{"id":6301,"date":"2017-01-08T21:45:54","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T02:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/?p=6301"},"modified":"2019-09-05T18:31:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T22:31:42","slug":"where-will-we-spend-our-winters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/2017\/01\/08\/where-will-we-spend-our-winters\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Will We Spend Our Winters?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.” Titus 3:12<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Last Thursday,\u00a0we went to get a few needed groceries…and a few not-so-needed groceries \ud83d\ude09\u00a0for the forecasted winter storm.\u00a0I know, I know…us southerners get teased for running to the store at the first mention of SNOW. I have to admit, seeing the buggies of milk & bread (as well as plenty of junk food) made me smile.<\/p>\n

Along with our forecast for snow, we\u00a0received plenty of\u00a0“winter storm warnings” cautioning folks to stay off the roads if at all possible. The next\u00a0morning, all of this excitement brought to my mind the verse at the beginning of this post. The Apostle Paul is informing Titus of his plans to spend the winter in a place called Nicopolis. The phrase that stood out to me – actually a few years ago – is found at the end of the verse, “I have determined there to winter”.<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Because of the characteristics of this season –\u00a0frigid temperatures, harsh elements, death, etc – I have heard\u00a0it said that\u00a0an individual who is experiencing an extended time of trials in their life is\u00a0going through winter time. None of us are exempt from winter time. Just as spring, summer and fall come predictably, so does winter. For this reason, we should learn to expect this season. It is a part of life.<\/p>\n

My question this\u00a0evening is this:<\/p>\n

“Where and how will\u00a0we spend our winters?”<\/strong><\/p>\n

From Paul, we learn that he had made the decision to spend his winter in Nicopolis. The best way to get through our winter times is to determine in advance where and how we will spend that season of our life.<\/p>\n

Winter is often known for its bitterly cold temperatures. To survive these conditions, one must dress to protect themselves against the harsh elements. A spiritual winter time is often a time when a Christian’s heart can become bitterly cold due to the\u00a0severe characteristics of trials. To survive these conditions, one must clothe themselves with humility while staying close to the Lord. Remember, winter times come to all – why should we be\u00a0excluded from this season of testing?<\/p>\n

When a winter storm is approaching, advisories are often posted to warn people of the dangers of being out-and-about in these conditions. Will we spend our winter times “outside” in the harsh\u00a0weather conditions\u00a0while attempting to fight our way through the storm? Or will we “stay inside” and take comfort in the warmth of His Word while trusting God through the storm?<\/p>\n

When it is necessary for us to “go outside and face\u00a0the storm”, will we tread prayerfully and carefully…knowing that many spiritual accidents occur in the winter time through decisions made in haste? Will we remember that, just as winter blizzards can be blinding, spiritual winter times can leave us temporarily blinded to the direction God would have us take?<\/p>\n

As mentioned above, just the mention of an approaching\u00a0winter storm will bring people out in droves a day or two before in order\u00a0to stock up on the necessities.\u00a0Will we stay as prepared as possible by “stocking up on the Milk and Bread” before the storm comes?\u00a0Will we\u00a0be\u00a0faithful to His Word in the good times – the springs, summers and falls of our lives – in preparation for our winters?<\/p>\n

This past weekend, we actually lost power for a couple hours during the storm. Because\u00a0this is a predictable occurrence, I didn’t have to fumble around looking for the flashlight (with batteries). I knew exactly where to find it! Winter storms will often take a toll on our strength. When a storm hits and our power is flickering…will we turn to The Source of Power? Will we know where to find Him? Will He be easily accessible to us or will we have to stumble around in the dark for awhile\u00a0due to unconfessed sin in our lives?<\/p>\n

Yes, spiritual\u00a0winter storms can be bitterly cold with treacherous conditions that require prayerfulness and\u00a0carefulness. Winter storms can find us turning to spiritual truths we’ve learned in the past\u00a0– the milk and bread we’ve stocked up on before the storm hit. Winter storms can even threaten our loss of power. Because of these realities, we must determine in advance\u00a0where and how we will spend our winters.<\/p>\n

In spite of the negative aspects of winter, this season can also be a beautiful time. I was reminded of this yesterday when I looked out our kitchen door. I quickly called for Bethany. “Photo opportunity!”, I told her.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The sun was shining on these\u00a0trees that had\u00a0weathered the storm. The results were glistening branches that, just the day before, were a dull brown.<\/p>\n

Remember the place in which Paul determined to winter? Nicopolis was the name and now I want to share with you the meaning of that name. Are you ready for this??<\/p>\n

Nicopolis means “city of VICTORY”!!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isn’t that amazing? When we make the right choices on where and how we will spend our winters, the results\u00a0will be a beautiful,\u00a0VICTORIOUS\u00a0picture of the grace of God shining through us! Folks, that just blesses my heart tremendously!! Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

*** “Grace grows best in the winter.” ~ Samuel Rutherford ***<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.” Titus 3:12 Last Thursday,\u00a0we went to get a few needed groceries…and a few not-so-needed groceries \ud83d\ude09\u00a0for the forecasted winter storm.\u00a0I know, I know…us southerners get teased for running to the store at the first mention of SNOW. I have to admit, seeing the buggies of milk & bread (as well as plenty of junk food) made me smile. Along with our forecast for snow, we\u00a0received plenty of\u00a0“winter storm warnings” cautioning folks to stay off the roads if at all possible. The next\u00a0morning, all of this excitement brought to my mind the verse at the beginning of this post. The Apostle Paul is informing Titus of his plans to spend the winter in a place called Nicopolis. The phrase that stood out to me – actually a few years ago – is found at the end of the verse, “I have determined there to winter”. Because of the characteristics of this season –\u00a0frigid temperatures, harsh elements, death, etc – I have heard\u00a0it said that\u00a0an individual who is experiencing an extended time of trials in their life is\u00a0going through winter time. None of us are exempt from winter time. Just as spring, summer and fall come predictably, so does winter. For this reason, we should learn to expect this season. It is a part of life. My question this\u00a0evening is this: “Where and how will\u00a0we spend our winters?” From Paul, we learn that he had made the decision to spend his winter in Nicopolis. The best way to get through our winter times is to determine in advance where and how we will spend that season of our life. Winter is often known for its bitterly cold temperatures. To survive these conditions, one must dress to protect themselves against the harsh elements. A spiritual winter time is often a time when a Christian’s heart can become bitterly cold due to the\u00a0severe characteristics of trials. To survive these conditions, one must clothe themselves with humility while staying close to the Lord. Remember, winter times come to all – why should we be\u00a0excluded from this season of testing? When a winter storm is approaching, advisories are often posted to warn people of the dangers of being out-and-about in these conditions. Will we spend our winter times “outside” in the harsh\u00a0weather conditions\u00a0while attempting to fight our way through the storm? Or will we “stay inside” and take comfort in the warmth of His Word while trusting God through the storm? When it is necessary for us to “go outside and face\u00a0the storm”, will we tread prayerfully and carefully…knowing that many spiritual accidents occur in the winter time through decisions made in haste? Will we remember that, just as winter blizzards can be blinding, spiritual winter times can leave us temporarily blinded to the direction God would have us take? As mentioned above, just the mention of an approaching\u00a0winter storm will bring people out in droves a day or two before in order\u00a0to stock up on the necessities.\u00a0Will we stay as prepared as possible by “stocking up on the Milk and Bread” before the storm comes?\u00a0Will we\u00a0be\u00a0faithful to His Word in the good times – the springs, summers and falls of our lives – in preparation for our winters? This past weekend, we actually lost power for a couple hours during the storm. Because\u00a0this is a predictable occurrence, I didn’t have to fumble around looking for the flashlight (with batteries). I knew exactly where to find it! Winter storms will often take a toll on our strength. When a storm hits and our power is flickering…will we turn to The Source of Power? Will we know where to find Him? Will He be easily accessible to us or will we have to stumble around in the dark for awhile\u00a0due to unconfessed sin in our lives? Yes, spiritual\u00a0winter storms can be bitterly cold with treacherous conditions that require prayerfulness and\u00a0carefulness. Winter storms can find us turning to spiritual truths we’ve learned in the past\u00a0– the milk and bread we’ve stocked up on before the storm hit. Winter storms can even threaten our loss of power. Because of these realities, we must determine in advance\u00a0where and how we will spend our winters. In spite of the negative aspects of winter, this season can also be a beautiful time. I was reminded of this yesterday when I looked out our kitchen door. I quickly called for Bethany. “Photo opportunity!”, I told her. The sun was shining on these\u00a0trees that had\u00a0weathered the storm. The results were glistening branches that, just the day before, were a dull brown. Remember the place in which Paul determined to winter? Nicopolis was the name and now I want to share with you the meaning of that name. Are you ready for this?? Nicopolis means “city of VICTORY”!!\u00a0 Isn’t that amazing? When we make the right choices on where and how we will spend our winters, the results\u00a0will be a beautiful,\u00a0VICTORIOUS\u00a0picture of the grace of God shining through us! Folks, that just blesses my heart tremendously!! Praise the Lord! *** “Grace grows best in the winter.” ~ Samuel Rutherford ***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47,36,29,23,7,24,72,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comfort","category-faithfulness","category-gods-word","category-grace","category-growing","category-quotes","category-strength","category-trials"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4o6C2-1DD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6301"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8709,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301\/revisions\/8709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthineheart.com\/staging\/8143\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}