roniya“Live for the glory of God and the good of many.”

I am so grateful for my sweet, beautiful, lovely, and wonderful sisters who are my sisters in the Lord as well as in the flesh.  Praise God for that double bond that we have with one another.  Over the last year the Lord has greatly strengthened our relationships with one another and I can truly say that my best friends are my sisters.  It is such a blessing to have true fellowship with each of them and to also have those fun girl conversations.  May the Lord be praised for what HE has done!

sisters....sisters....

I love my cute and fun sister Hannah!

And I love my unique, lovely sister Jana

My sweet and godly sister Jen ~ I love her!

And very special thanks to our very special brother, friend and photographer:

Jon the man

Hello friends,

Greetings in the Name of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ!  Right now I am with my family at a retreat center in the Ozarks.  It is a blessing to have time together away from the pressures and busyness of normal life.  I have been grateful to have some quiet moments with the Lord sitting on the ledge of a bluff looking out over Table Rock Lake with the warm August breeze blowing gently through the trees.

How quickly the summer slips by!  I am amazed that there are only four months left to this year.  How have I lived the past eight months for Christ glory and how can I pour out my life even more over the next four?  The words of the Psalmist are increasingly more and more becoming my words, “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.” (Psa 39:4-5). We have so little time to live on this earth, so little time to forsake all to follow Christ, so little time to love Him in this fallen world, so little time to run this race that is set before us.  How well are you running?  We need to ask ourselves this question and not live life carelessly because we will one day give account to our Creator for each word that we speak and each moment that we live.

The more I come to understand all that Christ has done to provide salvation, justification, and sanctification for me the more I long to have the privilege of serving Him and even just doing one thing for Him.  He is worthy of everything we could possible give Him.  To just have the privilege of serving Him in the most obscure manner for all our days would hardly come close to showing a return of love that He is worthy of and deserves.  And yet, He is so pleased with us and loves us so much, not based on what we do, but on what He has done, and we can rest content in His love knowing that it is not what I do that counts, but what Christ does in and through me.  This brings forth a lesson that the Lord has been teaching me over the summer.

Childlike Dependence.

I thought I had that all figured out and was walking in a place of leaning and depending…but the Lord has brought circumstances into my life over the past few months that have proved to be a trial to my faith and have revealed how easily my heart tends to walk according to it’s own understanding.

LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever. (Psa 131:1-3)

At the beginning of August I made a trip up to Nebraska with my dad and sister.  Here is a journal entry from that week:

“I would be treated as a child and guided where I go”

Childlike dependency. . . I have so far to go in learning this.  I came up to Nebraska with great plans of accomplishing an important project.  I envisioned quiet hours of focusing on this project with minimal distractions.  It was not meant to be.  I woke up the first morning with the beginnings of a bad headcold.  On the second day the pain was so great that I mainly spent the day in my room listening to Sarah Edward’s biography.  I was so discouraged over my helpless state and groaned before the Lord asking why He had allowed this sickness.  By the third day I gave up on my project and settled down to rest and read.  This evening as I sat out on the hay-bales soaking in the warm August sunshine I again sought the Lord as to why my plans had be so unfulfilled.

~Childlike Dependence~

My Father desires that I lean completely on Him for everything including my plans.  It is not wrong to have plans, but seeking my Father’s will must be preeminent above all other guiding factors.  If He wants me to work on my project, blessed be God; if He sees best that I be humbled through sickness, blessed be His Name.  All that He does is good and He must have my complete trust because human looks and hearts may deceive me, only God’s way is perfect, perfect wisdom is found in God alone and He will never fail the trusting child.  I live for Him, I breath for Him alone…it is only fitting that I depend completely on Him, My Abba Father.

That very evening when I wrote the blog post was the night that we made a six hour trip to the closest VA hospital for my dad who was having serious issues with his eye.  Thankfully the Lord touched his eye and it is healing.  But as we travelled there I marveled over how the Lord had been teaching me about dependency right before we made an unexpected visit to Omaha and suddenly ended up in an emergency room.  Later that morning we visited an old friend of my parents.  By this time, I was completed exhausted from being up all night and really didn’t want to spend the extra time visiting this lady.  I walked into her home and looked up to see a plaque that read, ‘God is the Blessed Controller of all things’.  Once again the Lord confirmed to me the lesson that He was teaching me to depend upon Him.  Since that time I have had so many trials and tests come in and I am so grateful for the foundation of complete dependency on the Lord.  Truly the Lord is faithful to those that fear Him and trust Him.

A couple weeks ago my family tasted of the bitterness of a precious life cut suddenly short.  My sister-in-law was 23 weeks pregnant with their first child.  Great was the joy over the announcement of this child’s coming earlier this year…and great was the sorrow when her mother went into early labor and delivered little Christine Hope who weighed 15 oz and was 11 inches long.  Little Christine made a valiant effort to live and she did live for nine brief hours before her soul took flight to the arms of Jesus Christ and left behind her fragile and beautiful little body. We had a beautiful graveside service for our sweet little girl.  There were so many people who came to weep and mourn with my brother and his wife in their grief.  She only lived nine hours….and yet her life impacted people around the world.  The Lord used her life to inspire me and spur me on to live even more passionately for Jesus Christ and the glory of God.  If someone so small could honor Him so much, how much more glory and honor should our lives bring to Jesus Christ!  You can see pictures of my beautiful niece here, www.christinehope.courvillefamily.com

Another lesson that the Lord has been teaching me is that of contentment.  Once again, I thought I had this lesson down and was doing pretty good in this area….until I was tested.  The Lord has allowed me to go through a severe trial of trusting Him with a particular circumstance in my life.  The Lord greatly used the Free Grace Broadcaster fall issue on contentment to bring conviction to my heart as well as more understanding about contentment.  Here are a few definitions of contentment that were helpful for me: “Contentment is a disposition of mind in which we rest satisfied with the will of God respecting our temporal affairs –without hard thoughts or hard speeches concerning His allotments and without any sinful desire for a change.  It submissively receives what is given.  It thankfully enjoys present mercies.  It leaves the future in the hand of unerring wisdom.” William Plumer. “Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.” Jeremiah Burroughs.

This evening I listened to a sermon by Rolfe Barnard on how God gets men lost.  It was a powerful sermon that I highly recommend.  I am more and more convinced of the importance of the principles of salvation that are laid out in this message.  A man or woman must come to the end of themselves before Christ will begin His work in them.  Salvation is not for the person who is just adding it to their life to improve the journey.  Salvation is for those who are desperate for help and know that they have no help outside of Christ.  And then, it is the Lord who saves.  He is the One who quickens and regenerates, and it is according to His mercy that He saves anyone.  This is what David Brainerd came to realize as he was seeking after God:

1. God demands perfection from man that is impossible for man to produce.
2. God demands saving faith that man cannot produce.
3. God has the right and exercises the right to give or withhold faith.
4. God can save a man or damn a man and still be God and get glory.

When a man or woman comes to this point, to where they’re truly lost, then they’re ready to be saved, then they’re ready to start to cry out to God for mercy, and if they truly believe the promises of God as well as the sovereignty of God, then they will not stop crying for mercy until God either saves them or sends them to hell.  That is the kind of desperation one must have in seeking the Lord for salvation.  If you don’t care that much about it, then you probably aren’t lost enough and you’ll go straight to hell.

I really do not know who all reads this blog, but if you’re reading this and have never examined your life to see if you’re right with God according to the Scriptures, I plead with you to do so.  The book of 1 John is a picture of a true Christian.  If you have been born again, then the characteristics (freedom from a life of continual sin; love the brethren, hate sin, you do not love the world, love God, overcomer, etc) will be seen in your life and the Spirit of God will bear witness while you read it that it is true.  Please do not be afraid to examine your life to see if you are saved.  There isn’t anything more important than making sure that you are a child of God and that you are living a life pleasing to God.  It is Christ who saves you and it is Christ who works in you.  But if your life is missing the present and continual working of Jesus Christ, then you stand in danger of spending eternity having the eternal wrath of a righteous and just God poured out on you.  Another test is if you love the Word of God.  Is the greatest delight of your life to read the Bible? Is it alive and quickened to you by the Spirit of God?  If not, has it ever been?  This is a true characteristic of a Christian.  If you’re backslidden and once loved the Word of God and once hated sin, then seek the Lord quickly right now, do not harden your heart in unbelief, repent and seek Christ’s blood for cleansing and forgiveness.  The Father welcomes the erring child as soon as they turn their faces back to seek Him.  But do not remain in the far country pursuing your own way.  It is eternally dangerous to be there.  “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” (Heb 10:38-39). Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of your faith!

For those who actually took the time to read all of this….thank you.   I expect this fall to be very busy with family camp and two weddings.  But if I have a chance and the Lord’s leading….I will update this blog.  It’s all up to the Lord and how He leads and enables me to walk in the way of His perfect will.  Feel free to email me anytime.  And if you are troubled about your soul and need to talk to a sister or brother who knows Christ and can help you seek him, please let me know.

May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with you and keep you close to His heart all throughout your life.

Do not forget the brevity and fragility of life….and the sure hope there is in Christ Jesus for those who will seek Him with ALL their heart and find Him.

Leaning on my Beloved Christ,

sister Joy

Dear friends,

Greetings in the Name of the LORD Jesus Christ! For those few people who do read this blog, here is an update on some of what the Lord has been doing in my life and the lives of those around me.

This summer is rapidly slipping by and will soon be gone. The Lord has been very gracious in making it thus far a summer that has been exceedingly profitable in the growth of my love and knowledge of Jesus Christ and has been fruitful in opportunities to pour out my life for the LORD in love and service to the body of Christ as well as the unsaved.

It has been a blessing spending time alone seeking the LORD through prayer and the study of the Word. I have found the secret place to be even more of a place of renewing of my strength then it ever was before. If any of you do not have the fixed habit of spending much time alone with Jesus Christ, I urge you to place a higher priority on this. It is for the growth and protection of your own soul to spend much time seeking the Lord.

The Lord has been good in bringing into my life several new sisters, some of whom have been recently made new creatures in Christ, and giving us many opportunities to fellowship and pray together. I rejoice in the works of the Lord in each of their lives and am so grateful for their humility and desire to grow in their knowledge of Jesus Christ. It has been wonderful seeing them grow in the area of modesty both in apparel and spirit. In the middle of June seven of these sisters were able to come to Missouri for a visit and we had a most blessed time together.

Once again the Lord has given my father the privilege of organizing South African Evangelist Keith Daniel’s fall tour to the US. It is a time consuming task that my father fulfills with much carefulness and dependency on the Holy Ghost. The Lord has given me the blessing of assisting my father in this project and I rejoice to say that for the time being, the schedule is completed, tickets bought and all the information has been sent to each pastor. Next on the list in this area is to begin preparing for family camp in the areas of registration and media ministry. If you would like to see where Keith Daniel will be speaking you may go here, and if you have any interest in attending our church’s family camp, October 1-3, where Keith Daniel, his wife Jenny and son Roy will be the main speakers you will find more information here.  Tour Schedule. Family Camp.

One of the highlights of this summer was my recent trip to Texas with my beloved sister Jen. The Lord clearly directed us to go down there to visit and hopefully edify and encourage the saints and it was such a delight to be led of the Lord every step of the way. For the sake of remembering all that the Lord did I will share more with you about this trip. If you find the details to be too cumbersome, please do not trouble yourself to read over this. I know I tend to be a wordy writer, but I will attempt by God’s grace to make every word profitable to the reader and glorifying to the LORD.

We drove down to Allen, TX early Thursday morning, July 8, to arrive in time to go out to lunch with our dear friend Debbie Speed. It was special to meet Debbie’s co-workers and spend time with this joyful lady. I have met few people who exuberate so much joy and enthusiasm in loving and caring for the people around her. I know it is the Lord’s grace to fill Debbie with so much joy in the midst of many trials.

Navigating through Dallas traffic on our way to Arlington was an adventure and test to trust the Lord to direct our steps. Looking back He really did help us get to Arlington and I could see His hand clearly guiding us, even in the missed turns and frequently adjusted route. We arrived at Jesse and Lindsay Morris’ home that afternoon and how I praise God for this godly couple and their generosity in making their home available for the Lord to use it however He pleases. A more hospitable and flexible hostess than Lindsay I have rarely seen. And Jesse is a faithful servant who was ever watchful for the practical needs of his guests.

It was a wonderful blessing and encouragement to spend time fellowshipping and visiting with brothers Sean and Ryan, as well as meeting brother Chris (a godly brother recently saved in March who is ablaze for Christ and meekly following his Master with everything he has). The Lord has directed brother Sean and brother Ryan to oversee the establishing of a church in the Dallas area. To read more about this you can visit their website here. I rejoice in the faithful obedience of these godly men to follow the LORD in starting this church and I praise God for the wisdom and great discernment He has given them for this daunting task that would be impossible but for the grace of God and leading of the Holy Ghost.

It was a great delight to see sister Stephanie again. Her boldness and zeal for sharing Christ’s Gospel with those around her was a great blessing to observe and glean from. Sister Megan came over later that evening and how my heart rejoiced to see this beloved sister that the Lord has given me. I am exceedingly grateful for how the Lord has knit our hearts together in true Christian love and friendship. Sister Meg is one of the godliest women I know and the sweet fragrance of Christ’s love and compassion overflow out of her life into the lives of all those around me. A greater example of a merciful and compassionate heart I have not found.

Sister Lindsay and Sister Stephanie

At the end of that evening we followed Meg to her home in Dallas where we spent the next few days with her and her family. We were so grateful to the Turner family for their gracious hospitality in opening up their home to us. It was a blessed quiet place to be for a few days to seek the Lord as well as spend precious time praying, studying the Word, and fellowshipping with sister Meg. The Lord gave Jen opportunity to practice her gift of cooking which proved a great blessing to the Turner family and all those who tasted of her skillful cookery.

Friday evening we went over to Arlington for dinner with all the saints there. Sister Meg’s friend, Kelsey, also came and on the drive over she shared her testimony with Jen and me of coming out of the Christian Science cult. I learned a lot about this deceitful movement and am grateful to the Lord for bringing Kelsey out of it. We also met Ben Douglas, a friend of sister Meg.

It was a blessing to meet brother Brett, a friend of sister Stephanie, who was born again earlier this year. It was good to see his softness toward the Lord and eagerness to grow in holiness and truth. Sister Kelsey flew in from Memphis and I was so glad to see her again. We had spent one hour together in Memphis back in May and I was very excited to have more time with her. The Lord plucked sister Kelsey out of the net of false Christianity earlier this year and He has given her a heart that is hungry for truth and surrendered to obeying the Lord no matter the cost. The Lord graciously gave us much time together during my last few days in Texas and closely knit our hearts together. I also met sister Emily who was saved June 30 and was aglow with the love of the Lord. The Lord mercifully saved her from much deception and made her heart so tender to Him. Her humility and sincere love for Christ was a blessing to be around.

Friday night we had a blessed time of singing hymns together and praying together. It reminded me of the early church and how they gathered in homes to pray and seek the Lord together. The saints are truly walking in the fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of the Lord is present amongst these dear saints, and working mightily to purify them and make them holy. The men are dependent on the leading of the Holy Ghost in everything that they do and faithfully seek Him for direction. There is true charity amongst the believers that is not self-seeking nor self-exalting but each esteeming the other better than themselves. A purer and more loving setting of believers I have never experienced before. The brothers are faithful to exhort, reprove and encourage the saints through the Scriptures by sharing what the Lord has been teaching them. There is a strong commitment on an individual level to seek the LORD first and spend much time with Him. Each one is burdened for lost souls and is faithful to witness wherever they go. There is spiritual reality, transparency and the joy of the LORD is evident in each saint (more or less so in each one according to spiritual maturity).

Saturday was a sweet day of fellowship with sister Meg in her home. We had dinner with her family that evening and the Lord gave a few opportunities to speak for truth and love into their lives. After dinner we packed up our belongings and traveled over to Arlington where we stayed for the remainder of the trip with Jesse and Lindsay in their home along with sisters Stephanie and Kelsey.

Saturday evening after a time of prayer and seeking the Lord about going to downtown Dallas to witness at the clubs, the Lord directed for brothers Sean, Chris, William and Brett and sisters Stephanie and Kelsey to go out and seek to share the Gospel with lost souls. It was my first time to go share the Gospel at a club and I was a bit apprehensive about it, but I submitted to the Lord and His direction and wholly trusted in Him to help me and give me the words to share.

Here are a few pictures from that night to help you visualize what it was like. The club was on one side of the street and people would line up outside waiting for admittance into the club. The brothers stood on a medium in the street and preach to the people standing in line while the rest of us spread ourselves out to pass out tracts and talk with people on the other side of the street. There were about seven policemen and policewomen who were present to break up any fights. Unfortunately they did not take a favorable view of us sharing the Gospel, but we respected them and tried to show the love of Christ while at the same time not backing down on sharing the Gospel. Sister Steph and I ended up on the end of the block passing out tracts to the few people who came our way. Having less people coming through gave us more opportunities to talk with people.

Eventually Stephanie engaged an atheist in conversation who was very arrogant and confident in what he believed. Truly the god of this world has blinded his mind to the truth of God’s existence and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the midst of that conversation, sister Kelsey called me away from it and asked me to show another man who she was talking with the Scripture about women not teaching. I shall call his name ‘Fred’. At first he refused to believe that the Scriptures taught that and so I showed him 1 Timothy 2. His main hang-up was the way the brothers were preaching the Gospel. He said it was too harsh and would turn people off. I showed some Scriptures to him from Matthew 23 about how Jesus preached to the Pharisees as well as some verses on John the Baptist’s preaching. ‘Fred’ was convinced that the way we girls were sharing the Gospel was much more affective than the guys preaching. To demonstrate this he stopped two black guys who I will call “John” and ‘Benjamin”. He started a conversation with them comparing the preaching of the guys to us girls and asked if the preaching of the guys turned them off. They nonchalantly agreed. Then ‘John’ started saying how he was a Christian but he just needed his ‘private time’ and that there wasn’t anything in the Bible that said it was wrong to drink or smoke. I opened up my Bible and started to walk him through Galatians 5:16-21. In the middle of verse 21, ‘Fred’ interrupted me and wasn’t going to let me finish the verse, but ‘John’ stood up for me and insisted that I finish. ‘Fred’ decided to leave the conversation and left me with ‘John’ and ‘Benjamin’ to preach the true Gospel to them as well as the fruits of a true Christian. I went over Scripture after Scripture, especially in Matthew 7. ‘John’ said he was born again but the fruits of his life did not confirm that. He looked over at his friend ‘Benjamin’ who as I later found out had just come from talking with brother William and had earnestly preached the Gospel to him, and ‘John’ asked ‘Benjamin’ if he was saved. ‘Benjamin’ said ‘no’, so ‘John’ asked me to pray for his friend to get saved. I said, ‘Okay, I will pray for both of you. But let me tell you what I am going to pray so that you are sure you want me to pray for you. I am going to pray for God to do whatever it takes to save you. I am going to pray for God to takeaway everything you own, your home, family, job, if that is what it takes whatever to save you, I am going to ask Him to show you your sin, etc…’ They looked at me very soberly and agreed that they wanted me to pray for them. I started praying for them right there on the sidewalk pleading with God to do whatever it takes, pleading with God to show them their sinfulness and to bring them to the place of absolute brokenness and weeping over their sin and at the right moment to give them saving faith in Jesus Christ and set them ablaze for Christ. They were very grateful and left very sobered and serious. I was amazed at the opportunity the Lord gave and for how He enabled me to share truth with them.

Another highlight from that night was singing hymns with our windows rolled down as we traveled down the freeway. There was a wreck so others were able to hear us sing. We even saw a carload of kids who were at the club earlier that evening and brother William preached again to them and told them they needed to pay heed to the preaching they had heard earlier that night. Those kids were totally shocked to see us again. It was great.

The Lord’s day was a most blessed day. Brother Ryan preached a wonderfully encouraging message on the joy of the Lord. I highly recommend it. That afternoon we had a baptism service for sister Emily and it was the most powerful and Spirit anointed baptism I have been to. Many of her old friends and some of her family were there and the LORD mightily enabled brother Sean to preach the Gospel to them while expounding upon the true meaning of baptism. It was glorious.

Monday morning, Jen and I went to Dallas to visit our dear friend Holly and her two cute kids, Josiah and Ellie. We had a sweet time with them and were grateful to the Lord for that time. That afternoon I listened to a sermon by Rolfe Barnard on ‘Watching Men Die‘ and few sermons have impacted me in the area of being burdened for the lost like that sermon. I was so stunned after listening to it that I took a walk and was silent before the Lord for at least fifteen minutes. My heart was greatly overcome at the thought that at the Judgment throne of God there will be no mercy, only justice. Now is the time of mercy, now is the time we must plead with the sinner to seek God while mercy is to be given. During that walk I had the opportunity to meet an old neighbor lady and was invited to come back to see her which sister Lindsay and Jen and I did the next day.

Tuesday afternoon we had a powerful time of prayer interceding for a brother dear to our hearts who has strayed from the path of truth. The Lord enabled us to weep and cry out for him for one and a half hours. I have never been at such a prayer meeting where God came so powerfully. My heart was greatly quieted before the Lord after that prayer meeting (Psalm 131).

On Wednesday sister Kelsey and I went to the mall to shop for some modest shirts for her. Truly that mall was a vexation of spirit to me. But the Lord did give me an incredible opportunity to witness to a young man for 20 minutes or so about the true Gospel. The Lord greatly helped me in that conversation. We went home and spent time with sister Meg and a friend who is seeking the Lord. Then sister Kelsey and I went to Panera to spend time studying but instead ended up spending some key time talking and getting to know one another. That evening brother Trace and sister Gina from Mabank came over for dinner and the Lord greatly blessed that time of fellowship with them and moved mightily. After they left late that night, Stephanie brought three guys over who were hungry for truth and some of the brothers stayed up late sharing truth with them.

Thursday, sister Lindsay, Jen and I went to Mabank to sister Janice’s tearoom and enjoyed a wonderful luncheon with Gina and her two daughters and dear Mrs. Suzette. It was a sweet time blessed of the Lord. The remainder of our afternoon and evening was spent seeking the Lord and fellowshipping with the saints.

Friday morning we took our departure and stopped in Dallas for our last visit with beloved sister Meg. It was with reluctant steps that we turned our travels homeward, reluctant to take leave our much loved brothers and sisters in the LORD, but our time with them had come to an end for the time being. The Lord blessed us with a safe trip home and oh how good it was go be home again and to look upon the dear faces of our parents, sisters and brother.

My heart is exceedingly grateful to the LORD for blessing our trip so richly and using it to encouraging us greatly in the Lord. Praise be His HOLY Name!

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy update. I hope and pray it was profitable, edifying and of encouragement to you to take the time to read it. This fall I look forward to our family camp which is October 1-3, Roy and Jerusala’s wedding in Pennsylvania on October 9th, and Jake and Hannah’s wedding on October 23.

May the LORD Jesus Christ bless you with a greater hunger and thirst to seek Him and grow in the knowledge of His Holy Person, and may He bless you with a strong faith in Him that will endure unto the end.

Only by His grace,
sister Joy

Note: A friend started a group on facebook called ‘Homeschoolers Against Segregation’.  Below is something I wrote for the group…my perspective.

——

“Homeschoolers against Segregation.”  Well, that does seem like an obvious label for homeschoolers.  Afterall, weren’t our parents the ones who chose not to place their children in segregated classrooms because of the greater benefits of schooling all the kids together within the safety of their own home?   So this segregation thing shouldn’t be an issue, especially if one follows the Biblical principles of relationships within the Body of Christ.  But how familiar are young people with the Scriptures and the practical reality of the Scriptures walked out in every day life?  How many young men really understand 1 Timothy 5:1-2 and are mature enough to even fit the qualifications of such instruction directed to them?  And how many young women are mature enough to receive the instruction of 1 Timothy 5:2 carried out towards them?

The Scriptures are not grand theories in the sky that we consider and then mold around our already established habits and patterns of life.  No, we must bring everything into the subjection and scrutiny of Scripture.

I don’t know if I’ll solve any of the issues for the reader that this group addresses, but at the very least, I hope you will take what I write as a challenge to go dig into the Scriptures yourself and to study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.

Everything that I am going to share is absolutely meaningless if young people are not truly born again.  So the first thing you must do in considering this issue, is to examine yourself and see if you truly are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5; Phil 2:12).  If you profess to be a Christian, does your Christianity pass the standard of the book of 1 John?  Have you been made a new creature in Christ, have old things passed away and all things become new? (2 Cor. 5:17)  Do the people around you know that you love God supremely? (1 Cor 8:2).  Are the commands of the Lord your greatest delight? (1 Jn 5:2)  Is Jesus Christ in control of your life or are you? (Matt. 6:24).  Have you been born again? (John 3:3).  My friend, if you cannot give an decided yes to all of those questions, then I fear for your soul and urge you to seek the LORD earnestly until you have found Him and know that you are truly His child (Romans 8:14-17).

If you are truly born again, then you are a child of God, and if you are a child of God then that means that all of the other children of God – members of the Body of Christ – are your brothers and sisters.  Whether they are 85 years old or 6 years old, the relationship is the same.  Girls, a Christian guy is not a ‘prospect’ for you to try to attract, he is your brother in Christ. And vice versa for the guys.  And the bonds of kinship in the Body of Christ are of more lasting value and significance than the fleshly ties of earthly family or even a husband or wife.  When you come to Christ you must be willing to forsake every single earthly tie you have to follow Christ (Luke 14:26-27), but when you become a disciple of Christ, it opens up the beautiful gift of the Body of Christ (Mark 10:29-30).  I do want to add a note that it is a most wondrous blessing when you have the twice strong tie of both earthly and spiritual relations within the Christian home.

So, what should be the focus of every single child of God?  What is it that every disciple of Jesus Christ is to be doing?

(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

(Mat 6:32-34)

Wherever you are at on this earth, whatever your circumstances may be (or not be!), whatever talents and abilities you have, it is all to be used for one thing, to glorify Jesus Christ.  If you have any other motivation in your life apart from Jesus Christ, then you are, first of all, wasting your time on whatever it is you are doing, secondly and more importantly, I fear for the eternal safety of your own soul.  1 John 2:15-17 (Loving the world is pursuing the worship of man.  You are either God-centered, or man-centered).

We are here on this earth for Jesus Christ!  Period.  That is why you were created and that is why you exist! (Colossians 1:15-18).  So, your number one goal in life is to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.  If you want to see an example of a man who did this, study the life of the apostle Paul (Philippians 3:8-14).  Paul had one goal in life, Jesus Christ.  And I believe that that attitude should be the attitude of every single believer.  The outworking and results of such an attitude will be varied in accordance to the individual’s giftings and circumstances (You can have Christ as your number one goal as a mother or father just as much as Paul did as an evangelist).

So…I have two areas that I want to address that fall under the category of seeking God first.  The first one is when does marriage fall into the picture of seeking His kingdom first, and the second area is how can I advance God’s kingdom through my relationships within the Body of Christ.

I see three areas where God’s kingdom is advanced that if they would be fulfilled in the marriage of two individuals, then the couple should pursue marriage.  Please keep in mind that the basis for everything is the glory and honor of Jesus Christ.

1. The advancement of God’s kingdom through the spiritual progress of your own soul.  If being married to a particular person would cause you to grow in faith, hope, charity and holiness, then you should marry (and this must be a mutual advancement for both souls….though it will work out in different ways for the husband and the wife – one example is that the husband is to water his wife with the Word, while the wife is to reverence her husband, both of these works should bring spiritual maturity and growth).
2. The advancement of God’s kingdom through evangelizing and discipling more souls into the kingdom of God.  If as a couple you are better able and equipped to fulfill the great commission of Matthew 28:19-20, then you should pursue marriage.  You are here on earth as an ambassador for Christ (2 Cor. 5:18-20) and should only marry a fellow ambassador if your combined giftings will make you better ambassadors for Christ.  (Note, the woman was created as the helpmeet of the man, so her giftings will primarily be to enhance and increase her husband’s service in God’s kingdom).
3. The advancement of God’s kingdom through procreation – bringing more souls into existence and leading them to true salvation in Christ.

There are certainly more areas to consider, but those are some of the chief ones to be thought of and evaluated.

If you are seeking God’s kingdom first right where you are at and are completely submitted to His will for your life, then if in His great wisdom and perfect ways His kingdom will be further advanced through you being married, He will orchestrate all of the necessary details for that to happen.  God cares more about His kingdom being advanced then the most passionate, zealous Christian ever could.  The LORD is zealous for His own glory and honor on this earth, and if a servant of His is wholeheartedly serving Him with the one goal of glorifying Christ, then the Lord will not fail to put that servant where Christ will be most magnified and glorified in that servant’s life.

So, when you are with other young people, make it your number one goal to seek to advance God’s kingdom in the lives of those you are around, whether it is encouraging, exhorting, or edifying, go for it!  Make that your goal.  Don’t settle for the lesser goal of trying to get to know one another just to break down walls of segregation.  Seek to glorify Christ in every conversation and activity you are involved in.

Here are some Scriptures to study, pray over and obey in relating to one another within the Body of Christ.

Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.   (1Ti 4:12)

Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.  (1Ti 4:15-16)

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.  (Eph 4:29)

Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.  (2Ti 2:22)  (notice ‘with them’.  Be wise in your choice of companions)

Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.  (Rom 14:19)

Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.

(1Ti 5:1-2)

The most important practical activity you can be doing right now in every spare moment you have and to bring about a Christ-honoring solution to the ‘problem’ is to soak yourself in the Word of God.  Study it!  Memorize it!  Make it such a part of your life that it flows out of you like rivers of living water.  When you do this, then you have something profitable and edifying to speak and share.  When you know the Word, you can exhort the believers in a way that will be edifying and uplifting.  I want to especially encourage the guys as your sister in Christ (if any actually read this far down) to do this.  I can guarantee that if you know any godly girls who are truly born again, they will be extremely grateful and blessed if you take the time to study the Word of God and then share it with them in a group setting.  And this is great preparation for marriage when it will be one of your chief responsibilities to water your wife with the Word (Ephesians 5:25-26).  It’s important to start increasing your knowledge of the Scriptures so that by the time you marry you hopefully have a river of the Word to water your wife with.

I can testify of the wonderful blessing and encouragement of godly fellowship with brothers in Christ who are so careful and faithful to treat Christian girls as sisters in the Lord with all purity and above reproach.  It is possible.  But the only way for it to be possible is for everyone to keep their eyes on Jesus Christ and make Him the number one goal in each one’s lives.

Seek to know Jesus Christ, seek to advance His kingdom, and all these ‘things’ shall be added unto you.

Make Jesus Christ your greatest delight in life, and you will be filled with God-honoring desires that He will be able to fulfill because He is the center and motivation of each one.

God bless you and grant you revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

In Christ,

Joy

Hold on dear child to all My Word doth say
Hold fast dear child, to keep within the way
The Word of God thy only guide and stay
For ‘it’ the world did many a martyr slay

Don’t heed dear child the ‘temptors’ whispered word
He laughs if thou but once his whispers heard
Don’t look if he doth show thee things impure
He would to sin thee call-thee draw-lee lure

Ah child, so much I have reserved for thee
Do not forget thy Heavenly destiny
How can the world be pleasant, child, to thee
If they did send thy Lord to Calvary?

Take heart dear child, although the masses frown
Hold fast dear child, that no-one take thy crown
Remember child, this world is not thy home
You’re passing through-to meet me at the throne.

~Jennifer Rene Daniel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello to my few readers,

I am sorry that my blog posts have been so infrequent!  The last few months have been very full months as well as wonderful.  One of the happiest events that occurred was the wedding of two beloved friends, Jed & Erica Gillis!  It was so wonderful being a part of their special day and seeing the Lord magnified through their lives.  I’ll post a few pictures from the wedding.

I cannot make any promises…but I do hope to be more faithful in blog posting.  As the Lord leads and enables…I will post, only by His grace.

May God be with you, my friends, and give you the grace and strength to keep running the race set before you with your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ!

Seeking to know Him,

Joy

Mr. & Mrs. Jed Gillis!

I love you, Erica!

Wedding Party

This was by far my favorite wedding reception I have been to. It was beautiful!

Cutting the cake

2010 photos…by Jon Courville (whose photography is getting better and better!) Read the rest of this entry »

Please take the time to read this ‘Grace Gem’ below. I’m grateful for the grace God has given me to live this past year for Christ. It’s only been because of Christ that I have been enabled to seek and love Him. He alone is worthy! Oh my friends, you won’t regret seeking Christ with all your heart. You will not regret forsaking this world and clinging to Jesus Christ alone. Eternity lies before you. Seek the Lord Jesus Christ! Read the rest of this entry »

To anyone who reads this blog….seek the Lord!  Life is too short and eternity to long to waste our time chasing the pleasures of this world or the fulfillment of our selfish desires.  Jesus Christ alone is worthy of our time, desires, focus, service, worship and praise.  Live your life in the manner that will bring the most pleasure to God and honoring to Jesus Christ. Read the rest of this entry »

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

THE CHARACTER OF GOD

The Holiness of God

Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? (Hab 1:13) Read the rest of this entry »

For those who would like to finish reading this little booklet by John Bunyan, I’ll let you do it through reading this PDF document.  I highly recommend finishing the reading of it for those who began.  It provides great encouragement to finish the race that is set before us.

The Heavenly Footman Read the rest of this entry »