Don’t get me wrong. We made some sweet memories and enjoyed family get-togethers. But I felt divided. Because there was just so much. So much to look at and plan and organize and eat. So much to buy and put away and clean. Oh and the cookies! There were so many cookies!

All that to say, I’m excited about fixing my eyes onto Him at the start of this new year.

Last year at this time I set out on a quest (sounds so Narnia-ish) to memorize the Sermon on the Mount — all 107 verses. Forty or so people joined in the journey and…we didn’t finish. *sigh*

As we approached Matthew 7, excitement had died down and many were discouraged at their progress. So we took December “off” to regroup. Because discouragement or burden is not the point of memorizing Scripture.

During our break from structure, one word kept resting in my spirit: Grace. Grace.

We can’t rise early enough or memorize enough Bible verses to hear Him say, “Oh good, now you’ve reached the point of righteousness to save yourself.”

He calls us righteous based upon one criteria and one criteria alone. Faith. When we believe God it is accounted to us as righteousness. (Galatians 3:6) Doing a bunch of supposed holy things or quoting a ton of verses does not make us righteous.

Remembering the “why” behind any spiritual discipline like Scripture memory is key to endurance. And the why to this Sermon on the Mount journey? We as humans are needy for wisdom and truth that comes from outside of our finite understanding.

I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
Psalm 119:15

So I’m back at it — meditating on Jesus’ life-giving, love-evoking words from the Sermon on the Mount. And whether you join us in this specific journey or not, I encourage you to start the year by choosing a passage to memorize — to marinate in. Because His word is life to our thirsty soul.

 
Fill me, Lord…

How do you personally “fix your eyes” on Him?
What verse or passage could you commit to meditate upon at the start of this new year?
 

For those jumping back into the Sermon on the Mount with me, I’m taking the rest of this week to review Matthew 5:1-11. Who’s coming with me?

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A friend and I were talking the other night. And as we shared our current struggles and places of frustration, it hit me. We’re most vulnerable to the enemy’s attacks in our greatest desires.

Think about it. The things we desire most — a prodigal to come home, a healthy (trim, stretch-mark-free) body, someone to love and understand us — are the very places that can become our most devastating downfall. And I think it has something to do with the emotion attached to our desires.

We feel desire. The more we want something, the more we feel about that something.

But feelings aren’t always reliable. Feelings aren’t meant to lead us. They’re a gauge — a response to life. We have our happiest feelings when our desires are met. And we have our most depressing feelings when our desires lay on the ground as a crumbled mess.

When the enemy attacks us in our desires, and our feelings can spiral out-of-control, it’s then that we can act impulsively, irrationally, and destructively, leaving a wake of regret. I hate it when that happens.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8

It isn’t rocket science. But thinking of the relationship between desire and vulnerability reminds me to stay on guard, especially in the places of my greatest desire. I want an arsenal of truths filling my mind. Because the enemy is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And I don’t want to be his Monday meal.

 
Fill me, Lord…

What are your greatest desires?
How have you experienced this relationship between desire and vulnerability?
 

After asking a few of you personally, I’ve decided to stop adding weekly verses to the Sermon on the Mount memorizing challenge. Most (ok…all) of us are “behind” and adding verses seems to be adding stress. And that’s not the point of the challenge.

So, from now until the new year I won’t add any new weekly verses. I pray that this is a time of renewal and encouragement for those of us who committed to the journey. And I pray that God presses His words deep on our souls.

The post what’s the thing you *most* desire? appeared first on Lara Howard.

I must admit that the end result felt really good to this recovering clean freak, but the process wasn’t that pretty for my spirit. Halfway through the morning I was…irritated. There were piles slung all over the rooms and my little ones didn’t seem to hold my same cleaning standards which…just…irritated me.

So I had to step away, because irritability isn’t fruit of His Spirit.

Looking back, I was Martha. Remember when Martha was “distracted by much serving” while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. So she irritatedly chided Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” (Luke 10:40)

Jesus didn’t send Mary to help. Instead He addressed Martha’s heart, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)

Granted my kids weren’t sitting at Jesus’ feet. They were whining and being slow to obey. But, I was distracted with the tasks rather than tending first to hearts.

God convicted me, because irritability doesn’t bless me or anyone else in my path. And as I chose to ask for His perspective, I saw people more than the piles.

 
Fill me, Lord…

Have you had a recent Martha moment?
How did you get out of it?

I feel like I’ve hit a Chapter 7 wall in memorizing the Sermon on the Mount. So I’m excited about going to a “#WriteTheWord” party tomorrow night. My goal is to write out Jesus’ words, asking Him to minister them deep onto my heart (and memory).

I’m praying for all of you who have been walking (however quickly or slowly) this journey with me. It isn’t about checking it off of our list. It’s about storing up the treasures of His truths in our hearts so that He would affect our daily living. So with that, we press on.

{Week 38}

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12

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I blogged last week about how I’ve wrestled against some distractions lately. After I wrote that post — which was basically like inexpensive personal therapy — I thought more and more about one particular sentence, “God’s always moving and speaking, the real question is whether or not we’re listening.”

Since then I’ve found myself repeating a short prayer in my spirit, “Lord, show me what You’re doing and how I can be a part of it.”

Because there’s nothing like going through today in the current of His movement. There’s nothing like speaking a word of life into someone at the exact right moment because He first whispered it to our spirit. Or praying a mountain down to a crumbled pile because He impressed the bold words on our soul.

God has graciously been answering that prayer, prompting a prayer of intercession or words of encouragement for the people around me. Because He’s always moving and speaking. And by His grace, we can have front-line participation in His plan.

 
Fill me, Lord…

What do you do to stay in line with God’s movement through everyday living?
 

Being that many of us SOTM friends are trying to catch up, I am only adding one verse to the lineup today.
Praying that His Word ministers deep this week.

{Week 37}

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him.
Matthew 7:11

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The cloudy noise of life has distracted me recently. It isn’t bad noise in-and-of-itself. It’s just that I’ve let it pull me away from the still, small voice of my Daddy. And He’s convicted me, as only a faithful Father can do, leading me back to that place where I refuse to compromise intimacy with a cloudy counterfeit.

Examples of noise that can distract me:

Fears that tempt me to question the character of God
Technology and the demands that come with it
Saying “yes” apart from His leading
Self-focused comparison, inevitably rooted in pride
Tyranny of the urgent

God’s always moving and speaking, the real question is whether or not we’re listening. The real dilemma is whether or not we’re fully tuned to Him. Not halfway. Halfway won’t work. Halfway won’t usher in His abundance.

He wants all of our heart, not what’s leftover after we’ve given ourselves away to everyone and everything else. And He wants it because He knows that only when we give our whole heart to Him do we find true life. And He patiently, graciously waits. He patiently, graciously woos.

Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments. ”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
Joel 2:12-13

The cure is simple (in theory). We just come to Him, humbly and repentant. We set everything else down and get really real with our Maker. We ask Him to fill us full of Himself and we dig into His sweet Word expecting Him to show up.

Our hearts will probably put up a fight because the cloudy noise tells us a different story. But soul abundance flows when He breaks through the clouds of this world’s distractions.

Fill me, Lord…

How have you struggled with distraction lately?
How do you stay focused in such a noisy world?

Memorizing the Sermon on the Mount:
Remember, we don’t memorize Scripture to check something off of our this-could-make-me-righteous list. It won’t make us righteous. Faith in Jesus makes us righteous. Memorization enables our hearts to meditate upon truth. So wherever you’re at in the journey, keep hiding His Word in your heart, sweet friend.

{Week 36}

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
Matthew 7:9-10

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They showed this video at our church yesterday. And I literally felt like I needed to roar once it was over. “He calls His people to be unleashed.” Be inspired today.

Click here if you cannot see the video; then click on the video on the top right of the page to watch.

Fill me, Lord…

What does it mean to you to be “unleashed”?

For those memorizing the Mount, this is the last week before taking a breather week. I pray you are pressing on regardless of any prior setbacks.

{Week 35}

Matthew 7:7-8

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While away I heard someone say, “We’re always worshipping. The question is who or what we’re worshipping.”

flickr photo credit

I can’t get that out of my mind…because it’s true. We’re created to worship. He designed us that way. The problem is we so quickly worship things or people or desires in this physical world.

It’s too easy to get caught up in the busyness of life, “worshipping” a schedule or a clean house or the desire for obedient kids. Or even worshipping the sin that entangles our soul. But none of those bring fulness of life.

So today we have choice. We get to choose who or what sits on our heart’s throne. By His great grace, I’m choosing Him.

One red flag that we worship someone or something other than God: We think that we cannot have peace or joy unless this *other thing* happens or doesn’t happen.

Fill me, Lord…

How have you seen this idea of worship play out in your own life?
What have you “worshipped” other than God?

For my SOTM friends, pressing on one word at a time:

{Week 34}

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Matthew 7:5-6

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We only have twenty-four hours in this day. That’s it. And God is such a detailed, intimately involved God that He has an opinion on how we spend these fleeting hours. And sometimes that means we can’t say “yes.”

I’m telling you, there are lots of “good” things we could do today. Good projects that could help us organize our pantry or good help that we could give to another. Things that could make us look extra hip or super spiritual. But we can’t say “yes” to everything or everyone. If we do, our plate gets too full and things start spilling over the edge.

We only have twenty-four hours. And He has an opinion as to how we spend it. So before that little “yes” comes out of our mouth, let’s ask His opinion. “Lord, is this how you want me to spend my time today?” Because He has a plan; and it really is best.

 
Fill me, Lord…

How do you keep from saying yes to every good thing that comes along?
 

And to the ones He led to say “yes” to this wild idea of memorizing the Sermon on the Mount…

{Week 33}

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye.
Matthew 7:3-4

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When He walked on this earth, He didn’t place His security in the way humans treated Him. His security and peace and love overflowed from Oneness with His Father. It’s what enabled Him to wash His betrayer’s feet.

Flickr photo credit

But the hard part of loving those who wound us is maneuvering around emotions and expectations. It’s natural to feel an ache when people mishandle our hearts. It’s normal to want to put up walls to keep them out. And God is so tender to the pain. He remembers our humanity.

But true love doesn’t depend on whether or not the other person deserves it. It doesn’t look at whether the other person can return it. It doesn’t birth out of sheer human will and determination. True love — Jesus love — can only flow from us when God first pours out His love in us by His Spirit.

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:35-36

I’ve been thinking on that lately, because everything hinges on love. I reveal whether or not I love Him by how I love those beside me…especially my “enemies.” And that’s humbling.

Fill me, Lord…

Would you share a time when you were called to love someone who hurt you?

For those memorizing the Sermon on the Mount, I am only giving us one verse today so we can finish up chapter 6. Then it’s on to chapter 7 next week! Press on, friends.

{Week 31}

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:34

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Church should be the place where we go when we’re all messy and needy. Not the place to simply show off our new killer boots — though I like new killer boots. Church should be the most authentic gathering on the planet. I’m thinking that’s what God intended. That we could feel free to say “I’m not good. I’m really not good. But God is, so I press on.”

flickr photo credit

Abiding in God means the refiner’s fire and His faithful, painful pruning. (1 Peter 1:6-7) It’s ok if we sometimes aren’t “fine” in that process. But it’s even better if we let others into our “not fine” to pray for and with us, encouraging us to press on in faith.

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:17-18

Yesterday was one of those days for me. So before church I decided that when someone smiled and asked “how are you?” I would say, “Desperately dependent on God. How are you?”

Sadly, “fine” still came out of my mouth more than once.

 
Fill me, Lord…

How will you answer the “how are you” question today?
 

For those memorizing the Sermon on the Mount, we are almost done with chapter 6! Keep at it, friends. Hide His Word that we might be spurred on to faith regardless of our circumstance.

{Week 30}

For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:32-33

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