1.23.14

Matthew 14:29-30 "Yes come,"Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and begin to sink. "Save me lord he shouted. 

My Thoughts
Peter was walking on water, actually walking in water until, until he thought about what was around him instead of thinking about what Jesus said he could do. How much do we thin we can't do? 2 Timothy 1:7 says this "7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."  How often do we say, "I can't." When God says we can. We can't believe what the world says about us, or what people say about us, OR what we tell ourselves...we must believe what God says about us. Then all things are possible...God says so! 

11.28.13

2 Peter 1:2a By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.

My Thoughts

I am learning this... I seem to only be getting it in bits and pieces... but I am growing.  As much as I know that when we make excuses we can't change I can still find myself doing this... making excuses.  Then God gently sends down something that teaches me to do better. 

It seems to work like those sappy movies or TV shows work...in 30 minutes to a couple of hours everything comes together..everybody has something that fits too perfectly into the puzzle and the whole family learns something, the same something in the end.  Today as I was reading my Bible I was reminded of something in my past that I needed to ask forgiveness for.  Then Satan, himself tried to give me excuses...then in my reading I read in 2 Peter 2: 19 it said For you are a slave to whatever controls you. God put it all together for me...just like one of those cheesy movies. I do love cheesy.

We can let how others have treated us control us, or we can let our guilt controls us... just the same as we can let drugs or alcohol control us. We can let an "I can't help it." control us. We can even let the affirmation of others control us... or we can call down God's grace over our lives and take back the power over sin that God says that we can have.  

I am slowly learning that God has so much in Heaven waiting on me...there for me to keep me strong, to make me a better person, I just have to call it down.  I keep waiting on it... without calling down what I need...then when I call down what I need amazing things begin to happen.  Just recently I learned to call down God's grace...I know I am slow!!! I kept waiting on God's grace just to fall down from Heaven and help me.... when all I had to do was call it down!!  Silly me.  I had one of those moments that play over and over in your head happen.  One of those moments that you can talk to death with your spouse and you both get worked up.  Instead of getting carried away by it I just kept asking for God's grace. I ask for God's grace for my replaying thoughts, His grace for the thoughts I had about my thoughts, I asked for God's grace to kept my mouth closed....I asked for God's grace to make me feel love... I asked for God grace to help me act in a loving manner no matter what I felt.... and you know what? God sent His wonderful grace!  How many times have I lost my peace because I didn't call down God's grace? Too many to count. God recently sent me Isaiah 30:18 So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.  I am so thankful that God showed me this verse in a way that it stuck. It is changing my life, yet again He grows me.  So blessed ar we that God would keep growing us, giving us what we need to live Godly lives.

11.28.12

2 Peter 2:19b For you are a slave to whatever controls you.

 

My Thoughts

Oh this line...this sentence it made my heart stop for a second!!  We can be a slave to anything, money, power, work, food,  television, knitting, football season, our house, cell phones, facebook, credit cards. We can become a slave to disease and sickness, drugs or alcohol.   Oh the list could go on and on. The thing is we actually choose what we are slaves to. The minute we put something on credit, we become a slave to that item until we have it paid off.  The minute we let something lure us in, keeping us from doing the thing we know we should be doing we have become a slave to that thing.  We can become a slave to this Christmas the minute we get roped into thinking to be special it has to be big so we spend all of next year paying for it.  We become a slave to football the minute we choose to watch a football game no matter what else happens!! And we ignore something or somebody important to watch that football game.  We become a slave to TV when we know what we are watching is not good for us but we choose entertainment over doing what is right. We can become a slave to illness the minute we decide we can't without stopping first to see if we could if we tried.  We can become a slave to anything if it controls us. 

 

But we have a choice!  We can become a slave to God.  A loving, all knowing, all powerful God who only has our best interest in His heart.  God is is love and loves us so much!!  A loving God will make sure that our tummies are always full and our bodies are always clothed.  A loving God who will get us through anything and protect us.  A loving God who care even about the desires of our hearts. 

 

It is much like a teenager that has stepped into darkness just a bit... and has that choice to go home to parents who will set out rules for her because they love her. Or she can choose to get in the car with that boy all dressed in black with a criminal record a mile long who promises her the world.  She can be a slave of her parents who love her... or she can be a slave of someone who promises her a chance to "feel good." She has a choice.

 

We have a choice!!  We can choose to live by God's rules and be protected and loved or we can be drawn in by something that promises to make us either feel good for a moment in time, or feel nothing for a moment in time.  It is important that we learn to recognize when something has a hold on us...the very minute we feel like we can't live without something is the very minute we need to turn to God and ask Him, "Is this OK? Is this good for me? Have I gone too far? Have I stepped over the line? Do I have your permission?"  When we do that and we listen to what God tells us...we have moved back under His protection. 

 

We can become a slave to anything... is there something controlling  you?   

11.27.12

2 Peter 1:5-7 (The Message) So don’t lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

 

My Thoughts

Once we ask Jesus into our hearts we have work to do.  God helps us...but we have to make the effort!!  The effort to learn all we can about God's love... living right... disciplining ourselves to grow in knowledge...and practice what we have learned.  We have to work at being patience and friendly and loving... active in growing our lives.  In verse 11 it tells us that if we do this we will never fall away. In the NIV version Romans 12:2 tells us to "renew our minds daily." 

 

I have learned that I learn so much by reading my Bible every day.  I have only been doing this for the last 3 years.  So much I think I will do then I read again and realize I forgot.  If I keep reading one day it will drop into my spirit!!  I also find that for me picking out a scripture that speaks to me and writing about it makes me able to find ways to apply that scripture to my daily life.  Slowly I am growing.

 

The wonderful thing about God is that if we make the effort, He makes our effort count.  God will make us able!  God's word says that if we seek wisdom, wisdom will be added to us (Proverbs Chapter 2).  Over these last few years I have learned that if I truly do my best... God will make me able.  I have also learned that when I am not able to do what God ask...that I am not putting my best effort forward.  Sometimes it takes a while for that to click..but when it does click and I start doing my best... God always does the rest.  God makes us able we just have to show God that we have the desire!! 

 

I beg of you... I wish somebody had begged me when I was younger... I beg of you.. please make time to read some scripture ever day... renew your minds.. it helps keep us on track!  God honors the time we take for Him by helping us accomplish all that we thought we couldn't if we stopped to read His word!! 

 

 

11.18.11

2 Peter 22:19b For you are a slave to whatever controls you.

My Thoughts

Wow! Wow! What powerful words!  None of us like to be a slave to anything... we as Americans  are especially proud of our freedom.  Yet so many of us walk around in bondage.  When you first read this you can think about the alcoholic or the drug addict.... they are a slave to the next drink or the next hit... and if you don't do those things you feel like everything is OK in your life you after all are not a slave. But the truth is we have probable all been a slave to something at one time or other. We are a slave to anything that interrupts our lives to the point it is in our thoughts when we need or want to think about something else...anything that we wake up and have to do.... anything that we plan our lives around.

Some of us are a slave to money.... we have let money control us instead of controlling our money..... once we let our bills get out of hand because we couldn't control our spending we become slaves to our money... it is actually controlling us.  Some of us are slaves to football.... yes, football.... we are so wrapped up in football that we can't miss a game... I have even heard of dads missing the birth of their child because of a football game... when we let something like football get so important that it actually controls our emotions ... we have become a slave to football. Some of us are a slave to Facebook... we have to check in when we wake up...and before we go to bed...and time in between to make sure we are connected to the world.  Some of us are slaves to Farm-ville, Cafe World or any other of those type of games... I actually called somebody from the hospital once to harvest my plants... Some people are a slave to work... the world has give them a label, work-a-holics...when work is all you can think about even when you are at home with your family.... something needs to change.  Some of us are a slave to reading or video games... some of us have become a slave to stuff...to the point it has taken over our houses... the label to that is hording.  Some of us are a slave to Grey's Anatomy or Criminal minds.... Some of us are a slave to worry, worry of any kind.... Anything that gets into our thoughts so much that it controls what we do and think...that it actually controls our emotions, we have become slaves to. When something gets in the way of what we need to do...when something gets in the way of our ability to hear others when they talk... when something takes over our emotions.... when something takes over our ability to be in control we have become a slave to it. We have given up our freedom that we cherish so much.

I think this verse is warning us to be aware of the things that control our lives... to be aware of the things that get into our heads so much that we can't keep our mind on God.. that we can't stay focused on the needs or others... and we are really in trouble when something effects us so much that we choose it over taking care of our own basic needs.... I think three signs of being controlled by something is 1. it controls our emotions... 2. we find ourselves doing something all the time, to the point of neglecting ourselves or others... 3. we are avoiding it... (money problems, house work). When we are a slave to something, anything we can't "let go, and let God."  We need to be disciplined enough to be free, free to be the person God wants us to be. We need to be aware enough of our lives and what is going on in our life to recognize the signs of being controlled... then we need to step up to the devil himself and say I will not be a slave to anything you put in my path.... I am a child of the most high God and I will be free to be what He would have me be.

I am a slave to a few things... it is a bit hard to be honest with myself about this...but I am a slave, a bit to Facebook... a bit to TV.... OK, Ok I am a bit of a slave to knitting and crochet.... I need to take my life back in these areas so that I can be free to be what God wants me to be. What are you a slave to?

11.27.11

2 Peter 1:2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

My Thoughts

I have heard God's grace defined as God's ability in us to accomplish what we could not do on our own. I love that definition of God's grace... and peace... we all know that you can not put a price on peace.  Master Card loves to define peace as having a moment doing something we can't afford without credit.  Peace is is so much bigger than that!!  Peace is that amazing feeling of everything in life being OK, taken care of...everything being right... feeling right with yourself, the people around you... feeling right with God. 

The bible tells us more than once to seek knowledge... it tells us that if we seek knowledge that knowledge will be given to us... our part, we always have a part, is seeking after knowledge in God and in Jesus our Lord... if we seek...if we take time to learn about God, God will give us more grace and more peace and more grace and more peace... and more grace and more peace.  We can never learn enough. But, to get that grace and peace we have to do our part.

I encourage you with all my being to pick up your Bible and start reading it for yourself... it changes your life.  I know that you can't put a price on peace because I use to never be peaceful...but as I have spent time studying God's word the peace inside me has grown by leaps and bounds.. the strength of God has made me able to do things I could not do two years ago.... I can trace this all back to picking up my Bible and spending time every morning with God... God's word is amazing it will change your world. I know it is changing my daily... I can't wait to learn more, to grow more... I can't wait to find out what it feels like to have more peace in my life. God is amazing!

11.28.10

2 Peter 2:19b For you are slaves to whatever controls you.

My Thoughts

We see this all the time the alcoholic controlled by alcohol, the drug addict controlled by drugs.... we read this verse and can feel real proud of ourselves... but most of use are controlled by something we want, do, don't do, think we "need"... I can be controlled by my messy house, I won't let people in when it is a mess...and I want to spend time with that person...but still I may keep them at bay when my house is a mess...I can be controlled by TV.... I won't want to do something on a certain night because I don't want to miss a certain show...and yes I have TiVo... but there is something about watching your Tuesday night show on Tuesday night.... I know people controlled by football and people being controlled by shopping, so bad that their bills are out of control...in fact we can be controlled by money when we don't spend it right... when we overspend and have too many bills the job we choose or the hours we have to work are controlled by our overspending.... but the wonderful news is that God can help us with anything that controls us, anything!! The Bible tells us because of Gods love we will not be consumed. (Lamentations 3:22)  God will help us with anything that controls us... We have to make an effort, we have to make the choice not to be controlled by things of this world by by the great love of God... when we make the right choice our life changes and gets better, it gets better because God does not make the wrong decisions for your lives... What controls you?.. what are you going to choose to give over to God so that your life can be better?

11.27.10

2 Peter 1:5-7  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

My Thoughts

God wants the best for us because he loves us... and for us to have the best we need to listen to what he teaches us.... we have decisions to make in our lives, we have choices to make ... we need to choose goodness... we need to make an effort to become more knowledgeable..... we need to practice self-control... we need to persevere to do right and good even when it seems hard... we need to strive to be like Jesus... me need to have affection for each other and remember that God made each and every one of us... we want our children to love each other... God wants he children to love and care for each other.... and above all we need to love each other... and treat each other like we love each other.... instead of always saying if ____ loved he they would.... we need to say what can I do to show ____________ how much I love them... when we are shopping at Christmas we need to treat other customers and the sales people, the people at the register like we love them... like we care about their day...we need to remember always, and especially during Christmas to treat one another with love.