God wants to be your dwelling place.

"God wants to be your dwelling place. He has no interest in being a weekend getaway or a Sunday bungalow or a summer cottage. Don't consider using God as a vacation cabin or an eventual retirement home. He wants you under his roof now and always. He wants to be your mailing address, your point of reference; he wants to be your home. Listen to the promise of his Son, 'If my people love me they will obey my teaching. My father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them' (John 14:23)."
~Max Lucado, The Great House of God

I think this "daily speak" blog is a great idea. So far, the posts have been insightful and encouraging. It definitely motivated me to dig into the Word this morning, and it also prompted me to reread this book by Max Lucado that I had started about a year ago but never finished.

a song i love right now

Search Me
I don't want to hide anymore from your voice
I don’t want to run anymore from your words
I don't want to bow anymore to these gods
I don't want to worship anymore of these things

Chorus

Search me (Oh God know my heart)
Test me (And all my anxious thoughts)
See me (If there is any offensive way in me)
Lead me (In the way everlasting)

I don't want to chase anymore of these dreams
I don't want to walk away anymore from your love
I don't want to live anymore in this world
Don't want to find my strength anymore in myself

I don’t want to spill anymore of Your blood
Don't want to be ashamed anymore of Your name
I just want to lay all my crowns at Your feet
I just want to raise up my hands and say

Search me (Oh God know my heart)
Test me (And all my anxious thoughts)
See me (If there is any offensive way in me)
Lead me (In the way everlasting)

Hope

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:23-25

I've been thinking about hope lately. Last nights study on Rom. 5:1-11 was a good reminder of where our deepest hope lies. The hope we have in our faithful God whose glory will be revealed fully when "the Day" arrives. Sue Lutz talked about misplaced hope on Tues. She used the example of the song "Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz." God allows us to go ahead and ask for such things, but we aren't supposed to pin our hopes on them. Since they are not things He has promised to give us. She encouraged us to allow our hopes to be raised by God's promises and not fear disappointment, since He is faithful. What are some of those promises we can hang out hat on? What can we hope for and not risk disappointment?

the beginning

I am rereading Paul Tripp's "Instruments in the Hands of the Redeemer" and in chapter 4 he answers the question of why we all need to be engaging in personal ministry. He discusses the clarity of the calling from Hebrews 3:13 to be encouraging each other daily. So I began thinking... how could we each be encouraging each other even more on a daily basis. I thought this could be a great place to do just that. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, earth shattering, or even your own words. It could be a verse, a lyric, a happy thought from the day, a picture... anything. So when you sign onto your computer everyday, because if we are honest, we all go on the computer at least once a day (and then there are others of us who look at the computer screen for hours and hours) just log into this blog and post. I am making you all posters so you will actually be adding your own posts, not just writing comments. And then we can also comment on what others are saying throughout the day. If you are not familiar with this process, I can bring my computer on Wednesday and show you how to do it! What do you guys think??