It’s God’s Word about standing firm in your faith about His love for you. It’s what He desires us to believe. Believe it is true for you because God’s Word is Truth.
Use it as an affirmation. Speak this Word to yourself throughout the day. Personalize it by putting your name in it!
Earlier this year, I attended a retreat that I hoped would help me gain more focus in business-building activities and in personal matters. As an activity, we wrote on a smooth stone the one thing that would be our target for the remainder of the year. I wrote, “FINISH” on mine because I was finding that there were a number of things in my life I would start but didn’t finish.
A couple of months passed and as I thought more about how to finish the things that I start, I realized I also needed to target some other issues as well. Going through this thought process brought other “F-words” to mind. No, not the bad “F-words.” 🙂
I wrote the new F-words on stones and placed them on my desk as a tangible reminder of what I’m doing—FINISHING STRONG!
In June, I decided I’d put some energy behind one of these words each month for the remainder of 2014. Hopefully, as I do so, I’ll be building some good habits along the way. This month, I’ve been concentrating on Fellowship.
Fellowship= sharing; participating with another; constant companionship; communion
My desire is to fellowship more with friends and family, as well as, and most importantly, with Holy Spirit.
I became more intentional about spending time with my daughter while she’s home from college for the summer. I’ve been intentional about getting together with each of my sons, individually. Making sure that I schedule date nights with my hubby became a priority again. Phone calls to extended family members who live back East have become more frequent, just so I can say, “I’ve been thinking about you.”
How would I increase that time and experience more enjoyment out of it?
I made a decision to just do it. I started using my afternoon PIT Stop everyday to spend “extra” time with Him. I made a list of things I wanted to be sure to do with Him.
Just like I scheduled time with each of my children, with my husband, and, for the phone calls, I put God on my schedule. I made an appointment with myself so that I could not only talk to God and read the Bible, but to also hear from Him.
“My fellowship with God enables me to gain a victory over the evil one.” 1 John 2:14b (MSG)
Guess what happened! I began to feel less anxious about things in my life. I’m experiencing greater peace about the challenges I face because I know He’ll get me through them. I’ve begun to glean more wisdom from Him through His Word. Maybe the best thing is that I‘ve grown to really look forward to that time with Him because I’m excited about what He’s going to show me about His love for me! I protect this time from the distractions life throws at me.
Want to join me on this quest of filling each month with an “F-word?” You can. Just make a decision to do so (which means cutting off all other options and excuses). Then let me know you’ve joined the movement.
What are some of the things you do to fellowship with others and with God? Please share!
Next month’s keyword is FOCUS. I’ll be sharing my thoughts about that in August.
Monday’s Marinade is provided to you as a means of “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God at the beginning of your week. Start your week by meditating on this Word. Repeatedly think about and quietly say it to yourself. Marinate and season your week with hope and a confident expectation of good things happening!
Monday’s Marinade is provided to you as a means of “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God at the beginning of your week. Start your week by meditating on this Word. Repeatedly think about and quietly say it to yourself. Marinate and season your week with hope and a confident expectation of good things happening!
Here’s your spiritual marinade for this week:
Monday’s Marinade is provided to you as a means of “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God at the beginning of your week. Start your week by meditating on this Word. Repeatedly think about and quietly say it to yourself. Marinate and season your week with hope and a confident expectation of good things happening!
Here’s your spiritual marinade for this week: 
Monday’s Marinade is provided to you as a means of “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God at the beginning of your week. Start your week by meditating on this Word. Repeatedly think about and quietly say it to yourself. Marinate and season your week with hope and a confident expectation of good things happening!
Here’s your spiritual marinade for this week:
Monday’s Marinade is provided to you as a means of “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God at the beginning of your week. Start your week by meditating on this Word. Repeatedly think about and quietly say it to yourself. Marinate and season your week with hope and a confident expectation of good things happening!
Here’s your spiritual marinade for this week:
This is the last Focus Friday post of 2013. My prayer is that 2014 will prove to be a year where you focus and meditate on God’s promises to you and that you will bear fruit in every season, prospering in all that you do!
Focus on the following scripture throughout the day. It’s God’s Word and it’s what He desires us to believe. Believe it is true for you because God’s Word is Truth. Use it as an affirmation. Speak this Word to yourself throughout the day. Personalize it by putting your name in it!
“But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” Psalm 1: 2, 3 (NLT)
“Meditation” is defined as contemplation, reflection, rumination and spiritual introspection (Source: Dictionary.com). Most people relate this word with TM, Transcendental Meditation, a “new age” technique based on Hindu writings. But did you know that there is a biblical form of mediation?
Joshua 1:8 gives us great insight into what biblical meditation is and how it differs from TM or any other type of meditation.
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (NIV)
In this verse, God is instructing Joshua about how to succeed as the new leader of Israel. But we can also glean from this scripture about how to be successful in life today, especially as we look forward to the new year. “Meditate” here means to ruminate, to speak (utter sound), to imagine, to speak with oneself (muttering) in a low voice (whisper). It is not simply reading the Word, thinking about it for a brief moment and quickly forgetting it. Biblical meditation involves using your voice to affirm God’s Word for your life and is an action you take frequently throughout the day.
But God didn’t tell Joshua to say anything and everything that came to his mind. He instructed him to meditate on the Book of the Law. God wanted Joshua to read, think about, and mutter God’s words! He wanted Joshua ruminate the good things about God and His love for him and the people of Israel.
Rumination usually brings to mind the picture of a cow chewing it’s cud. When a cow chews it’s cud, it is regurgitating the food it has eaten earlier, chewing it again, swallowing it, and then regurgitating again, chewing, and swallowing that same food repeatedly to gain the most value out of the food. We are to do the same in our meditation of God’s Word. To gain the most value from God’s words of life (John 6:63), we are to read His Word, speak His Word, think about that Word, and again speak His Word and think about His Word, repeatedly during our waking hours. I have found this can easily be done in snippets of 60 seconds here and there throughout our day.
For example, Psalm 1:3 tells us that the people who frequently meditate God”s Word “are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” In meditating that particular verse, you can frequently whisper to yourself throughout the day, “I am like a tree planted near water, always bearing fruit at the right time, never unhealthy, always prospering.” Change the words if you like, but think and speak about how God loves you and firmly establishes you for success through His Word in every area of your life. There’s something in the Word of God that is the solution for our every problem and need! Speaking God’s Word is one of the keys to unlocking and unleashing it’s problem-solving power.
To become more diligent at doing meditating, I set the alarm on my phone to go off at a specific time every day, Sunday-Saturday, to remind me to take just 60 seconds, right at that moment, to meditate on God’s Word or to pray in the spirit. I can’t tell you the level of peace I’ve begun to experience and the insights for my life that I’ve gained just my incorporating this quick habit into my day. It has made a huge difference in how I view God’s love for me and His work on my behalf.
I’m considering providing a program that helps you understand, establish, and gain the most from this habit of 60-second biblical meditation. Would you like to become more like a cow, getting the most value out of God’s Word by incorporating this habit of success into your day? Let me know below.
Focus on the following scripture throughout the day. It’s God’s Word and it’s what He desires us to believe. Believe it is true for you because God’s Word is Truth. Use it as an affirmation. Speak this Word to yourself throughout the day. Personalize it by putting your name in it!
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it: for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have GOOD success.”
Joshua 1:8 [Paraphrased from NIV and KJV] (emphasis mine)