How to Sandwich God Into Your Busy Schedule Part Three: Who Has Time to Pray

How to Sandwich God Into Your Busy Schedule
Part Three: Who Has Time to Pray
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

Pray continually 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Bow your head, close your eyes, clasp your hands together, and get on your knees before God. This is the classical attitude of prayer and what most of us think of when we think of prayer. But is it – really? Rather than trying to find a few minutes to stop and pray to God, perhaps we should try praying to God without stopping.

We don’t have to wedge God into our very busy schedules; He is already there. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere all at once, which means He is with you wherever you are. Once you fully recognize God in every situation it becomes a matter of course to talk to Him all along the way. Don’t stop to pray, pray without stopping.

I've Got a God Shaped Hole in My Heart

I’ve Got a God Shaped Hole in My Heart
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:10

There is emptiness to the human condition, a void in the soul of man. We try to fill this void with commitments, commitment to good works, to charity, or to family. We try to fill it with drugs, drinking, sex, money, music, art, and a thousand other things, but these only help us to escape reality for a little while. Then we are left empty and we don’t know why.

Word Search Wednesday - The Word: Part One - Scripture

Wednesday Word Search – Word Part One: Scripture
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 1 Corinthians 2:13

A Word to the Wise

In the beginning the Word was spoken: “Let there be light…” and that Light was the light of men. “But the darkness has not understood it…”John 1:5 because “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14 

In order to fully understand the word of God you must listen to the Spirit of God.

How to Sandwich God Into Your Busy Schedule: Part Two - Bible Study

How to Sandwich God into Your Busy Schedule: Part Two - Bible Study
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." Hebrews 8:10

You have decided that God has priority, great! You will still be spending more time on other things than on God unless you start taking God with you wherever you go. You don’t have to tote a heavy Bible everywhere either. What you need is God in your heart, and great news, God said he would write His law precisely there. But this law in your heart doesn’t supersede the written word of God - it completes it. In other words you still need to read the Bible.

The Tabernacle and the Camp of Israel

The Tabernacle and the Camp of Israel
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Exodus 25:8

God gave detailed instructions for the Tabernacle and sacrifices to be made. He assigned a place for each tribe to camp around the Tabernacle so that the Tent of the meeting was at the center of Israel as a reminder of the center of their lives: God.

Word Search Wednesday - Temple

Word Search Wednesday – Temple
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 

1 Corinthians 3:16

If I ever met Harrison Ford, face-to-face, I doubt I would say “Hi, Harry. How’s it going?” I would probably stammer like an idiot, tell him that he was Harrison Ford, like he didn’t know that already, and after he had politely disengaged and moved on I would bang my head against the wall for having missed the opportunity to talk to Harrison Ford.

Meeting a movie star would be awesome, and fearsome. Meeting God would be even more so, don’t you think?

How to Sandwich God Into Your Busy Schedule Part One: Get Your Head on Straight

How to Sandwich God into Your Busy Schedule
Part One: Get Your Head on Straight
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." Haggai 1:5-6

Does this sound familiar? You drag yourself off to work, you come home bone weary and you still can’t seem to pay the bills. Why? Could it be that, like the Israelites who returned from exile, you have your priorities on backwards?

Joy in the Journey

Joy in the Journey Friday
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

All you really need to study the Bible is the Bible. Strange, but true. Read a passage of scripture and ponder it a while. That’s it, that’s all it takes. And you can get a lot out of just a few words in the Bible. So pick a passage and ponder it awhile.I try to pick passages that contain one whole thought. Matthew 18:12-14, for example, seems to be a ponderable passage of scripture. 

Word Search Wednesday: Sheep

Word Search Wednesday – Sheep
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. John 10:4

Have you ever seen a sheep? Not just a picture, a real live smelly, wooly sheep. They ain’t cute. Baby sheep are cute, but they don’t stay that way long. You can have one cow, and many cows, but you can’t have many sheep(s) what you have are many sheep. And if you watch sheep in action it is almost as if the many sheep are just one sheep because when one takes off all the others follow.

Berean is Believin'

Berean is Believin’
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11

Paul was a traveling preacher. He traveled form town to town and spoke at various churches, synagogues, along the way. He spoke in the synagogue at Thessalonica on three Sabbath days, which means he was there for three weeks. In the synagogue he reasoned with the people from the Scriptures. They already knew that the Messiah, the Christ, had been promised, but they were expecting a David, a soldier, someone who would overthrow their oppressors and set up the kingdom of Israel on earth. Paul argued that Jesus was this Christ, he explained why the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead and he used the scriptures to prove his point.

How to Take the Chore Out of Reading the Bible Every Day

How to Take the Chore Out of Reading the Bible Every Day
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

Reading the word of God is a blessing. It should be a joy. However, there are 66 books in the Bible. There are 1,189 chapters, 31,102 verses and over 700,000 words. If you don’t like to read, and even if you do, reading the Bible can seem like an chore, one of those things that you have to do, but don’t really want to do.

If you want to enjoy reading the word of God then get that ‘have to’ out of your head. You ‘have to’ do the laundry even though doing the laundry is a chore. You also have to eat but eating rarely feels like a chore. Some days you get a bologna sandwich. Some days you get steak. Some days you eat at your desk and barely appreciate what went down your throat. Some days you savor every bite, beginning with the fresh salad and bread sticks, through the prime rib, and on to the chocolate fudge sundae for dessert.

Wednesday Word Search: Joy

Wednesday Word Search: Joy
by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

Countdown to the supper bowl; counting the days until vacation; advent calendars that count down the days until Christmas these are all exciting days of anticipation. Have you ever been so excited that you just couldn’t sit still? Something is coming, something wonderful and you just can’t wait!

Life in a Know God World

Life in a Know God World
By Wendy Middleton

Living in a Know God world is very simple – Do what God tells you to do – but that doing – ain’t easy.

Let’s face it, we live in a NO God world, a world that is hostile to Christ, his followers and the word of God. We live in a world where prayer is frowned upon and belief is ridiculed. We live in a world where everybody knows that we descended from apes and science has proven that the world is far older than the Bible would suggest.