Sharp Arrows

Here are my sharp arrows.

Today I am renewed in strength and direction as I aim my sharp arrows towards being servants of the Lord.  Try as I might to prevent it, the world seeps in, all around the edges of our lives, where the seams aren't holding tight.  Little things, so commonplace in our world, but they are not pleasing to God.  I begin to doubt the choices God has placed on my heart, because I am bombarded with what the world would have me do, with how the world would have me raise my children.  Sometimes the burden of "not fitting in" weighs on me. 

But I was blessed this morning to be lead to read the book of James.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Chp 4 vs 4-8 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law,the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. Chp 1 vs 22-25 ESV

My prayer today is that I remember I am not called to fit in to this world.  I am called to stand out and to reflect the light of Jesus.  I will raise my children the same way. My prayer is that I will not slip backwards into the ways of this world, that I will always be mindful of what is pleasing to God, that I will not be double-minded!  That I will not be only a hearer of the word, but a doer.   That in all things, in parenting, in relationships, in words, in actions I will draw nearer to God, seeking His will alone.  Not the will of friends, of family, of Hollywood, of cultural influence. 

Moments like this morning when I was reading my bible and having time with my heavenly Father, I am reminded how enormous He is.  His vastness, His power, His love for us, I can not comprehend.  When I make my anxiety larger than Him, I am stumbling in faith.  When I fail to seal up the seams of our family with the glue of scripture and prayer and reliance on Him, I am stumbling in faith.

May my faith soar forevermore. 

 

May my sharp arrows be filled with the goodness of our Lord.  May I be a facilitator of that, surrounding them with what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable and worthy of praise. (taken from Philippians 4:8) When, as arrows, they are dispatched, they will discern what is not pleasing to God because their hearts have been filled goodness. 

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.

Psalm 127:4 ESV