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“I Love To Be With Him!”

Be close!

Is there someone you just love to be with?  You think about that person quite often and just can’t wait until the time you can get together with them.  It is someone who you can open up your heart to and you know they will still love you no matter what.  Those kinds of people are the most treasured.

Dogs

I don’t know how many of you have a pet but if you do I am sure you are going to relate to this story.  We have 4 dogs.  They are not all mine but belong to different family members.  There are some of them that even though they belong to others, mom is the favorite.  Cuddles is one of those dogs.  He follows me everywhere, even into the bathroom.  And if I sit down he is right there to jump up and get my attention.  He wants to be petted and loved. He gives so much love and joy as well.  Pets give unconditional love.  He will sit on my lap or if my lap is full he will sit beside me.

To be honest I am not always nice to him.  At times I get tired of him being on my lap or beside me.  I just want to be able to move around freely without him wanting my attention.  I will push him down from my lap or push him away when he wants to get up on my lap.  And sometimes I feel like screaming, “Leave me alone.”

Spiritually

Then the thought came to me.  I should want to be close to Jesus just as Cuddles wants to be close to me.  A longing should be in my heart for my time with Him.  I should love to spend time in His Word as well as prayer.  There should be a desire in my heart to follow Him where so ever He goes and leads me.  Cuddles often looks at me with longing eyes.  I should be looking with longing eyes for the soon coming of Jesus and preparing for that moment.

The greatest thing ever is that Jesus never shoves us away.  He is always there for us.  We can follow Him everywhere and He doesn’t mind.  Even better He longs for us to follow Him.  He wants to be close to us.  Jesus is never too busy.  He never feels like yelling, “Leave me alone.”  Talk about having a lot of people vying for His time.  Yet He loves it and has time for everyone.  What a great God we serve.

Dear Father,

Thank You that You are always there for us.  Thank You for Your Son, Jesus.  You are always there for us during the good times and the bad times.  As we surrender all to You, we can have such peace through the hard times.  Thank You for not shoving us away.  And remind us to be more thankful rather than complaining.  Thank You for Your patience with us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Spend time with Jesus today.  He is with longing heart wanting to spend time with you.

Love you all!

Do you have a spiritual lesson that you have learned through nature or God’s creatures?  I would love to have you share it in the comments below.

 

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“Make Things Right!! What?!!”

Make things right

It seems that making things right with others can seem like an overwhelming task.  For some it may be easy, I think that is very few.  For some, they may not even know how to begin.  But for others, they are just too afraid to face it head on and do it.  The question is why do we need to make things right anyway.  Well, no one is being forced. Whether you are a Christian or not if you want to live a happy, healthy successful life it definitely makes a difference.  And as a Christian, it is a must if we want to have things right with God.

Make things clear

Before I get too far into this I want to make things clear.  Part of what I will be talking about here is reconciling with those we have done wrong to, as it says in Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; (this is usually because we have done them wrong) Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”

We may also reconcile with someone who has done us wrong by letting them know we have forgiven them.  But this is really where I want to make things clear.  There are times that we cannot reconcile with someone.  We always need to forgive in our hearts with the help of God but that does not mean that we need to go and reconcile directly with the person.  This is mostly referring to those that have abused us in some way.  We always need to forgive but that does not mean associate.

Anger

Just before Jesus talked about being reconciled He was talking about anger.  A lot of times someone does something we do not like we can tend to start saying things that are not so nice.  We start making belittling remarks whether it is directly to them or about them.  Which really reveals a pride issue within us.  And when pride gets in the way it often leads to anger.

This reminds me of the story about Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible.  The story is found in Daniel 3.  He built an image of gold to represent himself and then he wanted everyone to bow down to it.  There were three Hebrews that refused.  Nebuchadnezzar said he would give them a second chance and they said even if he did they would not bow.  Wow! Then his anger was kindled.  He made the fiery furnace 7 times hotter.  When we want to be right and hold onto our pride it turns to anger when things don’t go how we want.

Building walls

Are you a builder?  You may say no but if you do you are thinking of the wrong builder.  Do you build emotional walls?  The sad thing is that if we build walls it leads to murder.  You may be saying, “I have never killed anyone.”  Well, maybe you have.

When someone does something to us we don’t like if we allow those things to eat away at us we start to build a wall of “protection”, at least so we think.  But what it does is leads to hate and in God’s eyes hate is the same as murder.  “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” 1 John 3:15.  Jesus also stated that we are to love our enemies (See Matthew 5:43-44).  If we are to love everyone, even our enemies, we should not be building a wall.

We cannot accomplish this on our own because our human nature always wants to take over when we are offended but God will help us if we let Him.  Making sure that we are not doing anything that can cause others to build walls against us is another thing we need to do.  We need to reconcile with them when we do them wrong.

Reconciliation

When we are in close connection with God reconciliation is usually prompted by God.  Now whether we listen to the promptings is another story.  He sometimes shows us but we shove the conviction away.  We need to be open to His leading.

What I encourage is self-examination.  Every night before going to bed just lift up a prayer to God about your day and ask Him to show you any area of your life that needs reconciliation and He will show you.  Ask for forgiveness right then and make plans to reconcile with the person as soon as possible.

Cry out to God

There are times that reconciliation can be very difficult to do.  We need to cry out to God for the help and grace to do it.  It makes me think of Jacob in the Bible when God had directed him to go back to his homeland.  He was going to be going back to where his brother was and the last time he had seen him his brother wanted to kill him.  Jacob had done his brother a grave wrong.  You can read the story about his return to Canaan in Genesis starting in chapter 32.  He cried out to God and God answered his prayers.

Just like in the case of Jacob reconciliation may take giving a gift.  Or maybe we do owe something to them as restitution.  God will direct us to what we need to do.  We need to do what it takes for the individual to really know that we are truly sorry because actions speak louder than words.

Pride

In order for us to be reconciled to someone, we need to humble ourselves.  A lot of times pride gets in the way of us doing what we really need to do.  We need to be willing to serve.  That is where Jacob was.  He was willing to be as a servant to his brother.  He referred to himself as servant and Esau, his brother as master.  We can only do this with the love of God flowing in our hearts.  That is why our connection with Christ is so important.

Repentance

We cannot reconcile with anyone without repentance.  And the only way we can have true repentance is to come to the place David did in Psalms 51:4, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.”

We need to realize that the greatest offense that we do is to God.  When we do wrong to others we are wronging God because they are His and He loves them.  We, as parents, understand this concept.  If someone does something to us we deal with it but when someone does something to one of our children, wow! We are not happy.  When we wrong others we are wronging Christ so we need to start by repentance with God and then He will help us go to the ones that we have offended and bring reconciliation.

Christ initiated reconciliation

It makes me think of us and our connection with Christ.  We have offended Him with our sins and He initiated reconciliation.  Jesus is the Greatest Reconciler.  “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” 2 Corinthians 5:19.

Jesus humbled Himself

Here He was the King of the universe yet He humbled Himself and came down to this dark world as a Babe.  When I think of His life here on earth and the humility that He showed throughout His ministry and His death for us, it is amazing.  These are things we need to contemplate.  “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant” Philippians 2:5-8.  We need to be like Christ.

He tore down walls

Jesus could demand our acceptance of Him but He is a God of love.  True love does not force.  But He does wait and look for opportunities to bring things into our lives to get our attention.  He wants us to see our need for Him and when we do we come willingly and allow Him to work.  Thus He tares down the wall between Himself and us.

He made restitution

He made the most amazing restitution.  Christ made the ultimate restitution.  And if we accept it we have eternal life through Him.  “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” 1 Peter 1:18-19.

He anguished

This reconciliation did not come easy.  There was anguish involved.  Christ had anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane.  “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood” Luke 22:44.  I have never anguished over reconciliation like that.  We tend to just let things go and try to forget about it.  But God wants us to be reconciled with Him and others and sometimes it takes real anguish to get to the place to do what God has asked us to do.  But the greatest thing is that He understands and is there to help us and He will go through it with us.

He showed unconditional love and complete forgiveness.

I am so grateful for His unconditional love and the forgiveness that He has shown me.  He has given us the greatest gift and that gift is the Holy Spirit.  He will help and guide us.  If we do not resist His leading we will have greater happiness.

Grateful

I am so grateful for what Christ has done for me.  I want to show the same unconditional love that Christ has for me to others.  This is a  quote I like written by Thomas A Kempis, “How rarely we weigh our neighbor in the same balance in which we weigh ourselves!”  We need to focus on examining ourselves instead of examining others and comparing ourselves with others.  Let’s compare ourselves only to Christ and allow Him to change us into His likeness.

Dear Father,

Thank You for loving us so much to send Your Son so that we can be reconciled to You.  Keep us and guide us as we examine ourselves so that we can be fully reconciled to those around us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Give all to Him today allowing Him to reconcile you to Himself.  And make things right with those around you.

Love you all.

Do you have a story about how God worked in your life and helped you in reconciling with someone?  I would love to hear your story.

 

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“It Doesn’t Work In Harmony!!”

Harmony

Harmony is so important.  There are so many things in life that just don’t work well without harmony.  Marriages break up because there is not harmony.  Parents and children go decades without even seeing or talking to each other because there is no harmony.  And this doesn’t just apply to human relationships.  This also applies to mechanical things as well.  If all the parts in our car are not running in harmony we end up in the repair shop.

Paper

Running the digital at a print shop I use a lot of paper.  The thing that I have realized about paper is that it also has to work in harmony.  Let me explain.  There are so many different types of paper.  Paper comes with different types of texture, weight, and coating not to mention different sizes as well.

One of the hardest papers to run is a paper that is not in harmony.  A paper that I consider not in harmony is when one side of the paper is different than the other.  One side has a smooth shiny coating, which is actually call coated.  And the other side is uncoated and it looks dull and much easier to write on.  Because it is different on both sides they work against each other and cause the paper to have more of a tendency to curl.

As this paper is used for what it is intended for, its differences become a problem.  Whether you are using a color press or a digital machine this paper has a hard time passing through “life”.  Because of the curl it does not have harmony, therefore, it causes the paper to jam in the machines.  The machines are meant for paper that works in harmony and stays flat.

As I was experiencing this the other day it made me think of us.  We are really not a whole lot different.  We need to live our lives in harmony with something or things do not go well.  Whether it is living in harmony with our husband/wife, our children, our friends, or even our boss.  Things can get really rough if we cannot learn these skills.

Christians

Then it made me think a little deeper.  What about a Christian?  Is there a difference in our lives if we live in harmony with Christ?  Are there two sides to us?  Do we live one way at home and another way at church or work?  If we are living in harmony both sides of our lives should be the same.  We should be working in harmony otherwise a “curl” gets started and we cannot run smoothly through life.

I want to think of my life as paper.  When we give our lives to Christ we marry Him, we become one with Him.  What we give up is our “uncoated” life to become “coated” with Him.  And as long as we are “coated” with Him our lives flow in harmony.  Any time we try live our lives our own way without cooperating with Him our lives will “jam” every time just like the paper would jam.  When our lives our twisted with sin “jams” are in inevitable.  When we don’t trust God in His ways and try to go our own way there is never harmony.  I want to stay “coated”.

Dear Father,

I want to be in tune with You.  I do not want anything to come between You and I but I want to be “coated” with You so that my life will move with precision and purpose.  My goal is to always  trust You so fully that even through the fiery trials, we, together, can flow through unscathed.  Thank You for always being there for me and for Your patience and for leading me gently on.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Allow God full control of every area of your life today.  It brings harmony into the life, which makes life so much better.

Love you all.

How has God blessed you, as you have trusted Him through difficulties?  I would love to hear your story.

 

 

 

 

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“Is It Wrong To Be Stingy?”

Is it wrong to be stingy?

What a great question.  There are multiple ways that we can be stingy.  It seems when people think of this question they think mostly of money.  But we can be stingy with our time, strength, emotions, or money.  So here is the real question, is there a time to be stingy or should we always be full of generosity?

Stingy

What does stingy really mean anyway?  It means that a person is reluctant to give or spend; not generous.  When I think of stinginess it reminds me of someone who holds on to everything he has without any consideration of others.

It makes me think of Judas in the Bible.  He was a disciple of Jesus but we know that when it came to money he was not generous with others.  He definitely had no problem taking care of himself though.

You might be saying, “But we do have to be careful who we give to because we can be taken advantage of.”  This is true and that is where stewardship comes in.  But we have to make sure that we are not being selfish under the guise of stewardship.

Generosity

So what does being generous mean?  Here are two.  “1. A readiness or liberality in giving.  2.  Freedom from means or smallness of mind or character.”  When I think of generosity I think of someone willing to give of their time, money, and resources.  The most generous person that ever walked this earth was Jesus.  He did not think of Himself and His comforts but He was always thinking of others.

Rewards for Generosity

  1. When we are generous we have a countenance that shines because we are filled with joy.  We cannot out give God.  He will take care of us.  When God prompts our hearts to help someone whether it takes our time, money, emotional or physical strength He will supply us with what we need.  We don’t have to worry.  I would encourage you to read Matthew 6:19:34.  God will take care of you so you don’t have any reason to worry, you can be filled with joy.  As it says in Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  That is a great promise.
  2. We have a special love for God when we trust Him.  “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all-sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:” 2 Corinthians 9:6-7.
  3. When we realize that all we have, whether time, money, emotional or physical strength belongs to God, we have a fear (respect) for the Him.  And we are rewarded for that respect.  As it says in Proverbs 22:4, “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life.”
  4. The greatest reward is having treasures in heaven.  “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” Matthew 6:20.
  5. When we are generous another reward is the victory over the “root of all evil.”
  6. Generosity rewards us with escaping from lusts and sorrows.  “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” 1Timothy 6:9, 10.

Rewards for Stinginess

The “rewards” for stinginess are just the opposite of generosity.  And it brings sorry and not happiness.  There are several stories in the Bible that stinginess makes me think about and what the results were.  I think of Judas who held the money-bag.  He eventually betrayed the Son of God to His death and then he committed suicide.

It also makes me think of Ananias and Sapphira who sold their property and promised the money to help the cause of God.  But then they decide to keep back some for themselves and they lied saying they had given all.  They lost their lives (see Acts 5:1-11).  Claiming to be generous but really lying about the facts does not get you anywhere good.  “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.  Ye cannot serve God and mammon” Luke 16:13.

Does this all mean that it is wrong to earn good money.  No, but we need to make sure that our priorities are straight.  It doesn’t mean we can’t live comfortably but we should not be living extravagantly.  As the Lord blesses we need to properly take care of our families and then help others.  And as we do this he will continue to bless us.  Stinginess does not bring happiness.  I am sure we have all known them, and it may be ourselves, people who are stingy are not happy people.  True generosity brings contentment and happiness.

What about motivation?

We do need to have the right motivation for our generosity.  We should not be doing it for the praise of others.  Our motivation should come from the realization that whatever we have is because God has given it to us.  This makes me think of the rich men who gave generously into the treasury but Jesus said a poor widow gave more than they all with only two mites.  They gave from their abundance and she gave all she had (see Luke 21:1-4).

What can we do to be more generous?

Being more generous starts with knowing that all belongs to God and dedicating all our resources to Him.  We need to practice being frugal with our money.  Setting up a budget is a good thing to do.  We can rely on God to help us know what we need to give and when.  Give of yourself as God directs you.  And as much as possible make it anonymous so that God gets the glory and we can stay humble.  “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which is in secret himself shall reward thee openly” Matthew 6:3, 4.

Dear Father,

We commit our lives to You.  All that we have is Yours.  We want to listen to Your voice and do those things that are pleasing to You.  Give us Your wisdom.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Give all to Him today and let Him lead and guide you.

Love you all.

How has the Lord blessed you as you have given to Him?  I would love to hear your story.

 

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“Do You Want to Live?”

Do you want to live?

This is a question that I don’t think we often ponder.  If we get into an accident or something very serious happens to us or someone close to us, we start to think more seriously about it.  I think most of the time we are so caught up in everyday life that we go on our blissful way and don’t really think about it.

Aron Ralston

I am sure many of you may have heard of Aron Ralston.  It is stories like these that really make you start to think.

At a young age, he became an outdoorsman.  One day as a young man he hiked into the remote Utah Blue John Canyon.  He felt perfectly at home in the beauty of the outdoors.  Then eight miles from his truck in a deep narrow canyon an eight hundred pound boulder came loose tumbling down and pinning Aron’s right hand and wrist against the canyon wall.

For six days, with very little water, food, or warm clothing, and the realization that no one knew where he was, Aron went through his options of escape one by one.  Then the sudden truth came to him, he had no choice but to do the unimaginable.  After the process of breaking his arm, he took his knife, which was not very sharp and started the Job of cutting off his arm.  He knew he had to do this carefully.  Once he had broken through the skin he went inside his arm with his fingers to feel around.  He needed to leave the veins until last.  It was quite a process but within an hour he was free.

Aron hiked out 6 miles before he ran into someone who helped him.  He wanted to live so desperately that he took drastic measures to live.  If he had not taken those drastic measures he most likely would have died.  Since his accident, he has resumed his life of adventure and discovery.

This made me think

This made me think of us as Christians.  How desperate are we to live eternally?  Have we allowed some sin of this world to entrap us?  Just like Aron was willing to endure the pain and suffering in order to live, are we willing to suffer pain in order to allow sin to be removed out of our lives so that we can live eternally?

This makes me think about what Jesus said in Matthew 5:29-30, “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.  And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”  Jesus was not suggesting that we actually pluck out our eye or cut off our hand but He was making a point.  The things of this world are not worth losing out on eternity with Him.

Painful

The battle with sin and as it is removed can be painful.  But there is something that we have that Aron did not.  We have the power of God to help us.

As we come to God He will put His hand on ours and help us cut away the sin.  He is the one that does the work we just need to cooperate with Him, not resisting His work.  God will not do it without our cooperation.  He does not force.  God sends the Holy Spirit to prompt us and woo us to Himself but He will never force.  He loves us so much He gave up His Son to die so that we can live.  We need to fall in love with Jesus.  As we fall in love with Him we will want to be with Him.  We will want to cooperate with Him because we will have a longing heart to live eternally with Him.

Dear Father,

We need You desperately.  We need Your forgiveness and Your love.  Thank You that You always love us and are waiting with longing heart to spend time with us.  Thank You for Your patience with us.  Continue to prompt our hearts.  Search us and know our hearts, try us and know our thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in us and lead us in the way everlasting.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Give all to Jesus today and cooperate with Him in the removal of any sin that may have entrapped you so that you will be ready when He comes and then you can live eternally with Him.

Love you all.

What do you do to stay connected to Jesus?  I would love to hear your testimony.

 

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“Light Up The Darkness”

Darkness

I don’t know what you think but it seems to me that the darkness is getting darker.  You may be saying, “What?!  How can darkness get darker?”  Well, it depends on what kind of darkness we’re talking about.  I believe there is more than one kind of darkness.  There is the physical darkness of night and then there is spiritual darkness.

When I look around at this world, which I see very little since I don’t read or watch the news, there is so much darkness.  Things have gotten so bad it is hard to believe any human being would do some of the things that people are doing.  There are also so many people who are suffering because they have no hope.

Light up the world.

For those of us that have Christ in our hearts need to become a light in the darkness.  We need to let our light shine.  As Christ said in Matthew 5:14-16, “Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is a heaven.”

We are an influence on all people, whether good or bad.  God wants us to reflect His character to others through our obedience to Him.  When we are in full surrender to God the trials or bad things that take place will not have the same effect on us because we have a hope within us.  People will be attracted to us because they see peace in our lives.  As it says in Proverbs 4:18, “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”

How does God form light?

What do I mean by this question?  Well, what I am really thinking about is the work that God does in our lives that prepares us for being able to be a light that shines.  “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” John 8:12.  We become reflectors as we follow Him.

Isaiah 45:7 says, “I form the light, and create darkness…”  I looked up the word form in the Hebrew translation and it carries with it the idea of ‘squeezing into shape’ and means to mold into a form, especially as a potter.  This is exactly what the Lord wants to do in our lives so that we can be a true light in the darkness of this world.  As we shine for Him, the darkness is created (revealed).  Without light, we don’t even know that there is darkness.  It is the light that reveals the darkness.  The process of becoming light is by allowing God to shape us.  “But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand”  Isaiah 64:8.

In what ways can we make our lights brighter?

  1. We need to be sure to turn away from darkness.  It makes me think of the story of Saul who became Paul.  He was exposed to the light and he realized his sin.  He confessed to God his wrongs and repented.  God was able to use him in a mighty way.  We cannot help others into the light unless we have the light ourselves.  And our job is, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”  Acts 26:18
  2. Expose everything to the light.  When we are living according to God’s Word we expose everything to light.  Which we cannot do this unless…
  3. We are looking to Jesus.  When we are in full surrender to Jesus and our lives are clear of any known sin we can be a light in the darkness.  We have to stay connected.  Psalms 89:15, “Blessed is the people who know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.”
  4. We need to have a forgiving spirit.  If we are not forgiving others we will not be shining for God.  “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. 1 John 2: 9-11.
  5. We need God’s Word engrafted into our lives, which is done by memorizing.  “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.  Psalms 119: 105, 130.
  6. We need to put on the armor of light as it states in, Romans 13:11, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us, therefore, cast off the words of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”  We do not have time to spend in darkness, time is short.
  7. There are many more things that could be said on this subject.  What I have shared here are just a few things for us to think about.  We live in a very dark world at a very dark time.  There are so many in the darkness that need to know about the light.

Dear Father,

We need You.  Forgive us for where we have fallen short of glorifying Your name and being the light You would have us to be.  Continue to guide us as we surrender all to You.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Shine for Him today.

Love you all.

What have you found to help you in shining for Jesus?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

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“How Safe Are You?”

Safety

I don’t know about you but it seems that safety doesn’t always enter my mind.  Every time I leave my driveway for work I send up a little prayer for safety but I am not always mindful of the safety I receive.  It seems like we just expect that nothing is going to happen.  This is where we need to change our thinking.  We should be grateful for every day that goes by where we have made it through the day safely.  God is protecting us each day and we don’t seem to realize but we take it for granted.  We just automatically think we are always going to be safe.

Seconds later

As I was on my way to work one morning I was reminded of the safety that God provides.  When I come to the stop sign that comes out of our road onto the highway it can be hard each morning to get out on the road because the traffic is so heavy.  Looking to my left there is a curve down a ways.  When you just see someone coming around that curve you can still pull out but you better be getting up and going quickly.  If you wait until you see no car coming you would “never” get out.

This particular morning a pickup truck was just coming around the corner and I was going to go.  I don’t even know how to explain it except the Lord.  I was going to go and then I thought to myself, “no your not going to go”, and I didn’t.  Like maybe 2 seconds later a car was just about to pass in front of me.

There was a snow bank to my left and there had been a car that I could not see.  Talk about give me the chills.  If I would have gone there would have been a major accident.  The speed for that road changes from 60 to 55 just before my road but more than likely people are still going 60.  It would not have been a pretty sight.  I realized that thought that came to my mind was the Lord’s prompting and I was so glad that I listened.

Listening

I have found through my life that if I listen to that still small voice more often, that it would save me from so many things.  What amazes me is that God cares about every aspect of our lives.  We tend not to think about the little things that He helps us with throughout the day.  Those promptings that come that we listen to and things turn out good.  We may receive promptings that we don’t listen to and then we blame God for something bad happening to us.  Don’t get me wrong I know that bad does happen to us that we have not brought on ourselves but we would save ourselves a lot if we would listen to His voice.

Am I at fault?

I do believe the devil does a lot of things to try and discourage us.  God doesn’t do those bad things but He has allowed them.  But when bad things happen to us I believe it is good for us to search our hearts and lives to see if we have contributed.  I think there is a lot of things we bring on ourselves and then we blame God and if we had been in line with His Word it could have been prevented.  If we search our hearts and there is anything that we need to confess or give up and we make changes our lives would be so much better through the trials.  Whether we have done anything wrong intentionally or not God shows us through trial those areas of our lives that need changing and refining.

We can blame God and go on in misery or we can use the opportunity to allow the heat of trial to refine our character so that we come out as gold.  As we do this the devil will be defeated.  Jesus already defeated him but we have to accept that defeat by allowing the Lord to refine us through trial.

Let’s get off the blame game

We sometimes blame others for what we are going through as well.  “Well if so and so hadn’t done this or that I wouldn’t be upset, things would be better.”  God has allowed it into your life for a purpose.  Just the attitude of blame shows that there is growth that needs to happen in our lives.

If anyone had a right to blame others and God Himself it was Jesus.  Read about His life.  It was not a bed of roses.  He could have blamed God for allowing the devil to tempt Him and using people to bring pain and sorrow to Him.  He could have blamed each of us for even having to die and give up aspects of His life that He will never gain back.  But He did not.  He knew this was within God’s plan for us to be saved.  And even though we are the blame He did not and has not blamed us but only loved us.  His love is what changes us if we allow it.

Dear Father,

Help us to listen to Your still small voice.  Help us to use everything that comes into our lives as an opportunity to trust You and to grow in You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Praise God for the safety that He supplies for you today.  Listen to that still small voice and allow the trials to refine your character.

Love you all.

Do you have a story about a time you know you receive protection?  Share your story below, I would love to hear it.

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“Joyful or Self-Pity”

Joyful or Self-Pity

Have you ever met someone who seems to always be joyful?  They look on the bright side of everything.  I have met a few.  These are the kind of people who are really fun to be around.  On the other hand, we all have met people who are always in the self-pity mode.  You may be one of them.  It doesn’t see to matter what is happening in life they are just in this “poor me” pit.  They are not happy.  And no one really likes to be around them.

Self-Pity

When looking self-pity up in the dictionary it said, “Self-Pity is to have pity for oneself, especially self-indulgent attitude concerning one’s own difficulties, hardships etc.”

One thing that I have seen in these types of people is that they never take any responsibility for what circumstances they may be in.  They may be there because of their own doing but it is always someone else fault, in their minds, a lot of times.  If they don’t blame others they whine about how horrible of a person they are.

It sounds like a type of person none of us really want to be around but the reality is we all can be like this now and then.  We are not happy when we get in this mode and it makes everyone around us unhappy.

It reminds me of the story in the Bible about King Ahab.  There was a vineyard he wanted to have that was near his palace.  But the man who owned it did not want to get rid of it.  It had been a part of his family’s heritage and he did not want to part with it.  Ahab was not happy.  He went home and was having a feel sorry for me pity party.  “And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would not eat bread” (See 1 Kings 21:1-4).

What Self-Pity can lead to?

When we are constantly in the self-pity mode it does not lead to anything good.  In Ahab’s case, the man was killed and Ahab got what he wanted.  What a spoiled brat.  But this is the reality of our world today.  If people don’t get what they want they go out and kill people.  Now, not everyone is doing the actual deed but they are full of so much hate and anger that they are killing in their heart.

What are the “rewards” for self-pity?

It really brings death and sorrow for others.  When we get caught up in self-pity, which really falls in line with pride as well, we are really dead inside.  There is no joy or happiness.  We make the life of others miserable as well.  And in the end, it will bring eternal death.  God will not allow someone full of self-pity and pride into His Kingdom because that would just bring more misery.

Joyful

This is a much more joyful subject to dwell upon.  This is what the dictionary said, “Full of joy, as a person or one’s heart; glad; delight.  Showing or expressing joy, as looks, actions, or speech.”  I don’t know about you but it brings a sense of joy to my heart just reading it’s meaning.

We all know what it is like to be around a person who is joyful.  We are drawn to that type of person.  As Christians, we have every reason to be joyful.  “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous:  and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.  Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright”. Psalms 32:11 & 33:1.

What are the rewards of joy?

What being joyful does to us emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually is not explainable.  If you have not experienced it, how can I ever explain it?  But those who have experienced it know what I am talking about.  How we think, how we respond, or how we act affects us greatly.  Keeping our minds positive and in a joyful spirit can help us go a long way.

Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”  I also like Proverbs 15:13, which says, “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”  So being joyful is the key to a better life.  So what are the rewards?  A much more fulfilling life and ultimately, eternal life.

What can produce joy?

The first thing that comes to mind is what Christ has done for us.  If we dwell upon the love that Christ had for us in coming and taking our place in eternal death, if we so choose to accept it, wow! How amazing.  This can produce a joy in our hearts that is beyond expression.  Just like Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 10:20, “…but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”

A clear conscience can bring joy.  When we have fallen in love with Jesus, we will not want to do anything that is displeasing to Him.  And when we know we are right with Him it brings joy.  2 Corinthians 1:12 says, “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience…”

Keeping the commands in God’s Word can bring joy

When we are in love with Jesus it is not a drudgery to keep God’s commands.  We may have a struggle with self at times but when we fully surrender all to God it brings so much joy.  Just like it says in Psalms 19:8, “The statues of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.”

God’s promises bring joy

When you have full trust in God we can cling to His promises and they bring joy to our hearts. When I am having a down day if I take a promise and dwell upon it the joy of the Lord becomes my strength.  “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16

When we share with others the wisdom of God’s Word, we get joy.

Every time we share with others the joy of our salvation it produces joy in us.  “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth:  and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!” Proverbs 15:23.  There is so much joy in sharing a word in due season.

Persecution and trials can also produce joy.

You may wonder how this is possible.  It is only possible as we surrender all to God and trust in His plan.  I like this promise, 1 Peter 4:12, 13, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trials which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”  I also love this one in James 1:2, 3,  “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”

As we see those we share with grow in Christ it also produces joy in us.

I don’t know about you but this brings such joy to me when I see others growing in Christ.  When I see the joy that they are experiencing as they learn more about Christ and fall more and more in love with Him.  lll John 4 says it all, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”  He is referring to those that were growing in the Lord.  It can be our own children for sure but I believe it includes all those around us that are growing.  It definitely brings ultimate joy when we see our own children growing in the grace of Christ.

Joy is produced in us when a job is well done.

When we obey the Lord in what He has asked us to do it brings a joy.  He has given us all abilities and when we use them for Him it produces joy.  And these are the words that I know I want to hear someday and I pray you do as well.  “…Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things…enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”  Matthew 25:21.  As we surrender and walk with Christ, hand in hand joy will be produced in us.

What are some practical everyday things I can do to experience joy?

  1. Be grateful.  Start a grateful journal.  We tend to forget the good things in life.  But we also need to be grateful even for the trials and difficulties that come our way, knowing, “…all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28
  2. Cry out to God.  When we do have difficulty instead of grinding about it and focusing on it cry out to God for help, courage, and strength.  “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knows not.” Jeremiah 33:3. As we cry out to God in time of trouble with an attitude of unconditional surrender then when God works we can testify to what He has done.  When I can testify of God’s goodness to me the thrill of joy is amazing.
  3. Sing praises to God.  “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” Ephesians 5:19, 20.  I know when I sing it I can’t help but start to feel joyful.
  4. Talk of God’s wondrous works.  As we testify of God and what He has done in our lives or in the lives of others it brings joy to the heart.  “Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.  Glory in his holy name; let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.” 1Chronicles 16:9, 10
  5. Glory in His name.  “Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.  Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.  Remember his marvelous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;” Psalms 105:3-5
  6. Seek His face continually.  We need to be seeking Him constantly.  “Seek the Lord and his strength, see his face continually.”  1Chronicles 16:11.

“The joy of the Lord is our strength” so we need to allow His joy to fill our hearts.

Dear Father,

As we seek You, fill our hearts with Your joy.  Thank You for Your promises.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Get out of the self-pity mode today and fill your life with joy.  It is a choice!

Love you all.

What steps have you taken to keep you on the path of joy instead of self-pity?

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“Rejoice Always? Really?!!”

Rejoice

Have you ever had the thought, “How can I really be joyful in this life?  There is so much sorrow so how can I have so much sorrow and really rejoice?”  It is hard to understand how sorrow and joy can coincide but they really can.  We cannot do it in and of ourselves.  It is only as we allow the Lord to have full access to our lives that we can rejoice through it all.

What we see

We see so little compared to what God sees.  We may listen to the news and hear all the evils that are transpiring in this world.  But we see so little compared to what God sees.  He sees it all.

I am going to veer off here for a few sentences.  May I suggest that listening to the news is nonproductive?  I don’t listen, read, or watch the news.  There may be little snippets I see posted on Facebook or someone may mention to me, “Did you hear….?”  I usually haven’t heard so they give me a little run down.  Sometimes I check it out further but for the most part, I don’t.  What does it gain us in our spiritual walk to focus on the wickedness of this world?  It is discouraging and can suck the joy out of life.  How many people are depressed and angry because of what they dwell upon?  We have got to keep our focus where it belongs.   Our focus should be on having a solid connection with God and then be a witness for Him through our lives.

God sees

God sees all the wickedness of this world but He is also rejoicing, “over one sinner that repenteth.”  And yet it pains His heart every time we don’t accept His ways and choose the wicked things of this world to fill our lives.  The wicked things can be filling our lives as we do them or it can be filling our lives as we vicariously take part.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

If we would make this our Motto in life it would make a difference.  Just because it is claimed to be “true” doesn’t mean it is of “good report”.  When I think of the news there is so much bent to what is said you never really do know what is true.  It is all bent to whatever political party they represent.  Well, I want to represent the “political” party of Jesus.  I want to be like Christ.

Prepare

The only way that we can be like Christ is to be prepared.  We need to be in the God’s Word and in prayer.  As we are in the word we need to be storing it in our hearts by putting it to memory.  This is the only way we will be able to rejoice through all circumstances.

This reminds me of a story that was shared with me.  It was about two men that climbed a mountain together.  It was a dangerous mountain.  The mountain was steep with rock climbing as well as ice climbing.  The mountain was also higher elevation.  It was dangerous with lots of crevasses as well.  I don’t remember how many days it took to make it to the top but they did make it.

The descent

The difficulty came on their descent.  One of them, when going slowly down through the snow stepped in a spot that sent him over the edge.  He broke his leg majorly.  They came up with a plan of how they could get down.  His friend would get well positioned and then lower him 300’, then he would station himself and his friend would follow.  It was a very painful thing for him to be lowered but it was life or death.  His friend couldn’t “care” about his screams of pain he just had to keep lower him.

Then came the time that his friend lowered him and he dropped over a cliff and was hanging and he could not get to the ledge to get well established so his friend could descend.  They were too far apart to communicate so they both waited in the dangerously cold night.  I don’t remember how long his friend waited but he eventually had to make the hardest decision of a person’s life.  He had to decide to cut the rope.  It was now life or death for himself.  He could not survive if he did not keep moving down.

It was so hard to arrive back at camp, where there was another guy waiting for them.  He explained what had happened.  He was in such bad shape himself with frostbite and exhaustion, besides the emotional trauma.  The guy that had remained at the camp felt they should go from base camp down right away but he could not get him to leave.

Falling

When the rope was cut loose the guy on the other end fell into a crevasse.  Surprisingly,  he survived the fall but now what.  He had a lot of rope but what good is that when you have a broken leg.  He anchored himself so he wouldn’t fall farther and called for help but there was no answer.  After a while, he decided to lower himself into the crevasse more to see if there was another way out because he had tried to climb up but with his broken leg he could not.

As he lowered himself he found a spot that was a gradually going up vertically and he was able to crawl out of the crevasse.  It was very painful, and took great effort and several days, with no food or much water to make it back to camp.  What he did not know is when he got to camp would there be anyone there.  But thankfully when he did make it back to camp his friend was still there and his life was spared.  It was nothing more than miraculous.  We have such a drive to live that we will push our bodies beyond the limit in an effort to survive and live.

Do you want to live?

As I have thought of this story it made me think about eternal life.  It actually brought tears to my eyes thinking about it.  We will put so much effort into surviving in this life but how much effort do we put into surviving for eternal life.

Having eternal life is a life and death situation.  How much privation are we willing to endure to survive.  Our spiritual bodies are broken and it is painful but how much effort are we willing to make no matter how much pain or privation it causes.  Are we willing to give up those things that will keep us from having eternal life?  Are we agonizing with God to the point of our sweat being “as great drops of blood” like Jesus did?  Do we want to live?  How much effort are we willing to make?

There will come a time that all our human resources will be cut off and it will be up to us to choose the right things and make the right choices.  We will be alone.  Some of us may even be alone at this moment in our choices to live.  There will come a time ahead of us that we will no longer have “food” (God’s Word) to nourish our spiritual bodies.  There will come a time when “water” will be scarce.  Are we filling ourselves with “food” (God’s Word) right now so that when the time comes we will be sustained?

Grim

You might be saying about now, “I thought you were talking about rejoicing, this sounds grim.”  It may sound grim.  But I can tell you from experience that as I surrender all to the Lord and walk side by side with Him, filling my life with His Word, it brings joy.  I can rejoice through the trials, privations, and hardships.  But if I dwell or get involved with the things of this world, joy fades away.

No matter what we may be going through as long as we are surrendered to God we can know that it will all work for our good.  In this, we can rejoice.

Dear Father,

Help us to see our need for You in our lives.  You are the only One that can give us peace and joy, as we surrender to Your will.  Continue to show us the way.  Thank You for Your patience with us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Surrender all to God today.  Keep your focus on Him and fill your mind with His Word.

Love you all.

What do you do to help keep joy in your life?

 

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“Travel Carefully!!”

Travel Carefully

For those of us who live in certain places around the world, we have snow this time of the year.  I love the beauty of the snow. It covers all the imperfections.  Although the beauty is wonderful the roads are another story.  The roads can be icy and very slippery, especially when you get off the main road.  The main roads are kept clear by the graders and the salt that they put on the roads to melt the ice.  But even the main roads, at times, are treacherous.

One day I was on my way to work on more treacherous roads.  One vehicle in front of me slid and ended up in the oncoming traffic with an emergency vehicle heading his way.  At the same time, a pickup truck ended up in the ditch to my right.  He drove along the ditch for a while before he was able to make his way out of the ditch.  I am grateful that there was no serious accident and no one was hurt.

More than one road

This experience made me think of the Christian walk.  The beauty of the snow reminds me of the righteousness of Christ.  As we repent of our wrongdoings Christ righteousness covers us and makes us as “white as snow” (See Isaiah 1:18).

As we travel on the “main road” at times it can get slippery if we are not keeping it sprinkled with the salt of God’s Word.  There are times that we slip and slide and even go into the “oncoming traffic” going in the wrong direction but all we need to do is cry out to God in repentance and He will get us immediately back on the road.  At other times we may completely slide off the “road” into the ditch and we go along like everything is just fine.  But praise be to God He gets a hold of us and He makes a way of escape and we are able to get right out of the ditch. He doesn’t force us, He waits until we cry out to Him and then He helps pulls us up.

Trials and persecutions

As we travel this road we will have trials and persecutions along the way.  But as long as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus He will see us through.  We don’t need to grumble or complain we just need to trust.  And as we trust in Him we will be able to rejoice.

Matthew 5: 10-12,  “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18,  “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

It can be so difficult to give thanks and have joy in our heart during times of trial and/or persecution.  But if we put our full trust in God He will give us joy.

Dear Father,

Thank You for Your Word that can keep us from “slipping”.  Help us to cling to those promises when the trials and/or persecutions come.  Thank You that we can trust You and that You will bring us through every difficulty.  Your love is unbounded for which I am grateful.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Come to Jesus today, He is calling You.  Trust Him with your life.  He will work out every circumstance for You good. (See Romans 8:28)

Love you all.

I love how God is revealed in nature and He can show us connections between nature and our Christian walk.  What has He showed you today?  I would love to hear your story.  Share your story below in the comments.