10.31.12

Good  morning!!  There were so many good things in my Bible reading today!!  I just had a hard time picking what I wanted to write about.  I finally decided on Hebrews 2:16-18 because it is so important to our lives.  If we get it into our spirit we can go to Jesus with everything.  But if you get the chance read Psalms 103... it is so uplifting!! It will just make you happy!!

 

Hebrews 2:16-18 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; He came to help the descendants of Abraham (us). Therefore, it was necessary for Him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers ans sisters, so that He could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then He could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. (This next part is the part we need to really get!) Since He, Himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are being tested!!

 

My Thoughts

Jesus Know!  Jesus Gets It! Jesus Understands!  He knows all that we are going through, Jesus knows how hard it is here on earth. We can tell Him anything!!  We grow stronger when we learn to go to Jesus as soon as we are tempted, because Jesus understands temptation!!  So often, I believe, we are ashamed when we are tempted, then we don't ask for help from Jesus and we fall into that temptation.  When we get it that even Jesus was tempted and learn to go to Jesus as soon as we want to do something we know we shouldn't, even and especially those things we are tempted with that we would not share with anybody!!  When we go to Jesus when we are tempted He understands that temptation and makes us strong enough to say no!!  He tells us how to say no! The minute we go to Jesus with our temptation we become stronger against it.  If we will tare down that wall of our shame in temptation and talk to Jesus about everything... it will save us from a multitude of sins!!

 

PS

So often when I am tempted I say you don't need to do this Jeannie... you shouldn't do this Jeannie. And I fail!  When what I needed to do was say, "Jesus I so bad want to do _____________ and I know it is wrong, please help me be strong!"

10.30.12

Lamentations 3:22-23 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.

 

My Thoughts

I love this... God's mercy never ends...it never stops! And it begins fresh each morning.  God never gets tired of taking care of us, in fact He wants to take care of us... He tells us to cast our cares upon Him (Psalms 55:22). Each day God is excited about taking care of us and showing us mercy.  He loves us so much that each morning He wants us to give our day to Him so that He can guide our steps in ways that make our lives richly blessed.  How special is that!!!

 

 

10.29.12

Titus 3:4-8 But—“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love,  he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.  He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.  Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.”  This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone.

 

My Thoughts

I love that this ends with "These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone."  God's mercy is out of His great love for us!! When God poured out His Spirit upon us it was where we would have His guidance in all that we do... His guidance to benefit our lives every day, every single day, in every situation we face!!!Then because God sent Jesus we can live in heaven with Him in all of His Glory. The wonderful thing about God is all that He wants for us is good and loving and kind and generous. His love is pure love!!  The purest of love.  I just don't want anybody to miss out on that!! 

10.27.12

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.

 

My Thoughts

For so long I thought of salavation as a "going to heaven" thing only. Not as a daily thing... God saving me all the time from all kinds of things!! 

 

Salavation is devined as this:

1.

the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.

2.

the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.

3.

a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.

4.

Theology . deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption

 

Now as I go through my days I know our wonderful, loving God saves me every day from harm, risk, loss destruction, etc.  The etc's emcompass so much!!  Sadness, deression, dispare...we all have our own etc's.  God saves us from them all!  He is my mighty protector, He leads and guides me all the time through safe paths.  And He has forgiven my sins and will keep forgiving me... and one day I will be in heaven with Him.  I feel so loved by God. I love that God did this for me and that God will do this for any of us!! He made us all, He loves us all equally!  What a wonderful verse!

10.26.12

Psalm 97:7-9a Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in.  Let the rivers clap their hands in glee! Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the Lord.

 

My Thoughts

I love this!! It makes me smile!!  I have not seen the ocean since I read this verse and another one that says almost the same thing...but last time Robby and our daughter Madison were in Florida (their father daughter trip) I called Robby and said, "Don't forget to stand by the ocean and listen, knowing those sounds are the ocean praising God!!" Now when the wind blows through the trees it makes me smile I think, when that happens, "The trees and the wind are praising God!"  Since I have come to love these verses I have actually been standing by one single tree and it shake with sound, how amazing is that!!  My sweet dog, Shaggy will sometimes just take off running all excited for no reason it seems... is he praising God?  I believe he is!!  If the ocean and the trees..the birds and the other animals know how to praise God... we should praise Him all the more...because He gives us so much!!  I challenge you...next time you hear the sounds that nature makes...stop and listen and know that nature itself is praising God.. it will give you goosebumps.. it will make your heart happy!!

 

 

10.25.12

Proverbs 26:12 There is more hope for fools than for people who think they are wise.

 

My Thoughts

Our first thought.. or my first thought was, "Oh, I know somebody like that!"  Then I thought, "Oh! There you go, judging! Stop it!!"  What I actually got from this verse today... or a better way to say it..is what I am learning from my Bible reading that this verse triggered by my not so good thought is this.... My reading is not for other people it is for me... it is to teach me to change and grow.... it is teaching me not to judge others, just to love them where they are at and to work on me!!  I, me, Jeannie Phillips do not need to be foolish, nor do I need to think myself so wise that I can't learn from everybody that I encounter... there is a balance there...I need to stay in balance. 

10.24.12

2 Timothy 2:25-26 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will changes those people's hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then the will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants. 

 

My Thoughts

This is the line that really struck my heart, "For they have been held captive by him (the devil) to do whatever he want."   It made me think of Matthew 5:44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!  People are never our enemies, the devil is our enemy.  He will use any means that he thinks will work to get out mind and our actions off of God and what God desires for our lives.

 

It always saddens me when something awful happens... somebody shoots up a crowded place or somebody kills a child and I hear people say, "They will burn in hell for that!" I hear Christians say this. When what happened to these people is that the devil held these people captive. Somehow the devil was able to get such a hold on these people that he caused them to do terrible things!! God's word tells us in several places, James chapter 4 comes to mind, that a sin is a sin..that if we want forgiveness we have to be forgiving of others.  We surly don't need to damn them to hell. We need to send up prayers that their lives are changed. We need to be sad for them that Satin got such a hold on their lives that they got lost enough to do terrible acts. When we all react with unkindness the devil has killed many, many birds and only used one stone. Not only has he cause one human to do a terrible thing...he has cause thousands of us to react with hate or indifference.  If we reacted by getting on our knees and praying for the victims and the killer, a victims of Satin himself, Satin would loose interest in cause such devastation. 

 

We need to be totally aware that bad things come from Satin.. not people. We need to get on our knees and ask God to help us all to stand against Satin.  We need to pray for our enemies ... we need to pray for those people so lost that the only voice they hear is Satin's voice.  Our prayers for the people that we see as enemies can have a huge impact on our lives... Our prays can change the world.  We just have to learn to pray like Jesus teaches us to pray.  It is easy to pray for the people we loves and those prayers are good and wonderful prayers... just think how strong our prayers will become when we begin to pray for the unlovable. We need to be a part of loosening the chains of Satin... no people who add another link to the chain. 

10.23.12

2 Timothy 2:20-21 In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay.  The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use.

 

If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use.  Your life c can be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.

 

My Thoughts

Our actions, the way we choose to behave...the time we put into knowing what God would have us do...then acting on that knowledge determines if we are special.  It is our choice to be special!  We all want to be special... right here in God's word it tells us how to be special.  Now it is up to us. 

10.22.12

Psalm 90:14-16 The Lord says, "I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer.  I will be with them in times of trouble. I will rescue and honor them.  I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation."

 

My Thoughts

These verses come from a prayer of Moses, yes Moses.  What is so wonderful is that these words are still true today. God keeps on rewarding us with His promises.  His promises are forever!!... Notice that God does not say that "I will rescue those who are perfect and never mess up." God just ask us to love Him.  I love this part... we have to trust in His name... God is so powerful that the mere mention of His name sends our enemy, Satin running.  So when the devil tells us things like, "You are worthless." We get to respond with God's name by saying, "God says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made!" When we love God and trust in His name our lives begin to change in amazing ways!!  When we love God and trust in His name then He will answer us, he will be with us in times of trouble.. He will even honor us and reward us with a long life and give us His salvation. All we have to do is love Him and trust in His name!! 

 

You might ask, "How do I love God?"  It is hard to love somebody you do not know.  The more we know God the more we love Him... you just can't help yourself!!  I use to think I loved God because I spoke the words.  I was taught about and I was suppose to love God so I said that I did.  When I picked up my Bible and started reading it... I begin to truly know God... and the more I learn about God, the more I am able to recognize God because I know God, the more I know He loves me and the more I love Him back.  The more I know God the more I trust in the power of His name.. the more I trust in the power of His name the more I live under His protection.  It all started with God's word. Life just gets more amazing every day!! These promises go all the way back to Moses. These promises go all the way back to Adam.... God had these promises for us before He even spoke the world into existence.  These promises are for us today, for me and for you as much as they were for Moses. Our part... Love God and trust in His name!

10.20.12

Psalms 25:26 If the godly give in to the wicked, it's like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring.

 

My Thoughts

Oh wow!!  This is huge! And we need to take note of it.  You can't pollute just part of the fountain... and if you put mud in a spring all the water is effected.  We as people can't compartmentalize our lives and think it is ok to be "not so good" in one place and a "saint" at another place.  If we hang out with the wrong people on Friday and Saturday and go to church all smiles on Sunday we are still sinners. 

 

I know, I know! We are all sinners and make mistakes.  But those sins that we knowing do...those things we do on purpose, the ones we think about and say, "I know this is wrong but I am going to do it anyway." Those are the sins that change us... they are the ones that suck us in.  They are the sins the Satin later uses against us to keep us from drawing close to God.  Those are the sins that make us feel such shame that we run and hide from God.  Those sins are so dangerous to our well being. Those sins effect our whole lives. 

 

The sins that we commit, the ones that we are working on daily... the ones we can go to God with and say, "Please forgive me God, I am trying to do better!!  I just need your grace to grow even more." Those kinds of sins, even though they are still sins..  can be conquered. 

 

The other sins...the ones we knowing, willfully do on purpose...those sins jepordize our relationship with God! No because God won't forgive us... but because they are the sins Satin uses to drag us in so deep that we don't turn back to God. 

 

God, oh God he is so gracious! He forgives all of our sins...He gives us His grace to make us able to overcome anything.  Our wonderful God sees all sins as sin.  And He sent Jesus, our wonderful Jesus to die for any sin we commit. 

 

God can make the bitterest water clean... he did it for the Israelites in the desert ... we need to stay in constant contact with God so that He refreshes our spring and it never gets so muddy that we can't look up from the bottom and see Him.

10.19.12

1 Timothy 4:13 Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers and teaching them.

My Thoughts

This is in a letter from Paul to Timothy.  From what I understand in these times so many people didn't read and the Bible had not been put together.  People had access to copied scrolls of God word.  The scrolls were read allowed to the people. It is the only way they had access to God's word.

Here Timothy was suppose to focus on reading God's word to the people... the people were suppose to focus on hearing it.  They were to encourage each other, teach each other and learn from each other.   

 

Today we have God word available in so many ways.. in so many easy to understand translations.  We have God's word at our fingertips online.  Most homes have more than one Bible sitting somewhere on a shelf or tucked away in a drawer.  We can put God's word on our Notebooks and our Smart Phones. 

 

There has always, always been a Bible in my home...yet I went for years without picking it up and truly reading it.  A wealth of knowledge and answers to all my problems were here in my house and I didn't take the time to pick up the handbook and read.  But when finally did wonderful things began to happen.  Wonderful things.

 

Here we are commanded to focus on reading the Scriptures and today we don't have to wait on anybody to read it to us!!  We are so blessed that we live in a country where we have the freedom to read God's word.  God's word has the wonderful, amazing power to protect us, but only if we know what it says!!  It is beyond important that we know God's word enough for it to drop down into our hearts.  The only way to know God's word that good is to read and read and read!  We have so much to learn and learning take our determination, our time and an effort on our part.  But once we pick up that Bible with a sincere heart to know what God wants us to know, God does the rest. God makes us able to understand and with  understanding of all that wonderful knowledge comes amazing change.

 

When we study God's word and grow in Him, He will send down blessing from heaven that we didn't even know to want!! 

10.18.12

James 5:13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray.  Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.

 

My Thoughts

It is so easy to turn to God when we are going through something hard.  People who don't pray on a regular basis often pray to God in times of trouble.  But how often do we hear people going about singing praises? I don't do it near enough!!  All that we have comes straight from God.  We need to keep that knowledge foremost in our thoughts so that we remember, always remember to praise Him!!

10.17.12

Proverbs 25:18 Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow.

 

My Thoughts

Not everybody gets this...I have worked with people that saw themselves as good even though they didn't mind taking a chance on destroying peoples lives with lies it is so sad.

 

While studying the book of James I learned another truth...that can cut you to the bone if you are trying to be good...but sometimes let your mouth get the best of you.  James 4:11 says this "Don't speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters.  If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law. But your job is to obey the law , not to judge whether it applies to you.  Beth Moore went on to explain "speaking evil" or "criticizing" in the original text "didn't leave us room to excuse ourselves because what we said is simple truth.  To James, (Jesus' brother) if it was said critically or against another person, it was a sin."

 

This says to me that we just can not, must not go around talking about people!!  My mother and I discussed this at length once. We asked each other "How do you talk about your problems without talking about people." We finally came down to this example: While telling my mom about a bad day at work..about how I was hurt by someone... I could do that IF I left the person's name out. Because IF I left their name out, when she came in the store she then would not have a preconceived feeling about someone based on my bad day. Then she would still be able to be kind to everyone there.  Beth Moore said that we needed to talk about the "thing" not the person.  If I talk about my bad day without mentioning the name of the person I would be talking about the event... as soon as I add a name I am talking about a person. 

 

In James 2:10 we learn that a person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws.  So when we read Psalms 25:18 we don't need to feel all puffed because we are not telling lies on people if we are still talking about people, even if it is the truth. Either way we are being hurtful, either way we are sinning.  Lies and criticizing can both damage a person.  They both change how someone sees another person. 

 

When a person's name comes out of our mouths it should only be preceded or followed by a kindness. If we must talk about a bad situation that involves another person then we must also learn leave out all names. If we could and would learn to do this we would never be guilty of changing the life of another person in a bad way with our words...and our lives would change in amazing ways for the good.

10.16.12

1 Timothy 1:8-9a We know that the law is good when used correctly.  For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy.

 

My Thoughts

This verse got me to thinking about how as we move further from God the more policemen we need... the more laws that have to be made.  Each day a new laws go on the books in cities and towns across our nation....because we have become a people that does not love or care for his neighbor. We see it everywhere people who consider nothing sacred.  Selfishness abounds. 

 

I have been watching a lot of old television shows The Walton's, Andy Griffith... those towns had a sheriff...not a fleet of policemen.  I know, I know you can say, "That is TV."  But TV reflects how we live.  My sweet husband, Robby remembers when Southside had two policemen, his mom remembered when there was one part-time policeman. Now I am not sure how many we have...I sure don't know them all. 

 

We have more policeman because we have a need for more policeman.  It is an clear sign that we are moving away from Godly values. 

 

When my mother was a child, my grandmother thought everything was a sin (the way my mother would tell the stories). She was really strict about things like playing cards and going to the movies on Sundays. My mom would say, "What is the difference in going to the movie on Monday or Friday and going on Sunday?" I tended to agree with her. 

 

Now I think erring on the side of  being a little "out there" might be the best way to go.  My grandmother's rules were like a box inside a box.  So if you stepped out of her box... you were still safe from sin.  Today we live more like if it might be okay to do something then "why not!" So we are constantly walking in the "little sins" and when we step outside of that box we are stepping into something that could lead us down a path we might never return from. 

 

When we learn to love and trust God and all that He says... we begin to live more like my grandmother, we choose not to take a chance that something might be bad. If it is questionable we just choose not to do it. I think my grandmother had the right idea.

 

If as a nation, as individual people would choose to cry out to God, to live like He ask us to live it is possible to life in a day like Mayberry.  But it is only possible with God.  We always have a choice between blessing and curses (Deuteronomy 11:26). When we choose God we get the blessing of His protection.

10.15.12

Psalm 139:24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

 

My Thoughts

This is David talking... I think he is very brave!  He is saying tell me God anything and everything that I do that upsets you!!  So often I want to be forgiven, but I don't want to know what I have done.  I don't really want to heat it. It give me great anxiety sometimes to think of what I have done that offends God. But I need to know.. to grow I must know. I can't do better if I don't know what I am doing wrong. I must be brave enough to hear and secure enough in God's love to ask. 

 

 

10.14.12

Psalms 84:11 For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.  He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.

My Thoughts

I love this verse... in fact the more I read God's word the more verses I love!  Just thing about these words.. the sun lights up everything that it shines on. When we love God, his love shines on us.  A shield protects you from the enemy... God protects us from our enemies when we love Him.  He gives us His grace to make us able to do things we could never do on our own. Then He gives us glory for doing what He accomplished through us.  Then when we do what is right, what God gives us His grace to do He withholds no good thing from us!  How special is that!! If we are living in God's grace doing what is right and we don't have something it is only, only because at this time in our lives it would not be something that was good for us. 

 

God loves us so much. Just in this verse we can see all the love God has for us. It makes me happy!!

10.13.12

James 2:2-4 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

 

My Thoughts

Yesterday I worked on memorizing verses 1-9 of James.  I am not good at memorization so I had to go over and over and over...... and over these words.  The more I said them, the more I thought about them. 

 

I kept thinking about what endurance meant in these verses.  I came to the conclusion that it meant my ability to keep my faith in God. To put my life and all my decisions in His hands.

 

So it could read... When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For when bad things are happening you have an opportunity to fully depend on God, to believe in Him, to trust Him, to listen to Him and to act on what He tells you to do.  For when you are able to do that, when your dependence is totally in God, you are perfect and complete and need nothing.

 

What I have to learn to do is to give God my everything..my good times and my troubles. My thoughts, my words, my actions. When I do that I will be totally under the protection of God and I won't need a thing. 

10.12.12

1 Thessalonians 4:14-23
¹⁴ Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.

¹⁵ See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.

¹⁶ Always be joyful. ¹⁷ Never stop praying. ¹⁸ Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

¹⁹ Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Do not scoff at prophecies, ²¹ but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. ²² Stay away from every kind of evil.

My Thoughts
Words to memorize!!

10.11.12

Jeremiah 16:18 I will double their punishment for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of detestable gods and have filled my territory with their evil deed.

 

My Thoughts

When I got to this verse the first thing I thought of was bill boards, bill boards everywhere advertisements of every kind!! Then my mind went to the first place of bright and shinny bill boards... Las Vegas sometimes called "Sin City." I thought of how we want, want, want material goods all the time! For the first time ever I saw bill boards and advertisements as images of what we worship most "things!" How scary is that!!!  We want, want, want which makes us go, go, go and we neglect first of all God, then our families and our friends. For "things," we think we "have" to have.  When God looks down at us I wonder how he sees those bill boards?

 

I wounder how different our  lives would be, how different our job situation would be, how different our family life would be, how different our thinking and our words would be, how different our wants would be if for just a month we changed every bill board and every advertisement in America to a Bible verse, or a praise to God... or a, "Thank you, God!"  If we put God everywhere, so we were constantly reminded that what we want is not things, what we want, what that empty place in our bodies need is God!!

 

If we got busy loving God, putting God everywhere in our world, we would have no needs at all. God would supply our every need. People talk about peace...I remember it being what "everybody" wanted in the 70's. Peace even to those who do not love God, who do not believe that God exist see peace as a virtuous thing to want.  Peace comes straight from God. We have peace when we love God...when we worship God... when God is central in our lives!  If God and His word replaced every advertisement and we took in God's word like we take in the "need for stuff," I imagine that we would know a peace like we have never experienced ever.

 

You might say "Jeannie, you are being ridiculous! This is not even possible." I would counter it is possible with each one of us as individuals to make a choice to put God first.  It is possible for me to decide that ever time I see an advertisement that I will use that as a reminder to fix my thoughts on God, no on what somebody, some company tells me I "need."  We may not be able to change the world, but we can change ourselves! When we changes ourselves it effects the world around us!  All things are possible for me with God!!  All things are possible for YOU with God.  I have a choice, I can always choose God!

10.10.12

James 4:1-3 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

 

My Thoughts

We are studying the book of James in our Beth Moore Bible Study.  I am loving this book...I am trying to truly learn it and understand it to the fullest. As I thought about these verses today, I thought of them in a different way than Beth Moore did. At first I thought I am not at war with anyone, I don't scheme and kill to get anything.  But today I thought about this verse a little different.

 

The memory verse this month for my IMPACT girls is Galatians 5:22-23  But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! I had this verse on my mind as I read today's verses in James.  And I thought,"Every time I have a desire in me that kills any of the fruits of the spirit evil is winning out!" If I am jealous of what others have I kill one of more of those fruits... when I desire what somebody else has I can often loose my peace and/or patience.  If we want somebody else's place in traffic we can kill our gentleness and self-control.  Sometimes there is a war going on inside me for the desires of this world over God's desires for my life.  I need to constantly check my desires with the fruits of the Spirit within me... If I have a desire that is killing my love, my joy, my peace, my patience, my kindness, my goodness, my faithfulness, my gentleness or my self-control I need to re-examine my motives.  My utmost desire should be to do what pleases God...then God will take care of the other desires of my heart that truly matter. 

10:9:12

Matthew 12:35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

 

My Thoughts

When I read this I thought, "What we keep in our heads and what comes from our mouths eventually drops down into our hearts."  To be good, we have to think on things which are good. Philippians 4:8 tells us this, "Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." When we do this our hearts become good and our actions follow. 

 

When we dwell on upset and talk about it and talk about it and talk about it... our thoughts become angry, then our hearts... then our words and actions. 

 

To be produce good things from a treasury of a good heart we must put good things in our mind so that good falls down into our heart!!  This takes effort on our parts.. it is a decision we make. It is a choice we have.  To be good we must take our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). Once we take our thoughts captive...our hearts and our actions will follow.

10.8.12

Matthew 12:34 The mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.

My Thoughts

1 John 4:8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7  Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

 

When we find ourselves speaking outside the realms of love, we need to check our thoughts and our heart.  Our mouths are a gauge for where our heart is at the moment.  When love is in our hearts, love comes out of our mouths.  When God is in our hearts  love comes our of our mouth.  Our words are more important than we can even think to imagine. 

10.7.12

Colossians 3:5b Don't be greedy for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

My Thoughts

My daddy and I were talking just the other day about how little people had during the depression... and for years after.  How much had changed in the world just since I was a little girl. He said that he and my mom didn't have a telephone until after I was born. 

I have been watching the Walton's a lot lately, I love that show.  It was set during the depression and the Walton family didn't have a lot.  But they loved greatly.  These stories were based on a real family.  These children would give up all they had when one of their brothers or sisters needed something. They had so little but gave so much!

 

Today we are all so greedy... everybody walking around with their own phones.... closets are full of clothes... we pay for storage buildings to put thing we don't use anymore all safe and tucked away, just in case we might want to use it.   We don't even share what we don't even want anymore. Much less share the money we  had saved for months so that one of our family members could have something that is important to them.  We live in a me, me world. There are enough TV's in homes now that people don't even have to give in on what to watch on TV.  We even all recognize the phrase, "He who has the most toys wins." 

 

Worst of all we fail to recognize our greed as putting stuff before God.  I believe that before I make a purchase I need to learn to ask myself, "Is this a need or is this greed." I need to be constantly aware that when I am being greedy that I am putting things above God and that is not acceptable.

 

10.6.12

Colossians 2:8 Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high sounding nonsense that comes from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.

 

My Thoughts

This got me to thinking about how we are so hungry for knowledge... for things to fill our minds with.  We all want to learn more.  Even people that think they don't like to learn want to know more about the things they like to do.  God keeps us hungry for knowledge. Wanting to know new things is a good thing.  We just have to be very careful about what we are putting in our brains...because what we put into our brains eventually drops down into our hearts. 

 

This verse tells us that we need to be careful of things that come from human thinking and the spiritual powers of the WORLD. The way to do this is to know God's word. If we are reading and learning from something that is contradictory to God's word then we need to back away and move on to something else.  We don't even need to tempt our learning gene with things that contradict what God tells us. 

 

I am amazed at how many books that we have our our shelves that have been read, just in my house, and how long it too me to read God's word!  My home has never been without a Bible in it... as a child there were several Bibles in our house...as an adult there have always been several Bibles in our house. Yet it too me over 40 years to pick up my Bible and get serious about understanding it.  I have read fiction books, books on how to get over this problem or that problem, books on raising children, true crime books...but I didn't read my Bible.

 

Now I wonder how I ever got along before.  No wonder I had a time figuring out what I should and should not do in any situation before. I was so lost in this big dark world.  Now it is easy to make a decision! I have God as my compass and the Bible as my instruction book. The time I spend in God's word is given back to me 10 fold because decision making is much easier! I don't spend days wondering what I should do about something, I usually know what God would have me do now. Now I don't have to spend days fixing where I messed up. When I do what God would have me do I just get to go about my life without having to look back!! 

 

When we get lost in the philosophies of this world we get so confused!  One person says one thing, one group of people think another thing. There is tons of knowledge out there and all of it is contradicting. No wonder we are confused. But when we keep our eyes, and our hearts on Christ, He will straighten the crooked road and plain out all the bumps.  When we keep our eyes on Christ the fog clears, there is no confusion and life just gets better and better and better. 

 

 

10.5.12

Colossians 1:6-7 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue  to follow him.  Let your roots grown down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him.  The your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

 

My Thoughts

I love this verse!!  The deeper my roots grow in God and His love the more I overflow with thankfulness.  I remember when I felt like I didn't have much to be thankful for... at that time I was not letting my roots grow in God.  I had asked Jesus into my heart as a child, but had not learned how to let my roots grow.  Somewhere along the way I missed it!!  The Bible was so overwhelming to me... it seemed so hard to understand!! 

 

But things began to change in my life when I given a Bible that I could understand and (The New Living Translations, for me) and begin to read every day. Finally a Bible that was at least easy to read..then within a matter of weeks I begin to understand at least some of what I was reading...and with each new understanding I began to change, my heart began to change, what I was seeing through my eyes began to change. Little by little at first...but enough to make me know I wanted more!!  I wanted deeper roots.  The deeper my roots grow, the more thankful I become! The more Joy I feel! The more at peace I am! Now in the mist of something that use to would have thrown me into anxiety and panic I stop and say "thank you God for this peace!" And I smile because I feel so loved by God that He would take over my problem and leave me with joy in its place. 

 

I am so thankful that I have come to a place where I can see all the things around me that make me feel so thankful.  So much of it God had already given me.... the devil just made sure I was distracted by fear and anxiety too much to notice.  When I keep my eyes on God I am overwhelmed with thankfulness!! I am overwhelmed with the knowledge of how much God loves me!!

 

I am so excited that He loves me as much as He loves anybody and I want people to know, family, friends, complete strangers on the street. I want them all to feel what I feel!  I want their roots to grow deep...I want each face I see to feel loved and have the opportunity to be thankful!!

 

I beg of you!!..I plead with you.. Pick up your Bible today... start reading!  Experience those words come alive in your life.  Take the time, and it takes time, to go from not understanding much to being excited about what you are going to learn next to make your life better. Salvation is not just an after this life thing, it is a daily thing!!  Each day God saves me from so much now that I have learned to love Him! Each day God gives me things that money can't buy.. each day my love and peace and joy grow beyond what I could even think to imagine. All because I learned to grow my roots deeper and deeper into God!

3.4.12

Philippians 4:6-7 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds ad you live in Christ Jesus.

 

My Thoughts

My grandmother was a worrier, my mom was a worrier... I was destine to be a worrier.  If you just met me you might think that I am a bit of a worrier.   But if you have know me for even a few years you could see the wonderful change God has brought about in me!!  Sometimes I hold on to that worry, like the more that I worry the better chance there is for something to work out!! Or maybe it is more of a "I need to worry to show I care type of thing." I do remember my mother fussing at me before because I was not worried...oh she was so upset at me for not worrying. How could I not become a worrier, after all it showed I cared!! I became an expert at worrying.. I could worry about not having anything to worry about.  I couldn't function and still can function very well at all when I let myself get consumed with worry. It freezes me, stops me in my tracks. It puts me right where Satin wants me unable to do for myself or for others.

 

I have grown though!  I give everything to God now!..Sometimes I take it back and have to give it to Him over and over again... but eventually I let God keep it and when I do everything works out, because God is busy taking care of me and what I was worried about.  Sometimes it is something that makes me go right into panic mode...and I find that I have been worried for several days and at some point I calm down enough to hear the Holy Spirit telling me to "give it to God." Every time that I stop and give my worries to God I feel this wonderful peace come over me...a peace that is unexplainable and I can get on with my life. I can again move out of that circle that I have put me in the center of and I be aware of the people and things around me. I can hear God again.

 

How do I get there you may ask... I have learned that when I don't know what to pray.. when I don't have the thoughts or words I just start praising God..I praise Him and tell Him that I know that He knows my needs and that I am giving them to Him.  That is when God takes over best, those times I have no idea at all what I should do...because those are the times I have to let go completely and let God work his love into the situation. 

 

I am amazed every day as I watch myself grow in this area...the more I see God take care of me...the faster I give my problems over to Him to take care of.  The less I worry because I have God.... the less places I leave for the devil to sneak in and take over. 

 

Every day I am amazed at just how much God loves me!!  And the more I turn over to God the more I see His love in my life.  The wonderful thing is that God loves each and every one of us just the same... God will do amazing things in our lives if we just let Him. 

10.2.12

Philippians 3:18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.

 

My Thoughts

Wow! This verse took my breath away! It actually made tears well up in my eyes!!  I have done things in my life that I knew was wrong even before I did it I knew it was a sin. But never, ever once did I think of it as being an enemy of the cross of Christ!!  I have cut out a lot of what I use to watch on TV.. but there are still a couple of things that I can, at times feel questionable about. But never once have I looked at them as supporting something that was an enemy of the cross of Christ!!  Now, to look at is this way, makes me feel like I took a minute to march in the devil's army all for an hour of "relaxation." All I had to do was make a different choice, to change the channel or turn the TV off.  But instead I choose to take an hour of my life to march against the cross of Christ.  When I open my mouth to grumble and complain it is like switching sides and marching against the cross of Christ. 

 

I know a lot of people...that try to be good people... that choose to sin, make an actual choice to do something they know is sinful and I know that have never ever thought of it like this.  I think this verse alone would change many lives.

 

I can not even express how deeply this verse touched me today.  I feel overwhelmed by it!  Deeply troubled that I have been guilty of being an enemy of the cross of Christ!!  I will forever see my actions differently. 

10.1.12

Philippians 2:12b-13 Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

 

My Thoughts

I love this...I love that God not only gives us the desire to do what pleases Him...but he also gives us the power to do what pleases Him.  If we just seek after God. If we take time to read God's word and pray, God will start working in us and change us in amazing ways.

 

I have heard this verse many times in my life... but once I picked up my Bible and started seeking after God I begin to see this verse working in me.  Each day bring me new joy... each day I get a new tidbit of information that makes my life better and better and better.  Each day my strength grows, my peace grows. Each day I am more and more in awe of God and His love for me and for you!! 

 

I have been in that place where I thought "Doesn't life get any better than this??"  Life can be so full... Jesus died on the cross so that we could have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). I begin to know that abundant feeling when I picked up my Bible and started reading it... when I began to earnestly want to understand it.  Little by little my life begin to change...at first it was in tiny ways... it is like a snow ball rolling down a hill, as it rolls it gathers more and more snow with each turn.  No matter how small it starts out if it keeps rolling it grows bigger and bigger and bigger... gather more and more snow with each turn of the ball.  That is what God's word does.. at first we understand just a little bit here and there...and as we understand we are able to gather more and more and more... and one day we wake up and feel amazing!!  All because God wants to grow us.. If we seek after God, God will make sure we understand!!

 

If you feel helpless or hopeless I beg of you to pick up a Bible that you can understand... I love the New Living Translation, I have a friend who loves The Message.  It doesn't matter which one you like... it matters that you seek after God.  Once we seek after God, He does the rest!! I promise that in a matter of weeks you will begin to feel better... you will find hope where you were hopeless... you will find help to get through this day and the next and the next.... then one day you will wake up and realize that you feel joy!