with Godspeed.  I was grieved at the long term trial my friends have been dealing with. For details you can rgo to their website and read their newsletter. As the Lord leads pray for this brother and sister in Christ for strength and courage and that God would not only restore but also show Himself more clearly to them then ever before.

In the newsletter, they also included some personal reflections that brought me to intest grief for what they have gone through and yet intense joy because God is still on the throne and that he is remaining their rock and keeping them ever so close to him during this time and teaching them and sanctifying them all the way.

In Karen’s reflection she had such a beauty with what she is personally praying during this time of suffering. I would love to share her prayer in hopes that if God has us in a time of suffering, we too can be encouraged by the strenth and prayer of this woman and exert the faith she has during her times of weakness.

Heavenly Father, I am certain that you are atwork in the midst of this difficult time and circumstance. I want to follow you and know your perfect will for this time in my life:

• Is there something that you are in the process of teaching me?
• Are you in the process of training me for something that is yet to come?
• Father, have I sinned and need to be turning from something and repent?
• Are you in the midst of transforming my life through this trial?
• Am I to wait patiently for an answer, continually TRUSTING  in you and your PERFECT plan for my life?

Karen closes out her letter with:

“Yes, my brothers and sisters, we can alsways be certain that God is actively working in each of our trials, because God our Father is a GOOD GOD and He only gives GOOD GIFTS to His children.”

My sisters, remeber these words of wisdom from our sister. Trials will come and isn’t it a comfort to know that through the trials that God intends all of it for our good!

Laura

I know it has been a while since I last posted anything. It is wedding season and life gets busy. Hopefully I can get back into the routine. I apologise for not posting in a while and ask for grace in this area

Noelle Piper wrote a great artical on raising children to a have a world view and a heart  and a love for different people groups and those that are different from ourselves. This is so important and I know glorifies God.

She mentions Global Prayer Digest and may I recommend the book

Window on the World ( When we pray God works)

Creating World Christian Kids

Here are some easy-to-do suggestions for helping your children become world Christians:

• Read National Geographic.
• Check out library books about countries or regions of the U.S. where you have friends or special interest.
• Take and make opportunities to hear and learn different languages.
• Read aloud together missionary biographies and stories with foreign settings.
• Keep a globe or large world map handy for easy reference.
• Mark the locations of friends on the map-Detroit, Almaty, Madison, Bangkok.
• Notice aloud newscasts or articles about distant countries.
• Read together the Global Prayer Digest and pray for the day’s unreached people group. Your minds will be sent daily to a different part of the world. Your children will learn what kinds of words to use when they hear you praying for God’s will to be done in the world.
• Include children in conversations with foreign students, missionaries, world travelers and emigrants to this country.
• In conversation, assume a future anywhere in the world for your children, not just the U.S.
• Read letters from missionaries as personal letters, not as mass mailings-children love to get mail.
• Put missionary pictures on the bulletin board alongside your other favorite friends. Your child will grow up knowing, “Some friends live far away in Nebraska, some live far away in Cote d’Ivoire. It’s all in the same world that’s on my map. Who knows where I might live when I grow up?”
• Go to the airport to send off missionary friends. When you gather in a circle for one last song and prayer together, you give older children a sense of the importance of aligning with God’s purposes in the world. A younger child will grasp that it’s great fun to go to the airport, and this must be something special because we don’t usually sing and cry at the airport!
• Most of all, help your children learn that the U.S. is not the only country God made, our ways are not necessarily the best ways, and English is not the only language.

(Published originally in The Standard, March 1989. Revised, April 2000.)