Mindful Monday Devotional -Practicing His Presence

Minday Monday Devotions-Practicing His Presence

This time of year many Christian women tend to choose a “word of the year” they feel the Lord has spoken to them to focus on.  This year the word the Lord has given me is, “Shepherd”.  I think mainly because my earthly father was very harsh and could be quite hateful at times, so I’ve struggled with my view of my heavenly Father.  He has been whispering to me how He is my daddy (Abba, Father). He is my shepherd who leads me, guides me, and protects me; and not only that, but He wants me to completely relax in His presence. My earthly father could be loving at times, but due to the times he was harsh, I found myself always on guard.  Ready to be lashed out at.  My heavenly Father doesn’t want that for me. He wants me to be relaxed in His presence, and at peace.  He wants me to see Him as my refuge and my safe harbor in the storm.

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Sick Boy Worried Mom

Sick Boy Worried MomSo this past week and a half I put everything else on hold while caring for my sickie kiddo. That meant no blogging, no graphics work, just sitting in bed next to my sweet boy in between changing sheets, encouraging him to drink something, giving him a steady supply of alternated liquid Tylenol and liquid Motrin.

Have I mentioned that my son is 14 but he has autism? Totally non-verbal. He can’t tell me what his symptoms are, so I have to play junior detective to try to figure out what’s wrong.

It all started a week ago last Tuesday when he came home from school with a note that said he didn’t eat breakfast or lunch.  I knew something was up when he didn’t eat at least lunch.  He’s never been big on breakfast foods.

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Scripture Writing Plan for February 2018

Scripture Writing Plan for February 2018

This post marks one year of Sincerely Sapphire’s scripture writing plans!  I’m so pleased with how eager so many of you are to get the next month’s plan 🙂  God is moving and drawing souls to Himself -both those already His and those who are seeking to know more about Him. It is my honor to provide these plans for you every month.  I am humbled to be used to the Lord as a tool to get you into His Word.  I’d love to hear back from how you are using the plans, and I’d love to see how you decorate your writings (if you choose to do so, which of course it’s not necessary). Just get into the Bible and drink freely from the water of life!

 

Click on the image below to pull up the full-sized PDF file for printing –>

Scripture Writing Plan for February 2018

What is a War Binder? Answered Here!

What is a War Binder?

(Note:  this can be found on a permanent page here as well, for future reference!)

What is a “War Binder”?  That question gets asked probably every day (often more than once) in our “Christian Planner, Journal, and Craft Fellowship” group on Facebook.  I decided I would creating a page on my blog to help answer that question!  We can just direct them to this page and they can find out here and also get some resources for starting their own war binder.

First things first,  ok:

What IS a war binder??

A war binder is a take-off from the movie, War Room.  You can watch a trailer for the movie here:

So in this movie, Miss Clara has a big house and in her house she has a big closet she has emptied all but a chair.  She calls this her, “war room”. Why “war room”?  Miss Clara is a devoted Christian who spends a lot of time in this room waging spiritual war in prayer.  She tapes prayer requests, pictures, etc. on the walls of her little room and she is there with her chair, her Bible and her taped-up requests.  It’s just a tiny little room, but the realms of the heaven know it quite well.  Miss Clara regularly wages war with the Holy Spirit encompassing her, the Word of God as her weapon and the blood of Jesus as her covering.

The Bible tells us that as believers in Jesus Christ, we are in a war!

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” –Ephesians 6:12

“For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfareare not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We tear down arguments, and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.…” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Eph. 6:11-17

A War Binder is a “war room” in a binder for those of us without an extra room to convert into a war “room”.

It’s a notebook, binder, traveler’s notebook, journal; what have you that you keep prayer requests in.  You can have a section for prayer requests, answered prayers, devotion and sermon notes, Bible study notes, gratitude, reflections on what you’ve studied, worship lyrics, scripture writing, ANYTHING that draws you close to the Lord and which you use to wage your own spiritual war in.

A war binder is a very personal thing you share between yourself and God.  Make it as you are inspired.  the bottom line is it draws you close to the Lord in prayer and let His Word guide you in your daily walk through what inspires you to enter into it.

Here is a clip from my first war binder. (First only because I was a bit too ambitious and made it too big to turn the pages easily 🙂 )  But I’m using the same concept on a bit smaller scale now. I hope it will give you some ideas:

My war binder

Use your own ideas! Let the Holy Spirit lead you 🙂  He is faithful!

 

Recommended Supplies:

(Some of these are affiliate links and if a link leads to a purchase, I will get a small commission which will help me maintain this blog. I won’t post a link to a product I don’t support myself.)

Micron Pens     Lolliz Gel Pens

Flair PensStaedtler Fineliners

Crayola Twistables Colored Pencils       Prismacolor Colored Pencils

 

Traveler's NotebooksHappy Planner

Other sources for some great leather traveler’s notebooks:

Chic Sparrow     MeadowGate      FoxyFix

Mixed Media Spiral bound      Ring Bound Binder

Or any ring-bound notebook 🙂

 

Check out my Pinterest board HERE for a LOT more ideas!

I’d love to see what you come up with! Tell me about it in the comments below!

Mindful Monday Devotional – Living by Faith

Mindful Monday - Living by Faith

Welcome to 2018!  A new year with new possibilities.  I hope that you, like me, are determined to move forward in your faith and put everything that’s happened to you behind you (as much as possible at any rate) follow the apostle Paul’s example in Philippians chapter 3:13b-15:

“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press ontoward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenlycalling in Christ Jesus.  All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well.…”

It takes a lot of faith to leave our pain and struggles behind us and look to the future.  Looking to the future means we have faith that there are better things in that future. Even better, that there is some ONE in the future to guide us through it and to receive us there.  I read a devotional this past week in my YouVersion devotional by Ryan Stevenson that speaks to this and I wanted to share it with you, my readers:

 

Living by Faith
The Christian life is all about FAITH. Hebrews 11 says, “faith is being sure of what we hope for, and knowing something is real even if we do not see it.” I love this verse because it always brings me comfort when I am in the midst of a season where I’m finding it difficult to hold on. When God has called us to do something, we must believe and act on it. I believe that God delights in those who will follow the call He’s placed in the heart, and risk the comfort of everyday life for the Kingdom’s sake.

The easiest thing for us to do is doubt. As an emotionally driven people, we often find ourselves in peaks and valleys, caught between hope and despair. It seems as if the journey of life is a constant rollercoaster of highs and lows. It seems that even when we want to move forward with confidence, our flesh continuously wants to resort to the comfort of what we can see, feel, and physically grasp. This can be extremely frustrating because we want to see results and the fruits of our labor quickly.

Are you in a season right now where you feel like nothing exciting is happening for you? Are you feeling alone, hopeless, or discouraged? I have been there and know the feeling! Let me offer you the hope that keeps me going. Jeremiah 29:11 states, “I know the plans that I have for you…plans to prosper you…to give you a future and a hope.” If you are feeling discouraged today and are having a hard time believing, just know that God is closer to you than you know.

He is using this season right now to stretch, bend, purify, and refine you into a warrior for the Kingdom. Like grapes that get crushed and pressed and eventually turn into beautiful wine, so our character and faith after the Lord puts us through His refining process. This may require some crushing, pressing, filtering out the junk, and even sitting for a while to mature, but in due season, it’s our time to be released! God has a plan for you, and it’s probably just around the corner! BELIEVE IT!

by Ryan Stevenson, “Trusting God in the Eye of the Storm”

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”–
James 2:17 ESV

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. .. (read the whole passage HERE)”  –Hebrews 11:1‭-‬40 ESV

 

End of the Age Prophecy Updates for 1/7/18

End of the Age Updates for 1-7-18

Hello everyone!  Well the holidays are behind us and I’m trying to get the “normal” back to routine 🙂  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a blessed Christmas! Speaking of normal, this post gets me back to my normal posting of our end of the age updates posts every Sunday.  My hope with these posts is that we all are kept alert to what is occuring in our world and how it matches up to Bible prophecy (and boy does it ever!).  Here are this week’s updates:

 

Pastor J.D. Farag:

(Pastor J.D.’s Video List Here)

 

Amir Tsarfati:

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