Add Some Color to Your Quiet Time

Morgan Farr is a strong woman both physically and spiritually, yet she struggled with Quiet Time. In this Spiritual Life UPGRADE, she shares how she overcame her frustration.

Morgan asks, "Have you ever just dreaded doing your quiet time? Does it feel like doing what you are supposed to do, but it just doesn’t feel personal?"

Yes, that's a problem I (Dawn) have encountered many times, and God gave me a solution almost identical to what Morgan is going to share here!

Morgan continues . . .

Quiet time is one of those Christian phrases that can be overwhelming to new believers. As someone that didn’t have a relationship with Jesus until my 20s I can tell you, I used to be so very frustrated with "quiet time."

I tried everything that people suggested to be diligent in reading my Bible and none of it fit.  

A few things I have tried: 

• Reading just my Bible  
• Reading my Bible with with a Bible commentary 
• Reading my Bible with a concordance   
• Reading my Bible and taking detailed, organized notes 
• Following a Bible-reading plan 
• Reading through the Bible in a year 

None of it really stuck and that made me feel like the worst Christian ever.

I mean, really, what kind of Christian dreads quiet time?

Finally, one of my mentors suggested that I think about what makes me … ME.

After really thinking about it, I realized I like the academic side of studying the Bible. I love to study, but that isn’t enough. A quiet time is so much more than just studying. Quiet time is your time to communicate with God.  

So how would I have a quiet time and personalize it between just God and me? He is the creator of the universe.

When it hit me that the Creator of the universe loves me and wants a relationship with me, that changed everything.

The Artist of the universe, the Creator of color wants a relationship with me! So why can’t I add color in my quiet time?

I am that person who loves nothing more than a brand new pack of crayola markers, so using color in my quiet time just seemed natural.  

But how do you do it?  

I am sure many of you have heard of Bible journaling. If you google it—or check it out on Pinterest—you will find all kinds of really awesome examples. They are beautiful and delicate.

I tried my hand at it. But honestly it was a little much for me. I didn’t want to make a mistake in my Bible. I am an absolute perfectionist and the idea of illustrating in my Bible made me very nervous. I was unable to actually do my quiet time.

Since Bible journaling was too much, I had to come up with something else.

In lieu of creating an actual drawing in my Bible, I use a system of color-coded symbols to mark the text of my Bible. I gathered up the symbols from around the internet, and the colors were based off of my associations with each group.

What does my Bible marking key look like?

Purple is God’s "team members" (Father, Son, Holy Spirit...)

Red is the cost of our salvation (blood, cross, sacrifice...)

Orange is sin. because it makes me think of traffic warnings (lust, cursed, suffering...)  

Brown is all the things with earth (nation, land, home...)

Blue is the things we give back to God (prayer, repentance, believe...)

Green is the things God does for us (grace, bless, forgiveness...)

Pink is for family interaction (family, marriage, child...)

Using this system has made me so much more willing to do my quiet time! I like being able to look back at a text and see if it was more about the cost of our salvation or the gifts that God has given us.

I also like that it doesn’t take forever to complete my daily reading using this method. Having a one-year-old, writing a blog and running a full-time, functional fitness gym ministry doesn’t leave a lot of down time.

That means I have to be even more diligent about utilizing my quiet time with God to the best of my abilities. In Colossians 3:17, we read,

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

I am so grateful that God made me just the way He wanted to, with a love of Him and the color He created.

Does this sound like a system you might use? Do you use a different kind of coding in your Quiet Time?

Morgan Farr is an Army wife currently stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina, with her wonderful husband Brian and their seven-month-old son, William. She is a homemaker who dedicates her free time to ministering to other Army wives through Bible studies, one-on-one interactions and physical training. Morgan writes about her transition out of feminism and into biblical womanhood on her blog. You can find her training programs on her blog, FarrFunctionalFitness.blogspot.com.

Fenced in by Love (Part 2)

In part 1 of "Fenced in By Love," we saw that God keeps and preserves His own "sheep"--the souls of those who love Him and are in a personal relationship with Him. 

Today, we're considering HOW and WHY God keeps His people.

This is important, because I (Dawn) think there is sometimes a misunderstanding when people think God has forgotten them in their difficulties. The truth is, God is always up to something beyond what we might be able to see or understand.

So let's continue . . .

3. HOW is the the Lord keeping His people?

This goes back to the words "keep" and "preserve." Does being kept by the Lord mean God's people will never suffer? No, it's clear from scripture that believers will suffer (Psalm 6:6-7; Psalm 71:20a).

The harmful effects of the Fall in Genesis 3 will touch all of us this side of heaven. We may suffer persecution and even death. But we can be steadfast in the midst of the most desperate trials (James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:6-9).

The Christian's perspective on suffering is far different from those without the Lord. Instead of fighting the testing process of our circumstances, we can ask for our Father's will to be accomplished, learn to see life's trials as a blessing as we seek His perspective, and ask Him for wisdom to proceed.

We are never left alone in this process. Our Father knows we are weak and this is an uncertain world, and we cannot fully protect ourselves.

He is "watching over the way of His saints" (Proverbs 2:8). I have no doubt, if we could lift the veil between heaven and earth, we would see His care and protection in countless ways: the car that missed hitting us, the poison we missed ingesting, the thief who somehow couldn't find our front door, etc.

Yes, many things do happen to us in this sinful world, but ...

We are proud people indeed if we think we are not in God's constant, loving watchcare.

Back to Psalm 121:7 for a moment. The tense of the word "keep" in that verse includes the future. It means God will keep us both now and forever. He is with us and helping us in our current troubles, and and He will ultimately rescue us from ALL our troubles.

God, in His perfect and loving will, may not rescue us from all our troubles in the here and now, but the Lord has promised protection from our ultimate enemy, sin (Romans 6:14). Sin no longer has the power to enslave us or determine where we will spend eternity, if we are in Christ. But we do have a choice about sin.

In other words, our future is secure in Christ, and no one can snatch us out of our Father's strong hand! (John 10:28-29); but will we trust Christ and live now under His provided protection, or will we go beyond the fence of His love and "sleep with the enemy," giving in to sin's control?

4. WHY is the Lord keeping His people?

Way back in Genesis, God told Jacob, "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go ... I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" (Genesis 28:15).

God has always watched over His people, not only because He loves them, but also to accomplish His purposes in and through them.

God absolutely has the ability to deliver His people, but it is not always His will to do so. For example, in His love He may allow a physical trial or some other trouble in order to purify us (James 1:2-3) or to show Himself strong in our declaration of faith (as happened with the patriarch, Job).

Sometimes Christians pay the ultimate price for their identification with Christ and their witness, as did the first Christian martyr, Stephen (Acts 6:8-7:53). God doesn't ask everyone to make the ultimate sacrifice, but He does call us to be faithful soldiers in the battle, wherever that leads us (Ephesians 6:12-20; 1 Peter 3:15).

Romans 8:28-30 explains God's ongoing and ultimate purpose for ALL of His children (the "saints" of verse 27):

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

Our Father wants us to be like His Son; and He lovingly, faithfully chisels away anything that doesn't look like Jesus.

So we read these powerful words in verse 31: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

• It's not that we will escape bodily harm (v. 36)—we may even be called to martyrdom; 
• but rather, we are "more than conquerors though him who loved us" (v. 37)—we have spiritual and eternal victory in Jesus;
• and nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus, our Lord (vv. 38-39). We are sealed for eternity through the indwelling Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14).

No matter our circumstances, God is watching and involved with eternal purposes for our lives.

We are forever fenced in by God's love!

Are you struggling with a deep problem? How does a fresh perspective on God's purposes for you encourage you today?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is the creator of three blogs:Heart Choices Today, LOL with God (with Pam Farrel), and Upgrade with Dawn. She is the Director of the San Diego chapter of Network of Evangelical Women in Ministry (NEWIM San Diego) and is a contracted researcher for Revive Our Hearts. She and her husband Bob have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

Church graphic adapted from pixabay.com.

Chisel graphic adapted, Image courtesy of bugtiger at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Fenced in by Love (Part 1)

Photos of fences remind me of two things: Some things are kept out; other things are kept in.

I believe the LORD has fenced His people in with love.

In this Spiritual Life UPGRADE, I (Dawn) want to encourage us with a truth we may not fully understand.

Psalm 121:7 says the Lord "keeps" His own.

The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. (ESV)

Other translations use the words "protect," "preserve" and "guard."

Over and over again in scripture, we see this:

• "The LORD preserves all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy" (Psalm 145:20).
• "You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance" (Psalm 32:7).
• "The LORD protects and preserves them—they are counted among the blessed in the land—he does not give them over to the desire of their foes" (Psalm 41:2).
• "The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him" (Nahum 1:7).
• "And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom...." (2 Timothy 4:18).

The Psalmist, especially, cried out to God for protection and was grateful for His care. In so many scriptures, we hear: God will keep, guard, protect and lovingly preserve His own.

Yet when I look around at the world today, I see those who claim to be Christians being slaughtered on the left and right by extremist movements. It's heartbreaking.

How does this square with scripture?

We have to ask . . .

1. WHAT is the Lord keeping? Is God promising to preserve our bodies? Or is He, as we see in Psalm 97, preserving something else?

"Hate evil, you who love the LORD, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked" (Psalm 97:10).

As Matthew Henry wrote in his Concise Commentary:

"Care is taken for their (God's faithful servants') safety. But something more is meant than their lives. The Lord will preserve the souls of his saints from sin, from apostacy, and despair, under their greatest trials. He will deliver them out of the hands of the wicked one, and preserve them safe to His heavenly kingdom."

Our bodies are merely shells housing precious gifts from God: eternal souls. God says He preserves the souls of His saints.

2. WHO is the Lord keeping?

Is God keeping everyone? No, He is keeping His own, those He is making holy.

The Shepherd of the sheep knows and keeps His own flock (Psalm 23; John 10:14). "... The Lord knows those who are his..." (2 Timothy 2:19); "...whoever loves God is known by God" (1 Corinthians 8:3).

Note: the Lord just as clearly says he "doesn't know" others in the same kind of personal relationship (Matthew 7:21-23). Jesus knows how to identify His own sheep. He knows those who have not trusted in Him—those who are faking it or trusting in other "shepherds."

Yes, Jesus, the Good Shepherd of the Bible, loves His sheep, and He will faithfully preserve each soul in His flock.

Tomorrow, we'll look and HOW and WHY the Lord keeps His people.

Are you part of the Good Shepherd's flock and fenced in by His great love? If you're not sure, please read this helpful post (not related to my blog).

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is the creator of three blogs:Heart Choices Today, LOL with God (with Pam Farrel), and Upgrade with Dawn. She is the Director of the San Diego chapter of Network of Evangelical Women in Ministry (NEWIM San Diego) and is a contracted researcher for Revive Our Hearts. She and her husband Bob have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

Church graphic adapted from pixabay.com.

Rethinking Single Leadership

A strong woman of purpose, Nali Hilderman encourages women—both by her teaching and in her life example—to embrace Christian leadership at all ages and stages of life. She knows this is difficult for some single women.

“If you’re feeling unimportant in your singleness,” Nali said, “I’d like to challenge you with a biblical perspective.”

When I (Dawn) was a young single woman, a Christian ministry offered me strong reasons to see my singleness as a gift from God. I'm so glad Nali is addressing that in this Leadership UPGRADE.

Nali continues . . .

While there are many examples in the Bible of women that God used—some married, some single—we should focus on obedience to Him in whatever stage of life we find ourselves.

Nowhere does the Bible indicate that your ability to make a difference for Christ and His Kingdom is dependent on your marital status. 

However, I know sometimes it can feel like you’re overlooked and unimportant in the Church if you don’t have a husband and family. 

Here are three reasons you really do matter in the Kingdom of God.

1. Rethink Leadership.

We often tend to think that leadership is about position, personality or platform, which includes certain “requirements” you may feel you don’t have as a single woman. 

The reality is, leadership is mainly about the ability to influence others, serve them and—in Christian leadership—point them towards Christ. 

These things you can do successfully, regardless of whether you’re married or not. 

“Leadership is being alive with truth and love in your sphere of influence.”

That is something anyone can do!

Focus on those God has placed in your path, and work on serving and loving them. This is the most powerful form of influence.

2. Examine and Use your Spiritual Gifts.

Just as there is nothing in Scripture that indicates the gifts of the Holy Spirit are either “male/female,” so there is no designation that some gifts are given to married people and some are for singles.

Because of this, take time to find out what your gifts are and set about using them for the edification of the Church (1 Corinthians 12:7).

You can take free online tests to find out which gifts are your strengths.*

Also, spend time studying 1 Corinthians 12 to learn what the gifts are, what their purpose is, and how each gift is important in the body of Christ.

3. Steward Your Time.

I know this sounds cliché, but as singles we often have more time on our hands than our married friends. Paul is speaking truth when he says married people are concerned with the affairs of their spouse and needs of their children, while single people are “concerned about the Lord’s affairs” (1 Corinthians 7:32-35). 

I know it’s easy to spend time focusing on what we don’t have, but ask yourself, “Am I being a wise steward of the time I have now? Am I serving the Lord—using my gifts to edify the Body of Christ?”

You have the ability to make a significant impact on others during your singleness.

These are three important ideas regardless of what season you find yourself in, but they are especially challenging if you are single and feeling like you cannot have an impact for Christ.

You do matter in the Kingdom of God!

If you are single, which of these three points is hardest for you? What can you do to increase your effectiveness for the Kingdom of God?

Nali Hilderman is a professor of American history at San Diego Christian College, and Director of the college’s Dr. Henry Morris Leadership Program. She studies women’s history and Christian theology. Always seeking how to become a confident, successful Christian woman, she does not buy into the secular feminist mentality. Nali attends Journey Community Church in La Mesa, CA.

* Two free Spiritual Gifts tests are here and here.

Graphic adapted, image courtesy of pixabay.

Don't Say You're Too Old

Elaine W. Miller's practical humor never fails to make me smile, while I'm getting a kick in the pants spiritually! In this special UPGRADE for the senior set, she encourages us to keep on "running the race" with the Lord in the stewardship of our years.

"'It ain't over till it's over!' is one of my favorite Yogi Berra-isms," Elaine said.

You had me (Dawn) at "Yogi," Elaine. I thought, what can Yogi teach me about spiritual things? Aha!

Elaine continues . . .

I agree with Yogi! As long as we're breathing, our work on this earth is not finished. God still has a plan for our lives and a race for us to run whether we're 25 or 75, whether we're healthy or ill, whether we feel like it or not.

As birthdays come faster and faster, let us resolve to keep running the race God planned for us since before we were born. Will you run with me?

Let's be encouraged by what God says and enjoy a few more Yogi-isms to "drive home" the point.

1. God ordained all of our days, not just the days before we turn 65.  

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:16b, NIV). God knows all our days. If we're alive, we still have races God wants us to run. 

   Or as Yogi says, "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."

Because . . .

2. God has work for us to do.

"The righteous . . . . will still bear fruit in old age. . .  " (Psalm 92:12-14, NIV).

If we wake up and our names aren't in the obituary, then hop to it. God has fruit for us to bear!

   Or as Yogi says, "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there."

So . . .

3. Let us persevere to the end.

". . . let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12:1, NIV).  Let's not walk, let's run with all the energy we have (which is enough when God is our power source).

   Or as Berra said of Joe DiMaggio " . . . he never walked off the field."

Because . . .

4. Life is worthless unless we complete the task God planned for each of us.  

May our hearts resound with these words, "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace" (Acts 20:24, NIV).

   Because, as Yogi says, "It ain't over till it's over."

Jesus has our days planned. He has work for us to do. We must persevere to the end and complete the task. 

In our older years, let us be encouraged by some who lived these principles:

• Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence at age 70.
• Grandma Moses began painting at age 76 because her hands were too crippled to hold embroidery needles.
• Roget published his Thesaurus at age 73 and oversaw every update until he died at age 90.
• Peggy Smith, (age 84 and blind), and her sister, Christine (age 82 and crippled), were key people in the world-famous revival in the Scottish Hebrides.

God may have a home run planned in our extra innings.

Let's not walk or strike out, but let's go the distance for the Lord. I want to die a winner, don't you?

Which of these four "Don't Say You're Too Old" tips helps you move forward today?

Elaine W. Miller is an international author and speaker known for sharing biblical insights with warmth, enthusiasm, and humor. She is the author of three books including her latest We All Married Idiots: Three Things You Will Never Change About Your Marriage and Ten Things You Can (available in English, Spanish, and Bosnian). Residing in upstate  New York with her husband of 45 years, she enjoys having three married children and 11 grandchildren close by. Visit Elaine's website/blog to learn more about her unique ministry.

Graphic adapted, Image courtesy of photostock at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.