Weeks 9-12

....are on the way. It's taking me a while to get them posted :-)

Week 8: Clear Conscience - Dealing with Offense Toward Others

Making it Personal



These may be some of the most challenging and difficult steps you have ever taken in your spirutal journey. With with every step of humility you will receive more of God's grace and will be one step closer to experience the blessing of a conscience that is "void of offence toward God, and toward men" (Acts 24:16 KJV). As you work through your list, you will discover there is no joy or freedom like the joy and freedom hof having a clear conscience with God and every person.



1. Make a List of everyone God brings to mind



Is your conscience clear with your family?

Is your conscience clear with your church family?

Is your conscience clear with the lost world?

Is your conscience clear in your workplace?

Is your conscience clear from your past?



2. Seek God's forgiveness



3. Purpose to seek forgiveness from every person you have wronged.



4. Choose your words carefully.



5. Where necessary, make restitution.



6. Pursue reconciliation of the relationship.



7. Face the hardest situations first.



8. Don't stop until you have finished.



9. Determine to maintain a clear conscience.



Take time regularly to let God search your heart and show you any way you have sinned against Him or others. Seek to keep short accounts - to deal with each offense as God convicts you of it.

Week 7: Obedience - The Acid Test of Love

Making it Personal



If we were completely honest, many of us would admit that we already know one or more specific steps of obedience we need to take in order to return to the Lord. Perhaps there is something God has told us to do that we've not yet done; something we continue to do that we know is not pleasing to Him; or some limit we have placed on what we're willing to do for Him.



Pause for a moment to pray. Ask God to show you any matters where you are not walking in complete obedience. Ask Him to bring you to a place of willingnesss and surrender, as you consider the following "obedience quotient" questions.



1. Is there anything I know God wants me to do, that I've not yet done? For example,



__ forgiving someone and being reconciled to him or her?

__ calling or writing to encourage a Christian brother or sister?

__ honoring my parents?

__ devoting more time to my spouse or children

__ getting out of debt?

__ getting of some matrial thing that has captured my heart?

Week 6: Holiness - A Heart Like His

Below I have place an excerpt of day 5 of this week's lesson

Making it Personal

Below is a list of some things every child of God needs to "put off", along with corresponding qualities we are to "put on" in their place. Prayerfuly read through the entire list and put a check next to each item that God reveals you havev a particular need to "put off." don't h urry through this exercise - ask God to use it to reveal specific areas in your life that are not holy.

When you are finished, spend time alone with God in confession and prayer, using this list as a guide. In the days ahead, take time to read and meditate on the Scripture verses that relate to the items you have checked, and begin to put on the contrasting qualities in their place.

1. Put off Lack of love (1 John 4:7-8, 20), Put on Love (John 15:12)
2. Put off Judging (Matt. 7:1-2), Put on Let God search my heart (John 8:9; 15:22)
3. Put off Bitterness, unforgiveness (Heb. 12:15), Put on Tenderhearted, forgiving (Eph. 4:32)
4. Put off Selfishness (Phil. 2:21), Put on Self-denial (John 12:24)
5. Put off Pride (Prov. 16:5), Put on Humility (James 4:6)
6. Put off Boasting or conceit (I Cor. 4:7), Put on Esteeming others (Phil 2:3)
7. Put off Stubbornness (I Sam. 15:23), Put on Brokenness (Romans 6:13)
8. Put off Disrespect for Authority (Acts 23:5), Put on Honoring authority (Heb. 13:17)

(9 - 65 to come)

Week 5: Grace - God's Provision for Every Need

Below I have place an excerpt of day 5 of this week's lesson

Making it Personal

God's grace rushes to the scene of our weakness and need. Take a few moments to identify some specific ways that you need God's grace at this season of your life.

Circle any that apply.

I need God's grace in my life to ....

__ deal with major disappointment
__ be morally pure
__ forgive someone who has hurt me deeply
__ respond to a tough situation at work
__ seek forgiveness from someone I have wronged
__ bear chronic physical pain
__ mend a broken relationship
__ repent of a particular sin
__ resist a particular temptation
__ break off a wrong relationship
__ overcome a besetting sin
__ meet pressing financial needs
__ break a habit
__ guard my tongue
__ handle lonliness
__ love a family member who is hard to love
__ deal with the pain of my past
__ be faithful to my mate
__ deal with the guilt and failure of my past
__ take a specific step of obedience

Week 4: Repentance - The Big Turn-Around

Below I have place an excerpt of day 5 of this week's lesson

Making it Personal

Now it's time to look at your own heart. Prayerfully and honestly answer the following questions. As you do, ask God to reveal areas where you may be resisting His loving conviction. You may want to record a personal response to specific questions, as the Lord shines His light on your heart.

1. Have I ever experienced the repentance that characterizes genuine salvation?
2. Does sin in my life bother me?
3. Do I have an attitude that says, "Lord, everything I know to be sin, and everything You show me in the future to be sin, I am willing to forsake"?
4. Am I willing to call my wrong actions "sin," rather than viewing them as weaknesses, "struggles", or personality traits?

(5 - 10 coming soon)

Week 3: Honesty - Silence is Not Always Golden

Below I have place an excerpt of day 5 of this week's lesson

Making it Personal

Honesty with God

"Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts" (Psalm 51:6 NKJV)

• Do I often participate in corporate praise and prayer while my heart is cold, indifferent, or resistant to the Lord?
• Are my prayers honest? Do I say words that I think will impress God, or do I honestly communicate my real feelings and desires to Him?
• Do I serve God out of a heart of genuine love and devotion, or do I have a subtle, secret desire to be noticed and applauded?
• "Do I love the truth so much that I actively and regularly ask God to search my heart and to reveal anything that is displeasing to Him?

Honesty with Myself

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22)

• Are there truths in God's Word that I know in my heard or that I "preach" to others but am not practicig in my life?

Honesty with Others

"Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor; for we are members one of another" (Ephesians 4:25)

• Do I sometimes seek to create a better impression of myself than is honestly true?
• Am I covering up sins fof my past rather than dealing with them biblically?

Week 2: Humility - Coming to God on His Terms

Below I have place an excerpt of day 5 of this week's lesson

Making it Personal

Ask God to show you which characteristics of a proud heart are true of you. Circle the number next to those items below.

Proud people....

1. focus on the failures of others
2. have a critical, fault-finding spirit; look at everyone else's faults witha microscope but their own with a telescope
3. are self-righteous; look down on others
4. have an independent, self-sufficient spirit
5. have to prove they are right
6. claim rights; have a demanding spirit
7. are self-protective of their time, their rights, and their reputation
8. desire to be served
9. desire to making a name for themselves
10. desire self-advancement
11. have a drive to be recognized and appreciated
12. are wounded when others are promoted and they are overlooked

(13-30 coming soon)

Distress: What Does Distress Drive You to Do?

I'm not writing a long post about this but in the study for yesterday, in Seeking Him, a question was asked about distress. What does distress drive you to do?

The text book answer is that it should drive us to the Lord and allow him to give us calm in the mids.

But in reality, what does distress usually drive you to do? Honestly, sometimes it drives me to cry, to complain, to withdraw and retreat, to raise my voice, but in the study we are reminded that distress should drive us to our knees!

Lord, thank you for this reminder today!

Week 1: Revival - Who Needs It?

Below I have place an excerpt of day 5 of this week's lesson

Making it Personal

Agree with God abobut each need He reveals. Confess each sin that He exposes. Praise Him for his awesome love an power to forgive. Don't be in a hurry; give God time to speak and give yourself time to respond.

1. Genuine Salvation
2. God's Word
3. Humility
4. Obedience
5. Pure Heart
6. Clear Conscience
7. Priorities
8. Values
9. Sacrifice
10. Spirit Control
11. "First Love"
12. Motives
13. Moral Purity
14. Forgiveness
15. Evangelism
16. Prayer

Seeking Him Devotional

For September 7, 2007

Restore My Soul

(phone ringing)

"Hi, honey. The mall was packed, and now I'm stuck in traffic. I should still make it to pick Lindsey up from soccer, but do you mind sticking the pizza in the oven? I have such a headache."

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: It sounds like she needs to be reminded of Psalm 23. It says, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want . . . He restores my soul" (verses 1 and 3). So often I find myself giving out and giving out without taking time to get back to the still, quiet waters where my Shepherd can restore my soul. I end up running on fumes, reacting to the smallest annoyances out of frustration.

But when I spend time in the Word and in prayer, God calms my spirit. He slows down my racing pulse, and He gives me fresh perspective and strength to serve Him.

Is your soul in need of restoration today? Maybe you need some alone time with the Good Shepherd.

With Seeking Him, I'm Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

This transcript is taken from the nationally-syndicated
daily radio program Seeking Him with Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Prayer for Book Studies begins this week

On this post, we mentioned that there are two books you are invited to read with us this Fall.

Seeking Him by Nancy Leigh DeMoss (for all women)

Here are some additional resources from Nancy Leigh DeMoss regarding the Seeking Him Study.

Seeking Him Website

Seeking Him "Live" Prayer Meeting beginning September 15th
(12 Consecutive Saturday Mornings)

Seeking Him Radio Broadcast

Seeking Him Podcast

The week of September 10th, we begin reading Chapter 1 and we will read one chapter each week. September 10th is also the same day that Nancy DeMoss begins discussing the study, daily, on her radio program.

The next prayer time for thoose of you who want to participate with us, is Tuesday, September 18th.

1st and 3rd Tuesdays, Beginning September 4th, 5AM
*You do not have to call in at 5am to participate, you can follow along on the blog, or just read at your own pace.*
(time subject to change depending on interest of those outside the Central time zone)

Purchase the book here if you'd like, or any book store of your choosing of course.

The Bathtub is Overflowing but I Feel Drained by Lysa TerKeurst (for moms of young children)
Keep up here on the blog, with posts and comments regarding the book. Join in for the optional morning conference call to discuss the book live.

The week of September 10th, we begin reading Chapter 1 and we will read one chapter each week.


The next prayer time for thoose of you who want to participate with us, is Tuesday, September 11th.

2nd and 4th Tuesdays, Beginning September 11th, 5AM *You do not have to call in at 5am to participate, you can follow along on the blog, or just read at your own pace.*
(time subject to change depending on interest of those outside the Central time zone)

Purchase the book here if you'd like, or any book store of your choosing of course.

The purpose of these book studies and the reason we structured them this way, is so they would not be meetings that require you to leave your home.

We simply offer accountability for you as you read through the books and offer the (optional) early morning conference call, twice a month, for us to discuss the book and pray regarding the topics within.

Send me an email or leave a comment here on this blog, if you're interested.

Answer to Alexandria's question: You asked in the comment below, whether the workbook is the correct book to purchase. Yes, that's it! Email me and let me know if you're going to participate with us, and to what extent. Jeoffsrib at hotmail dot com.

The Last Girls Night Event.....

....was so much fun! They're getting better and better. If you're not familiar with the concept, it's something we do once a quarter for fellowship outside the normal circles we run with and we try to make it a little different than the normal events we may attend with any of our regular Small Groups, Bible Study groups, etc, because we want to encourage women to intermingle with others, outside of our comfort zone. The kingdom is a BIG place and spans across a range of cultures and geographic areas.

There are ladies invited, from various areas across the metroplex and we encourage you to invite someone new with you when you come. Even if you are new! Stretch out some time and come see us.

Since many of our schedules are not predictable and often full, there may be different ladies who attend each quarter. And some ladies may only be able to attend one event per year.

This Quarter's Event
We had a Dinner Party / Recipe Exchange and the theme was Light & Tasty. We had salmon, flounder, chicken and a host of sides. We also learned a lot of interesting things and found out a lot of things we have in common. It was funny how at least three of the ladies ended up knowing someone else there, but didn't know she'd be attending, and hadn't seen her in years!

This night was also really special because my very own mom came and brought a great dish and also shared some plans that she has for ministering to younger women, following the Titus 2 model. I wrote some about that in this previous post.

The recipes from Friday night will be posted here later this week!

Book Studies
Between the quarterly events, if you would like to be held accountable to completing one or more really good books, join us in reading:

Seeking Him or The Bathtub is Overflowing but I Feel Drained

See this post for more information.

Don't be thrown off by the early morning hour. You can read it with us without participating in the morning calls (that's optional).

Next Quarter's Event

The weekend of November 2nd(SAVE THE DATE!), we'll host a Party with a Purpose. I got that phrase from my pastor's wife, Kathy Hayes. We'll hang out and have fun with music and some surprizes, and also have a very good friend of mine come and share her heart.

At this event, we would like to challenge you, if you can, to invite one or more younger ladies to come with you. You can define what younger lady is, based on your age or the season you're in. These ladies will need to be at least 16 though.

Many of us ask for Titus 2 mentors for ourselves, but we sometimes forget that we need to be Titus 2 mentors as well!

So who do you love, who are you concerned about. If no one comes to mind, just yet, keep your mind open. I'm sure a name will come.

Philos Chat

The discussion page needs some love. Share your thoughts about this month's topic (Titus 2 Mentoring) here.

See what else I'm bloggin' about, on a personal note here.

Apples of Gold

My mom came in my house today (coming over to watch my kiddos) and was so excited about this program she heard about on the radio, entitled, Apples of Gold.

There are many many details I could share about it, but the premise is "Older women, teaching younger women!"

From cooking, hospitality, setting tables, etiquette, greeting guests,....to purity....meekness.....humility....and submission

During the month of August, I'll share one or two additional posts on this subject.

My mom is a lot like me and loves to do things with people and for people so she may chime in with a word or two as well. (If I can slow her down!)

We're also having Girls Night this Friday, August 10th! And each of us will share a dish along with the recipe.

Update: The recipes from Friday night will be posted here later this week!

Philos Book Studies

It's all for accountability!!

Seeking Him by Nancy Leigh DeMoss (for all women)
Keep up here on the blog, with posts and comments regarding the book. Join in for the optional morning conference call to discuss the book live.



1st and 3rd Tuesdays, Beginning September 4th, 5AM *You do not have to call in at 5am to participate, you can follow along on the blog, or just read at your own pace.*
(time subject to change depending on interest of those outside the Central time zone)

Purchase the book here if you'd like, or any book store of your choosing of course.

The Bathtub is Overflowing but I Feel Drained by Lysa TerKeurst (for moms of young children)
Keep up here on the blog, with posts and comments regarding the book. Join in for the optional morning conference call to discuss the book live.



2nd and 4th Tuesdays, Beginning September 11th, 5AM *You do not have to call in at 5am to participate, you can follow along on the blog, or just read at your own pace.*
(time subject to change depending on interest of those outside the Central time zone)

Purchase the book here if you'd like, or any book store of your choosing of course.

The purpose of these book studies and the reason we structured them this way, is so they would not be meetings that require you to leave your home.

We simply offer accountability for you as you read through the books and offer the (optional) early morning conference call, twice a month, for us to discuss the book and pray regarding the topics within.

Send me an email or leave a comment here on this blog, if you're interested.

Homemade Pedicure

I'm looking for some ideas of how you do your home made pedicures.

What products do you use?

What procedure?

I need training!

"Evening" The Movie

Saw this movie tonight for Girls Night

I thought it was interesting. Have you seen it?

When looking at the list of movies currently showing, they were all either action movies or kid movies so I went with this one.

It has not received very good reviews by the popular critics, and I agree with a lot of what they said about the movie..... too many characters, no clear message, means to be a tear jerker but you don't really get to the point that you shed that waiting tear.

Aside from that, it at least brings up some topics to ponder. Over the years I've become a person who likes to ponder situations and stories, even if they don't mean a whole lot. By the end of my pondering and analyzing though, I try to come out of it with something meaningful and hopefully something that can one day be applied to someone in one of those situations.

Here are some of them from the movie, Evening, and I'll come back and share some thoughts on them:

- Deathbed Regrets
- Secrets from the past
- Views of married sister or friend, toward unmarried sister or friend
- Leaving career for children
- Leaving a homemaking task to be attentive to the children
- Seeing an "ex" after many many years
- In love with the "idea of someone"
- Choosing love and commitment over fantasy

more to come..........

Click Comment below, to leave your comments

"What About Your Friends"

Here are the lyrics to a song from TLC! Remember them?

Any of it true for you?

I don't think I've ever related to a whole lot of these lyrics but it's interesting anyway. I thank God for the friends I have now, on many levels! That's why I love the word, Philos!!

Send me your thoughts.........

----------------------------

"What About Your Friends?" by TLC

Every now and then I get a little crazy
That's not the way it's supposed to be
Sometimes my vision is a little hazy
I can't tell who I should trust or just who I let trust me (yeah)

People try to say I act a little funny
But that's just a figure of speech to me
They tell me I changed because I got money [not my case!!]
But if you were there before then you're still down with me

[Chorus:]
What about your friends
Will they stand their ground
Will they let you down again
What about your friends are they gonna be low down
Will they ever be around or will they turn their backs on you

Well is it me or can it be I'm a little too
Friendly so to speak hypothetically
Say I supply creativity to what others
Must take as a form of self-hate
Only to make an enemy
Which results in unfortunate destiny
They dog me out then be next to me
Just cause I am what some choose to envy

Every now and then I get a little easy
I let a lot of people depend on me
I never though they would ever deceive me
Don't you know when times got rough I was standing on my own
I'll never let another get that clost to me
You see I've grown a lot smarter now
Sometimes you have to choose and then you'll see
If your friends is true they'll be there with you
Through the thick and thin

[Chorus]

Yo is it me, is it me or can it be I am a little too friendly
So to speak hypothetically
'Cause I supply creativity to what others
Must take as a form of self-hate
Only to make an enemy
Which results in unfortunate destiny
They dog me out then be next to me
Just cause I am what some choose to envy

[Chorus]

People say I asc a little funny
I wouldn't change not for no money
I'll be a friend as long as you're a friend to me (yeah, yeah)
Even though I might seem easy
It don't give you no cause to deceive me
It's not the way that I want my friends to ever be

[Chorus]