Look up!

This month I've been studying the book of Exodus, which is not in my top 10 favorite books of the Bible in case you were wondering, and I've read it probably a dozen times before. But I've really been listening to God lately and really seeking to try and read and meditate on his words and God has been teaching me SO much through it!

My most recent lesson was from Exodus 4, when God called Moses.
It's a great reminder to LOOK UP!

When God called Moses, he was worried that he wasn't qualified and I would have been too I mean a Holy Perfect God that showed up in a burning bush is calling me to lead his people? That's just a little intimidating to say the least! Moses knew that he wasn't qualified and so he tried to remind God of his weaknesses

"Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and tongue."  (v. 10)

Moses wanted to remind God of why he couldn't be a leader, but God looked at him and said:

"Who has made the man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?"

God knew exactly who Moses was when he called him! God already knew all of his weaknesses, but he wanted to work in those weaknesses! 

"Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak."

God told Moses that he would be with him and would speak through him, but moses wasn't willing to go, he was so caught up looking at himself and his weaknesses and failures that he failed to look UP to God and see that God was capable and able to use moses even IN the midst of his weaknesses. Instead Moses was caught in the trap of sizing up the situations to his own abilities instead of look up to God and seeing that he was the one who would give him the Strength and skills needed to lead God's people.

So Moses argued with God and told him to choose someone else to speak for God, and so God did and he chose Aaron. How often do I do that in my own life? Do I tell God he should chose someone else. How often do I fail to follow the tugging of the spirit on my heart, because I'm fixing my eyes on myself, my own fears and weaknesses and not on my Savior who is able to do abundantly more than I could ever ask or imagine! 

Instead of looking at life with a focus on myself and on what I think I can or cannot do I want to live my life with a focus on God and who he is! That the one who has called me is faithful and he wants to use me and glorify himself in the midst of my weaknesses!

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 

 2 Corinthians 12:19

The truth will set you free

Sometimes it's so easy to believe lies that our hearts or the world tells us, instead of believing the truth of God's word and what he says. We all have lies that we listen to, so I challenge you to figure out what lies you've been believing and see what God has to say about it, start telling yourself the truth and memorizing scripture to help remind and encourage you and free you from the lies of satan. 



Recently I made this list of lies v. truth for a friend and it ended up encouraging me, so I thought I'd share! 

God will never forgive me for what I've done 
 Truth- "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) 
  We are fully forgiven in Christ 

God can never use me 
Truth- "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
   God will empower you to accomplish the plans he has for your life  

I am full of fear 
Truth- "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self‑discipline." (2 Tim. 1:7)
  When I am in Christ I have nothing to fear 

If God loved me he wouldn't let bad things happen to me 
Truth- “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
  God has my best interested at heart in all he does 

I'll never stop hurting 
Truth- "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." (Psalm 147:3)
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 24:12)
  God will heal our broken hearts

I'll never be good enough 
Truth- "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork,created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

" How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,[b] so that we may serve the living God!" (Hebrews 9:14)

  Because of Grace we are viewed through Christ's perfection 


No one will ever love me 
Truth- "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)
  God's will always love us, with an everlasting love

I'm not strong enough
Truth- "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."(2 Corinthains 12:9)
"Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary."
 God will give us grace and strength when we are weak." (Isaiah 40:31)

I'll never change 
Truth- "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:17) 
"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6) 

God will finish the work that he has started 

My Name....

Even though almost everyone calls me Becca, my real name does begin with an "R"

My parents named all 4 of their biological children after people in the Bible and for me, they obviously decided on the name Rebekah (except they modified the spelling haha) she's the woman in the Bible who i'm named after, when I was little I would always get excited when we learned about Isaac and Rebekah in Sunday school,  because she had the same name as me! Now that I'm older when I read about her, I see a woman who loved God and there are many things about her character that I hope I will be able to emulate 

Rebekah was an extravagantly gracious woman, when Isaac's servant came to the well, what did she do? She offered to give him a drink AND water all of his camels until they were finished drinking, think about how much water that is, one camel alone can hold 20+ gallons of water, and she offered to water ALL of them, freely and graciously and she did this for a complete stranger! 

Pure Servant's heart---she was willing to serve without the promise of a reward, she was willing to give up her time and energy without promise of recognition simply to serve others. 

How often do I serve, and expect a reward or at least a thank you? Instead I want to serve others in order to show them God's love, not to get anything for myself. The awesome thing about this is that when you selflessly serve others it causes people to stop and worship God and that is exactly what the servant did he praised and thanked God for being so good and faithful

Faithful in the mundane and ordinary tasks---Rebekah didn't wake up that day thinking oh I'm going to be proposed to today and get to go on an adventure and be married, no it was just an ordinary day for her and she was faithfully serving God through it, without knowing that anything out the ordinary would happen 

I tend to get "bored" of the routine of everyday life, and long for big task or challenges or great new ways for me to serve the Lord, but really I need to just be seeking God in the present where he has placed me and seek to be faithful and follow him wherever he has placed me, whether it's so called "exciting" or not 

Didn't hesitate to enter into the unknown---when Rebekah agreed to marry Isaac she was agreeing to leave behind all that she had known, her hometown, her family and the comfort of familiarity, to go to an unknown place and marry someone she had never met before, but she trusted God and knew that he would be faithful and he would guide her. She knew that although this next step might be "unknown" to her it was "known" by God. 

And because Rebekah was willing to follow and obey God she was blessed! 

Just like Rebekah we have choices everyday as to how we are going to go about our tasks, whether we are going to be generous, loving and kind in what we do, or whether we will be selfish, impatient and rude. God notices and rewards our consistency and obedience (even in the mundane tasks of life)......Just remember Rebekah :) 

Thankful for the lessons that "Rebekah" is teaching me, even if my spelling is different! 

Importance of Christ's Life

“For by the on man’s disobedience the many were made sinners. So by one man’s obedience…many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19

Christ’s perfect life and obedience was important. His obedience included a life in which he obeyed God’s law in all things at all times. Every day was perfect. Our savior lived in perfect alignment with God’s will and law.

Jerry Bridges says it well:

“For the most part Jesus’s life of perfect obedience has

been seen only as a necessary precondition to his death.

The truth is, however, Jesus not only died for us, He also lived for us.

 That is, all that Christ did both in his life and death,

He did in our place as our substitute.”

We as humans have double guilt. We have the inherited guilt from Adam and then on top of that our own guilt and debt to condemn us. Jesus came and took care of the problem of the debt that we owed.

Even the absence of sin is not a ticket to an audience with God. We need more than a removal of guilt we need a savior who can give us the perfection that we can never attain. An absence of sin seems impressive compared to the dirt in our hearts, but God requires much more than a blank slate, he requires righteousness and perfection.

The death of Christ is what removed our debt and returned us to a balance of zero, while Christ’s obedience is what put unimaginable wealth in our bank account; it is because of Christ’s life and perfect obedience that we are granted perfect righteousness before God

Justification by faith alone means that we’re justified by the works of Christ alone.

So yes we should be very grateful for Christ’s death on the cross, but we need to be just as grateful for his obedient life as well! 

Don't replace God's word

"Absalam stole the hearts of the people of Israel."  2 Samuel 15:6

We need to be careful to guard our hearts and make sure that God is the only one who owns our hearts. It is easy to slowly let other people and books become as important to us as God and the Bible. There are so many amazing christian leaders like John Piper, Francis Chan, Singclair Furgeson, CJ Mahaney, John Piper, Beth Moore, Mark Driscoll etc... the list goes on. These people are a gift from God, and a means of grace, but as awesome as they are we must be careful never to confuse their teachings, doctrines and books with God and his words. I love John Piper and I listen to his messages often and have read many of his books and as helpful and packed full of truth as they are I know that Piper would never want me to confuse his words with God's. We must not let the words of christian leaders become our truth, God's words is the sole basis of truth. These leaders are meant to be catalysts in helping you to think and teaching you, but ultimately they should be pointing you back to God's word and drawing you into the Bible, NEVER replacing it, because once we hold someone's words with the same weight as God's and see them as just as valuable than it is a slippery slope. Listening to God following his word should be of primary importance, not listening to a theologian or learning about their new revelation.Soon that person maybe be the one who is leading your heart instead of God.  just like what happened to the Israelites when Absalom led them astray.

Lyrics....

Worship music is an amazing gift from God to be able to praise him and enjoying listening to the beauty
of the music as the truth penetrates your heart, but we need to be wary of the lyrics. Just because they are "christian" and the song is being played on a Christian radio station doesn't mean that everything in the song is right. I have a habit of just singing along to songs and not even realizing what I'm saying and then all of sudden I stop and am like "whoa is that really what this song is saying?"

That happened to me the other day except this time it was a Christian song and as the chorus was playing it says "I want to believe, Jesus help me believe that I am someone worth dying for."



I was getting all into the song and then I thought about it for a minute and was like wait a minute! This isn't right. Because you see, I'm not someone worth dying for. I am a wrethced sinner who despised and rejected God and rebelled against him. No matter how hard I try even my best deeds are like filthy fags! I'm selfish and prideful, I want everything to be about me and I want to be the ruler of my life. Does this sound like someone worth dying for? You know what? I'm even way worse then I could even imagine (that's pretty bad). The Bible says that we don't even know the sinfulness of our own hearts. that's how bad it is. If that's the case, I am not even close to being someone "worth dying for"! In fact it's the opposite, I should die!

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Romans 3:9-12

But you see this is the whole beauty of the gospel. Because we are so sinful and wicked yet Christ still loved us enough to come and save us. You see if I was "good" and Christ saved me, then it wouldn't be so amazing now would it? Because I would have in a sense deserved Christ's sacrifice. and I would have felt like I had earned it through my "goodness", but because we didn't deserve Christ's sacrafice for us in the least bit that's what makes it so astounding! That is what shows you the depth of his love for you, so no you may not have been worth dying for, but that didn't stop God from lavishing his amazing love and undeserved grace on you! Revel in the beauty of the cross today!

Romans 5:7-8 - For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Scripture Art

I LOVE doing this! Combining two of my favorite things photography and scripture verses! :)

Here are my most recent pieces that I made for my photo project....enjoy!

Sweet Promises!

I want to remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you. (1 Corinthians 15:1)

Paul emphatically takes us back to the gospel and back to the blessings we have in Christ in order to push us deeper into a knowledge of His amazing grace. So, below is a list of promises that are just some of the many afforded to us if we have trusted Jesus. You don’t have to earn these truths, you don’t have to work hard to gain these truths, you simply have to receive these powerful gifts we have in Jesus. Note they are all in past or present tense.

They are already true even if you don’t acknowledge it. If you are in Christ these all apply, so rest, accept, and live in light of them.

You are loved | Ephesians 2:4
You are forgiven | 1st John 2:12
You are healed | Isaiah 53:5
You are new | 2nd Corinthians 5:17
You are secure | Hebrews 6:19-20
You are no longer under condemnation | Romans 8:1
You have the Holy Spirit | Ephesians 1:13
You have every spiritual blessing in Christ | Ephesians 1:3
You will never be abandoned | Matthew 28:20
You are partakers of the divine nature | 2nd Peter 1:4
You are pursued | 1st John 4:10
You are clean | 1st Corinthians 6:11
You are holy | Colossians 1:22
You are blameless | Ephesians 1:4
You are His | Titus 2:14
You are made in His image | Genesis 1:27
You are written on the palm of His hand | Isaiah 49:16
You are free | Galatians 5:1
You are filled with a Spirit of power, not of fear | 2nd Timothy 1:7
You have Jesus as your advocate | 1st John 2:1
You are justified | Romans 5:1
You are not on trial anymore | Colossians 2:14
You have a Father that graciously gives all things | Romans 8:32
You have Him interceding for you at all times | Romans 8:34
You are a Child of Him | 1st John 3:1
You are His bride | Ephesians 5:31-32
You are His friend | John 15:15
Your old self is buried with Him | Romans 6:3
You are raised to new life | Romans 6:4
You are dead to sin | Romans 6:7
You are in union with Jesus | Galatians 2:20
You are a member of His body | Romans 12:5
You are chosen | Ephesians 1:4
You are hidden with Christ in God | Colossians 3:3
You are a branch of Jesus | John 15:5
You have perfect access to Him at all times because of the blood | Ephesians 3:12
You are God’s poetry/workmanship | Ephesians 2:10

Maybe copy and paste these into a word document that you print out and put in a place you will see every day. Maybe commit to meditating on a few each day, marinating in its implications. Or, maybe open the Word and find the countless ones not even listed here that add to the list!

(wonderfullymadeblog.org)

abide in me...

"Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine you are the branch, whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

John 15:4-5

This is such a sweet promise that Jesus offers, if we simply abide in him, seek our strength and life from God alone then we will bear great fruit! However, how often do we try to do things on our own, we feel like we can handle situations or ministry opportunities without God and his grace and wisdom? How foolish are these thoughts? If we do not abide in God then we can do NOTHING and we will not be able to bear any fruit. Jesus has paid a way for us to come to the father and be in him, so let us take advantage of that free gift and bear fruit for Jesus, no more striving and trying to do it on our own, that only leads to frustration, discouragement and dissapoinment! Seek Jesus today and abide in Him completely! Once you've experienced the joy, peace and strength that only he provides, you'll never want to go back!

Jesus time...

Time with God has become onw of my favorite things to do...even though I don't spend nearly enough time with my savior as I should!

((warning this is kind of long))

Right now I am studying the book of Ezekiel! I know it seems like such a random book of the Bible to go through, but I wanted to start studying books that I don't know very much about and well Ezekiel seemed like a good place to start! ;)

In case you were wondering Let me tell you it's a pretty awesome book! On the surface it may not seem to be I mean the whole first part is about how God is going to judge and destroy Jerusalum, but you know what? Through the 17 chapters that I have read so far God has taught me so much and it has been so neat to see! I get so excited to read more, because I just can't wait to see what God is going to reveal to me next!

Just read Ch. 16...God is talking about the Faithless Bride.

"When I passed you I saw you in your blood 'Live' I said to you in your blood, 'Live' I made you flourish like a plant of the field and you grew up and became tall." (v.6)
-God has given us everything and has saved our life

"I clothed you...I adorned you...and your beauty was perfected through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord....but you trusted in your beauty"
-we dishonor him and don't follow him like we should

As I was reading through I couldn't help but realize that that's me! I was completely dead in my trespasses, in utter despair and without hope, until God saw me and said 'Live' He saved me and gave me a new life, one full of joy and peace! He brought me from death into life! Yet how often do I forsake my savior? How often do I trust in myself and try to do things on my own instead of clinging to God and seeking His strength and help? I go my own way, I wander and I don't give God the glory and honor that he deserves! I seek man's approval above the Holy God. I don't praise him for all that he has done for me, instead I seek my own glory and honor and try to steal his throne.

It brings me to tears to realize how often I rob God of glory that rightfully belongs to him! Thankfully I serve a gracious, loving, forgiving and merciful God! No matter what I do he still loves me just the same! I mess up....and I'm going to keep making mistakes, but there is hope and forgiveness and he is always there to gently lead and guide me back to himself! So although I may not always love, serve and honor my savior, creator and father like I should....he is full of grace always ready and willing to forgive me and help me! What an amazing God!

"You may think that God is no better than you. In other words, you couldn’t imagine forgiving someone seventy times seven, so you can’t believe that God would. If this is the way you are thinking, then you are believing a lie. God is not like us. His forgiveness is not like ours. Don’t use your own weakness as the standard by which you understand God’s greatness! Just listen as He reveals Himself in His Word."

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-7

Psalm 103

As Christians we all pray at some time or other....whether its just when we are about to eat, or when there is a crisis, or whether we spend consistent daily prayer time with God, at some point we pray.

Now I'm not going to talk about how we should pray more, because I know we ALL could be in more constant communion with God. However, let me ask you this question. When was the last time you prayed and ONLY praised and thanked God for who he is? When I heard this question I honestly couldn't think of a time. I mean when I pray I usually thank God, but then I also will ask him for things and pray for help and strength etc. Now none of those are bad things and don't get me wrong we should certainly bring those desires and needs to God and seek his help! He wants us to do that. However I feel like often times that's all we do. We pray we want God to do something or when we need help. But our God is also great and GREATLY to be praised! He is holy and majestic and faithful and loving and forgiving! He is so amazing that when we think about God's character we should be in awe and our response should be to praise and thank him for who he his! David does this in Psalm 103

"Bless the Lord O, my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives

all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that

your youth is renewed like eagle's. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all

who are oppressed. He made known his ways to moses and his acts to the people

of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding

in steadfast love. He will not always chide , nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repays us according to our

iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above earth so great is his steadfast love

towards those who fear him. as far as the east is from the west so far does he remove

our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his child, so the

Lord shows compassion to those who fear him." (v.1-13)

As you can see the whole Psalm is dedicated to praising God for who he is. His character and nature. We shouldn't need God to do anything or give us things in order to praise him, instead God's character should simply be enough to make your heart want to praise him! I want to start praising and thanking God more for his absolutely amazing character and nature!

my new verse(s)

Soo the other day I was reading 1 chronicles...and I stumbled upon this little vers:

"Seek the Lord and His Strength.

Seek His presence continually."

-1 Chronicles 16:11

I love this verse cause it sums up, what I need to be doing everyday!

Then I was reading in Psalms a couple weeks later and look what I found:

"Seek the Lord and his strenght.

Seek His presence continually."

-Psalm 105:4

Do you see why I'm so excited? It's the SAME verse :)))) I couldn't believe it! When I found it again that's when I knew I had picked the right verse for this school year! & I like to think that it's extra spiritual since it's in the Bible twice hehe (just kidding) :P but yep...I just thought that it was really neat and really shows how the Bible is so connected! Sometimes I just get so excited about God's word! I love it every time I open God's word i find something new!

Psalm 40

"None can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them yet they are more than can be told...I have told the glad news..I have not restrained my lips..I have not hidden your deliverance with my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your faithfulness from the congregation." (psalm 40:5,9,10)

I need to live more like David did. Too often I do not proclaim or tell others of the amazing things that GOd is doing in my life. I hide the truth of the gospel and instead of rejoicing and telling others of God's amazing love I hide it and keep it to myself. Why do I not go around praising God, proclaiming his wondrous deeds and telling others about the amazing gift of the gospel? I am so selfish. I am more concerned with what others will think of me and of my own comfort, then I am about sharing the amazing gift that I have and helping others to receive it! My hands are full of the wonderful things that the Lord has done for me and I will share it with the world!