Ephesians 5:8-10

Good morning, everyone! :)

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Ephesians 5:8-10
At one time you were in the dark. But now you are in the light because of what the Lord has done. Live like children of the light. The light produces what is completely good, right and true. Find out what pleases the Lord.

"Living in the light" sometimes seems like a cliche phrase that Christians throw around without really knowing what it means. But this light vs. dark issue is a matter of life or death, spiritually speaking! The first step to walking in the light is to place our trust in Jesus' death and resurrection for our salvation from sin. So then we are in the light "because of what the Lord has done". Yet living in the light is our responsibility, a day by day (moment by moment!) decision to live in a way that pleases the Lord--a way that is "completely good, right and true".

Father, help me to choose to walk in Your light day by day, moment by moment--finding out what pleases You and living it out in my life!

May the Lord bless you richly as you live like a child of the light!

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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Colossians 2:9-10

Happy Wednesday, everyone! :)
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Colossians 2:9-10
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

Complete in Him. What a thought that is! Not just "good enough", but complete.

whole.
lacking nothing.
me.

Not just others who are awesome and amazing and whom I admire, but me. I am complete in Him!

In Him. Not of myself, which means I don't have to be "strong enough"--He is. I don't have to be "smart enough"--He is. I am:
Free to be weak--because He is strong.
Free to not know the answers--because He knows it all.
Free to fall--because my identity is not found in me; it is in Him!

But I am also
Free to be strong--because He is my strength.
Free to be wise--because He gives wisdom to His own.
Free to run--because He has laid this race out before me!

Father, thank You for the joy of being complete in You; for the freedom that is brought by knowing and resting in that fact!

May the Lord richly bless you as you discover the freedom of being complete in Him!

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to receive the Mornin' SunShine e-mails on a regular basis yourself, you can e-mail me at mornin_sunshine@psalm686.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. If you would like to unsubscribe, just e-mail me at the address above with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and I will take you off the list.

Psalm 18:1

Hey, y'all! :)

This Mornin' SunShine is pulled from a journal from a couple years ago. Remember yesterday's e-mail about "the simplicity that is in Christ"? This journal entry is what brought that concept back to the forefront of my mind and reminded me that sometimes, it's the simple things that are the most precious. Apparently, I was memorizing Psalm 18:1 by repeating the verse over and over, emphasizing a different word each time, and this is what I jotted down as I did. Since the verse is a prayer, my little "notes" are also in a prayer format.
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Psalm 18:1
I will love You, O LORD, my strength.

I--no matter what anyone else thinks or does or says, this is my choice and I will stick by it.
will--No ifs, ands, buts, or maybes; I will do this. Through highs and lows, thick and thin, I make my choice.
love--with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength; surrendered completely to You, walking in constant, intimate relationship with You--whatever that may mean or look like on a day to day basis.
You--You and You only! Not that I won't "love" other people, too, but that love will come more as a result of loving You than anything; You will be first and I will cling to only You.
O--I almost skipped this word; at first glance it seems so insignificant. But then I paused to think and realized--putting this "O" in here means that I stand in awe of You and all that You are; that I count You worthy of honor and reverence.
LORD--Jehovah God, the self-existing one; eternal, unchanging, wonderful, powerful, holy, just, merciful--paradoxical!
my--You are mine, all mine! As surely as I belong to You, You have allowed Yourself to belong to me. How sweet that is! You are such a precious, personal God!
strength--I am so weak. But that's okay, because You are my strength! You give me grace and hope to keep going; You carry me when I am too tired and weak to carry on.

Father, wow! That short little verse is so packed with rich sweetness! God, You are so good! Every day I love You more; I just can't help it!

May the Lord richly bless you with a new sense of amazement at how amazing He is!

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to receive the Mornin' SunShine e-mails on a regular basis yourself, you can e-mail me at mornin_sunshine@psalm686.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. If you would like to unsubscribe, just e-mail me at the address above with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and I will take you off the list.

2 Corinthians 11:3

Good morning, y'all! :)
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2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Growing up in an ultra-conservative, Biblically centered homeschooling family, I had a LOT of "Bible knowledge". I was the little kid in Sunday school that the teachers loved and the other kids were not so fond of--I knew all the answers and loooooved impressing the adults in my life with that fact. As I grew older, of course my Bible knowledge had to grow, too. What impressed people when I was 7 is no longer impressive now that I'm 25!! Somewhere along the way, I started putting a lot of pressure on myself to find deep, amazing things in the Bible. Now, of course there are deep, amazing things in the Bible, and they are certainly worth finding! But sometimes, the things God wants me to see are the simple things; and I miss them when I'm after my own idea of "amazing"--mainly, stuff that will "wow" other people.
God is not complicated. Complex, mysterious, paradoxical, and impossible to wrap my little finite brain around, yes--but not complicated. There is a "simplicity that is in Christ", the reality that God makes Himself very accessible to us when we are willing to approach Him with open hearts and eyes, willing to throw aside our own ideas and preconceived notions and just see Him. In all His glorious simplicity!

Father, I'm coming back to the sweet simplicity that is in You. Teach me from Your word what You would have me learn; help me to keep my eyes and ears and heart open to You alone.

May the Lord bless you richly as you delight in the "simplicity that is in Christ"!

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to receive the Mornin' SunShine e-mails on a regular basis yourself, you can e-mail me at mornin_sunshine@psalm686.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. If you would like to unsubscribe, just e-mail me at the address above with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and I will take you off the list.

Psalm 61:2

Hey, y'all! Happy Monday! :)

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Psalm 61:2

From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

 

Life can be seriously overwhelming sometimes, and when I get overwhelmed it becomes difficult to focus or to accomplish the things I need to do. But I'm learning that when I feel overwhelmed, I need to run to Jesus--"the rock that is higher than I". I love that description! I get this picture of me standing at the base of this huge rock, looking up, overwhelmed by its majestic size. Because maybe I'm just overwhelmed by the wrong things. When I allow myself to be overwhelmed by Jesus Christ--His greatness, His power, His love, His mercy and grace--other things suddenly become less important. And a lot less overwhelming!

 

Father, overwhelm me with who You are!

 

May God bless you with an overwhelming revelation of Himself that overshadows everything else that could overwhelm you!

 

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to receive the Mornin' SunShine e-mails on a regular basis yourself, you can e-mail me at mornin_sunshine@psalm686.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. If you would like to unsubscribe, just e-mail me at the address above with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and I will take you off the list.

John 13:3-5, 12-16

Happy Wednesday, y'all! :)

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John 13:3-5, 12-16

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.

When He had washed their feet and put on His outer garments and resumed His place, He said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him."

 

I don't want to "over-spiritualize" this story and command from Jesus, nor do I want to insinuate that He didn't mean that there are times when we are to literally wash one another's feet. However, as I read this story the other day, I was struck with some parallels to a different kind of "foot washing".

Just as Jesus "laid aside His outer garments", we must lay aside our pride in order to serve. And, joined very closely to that, we also must take up humility and wrap it around us, like Jesus taking the towel and tying it around His waist. This isn't a false humility that looks down on self, it's a useful humility that enables us to serve with the gifts God has given us.

So then what of the water in the basin? Well, here's how I see it: the "water" is the word of God, able to cleanse and sanctify the most hidden parts of any life (Ephesians 5:16-17). We pour it out into a "basin" by reading it, studying it, memorizing it until it fills our entire being and is so ingrained in us we are able to use it in our lives, and speak it into the lives of others (Colossians 3:16). And so we wash the "spiritual feet" of those God may bring into our lives to minister to! Every time we share God's words with another person or group of people, it's like washing their feet as we share with them the words that have the power to bring life and cleansing.

 

Father, give me eyes to see the needs of those You bring to me, wisdom to know how best to meet those needs, words to speak when words are called for, courage to act when action is needed, and humility to serve as You served.

 

May the Lord richly bless you as you "wash the feet" of those He brings into your life!

 

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to receive the Mornin' SunShine e-mails on a regular basis yourself, you can e-mail me at mornin_sunshine@psalm686.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. If you would like to unsubscribe, just e-mail me at the address above with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and I will take you off the list.

Genesis 5:21-24

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

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Genesis 5:21-24

When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

 

Enoch has always been one of my favorite Bible characters; odd, perhaps, since these four verses and a brief mention in Hebrews 11 are all there is about him. But somehow, they tell the whole story. He walked with God! Here's what's a bit interesting: Enoch's father, Jared, lived 962 years. He is the second longest living person recorded in the Bible. Enoch's son, Methuselah, lived 969 years, making him the longest living person recorded in the Bible. Enoch, sandwiched between the two, lived a mere 365 years--it sounds really long to us, but he's got the shortest lifespan in several generations (until Genesis 11, four generations past Noah). So my point? Life does not have to be long to be full and complete. In America today we are a society that is obsessed with finding new methods and medicines for prolonging life (well, except for the lives of unborn children!). I want to seek after something better: a full life, a life centered on Jesus Christ, that it might one day be said of me "she walked with God."

 

"God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus." (Jim Elliot)

 

May the Lord bless you richly as you seek after a life made full and complete by Him alone!

 

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to receive the Mornin' SunShine e-mails on a regular basis yourself, you can e-mail me at mornin_sunshine@psalm686.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. If you would like to unsubscribe, just e-mail me at the address above with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and I will take you off the list.

Genesis 3:5-6

Morning, y'all!

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Genesis 3:5-6

For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

 

Before this event, all Adam and Eve had known was God Himself. But when they decided they were no longer content with just knowing God, and wanted to know what only God knew, they got into big trouble. Aren't we like that? We also have the opportunity to know God--not exactly face to face like Adam and Eve did, but in ways that are no less real we can know Him. Yet it's not enough for us; we want to know all that God knows. I'm not saying that searching for knowledge and wisdom is a bad thing, because it's not--Proverbs makes that clear! But there will come a point where we come up against something that we will never understand or fully grasp, or we come face to face with the uncertainities of life, and at that point we have to make the choice to be content in just knowing the One who knows it all and leaving the rest up to Him.

 

Father, help me to be content with knowing You, and knowing that You know everything else. I don't have to know what's down the road to follow You, and I don't have to know all the hows and whys in order to walk in obedience to Your will! You know all that, and I know You, and that's enough for me. 

 

May the Lord richly bless you as you seek to just know HIM more!

 

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to receive the Mornin' SunShine e-mails on a regular basis yourself, you can e-mail me at mornin_sunshine@psalm686.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. If you would like to unsubscribe, just e-mail me at the address above with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and I will take you off the list.