I know, it's been awhile. Shocker, I'm a horrible journaler/blogger.
Right now, I'm still trying to figure out what verse to attach to my One Word this year. During church this morning, my train of thought took me down the rabbit hole and swirled around, and I found myself looking up various synonyms for Intentional on my Bible app. Found lots of stuff. SO much stuff!
Being the scholarly, literal person that I am, I look up intentional to ensure that I'm not like Vizzini and that there isn't some alternate, hidden meaning of which I am unaware.
Guess what. There's not. It's pretty straight forward. Intentional means to be deliberate, or do something on purpose. Not surprising, I use this all of the time with my kids. "Did you hit your sister intentionally or accidentally?" or "How is biting not intentional?"
Synonyms include: purposed, planned, prearranged, calculated, aforethought, and calculated. Now, the latter three have rather menacing connotations to me ("with malice aforethought" etc). But the first three are pretty much spot on what I was expecting.
God is PURPOSED. God is PLANNED. God has PREARRANGED. God is INTENTIONAL.
Intend/intended/intends/intent/intention/intentional/intentionally/intently show up a sporadically in the Bible--46 times total for all 8 variations--but purpose on the other hand shows up 42 times in just that form. When I looked up that word, I found a wealth of verses.
Exodus 9:16 -- But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
Psalm 57:2 -- I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
Psalm 138:8 -- The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your handsProverbs 19:21 -- Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.Isaiah 55:11 -- so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Romans 8:28 -- And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Ephesians 3:11 -- This was according to his eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord
2 Timothy 1:9 -- who saved us and called us to[a] a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began
Hebrews 6:17 -- So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath
So much to dwell on with these verses. And so many others to look into still.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Happy New Word!
I know, I know. I am the Queen of Awful Bloggers. I was going to blog about my marvelous one word last year and I was going to finally, FINALLY be successful with a journal. And then April slipped into May, which tumbled into June which somehow transformed in October and then December and now here I sit, in a brand spanking new year.
Officially, I still have a few months left of my year long One Word challenge. But, seeing as I was an epic disaster at that attempt last year, I figure it's better to just start fresh in January. I even have a fancy new word. Yes, I have already chosen my new word, can you believe it?? So, what all is new for 2016? So glad you asked. Wait, you didn't want to know? Oops, sorry. Too late!
New Approach
Last year, I think I took to much of a "resolution" look on my word. Gentleness was supposed to be a way to focus on being kinder, meeker, softer, particularly with my loved ones. If I'm grading myself, I got a big fat F in that one. Although that one word was great and Idid need some help in that area, I certainly didn't finish the year any gentler than when I started. I also discovered that so many times when I was trying to be "gentle" that I was letting myself be a doormat. Needless to say, that lasted all of two seconds before I blew up and stood up for myself, because a Red Bird will not be denied. This year, I realize, that my approach should not be about my gentleness or my anything. It should not be about me and how I walk through this earth and how I interact with others on it. My approach needs to be about Him and His character. Him. Not me.
New Goal
Wait a minute Red. I thought you just said this wasn't about you, but about Him? So what's with the goal? Alright before you start in on me for already losing focus and shifting my approach and screwing things up...I still have362 363 (leap year!) days left to do that. But what good is any endeavor without a goal, lest we set adrift in the seas of complacency. Or something like that. But seriously, I do have a goal for this year. Not that I miraculously become the world's greatest journaler. That ship sailed loooooooonng ago. No, my goal is that I learn something about Him, His character, His will, and my purpose. Whew...shove me in the shallow waters, before I get too deep! But in all seriousness, I want to gain a better understanding of God and His character and personality. I want to draw nearer to Him. I want to stay the course with the challenge not just because I am stubborn, but because I am learning and seeking and changing. I think that's a goal that we could probably all stand to have on our lists.
New Method
I'm tinkering with the idea of attempting some new method for my year long study of one teeny aspect of God's character. I have yet to look up my word in my handy-dandy, bite-sized Exhaustive Concordance, so I can't say with any certainty that my word is actually (a) in the text (b) frequently recurring or (c) embedded within inspiring and motivational verses. Perhaps I will find my word is more of a theme rather than an explicit instruction or characteristic. Then again, maybe it is found 384 times (spoiler: it's not). The point is that even if my word isn't found in the Bible as often as I might like, even if I do not have a mile-long list of verses to pour over and ponder, I need to be able to learn and research.
New Choice
This year, my word choice has less to do with me, and more to do with Him. See, already making progress with the new approach. What is a characteristic of God that I want to see more, learn more, know more? Not what do I want to become or do I want to change, but what is He about and how does this word reveal Him to me?
Which brings us to this, my new word.
Intentional.
Officially, I still have a few months left of my year long One Word challenge. But, seeing as I was an epic disaster at that attempt last year, I figure it's better to just start fresh in January. I even have a fancy new word. Yes, I have already chosen my new word, can you believe it?? So, what all is new for 2016? So glad you asked. Wait, you didn't want to know? Oops, sorry. Too late!
New Approach
Last year, I think I took to much of a "resolution" look on my word. Gentleness was supposed to be a way to focus on being kinder, meeker, softer, particularly with my loved ones. If I'm grading myself, I got a big fat F in that one. Although that one word was great and I
New Goal
Wait a minute Red. I thought you just said this wasn't about you, but about Him? So what's with the goal? Alright before you start in on me for already losing focus and shifting my approach and screwing things up...I still have
New Method
I'm tinkering with the idea of attempting some new method for my year long study of one teeny aspect of God's character. I have yet to look up my word in my handy-dandy, bite-sized Exhaustive Concordance, so I can't say with any certainty that my word is actually (a) in the text (b) frequently recurring or (c) embedded within inspiring and motivational verses. Perhaps I will find my word is more of a theme rather than an explicit instruction or characteristic. Then again, maybe it is found 384 times (spoiler: it's not). The point is that even if my word isn't found in the Bible as often as I might like, even if I do not have a mile-long list of verses to pour over and ponder, I need to be able to learn and research.
New Choice
This year, my word choice has less to do with me, and more to do with Him. See, already making progress with the new approach. What is a characteristic of God that I want to see more, learn more, know more? Not what do I want to become or do I want to change, but what is He about and how does this word reveal Him to me?
Which brings us to this, my new word.
Intentional.
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