7.31.11

Romans 14:13 So let's stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.

My Thoughts

Wow... my first thought here was that I had not caused somebody to stumble... when would I have done that?  But anytime that I have talked about somebody else or encouraged somebody to talk about somebody else in any way but lovingly  and with concern I have caused somebody to stumble. Anytime that I have told somebody that was on a diet it was okay to eat desert I have caused them to stumble. Anytime I have encouraged somebody that was in financial trouble to spend money I have caused them to stumble. Anytime I have encouraged anger instead of forgiveness, I have caused somebody to stumble. Anytime I have encouraged somebody to do something that they thought might be wrong I have encouraged that person to stumble.  If I have told somebody that a white lie was okay I have caused somebody to stumble.  Verse 23 tells us if we have doubts about what we are doing, we are sinning if we go ahead and do it. So we should never encourage somebody to do something if they think it might be wrong, even if we think it is alright.  We should always encourage people in a positive manner.... we should always encourage what make a person feel right about their relationship with God.  After all wouldn't we want somebody to encourage us to do what would make God happy?  I sure don't want to be encouraged to make God sad.

7.30.11

Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God's law.

My Thoughts

Love is a choice! It's can be an overwhelming feeling, like when you hold a baby for the first time but it is also a choice. It is easy to love a baby, your baby, some body else's new baby, most everybody loves a baby. I think ...that could be because we all know that a baby will do nothing to hurt us. In fact a new baby seems to look at every person that holds them with great love. A new baby is maybe the purest form of love. When we are most hurtful to others is when they have made us feel unloved... we move into that selfish mode of thinking of us... who loves me?... what has this person or that person done to show me they love me today? The devil fills our head with those thoughts, the "He/She don't love me because they didn't do ________ for me today." Once the devil tells us that we should say out loud what somebody that loves us does do for us. I should tell the devil "I know Robby loves me because he goes to work every day to provide for me. He never, ever forgets to kiss me goodbye. Robby calls me at least 3 times a day from work. The list goes one and on! Yet when I listen to the devil I get caught up in one thing Robby didn't even know that I wanted. We all do that .... the devil gets us caught up in not feeling loved so we forget to go about loving. We all learn as adults how fun it is to give.... how it can be way more exciting to give a gift than it is to get one. Oh sure getting gifts is great fun. But when we have gone all out to find a special gift for somebody, something we know they are going to love and be all excited about... well that is the best feeling. If we spend our days getting done what has to be done and then thinking of ways to show others that they are loved we would fill that joy that Jesus talks about. It would be whole days of being excited because we gave somebody something nice. It can be as simple as giving somebody a much needed smile. You could make your spouses favorite dinner. You could drop a note in the mail. What if we all got up each morning and said I will do something today to make each of my family members feel loved... then I will do something today to make a friend feel loved...and as I go about my day I make sure that my co workers feel loved...and the strangers I come in contact with will feel God's love through my actions. We would surly be filled with joy!! We would get so lost in the moments that we would forget to feel selfish. A warning comes with this way of life... the devil will attack, he will not like it at all that you are spreading love about!! He will start telling you how nobody does for you... and he will start this off just when you start thinking what you can do for others.... he starts in with your first thoughts so you won't get started, because he knows if you do this love thing long enough you will start reaping the rewards and you won't be able to stop! When you get started...when you ask God to help you along the way the opportunities to love...when you start choosing to love all the people around you.... life will become amazing. When the devil tells you somebody doesn't love you because... you tell the devil all the reasons you know you are loved...drown him out!! Today make an honest effort to love... love is a verb, and action word... what will you do today to show the people around you what love feels like?

7.29.11

Romans 12:21 Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

My Thoughts

It is so easy to be godly when life is going good!...It is!  Its when you feel attacked that it can see hard to be godly...it can be hard to be godly!! That is why we need to be close enough to God that we ask him to step in and take over...that is when we need his strength to do what we are not able. Imagine if we were to always repay evil with good!... So many times when we are in a situation where somebody for no good reason just doesn't like us, maybe its a personality thing. I have had people not like me for being too sweet, truly I have!!  Sometimes people just aren't going to like us and some of those people are going to be unkind.  What if we decided to go out of our way... way out of our way to be sweet ever time they were ugly?  What if we did something like give them a card to have a good day... the day after they showed themselves not so nice.  What if we were to leave them a gift certificate to lunch on their desk after they screamed at us? What if we brought them a candy bar...sweets for the not so sweet?  Kindness in the face of not so kind would have to turn a person around... it could turn them around for good reasons... or it could turn their actions around just because they didn't want to look bad to others after somebody had been so sweet to them. Either way things would get better. Why, because we choose kindness over and eye for an eye! God in all His wisdom...oh we should never ignore that wonderful wisdom of God!

7.28.11

Romans 11:13-14 I (Paul) am saying all this especially for you Gentiles.  God has appointed me the apostle to the Gentiles. I stress this, for I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you Gentiles have, so I might save some of them.

My Thoughts

As Christians, as children of the Most High God we are so very blessed!  All that we have comes from God...we have so many reasons to feel joy and happiness...so many reasons to be thankful!  Yet we go about grumbling and complaining about so much.  How can we ever expect people to want God in their lives by what they see in us if all we do is complain? These verses are telling us that Paul wanted to make the Israelites that didn't believe in Jesus jealous of what Christians had so they would want it!! So that they would want Jesus living in their lives... Paul wanted to save the unbelievers!  We should live in a way that our joy in Christ shows!... If we aren't we need to figure out why and fix it.  We should live in such a way that we don't even have to seek out unbelievers.  We need to live in such a way that people are asking us why..why are we so happy?.... how do we get through our struggles without worry?... how can we be so loving to our enemies?.... why would we give that away? ..... where does our joy come from? ... why do we work so hard for a company that doesn't really care about us?.... why do we love everybody?..... people should be asking us why!  They should be asking because they see God in us.  How can you make somebody jealous of your relationship with God?

7.21.11

Romans 10:15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, "How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!"

My Thoughts

When we tell people about how much God loves them God thinks even our feet are beautiful!! Oh to be beautiful in the sight of God!... God in all his splendor and all his glory, surrounded by beauty that we could not even fathom thinks we are beautiful when we tell others how much he loves them!! How much Jesus loves them!! I think it must be  like the feeling a mother has when she sees her husband hold her child for the first time.  My husband, Robby was never more handsome, more sweet, more vulnerable than when He held our babies for the first time... the love in his face changed him forever in my eyes...I wanted to take them in my arms and keep them there forever...I could not take my eyes off of them!  When we tell others about God we are saying God loves you, I love you!... and you know that God has to love that you are loving one of the people He made enough to tell them the most important thing they will ever know.  I so hope that God sees me even for one second the way I say Robby as he held our new babies in his hands. Oh for God to see me as beautiful!! The thought just makes my heart feel like bursting, it brings a smile across my face..that thought truly feels me with joy!

7.26.11

Romans 9:23 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, "I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trust in him (Jesus) will never be disgraced."

My Thoughts

This verse use to would have tripped me up... and the devil would have loved that!... I would have thought that it was unfair for God to place a stumbling block in our way.  But so often we feel like we have faith in God and then something big happens and we forget to turn to God.  We need those stumbling blocks to make us aware that we are not trusting in Jesus so that we can fix our untrust and do better.... God puts the stumbling block in our way for our own good... trusting Jesus is so important for our future.... for our forever that we are better off to stumble now. When God makes us aware that we don't have our trust in Jesus we can fix it.... but if life is going along so perfect that we are not aware we would be so surprised to find out that we had not trusted Jesus at all.  God does not test us to see if we are good or bad... God already knows what we will do.... God test us to make us aware of where we need improvement. 

We all understand as adults that test for children are to let them see what they know... a good teacher hands those test back so the child can learn what they didn't know.   A good student uses that test as a learning tool and finds the right answers so they will know the answers in the future.  The test is to help us learn and improve... to help us be aware of what we have not learned.

Gods test are to help us know where we need to grow... what areas we don't have trust in.  God test us because he wants us to have an A + 100 ... God wants us to learn all that we can so that our life here on earth can be good but most importantly so that we can live with Him in Heaven and experience all that He has to give us!.

7.25.11

2 Chronicles 16:11-13 In the thirty-ninth  year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease.  Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the Lord's help but turned only to his physicians. So he died in the forty-first year of his reign.

My Thoughts

This made me think of how many times we depend on man and leave God out of the equation. We do it with little things and big things... King Asa did it with a disease that would end up killing him!... This verse says because Asa didn't seek God along with his physicians he died. I have often gone to the doctor without prayer ... I should always pray first.  In November of this past year I was praying and the Holy Spirit inside of me told me to call the doctor...I did.... then I even got an appointment that same day even though I said I didn't have to come in any time soon....and after telling the doctor just two of my symptoms, a constant tummy ache, and being really hot all the time, the doctor said I believe it is your gal bladder...that quickly!... He sent me to have test and the very next week I had surgery.  God's hand was in that!  I have no doubt. How sick would I have gotten had I not been seeking after God?  This happened to me...and I know without a doubt it was God... yet I often forget to pray when I know I am sick.  This verse reminds me to seek God in everything! When I head to the doctor I need to make sure that I have invited God to be there with me! When I head anywhere I need to invite God to be there with me!