Where is my treasure?

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Matthew 6:19-21

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

These verses kept playing through my mind after my MIL came to visit us last night. She had gotten corn out of their freezer that had turned rancid after the last power outage we had. They decided to clean out the freezer and get rid of stuff. She had ice that she wanted to store in our freezer. She went to put it in our freezer and came in to let us know that our freezer door was part way open and that most of our meat was soft.

Adventure begins! We had lost some of the food in our freezer during the power outage, but had taken the meat to my parents and were able to save it. At this point, part of the meat was able to be saved. My parents agreed that we thought that the meat needed to be cooked and then refrozen to have the best chance of success.

I just kept thinking that we can do our best to prepare for things, but ultimately, we have no control over what happens here on earth. Anyone can rob us of our treasure that we have here on the earth. Only our treasures that we have in heaven will last. I need these reminders...a lot!

Here is my husband cooking up hamburger for the first time. I think that he is a pro now! 

When I got up this morning, I read in my Bible. Part of my reading for the day was from Habakkuk 3. Verses 17-19 say the following:

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls (Or no food in the freezer): Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments."

Thank You God for being patient in reminding me things that I should already know!

What has God reminded you of recently?

My Great God!

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Solomon was working on building the temple which the Israelites would use to worship God. He said the following verse about God.

2 Chronicles 6:18 
^"But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!"

How thankful am I that I serve a God that man cannot contain. Man also cannot describe the God that I serve. My God truly is great!

May His Face Shine upon You

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I was reading through this Psalm this morning, and was encouraged by the fact that God's face will shine upon us.

He is a righteuos judge who will bless those who deserve to be blessed. We need to raise up and bless Him.

I am thankful that I know what happens in this country it because of God's hand on this country. I need to be asking for God to shine His face on my life and live my individual life the way that I should.

Psalm 67

¹God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
²That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.
³Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
⁴O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
⁵Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
⁶Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.
⁷God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

To Encourage or To Complain?



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I love how God knows what we need for the day!

We live in a world where it is very easy to complain about the circumstances around us. Isn't is a breath of fresh air when someone around you is encouraging and happy?

So, why is the tendency to be complaining?

David was running for his life when he penned this Psalm.

Ps 34:1-3

 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

I am thankful for those people around me are looking for the positive and who are trying to give God the glory for those things that happen in their life.

What are you thankful for today?

Ichabod Crane? Or is there another?

I was reading my Bible the other day, and I was reading the very familiar time of Samuel. I am sure many of you are familiar with this event and could probably retell without prompting.

Samuel is in the temple when God is calling him, but Samuel thinks that it is Eli who is calling him.

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Remember this story?

Well, there was someone in this story whose name came up that I knew nothing about. Ichabod. Any idea how he belongs?

Let me fill ya in because I am guessing that you don't know. Samuel told Eli that both of his sons would die, which they did. Eli also died.

Well, Phinehas, Eli's son, had a wife. She was near due when Phinehas was killed. She delivered a some and named him Ichabod.

In I Samuel 4:21 we are told. "And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband."

She died in child labor. There is this boy. No father. No mother. No grandfather. Consequences of sin.

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I got curious what happened to Ichabod. So I searched his name in the Bible and the only other time that he was mentioned is in I Samuel 14:3 "And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone."

This doesn't tell us much about him at all. I wish this was one of the places that we could go back and fill in the details of what happened in his life.

Researching Ichabod is done!

The Foot and a Half Sword

Do the names Ehud and Eglon ring a bell?

If so, your Bible knowledge is far better than mine! The events that these two men take place in are very familiar in my mind though...

A little bit to jog your memory...

• a two-edged sword. This sword was one cubit or about a foot and a half long.
• a king who they thought who was relieving himself.
• a body swallowing up a sword.

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Any luck pulling this event to mind? You can read about it in Judges 3:15-25. I just remember when I was little being so engrossed in the fact that this king's body sucked the knife inside of his body. Never did I pay attention to the fact that this knife was a foot and a half long. Wow! Heaven forbid my body would ever be big enough to swallow that knife up!

So not spiritual, but I am amazed how Scripture can be read and taught and we miss little facts about what is going on. Even if we grew up in church, we are far from a Bible expert.

What stories have jumped out at you in a new way recently?

Prime Example of History Repeating Itself

Sometimes when I am reading my Bible, I get to this list of people and places that I know nothing about and I tend to just skim over them. My mind was doing that this morning, but I still thought that there were some very interesting things lumped together here.

God told these groups of people to get rid of the idol worshippers out of the land. They all failed. Skim through and see what happened in each group.

Sorry for a whole lot of words!!!

Joshua 13:13

Nevertheless the children of Israel expelled not the Geshurites, nor the Maachathites: but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites until this day.

Joshua 16:10

And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute.

Joshua 17:11-13

¹¹And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher Bethshean and her towns, and Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Endor and her towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and her towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, even three countries.
¹²Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
¹³Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, but did not utterly drive them out.

Joshua 15:63

As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day.

Judges 1:21

And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.

Judges 1:30

Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.

Judges 1:31-32

³¹Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:
³²But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.

Judges 1:33

Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them.

Judges 1:34-36

³⁴And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:
³⁵But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.
³⁶And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

Judges 2:1-5

¹And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
²And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?
³Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.
⁴And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
⁵And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD.

Do We Have to Understand to Obey?

I find it very easy to obey when I understand why I am asked to do something. I don't have such an easy time when I just don't get why I am being asked to do something.

I was reading through part of Joshua tonight and found the Israelites obedience quite intriguing.

The first part that amazed me was the walking around walls of Jericho...without talking. I would be thinking, what is this going to accomplish? But they managed to do the assigned task. And the city walls fell down! (Joshua 6)

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They had just seen this huge feat of what happens when they obey, and they turn around and one of them takes part of the spoil from the city. Direct orders were given not to take anything. I am just amazed that this same person would have just walked around the city for seven days without talking. (Joshua 7) Ever been there where you are on a spiritual high just to slip and fall?

They then turn around and God tells them to go and overtake another city Ai. They lay an ambush on the city. What a fun story! I can just picture acting this out with the little guys! They took over the city and were able to keep the spoils from this city. (Joshua 8) They obeyed once again and the benefits were great even though the task was hard.

Am I willing to obey when I don't think what I am asked to do is the best option out there?

Don't Condemn Government Officials

A friend of mine recently was challenged to read through the Bible in a year. She sent out a general challenge on facebook. A group of us girls responded and have been reading through the Bible together. It is great to know that someone is reading through the Bible with you and is keeping you accountable. You can read about all the things that she has learned in her One Year Plan.

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This morning, I was reading through about the Israelites setting up government. I was reading along and this verse jumped off the page.

Exodus 22:28

"Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people."

God was informing the Israelites not to curse their King...translated to now...don't condemn the government officials. How easy is that to do? Whichever side of the line we sit on, we are very tempted to complain about those who rule over us. What a rebuke to me today.