Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Gentleness

Here are my thoughts on gentleness...

Sometimes I forget the power of my words. I forget that love conquers all.

Proverbs 25:15 -
"Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone."

Gentleness is a command from God. He calls us to love others by honoring others and respecting them.

Ephesians 4:2 -
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Our response to God's never-ending love and patience with us is gentleness and love toward all.

Colossians 3:12 -
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.


Gentleness is more beautiful than outward appearances. It is also more handsome :) It shows inward beauty and maturity.

1 Peter 3:4 -
Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.


-Aylin

Monday, February 27, 2012

Forever Faithfulness

I think faithfulness is SO important. I am so glad that I have people in my life that love me. They won't ditch me for more popular people. They will reply to my emails, pray for me, and check up on me.

People need to know that someone is there for them. I once heard of one, single phone call that stopped a teen from committing suicide. They had no idea someone cared, so they hopelessly reached for the "out" called death - when the phone rang. It was just a girl returning a phone call, yet it saved a life.

Although we live in a individualistic culture, we were never meant to be totally solitary creatures. We need community. We need to know that people care. We need someone to be there for us. And, someone needs YOU to be there for them. Today, let's take time to make sure we are.




-Aylin

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Being Good

"Goodness in man is not a mere passive quality, but the deliberate preference of right to wrong, the firm and persistent resistance of all moral evil, and the choosing and following of all moral good." (http://www.dictionary.com/)

That's what the Dictionary says goodness is. "A deliberate preference of right to wrong." Not only that (everyone probably prefers right to wrong), but acting upon that feeling. Goodness isn't just wanting right. It's doing right. It's moving toward perfection in Christ, which is shown through maturity. Making right decisions motivated by the love of God.

The thing is, it isn't easy to just up and do right. Our sinful nature tries to stifle all urges toward righteousness. Paul says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." (Romans 7:15)

This isn't something we can do on our own - there is nothing we can do perfectly on our own. This is a part of the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of us working hard. Yes, we do have to want it and do our best to go after goodness, but being truly good is only made perfect in God. We can't get there on our own.

-Aylin

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Kindness

"Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor." Proverbs 21:21 


Kindness. So simple, yet so hard. 


I love how precise Paul is when he is writing this--a lot of times, I think of love and kindness as the same thing. But they aren't. 


You see, you can love someone without being kind to them. I love my little sister, but I'm screaming at her more than I'm doing things for her. 


In fact, I think that that is one of the devil's favorite lies: Thinking that, because you love them, you are automatically kind to them. 


Because of this lie, we often wind up doing the opposite. Thinking that because you already love them,  you have no need to be kind to them. 


But don't get me wrong--you have to be kind to more then just the people you love. That right there is the hardest part. 


But, you know what? It is God's command to be kind to everyone, because He first loved us. We are without excuse. 


We, as Christians, must follow God's example of kindness, especially to those we don't love. 


~Elizabeth

Monday, February 20, 2012

Patience

Patience, patience, patience. That is one of the hardest things for me. It extends to everything. Patience enough to keep loving people that are really hard to show love to. Patience to wait for God's plans and His timing. Patience to wait and help that person instead of tearing off to where ever I want to be. It's hard. Some people seem to have an endless supply of patience. I am not one of them.

We live in a "now" society. Why wait to actually eat in a restaurant when you can use the drive through and eat while you drive? Why stop and call someone if you can text them while you talk to someone else? Now trust me, I am not an old lady lamenting new-fangled technology. We live in a fast pace world of schedules and all that. I get that. But, some things are worth waiting for.

Like spending time with God. Making time for Him is really important. It sets up the whole day. Spending time praising Him, listening to hear His voice, and reading the Bible are too important to miss. The rest of the day can wait until that's done. That's something that I have to drill into my own head all too often. God took quite a bit of time saving us. He has patience with our sin-corrupted lives - just waiting for us to come to Him. He gives us a lifetime to decide. He deserves our time and heart.

-Aylin

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Perfect Peace

"Be Peaceful."

That's what the first page of my journal says (yes, I keep a journal!). It was printed there by whoever made it. It was ironic that on the day I first laid pen to paper in that book, I was anything but peaceful. I didn't really have any reason not to be, but I was anyway. Yes, it was about 90 degrees out and I was stuck in an air condition-less camper trailer. And, yes, I had been cramped, just before that, in the tiny backseat of the family pickup truck next to my siblings.

That didn't really give me the right not to be content. I had already spouted off angrily at my sister and was scowling inwardly at the all-to-hot sun when I opened the journal. "Be Peaceful." I sighed and wrote about the heat and the ice cream truck's annoying tune and the fact that my pen kept skipping at inopportune moments. It didn't help. At all.

I was miserable. I was restless inside, and it spilled out in the way I dealt with everybody else. That's the thing - what I feel inside eventually comes out. If I'm stifling anger, bitterness, or unhappiness, it's eventually going to show in how I react. I need to let God deal with what's inside of me in order to deal with people. He can give peace that passes all understanding. He's the only one who can dissipate the ugliness that builds up inside.




-Aylin

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Pure Joy

Joy. One of the many emotions typically associated with Valentines Day.

Note how God did not inspire Paul to write happiness.

Happiness is the emotion that you get when you get a valentine, a box of chocolate, or small box of conversation hearts. Happiness comes up randomly and is gone just as quickly.

Yet joy is different. Joy is something that last for a long time (if not forever), during the good and bad times.

Joy is where something delights you so much that it sticks with you when things aren't going your way. Something that is worth remembering. Something that shines so brightly that, even when all other lights go out, joy burns on. Joy over what Jesus has done for us--and over what the Spirit continues to do in us.

After all, we have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in our heart, not high in our brains.

So, don't be depressed if you didn't get everything you wanted today--and don't be exuberent if you do; because that isn't joy, it's happiness.

"You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."  Psalm 16:11

~Elizabeth

Monday, February 13, 2012

real love

Elizabeth and I thought we should post under the theme of the Fruit of the Spirit for the next few weeks. It's a great topic - not just a list to be checked off, but a compilation of traits that the Holy Spirit will work in our lives. It came to my attention once that it isn't called the "Fruits of the Spirit," but the "Fruit of the Spirit." It is all one work. It's a continuation in our being made more into the perfect image of Christ, and not just some bullet-point items to work through, one by one.



So, LOVE...






It's that thing millions of people around the world will celebrate tomorrow. The funny thing is, though, that St. Valentine had basically nothing to do with what Valentine's Day is really about. Sure, his name is on the day, but St. Valentine wasn't the founder of love letters or heart-shaped chocolate. In some countries in the Middle East, the people aren't allowed to celebrate Valentine's Day. It is considered a "Christian holiday." Which is true, even though the holiday doesn't fundamentally have anything that would label it a Christian-only holiday. Anyone can love, can't they?



And yet, can they? The Bible says that "God is love." Love isn't just a part of God - He IS love. He is fully love even when He is fully just, which is a sort of conundrum in people's minds. It makes them ask, "If God really loved people, than why does He let them go to hell?" The thing is, though, that God loves us so much that we don't have to go to hell. He made a way to heaven for us. Not going to heaven is the individual's choice. That's another aspect of God's love to us - free will. We don't have to accept Jesus and go to heaven.



So, God is the fullness of love. The truth is, we can't love people very well until we are filled with God's love. Without it, our "love" is selfish. It's centered around who we want to love, or who deserves our love, or how it will benefit us if we love them. It may not be a conscious thing, but it's true. Unless we embody a Christ-filled love, our love will be selfish and vain. It won't be full or beautiful in it's truest since until we live with the selfless, wholehearted love of Jesus.



-Aylin

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Snowflakes


When I think of Winter, I think of snow. And, when the snow falls, I can't help but wonder at how not one of them looks exactly the same as another.  

Amazing, don't you think? 

I take time when snow falls. I look at the snowflakes--I examine them. 

I try to take time to appreciate their differences and how, though one singular snowflake is small, when they are all joined together, they effect the world around us, covering our world in a pure white. 

But humans are the same way, but do I take enough time to appreciate them? 

Do I, when I look at them, marvel at God's awesomeness at how,  though people have existed for 6,000 years, no one is exactly alike? Do I take the time to realize that no one is going to be exactly like me, and that no one is going to be perfect? Do I, when I look at a person, see God's handiwork? 

I wish I did.

Because, honestly, I treat a whole lot of people more like dirt then God's masterpieces. . . and I need to change that. The world needs to change that. 

~Elizabeth

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Stay. . .

I've been listening to this song like crazy lately. . . I hope you like it!

~Elizabeth

Monday, February 6, 2012

Passion

Passion. It fuels the two greatest emotions known to man - love and hate. It is the catalyst that makes haters take drastic measures and lovers move mountains to get to the object of their emotion. Passion can be a positive force, moving a person toward good, or it can be very, very negative. Passion causes people to kill. But, passion also called one Man to let Himself be killed.

God loved us with a more passionate, deeper love than every other person combined in the entire cosmos. Jesus took on the form of one of his creations so that He could save the ones who He knew would kill Him. He loves us with a passion.

And yet, we often forget that (or, at least I often do). We forget God's great love for us. We forget that He asks us all our love in return. He wants us to passionately follow after Him and seek His face. He wants us to worship Him with or entire being. And He deserves all that.

Though I know all this, I still fall miles below the mark. I still give half-hearted surrender to God. But, the thing is, I am most fulfilled when I am surrendered to Him in worship with my life. So, why don't I do it more often?



-Aylin

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Happy Febuary 1st

Happy first of February, my dear friends! Cold, bitter January is past and we are moving on toward spring. Well, January is supposed to be cold and bitter, I thought. Where I live, we are usually covered in quite a bit of snow right now - but not this year! If I look out the window right now, all I see is yellowy-green grass and puddles everywhere.

I'm getting ever so excited about spring coming, even though it is still a ways off yet. Spring means fresh, green buds, lots of birds, recitals (well, maybe I'm not so excited over that), my birthday, and - if it's dry enough out - football and soccer outside at youth group. Right now I'm getting anxious from sitting in the house all day. I'm trying to stay busy painting, writing, and doing school, but I can't wait for Spring!

Even so, I'm trying to count each day's blessings from God and not waste a single one. I don't do a great job at it, because I often get too caught up with thinking about the future, but I have been making a conscious effort to think about today. With a lot looming in my future (driving, college, yikes!), I sometimes forget to think about what I can be doing right now. God's got the rest.


"Trust in the LORD with all your heart;
don’t rely on your own intelligence.
Know him in all your paths,
and he will keep your ways straight."
-Psalms 3:5-6

-Aylin