Nothing but the Best

So the winter term at Capernwray Quebec is coming to a close. Tomorrow I will fly back home for my spring break, which I'm super pumped about. So much stuff happening and going through my mind.

Last term, I just relayed the lessons I had learned, but for this "term wrap-up" blog, I've decided to pick a few verses from the Bible that I've learned lessons from. I won't explain all the lessons I've learned from these verses, but I'll still write out all the verses.

1) 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 -> "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
- I've always been huge on practical things that I can do. I think this verse is very practical. The instructions: be joyful, pray, be thankful. And when you really think about these things, they should be easy to acknowledge. Maybe not easy in the out-working on them, but that's where faith in God comes in. When you find yourself being grumpy or moody, choose to be happy instead (this one's especially hard for me). Keep that open channel with God. Always be ready to hear His voice and to actually listen to it. I don't think that "praying without ceasing" means that you constantly, 24/7, have to be talking to God, but just going through life with a prayerful attitude. Always being in tune to God. And simply, be thankful. In every situation you find yourself in, be thankful for something. This verse does not mean that you need to be thankful for every circumstance, but to be thankful in every circumstance. That's something that I need to work on, but it's something I'm learning.

2) 1 Thessalonians 5:24 -> "He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."
- God's faithfulness astounds me all the time. I got a chance to look at this characteristic of God during my study project in Zephaniah. God was so faithful to the Israelites. He split the Red Sea. He gave them water (3 times) and food from the heavens. He physically was with them in the form of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Yet the Israelites still didn't believe in God's faithfulness. Some of them still tried to go back to Egypt after that! At first glance, I just laugh and think that the Israelites are stupid. But then I realize that I do that all the time! I'll be astounded by God's faithfulness to me one day and then totally get stressed out the next day thinking that He's not big enough for the current problem. And I constantly find myself wanting to go back to my "Egypt". And God is the same: yesterday, today, and forever. So, one of the girls here posed this question in her study project: if God's faithfulness was the only thing you had in your back pocket, would that be enough?

3) Zephaniah 3:17 -> "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with singing."
- Would you look at all of those 'wills' in there? God's faithfulness.

4) Micah 6:8 -> "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

5) 2 Timothy 2:22 -> "So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."
- Read this blog post: The Pursuit of True Happiness

6) Habakkuk 2:1 -> "I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint."
- Read this blog post: The Watchpost

7) Malachi 1:13b -14 -> "You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations."
- God wants good sacrifices. I know that animal sacrifices don't apply to us anymore (thank God for Jesus Christ and our salvation through His death and resurrection!), but we still give other sacrifices to God. We sacrifice our time, our money, our habits, our hobbies, etc. for Him. And according to Romans 12:1, we're supposed to be offering ourselves up as living sacrifices. When animals sacrifices still applied, in the OT, God wanted the choice lamb. No blemishes, no broken legs, no tainted skin; nothing but the best. Do we still offer up "nothing but the best" for Him?

Well, those are just a few things that I've been learning and pondering for the last two and a half months. I've been learning a lot more, but I'm afraid I just don't have the time nor the energy to expound on any more for now. Maybe later. Or if you see me over my break, feel free to ask. I'd love to chat with you about all I've been learning. As Matt Mclean says, "You are blessed to be a blessing."

I've even been learning quite a bit more French. Of course I can't speak it that great, but my writing's not too shabby! "Je vous aime tous! Hier nous avons mangé des burritos pour dîner." Yay! And that's no word of a lie... we did have burritos yesterday. BBQ pulled pork burritos. They were so yummy!

The Watchpost

This week was fantastic. We had classes with Christine Wichart, who was teaching us all about church history. We went through everything from the Apostle Peter to Billy Graham. The class was called "Faithfulness Through the Ages"... and it was really cool to see how God was faithful in preserving His Church and His Word throughout the centuries. We also had study project presentations this week. I've never known so much about the minor prophets in my life. The minor prophets really are a treasure that everyone should read. We get to be reminded of the God we don't normally read about, a God of wrath and jealousy. Yet He's the same God we cherish so much in the New Testament. Even in the minors we get to see His love and mercy.


So, my devotional thought is from the minor prophets this time:
"I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint."
- Habakkuk 2:1

Habakkuk was lifting up his worries and complaints to the Lord about the Babylonians coming to destroy Judah. And he was waiting on the Lord to answer him.

Think about what it means to stand at the watchpost of a city. It's a commitment, it's a job you can't just leave. You can't just leave the watchpost because you're tired or bored. Yeah, it may be an incredibly boring job... just standing there and waiting for something or someone to come along, but you still can't leave. Is this the same attitude we have when we're waiting on the Lord? Or do we wait on the Lord until we get bored or tired of it, then just leave?

I know I'm guilty of this. I tend to wait on the Lord until I'm tired of waiting for Him, and then I go off trying to solve the problems I presented to Him on my own. How absurd is that? Often times it seems like we're waiting for a long time, but really, He's already started working. We tend to cover our eyes to the subtle things He does, but then scream and beg for Him to show us obvious things.

We need to let God open up our spiritually blind eyes.