Enjoy An Un-Week - No. 11

How would you like to have an "un" week? Why not try it? Here’s a different "un" for each day of this week. Check in each day of this week for a new "un" to work out in your life for the day.

DAY 1 – UNHURRIED

Hebrews 4:9 "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."

Slow down today. Create an "unhurried" atmosphere. "How can I do that?" you sigh. "I’ve got so much to do. I just don’t know how I can get through it all."

Dear mother, you don’t have to do everything. I guess you write lists. If you do, write down the most important things you have to do today but don’t be disappointed if you don’t get them all done. When you have little ones all around you, you accomplish an amazing fete if you only get one extra thing done in a day.

You’ll find your children will all be more relaxed and happier when you calm down and get out of your frenzied attitude. In my mothering days I used to find that when I was hurrying the children up to get this or that done or get ready to go here and there, that that was when I had the most behavior problems. When I got off my "high horse" and stopped the great hurry, the children were happier and easier to handle.

Now I’m not talking about laziness. Of course you have to work and accomplish your household chores. But you’ll find that you’ll accomplish a lot more if you do them with an "unhurried" attitude, rather than a frantic attitude.

When your children are restless or irritable, stop what you are doing, sit down together and read them a story. This will calm you and the children. I love these lines…

"You may have tangible wealth untold,

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold,

Richer than I you can never be,

I had a mother who read to me."

Take a few minutes out of each day to enjoy watching your children. Watch them play. It is more entertaining than TV. Take some time for the special moments.

I remember reading about a man of God who used to sign his letters, "Restfully busy." Learn to be busy with a restful heart. This is your right as a child of God. God has provided a rest for you. Hebrews 4:9 says, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." God lives in rest. He is not in a hurry. And He lives in you and you live in Him. Acknowledge this and start living in the rest that God has ordained for you.

PRAYER:

"Thank you, Lord, that you live in rest. Thank you that you live in me and I live in you. Lord, help me to embrace the rest that you have provided for me. Help me to live with an unhurried attitude today. Fill my heart with your peace and rest. Fill our home with your calm and serenity. Put an anointing of peace upon all our children. Thank you, Lord, for the rest and peace we are going to enjoy today. Amen."

 

QUOTE:

THE TRYING DAYS

By Patience Strong

The trying days, the sighing days, the days when things go wrong,

The hurry days, the worry days, the days when you’re off song,

The busy, dizzy days that you go rushing madly through –

Trying to catch up on all the jobs you have to do.

The trying days, the flying days – the clock goes twice its pace,

But when you start to feel you are competing in a race –

Slow down for a moment. Let your tangled thoughts unwind.

You’ll get through in half the time if you’ve a quiet mind.

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DAY 2 – UNMOVABLE

1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, UNMOVABLE, always abounding in the work of the Lord."

 

Do you find that you are often swayed by what this or that person says? Dear mother, get your roots deep down into the soil of God’s truth. Search God’s Word to find out what He says and stick to your convictions. The truth of any subject in the Word of God cannot be found in one Scripture. You must search the Bible to find out everything God says on a given subject and then you will find balanced truth. It doesn’t matter whether it is the most important minister in town speaking – it’s still God’s eternal Word that is the final authority.

Paul said in Galatians 1:8, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."

I believe that as mothers we need to be unmovable in our stand for Christ and His principles, especially as an example to our children. Our children need to see that we are not swayed or moved from truth because of persecution, because things don’t work out according to how we think they should, or because of difficult circumstances. No matter what happens we are unmoved and unshaken! This is the proof of our Christianity before the world.

We don’t believe because everything is going nicely; we believe because it is God’s eternal truth. Circumstances of life have nothing to do with it. You may be going through hard and difficult times, but don’t give up. Stand strong. God is more interested in preparing you for eternity than giving you a joy ride along the way!

I am challenged by the confession of the Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when faced with being thrown into the fiery furnace because they would not bow down to the image. Let’s read it…

Daniel 3:16-18, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. BUT IF NOT, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

These young men did not put their faith only in God’s deliverance, but in God himself. They trusted God, not for what He would do for them, but for Who He is. Even if God did not deliver them, they were undaunted in their stand for righteousness. Their stand did not depend on the outcome, but in walking in their convictions.

I want to encourage you from Ephesians 6:13-14, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness."

PRAYER:

"Lord, please help me to be unmovable – unmoved by the derogatory things that people say to me, unmoved by every sleight of doctrine, and unmoved from my convictions even when it’s all going wrong. Help me to stand against the forces of evil. Help me to stand against the humanistic deceptions that are all around me. Help me to stand against every wind of adversity. Thank you, Lord, for your strength and power, which strengthens me in my inner man. Amen."

QUOTE:

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DAY 3 – UNTAINTED

James 1:27, "… unspotted from the world."

Oh it is so easy to get tainted, isn’t it? We listen to gossip or gossip ourselves and it taints our spirit and it also distorts our view of the person spoken against.

We turn on the TV and it tarnishes our spirit with the filth and deception of the world. We give into the flesh and "blow our cool!" We speak sharply to those we love. We covet and hanker for the material things of this world that we don’t really even need. We become spotted and tainted.

James 1:27 encourages us to keep ourselves "unspotted from the world." Some other translations say, "unstained from the world."

Would you like to try for an untainted day today? Keep your mind and heart aware of anything that would grieve the Holy Spirit of God who lives in you. Say No to anything that would stain your heart that has been washed clean by the blood of Jesus.

Of course you’re human and you can still fall! But when you do, immediately ask God’s forgiveness and claim the power of the blood of Jesus to cleanse you and make you pure again. This is the power of the Gospel. Jesus shed His precious pure blood to make you clean. No sin is too hard for Him to wash clean.

1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The secret of staying "untainted" is to keep short accounts with God.

PRAYER:

"Lord, you have washed me clean by your precious blood. Help me to keep clean. Help me to very sensitive to your HOLY Spirit who lives in me. Give me a hate for the things that you hate and a love for the things that you love. Save me from being tainted by the things of this world, Amen."

QUOTE:

1 John 2:15-17, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."

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DAY 4 – UNDAUNTED

Is everything coming against you? Do you feel you can’t cope with all you have to do? Dear mother, don’t give in. Remember, you are a child of God, and if a child of God, you are an heir of God. In fact you are a joint-heir with Jesus Christ Himself. God is for you. God is behind you. God is in you. God is with you all the way. He will never leave you or forsake you. Nothing, no nothing – neither persecution or problems or heartaches or despair or even death – nothing can separate you from His love.

Don’t give up. Don’t be downhearted. Lift up your eyes and put them on the Lord. Don’t let anything deter you from finishing the race that is set before you.

Mother, don’t let society tell you that you are wasting your time at home with your children. You are in the perfect will of God. God has given you your precious children. They are gifts from Him. He has given them to YOU to train for Him. He has given you a big job and He doesn’t want you to give up on it.

Stand undaunted – undaunted by problems, undaunted by what people say to you or about you, undaunted by discouragement, undaunted by lack of sleep. We have the example of Jesus, who in the face of death and taking on Himself the sins of the world "set his face like a flint." Read Isaiah 50:7 and Hebrews 12:2-4. He sweat drops of blood in anticipation of the agony, but He was still undaunted.

I love the affirmation of the Psalmist.

Psalm 57:7; 108:1, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed."

Psalm 112:7, "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord."

PRAYER:

"Lord, please help me to fix my heart and mind on you, so that I will not be touched by the circumstances around me. Thank you, Lord, for you are my Rock and my Fortress. You are my Hiding place and my Strong Tower. I can lean on you. I can trust you. Thank you that you are my strength for today. Amen."

QUOTE:

"Whoever lets himself be shaped and guided by anything lower than an inflexible will, fixed in obedience to God, will in the end be shaped into a deformity and guided to wreck and ruin."

• DON’T GIVE UP

  By Phoebe Cary

   

  If you tried and have not won,

   

  Never stop for crying;

   

  All that’s great and good is done

   

  Just by patient trying.

   

  Though young birds, in flying, fail,

   

  Still their wings grow stronger;

   

  And the next time they can stay

   

  Up a little longer.

   

  Though the sturdy oak has known

   

  Many a blast that bowed her,

   

  She has risen again, and grown

   

  Loftier and prouder.

   

  If by easy work you beat

   

  Others, who will prize you?

   

  Gaining victory from defeat -

   
  That’s the test that tries you!

   

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DAY 5 – UNCOMPLAINING

Philippians 2:15 RSV, "Do all things without grumbling or questioning."

Why is it so easy to grumble and complain? It seems to come naturally, doesn’t it? I guess that’s because it belongs to our fleshly nature. I believe that a "complaining" spirit can become a habit – a habit we need to break. You’ll need to practice this "un" for more than just today. They say that it takes about three to four weeks to break a habit. But you could start today.

Why should we break the habit of complaining? Because it is a serious matter in the eyes of God. Thousands of the children of Israel were destroyed because they complained and murmured. A whole generation (apart from Joshua and Caleb) was prohibited from entering into the Promised Land because they grumbled!

Numbers 14:29 tells us, "Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against Me."

"They were complaining against Moses in the desert," you say. That’s right. But God took it as complaining against Him. In Exodus 16:7 Moses said, "He hears your murmurings against the Lord… that you murmur against us." The Living Bible says, "He has heard your complaints against Him (for you aren’t really complaining against us – who are we?)"

When we gripe and murmur in our home, God hears it. He doesn’t hear it as a gripe against your husband, or your children, or your circumstances, or the home you live in, or your seeming lack of provision, but He hears it as a complaint against Him. He sees that you do not trust Him.

1 Corinthians 10:10, "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer."

Do you think you are ready to try an "uncomplaining" day? Each time you start to moan about something, try praising instead. Instead of complaining about the weaknesses of your children, start encouraging them. Instead of moaning about all the negatives you see in your husband, start thinking of the good things in him – and tell him too. Instead of groaning that you can’t pay the bills, start thanking the Lord for His provision. God hears prayer, but He answers faith!

It’s amazing how things will change when you start getting an "attitude of gratitude". Your circumstances may not always change, but you certainly will. And that’s the most important.

You can always find things to complain about – but you can also always find things to be grateful about.

Recently we have moved out to the land that we purchased a few years ago. We have put up a mobile home on top of the basement we built for Above Rubies. However, our two daughters and sons-in-law who are also living on the land have chosen to gradually build as they earn.

Serene and Sam and their two little ones have now moved into the basement of the home Sam is gradually building.

Evangeline and Howard and their five children are living in a small hut while they seek to build their home. Evangeline has no running water and cooks on a little primus stove outside. She has no mod-con facilities. Is she complaining? No. She makes every day an exciting day for her and the children. She looks upon it all as an adventure. Life is all in how you look at it. You will enjoy it if you are filled with gratitude and thankfulness. You will be miserable if you groan and complain.

You choose!

PRAYER:

"Lord, I confess to you that I have been complaining and negative. I confess this sin of grumbling to you. Please cleanse me and forgive me with your precious blood. Lord, please fill me with an overflowing spirit of gratitude and thankfulness.

I do thank you, Lord, for all your goodness to me. Thank you for my salvation. Thank you for the gift of life. Thank you for my husband. Thank you for the children you have given to me. Thank you for the privilege of being a mother. Thank you for my home. Thank you that you are my God, a God whom I can trust and lean upon. Thank you that you have promised that you will never leave me or forsake me. Amen."

QUOTE:

Habakkuk 3:17-18 TLB, "Even though the fig trees are all destroyed, and there is neither blossom left nor fruit, and though the olive crops all fail, and the fields lie barren; even if the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty, YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD; I WILL BE HAPPY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION."

I have also written a poem for the little children about this subject. You may like to teach it to your children this week.

• WHERE DO YOU LIVE?

   

  Samuel lives in a town called Sad

   

  Where they complain and no one is glad,

   

  They grumble and whine and wear a scowl

   

  And all their voices sound like a growl.

   

  Happy is the name of Hannah’s town

   

  Where they all laugh and never frown,

   

  They chuckle and smile all through the day,

   

  Never do they quarrel when they play.

   

  Which of these towns did you visit today?

   

  Where children grumble and pine away?

   

  Or did you have fun being sweet and kind

   

  In Happy town, the best one you’ll find?

P.S. Refer to the article, CHANGE THE ATMOSPHERE IN YOUR HOME that is available on this web site.

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DAY 6 – UNRESENTFUL

Ephesians 4:30, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God."

Do you feel resentful about the way your husband treats you? Do you feel resentful because you have to stay home with your children? Do you feel resentful because you feel like a "servant" in your home? Do you feel resentful about something someone has said against you?

Dear precious one, please don’t harbor this spirit of resentfulness. Oh I know you feel you don’t deserve this treatment. You may feel you have a right to hang on to it. But being resentful won’t remedy the situation. It will only make it worse. It will gradually destroy you. A resentful spirit will poison your spirit. It will affect your health. And it will begin to affect the lives of your family and those around you.

You can’t afford to hang on to it any longer.

It is most important, especially as mothers, that we keep our spirits free from resentfulness, jealousy, anger, bitterness and unforgiveness. What you harbor inside your heart will touch your children and even the following generations. We must keep our spirit pure by being sensitive to the Holy Spirit who lives within us.

If you have any resentment in your heart, get rid of it. Confess it to the Lord and ask Him to cleanse you. Then start forgiving and blessing. 1 Peter 3:8-9 tells us that when people say unkind things to us that we are to retaliate – not with bitterness and hurt but "with a blessing". Another translation says that we are to "pay them back with a blessing."

Make this a habit of your life. When you feel resentful against someone for something they have said or done, start blessing them. Of course you won’t feel like it, but forget your feelings. Bless them anyway. Keep blessing them until all the resentfulness and hurt is gone from your heart.

When you feel resentful against the circumstances you are facing, start praising and thanking the Lord instead. Once again you won’t feel like it. But how do you want to live - in bondage to your feelings, or by God’s kingdom principles that produce life and victory?

2 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In EVERYTHING give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

God’s perfect will for you is to give thanks. Keep praising until all the hurt and resentfulness is gone.

 

This is how you keep a free and pure spirit.

Get rid of all resentfulness today.

PRAYER:

"Lord, I confess to you all resentfulness and bitterness against my family (name the persons). I confess all resentfulness and self-pity about my circumstances. Wash my heart and make it pure. Lord, I give you thanks for my family (name persons) and for the situation in which you have placed me. I thank you that you are with me and that you are working in me to make me more like your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for what you are doing. Thank you for your love. Thank you that you are working all things out for my good. I praise you and love you. Amen."

QUOTE:

A woman told Billy Sunday that she had a bad temper, but it was over in a minute. "So is a shotgun, but it blows everything to pieces," was his reply.

"To have self-control is wonderful but to have God-control is far more wonderful."

P.S. Have you checked out the article, CHANGE THE ATMOSPHERE IN YOUR HOME? If not, find it and read it on the web page today.

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DAY 7 – UNWORRIED

Philippians 4:6 TLB, "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything."

Wow, do you think you could get through today without one worry? Why do we worry about so many things? As one person said, "Why pray when you can worry?" We may not all confess this, but most of us do it. We usually worry before we pray, don’t we?

Why do we do this? The bottom line is that we don’t really trust God. And this is what makes worry a sin. The Bible is full of admonitions from the beginning to the end to "trust in the Lord." To trust God means to quit worrying and believe that God is in control of our lives and the situation and that He knows what He is doing. Yet in light of the hundreds of exhortations to "trust", most of us still keep on worrying.

In the early days of our marriage, when facing financial difficulties or other problems, my husband would put his trust in the Lord and be at peace. I was still learning how to trust the Lord and felt that I must do something – and that was worry! I would say, "If you’re not going to worry about it, somebody’s got to, so I’ll just have to worry!" How ridiculous! Did it ever help the situation? Never once!

Worry is not only a sin. It is a waste of valuable time. It is a waste of good energy. It will give you ulcers! And it doesn’t accomplish one thing!

Worrying people always think of the negatives. Their cup is half empty. Those who trust the Lord think of the positives. Their cup is half full! I believe that the antidote for worry is learning to trust the Lord.

Dear friend, God can be trusted. He is faithful. He will not let you down. He will never leave you or forsake you. He is your Rock. He is your Fortress. He is your strong Deliverer.

Don’t grumble about the fiery trial you are going through. Instead, thank the Lord that He is with you. Thank Him that He is working everything out for your good and for His glory. Rest in His love. Trust in His mercy and deliverance.

Throw all your burdens upon the Lord and leave them there. Trust Him to unravel your problems - you haven’t been successful thus far. Trust Him to provide your needs - He is Jehovah Jireh. Trust God to work in your husband – He will do a far greater job than you can, and especially when you stop worrying and nagging. Trust him for your children.

• Trust Him when dark days assail thee,

  Trust Him when thy faith is small,

   

  Trust Him when to simply trust Him

   

  Is the hardest thing of all.

Put your trust in the Lord today and go through this day …

• Unworried

  Unruffled

   

  Unflustered

   

  Unperturbed

   

  Unanxious

   

  Untroubled

   

  Undisturbed, and

   

  Unflappable!

Your husband and children will be blessed out of their socks! And the atmosphere in your home will change.

PRAYER:

"Father, I confess to you that I have been trying to work out all my problems by myself. Forgive me for all my worrying. Cleanse me and deliver me from this worrying spirit. Lord, I give all my problems to you. I put my trust in you. I roll my burden on to you. I thank you that you are the burden bearer. You have promised to sustain me. I rest in your unfailing love. Thank you, Lord. Amen."

QUOTE:

WHY WORRY?

Worry? Why worry? What can worry do?

It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you.

It gives you indigestion and sleepless hours at night,

And fills with gloom the days, however fair and bright.

It puts a frown upon the face and sharpness to the tone;

We’re unfit to live with others and unfit to live alone.

Worry? Why worry? What can worry do?

It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you.

Pray? Why pray? What can praying do?

Praying really changes things, arranges life anew.

It’s good for your digestion, gives peaceful sleep at night;

And fills the grayest, gloomiest day with rays of glowing light.

It puts a smile upon your face, the love note in your tone;

Makes you fit to live with others and fit to live alone.

Pray? Why pray? It brings God down from heaven

To live and work with you.

Hope you had a wonderful "un" week.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL