Before we get into he middle of the holidays, what is our purpose? What are we aiming to achieve?

Jo - Get that thankful heart establishing our steps (for Thanksgiving). At Christmas, we want to keep Christ in Christmas. How do you keep those goals the focus?

Sydney - When that heaviness creeps in, that's not from the Lord. It can suck the joy out. 

Give careful thought to what we're going to do -- our plans to be made. Take time to get alone with God, get alone with your calendar, your husband, your family and be thoughtful, before all the craziness starts. Know what your aim is; focus your eyes. What is our family aiming to do?

Give careful thought so that we can be steadfast and calm and experience the joy of the season. 

Jo - Sometimes that's the intent of the enemy -- whether it be flesh or satan and his kingdom -- is to get us all flustered and chaos. We want to remove the chaos before we get into the middling of the holidays. 

Let your eyes look straight ahead.

Sydney - O...

Jo begins...

We know a lot of things but we're not doing them because we don't have wisdom. Wisdom is when we know what to do and we do it. 

Many times you may have to go it alone. Many times, others may not come along with you or behind you. But if it's God, God's got it. You go with Him because you don't want to miss Him. 

I always found in my life that the closer I got to God, the fewer it got out there. And that's ok. That's a good place to be. Because now you're leaning in so close to God that He's the one you hear. And you're listening to the point that you're obeying. In that obedience, there is such blessing. And that is success. 

Sydney: We've talked about that sacrifice. I do think you lay some things down. What's our choice when God puts something in front of you? 

Our success is finding the purpose God has for you. 

If you feel God working in your heart -- something's going on, He's grabbing you -- talk to godly council about it, find buddies that you can trust and pr...

Why are you celebrating Halloween? 

As Christians, we are to reflect the light -- in our lives, and in our homes, the activities that we do. We're to reflect Christ. 

> We set boundaries pursuant to the Word of God. 

* How close can you get my carriage to the edge of the cliff without going over? 

Five truths about Halloween

1. This is a festive time. It started 2,000 years before Christ was, and it's rooted in pagan worship of Druids, the priestly leaders of the Celts. On October 31st, they head up a festival honoring the sun god, the lord of the dead, to fight evil spirits. 

2a. The activities involve offering a human or animal sacrifice to the god of the dead in belief that these sinful souls (those that had died during the year) that they were in a place of torment and they would be released by the sun god, if the sacrifice they offered was so pleasing to the sun god. 

2b. The Druids would offer good things to eat to these evil spirits so that the evil spirits would not do m...

"You look just like your father!" 

We, as God's children, should favor Him. 

> What does that mean? 

> Do you?

> Who do we act like? Look like? Resemble? Who do we favor, as we go about our day, go about our lives?

We often think of favor when we come to God and ask for favor. We want God to do good to us, ("God, give me a special privilege, benefit. Do something for me on my behalf or lift a burden.") 

* But God's favor is about giving God the opportunity to move in our lives so that every action and reaction resembles Him. 

God, I want to resemble You. I want to favor You. 

When you became a child of God, He really began working His goodness in your life, to make you rememble Him. So everything that comes into our lives -- what God is working in our lives, what God allows to come into our lives is good because the end result is so that we resemble Him. We look like Him. We favor Him. 

God, from Your perspective, what is "gracious to me"?  

The Hebrew word means to show favo...

God is good. That means that God Himself looks down into our lives, into our situations, and He sees what we need to make all things well around us. 

God never lets anything touch you that's not intended to make you better. 

God wanted to show me my heart -- my selfishness, my self-sufficiency, pride. God truly was my source - He was my sufficiency. He wanted me to run to Him, to embrace His good in the moment. I needed His favor, His grace. 

A gift from God is truly an opportunity for a greater vision of God. 

I got such a visitation from God that it woke me up to my self. I was satisfying myself by living in the world with God just tacked on. I was living for the things of the world and allowing my flesh to dictate my desires and my motives. 

* It was an opportunity to have a holy visitation with God because He has so much more for each one of us. 

Where did God find you this morning? 

In your rejoicing, go help someone else get there. It doesn't have to be perfect, just be wi...

What is success? What is life supposed to look like? What does a home life look like?

Your aim is to please God. It doesn't matter what stage of life you're at 

* Visual: Driving. Dark night. Person waving a flag. You have choices: go around them; stop and find out what is wrong; see it ahead and turn around to a different path.

When we draw closer to God, He gives us His vision of success.

Success is wisdom that leads to a fulfilling life that pleases God; wisdom that grants you soundness, the competence to live life well for the Lord.

Sydney: Success is not just knowing but following the Lord.

Jo: That is a strong foundation. It's based on the Word of God. So we can all stand on that.

Sydney: Scripture -- being a daily part of our lives (not always structured, sitting down) -- putting Scripture in our every day -- what we listen to, what I and my husband are studying, passing on the wisdom God gives us to our children + being rooted in a faith community

Jo: You have to be int...

Jo: "Lord, what do you require of me?" 

Judi: "Lord, I'm just too busy right now to talk to you about that. I'm fine doing what I'm doing." God to Judi: "Look, there's a different direction we're gonna go. And, just trust Me in this. You're gonna take care of people, just not in a medical office." 

Jo: God takes us through seasons of life. You didn't just see to their health needs, you helped them with their heart needs -- ministering to their hearts. In that season, you were still pursuing God. You were faithful to God. 

* Know the season that you're in -- And the season that you're in, don't try to be in another season. Be there with God. 

Judi: I was in a drought. There came a time: There's really not any joy or excitement in what I'm doing. But I know that's what I'm supposed to do, so I'm gonna do it. ... I don't want to ever get out of the Word of God. I want people to know what I've been taught and how I got to where I am. 

Jo: We get tossed. We look for the quick fixes. Ye...

We're in a preparation stage -- getting ready for the Bridegroom. And the Bride/we are making ourselves ready. We want to be beautiful. We want to be pure, clean, bright, radiantly white for the Bridegroom. 

Everyday we need to be attentive -- not waste time on unnecessary things -- lusting after the world, lusting after the flesh.

It requires a pure heart. We need to be intentional. Periodically, we need to examine the heart -- allow God, through the Holy Spirit, to circumcise our hearts. 

Ask God: Would you take your flashlight, and would you shine that flashlight all over my heart? And, if there's anything that needs to be cut away, anything that is (unholy, unrighteousness) inhibiting me from freely loving you, God? Would you cut it away? 

And where He cuts, also ask Him to heal that cut. Heal it with righteousness. 

Take a moment. Focus on giving God the time to circumcise your heart. Willingly expose yourself so that you can confess (acknowledge, agree) the sin. 

You want t...

I'm making my wedding garment -- my spiritual garment. I want it to be right. 

Every day I'm paying attention to the details.

"Fine linen" refers to the righteous acts of the saints. "Bright, clean" refers to purity. 

A wedding is coming.

Jesus is the Bridegroom. God is the Father of the Bridegroom. We, that have received Jesus (that's the Church, the believers), are the Bride. And, we're making ourselves ready -- for the wedding ceremony, the marriage.

The Custom of the Jewish Wedding

First, there's an arrangement -- usually the parents of the bride and groom agree. There would be a price to pay for the bride. The next phase is a betrothal ceremony. There is a cleansing. They would promise to one another and would be legally married, even though they still lived in separate houses and had not consummated the relationship. The next phase is a preparation period. The bride would go back to her home and prepare herself for the bridegroom. She didn't know when the groom would be co...

God has a plan and purpose for our children and grandchildren. 

Be intentional to pray for your child - and pray with them.

Prayer is a privilege. It's the most important thing you will ever do. 

1. Be intentional to pray for them. Do it! Consider it as essential as eating a meal. 

We're seeking Him because we need Him -- inviting God in. Otherwise, we are being presumptuous; we are taking Him for granted. 

2. Pray specifically. The more specific your prayers are, the more the Holy Spirit will move according to your prayers. 

3. Pray the Word. That is God's will. Pray it aloud. 

As you pray that Word over that child, do you know the Holy Spirit can take that Word that is spoken, put it into action, and when that child needs that Word to keep themself pure in a moment, the Holy Spirit can use that Word with power to help keep that child pure in their way. Why? Because you were faithful to intentionally pray the Word. 

4. When you pray, pray believing. 

God is on the move to bri...