Our guest blogger is LeeAnn Lee who is the Chairman of Ladies' First Thursday at First Baptist. LeeAnn is a wife, mother, and fantastic leader in our Women's Ministry. You will love her heart for ministry and desire to serve the Lord anyway He leads.

To everything there is a season

and a time to every purpose under the heaven.  

 Ecclesiastes 3:1

Ladies’ First Thursday at  First Baptist Spartanburg has been a ministry that has meant so much to me in the varying seasons of my life.  I stand in awe of God's amazing ability and desire to supply our every need in His all perfect timing.

 

When my husband and I first joined First Baptist, Ladies’ First Thursday was one of the first thing I got involved with.  By attending the dinners and serving on the decorating committee I met other ladies in the church from all stages of life and interests.  It was such a blessing to be with Godly women and learn about their lives and stories.  It was an integral part of feeling a part of the family at First Baptist Spartanburg.

Once our children came along, Ladies' First Thursday was a much needed and much desired night out with the girls.  The fellowship was good for my soul and the messages always seemed to be exactly what I needed to hear. 

The ladies I shared those nights with have become my dearest and most treasured friends.

As my children grew, and new opportunities and demands on my time developed, I didn’t attend Ladies’ First Thursday very often.  It was a season of serving in other areas of the church where I felt God had led me.  

And now God has brought me back full circle, to serve as the Chairperson for Ladies’ First Thursday.  Isn’t God amazing?!  This role has been one that has challenged me, inspired me, encouraged me and enforced my need to seek God’s instruction in all that I do.  I want ladies from all stages of life to see what an amazing blessing this ministry is.  We have so much to share with one another.  I want ladies to fellowship and to reach out to those that may not be a part of the family of God.  It is my prayer that Ladies’ First Thursday will continue to be a ministry that points ladies to Jesus and encourages their personal journeys with Him.  

This Thursday, March 10 we will have Jessica Satterfield as our guest speaker at Ladies' First Thursday. We are looking forward to hearing Jessica's amazing story ! What a blessing to be able to gather as women, young and not so young, to learn from each other!  If you don't have tickets for this time, look for the next event in the Fall.  Don't miss it!

Jessica Satterfield with her beautiful babies!

Blessings!
LeeAnn Lee

Our guest blogger is Jimmie Davis, who serves on staff at FBS as a Ministry Assistant and is on the Women's Ministry Team. Jimmie is the wife of Sam Davis, the Associate Pastor

Praying Mightily or Not at All

When God has a plan, it is amazing to see how He begins to stir the hearts of His people. God has been drawing my heart toward a deeper prayer life with Him for some months now. He has impressed on me to pray more, to pray more effectively, and to pray more seriously. When discussing this with my husband some time back, I found that God had been doing the same in his life.  All the while, without our awareness, God was drawing our Pastor and his wife, Karyn, to call our church into “Forty days of prayer and fasting.” It seems everywhere I turn there it is again…a focus on prayer.  In our staff devotions on Tuesday mornings…we have been studying “The Lord’s Prayer.”  In our staff meetings on Tuesday afternoons…we have been studying prayer.  Karyn has called the women of our church to pray every Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. in The Parlor of our church. She is also calling the women of our church together to pray on Saturday, February 28, 9:00-10:00 a.m.  Everywhere I turn, the focus is prayer.

If you are like me, your prayer life has been erratic at times. Most of the time I pray, but sometimes I don’t.  I tend to pray more when I feel fearful or when someone I love is sick or in trouble. Often I pray when I need a miracle or when I have done and tried everything I know to do.  Recently I was at a political prayer event and heard a clergyman say, “When everything else fails, go to God in prayer.”  I wanted to stand up and shout, “No, go to God first!”  But…then the Lord pierced my heart and I had to face the hard question… Am I guilty of this very thing?  Honestly, I had to confess my sin of trying to do it myself instead of depending on God.  

I am learning that prayer is serious business. Lives depend on it at times. Mountains can be moved when we call on the name of Almighty God. I believe prayer is a real struggle for most of us simply because the devil doesn’t want us to do it. He knows that our prayers summon God to work.  E.M. Bounds, the great preacher and writer on prayer says this, “Mighty evil forces surge around the closets of prayer.” He goes on to say that we must pray mightily or not at all.[1] Dabbling in prayer can be a dangerous habit. When we halfheartedly pray, it can be likened to taking one or two pills of an antibiotic. You may get better for a day or so, but before long the infection comes back with a vengeance. Mighty evil forces don’t give up easily. The Lord has been teaching me that I must pray mightily and never cease. It is amazing when I give God my full attention; He gives me a deeper understanding of spiritual things. The words of Scripture jump from the page and I “get it.”  Praying mightily doesn’t mean eloquent speech. It means that you submit your will to His will and pray from the depths and groaning of your heart to God It is a deep and intimate relationship, not simply a “wish list.”

I encourage you to find a “prayer closet” somewhere to spend time alone talking to the Father. It may be your bathroom, your clothes closet, or simply a chair in the corner of your bedroom where you can be alone with God. Pour your heart out to Him and listen to what He says back to you.  I am also inviting you to join our women every Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. in the Parlor and to attend the Women’s Prayer time on Saturday, February 28 from 9:00-10:00 a.m. in the dining hall.  As we approach this “Forty days of Prayer and Fasting” on March 4, 2015, I urge you to ask God now how He wants you to be involved.  Once you’ve tasted mighty prayer with God, you will never want to just dabble in pray again. 

 Jimmie Davis

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[1] Bounds, E.M. “The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer” (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House 1990)563

Our guest blogger today is Makayla Springsteen. Mikayla recently graduated from high school and is serving in South Africa for a year. We are so proud of you Makayla!

Ladies of First Baptist, during my time in Africa so far, God has been teaching me many things. I began to pray and ask Him what I should share with you and I found a simple illustration. In my first few weeks in Africa, I got to go on a safari. For the first mile or so all we saw were trees and mountains and I was so amazed by them. Their simple beauty and uniqueness captured my attention. As planned, we drove along and we started to see all kinds of wild animals in their natural habitat. From giraffe, to hippos, to elephants, and rhinos, we got to see it all. As I started to look at the beauty of the animals, I forgot about the beauty that had first caught my attention. I began to loose interest in the environment and focus only on trying to find the next animal. In this situation that wasn't a bad thing, but in our walk with The Lord it is dangerous to loose sight of our first love and turn to those "beautiful" things that take our attention away from God. In Hebrews 12:2  It says, "to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and perfecter of our faith." He tells us in His Word to turn our eyes to Him, but how often do I sneak a peak, or look towards things of this world that take my attention away from The Lord. As we left the safari and drove out the same mile of trees and mountains we drove in on, I got to see the biggest most beautiful sun set over the mountains, and once again it was a beautiful picture. It is the same way with our life in Christ, no matter where we stray or where we look to, at the end of the day when we look back to Christ, he takes us back as His own and makes our lives into a beautiful picture to bring Him glory.

Love,
Makayla

Our guest blogger today is Susan Feaster, one of our favorite bloggers! Susan always has a word for women right where they are in life no matter what your age. I hope you enjoy her words of wisdom today!

"PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT......OR DOES IT?"

My eight year old grandson loves baseball.  He loves it so much that he plays on two different teams, and recently played in a tournament with a third team that was short a player.  Even while we were on our family vacation at the beach, he was practicing his pitching and batting techniques.  Because practice makes perfect.

You likely have heard that phrase somewhere along the way.....practice makes perfect.  Maybe from a teacher or a ball coach.  Maybe from your parents.  I'm quite certain that in my years as   a piano teacher, I said it myself.  Always with a smile on my face, I'm sure, as I uttered that mantra....practice makes perfect.....while at the same time giving instruction to do it again.

Over the years I have come to believe that phrase is not entirely accurate.  Practice doesn't make perfect.  Only perfect practice makes perfect.  After all, if you continually practice something......whether a piano scale or a multiplication table or an athletic technique......incorrectly, the end result is that you have learned the wrong thing!

What is the point of practice anyway?  Of those endless repetitions?  Practice serves more than just filling time.  Some might say that practice is done in order to get it right, whatever the "it" might be, whether in music or in math or in athletics or in any other endeavor.  And I suppose that is true.  But I think practice is more than that.  The point is not that we always get it right.  It's so that we never get it wrong.
Let's apply that point to multiplication tables as an example.  If you drill repeatedly (practice) on your 9 times table, for example, you will learn that 9x7=63.  Once you have practiced that enough, you will always know that 9x7=63.  Further, you will never think that 9x7=72, or any other number.  Always and only 63.  You won't have to stop and try to figure it out.  Or count it out on your fingers.  Or question whether or not it is true.  If you have practiced enough, if you have learned this fact well, then you will always instinctively know it.  You will always get it right.

If a pianist practices the C major scale repeatedly, and correctly, so that the notes and the finger pattern is learned, then that pianist will always be able to correctly play that scale without even having to think about it.  It becomes an ingrained habit, one that aids in playing more complex pieces of music.  And it’s all because of perfectly practicing that very basic C major scale.

Let’s apply that principle to the spiritual realm.  The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to "charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith......by [this] some have made shipwreck of their faith.  (1 Timothy 1:3-4, 19 ESV).

How do we hold to sound doctrine?  How do we practice our doctrine in such a way as not to "make a shipwreck of our faith"?  I have come to understand that the place to begin is in the Word of God itself.  I long to know what God has to say, rather than relying solely on what others say about Him.  I hunger for the Word of God, rather than relying on books about the Word of God.

I have learned that I must immerse myself in the Word of God.  When I read it regularly and repeatedly and hide it in my heart, it becomes so ingrained in me that I recognize with certainty when something I hear is contrary to the Word.  My senses become finely tuned to what God has to say.  The Word becomes my plumb line against which everything else is measured. I know exactly where to turn when questions come.
I desire to get it right, and not get it wrong!  Does this mean I will never make a mistake? Does it mean that you will never make a mistake? No.  Even the best batter sometimes swings at a bad pitch.  Even the best musician sometimes plays a wrong note.  Applying the practice makes perfect principle won’t make us perfect people, but it will give us the tools we need to make wise, godly choices in our daily living.

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth."       (2 Timothy 2:15 NASB)