Appearances

Hello,
First I'd like to thank Erica for inviting me read Screwtape Letters and participate in this study. So far I'm enjoying the story, and the Lord is convicting me of some of the ways I let Satan work in my life. I can't wait to see what else He has to teach me through this book.
For those of you who haven't met me, I'm Annie P. and I'm 17. I live in a small town in Nebraska, and I've been homeschooled for most of my life (I'm finishing up my junior year of high school). Okay, enough about me...
The Lord really impacted me with something I read in chapter 2. I found the section on page 12 about appearances quite convicting. In case you don't remember, Screwtape is telling Wormwood to use appearances to trip up his person and distract him from the Body of Christ. Instead of viewing the neighbors in his pew as brothers and sisters in Christ, Wormwood wants his person to see their imperfections.
This got me thinking. As humans why do we get so caught up in outward appearances? Well the simple answer is because we are human. But as Christians we need to focus on a person's heart more so than what they look like on the outside. The Holy Spirit can't work through us until we learn to disregard outward appearances. I'm not saying that the outside doesn't matter (because it does: it reflects what's in a person's heart), but we can't let our opinion of them be ruled by what they look like.
I'm finding that the enemy uses outward appearances to trip me up quite often. As hard as this is to admit, I'm finding that I'm guilty of judging people in our church based primarily on what they look like on the outside or how they act. This is exactly what Screwtape was trying to get Wormwood to do. I don't want to let the enemy have victory in this area of my life anymore. I want to see the heart of these people in my church.

"But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." 1st Samuel 16:7

"Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that as he is Christ's, even so are we Christs." 2 Corinthians 10:7

Diligence

"Thou has commanded us to keep they precepts diligently." Psalm 119:4

As I was reading in Psalms a few days ago, I came across this verse, and I noticed I had underlined the word "diligently." Somewhere in the margin of the page, close to this verse, I had written this: Are we becoming illiterate Bible students, or are we diligently being in the word? This instantly reminded me of the 90 day challenge. I just want to encourage you all, that even though we are behind it's the diligence that's going to pay off. If we are diligently reading our Bibles, even if it's just a little bit here and a little bit there, we are still hiding God's word in our heart (Psalm 119:11).

The Anne Girl is Checking In

Here's my reply to Erica's question about how 90 Challenge is going for me.

Well, I'm sure I'm the most behind of you all; I just started Joshua today. I'm finding it really interesting, and I'm enjoying it so far. I can't believe I read all the books of Moses in two weeks!! Wow! That's quite a feat for me. I think I liked Genesis the best. I basically struggled through Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. All that stuff about the law was kind of dry reading. So I was excited to start a new book (Joshua). Most of what I read today was story like, and that was easier to read.

What are your thoughts on Old Testament law?? Do you think it pertains in any way to our everyday life today? After reading about sacrificing animals, I was thankful that the Lord was the ultimate sacrifice for us, and that we don't have to sacrifice animals in this day and age.

I guess for now the Lord hasn't really shown me anything from what I've been reading. But I'm praying that the Lord would show me something, so I can post. How is the challenge going for the rest of you??

So What's All in a Name?

Here's the promised post!! I'm sorry if it's a bit short..

I guess what's really been standing out to me in the Old Testament is peoples names. Most of the time they are so silly sounding and strange. But then I started to notice that most of the peoples names came from what happened at their birth. The story that really got me started on a name search was the story of Tamar and her birth of twins (Gen. 38:27-30). I thought it was kind of funny that the midwife tied a red string to one of the twins hands, so I wanted to know if the name "Zarah" meant "red string" or something. So I got on Power Bible CD, and looked up the name "Zarah" in the Bible name dictionary. The name "Zarah" means "east, brightness." His twin's name "Pharez" means "division, rupture." I was kind of scratching my head at Zarah's name because it doesn't seem relative to the last part of the story.

"And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold twins were in her womb. And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, this came out first. And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez. And afterward came out his brother, that had a scarlet thread upon his hand; and his name was called Zerah." Gen. 38: 28-30

Here are some other names I looked up:
Ex. 2:10- The name Moses means taken out; drawn forth. That makes sense because we know he was drawn out of the water.
Ex. 2:22 - The name Gershom means a stranger here. That one also matches up with the story.

I wish I had written down more names when I came across them and looked them up. But I didn't so, I'm apologize that I only have three examples.

Hello

Hi Everyone, I'm one of Erica's friends. She invited me to join the 90 day challenge, and be apart of this blog. I'm looking forward to this challenge, and am glad Erica invited me (thanks E!).

I guess my goal for the the 90 day challenge is that it wouldn't turn into the 90 day race. I'm sure Erica has told you all a little bit about me, but in case she hasn't, my Mom is going through Cancer at the moment. I'm kinda busy most of the time trying to take care of her, and some of the housework. I was discussing this challenge with a friend and I caught myself saying that "I didn't think I had time for something like this." I realized that was wrong, and that I DO need to have time for reading my Bible.

I think it would be great if I finished reading my whole Bible in 90 days, but I'm just going to try and pace myself. I don't want it to turn into a race for me! Just to let you all know, I'm a bit behind from where you guys are. I'm hoping to post stuff when I have time, but it may be from chapters you've already read. So please bear with me!!

I'm excited about this, challenge and I'm going to try and stay focused with it. I guess I would appreciate it if you would all pray for me; especially that I would make time for this! I am excited about this blog, and I can't wait to read and see what the Lord shows you all (during this challenge). God Bless! :)

The Anne Girl (I'm trying to put my internet safety skills to practice, so I'm sorry I'm not posting my real name. )