Archive for the 'Practical Christian Living' Category

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Openings

Published by Nancy Ann on September 7, 2012 in Practical Christian Living. 9 Comments

How often in our Christian life do we ask God to open something? We ask Him for good reason, because God loves to open things. Jesus loves to open things. In fact, He came  to the world to open things. So we should pray that He will open those things that are shut in our lives, things we can’t pry open though we may try like crazy. Consider all these things that Jesus opens.

1. He opens hearts. “The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14). This was Lydia’s conversion. When we pray for our friends and relatives to be converted, we are asking the Great Heart Opener to do His work.

2. He opens ears. “My ears You have opened.” (Psalm 40:6) He opened the ears of the deaf man in Mark 7: “He sighed, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is ‘Be opened. Immediately his ears were opened…’” “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and Continue reading ‘Openings’

Praying Like a Christian

Published by Nancy Ann on September 3, 2012 in Practical Christian Living. 11 Comments

When you are not sure how to pray for someone or not sure how to pray for yourself, I highly recommend thumbing through Psalm 119. This is a psalm I go back to often. The psalmist knew how to pray. Consider these inspired prayers and adopt them as your own. I won’t list every single prayer here, because, as you know, Psalm 119 is very long. But here is a small sample for you, just to get you started.

Notice how these prayers begin with strong verbs: teach, deal, open, revive, strengthen, remove, grant, incline, turn, establish, give, help, hold,  direct, make, hear, consider, plead, deliver. These are prayers of action! They are not vague, wishy-washy prayers, but prayers calling to Almighty God to rise up! If we want to be faithful women, women of prayer, we can learn by taking instruction from this psalm. God loves to answer the prayers of His people. So we ought to ask Him for far more than we do, reminding Him of His Word, speaking His language back to Him, and asking in faith for Him to intervene on our behalf.

Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! (vs. 10)

Teach me Your statutes. (vs. 12,26, 33, 124)

Deal bountifully with Your servant that I may live and keep Your word. (vs. 17)

Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. (vs. 18) Continue reading ‘Praying Like a Christian’

The Guarded Heart

Published by Nancy Ann on August 1, 2012 in Practical Christian Living. 6 Comments

My mother-in-law Bessie Wilson wrote this as part of an article written in The Hammer years ago, and my father-in-law recently posted it.

Most of these articles on the heart have been written to stress the importance of keeping a right heart before God, because this is what our God is concerned about. We could continue this indefinitely because the Scriptures abound with such references. However, this month we shall consider His gracious provision for the “guarded” heart. He can make our heart a garrison.
This is found in a very familiar portion, Philippians 4:4-7:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In this passage we are told to do several things: 1) rejoice, 2) be gentle, 3) reject all anxiety, and 4) present our prayers, petitions, and requests to God with thanksgiving.
Although it is our responsibility to do all these things, it does not mean it is our work. Rejoicing, gentleness, and thankfulness are all evidence of the fruit of the Spirit. It should be natural for us as Christians to produce such fruit. Anxiety, however, is the antithesis of thanksgiving. It can best be described as a fear, an uneasiness of mind, usually over an Continue reading ‘The Guarded Heart’

Vain Conceit

Published by Nancy Ann on June 10, 2012 in Practical Christian Living. 13 Comments

At the end of the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, Paul says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” (vs. 26).

Apparently, we need to be warned against these things, so let’s consider first what it means to be conceited, and how women may fall into this temptation. Even sweet Christian women. I doubt many of us think that we are conceited. But if we think about it more carefully, we might see how we give way to conceit more than we realize.

What is conceit? Basically, conceit is thinking too highly of ourselves. When we are full of ourselves, when we are self-absorbed, when we are focusing too much on our own needs, our own achievements or gifts, we are being conceited. This is antithetical to walking in the Spirit. It is fleshly. Natural. Not Spiritual. When we are walking in the Spirit, we are thinking of others, we are humble. But when we are Continue reading ‘Vain Conceit’

Connect the Dots

Published by Nancy Ann on May 20, 2012 in Practical Christian Living. 13 Comments

When Jesus was telling the parable of the evil servant and the faithful servant in Luke 12, He concluded with this: “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” (vs. 48).

I know this principle can be applied in multiple ways, which is the whole idea. Jesus’ teaching is always relevant, and the Holy Spirit opens our eyes so we can connect the dots between Jesus’ teaching and our own lives. We have all been given much, and so, connecting those dots, much will be required of us. We are called to be good stewards of all that has been given to us.

But there’s also another principle. In Luke 19, Jesus is telling the parable of the talents. “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities” (vs. 17). If we are faithful over what we have been given, God will give us more. As my son once said, Continue reading ‘Connect the Dots’

Feed It or Starve It

Published by Nancy Ann on February 25, 2012 in Practical Christian Living. 18 Comments

When it comes to fears, anxieties,and  insecurities (like double-thinking everything), we have two options. We can either feed these said fears and insecurities or we can starve them.

How do we feed them? By giving them our attention and thought. By dwelling on them and arguing with them in our head. By worrying over our worrisome thoughts.

How do we starve them? By ignoring them and refusing to give way to them. By not letting them get a foothold in our hearts and minds.

The gentle, quiet-spirited woman of 1 Peter 3 is “not afraid with any terror” (NKJV). She does not give way to fear, which means when fear comes knocking at the door, she shuts it out and does not invite it in.

Now this requires diligence and patience. If you are commonly giving way to these things, it is going to take real Continue reading ‘Feed It or Starve It’