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.