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Mice, Birds, & Cats

Animals

I am sure most of us have had a cat sometime in our life, especially if you live in the country.  We want them around to get rid of those unwanted creatures called mice.  Mice are so dirty and germ-filled.  And I don’t want them around, especially in my house.

I don’t know about you but I struggle with the fact that they also want to have birds.  We have had a bird feeder over the years and I love to watch the birds eat.  It is also enjoyable to have your window open and hear their wonderful songs.  When I see the cat stalking a bird I try to get their attention on something else.

It seems they have such an attraction for birds because they are more visible and moving around more, especially this time of the year as they are building their nests.  The eye of the cat catches the movement and they are excited to have a bird.  They are going to stop that bird from having a life of abundance.  And if the bird is not diligent about watching his back he will be taken down.

Then the thought came

How can I think of this spiritually?  God can reveal to us amazing things through His nature.  I am so grateful for nature.  It is like a book and can be read.  Just like God can help us understand His Word, the Bible, He can also help us understand His Word, as spoken through nature.

I don’t know about your cats but ours seem to enjoy the birds more than the mice.  I think it is because the birds are more active and visible so it catches their eye.  As I was thinking about it I was thinking that birds could represent those that are striving to follow the Lord and the mice could represent those that do not know the Lord.  And of course, the cat would represent Satan and his evil angels.

Feeling attacked

Do you ever feel like your life is being attacked?  I mean you look around and see people that don’t seem to be following the Lord and their lives seem not so difficult.  At times this can seem frustrating.  We can even start to get discouraged and there are many that end up giving up on God because of it.

Let’s get something really clear here.  We can’t always see from the outside what is really going on in a person’s life.  They may look like they have everything and they have the world by the tail but they can be miserable.  How many times have you heard about someone who committed suicide and you were shocked because you thought they had it all together?  Looks can be so deceiving.

I believe everyone goes through struggles.  But it is true that if someone does not truly know the Lord the devil doesn’t spend as much time on him or her.  He feels he already has them in his grasp so he puts his focus on those that are striving to follow the Lord and those that are on the fence.

More visible

It seems that, just like the birds, if you know the Lord and have a connection with Him and you are more active in serving the Lord, you are more visible to the devil.  But we need to think about the fact that we are also more visible to those around us.  There should be something different about us that will attract people’s attention.  I mean how often are we attracted to the beauty of a bird versus looking at a mouse?

The beauty of a true Christ-like person attracts the attention of those around them because they feel a love that they have never experienced before.  But the devil also notices.  He doesn’t want us to attract people to the love of Christ.  So he gets in and tries to disrupt the followers of Christ in many ways.  He may get us so busy we do not have time to spend with God each morning so that we have that connection to help us through the day.  The devil sends things to try to trip us up so that we are not the witness we should be to those around us.

There is another thing that he does also, he tries to discourage us and even make us look at God as unfair and unloving.  He wants to do anything he can to get us to take our eyes off of our Lord and the love that He has for us so that he can pounce upon us and destroy us.

Others

Just like the mice are not left alone by the cats the devil doesn’t leave those who don’t know the Lord alone.  He still brings trouble into their lives to try and destroy them as well.  The devil doesn’t want them to notice that there is a better life.  Many are miserable and discouraged and don’t know where to turn.  They may even feel alone and that no one cares.

It doesn’t matter what a person’s status is in this world they can have a life that is so miserable and unhappy that they want it to end.  And without the knowledge that someone loves and cares about you, it would seem hopeless.  There are so many that are feeling this way, even more, today than normal.

Hope

There is hope for all.  There is hope for those that know God and are discouraged or angry with Him.  And there is also hope for those who do not know our loving Savior.  God is there to comfort and strengthen us.

What do we need to do?  The one thing that we have to do is trust God.  This can be difficult to do!  I still struggle with this concept at times.  This can be very difficult for someone who has never had anyone in their lives that loved them or they could trust.  How can a person understand the love of God?  It can be difficult.

I come from the perspective that the Bible is the Word of God.  I believe His Word has come from Him and that, “…Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” 2Peter 1:21.  And then they wrote it down for us to be able to read and study.

There are so many stories that show us how much God loves us.  And the most amazing of those stories is the story of Jesus.  God loved us so much “…that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved” John 3:16, 17.  What amazing love!!

The best place to start is in the gospels.  Here is where we can learn more about the love of God and His Son, Jesus.  And we can also learn what kind of life we should live.  It is a life of love.  We should be showing to others the same type of love that Christ shows to us.  But we can only do this as we allow Him to work through us.

We need to realize that no matter what the devil has to throw at us we still belong to Jesus and He will make “…All things work together for good to them that love God…” Romans 8:28.  This is a great promise to cling to when we are going through rough times, realizing that when we come out the other side we are as gold tried in the fire.  “…When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” Job 23:10.

Dear Father,

Help me to be grateful for the trials.  I do want to thank You for the promises that you give me to cling to during the time of trial.  Thank You that You love me so much that You continue to allow things that refine my character even though I may not like it.  Help me to realize that as I become more active in Your service that the devil wants to bat me down but that You are there to defend and fight for me.

Thank You for loving everyone no matter where they are in their Christian walk or even if they don’t know you yet.  And I am also grateful that You even continue to love those that have rebelled against You and that You continue to woo their heart to You.

Thank You for all You do for me and continue to direct my path.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Cling to Jesus today no matter what the devil is doing to try and bat you out of the air.  When you know the Lord you are His and He will fight for you as you lean on Him so that you can keep flying and singing the beautiful song of salvation.

If you haven’t met Jesus feel free to reach out to me and I will help you learn about Him.

Love you all.

As a Christian, have you ever felt like the devil is trying to bat you down?  What did you do about it and what was the outcome?

Share below we would love to hear your story.

 

 

 

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“Perfect?!

Questions?

There are many questions that come to life.  I am sure as you read this you have already had some questions come to your mind.  There may be a question that you have thought about but maybe never asked.  And then there may be questions that you have asked many people and got a multitude of different answers so that in the long run you had to come to your own conclusion to what answer seemed right to you.

Here is a question that seems to hang around.  Since God knows the end from the beginning why did he create Lucifer or Adam and Eve?  After all, He knew they were going to sin.

God

It is so hard for our sinful human nature to comprehend the answers to some of these questions because we have a sinful nature and we can only speak or think from our sinful perspective.  But the reality is that God is perfect and there are things that are impossible for a Person Who is perfect to do.

God is perfect and has no bent to sin and because of this, He can do no wrong.  He has perfect love and perfect love cannot create only those that He knows will choose to serve Him.  He has to create all people and allow all people to make that choice.

Some say, “but no one would have ever known.”  God would have and His love is so perfect He cannot make this choice because that would be taking away the freedom of choice.

Comprehend

I know it is hard for our minds, in our human sinful nature, to comprehend such love.  But I am grateful to God for His perfect love.  Because of His perfect love, I am here and have the opportunity to choose Him.

There will always be skeptics, the devil will make sure of that.  But I choose to not listen to the skeptics and put my trust in a God Who loves me so much that He has done everything possible to save me.

Freedom of choice

Some say, “If God knows the end from the beginning then He already knows what choices everyone is going to make.”  And some seem to think because He knows that information that it somehow takes away the freedom of choice.

This problem made me think of one of our dogs.  We have a fenced in area for our dogs to be able to freely go out a doggy door and come and go as they please.  But I have pre-knowledge about something.  If there is any hole in the fence I know one of our dogs will go out that hole and run around the neighborhood.  But just because I know that information doesn’t make any difference in the fact that he will go out the hole.  Even though I have the knowledge he still has the freedom to stay in the fenced yard or to go outside of the fenced yard.

In the same way, God has given us freedom of choice.  And just because He knows whether or not we are going to go through the hole (choose sin or not) it is still our freedom to choose to go through or not.

Dear Father,

Your love is so incredible.  You are the One that has given everyone the chance to choose You.  Thank You for our right to choose and for sending Your Son to take my place, to take the penalty for sin.  As I keep my eyes on You and follow You wheresoever You go You will save me.  There is nothing that can really explain my gratitude to You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Choose God today.  Keep your eyes on the One that can save you.

Love you all.

I would love to hear from you.

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“Are You Complaining Again?!!!”

Do you ever find yourself complaining?  It seems that your natural nature just wants to complain no matter what.  When blessings come you seem to act like this is the way things are supposed to be so you don’t even really acknowledge them.  Then when bad things happen you start complaining and totally miss the blessings you could have.

Don’t worry you are not alone.  I am right there along with you.  It is so easy to look at others and wonder why they are complaining but then we turn around and do the same thing.

Recently I have been “trying” for the umpteenth time to read my Bible through.  I have tried many times and have always got bogged down somewhere around Deuteronomy.  In the last year, I heard of this idea of reading four chapters a day, one chapter in the Old Testament starting with Genesis, one chapter from Psalms, one chapter from Proverbs, and one chapter in the New Testament.  I have appreciated the idea because it helps break up some of those harder to read areas.  I was already in Numbers when I started the idea.  So I have been reading a lot about the Children of Israel.

As I have been reading I keep thinking how stupid can they be.  I mean God just brought them out of the land of Egypt, where they had been slaves for many a year.  The miracles that God performed for them were amazing.  But then the next trial came and all they could do is complain.  “Why did you bring us out of slavery, to just kill us off?”  What?!  You have got to be kidding me.  If God could bring them out of slavery couldn’t He feed them or provide water for them?  I shake my head as I read but then I realize I am not any different.  What is wrong with us?  We keep going back to default, our natural sinful nature.

There was the time where some of the Children of Israel were complaining about the leadership.  They felt they could do better.  God had the earth open up and swallow up the rebellious group and the Children of Israel fled.  But then the next day they came complaining that Moses had killed the people of the Lord.  What?!  As if Moses could open up the earth.  What were they thinking?!  God sent a plague and a big number died.

Then a few chapters later they are complaining again to Moses for bringing them out of Egypt because of lack of water and bread.  The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people.  When someone was bit they would die.  A lot of people died.  Then the people confessed that they had sinned and were begging to have the snakes taken away.  God instructed Moses to make a fiery serpent and place it on a pole and if a person was bitten and they would look they would live.  They had confessed their wrongs now they needed to look and live.  It was simple but not all of them even looked to live.  Did their complaining end there, no.

But are we really any different?  Where has God brought us from?  What slavery has He brought us out of?  He has brought us “out of the house of bondage”(sin) but we complain.  We want to go back to the place of “bondage” because we can do what we want.  We have all the music, movies, games, clothes, entertainment, food, etc., that we want.  There are no “restrictions”.  But is that really true?  We can do whatever we want but we are slaves to alcohol, drugs (legal or non-legal), depression, anger, overweight, etc.  It does not really sound like happiness.

What we forget is what God has done for us.  He brought us out of the bondage of sin but we keep looking back at the “fun” of sin.  We keep forgetting about the “food” He has provided, His Word, to sustain us through the difficult times.  We forget about the “water” that He has given so that we will not thirst again.  We forget what the slavery was really like.

And the most amazing thing is that He came to this earth and was lifted up on a “pole”, the cross so that we can look and live.  He took on the sins of the whole world and died so that we may live if we so choose.  Why is it so hard to choose life over death?  There is a devil that shows us “all the glories of this world” and we think we need to have them.  But the reality is the things of this world only bring misery.  I can speak from experience.  Many may think that they are happy in their life of sin but in reality, they are not.

When I look at the Children of Israel I ask myself why did they keep going down this road?  Why did they want to go back to slavery?  Here are some ideas for us to look at and learn from.

  1. They forgot their past history. If we forget our past history and what the Lord has done for us we tend to want to go back to that life of “slavery”.
  2. They focused their eyes on the problem rather than the problem solver. They took their eyes off of God.  We do that all the time as well.  When problems arise instead of focusing on it we need to go to God with it.  He can handle anything.  He can take care of all problems.  And He will do it in such a way that we will grow spiritually.
  3. They complained. They spent so much time complaining and we can do the same thing.  We are supposed to be thankful in all things.  It is hard to be thankful but if we really have faith and trust in God we can be thankful.

Yet despite all that they did God still loved them.  It is beyond comprehension.  He still wanted to save them.  And He still wants to save us.  What can we do to stay focused on the right things?

  1. Get a grateful journal. We need to write down all the things the Lord does for us.  Every time He does something for us no matter how small we should be writing them down.  When things get tough and we are having a hard time remembering, we need to get out our grateful journal and read it.
  2. Read God’s Word. We need to be reading God’s Word so that we can see how He worked in the lives of those in the Bible.  We will find encouragement and comfort there.
  3. We need to focus our eyes on the Problem Solver. We need to go to God with our problems.  Prayer is the key to open heaven’s floodgates.  I love how one author puts it,  “Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him. He who numbers the hairs of your head is not indifferent to the wants of His children. “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” James 5:11. His heart of love is touched by our sorrows and even by our utterances of them. Take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds, He rules over all the affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel. No calamity can befall the least of His children, no anxiety harass the soul, no joy cheer, no sincere prayer escape the lips, of which our heavenly Father is unobservant, or in which He takes no immediate interest. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3. The relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth to share His watchcare, not another soul for whom He gave His beloved Son.” SC 101.
  4. When we are tempted to complain let’s be positive. We need to focus on the positive.  This can be hard at times but we can re-train ourselves.  We need to look at the cross and what Christ has done for us and we need to be grateful.  He suffered greatly to bring us out of the slavery of sin.  And no matter what we are going through we can look and live.

Dear Father,

We live in troublesome times.  We need You more than ever.  Thank You for the stories of the Bible that can help us keep all things in perspective.  You are the One that can bring us through every difficulty.  Continue to prompt our hearts to turn to You as easily as the flower turns to the sun.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

I am so grateful that each day can be a new day with a new start.  Start new today.  Make a commitment to stay fully connect to Jesus and keep your eyes on Him.

Love you all.

What story in the Bible has been an inspiration to you?  What have you learned from the story?

 

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“Happy Fourth!”

 

What comes to your mind when you think of the 4th of July?  It seems that a lot of us think of time together with family and friends, having that picnic meal, and then comes the most exciting thing of all, fireworks.

 

I think a lot of us don’t really give it much thought as to what this day is really all about.  We just get into all the festivities of the day and forget the real reason for this celebration.

 

Thinking back to the time when celebrating the fourth was that day that brought about independence, this country became independent from all others.  There were many people who died to bring about independence and freedom.  

 

I want to give a big “Thank You” to all who have served and fought for the freedoms of the USA.  Some may think we don’t have freedom.  We may not have as many freedoms as we once did but we are still blessed with many freedoms.

 

To me the most important freedom that we have is the freedom to worship according to our conscience.  Each one of us has that freedom and we should allow others to have the same freedom.  

 

We need to enjoy the freedoms that we have.  We may be losing some of the freedoms this country once had.  There are many concerned about losing their freedoms.  But we need to be thankful for what freedoms we do have.  We need to quit focusing on the freedoms that we fear of losing and start focusing on the freedom that matters most.

 

There is freedom that we should be more concerned about losing.  We have been given the opportunity to receive the best freedom that can ever come to us.  It is the freedom from sin.  It is the freedom to choose to allow the Lord to transform our lives so that we will be ready when He comes.  The best freedom will be when we get to heaven.  We will be free from the great enemy, the devil.

 

We can always have freedom in our heart no matter what the circumstances if we are in full submission to God and His Word.  Let’s live the freedom that God has given us so that others will be attracted to what we have then we can share the truth of God with them.

 

Dear Father,

 

Thank You for the freedom that we can have in You.  Lead us and guide us in the months ahead, drawing us ever closer to You, so that we will be ready when You come.

 

In Jesus Name,

 

Amen.

 

I want to thank all of you who have served this great country.  You have given much to protect us all and I want to show my gratitude.  

 

Love you all.

 

Do you have a family member that has served this country?  Share their story here.  I would love to hear it and I am sure many others would as well.  You are welcome to change the names for privacy.

 

I love patriotic songs and this is one I recently heard, Listen and enjoy.