Sharon Sharing God: "FAN THE FLAME" FRIDAY

Friday, May 10, 2013

"FAN THE FLAME" FRIDAY - Devoted

Welcome to "Fan the Flame" Friday.

This is a weekly post that will be "short and sweet" (kinda like me...)

Just a word and a phrase, a sentence or a question...just a little something to "fan the flame" of your creativity!

Today's word: devoted

How would you define the word devoted?

Is being devoted to someone different than just loving them?

Does being devoted to someone change your priorities?

In what ways should we be devoted to God?

Let me know what you think!!

"Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you. You are my God." (Psalm 86:2)

"I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments." (Psalm 119:45)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

As a mom, I am devoted to my children. And as a daughter, I am devoted to my mom! Yet, my love and devotion is only possible because God first loved me.

"Her children stand and bless her...
'There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
but you surpass them all!'
Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised."
(Proverbs 31:28-30)

"This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you…For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:6-7)

BLOG = "Blessedly Leaning On God!"

5 comments:

DebbieMay 10, 2013 at 7:02 AM
Oh, I like this one. I think the term devoted carries a passion with it. I think it means to be utterly committed to something or "sold out" to it.

I'm devoted to my family. I think about them all the time and am passionately determined to do and be the best for them.

That's the idea behind the devotion we are to have for our God. What is even more beautiful is that HE is devoted like that to us. It just slays me when I think about it.
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Marsha YoungMay 10, 2013 at 7:11 AM
Sharon,
Good thoughts.

Devoted: ardent, devout, affectionate

I have often aspired to the first two, but was surprised to see that third synonym in the dictionary. God has genuine affection for us. Do we have the same for him?
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DeniseMay 10, 2013 at 9:54 AM
Devoted means 100% heart to heart, totally in it for life.
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UnknownMay 10, 2013 at 10:31 AM
Hi Sharon,

I hope you have a very happy blessed Mother's Day
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SharonMay 18, 2013 at 9:58 PM
How would you define the word devoted?

I think devoted is more than just being committed. I think it is commitment accompanied with genuine affection and love.

Is being devoted to someone different than just loving them?

Devotion implies to me a choice of dedicating yourself to someone. It implies that your commitment is one made with your heart.

Does being devoted to someone change your priorities?

Absolutely. Being devoted to someone should make you put that person first in your life. It should make them have primary importance in your life.

In what ways should we be devoted to God?

In how we love him with everything we have. In how we choose to spend time in His Word, and how we choose to spend time with him talking and listening. In how we choose to serve Him. Devotion to God should be the most important thing in our lives - even if sometimes it means we give up our lives, literally or figuratively.

GOD BLESS!
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"So [I] have been greatly encouraged in the midst of [my] troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith. It gives [me] new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord. How [I] thank God for you!" (1 Thessalonians 3:7-9)

Thanks for your comments - it is such a joy to be sharing my journey with friends like YOU!

(NOTE: Anonymous comments will be removed. Thank you for understanding.)

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MY WORD FOR 2016

GRATEFUL

Grateful: feeling or showing thanks to someone for some helpful act; appreciative of benefits received; warmly or deeply thankful; indebted; beholden.

Word origin: 1550's, "pleasing to the mind," also "full of gratitude," from obsolete adj. grate "agreeable, thankful," from Latin gratus "pleasing" – derived from the same word origin as the word "grace."

The trick to changing your behavior is to become more thankful.

The practice of gratitude involves a focus on the present moment, on appreciating your life as it is today and what has made it so.

Let us begin an eternal quest to express in new and creative ways our thanks to God.

So I'm breathing in Your grace,

And I'm breathing out Your praise.

Let our prayers be the overflow of a grateful heart to God.

Three steps in prayer:

PRAISE – praise, reverence, worship, adoration, and awe for who God is and what He does

ASK – honest, earnest, and intense requests

THANK YOU – always end with thanksgiving for everything

Pulpit commentary:

In everything give thanks.

In every circumstance – in joy and in sorrow; for everything – for prosperity and for adversity; in every place – in the house of God and on the bed of sickness.

Christians should not only be engaged in constant prayer, but in constant thanksgiving.

For this – this thankful spirit – is the will of God, His desire.

God by the gift of his Son has laid us under the obligation of perpetual thanksgiving. Our whole lives ought to be one continued thank-offering for all the blessings of redemption.

Gill's Exposition:

Thanks are to be given to him for all things…

For all temporal good things;

for our beings, the preservation of them;

for food and raiment, and all the mercies of life;

for the means of grace, the word and ordinances, and the ministers of the Gospel;

for spiritual blessings, for electing, redeeming, regenerating, adopting, pardoning, justifying, and persevering grace:

for a meetness for heaven, a right unto it, and a good hope of it;

and especially for Jesus Christ, for such a…Saviour, and advocate with the Father, as he is; and for life, peace, joy, comfort, righteousness, and salvation in him.

Thanks should be given to God in every circumstance of life; in adversity, as Job did; when not in so comfortable and agreeable a frame of soul as to be wished for…even under the temptations of Satan…since the grace of God is sufficient to bear up under them, and deliver out of them.

[Give thanks] in afflictions of every kind, since they are all for good – temporal, or spiritual, or eternal.

WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is when you are missing some of your teeth but you're not afraid to smile because you know your friends will still love you even though some of you is missing.

By Emma K. - Age 6

"Out of the mouth of babes..."

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

Anonymous

When you are uncertain, it helps to have someone remind you what is true – someone who knows you well, who sees you, and keeps track of you – not just your body but your soul.

Emily Freeman

Sharon Sharing God

Friday, May 10, 2013

"FAN THE FLAME" FRIDAY - Devoted

5 comments:

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HOW GREAT THOU ART

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

I'D RATHER HAVE JESUS

THE GLORIFIED ONE

SERVING THE MOST HIGH

HE IS ALWAYS THERE, AND EVER NEAR