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!

10.28.11

Titus 3:1 Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. 

My Thoughts

God judges us on what we do...not what others do... not the choices others make but, on the choices we make.  We are told here to submit to our government, to be obedient, always ready to do what is good.  We in America have to right to make a difference, we get a vote.  We need to exercise that right, to study what our candidates stand for. We need to know if they truly love God.  We need to get out and vote.  Then our part is to support our government, whether or not we disagree. Then be in prayer everyday for the choices our government makes.  Even if we have a president, or Senate or Congress that know God when we are in prayer, God takes control.  I know that things could be better in our country now, there could be more job... less spending ... etc,. etc,. Our part is not to grumble and complain, our job is to pray!  Our job is to submit to our government, be obedient and always ready to do good.  We need to be busy taking care of our neighbors that have lost jobs.  Our neighbors that are working less hours.  We need to be in prayer always in prayer for the choices our leaders are making.  I have noticed that everywhere I go people are complaining about our government and the choices they are making. I mean I don't get out much and I hear it all the time!!  People complaining... I know that we need to take a stand to change what is not good... but, complaining is not taking a stand.. the people I hear complaining about our government still just go about their days... not taking a stand but complaining, complaining, complaining. Our part is not to complain, our part is to be supportive and to pray to God to make the difference.  God is the one who is in control and has all the power. We need to activate that power over our government with prayer. I believe with all my heart that if we as a nation  were to pray every time we were even tempted to complain about our government we would see changes that were unimaginable. We would no doubt be amazed at the power of God to make a difference in our country.

The other day I was at Bible Study and heard this true story.  A woman at Bible Study told of how she knew a couple.  The husbands job had not been going good at all... every one's hours were cut back, the company was struggling bad.  They were all worried!  Then they started meeting each morning and praying for the company, praying for a turn around... in one week, just one week the company got this big contract... and everybody there was working 12 hours day!!  Not long after the husband ask his wife what she was doing, she said "praying." He replied, "please don't pray for my work!!  I don't need more hours!!"  Prayer works. When we earnestly go to God in prayer, he hears our prayers. 

Our country could turn around as fast as that mans company did.  We just need to be thankful for the country we live in, we need to do as we are instructed and submit to our government and we need to be in prayer. Complaining changes nothing but our moods, and how we treat others... Prayer, prayer changes people, lives, even governments.

10.27.11

Titus 2:14 He (Jesus) gave us life to free us from every kind of sin, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

My Thoughts

We have to make a conscious decision to be "committed" to doing good... Jesus died to free us from sin, to make us his own, totally committed to doing good deeds. We have to make the the choice to do good.  Does this mean we need to go out everyday feeding the  poor, building houses... oh that would be great if we could. Oh  if we were all able to go about doing that kind of good.   But, the truth is for the world to keep working...for us to keep even feeding our own families most of us have other things that have to be done. What we have to do is to make a commitment to doing good in our everyday lives. No good deed no matter how small it seems to us is unimportant. A smile is a good deed, a compliment is a good deed, taking somebody to lunch is a good deed, calling to check on someone is a good deed, sending a card is a good deed. Letting somebody in in traffic is a good deed.  Anything that makes somebody else's day better in any way is a good deed. Joyce Meyer said that when something good happens to us it is always from God.  If somebody says that we are pretty, that is from God.  If somebody notices that we did a good job, God noticed it is a compliment from God.  If somebody buys us lunch, that is from God.  When we go about doing good, smiling at people, complimenting people... helping people in small ways and large...we are allowing ourselves to be used by God to improve the lives of others around us. 

We need to never, ever underestimate the power of  the "little things."  Think about it...so often when we have a bad day it is the little things that went wrong.  The more little things that go wrong in a day the worse our day gets.  The same is true with the "little things" that go right in a day, we just don't stop to really notice them. Whether we notice them or not they are so important to our well being. Which means that our smiles, our hugs, our compliments are important.  Taking somebody to lunch is important.  Helping somebody with their groceries bags is important. Holding the door for somebody is important. Taking time to ask about some-body's day is important! Doing good deeds is always important. It is what Jesus calls us to do.

Luke 16:10 says that if we are faithful in the little things we will be faithful in the larger ones.  When we go about doing good in the little things... God will put bigger things in our path to trust us with... When we are in the habit of,  when we are committed to doing good in the small things...when we are so committed it becomes second nature to do good...when something bigger comes along we will just know the "good" thing to do.  It will be a part of our heart.

10.27.10

Titus 2:14 He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

My Thoughts

Here is something think about... think if you were stuck standing on a railroad track and a train was comming... your best friend in the world was standing there with you, watching and said "Promise me one thing?!"... and you said 'Okay what??"... "Promise me that you will visit my mom every Friday" then your friend push you off the tracks and died in your place... you would visit your firends mom every Friday!!... you would never forget to visit... Well Jesus died in our place just as if a train was comming down the track... and all Jesus ask is that we go about doing good deeds, go about loving our neighbor as we love ourselves... Jesus ask that we love God with our our heart and soul...that is all that Jesus asked for dieing in our place.... we need to make our biggert effort every day to do good, to love everybody and to love God enough to spend time with him each and every day...time learning about what he wants from us... time talking to God and listening to God talk to us... that is not much if you think that Jesus pushed us off that cross and died in your place and in mine!

10.26.10

Titus 1:15-16a Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. but nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted. Such people claim they know God but deny him by the way they live.

My Thoughts

Have you ever noticed that when you are not doing the things you are suppose to do that you see the bad in others... I have done this when my life was all out of sorts... it made me feel better to know that some-body's life was worse than mine... if my house is not clean it makes me feel better if somebody else's house is not clean... and so on.  On the other hand when I am doing all that I can to do what is good and what is right I can only see the good in people... when I am being sweet, and good and kind, I think everybody is sweet and good and kind... when we start seeing the bad in others we need to recognize that as a red flag about our own lives and stop and examine what we are doing wrong in our lives.  I never realized when I do bad that I am denying God... I could know it was not good but I never thought of my actions as denying God... I have thought "How could Peter, Peter who walked with Jesus, deny him?" But I myself have done that in my actions...and God walks right beside me all the time... the Bible tells me so.... I have lived in a way where people would question if I knew God.... now that I have read this verse I will be keenly aware that I can deny God with my actions and my words... My actions, the things I do and say need to say "I am proud to be a child of the Most High God"... what do your actions say?