FILLING UP YOUR LINES, FAITHFULLY

Goodmorning! Who is as excited as I am that it is Friday? This week has flown by. I can't believe we are almost done with this launch series. I am up and at it early again today. Logan has a half day at work, so I wanted to get some stuff done around the house before he gets home. With three animals, there is always cleaning to do!

I also am trying out a zumba class this morning, which I am very excited about. Logan and I just got memberships at a gym near by. They offer a few classes so I thought I might as well them out. Our goal with getting this membership was to go and workout together during the week, but his work schedule keeps changing. which is making it impossible. Even with his crazy schedule, though, we still find ways to challenge each other. This week we have been in a Fit-Bit step challenge with my mom. So far Logan is crushing us, but I like to say that is is just because his Fit- Bit is rigged. Not really, he has actually been running a lot at work this week and it is his high step count is what has been motivating me to get myself to the gym everyday. So thank you Logs! You are motivating me and you may not even realize it. I have loved having Logan on day crew this past week. I would love it to become his permanent schedule. but it doesn't work that way with the Marine Corps. So, naturally his schedule is going back to nights starting on Sunday. I have to say his schedule has been hard to get used to. It is hard to move out here expecting one thing and then it being completely opposite. I came out with the expectation that I would get to see my husband after a normal work day, eat dinner together, have a relaxing evening together, then go to bed... together. Key word together, but there hasn't been a lot of togetherness throughout the week. It has been a challenge. I have my days where I break down. I feel alone. I get scared. There are days where I just have to ask God why am I spending so much time alone? Why me? But, who am I to question our God? I have to sit back and trust that He has a plan that is better than my own. But what could be better than my plan of having him home for dinner every night? His plan is. God's plan is always better, and after two months of this schedule I am starting to see that, and things are starting to become simpler.

But, not every day is easy. There are still trials that come my way. I still face storms, but I am confident in knowing that I am not alone. God is always with me. Isaiah 41:10 reads, "Fear not, for I am with you; do not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." He is with me. He is my strength when I feel weak. He helps me. He holds me. He is always there. I have to remember this promise on days where I feel alone and weak. I have to hold onto these words, His promises, because they are truth. Thank you God for being with me, always! So, yesterday, I talked about our notebooks, and the importance of filling their lines faithfully. Today I wanted to share a few guidelines to follow while filling up faithfully. Filling your lines with faith means doing what we as followers are called to do! God calls us to be faithful! “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Revelations 2:10

So, in order to live faithfully, God provided us with specific ways to express our faithfulness! He has explained to us how we should faithfully fill our lines!

Our lines should be filled with…

1. Truth - We are called to love and obey the truthfulness of the Lord

- “.. if you hold on to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

- “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that I may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” John 3:21

2. Love - We are called to love the Lord and each other

- “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

- “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be that person?” 1 John 3:16-18

- “Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble” 1 John 2:10

- “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love.”” 1 John 4:7-8

3. Growth - We are called to increase and build up our own faith

- “But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” Jude 1:20

- “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith: goodness, and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, mutual affection, and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do, these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:5-11

4. Worship and Prayer - We are called to constantly connect with the Lord in worship and prayer

- “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” Acts 2:42

- “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

- “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

5. Action - We are called to serve one another and do the good works of the Lord

- “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advanced for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

- “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did….. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” James 2:14-22, 26

- “Therefore, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

- “For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building” 1 Corinthians 3:9

- “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed- not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence- continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13

6. Teaching - We are called to take the gospel to every person living without it

- “He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’” Mark 16:15

7. Representation - We are called to represent Christ in all that He does

- “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

8. Response - We are called to respond to our own sins and confess them to God to seek forgiveness

- “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.” Romans 3:23-24

- “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk I the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us fro all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:6-10

Filling our lines with these 8 instructions is just the beginning of it all. There is so much that our notebooks can be filled with, but it all branches out from these simple guidelines. From these instructions, you will see things fall into place. Your faith will develop as your lines develop. I am just one girl, with one notebook, that is choosing to fill the lines with the one thing that gets me through it all: my faith. You see, you only have one life. You only have one notebook to fill. Yes, there are multiple pages, but don’t you want it to be abundantly filled for the Lord? It is time to pick up your pencil and write faithfully for the Lord! Live out what God is calling to do, share how He is using you and your faith. Step out into the world with your faith in front of you and let it guide you through! I am only on the beginning of my journey, but I cannot wait to see where my faith takes me and what my pages begin to fill with! Closing out this post also means that launch week is coming to an end. Thank you all for making launch week so special for me. I have really enjoyed sharing what Lines of Faith is all about with you. Launch week is just the beginning. It has set the pace and tone for what is yet to come! God has placed so many ideas and plans on my heart for my blog and for Lines of Faith and I hope that you all will continue to check in and see what is going on. My dad has been out of town, therefore I have not bee able to get my newsletter and email updates to work correctly. I am going to be working with him this weekend to get that all fixed. Because, like I said I am still learning and my dad has been doing such a wonderful job teaching me how to run my website. I don't know if any of you have noticed the "Today's Line" section on the home page, but now that launch week is wrapping up, that image will be updated daily now. Today’s Line is a place for me to add my own writing. I will post my thoughts, a scripture that stood out to me, prayer requests; really anything that has spoken to me during my day. Be sure to check that out every once in awhile because there might be mentions of it in my future blog posts. Also, Monday there will be new announcements as well as a new series introduction. Thank you all again for your endless love and support. Thank you for following me on this launch series. I have learned so much from just this first week. I am so excited to see what else God has in store. Love you all!

MKG

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