{"id":5406,"date":"2016-02-13T07:41:02","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T14:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=5406"},"modified":"2016-02-13T07:41:02","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T14:41:02","slug":"get-yourself-ready-lesson-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=5406","title":{"rendered":"Get Yourself Ready Lesson 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This is what I wanted to share with you on Thursday\u2026enjoy! Sorry, it’s kinda long.<\/p>\n

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\"???????????????????????????????\"<\/a>I have had the blessing and honor of having builders in my life. My Dad was a craftsman who could build anything from a suitcase stand to a house! I loved working side-by-side with my Dad growing up. Most of the time, I was the \u201cgopher.\u201d You know, \u201cgo fer this\u201d or \u201cgo fer that.\u201d What the lessons I learned in these moments were precious. They were inspiring. They were invaluable to what I would be able to do as I matured.<\/p>\n

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My Mom was quite the \u201chandy person\u201d as well. After my parents divorced, Mom purchased a little house that she turned into a home. And as the years passed, she would put up walls, then remove them, change an entry way to a room and then remove it, then rearrange the layout of the house multiple times. It was always changing and in her creative mind and with her physical ability, she was able to make some remarkable changes to this house.<\/p>\n

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I guess I got their genes. I have never felt the inability to make something and I enjoy creating and building and trying new things. With some help I\u2019ve built a canopy bed, stage sets for church productions and Vacation Bible School, as well as a doll house for our first grandchild.<\/p>\n

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And how blessed I am to have married a man who loves wood working as much as my Dad. Mason is able to create beautiful things out of pieces of lumber and a handful of nails. Just recently he built chests for our grandkids. Each one had a unique design that matched the personality of each grandchild. And I never expected the reaction we received from our grandkids. They were so happy to get boxes!<\/p>\n

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\u201cBuilding things\u201d is part of my DNA. And as you learned in your memory work this week, God is the Master Builder. He is able to take the unfinished, rough parts of our life and turn them into something pretty remarkable. Peter tells us that God is building us into His spiritual temple. And what do we bring to the work table? Mismatched attitudes. Beat up hearts. Rough words. Screwed up actions. Scraps of good intentions. God takes all of the \u201cscruffy\u201d pieces of our lives to create something He can use\u2026a spiritual temple. And what\u2019s more, we become the holy priests of these spiritual temples!<\/p>\n

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So let\u2019s chat a bit about how God does what He does in our lives and what our role is in this process. How is it that God can put it all together to make something beautiful?<\/p>\n

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Well, He is the Creator<\/strong><\/p>\n

He knows what He is doing. God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into him. If God can make something out of nothing, He can surely take you and me and make something beautiful and useful for His Kingdom.<\/p>\n

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Recall with me the words from Psalm 139 about you as God\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother\u2019s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 139:13-16 \u2013 NIV)<\/p>\n

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Your Creator knew what He was doing when He formed you in your mother\u2019s womb. This passage talks about knitting and weaving\u2026yet another way to create something beautiful. But we weren\u2019t just created to be beautiful women. God created us for a purpose.<\/p>\n

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Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) reminds us that \u201cWe are God\u2019s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Not only are we to be doing good works, but we also need to allow God to do His work on each of us. Our hearts should be in line with His. God\u2019s transforming power should be making and molding us into the holy priests that we are in God\u2019s spiritual temple. As God is at work in our lives, it\u2019s up to us to trust Him as He does His work. He really does know what He\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n

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Once we accept that God is at work in our lives\u2026<\/p>\n

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We Need to Understand the Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

In any building project, there must be a plan from start to finish. Without a plan, who would really know where to begin?<\/p>\n

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God\u2019s plan for our lives was set before you or I were born. His plan for us is better than we could ever imagine. Perhaps you have this verse memorized. \u201cFor I know the plans I have for you,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cplans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.\u201d<\/em> (Jeremiah 29:11 \u2013 NIV)<\/p>\n

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The next few verses help us to understand our role in the plan. \u201cThen you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.\u201d<\/em> (Jeremiah 29:12-13 \u2013 NIV)<\/p>\n

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Did you catch the plan?<\/p>\n

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