Saturday, September 14, 2013

Give yourselves to God (1)

Oh well, I am pretty much off track when it comes to blogging... Excuse me for not reading any of your blogs, but believe it or not, I have been digitally disconnected for the last few weeks, and it was wonderful :)

We just returned from a short mission trip to Italy. With our non-profit organisation Traveling Light we went with seven volunteers and worked at a rehabilitation center in the hills of Tuscany. Before that, we were in the Ukraine for a week. Many wonderful things happened there as well.

It was refreshing to live without internet and phone for a while, but currently I am trying to put order in the chaos of emails, blogs  and FB notices.

The theme we picked for the work week was Giving it All. Giving all, surrendering really, to God. What does that mean? How do we make such a thing practical? After the long and hard working days (the guys chopped and cut an enormous quantity of firewood) we would spend the evenings on the lovely terrace overlooking the hills, and do Bible study on this subject. I will share some of it on the coming blog posts and I really hope you'll enjoy it!

The scripture we used throughout the week can be found in Romans 6:12-14, Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Some translations say 'give yourselves to God'. Giving, offering, presenting ourselves to God to be used for righteous purposes. How do we do such a thing? Giving ourselves to God means giving our whole being. According to the Bible that is spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). In the upcoming blog posts I will write about:
  • giving our spirit
  • giving our soul
  • giving our body, and also
  • giving our time, talents and money
I sincerely hope you want to join me in this series, which will bless and enrich you!

5 comments:

  1. Hi Marja -

    Welcome back! I've been working hard to finish my second book, so I haven't been around the blogosphere much either.

    I'm happy to say that it's now in the publisher's hands, and we're working on the cover art and all that good stuff. :)

    The new series looks interesting. I can't wait to see what you've learned.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh... the joys of publishing a book ;) haha, I can relate to the stress. But I am sure all will be settled in time. Thanks for taking the time to visit Susan. I am down to one post a week now...

      Delete
  2. So glad you're back safe and sound. I know the Lord blessed all your efforts. Look forward to your posts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bethesda set up as a way to Joystiq until this subscriptionbased Mmo requires the Xbox 360 console Are living Rare metal member's program to try out inside Xbox 360 program A single, nevertheless.Bethesda precisely what foodstuff is at talks making use of Ms making it possible for Xbox 360 system 1 keepers to participate in the game on-line without the Stay enrollment inside August.
    Cheap elder scrolls online gold
    Buy teso gold

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your visit, it is my hope and prayer that this post was an encouragement to you! Feel free to leave a comment.