Above is a pic of my youngest daughter and me.
Go HERE to watch the progress of our front yard being landscaped.
My Husband, My brother in Christ
"Lisa at Deo Volente is another blogger that I'd love to meet with and share some coffee. She's been through some rough circumstances in her life, and she's come through them clearly showing the grace of God, and honouring Him through those circumstances. Her various posts are sometimes funny, often really make you think, and always theologically sound."-Jen at JoythruChrist
Lisa is passionate about her reformed faith and her posts reflect how her faith is practically applied to situations in her life. Very difficult ones, from time to time...Ukrainiac
"Lisa's site has become one of my new favorites to read and to participate. I think she brings a nice touch to the application of theology to everday life as a woman and as a mother. It's sort of like Secret— strong enough for a man, but made for a woman." -Young Wilderness Voice
"Praise the Lord! I have finally found the sold-out, brainy Christian women bloggers, and from what I can tell so far, most of them are Reformed to boot! I knew they had to be out there somewhere. It was just a matter of time. I was directed to Lisa’s blog this morning ...which led to Carla’s blog ... and these are leading me to many others." -Katy at Logoscentric
"4Given's blog. The reformed mother of 6. She rips." by The Armchair Theologian
"This girl got it!" by no fluff required
"I find your blog very encouraging, and uplifting. You are an inspiration to me, and the Lord is using you to encourage me." by Lynn
My blog is worth $379,370.88.
How much is your blog worth?
There are actually differing definitions for the term "carnal christian".
I like what John MacArthur says when answering the question "Is there such a thing as carnal Christianity?":
Continue reading "Thursday Theology: What is a Carnal Christian?" »
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8).'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.' (Mt. 4:4).
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).
Let me start by saying I really do give a flip. I do believe it is important to have Biblically sound theology for many reasons. I wrote just last Thursday on how "Bad theology will eventually hurt people and dishonor God in proportion to its badness."(--John Piper)
BUT... there are also many reasons that we need to be careful about placing too much emphasis on head knowledge to the detriment of living out what we know is true. "Theology is a lived discipline--we LIVE what we BELIEVE."--Al Mohler
There's a balance and we all need to be very careful to examine our lives, motives and heart DILIGENTLY. You do not have to have a Masters Degree in theology to get it. My husband's grandfather was a janitor and a farmer... He got it. And when that man spoke, and he spoke softly and gently about the things of God, people listened. The room went silent because everyone wanted to hear what Granpa Willie had to say. Why? Because this man lived it and there was no one that doubted that he loved the Lord with all his heart. No, he wasn't perfect. But he was genuinely repentant when he wasn't. He touched so many peoples lives with the heart of the Gospel by the way he lived his life. Do I do that? Do you?
Theology means NOTHING when:
I do not obey God because I do not "feel" like it.I do not genuinely repent when I fail to honor the Lord in my life.
I distrust the sovereignty of God.
I tell someone that I will pray for them... and I DON'T pray for them.
I go to explain my theology and it comes across as incomprehensible bobble ... not because the hearer has not the ears to hear, but the communicator has not the heart to communicate it.
I am not genuinely involved in loving my brothers and sisters, my neighbours, and my "enemies" and rejoicing with those who rejoice.
My actions and words do not fit what I proclaim to believe.
All I do is complain about what the Lord has ordained for me.
I seek to be served and not to serve.
I jump on the bandwagon of church shop, hop, and out of control without giving a thought to prayer.
If this is you (and quite honestly we have all done some of these things and we can easily fall into them again) than please STOP just stuffing your head with knowledge, repent and plead before the Lord to help you live it out... and if you do not care to do that, than PLEASE shut your mouth about being a Christian because WHO GIVES A FLIP about your theology (even if it is Biblically sound) if you are not living out what you claim to be. Well, actually I give a flip because all this is doing is bringing shame to the name of Christ.
(SIDENOTE: Some of the links within this post will lead you to posts made by other bloggers on the topic it highlights.)
Make sure you do not miss out on my pastor's post where he gets to the bottomline regarding the gender issues. He writes, "It springs from a lack of commitment to Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) and of a proper understanding and practice of the Biblical text on the part of men and women who want to change the Church of Jesus Christ into their own image."
And by the way... also make sure you are not a stupid bird.
"Bad theology will eventually hurt people and dishonor God in proportion to its badness." - John Piper
(Everything italicized is written by Reisinger)
Ernest Reisinger wrote, What Should We Think Of Evangelism and Calvinism?
He said, One of the greatest evangelists ever to set foot on American soil was George Whitefield. Read carefully the following quote and note his pleading with sinners.
I offer you salvation this day; the door of mercy is not yet shut, there does yet remain a sacrifice for sin, for all that will accept of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will embrace you in the arms of his love. O turn to him, turn in a sense of your own unworthiness; tell him how polluted you are, how vile, and be not faithless, but believing. Why fear ye that the Lord Jesus Christ will not accept of you? Your sins will be no hindrance, your unworthiness no hindrance; if your own corrupt hearts do not keep you back nothing will hinder Christ from receiving of you. He loves to see poor sinners coming to him, he is pleased to see them lie at his feet pleading his promises; and if you thus come to Christ, he will not send you away without his Spirit; no, but will receive and bless you. O do not put a slight on infinite love--he only wants you to believe on him, that you might be saved. This, this is all the dear Saviour desires, to make you happy, that you may leave your sins, to sit down eternally with him at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Let me beseech you to come to Jesus Christ; I invite you all to come to him, and receive him as your Lord and Saviour; he is ready to receive you. I invite you to come to him, that you may find rest for your souls. He will rejoice and be glad. He calls you by his ministers; O come unto him--he is labouring to bring you back from sin and from Satan, unto himself: open the door of your hearts, and the King of glory shall enter in. My heart is full, it is quite full, and I must speak, or I shall burst. What, do you think your souls of no value? Do you esteem them as not worth saving? Are your pleasures worth more than your souls? Had you rather regard the diversions of this life, than the salvation of your souls? If so, you will never be partakers with him in glory; but if you come unto him, he will supply you with his grace here, and bring you to glory hereafter; and there you may sing praises and hallelujahs to the Lamb for ever. And may this be the happy end of all who hear me!George Whitefield was a staunch Calvinist. There is one thing certain--Whitefield's Calvinism did not in any way dampen his holy zeal for the souls of men.
I am a Calvinist. So many people, when they hear the word Calvinist have such an adverse reaction because they immediately jump into thinking that I must be a hypercalvinist. Which is so far from the truth. They really are quite different.
Continue reading "Thursday Theology: What to Avoid & Why (Hypercalvinism)" »
I have written and re-written this post, but have come to a definite conclusion.
Continue reading "Thursday Theology: What to Avoid and Why (Loss of salvation)" »
Let me begin this article by pointing out that people without food on their table, people without a table to put food on or a home for shelter or bed to sleep in, those inflicted with life-threatening disease, those who are unable to provide a decent quality of life for their children ... could care less about the blogosphere. They don't sit around and worry about crossing their "t's" and dotting their "i's" or if the "e" comes before or after the "i" this time, nor do they likely care about such things as moral relativism and pluralism, nihilism and skepticism, and moral absolutism.
I do pray the Lord uses my feeble attempts in my life and words to bring Him glory. I do not want to come across as an expert in these things. That is why I add so many links to Scripture and far better written articles. But I do think it is important... well, unless you are perhaps physically starving to death ... to think about these things. Why? Because what you believe as truth will reflect in your life and words. If you are on your death bed, you are not likely reading my blog... but if you are and you are not sure where you will spend eternity, get off my blog and go to THIS LINK or THIS BLOG. Or if you are looking for words of comfort and are confident that you are on the right path, you will be better off reading THIS, or, as Spurgeon wrote on comfort and as I would prefer on my death bed, "Speak to me now in Scripture language alone," said a dying Christian. "I can trust the words of God, but when they are the words of man, it costs me an effort to think whether I may trust them.".
The reason why I brought this up is because of an e-mail I received that said, "If I were on my death bed, why would anything you write matter?" My answer... it wouldn't. And come to think of it, I am not sure it would matter even if you were not on your death bed. So, in getting to the point, don't trust my written words. Trust God's written Word and by all means be a Berean. I'm not God and I'm not a theologian. I'm just a woman longing to grow in the grace and knowledge of my Lord so that I won't be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine... so here goes...
Continue reading "Thursday Theology: What to avoid & Why (Pluralism and Relativism)" »
There is so much doctrinal error to avoid embracing as truth because it is not Biblical truth, so I will make this a series beginning with the doctrine of free will:
Continue reading "Thursday Theology: What to Avoid & Why (Free Will)" »
God has to open a persons's spiritual eyes to understand the scripture... we can read and re-read a Scriptural text many times, but until God the Holy Spirit illumines our mind to the text, until it is the fullness of time for someone to understand, we can be looking right at the plain text and yet fail to see or hear it.
Continue reading "Thursday Theology: I must have been blind" »
