A Life of Learning

Lily-
  We have completed our goal!  We read God's word in a year, and it was a wonderful journey.  I pray that you will read His word many times in your life.  His word is so amazing that at times through this journey I simply wrote down what the Bible said and nothing more.  I believe that God has a word for you and you alone.  He will teach you many things throughout His word in every stage of your life.  So, we will continue to study what He has to say to us individually and as a family.  I pray that someday you will read this BlogBook I have made for you, and you will be inspired by His words that He has spoken through me into your life.  We love you more than all the chopsticks in China!  And God's love for you goes so much farther than that...more than you could possibly ever fathom or imagine!  Enjoy this journey...

                                                                                                 Love you bunches,
                                                                                                       Mama & Baba

Be Prepared

Ephesians 6:18

The Message (MSG)

^13-18 Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

Listen, Lily...God's word is an indispensable weapon!  Pray without ceasing!  Always live your life for God!

Love Like That

Ephesians 5:2

The Message (MSG)

Wake Up from Your Sleep

5 ^1-2 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

Don't Break His Heart

Ephesians 4:30

The Message (MSG)

³⁰ Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.

Anger

Ephesians 4:27

The Message (MSG)

^26-27 Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.

Ephesians 4:29

The Message (MSG)

²⁹ Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.

Burial

Colossians 2:15

The Message (MSG)

^11-15 Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it’s an initiation ritual you’re after, you’ve already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.

Empty

Colossians 2:10

The Message (MSG)

^8-10 Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.