"And as he stands in victory
sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
for I am His and He is mine,
bought with the precious blood of Christ!"
sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
for I am His and He is mine,
bought with the precious blood of Christ!"
9.26.2012
7.10.2012
Idols.
Getting rid of idols.
Isaiah 44:9
All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit.
1 John 5:21
Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Jonah 2:8
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
Psalm 16:4
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.
The Definition according to the Webster Dictionary:
Idolatry
1. the worship of a physical object as a god
2. immoderate attachment or devotion to something
The Definition according to the Esther Habegger Dictionary:
Idolatry
1. Putting something in the place of God, replacing Him with something.
2. Something we enjoy more than God, something we use to consciously satisfy ourselves with other than Him.
3. Anything that we have made so important to ourselves that it hinders us completely from trusting God and living for him.
What do you idolize? Many of us may never sit down and carve a tree trunk into a wooden idol, and sit it on our fireplace mantel and bow every time we pass it. But we’re still very idolatrous, especially today’s culture where everything worldly is idolized. We have teen idols, American Idol, etc. We blow everything up and decide it’s the best, ever. We then let it make us temporarily happy, never actually satisfying us. We even idolize things we don’t have, and decide in our minds and hearts that only that will make us happy. When this happens, then I will trust God. When He gives me that, then everything will be hunky-dory and then I’ll really start living for Him. And everything that we idolize never makes us happy. We are temporarily satisfied, and then empty again. Instead of looking to the One who can satisfy us in every way possible, we continue to stuff ourselves silly with the pleasure and pseudo joy that we get from our idols. Doing that is like trying to pull water from a well with a colander. Completely pointless. And because we’re idolatrous sinners, and not very smart, we do it anyways.
So what are you idolizing? What are you putting before God that you need to lay before God? What are you stuffing yourself silly with that you need to put into its proper place? What are you satisfying yourself with instead of God? Work? Friends? The love of others? What are you letting come between you and God? Finally, how do you think God feels about you filling yourself with worthless garbage instead of him?
Challenge:
Begin to put things in their proper place. Things that God has blessed us with are gifts, but enjoying them and trying in vain to satisfy yourself with them are two very different things. Things that make us happy are good. But when they become our source of satisfaction, we begin to sin, and form an idol. Take those things down off of their podium, off of their place of high standing in your life. Then finally, place God where he belongs. And let him satisfy you.
Isaiah 44:9
All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit.
1 John 5:21
Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Jonah 2:8
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
Psalm 16:4
The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.
The Definition according to the Webster Dictionary:
Idolatry
1. the worship of a physical object as a god
2. immoderate attachment or devotion to something
The Definition according to the Esther Habegger Dictionary:
Idolatry
1. Putting something in the place of God, replacing Him with something.
2. Something we enjoy more than God, something we use to consciously satisfy ourselves with other than Him.
3. Anything that we have made so important to ourselves that it hinders us completely from trusting God and living for him.
What do you idolize? Many of us may never sit down and carve a tree trunk into a wooden idol, and sit it on our fireplace mantel and bow every time we pass it. But we’re still very idolatrous, especially today’s culture where everything worldly is idolized. We have teen idols, American Idol, etc. We blow everything up and decide it’s the best, ever. We then let it make us temporarily happy, never actually satisfying us. We even idolize things we don’t have, and decide in our minds and hearts that only that will make us happy. When this happens, then I will trust God. When He gives me that, then everything will be hunky-dory and then I’ll really start living for Him. And everything that we idolize never makes us happy. We are temporarily satisfied, and then empty again. Instead of looking to the One who can satisfy us in every way possible, we continue to stuff ourselves silly with the pleasure and pseudo joy that we get from our idols. Doing that is like trying to pull water from a well with a colander. Completely pointless. And because we’re idolatrous sinners, and not very smart, we do it anyways.
So what are you idolizing? What are you putting before God that you need to lay before God? What are you stuffing yourself silly with that you need to put into its proper place? What are you satisfying yourself with instead of God? Work? Friends? The love of others? What are you letting come between you and God? Finally, how do you think God feels about you filling yourself with worthless garbage instead of him?
Challenge:
Begin to put things in their proper place. Things that God has blessed us with are gifts, but enjoying them and trying in vain to satisfy yourself with them are two very different things. Things that make us happy are good. But when they become our source of satisfaction, we begin to sin, and form an idol. Take those things down off of their podium, off of their place of high standing in your life. Then finally, place God where he belongs. And let him satisfy you.
4.04.2012
thoughts. a lot of them.
There are certain days when everything you do seems to go wrong, and no matter what you do, your life seems to be slipping through your fingers and shattering at your feet. There are some days when you have no hope, when life in general seems to have swallowed you, overwhelmed you, defeated you. When evil seems to have overcome good, when things seem pointless, and the only constants in life seem to be pain and misery. When you completely forget that this is only how things *seem,* and not at all how they really are. When the godlessness of the world reaches into your head and shakes you until you ache.
Today was one of those days.
On days like this, I usually just shake off these feelings by thinking of "happy things." For instance, rainbows and butterflies, or maybe chocolate or bright colors...things that make me "happy." Positive things that I enjoy about life, and tend to make me optimistic. Like, "Oh, life isn't ALL bad! There's butterflies!"
But today, that just didn't work.
And why did I expect it to? You can't battle evil with butterflies, I'm sorry to say. When the sickness and disease of the world makes you want to scream, why should chocolate appease the knots in your stomach? I'm afraid you need something far more potent, and far more good. And I don't mean good like pleasant. I'm talking about the hardcore sense of good. The righteous, fiery, wrath-of-God good. The "I will never leave you nor forsake you" good. The good that only comes from God, no matter where else we choose to look.
I really forget, far too often, that God is 100% faithful. He's not lying about always being there for me, He really IS. And so, SO often, I forget to look up to him and place my trust in him. All I have to do is look up at him in faith, and yet that's the only thing I don't do. It becomes so easy to listen to the Devil whispering in your ear, telling you that life is meaningless and everybody and everything is going to hell in a handbasket. He's cunning, and too often he deceives us into falling into despair and self pity instead of looking to Christ in hope. It's surprisingly easy to get absorbed in pessimistic thoughts once you let your perspective get skewed, and once you take your eyes off of Christ.
My life would be so much easier if I kept my eyes on the goal, on Christ, and stopped listening to the whispers. There's misery and pain in this world, but there's an immense amount of hope and joy and passion and love in it too. The people who ignore the pain and wear rose colored glasses are delusional, but the people who wear glasses stained with despair have it off far worse. They are the ones who look at the world and see nothing but pain, and feel nothing but pain. They're the cynics, who think the world is out to screw everybody and if it doesn't get you, it's a matter or pure chance. I cannot stand those people, but I realize that every day I spend in misery and listening to the whispers of Satan, I am staining my glasses with despair. So I'm throwing away my glasses, and praying for God to give me eyes to see.
-Esther
God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?” -Hebrews 13:5b-6
"Do not resent your place in the story. Do not imagine yourself elsewhere. Do not close your eyes and picture a world without thorns, without shadows, without hawks. Change this world. Use your body like a tool meant to be used up, discarded, and replaced. Better every life you touch. We will reach the final chapter. When we have eyes that can stare into the sun, eyes that only squint for the Shenikah, then we will see laughing children pulling cobras by their tails, and hawks and rabbits playing tag.”
― N.D. Wilson, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl
Today was one of those days.
On days like this, I usually just shake off these feelings by thinking of "happy things." For instance, rainbows and butterflies, or maybe chocolate or bright colors...things that make me "happy." Positive things that I enjoy about life, and tend to make me optimistic. Like, "Oh, life isn't ALL bad! There's butterflies!"
But today, that just didn't work.
And why did I expect it to? You can't battle evil with butterflies, I'm sorry to say. When the sickness and disease of the world makes you want to scream, why should chocolate appease the knots in your stomach? I'm afraid you need something far more potent, and far more good. And I don't mean good like pleasant. I'm talking about the hardcore sense of good. The righteous, fiery, wrath-of-God good. The "I will never leave you nor forsake you" good. The good that only comes from God, no matter where else we choose to look.
I really forget, far too often, that God is 100% faithful. He's not lying about always being there for me, He really IS. And so, SO often, I forget to look up to him and place my trust in him. All I have to do is look up at him in faith, and yet that's the only thing I don't do. It becomes so easy to listen to the Devil whispering in your ear, telling you that life is meaningless and everybody and everything is going to hell in a handbasket. He's cunning, and too often he deceives us into falling into despair and self pity instead of looking to Christ in hope. It's surprisingly easy to get absorbed in pessimistic thoughts once you let your perspective get skewed, and once you take your eyes off of Christ.
My life would be so much easier if I kept my eyes on the goal, on Christ, and stopped listening to the whispers. There's misery and pain in this world, but there's an immense amount of hope and joy and passion and love in it too. The people who ignore the pain and wear rose colored glasses are delusional, but the people who wear glasses stained with despair have it off far worse. They are the ones who look at the world and see nothing but pain, and feel nothing but pain. They're the cynics, who think the world is out to screw everybody and if it doesn't get you, it's a matter or pure chance. I cannot stand those people, but I realize that every day I spend in misery and listening to the whispers of Satan, I am staining my glasses with despair. So I'm throwing away my glasses, and praying for God to give me eyes to see.
-Esther
God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?” -Hebrews 13:5b-6
"Do not resent your place in the story. Do not imagine yourself elsewhere. Do not close your eyes and picture a world without thorns, without shadows, without hawks. Change this world. Use your body like a tool meant to be used up, discarded, and replaced. Better every life you touch. We will reach the final chapter. When we have eyes that can stare into the sun, eyes that only squint for the Shenikah, then we will see laughing children pulling cobras by their tails, and hawks and rabbits playing tag.”
― N.D. Wilson, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl
1.09.2012
The New Year, and other things...
Hello, people!
It has been far, far, too long. And we have a lot of catching up to do. :)
It has been far, far, too long. And we have a lot of catching up to do. :)
- First of all, I'm back in Texas! I got back in the middle of August.
- Also, I had a birthday!!! I'm now sixteen, and I don't feel any different, haha.
- We got a cat! I absolutely never expected us to ever have one. But for Christmas, my parents let us keep a stray we found. Her name is Sheba, and she is furry and adorable and crazy. :) I love her.
- And, *drumroll* I have started a new blog! This will be my blog for random thoughts and projects, (and where you get to hear about my crazy life ;) and my new blog is about something else entirely: Fashion. I was sort of scared and hesitant about starting a blog about fashion and clothes, being a nerdy homeschooler who knows nothing about the world of so called "high fashion", but this is a blog about something I adore, Classiness. :) Here's the link! Feel free to follow it (actually, *please* follow it, haha) http://theartofclassiness.blogspot.com/
- It is now 2012!!! Yikes, my life moves far too fast. I haven't made many official New Year's Resolutions, but I am determined to blog more, keep a steady journal, and better myself this year more than ever. I am also determined to make 2012 a year that I look back on as one of the greatest of my entire life. So you see, I have a lot to do. :)
-Esther <3
8.09.2011
If I could have a superpower....
It would be the ability to touch someone's soul and heal all of their emotional hurt.
-Esther <3
-Esther <3
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