Another Key in Becoming Beautiful

This is a reprint of a post that I recently sent to my Becoming Beautiful Ezine subscribers. If you wish to receive the FREE Becoming Beautiful ezine just subscribe by entering your details on the right.

Welcome to the Becoming Beautiful Ezine!

It is definitely autumn “down under” with leaves turning brown, red or orange. It is a difficult season for me – I LOVE walking through the fallen leaves and gazing on their beautiful colours. But I am also sad that winter is around the corner, blowing in fast!

This week God showed me another key to becoming beautiful! I am so amazed at how many times the Word of God talks about beauty. God is truly a God of beauty and desires us to live in a world of beauty.

Here is the key – from Proverbs 4 v 9 in the NASB says:”She will place on your head a garland of grace; she will present you with a crown of beauty.”

Solomon here is talking about Godly Wisdom. Godly Wisdom gives you a crown of beauty and grace. As women, we all want to be beautiful and graceful, don’t we? Well, this is a key!

The Wisdom that Solomon is talking about is described further in verse 11 – it is the “comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God” (AMP). Having insight into the ways and purposes of God will bring beauty into our lives. Our relationships will be beautiful, our speech would be graceful and our lives would be reflecting God’s glory.

God’s glory is captivating – we would become captivating.
God’s words are life changing – we would become life changers.
God’s spirit brings love, joy and peace – we would also bring love, joy and peace.

How do you gain this Godly Wisdom? How do you become captivating, a life changer and bring love, joy and peace into your world?

1. You must desire Godly Wisdom above all else.

Value and prize it with all your heart. This means that you seek God’s ways and thoughts on EVERYTHING that happens in your day. Seek Him out before you move a step forward. Seek it like silver, and search for it as hidden treasure” Proverbs 2:4.Consider God’s ways as valuable as having a billion dollars.

2. Study and meditate on the Word of God

God’s word is inspired by Him and gives you the “comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God”. It is Godly Wisdom. So we must desire it above all else. We must consider God’s Word as valuable as gold. Go on a treasure hunt everyday in the Word. When my heart is right with God and I come with my opened Bible in my hand expecting God to reveal His treasures – I ALWAYS receive Godly Wisdom, ALWAYS.

3. Pray for Wisdom

God tells us in James chapter 1 to pray for wisdom if we lack it. He wants to give it to us. He knows that we need it. At the top of our prayer list should be Godly Wisdom – to know God’s thoughts on our home school plans, to know God’s thoughts on our financial budget and our food shopping list. We need God’s wisdom to know what and how to speak to that difficult child or that withdrawn husband.

We need God’s wisdom to create and maintain beautiful relationships, homes and lives.
What are your desires today? Is it to know God’s thoughts on today’s to-do list? Did you check with Him first? Is your life more beautiful than it was yesterday? Why? Why not?

Keep moving forward in your journey to Becoming Beautiful in God!

Rachel Larkin

How to Create Awesome Children’s Bedrooms

Here is a free article on how to create wonderful bedrooms for your children.Bedrooms that are organised and easy to keep clean and tidy!

It is a pdf file. Creating Awesome Bedrooms

Enjoy!

Thoughts on Fasting

I have been thinking a lot about fasting. I came across this quote today:

It’s not the fast that God blesses, rather God blesses the motive of the heart and the intentions of the heart. I think fasting is an outward tangible expression of what is happening in a man’s heart. I think when a man fasts, he is saying, “I am serious enough about my need and desire to know God and seek God, that I am willing to sacrifice to get an answer from God.” What may seem foolish in the eyes of the lost and some Christians, really honors God. Your ability to sacrifice doesn’t get results, God doesn’t care what you sacrifice, He just wants to see your attitude in your fast.

By Al Henson , Pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee
Source (free online book on fasting)-Fasting Can Change Your Life

It all comes down to our attitude, doesn’t it?

God doesn’t want sacrifice for sacrifice’s sake but looks into the heart and sees the inner motivation. Why are we fasting? If it comes from a heart that is seeking God – God sees and hears and then reaches down and meets with that person.

Awesome! The word is more alive during a fast – it literally jumps of the page at you. Words and verses that you have read a million times in the past become brand new just like you have never heard it before.

I welcome your comments-

Desire

“I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits for long, so very long, in vain.”
~A.W.Tozer~

Wow this is a fantastic quote – you can just about feel the intensity and fire in Tozer’s voice!

Tozer doesn’t just want to encourage this longing for God but to go out of his way to create opportunities to long after him – it is a deliberate act.

I want two things -
1. to have this “mighty longing after God”
2. and to “deliberately encourage this mighty longing after God”

This is my prayer for my church, for my husband and for my children – that they will have an acute desire for God.

Yes Lord let it be!!

My Secret For Achieving The Best Year Yet!

I hope that the Christmas and New Year break has been a relaxing and a rewarding one, spending time with family. Apparently we have had the driest summer on record! The grass is proof of that – brown as.

Today, I want to stir you up to expect and dream for this coming year. We all have dreams, some of them are unspoken, some have been discarded, and some we are yet to imagine. Without a dream or vision, we are just getting through life; basically surviving. God doesn’t want us to JUST survive – He wants us to dream and move towards an aim or goal in our lives.

What are your aims this year?
What would you like to achieve?

I usually have loads of aims and things that I would like to do. BUT I never seemed to get around to doing anything or maybe life just got in the way. Every year I would sit down and review my past efforts and become very discouraged. What is the point in even writing down goals? I never seem to achieve even a portion of what I dream about.

Over the past few weeks, I have spent quite a lot of time talking to God about this. He has shown me a SECRET to achieving my dreams. I will get to the SECRET in a moment. But first I want to share with you what I was doing wrong. God revealed it to me while I was reading James 1 v 6b – 8

For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. Amp

Two words literally jumped off the page. “Dubious” and “irresolute”. They aren’t words that we use freely these days are they? So I took the time to look them up-

Dubious: hesitant, uncertain, doubtful, sceptical, unsure, undecided, irresolute.

Was I sceptical about achieving my goals? Was I so full of doubt that I didn’t really believe that I had it in me to gain the victory? It started to look like sabotage – I was sabotaging my own dreams! Let’s move onto the word “irresolute” -

Irresolute: unable to make up your mind.

Well, I thought – that is strange, I thought I HAD decided to accomplish certain things. Hadn’t I wanted to lose weight? Hadn’t I wanted to write? Hadn’t I wanted a closer relationship with my husband? Wasn’t that making up your mind? But this was only half the meaning – the negative side. I then looked up the flip side –the meaning of resolute.

Resolute: unshakeable, unwavering, unswerving, determined, single-minded, firm

Ah! Now the lights were turning on! If I had made up my mind on a goal or made a decision to do something then I would have been UNSHAKEABLE – nothing could change MY course of action. I would be so determined to achieve -it would be inconceivable that I would fail. If my “mind was made up” then I wouldn’t be in “two minds” that James is talking about. Being in “two minds” is disastrous. You can not achieve anything in “two minds”.

Now here comes the secret – this is what God wanted me to know, the reason why some people achieve and others don’t. It comes down to …DETERMINATION!

Wishing and wanting just doesn’t cut it. Desires and dreams just stay a “what if?”, when there is no determination behind it. Here’s a great verse which has great imagery –

“Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavour, be aglow and burning with the Spirit serving the Lord” Romans 12 v 11

That sure sound determined to me! Okay so what does “determine” mean?

Determine: to settle ultimately, to fix on, to settle or establish, and to resolve

Now there is no argument here, this meaning is pretty clear – to determine is to SETTLE FOR GOOD on what you want to have happen. That is determination! You have made up your mind to inject love into your marriage relationship and nothing is going to get in your way. That is determination! You have resolved that you will lose x amount of pounds this year and that chocolate calling your name is not going to get you. (Now for some reason, yummy fattening food like chocolate is my biggest downfall and I can get determined about most things …but losing weight and giving up chocolate is hard but with God’s help nothing, NOTHING is impossible – watch this space!)

You (and I – I so need this as well) MUST get so determined about the dreams that God has placed in your heart that you decide once and for all and then set your mind on it – you get so fixated on making it happen. God talks about this in Colossians 3 v 2 “Set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things) not on the things that are on earth”

You are not in this alone, God has promised to help you and inject determination into your hearts and strengthen your minds so they can be set upon achieving your goals.

So stir yourself up, sharpen those pencils, and write down those dreams and goals. Pick ONE DREAM, ONE GOAL and become completely determined to achieve it!

To give you a head start,YOU are INVITED to type in your one DREAM or GOAL in the comments area below. I would LOVE to hear what you all are aiming for! Let’s encourage each other towards achieving at least one dream or goal in 2008.

Here’s to the best year ever!
Rachel Larkin

The Perfect Gifts For You!

Merry Christmas!
from my family to yours.
Isn’t Christmas such a perfect time to celebrate God’s incredible gift to us?
In New Zealand, Christmas is celebrated in summer so there is no snow, snowmen or lots of lights. But we still see God’s Christmas mark on nature. He decided to bless New Zealand with it’s own native Christmas Tree – the Pohutakawa Tree!
It’s bright red blossoms appear at the beginning of December for about 6 weeks. I took the above photo down the road from where I live – the waterfront is covered in these beautiful red blossomed Pohutakawa trees. As you walk along the path beside the water, you feel like you are royalty as the ground is covered with the fallen blossoms like a red carpet!

Walking along the “red carpet” brings so many thoughts to my mind – God loves beauty, He loves to shower us with beauty. He gives the Northern Hemisphere a gorgeous white Christmas. I have heard that each snowflake is unique, just like humans. No-one is the same, we are all unique. What a BIG God! We can see His character in the nature around us can’t we?

A “red carpet” is for royalty and the Pohutakawa tree is blossoming at the perfect time – a time to remember Jesus, the King of all Kings. If you are a daughter of the King, then you are also a princess!

With all the Christmas shopping happening this week – God reminded me of His gifts to us – the ones that hold REAL VALUE! Instead of a “life time guarantee” they have an “eternal guarantee”. His gifts don’t come with an exchange card because He knows exactly what you need or desire. He has in His possession the perfect gifts for you!

“Every good and perfect gift is from ABOVE, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 NIV

God’s gifts to us, the gentiles, started over 2,000 years ago when Jesus was born in the stable at Bethlehem. They continue today , wrapped up in the Word. Paul in Colossians 3:1 tells us to seek them out and unwrap them!

“If then you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead] aim at and seek the [rich eternal treasures] that are ABOVE where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” Colossians 3:1 Amplified

I encourage you to make it your aim this Christmas and into the New Year to SEEK out the gifts that your Heavenly Father has for you. They are hidden in His Word and in communion with His Spirit. He has the perfect gift for you to unwrap every morning! – the Amplified Bible says “perfect” means free, large and full! Our God is not a god that buys His gifts from the “$2 Shop” (do you have those in the U.S.A?), gifts that come from the “$2 Shop” are small, cheap and short-lasting! They just bring clutter into your life. But the “perfect gift enriches your life. Happy gift hunting!

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I want to tell you about something that is COMING SOON that is so exciting!

I have finished my book on “Discovering God’s Names”.

It is jam packed full of revealing thoughts on God and His names. It is born out of my research on His names for my ladies Bible study that I led this year. It is set up like an 8 week group study but is also perfect for individual meditation. I can’t tell you how much I have learned about God, His nature and my own poor image of Him. This study has really been so life changing. It has enriched my spiritual life and turned my image of Him upside down and inside out!

Here is a brief outline of what is included – I start the study by talking about the significance of names and why it is good to study God’s names then we move through 7 of His names in the order that they appear in the Bible – Elohim, Adonai, El Roi, El Shaddai, Jehovah, Jehovah Jireh and Jehovah Nissi.

Watch this space for more details on how you can obtain your copy of “Discovering God’s Names”

Merry Christmas!
Rachel Larkin

God is ……

God is so much more than we realise isn’t he?

He so wants for us to seek Him out and find out MORE about who He is and His plans for us.

At the beginning of this year I had one prayer on my heart – from Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the Lord is good!”
He is good all the time to us. He has provided for all our needs this year. I have witnessed God healing me, my family and an internet buddy (Hi Stephanie – I am still praising God for your healing!) this year.

I have tasted and seen that God is good – but it has created in me a hunger for more tasting!!!!
2008 is going to be great!!!

What have you prayed for at the beginning of the year? – share your answers, write a comment.
Rachel Larkin

Love is GRAND!

My Hubbie and I have been married for 15 years yesterday!!!! WOOHOO~~~~~~

We had a very romantic lunch on a veranda of a historic villa amongst a gorgeous country garden!!

No Kids! (sorry darlings) and it felt like the real world was far away.

Isn’t it good to ‘get away’ in the middle of the day.

Well Christmas is in full swing in our home – the tree is up and the house is decorated. BUT the focus is all ME! ME! isn’t it? How many people will actually remember and thank God for His son this Christmas?

Make room in your heart for celebrating Jesus and His love for you – His Love is GRAND!

Rachel Larkin

Do You Find It Hard To Memorize Scripture?

I have come across an excellent resource that has helped me memorize Psalm 1 in 6 days (one verse a day).

It is a little ebook written by a man called Dr Andrew Davis. It is free!!!! – Here is the link where you can download it -An Approach to the Extended Memorization of Scripture By Dr Andrew Davis

He is encouraging Christians to memorize large chunks of Scripture instead of a verse here and a verse there. I hadn’t thought of it in this way before. But it is starting to make sense to me. Since I have memorized Psalm 1 I have been able to see the whole Psalm in context rather than just focusing on my favourite verses in the Psalm.

I am so encouraged with Dr Andrew Davis’ method on how to memorize large chunks of Scripture that I am now working on memorizing the entire book of James!!!!

I urge you to go to the ebook link and print it out and give memorizing and meditating on God’s Word a go.

Here is another great resource – the website is called Precept Austin , here is a link to the page on Memorizing Scripture – it is so full of excellent encouragement and insightful comment on the ins and outs of memorizing the Word. Memorizing His Word

Happy Memorizing
Rachel Larkin

How to share knowledge

Do you know that there are two ways to share knowledge?

1. For mere knowledge sake – just in order to show the person what you know.

2. For love’s sake – in order to build up the person listening to you.

Here is the scripture for this -

1 Corinthians 8 v 1b “Knowledge puffs up but love builds up”

Here it is in the Amplified version – “mere knowledge causes people to be puffed up (to bear themselves loftily and be proud) but love (affection and goodwill and benevolence) edifies and builds up and encourages one to grow [to his full stature]“

This truth applies in all sorts of situations.

What about when you are home educating your children – is your motive in teaching them to build them up? Are you coming from a place of love or a place of “I have to teach them this and that” Is your purpose to encourage them not discourage them?

It applies to everyday conversations – are you merely sharing knowledge on a topic to show that you know something that the other person doesn’t? Or are you sharing in order to build up that person, to encourage them?

This truth really brings home the point that less words are better – it is better to say a few words in love than to speak many words for your own edification.

I want to only share my knowledge in love – I want my hearers and readers to be built up , to be encouraged , to be edified and for them to grow. I want what I say to my children to build them up and to encourage them.

What about you?