Friday Feast, 11-19-10

I can't believe that it's already been four weeks! Four weeks of encouraging each other to "taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8) I don't think I want it to end. The accountability has been good for me. I fear that my eating disorder may not yet be cured... (Maybe, if there are a few of us who want to keep going, we should continue. Let me know what you think.)

This week was a good one for me. The sermon on Sunday was inspiring, and my resolve to seek out God daily was renewed. I was in the Word every day this week (not yet this morning, but I'm on my way).

But I seem to be in an unusual season, in that I don't really feel as though I'm hearing much from Him. I know He's here, I know He loves me, I sense His presence and His desire for me to seek Him. Yet He is strangely silent. My times of listening prayer are fuzzy (like static on a radio), and I'm lacking new revelation when I read my Bible.

Maybe that's why I don't want to stop our weekly get-together. I know that my tendency is to let myself drift away when God is quiet, especially if I am only accountable to myself. I am also aware that these times are the ones when it is most important to remain.

How did you do this week? Did you dine on the Bread of Life? Did God speak to you or give you a new revelation from His Word?

Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.
~ Luke 14:15b

Friday Feast (on Monday), 11-12-10

Oops! In the chaos of having everyone off school for a week, I completely missed our date on Friday! Please accept my apologies. :)

So how 'bout we pretend it's Friday, and talk about how we've been filling up on the Word of God in the last week. (November 6-12)

My week was...um, passable. Again, I think I was 6 for 7 (Seriously, what is it about that one day per week I think it's better to sleep?!) but if I'm honest, only 2 of those were of any quality. Four times I opened my Bible to read a chapter of Exodus with kids already awake, and if you asked what I read I probably couldn't tell you. I did it because I knew I had to report in here. But then I couldn't honestly just give you numbers and pretend I had such a good week...

School days, with the routine and the schedule, are so much easier! I need to figure out how to stick to my commitment to spend time with the Lord and reading His Word on weekends and holidays. Because frankly, those are the days I most need His strength! Any tips?

How did you do this week? Is there any passage that spoke to you? How about you share it (I'm sure there is someone here who will be encouraged by it).

This week, I am excited for a fresh start! Our Pastor delivered a stirring sermon about prayer and fasting, and I am all fired up for some deep times of fellowship with the Lord!

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In case you're wondering, Friday Feast is our own little group of accountability, encouraging one another to feast on the Word of God daily. There are no rules. Join in any time (or re-join). We're here for each other!

Friday Feast, 11-05-10

For previous FF posts, click here.

Did you stick with me this week? With your commitment to spend time in God's Word daily?

I was 6 for 7 this week. I missed Saturday morning (because I forgot to bring my Bible along when I went to pic up my hubby).

One day I had a particularly special time with the Lord that I wanted to share. I felt Him nudging me to spend my time reading the (few) memory verses I have from this year. As I was reading through them, then reciting them, the Lord prompted me to pray His Words to Him. So I spent a few minutes on each one of my verses, personalizing and praying the Scripture, and I had one of those moments where the Lord felt so near. It was like He was across from me on the other couch, hand reached out to hold mine as we fellowshipped over His Word.

What about you? Did you have any special moments with the Lord? Or perhaps in your reading this week there was a verse that spoke to you in a new way?

I also had a question last week that I thought I'd answer here...

Q - I tend to be a "night person" and am pretty good about reading my Bible in the evenings. But mornings are a struggle for me. Do we have to have our "feast" time in the mornings?

A - Nope. Like I said at the beginning, this is a rule-less challenge. Read as much or as little as you feel God leading you to read. Do it when you feel Him calling you to do it. I mention the mornings a lot in my posts, because that is the time of day that God has called me to spend with Him.

Let's keep at it, friends! God's Word never returns void. It will always be worth our time investment. Sit down at the banquet table and dine on the rich fare. Enjoy!

Friday Feast, 10-29-10

First, I just have to say this - my husband is coming home tonight! Yahoo! I can't wait to see him!!! My plan is to meet him at the airport with some warm clothes and a slurpee (one thing he'll need, one I know he'll want). I think slurpees are his love language. Oh, how I've missed him!

Okay, let's get down to business. Were you feasting on the Word of God this week? Did you meet your goal of doing so daily? (If you missed the challenge, but think you'd like to join in, check out this post. And then just join us! There are no rules on this here blog. Otherwise I'd make myself crazy trying to follow them.)

I was 6 for 7. I missed Sunday morning, and it seemed that no matter my intentions the entire day went by. Before I knew it I was almost asleep in bed and realized that I totally messed up on my own challenge! BUT, I didn't give up (as I am apt to do when I experience small failures) and instead tried again Monday morning.

I am so glad that I was intentional about being in the Word this week. Because it was the kind of week that would have made it easy to let it slide. I've been staying up far too late (because I can't seem to fall asleep without Pat), which makes me very inclined to sleep in. Sleeping in makes me rushed, cranky, and prone to skipping parts of my morning routine (Bible time is often the first to go - how dumb is that?!). And with Pat being gone I am "on" all day every day with the kids, which can also cause me to feel rushed and cranky. All of that could have stacked up into a big, fat week of disaster. But the living and God-breathed Word of Scripture was with me to start my days, and stayed with me throughout. Praise Him.

I know I already asked this, but how did you do this week? Be honest - we're not here to condemn each other. If you struggled, let your sisters encourage you and give you ideas to make it work. And if you did great, let us "hip-hip-hooray!" with you.

Friday Feast, 10-22-10

We wouldn't let ourselves "miss" a meal, yet so often we allow ourselves to miss our time in the Word. We eat three times a day, every day. We do not experience hunger where our stomachs cramp and groan. Yet we allow our souls to to atrophy with malnutrition.

In order to be full - full of love, full of peace, full of compassion, full of the Holy Spirit - we need to eat every day. Feast on the Bread of Life, quench our thirst with the Living Water.

I know this. I have seen evidence of it in my daily life. When I have been in the Word, I can take the day in stride; when I have not, interruptions and delays bring frustration, impatience, irritability, anger. I know this. Yet I still allow myself to miss meals. It's Saturday...I need to sleep in just a little bit...I can get my Bible time in even when the kids are up. It's Sunday...we're going to church...I will get filled up there. We're on vacation...routine is different...I'll get back on track when we get home. Do you make the same excuses I do to skip meals?

I'm tired of listening to my own excuses.

For the next four weeks, I am challenging myself to feast on the Word of God every. single. day. (For me, this means rising before everyone else.) Perhaps you need a bit of a challenge and accountability, too? Would you care to join me?

We won't do anything fancy. We'll just check in here on Fridays, share honestly how we did in the past week, and offer some words of encouragement to one another. There's no Scripture reading schedule - read what God leads you to read, how much He wants you to read, and for how long He asks you to read. There's no fancy calendar to fill in - keep track in any way you want: "X" on a calendar, date in a journal, remember in your head. All we need to do is read the Word, keep track of how many days out of the past 7 we succeeded in meeting our goal, and stop in here on Fridays to share and cheer each other on.

I'll start. Here is my "baseline" from last week:

Saturday - I slept in.
Sunday - I slept in.
Monday - I did a day of the Bible study I was working on, but didn't read anything for myself.
Tuesday - ditto.
Wednesday - ditto.
Thursday - ditto.
Friday - I read a chapter in Exodus. It said repeatedly, "Pharaoh hardened his heart," and I thought to myself that heart-hardening is one of the side-effects of starvation.

If you'd like to join me, let me know in the comments today. You don't have to share how you did last week (as we hadn't begun our challenge yet), but you are welcome to if, like me, you want to see progress from your baseline.

P.S. For those of you who've been around a while and are wondering about my blogging ADD (in other words, you're thinking, "What the heck happened to the M & M posts?!"), I guess I should let you know I decided not to try to do something "regular." I do better with short-term commitments, at least as far as the blogging thing goes. Plus, in January we can all join along in the semi-monthly Siesta Scripture Memory Team on the LPM blog - aka, Beth Moore!

I Have an Eating Disorder

Actually, I have two.

Anorexia...of the soul

Many times, I starve myself of the very sustenance that I require for survival. My very spirit is cramped up with hunger pains, yet I do not eat the Bread of Life. Malnourishment sets in.

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."
~ John 6:35

Binge Eating...of the flesh

Other times, I indulge and overindulge until I am bloated. My flesh devours all that it desires until no room remains for the Living Water. Disease sets in.

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
~ John 4:10

I waste away when I believe the lie that can make it through the day without first dining on good food. My anorexia is rooted in self-sufficiency. Pride. I swell and fester when I believe the lie that the things of this life can fill me up. My binge eating is rooted in selfishness. Lust.

The only cure for my disorders is a lifestyle change.

The only cure for pride is humility. On my knees, humbly acknowledging that I cannot survive one single minute without the Bread of Life. For lustful cravings, rejection and replacement. I must reject that which I crave, replacing it with a longing to fill up on the Living Water.

The only path to this lifestyle change is a daily feast. Not a feast on weekdays only. Not a feast in only hard times or good times. A daily feast. Every day, devouring the soul nutrients contained in the Word of God, quenching my thirst on His Word alone, dining at His banquet table. Daily.

Here I am! I stand at the door and know. if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
~ Revelation 3:20

Do you need a lifestyle change, too?

Perhaps we can do it together. Would you join me in the challenge to feast on the Word of God daily for four weeks? Check back on Friday, and details will be posted here.