Selfishness

Lately there has been a shift in my spirit, a tugging like I have never really grasped before. The tug has become an overpowering desire to shed my current skin and begin anew, just as a snake sheds its skin.

But what is my skin?

Laziness

Gluttony

A few times a year I get a real itch and desire to change. More than just New Year’s resolutions, I make all year resolutions of which rarely ever avail. I want to be a better homemaker but I’m terribly lazy…. I will start on a new path and do well, and then when I fail- I give up. Giving up then leads to feelings of worthlessness, regret, shame, etc. I want to be healthy and fuel my body with the right kinds of foods but after a while I again fail and quit, which I then replace with high amounts of bad things for me because I feel worthless, regretful, shameful, etc.

It’s a vicious cycle with me…. I make a change and a commitment only to give up and quit. I have somehow managed to believe that I am incapable of change and that I am damaged or a perpetual failure…. and when I try and fail it only furthers that idea about me.

Just a little while ago after watching TV instead of doing my morning devotions and opting for no food instead of healthy food because it would have taken too long to make I had a realization about why I am the way that I think I am- SELFISHNESS.

I know I am selfish in many areas, but these 2 big areas of failure for me I never connected to selfishness. As a wife, a mom, a Christian woman I am called to homemaking (Prov 31:27 NLT- She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness). Of course I also work full time outside of the home- but many moms do and still have time to tend to the home where their family lives. They make the time. I do not, or at least not consistently…. I desire and long for the ability to take care of things and stop being lazy but I find myself perched on the couch watching TV instead of getting things done. Sure I know that bathroom is nasty and the kitchen is a mess, but I’d rather watch Netflix. Sure I have a huge pile of clean clothes sitting on the floor needing to be folded that I could easily do while I sit on my butt and watch TV but I’ll do it tomorrow…. seemingly always tomorrow.

Then it comes to health…another blatant area of selfishness. When I put certain foods into my body, my body has negative reactions that affect the people around me; from lethargy to digestion woes and smells I know what to and not to eat in order to be most efficient, but sometimes I would rather just eat crap because 1) I’m lazy 2) it tastes good, but mostly 3) I’m selfish. I know that I am called to keep my health in balance and yet I purposefully ingest things that do harm, I am dishonoring my temple that God has given me (1 Cor 6:19-20-Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body; 1 Cor 10:23-24- You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial. Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others. ; 1 Cor 10:31- So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.).

So after sitting here and writing this out, I am asking the question…how do I banish a life lived selfishly thus far? How do I rid myself of these defects so that I may be the person I deep down want to be? How do I stop believing the lies that I am a failure so that I can succeed? The thing is-I can’t. But He can… John 5:30- By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. Phil 4:13- I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

I have unknowingly held onto the notion that I can change these parts of myself that I know I cannot. I need spiritual intercession to shed this skin. I need renewal and transformation of the mind. I need a fresh anointing and I have been looking everywhere except towards the giver of life! So as I sit in awe at a realization that is likely blatantly obvious to many, my hope rises. I’m not a failure, I just haven’t allowed the Holy Spirit to give me strength and change me into who I am called to be, at least not in all areas…but I am now willing.

The Message (MSG) version gives me the perfect response on how to give it up and allow the Lord to change me….

Place Your Life Before God

Romans 12:1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Now I am off to some in-depth study and prayer to let go and let God!

-Miranda Embry

Praise Report!

So I briefly mentioned in the last post about the upcoming homeless blessing bag drive we are doing. I just wanted to share how faithful God is….a good friend on mine and sister in Christ has made a generous donation! We already have adult and kid toothbrushes, but now thanks to her we will have floss, toothpaste, razors and combs that are being ordered off Amazon and shipped to us!

Here are the words she used when making the donation: “Well, I know God will take care of us, so if I can help some one else even if it leaves me with a dollar in my account, I know God will provide “

Talk about encouragement!! That is some faithful giving and it will go a long way to share the gospel in the homeless community locally.

If you feel led to give to this cause, Amazon and other sites have tons of items in bulk for inexpensive prices that will be used to minister to the homeless in the name of Jesus.

Here are the items she is donating for this cause as an idea for you to look at:

You can contact us for where to send the items. If you do not wish to give to this, I encourage you to give to SOMETHING! Not just to your local church, give to others.

God Bless!

-Miranda Embry

A Giving Heart

Recently our church service was regarding having open hands and giving what we can to help others and it inspired me to start a new drive for the local homeless community. Helping those who are in need is something I am very passionate about. For this drive we have decided to collect items to make “Blessing Bags” that will be given out to men, women and children in need. Items in the “bags” will be comprised of basic items that many people in society take for granted. Toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, socks, bandages, etc….the stuff that we use everyday that some only see as a luxury. The more I thought about the service and this drive the more convicted I began to feel in my spirit. I wanted to share with you what God was impressing on my heart about having a giving heart.

As believers we are told that we are to go out and meet needs, we are to clothe and feed those who are naked and hungry, we are to give with open hands and heart- not with expectancy of receiving, but because Christ so freely gave His all for us.

I think about my own life, there are SO many areas in my life where I could do more, give more, love more. I am blessed, truly, I have a house, food, clothes, a car, a job and the list goes on- but what am I doing for those who don’t? Am I only focused on getting that cute new pair of shoes or am I considering those who live near me that have no shoes or actually need new ones?

Do I spend time complaining about wanting to go out to eat and be served somewhere so I don’t have to do the cooking or cleaning without realizing how amazingly blessed I am to have that for a complaint? Do I take a step back and think that instead of spending $50 going out to eat that I could take that $50 and buy enough food to feed a family for a couple days?

After reviewing areas in my life where I can do better to love like Jesus I decided to get into the Word and find some guidance, below are just a few examples what I found today.

Proverbs 19:17

¹⁷ If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord—
    and he will repay you!

Matthew 25:35-40

³⁵ For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. ³⁶ I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,^[a] you were doing it to me!’

1 John 3:17-18

¹⁷ If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister^[a] in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

¹⁸ Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

James 2:14-16   Faith without Good Deeds Is Dead

¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

A goal of mine is to be like the woman described in Proverbs 31 and I was amazed to even find a reference there:

Proverbs 31:20

²⁰ She extends a helping hand to the poor
    and opens her arms to the needy.

This short examination into my life, my heart and my spirit has encouraged me to get out and give- give more, do more and be more like my Lord has called me to be.

My question for you today…do you have a giving heart?

Examine your hearts….examine your lives. Are you doing enough? Can you do more? Where can you sacrifice in your life to give to the lives of others? The Word questions how the love of God can be in us if we do not do for others, it tells us that without good deeds our faith is dead, tells us when we give to others we are indeed giving to the Lord, and that God will repay that which we give away…. I want to encourage you to get out and do something to share the love of Jesus. Meet a need. Give a hug. Say a prayer. Share your blessings with those who are less fortunate and let them know the Lord loves them because He has commanded you to go to them in love.

-Miranda Embry

Praying Psalm Passages

I decided to open up to the book of Psalm yesterday and start reading. I began in Psalm 23 and ended at Psalm 30. God never ceases to amaze me with how on time He is. I marked up the below passages and combined them to read together as a prayer. Collectively these passages read like a powerhouse of adoration, dedication and thanksgiving to Him. I hope they speak to you as they have to me!

-Miranda Embry

Psalm 23:6

6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me

all the days of my life,

and I will live in the house of the Lord

forever.

Psalm 25:4-5, 15, 21

4 Show me the right path, O Lord;

point out the road for me to follow.

5 Lead me by your truth and teach me,

for you are the God who saves me.

All day long I put my hope in you.

15 My eyes are always on the Lord,

for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies.

21 May integrity and honesty protect me.

for I put my hope in you.

Psalm 27:1, 4-6, 11, 13-14

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—

so why should I be afraid?

The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,

so why should I tremble?

4 The one thing I ask of the Lord—

the thing I seek most—

is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

delighting in the Lord’s perfections

and meditating in his Temple.

5 For he will conceal me there when troubles come;

he will hide me in his sanctuary.

He will place me out of reach on a high rock.

6 Then I will hold my head high

above my enemies who surround me.

At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy,

singing and praising the Lord with music.

11 Teach me how to live, O Lord.

Lead me along the right path,

for my enemies are waiting for me.

13 Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness

while I am here in the land of the living.

14 Wait patiently for the Lord.

Be brave and courageous.

Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

Psalm 28: 6-7

6 Praise the Lord!

For he has heard my cry for mercy.

7 The Lord is my strength and shield.

I trust him with all my heart.

He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.

I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

Psalm 29:1-2, 11

1 Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings;

honor the Lord for his glory and strength.

2 Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

11 The Lord gives his people strength.

The Lord blesses them with peace.

Psalm 30: 10-12

10 Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me.

Help me, O Lord.

11 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.

You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,

12 that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

(All verses are in the NLT)

Ministry Event Update!

Well, we are almost a week past our first event as a ministry and one that will become an annual event! The title was Life Out Loud which we had women from various backgrounds share their testimonies. After we gave our testimonies from the stage there were even women in the audience who felt led to share as well! It was a great success and happened exactly as God intended. Lives were touched, bonds were formed, and honesty-gut wrenching honesty of how far God has brought us was relayed in a perfect revelation.

We had many women register for our quarterly newsletters and any other pertinent sporadic emails we may send (which you can too), we had ample amounts of prayer requests that we keep records of and have dedicated prayer warriors to pray faithfully on the growing list.

We have already begun the process of planning our next event which will tentatively be in March 2015! More to come on that.

The point of this post was just to share the amazing power that God has and how no matter what we may plan, everything goes according to His will.

Miranda Embry

Prayer to Reach the Lost and Hurt

Heavenly Father, I want to come to you now in a time of need.

There are so many people in this world that are hurt and dying, lost without you.

Lord, I pray that you will use me to shine a bright light into the darkness that they are trapped in.

I pray that by your Holy Spirit I will be a vessel to be used for you glory.

Oh gracious God, it is my deepest and most sincere desire to see you all of the days of my life!

I daily choose to surrender myself to you even when I fall short.

I know that no matter what you are there to catch me and pick me up.

I thank you so much for loving me and teaching me to love myself.

It is only because of you that I have joy and peace.

Even in the midst of trials and tribulations, your Word comforts me and my prayers affirm me.

Lord, use me to minister to the world and help me to reach the lost, to teach your children, and to strengthen the kingdom of heaven.

I love you with all of me.

Miranda Embry

(we do not own the rights to this photo)

Devotional on Joyful Working

I am sure most of you are familiar with the references in the bible where we are to work as through we are working for the Lord in whatever we do; but have you ever really thought about what that looks like? What that means? How it applies to your own life? These were things I had overlooked or not allowed myself to take in the full scope of meaning. So I began to ask myself; where do I work?

1. My paid job
2. At home as a mom, wife, cook, maid, etc.

It has been easy to relate this working to my job, do my best, present myself as a witness for Christ, be appreciative and thankful that I am employed, and the list goes on. But I never thought about my second job in this respect. So here are 4 verses, all linked to working for the Lord that when I read them that “ah-ha” moment hit about my at home duties!

Colossians 3:17

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:23

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Ephesians 6:7

Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Proverbs 31:27

She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness.

Reality hit. Working as though for the Lord includes scrubbing toilets, doing dishes, folding laundry, scooping dog poop, changing diapers, cooking dinner…. Do I act the way these verses say I should as a Christian? NO! I grumble, whine, and complain…I procrastinate, avoid, and even get resentful at times. What a hard pill to swallow right!? How will ever be able to do the chores I dislike the most without the fleshy negativity? How can I have enthusiasm in all this? The answer is simple and found in yet another verse: Philippians 4:13 “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

Are you struggling with enthusiasm in your paid job, home job, or any other task or duty in your life? We all do; it’s part of our fleshy, selfish nature. We can work on this by first recognizing it, then repenting and praying about it, and last by changing it. This begrudging attitude is a heart condition. As with any other measures of the heart, Jesus can and will work through us if we allow Him to. I still do not like cleaning toilets, but it is much better for me to remain positive and joyful than sour and bitter. When I focus on the good, it makes the bad a lot less noticeable.

Miranda Embry

Bible Study on Adultery

Are you committing adultery? Your first response will likely be: “of course not, I have never been unfaithful to my spouse,” or if you are single perhaps “nope not me I am not married.” Either way, whatever your response it doesn’t really matter. I am speaking on a different kind of adultery- spiritual adultery.

We are considered the bride of Christ. He is to be first and foremost in our lives; above our spouse, above our kids, above our jobs and our worries…is He first in your life or are you putting something else first? Whatever we put before God is an idol; it becomes in essence a God. The first and foremost in our lives is what we cling to, rely on, and pursue most intently. If this is not God, then you are not being faithful.

What does the Word say?

Exodus 20:3 (NLT) “You must not have any other god but me.”

Exodus 34:14 (GWT) “Never worship any other god, because the LORD is a God who does not tolerate rivals. In fact, he is known for not tolerating rivals.”

Matthew 22:37 (NLT) “Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.”

Think about what Jesus said in Matthew for a moment. If there are people or things that you have placed before God, then you cannot adhere to the most important command we are given. It is impossible! To love God first in our lives means we have to rely on Him, we have to die to ourselves daily, we have to crucify our cares and our sin to follow Jesus. What is the predominance of your thought? You can quickly tell if God is first based on this alone. Do you think more about your spouse, your kids, yourself…or do you think more about your relationship with Jesus and ministering to others?

No one is perfect, we all know that. But the point of being a Christian is to try daily to be Christlike. Jesus is our example. If we are avidly seeking His will above all else, and we are faithful in our marriage to Him, the rest of our lives will fall into place!

Proverbs 3:5-6 (HCSB) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;
⁶ think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.”

Search your hearts today, as I have to do every day. Who or what is first in your life? If it isn’t God then repent, ask for help, and commit to living for Him. He will guide you and take care of the rest of your life, put your trust in Him and experience freedom. He must be our first love!

Miranda Embry

Devotional: Well Done Good and Faithful, Daughter…

The more I grow in my walk with God, the more I press in, the stronger my desire is to hear this. When I stand before God I want to know that I have done as much as I could to minister to the world, to love others and to live for Jesus. The parable Jesus gives about this (Matthew 25:14-28) hits home in so many ways.

You don’t have to be a minister or counselor to be serving the Lord. We are given many gifts to use in the kingdom of God and everyone is capable of utilizing them for His glory. These are the gifts given when we are brought into His family through salvation, adorned by the spirit of God and given to each to be used for growth! It is never too late to do more for Jesus.

Here are 2 passages about gifts of the Spirit:

Romans 12:6-8 (NLT)

6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (NLT)

7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

I want to challenge you all today…are you doing enough for the Lord? When you stand before Him is this the message He will say to you? Pray and ask Him to reveal the gifts He has given you and get busy! If you want freedom, true freedom in Christ you need to be active in the body. There is nothing more rewarding than serving Him. There is no greater joy then knowing you are trying to live like Jesus.

Miranda Embry

Sneak Peek into eBook in the works!

I am in the process of writing my first book and thought I would share a sneak peek on this page. It is a 31 day reading plan based on Proverbs that will cover a chapter, a key scripture study, an action item, and a prayer each day.

I am hoping to have this released by Christmas!

Here is a tiny piece of the work in progress. This has not been edited and is still raw but I wanted to share with you all regardless!

Daily Study

Proverbs 1:7 (NLT) “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

What does it mean to fear the Lord? Aren’t we taught as Christians not to have fear but instead to have faith in the Lord? Yes we are; but this is a different type of fear. This fear is not one of terror but of love, respect, appreciation and reverence towards God. It is absolutely necessary to have this fear if we are going to grow in wisdom and understanding. This reverent fear of our Lord is the very foundation of the ability to understand spiritual principles and divine revelation. A spiritual principle may be something as simple as understanding how a parable that Jesus taught relates to us as a Christian. For instance, when Jesus is sharing about the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, to the unsaved this would seem foolish and they would likely miss the point or derive from it something other than what Jesus intended. The word of God tells us that unless you have the Spirit of God in you it is not possible to understand the truths that are revealed through the word of God (1 Cor. 2:14). These truths are necessary to move from knowledge to wisdom.

Miranda Embry