Complete Devotion

DEAR READERS,

This is a devotional Blog that I wrote a while back and I want to share it with everyone. I wrote a little blurb on this topic a while back but here is the extended devotional that was the basis for that little blurb. I hope it brings some encouragement.  

Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth, give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.”  Psalm 86:11 (NIV)

When I read this the first time it seemed like a pretty good verse.  It reminded me about the passage in Matthew that talked about serving two masters, and the passage in Joshua that talks about choosing this day whom we will serve. Two passages that really speak to the heart, if we let them. In many ways the three ask the same question, What does your heart belong too?

For now we will just stick with the one verse we have before us though.  When we look at this passage in the good news translation of the Bible instead of ‘give me an undivided heart’ it says, ‘teach me to serve you with complete devotion’.  One thing about serving is that it is an action, which means we actually have to do something in our hearts to serve with complete devotion.

In other words, we can’t devote our life to both God and something else.  At some point in our lives there will be things that try to pull our hearts away from God whether we know it or not and we must be able to over come those desires. I believe what it comes down to is this question, How do we serve with complete devotion? It’s simple, we practice letting go and letting God.  Of course it’s not that simple but that’s where the glory of it is. Daily we choose to give our life and our day to HIM.

Whatever is on your hearts today, don’t let it get the best of you.  Think about what it means to serve with complete devotion and take time to ask God “what can I do with this situation today to help me rely more upon you?” Instead of spending so much time trying to figure everything out, give it to God, tell HIM, “LORD, I WILL NOT LET ME, GET THE BEST OF ME, It belongs to you and only you”.

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you

(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.

Long Time Coming

Dear Readers,

It sure has been quite a long time since I've posted something on this page. I know I say this every time but I really need to get back in the swing of things.  I don't know if I will or not but I want to try to at least. Maybe now with recent changes in the life of The Elliott's this blog will be update more often and maybe not.

I just want to say though the last 6 months or so have been extremely difficult for Traci and I. We have run into some pretty hard situations and aren't through with them yet. I don't need to go into the details at this point in time because it will all come out eventually. Life is full of little surprises though. Even with everything that's been going on Traci and I are still loving and learning about life. Our marriage is still fantastic, we have some wonderful friends and there are little things that keep popping up that make everything we are going through worth it :-).

I just want to end this short little blog with one little word of encouragement...

(I may end up writing a devotional blog on this but I'm not sure yet)

You are God’s child, and God will give you the blessing he promised!  Galatians 4:7

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you

(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.

Roller Coaster

Hey Readers,


I have to say that it has been way to long since I have posted something on this site.  It has been just over a month since my last post, and it has truly been an eventful one. It almost as if we have been stuck on this never ending roller coaster of life and it has been interesting to say the least.  However, I believe that the roller coaster is finally nearing a softer spot on the track, if you know what I mean.


I am hopeful that I will be getting back in the swing of things with the posting of this Blog.  I really don't know what to share with this blog but how about I just start with saying GOD IS GOOD AL THE TIME and ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD.  Boy does that bring back memories, memories are good, memories that are bad, and memories that are simply neutral.  Those memories remind me just how much God has played a part in my life and help me realize that I haven't just been on a roller coaster the past few months but every day of my life.


I am beginning to believe that this is simply what life is, a long roller coaster adventure that takes us on several different types of terrain.  There is the mountainous terrain that we encounter when we face many struggles or events at once, there is the desert terrain that we encounter when we feel there is nothing more we can take, there is the   wooded terrain that we encounter when we have no Idea where we are going, there is the under water terrain that we encounter when we feel like everything is closing in on us, there is the beautiful hilly terrain where we feel that there will be some struggles we will have to face but have the confidence to face them, and finally there is the flat green terrain in which everything seems peachy and it's almost as though we won't have to worry about anything at all, I'll bet we all long for that type of terrain :-).


I wonder if most of us even know which terrain we are on right now.  I have to say I feel that Traci and I are just leaving the under water terrain and entering into the wooded terrain with the hilly terrain on the horizon in a way that we see glimpses that disappear soon after we see them.  I believe that many of you all are at this point as well and It is not a completely bad thing. It is at this point on our roller coasters that we have to rely completely on someone else to direct the path our roller coaster is taking. It's almost as though we see the the change of terrain coming but we just can't get there, isn't it? 


We all deal with this in our lives at some point, but you know it is at that point in which we have to put our trust into someone who can see a bigger picture that we can.  It is the point in which we place our hope in God, as I am learning more about each and every day.  I won't keep you any longer so to end for now I will simply say, Life truly is a roller coaster and regardless of what terrain we are all on right now,  "There is a Hand above, simply waiting to guide us through it."

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you

(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.

Reflections; What Love is this?

Hey Readers,

 I have been really seeking the Lord the past month though and HE is really showing both my wife and I just how amazing he truly is.  God is showing me just how important the gift of Love truly is and I thought I knew that already :-). I guess there is so much more than I will ever e able to grasp, but that's ok, it just gives me something more to strive for :-).

"This is what real love is; It is not our love for God; it is God's love for us in sending HIS Son to be the way to take away our sins" 1 Jn 4:10

I have gone through most of my life earnestly working to improve my love for God, which is important, but love is so much more. When we begin to realize that it is not our love for God that opens the floodgates of heaven (so to speak) so that we may enter, but God's love towards us that opened them.  When that realization popped into my head, I became overwhelmed in the presence of God.   What I learned from that realization was this, we cannot earn our way into the arms of the savior, he has to open them up for us to come in.  The funny part is that they have always been opened. I have to say I believe that today we have this strange believe that we have to earn our way into HIS arms, when in reality it is only because of HIS love that we can love others.

Loving God as HE loves us is the key to loving others. We have lost sight of this.

True Growth, True Grace and the True Gift

Hey Readers,

The following devotional blog is one that I'm hoping will speak to you.  More and more each day the verses in this passage speak greatly to me. I hope to use this one later down the road but we will have to wait and see what the Lord wants to do with it.

"But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted. When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father" John 15:7-8 NLT

I have to say this is an interesting passage, verses 7- 10 are placed in the midst of Jesus' sermon I am the vine you are the branches.  It is important that we realize and understand that.  When we look at these four verses we can easily misunderstand the purpose behind them.  For the longest time I thought that verse 7 simply meant that God would give me everything I wanted if I just asked him.  I was wrong.  There is so much that we can grasp from this passage.

You see, all I was looking at was the second part of verse 7, "you may ask anything

 you want and it will be granted".  The connection was never made to the first part of that verse or its surrounding verses. The most important part of this passage does not refer to getting all that we desire, it refers to the challenge of remaining in HIM.  Life is full of its ups and downs; I know I've faced many of the downs even in the past two weeks. There have been some ups but sometimes it is going to seem like there are many more downs that ups. This is just part of life. The thing we need to remember is that while things seem to be heading the wrong way, God knows the outcome and he promises that it is wonderful, but only if we apply the first part of verse 7 to our lives "But if you remain in me and my words remain in you".

Apart from Christ, our efforts unfruitful. Therefore without Christ at the wheel in our lives, sure we can ask for things from him but that doesn't mean we will get it. We must let HIM work in our lives first. We must let HIM take up those burdens that we often carry and surrender our lives to HIS will. As our lives our given over to HIS will it does not mean we will always be fruitful or that we will always get what we want here on earth, it only means that one day God will fulfill the desires of our hearts, as it says in Psalm 37 (this is another topic entirely).

Remember this; our purpose in life is not to get all that we ever wanted but to embrace a life that strives to remain in HIM and to let HIS words remain in us.  I say this means that our only purpose in life is to remain in the love of God. As long as that is our true motivation all we will ever need is to grow in the grace that God gave us through the gift of HIS son who died for us because of the love HE has for HIS father.

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you   (2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.

Reflections; The Light Load

Hey Readers,

Here is another devotional blog, I read this and it really spoke to my heart, again :-).

"Accept my teachings and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. The burden that I ask you to accept is easy; the load I give you to carry is light."  Matthew 11:29-30

What ever is placed upon my heart I can give freely to God and not worry about it any more, I however must leave it before him and not pick it back up again, which tends to get harder as the days go on, but Gods love for us is so much more that the worries of the day and we cannot let those worries keep us from the promises that God has given us. A time will come when we will ask ourselves "is this really happening, God why, what do I do with this, whats the next step" and it will be OK, because God is in control, we need not ask those questions if we fully rely on God and let his hand guide us.

God is so big that if we were to place upon him all the worries of the word that every person had, he would still have plenty of room to double or even triple that, God is so big that the worries of this world are easy for him to carry, when our burdens weigh us down, all we have to do is give them to God. and his burden still will remain light.

Remember Gods Got his Hand on you, Never let Go, step out of the fear, and let God take your heavy burdens upon himself and make them light again...

I hope you all got something out of this, I know I sure did :-)

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you

(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.

Reflections; Infinite Love

Hey Readers,


Hey Every one it has been quite a long and busy few weeks, sorry I haven't been updating these for you.  Here is another one of my simpler Devotional Blogs. Hope you learn something.....


"For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" John 3:16

God loves us all more than we will ever be able to fathom. He blesses us with glimpses of this love through our experiences and in our relationships, but to wrap our minds around this love will only be possible once we are with Him in heaven. What is so mind boggling to me is that no matter what we do here on earth His love will always remain and always grow. 


There is so much more He wants to offer every one of us if we let Him. Love is what I like to call infinite, we may feel as though we have ultimately reached the limit at times but there is always room to make more. God gave up the thing he loved most so we could be forgiven and have that everlasting life; this is infinite love. It doesn't stop there, however. 


Even after the sacrifice of His son, we still sin and He still forgives us when we ask Him to. This tells me that His love for us grows stronger every day. What a thought to base our life upon. What a love He has for us.

Here's some questions to consider...

How much of this action of Love do we truly embrace in our lives?
Are there areas in our lives in which we fall short of this action of Love?


More to come in the days ahead, still hoping to get back in the swing of this, I really do enjoy it all :-)

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you

(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.