I decided to start this blog (2010) because my son, John-Robert gave me a One Year Bible for Christmas, the New Living Translation... reading it has changed my life... I post a daily Bible verse on my Facebook page every day and it has been well received... I thought that this would be a wonderful way to share part of what I read each day!... I hope that you enjoy it.



This Year 2012 I am going to do things a little different... not much...just a little. I am again reading through my One Year Bible (for the 3rd time). But I am also using "The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word" by Joyce Meyer. This book is divided by putting scriptures under different categories so they can be used to speak over our life situations. Each day I will read a category of scripture and pick a scripture in that category to write about.



Hugs

Jeannie







Friday, November 30, 2012

11.30.12

1 John 1:5-7 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is on darkness in him at all.  So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.  But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 
 
My Thoughts
I was pondering this trying to find a way to put it into my mind in a way that I could understand it.
 
Let me put my ending at the front...then I will tell you how I got to my ending.   But the ending that is what we have to understand. 
 
God is not saying show me you love me!!!! Prove it!!!! He is saying please don't be fooled ... if you actions don't show that you love me there is something missing. Find out what is missing ... I don't want to loose you to the darkness. God is not saying prove it to me!! God is saying look at yourself and if your actions don't show that you love me ... you are in trouble... I want you to recognize that!! I love you!! I want you to be safe. Please take time and get to know Me so you can love me!! When you love Me I can save you!!!
 
Here is how I got there... here is my beginning.....
 
 
When we fall in love, really fall in love with someone we want to be with them all the time!!  All the time. If we have to stay up late to just  hear their voice on the phone after they get off work, we say up late!  If we have to get up before sunrise because they want to take us to see the sunrise with them we do!!  We hang on their every word.  We ask them questions.  If we don't like to read but they want us to read their favorite book...we at least try!  If we find out that they love how we look in blue all of the sudden everything we buy new to ware has blue in it.  If we could find a book written about their life we would read it to feel close to them in their absence.  If they write us a love letter we read it over and over and over.  We can't get enough of someone when we fall in love.  We want to be in their presence!! If we ran into them in the mall we would not hide from them we would run to them, excited to see them! We do all we can to love them and please them.
 
When we walk in light we are walking with God.  When we choose to do wrong we are hidden from God, we are in darkness.   We have a book about God that tells us all we need to know.. it even has love letters in it to us about how much God loves us.  It tells us what we can do to be more beautiful to God.  It tells us what pleases God and what displeases God.  It tells us just how much God loves us.  When we love God we should want to pick up His book and know everything we can about Him. God is always with us. When we love God we are aware of His presence and we use that opportunity to talk to Him and to listen when He talks to us.  When we truly love God we want to please Him..and we learn how to do that by learning all we can about His wonderful light, about His wonderful love for us. 
 
When we love others it shows in what we do.  When we love God it shows in what we do. 
 
Has there ever been somebody in your family that you loved because you were suppose to?  But if you had a choice you would never choose that person to spend time with?  Do you really love them... or do you say you love them because that is what others expect of you?  Do you even know them enough to really love them??  Or are they just there and  you speak to them on Holidays?
 
I did that for so long...I loved God because I was suppose to.  I didn't know God enough to love God.  I didn't know God enough to truly know how much He loves me.  I had a book about Him in my house and never really picked it up to find out all that I could about God.  I loved God because I didn't want to go to Hell.  I didn't know God enough to truly love God.  I look back now and it scares me! It saddens my heart to think that I treated God that way!!  I ignored somebody that loves me so much until I needed Him... then I expected Him to really love me back.  I expected God to really love me, to love me with His actions when I only loved Him with my words.  When I did that I was hiding away in such darkness. 
 
I learned to really love God when I took time to really know God.  And each day as I read, and each day as I read more I love God more and more.  The more I love God the more I want to know and the better I want to be.  God met me where I was and took my hand and fed me little bits here...and little bits there and watched me grow.  God is so gracious that way.. He knows it takes a while to take it all in ... in fact He tells us in His word that he will be working on what he started in  us until the day of Jesus' return. He helps us grow... we just have to show Him that we want to... we have to make the effort to get to know God ... when we do He will step in and help us know Him more and more and more. When we fall in love with God... we just can't get enough of Him!! 
 
For so long I had myself fooled!  I thought I loved God. Now I can see His changes in me.. now I want to know more and more and more. My actions show that my love for God is real. My actions are not for the world they are for me to see... for me to know. 
 
God is not saying show me you love me!!!! Prove it!!!!  He is saying please don't be fooled ... if you actions don't show that you love me there is something missing.  Find out what is missing ... I don't want to loose you  to the darkness.   God is not saying prove it to me!!  God is saying look at yourself and if your actions don't show that you love me ... you are in trouble... I want you to recognize that!!  I love you!!  I want you to be safe. Please take time and get to know Me so you can love me!!  When you love Me I can save you!!! 
 
 

Thursday, November 29, 2012

11.29.12

Daniel 6:4-5 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn't find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy.  So they concluded, "Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion."
 
My Thoughts
Daniel loved God!!  Daniel did what God asked him to do.  Daniel followed God's commands which lead him to live a blameless life.  People who were jealous of Daniel could find no fault in Daniel at all.  Did that make Daniel's life perfectly easy? No... he even got thrown to the lions because people tricked the king.... but God watched over Daniel because Daniel loved God. 
 
Because Daniel loved God and did what God ask He was put in important places by two kings. Because Daniel loved God, God gave Daniel wisdom every time he needed it.  Because Daniel loved God he was protected even from the mouth of a hungry lion. 
 
When we love God and do what God ask of us... we can been seen like Daniel was seen... faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy.  God will give us wisdom when we need it.  And God will protect us even from lions, human or animal!  Will we go through hardships, sure we will! We live on this earth!!  Daniel went through hardships.  But God protected Daniel and God will protect us too! 
 
I once worked with a lady who lived like Daniel. Nobody ever heard her talk about about anyone.  She never complained, even when her day was obviously hard. She loved God and we all knew it by the way she lived.  She was quiet and worked hard always.  Nobody ever, ever said a harsh word about that woman, ever!  There was no way to blame her for anything, nobody would have even tired.  And she never had to go home and worry about her words, or her actions, or if she did a good job.  If a storm had come through that building I am sure that if everything else had been destroyed, if she had been there working next to her is where you would have wanted to be standing.  Because God would have protected her from the storm as surly as God protected Daniel from the lion. 
 
Daniel was protected by God, because Daniel choose to live under the wings of God by doing what God ask of him.  What we have to learn to do is do what God ask of us...then God will do the rest. God will provide us with all we need. If we love God and do what He ask, He will provide us food when we need it, warm clothes when we need them, wisdom when we need it and if we need it God will even protect us from hungry lions, if the form of man or beast.  The choice to live under the wings of God is ours!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

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?   

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

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!! 
 
 

Monday, November 26, 2012

11.26.12

1 Peter 5:10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus.  So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.
 
My Thoughts
First God does not send suffering down on us... we live in this world and  Satin has reign over this world. But God has reign over us when we are His children.  God has reign over Satin.  God's word just believed and spoken has reign over Satin himself.   God just gives us the choice whether we want to love Him or not.  So here we are living in this world where some people make the choice not to love God. And things happen...sometimes we are caught in the crossfire of those happenings.  
 
The wonderful thing is that God loves to show off His love for us...and when we stand strong in Him through hard times, when we love God and depend on God in the mist of our suffering.. God get to show off to all the people that saw us stand strong in Him by restoring us... supporting us... strengthening us and placing us on a firm foundation.
 
James, Jesus' earthly brother... a man who knew Jesus from the day he was born tells in in Chapter 1:2-4 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. Here James tells us that each time we suffer and trust God through the suffering we grow stronger and stronger and strong.  Each time we suffer and endure it is like building up the cement under our feet.  We just keep getting a little closer to heaven. 
 
It is much like that donkey that fell in the well.. the farmer had no way to get him out so he decided to bury him.  The farmer kept pouring buckets of dirt down on the donkey... the donkey would shake off that dirt and stomp around... over and over the farmer would pour the dirt on the donkey....and the donkey would shake off the dirt and stomp it down... eventually the dirt that was suppose to bury the donkey rose him to the top of the well and the donkey was free. 
 
When we believe in God, in Jesus.. we are like that farmer and that donkey... Satin may throw suffering and hard times on us to bury us so deep we can't call out...but when we use God's word, when we call out to God and depend on Him.. God puts Satin under our feet growing that cement stronger and higher and taller... and one day Satin will look and see that we have reached the glory of heaven.  While all along the way God keeps restoring us, and supporting us and making us stronger. 
 
In the mist of our suffering and struggles, even when it seems so hard... we can smile and say, "Devil, you are not getting me this time!!  My God is greater, my God is stronger and my God is higher!  In the end I will be restored.. with only a little suffering I will be stronger! God's victory is going to shine!"   What a wonderful promise!! 
 
 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

1 Peter 3: 13-15 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it.  So don't worry or be afraid of their threats, Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.  But do this in a gentle and respectful way.  Keep your conscience clear.  Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, if is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, then to suffer for doing wrong.
 
My Thoughts
 
I am proof of how dangerous it is to to be preachy to people instead of gentley explaining to them the wonderful love of God.  There was a time in my life when I was trying to be a Christian... I was going to chruch..but was not really happy at that church. It was a time when I was being pulled by the world to just do what everybody was doing ... or I could choose to do what was right.  It was a time when I wanted to do what was right but didn't understand how God would help me do right, it was not all up to me.  A time when I wanted to love God because I was suppose to, but didn't understand God enough to really love Him. I didn't understand how much He really loves me.  Then a few things happened to me by well meaning people...those people pushed me over on the wrong side of the fence... those Christians made me feel like such a sinner that it didn't matter anyway.  Instead of drawing me in so that God could love me into doing better, they  push me completely away. 
 
In a short period of time I had several things happen, when I needed love the most. This was all right before I found out that I was sick and I was really tired and in a bad place.  We had missed Sunday School several weeks in a row and actually had a Sunday School teacher stand up and talk bad about people that didn't come to church every time the doors were open...the next time we missed I was embarrassed to go back.  I was told by a customer at work one day when I was in tears that if I loved God I would not feel like I did that day.  At the time I loved God the best I knew how.. instead of telling me how to better discover God's love for me...she attacked me because I was having a bad day. I know how to love God now and I understand how much God loves me.. but I still have bad days sometimes where I cry.. God helps me get over them!!  And one time I was somewhere where every sentence out of my mouth was attacked with scripture with how I was wrong... I was never allowed to finish my thoughts ... they had no idea where my thoughts were going...they were just eager too tell me where I was wrong.  All these people were well meaning, I look now and see that they were...but they pushed me away!  At that time I also worked under a person that would be so mean to people one minute...customers and employees alike and then talk about God and offer to pray with you the next. Her words spoke of God's love, her actions were not loving at all.  I didn't go to church for a very long time.  I didn't become an awful person...but I did sin more than I would have if somebody would have loved me and showed me how to know that God loved me.  Somewhere they missed this scripture.  "But do it gently and in a respectful way." These people put me in a place where I thought, "Why try? I can't do it right anyway."
 
Guess what... God found me anyway. Through my son, God put my One Year Bible in my hand...and I begin to read and understand. Then He put me in the presence of Godly women that understood that God meets us where we are.  They understood that God grows us from where we are...and if we are in Church some,  if we are loved enough we will come more!  They understood that God's love should show all the time. They didn't attack me with scripture...they lovingly got to know me and showed me scripture that would help me.  They hug me up and check on me when I have bad days. They remind me of the scriptures about how much God loves me... they tell me the scriptures that will make me stronger and encourage me to repeat them over and over...they pray with me and for me.  They taught me how to pray.
 
Today I hardly miss church... God met me where I was and has brought me so much further... I am learning every day and growing. I know how much God loves me... I love God back because I feel His love not because I am suppose to!!  I was not dragged across the fence kicking and screaming.. or being pushed off of it to the wrong side... people took my hand and gentle walked me into the wonderful light of God. 
 
As a Christian I want to love people ... I never, every want to push them away. I want to gently tell them my story of how much God changed my life. I want to hold their hand and hug them up and say it will be ok, because God loves you so much. I want to always remember that those people in the worst way were victims of so many of the sins of the world and they desperately need to be loved. They don't need to be told how wrong their lives are, they know that!  They need to be told that God cares so much and that He loves them.. and that His love is so amazing that it can change all things. That God's loves does make life better.  I never want to forget this scripture that says live right and when people ask tell them about Me in a gently and respectful way. 
 
These verses say, "If someone ask you about your Christian hope".. We need to live in a way that people see God's love as HOPE... our words need to show that this is HOPE.  We need never to make a person walk away feeling like living for God is a hopeless things.
 
Our lives are the best teacher of God's love. Our lives are the best example of God's love. Our actions can be the first example of God love that somebody sees.  Our God is such a loving, loving God that that should show in our words and our deeds.  Our lives and our words should always make a person feel hopeful that their lives can be better!!

Friday, November 23, 2012

11.23.12

1 Peter 2:1 So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deciet, hypocricy, jealousy and all unkind speech.
 
My Thoughts
Get rid of all evil behavior..we know that that is sin. We recognize those sins so perfectly spelled out like adultery, murder, greed. I find it interesting that after we are told here to get rid of all evil behavior...that deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy and all unkind speech was also listed... listed separately by name.  I believe it is because we often do these things without realizing we are doing them.  They seem to "just happen." Then we notice we have been guilty. 
 
I looked up the definition of deceit and it says,  the act or practice of deceiving... deceiving is defined as cause to believe something is not true, typically to gain an advantage.  We deceive people when we do not correct their belief of us, when we know they are seeing us in a different light.  Half truths are deceiving.  Often we deceive ourselves about ourselves. Often we tell a half truth about our self by leaving parts out.  We must be very careful of this!!
 
Hypocrisy is defined as ... The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness. Oh my... how often do we do this?  I thought of how much I love God... how much I love His word...yet when I do something contrary to God word that is hypocrisy.  When we claim to love God and His word and we gossip we are committing hypocrisy.  We must be very careful of this. 
 
Jealousy is defined as ... the state of being jealous. Jealous is defined as ....Feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages. I think we all have these moments!!  We often think we are not jealous.... but then we want to be as thin as someone... or we wish we had somebody else's sense of style... or we wish for somebodies creative ability... or their education and the advantages that it brings.  I think jealousy is dangerous on so many levels.  The thing is God gave us each our own unique abilities... abilities He intended for us.. we can be jealous of others or we can educate ourselves on what we are good at and get better...and we can be thankful to God for what He has given us. When we are jealous of others we are saying to God that He made a mistake in what He did for us. When we are jealous it is, probably the biggest form of ungratefulness we could express.
 
And then there is that last part...all unkind speech. It does not say unkind speech that is not true.. it says ALL unkind speech. So even when people do things we don't like .. or that we feel is wrong and we talk about it to others and it is unkind. If it is putting them in an unkind likeness or is unkind in any way...any way, we are not suppose to do it.  Even if it is a problem for us and it paints somebody in an unkind light it is unkind speech and it is wrong.  My mom and I talked about this one time. We were trying to figure out how to talk about our problems with people without talking about a person.  We decided that if I had a problem at work with someone... if I told her about it but didn't give her a name then when she came into where I worked she would not have a bad feeling about any of the people before she herself formed her own opinion.  In James it talks about our tongue and the power it has and how hard it is to control.  But we are still expected to control it.. we are expected at the very least to make a good and honest effort to do so!!  The Bible tells us we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us... so we can do this too...oh but it will take  us much effort and much prayer. 
 
I think these 4 things are listed by name separately from all other evil because they so often seem to "just happen." And since they do we have to be very aware of each of them by name so we can recognize when we are letting these evils take over ...once we are aware we can, at least stop ourselves in the middle of them happening.  Once we learn to stop ourselves half way through... then maybe we will stop a forth of the way through...then one day we will stop ourselves even before we get started.  If we ever find ourselves saying, "I know I shouldn't be saying this but..." our next words should be "I shouldn't be saying it so I won't."

Thursday, November 22, 2012

11.22.12

1 Peter 1:6-7 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even thought you have to endure many trials for a little while.  These trials will show that your faith is genuine.  It is being tested as fire test and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
 
My Thoughts
I use to think, "Why would God test you? That seems mean!" Then one day God dropped that answer right in my heart in a way that I could understand it!!  First we live in this world...there will be trials all the time. The devil is always after us..if he can't tempt us to sin, he will send things on us that are hard. The devil will do anything to weaken our faith.  Anything... He will not stop he wants to draw us away from God.  What he wants to do is take one of God's prized possessions (us) away from God. 
 
When God test us it is to prepare us for things we might face in the future... it is to show us where our faith is weak so that we can grow it by depending on Him. So that we can see that He is there for us in every situation.  Here is how God showed me ... my mom was a teacher so I could understand this. A teacher knows before he/she passes out a test which students are going to make A's and which students will fail. The poor students feel like they are being "tested." The good students take a test and learn from it. All those students that make A's if they miss questions they are the ones who get out their text book, or ask the teacher what the right answer is.  They use the test to learn what they don't know and they learn from it. 
 
God knows all... He knows our actions before we take them!!  He knows, even more than the teacher knows, how we are going to react to His test.  He gives us these test where WE will know where our faith is weak. When we know that we can look back and say to ourselves, "Why didn't I depend on God from the start of this situation?" or "God what can I do next time so that I will not fall in that trap?' or "God I really messed up, what do I need to know and understand so that I won't make this wrong choice again."  God does all this because He loves us so much and He wants us to be prepared to depend on Him, to make Biblical choices when the devil attacks.  God does this out of so much love for us...so that we will be ready!!  He is not testing us so to play games with us.. He is showing us where we need to grow. 
 
We are all going to face hard times... we live in this world.  We may be the generations that are going to face the end of time and if we are we need to be really prepared! God wants to make sure that we are prepared to depend on Him when hard times come. 
 
Recently in another country two young missionaries were put to death for believing in God.  They were strong enough to love God out loud until the very end.  And when their lives were over they didn't face the fiery pits of hell...God was waiting at the gate for them to shower them with wonderful things... to show them how much He loved them and how proud He was of them for being able to stand strong.  They lived in this world, so they faced things of this world. Just like we will.  God prepared them for all they would face to be strong enough to keep believing in Him so they could live forever in Heaven.  I wonder what test they learned from along the way? 
 
Several months back I watched a You Tube video where the man that wrote 23 Minutes in Hell spoke.  He spoke with graphic detail about what hell was like. He believe that God sent Him there in a vision because we needed to know that there is a hell.  It was an real eye opener for me.  It made me realize that anything that God allowed to happen to me that made me call out to Him is out of pure love for me.. for my life.
 
God is love, love at it's purest form. All love comes straight from God. He would never harm us! Everything that He does for us he does out of the purest of love.  James said in Chapter 1 of the Book of James 2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.   Wow... when we are fully developed will will be perfect and complete needing nothing... God loves us to much that He wants to grow us to the point where we need nothing... where we depend on Him to supply all our needs... and when we do.. He will supply all our needs and our joy will be complete!!
 
Can you imagine complete Joy??!!!  Wow!!  Think of those moments in your live where your Joy was overflowing... complete joy will be so much bigger than that!!  That is what God wants for us!!
 
 

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

11.21.12

Psalm 119:1-5 Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord. Joyful are those who obey the laws and search for him with all their hearts.  They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths. You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully.  Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees!
 
My Thoughts
Joy is defined as the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.
 
So many of us walk around miserable and wonder why.  I did...I had all I have now but was somehow missing joy. The appearance of my life has not changed much at all. But the appearance of my face has!!  I have always loved and been very proud of my children...I have always had a very special husband...but I was missing joy!!  I asked Jesus into my heart at 9... I dedicated my life to God over and over...but somehow I missed out on knowing God and on understanding how doing what He ask me to do could change my life.  I don't know where the disconnect was all that time.
 
I was never totally miserable... well some days I was... and I had moments of great joy.  But now I can feel great joy in the mist of my biggest problems and my deepest sorrows.  Each day when I pick up my Bible and read it...and then pick a verse to write about, to truly ponder to explore and think about... to get into my brain enough to change something about my life... each day that I do that my joy grows!!!  I look back at me 3 years ago before I started this journey and look at me now and marvel at how much my life has changed. I marvel at the joy I feel...I am amazed at how much it saddens me to think that I might have disappointed God.  Then I am amazed when He forgives me and whispers to me through the Holy Spirit inside me how to do it better next time.  I am amazed that God loves me so much that He will help me get better at doing what He ask of me.... and that He gives me such joy for my effort!  After I look back and see how I have grown....I look so forward to the joy I will feel in three more  years... you won't be able to hold my feet on the ground!!
 
Joy it is ours for the taking!!  All we have to do is follow God's law...not try and twist it and change it to fit into the world...but to follow it as God would have us to...then joy just falls down from heaven... it we could see it I imagine it would look much like glitter falling.. it would shine and sparkle and stick to us... everywhere and then it would be under our feet so we could walk on it too. 
 

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

11.20.12

Proverbs 28:2 To reject the law is to praise the wicked; to obey the law is to fight them.
 
My Thoughts
To me this says that every choice we make send praise... we are either sending praises to God and fighting evil or we are sending praises to the devil and rejecting good.  We like to believe it is not as black and white as all of that...but this verse tells us different.  My MawMaw..oh I loved my MawMaw.. lived in a time where they saw things as good or bad, black or white. There was no grey! Today we make everything so grey...so perfectly in the middle grey that life is actually much harder. When things were black and white everything was pretty much cut and dry. It was okay to do if if feel under good.. not okay if it fell under bad.  Now we go about making decisions that seem okay, that are okay to society and live with the guilt afterwards, we live with the confusion of living in the grey. If TV says that is is okay, we think it must be. Oh OHHHHHH how much trouble that could get us into!!  To my grandmother a lie was a lie... now we tend to think a white lie is ok... isn't the term white lie an oxymoron? If you mixed white and lie together to make a color wouldn't it be grey? 
 
I think that grey color draws us in... we step into that part that is more white than black and we feel safe.... then before we know it the light grey we are standing in looks white... so we thing we can step into a darker grey. The grey pulls us in... is it the top of the darkness where the light still touches...but it is still the darkness... the darkness... just a drop of it changes things. 
 
In James it tells us that if we are a friend of the world we are and enemy of God.  Living in the grey is living in the world.  We carefully put the "big sins" in the area of BLACK...and we often put the "little sins" in the area of grey.  But here it tells us that if reject the law... if we reject what God ask us to do we are praising evil.  So in turn if we choose to follow God's way we are praising God.  When we choose God we are fighting against all evil!! 
 
Every action we take is us choosing good or choosing evil.... mixing the two up is choosing evil. My MawMaw was right, it is black and white there is no middle. When I put it in the context of God seeing my actions as praise.... when He looks down on me I want Him to see me praising only Him. 
 
Dear God, today I am deciding not to live in the grey... I want to live in your light, in your bright white light. I want only to praise you. If you see me failing please whisper in my heart so that I can see that I am walking in muddy water.  Help me see the black from the white in all the decisions that I make.  In Jesus precious name, Amen

Monday, November 19, 2012

11.19.12

Proverbs 28:2 When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily.  But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability.
 
My Thoughts
My mind today just kept going back to this verse!!  I kept trying to find a different to ponder...but I kept being led right back here.  We want to blame our leaders for the failures or our nation... but the first line in this verse tells  us that we can't. It says "When there is moral rot within a nation its government topples easily."  Our nation is not failing because of our President, nor is it failing because of our Congress or House.  It is failing because of the moral rot of the people. 
 
It is a lot like this... TV has gotten worse and worse over the years... much less moral... we blame TV...but if we didn't watch the immoral things on TV they would not be there.....If we boycotted the companies that advertise on TV shows that families should not watch we would see a change in TV. But we out of the "need" to be entertained watch the best that is on instead of refusing to watch at all if nothing with moral value is on.  We have the ability to change TV...we just don't take a stand..we don't come together... we don't work for the good of all.
 
If we the people would live moral lives, doing what the Bible says. The government would know by our actions that  they could not get by with passing immoral legislation.  The power the Government has it given to it by the people... if we would once again become a moral nation... we would once again have a moral Government.  If we the people would not stand for it... our government could not act in an immoral way. If they  did the would loose their power and less face it so many of them are in office because they crave power.  If it took being of moral character to have power they would be of moral character. 
 
We can go around being separated from each other and we can't keep playing the blame game.  The devil has us just where he wants us when we do that!!  We have to take responsibility for ourselves ... for our actions... for our families.  We have to choose to make the right choices, to live Godly lives!  Just as TV represents our world today... so does our Government.  Congress can't find a meeting place, a common ground because they are selfish and want their own way... We the people often make the wrong choices for the same reason, we are shellfish and want our own way!! 
 
If we want our government to quit overspending we have to become individual people that do not overspend.  If we want our government to be accountable for their actions we have to take accountability for our actions.  If we want the government to work hard...we have to be people that are willing to work hard.  If we want to expect our government to pay off their loans, we have to be a nation of people that pay off their own personal loans.  If we want a government that prays we have to be people that pray!! 
 
So often we feel like their is noting we can do... oh but we are powerful, our lives matter, our actions matter. When we change our government will change right along with us.  When we become people that stand up and say "This is not acceptable!" At home, at the soccer field, at dance lessons, at work.  Then we will see change in our government.  When we become Godly, moral people, God will make sure that our government becomes a Godly, moral government. 
 
 

Saturday, November 17, 2012

11.17.12

Psalm 116:3-6 Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me.  I saw only trouble and sorrow.  Then I called on the name of the Lord; "Please, Lord, save me!" How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours! The Lord protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and he saved me.
 
My Thoughts
I love this.. this psalmist was at his worse... he was in a place where he was over taken by trouble and sorrow.. he was terrified. Then he called out to God and God saved him.  It is a simple as that... God cares for us, He loves us so much.. we can't get so low that God can't reach us.  We can get so low and so lost that God can't save us...we just have to call out to Him!

Friday, November 16, 2012

11.16.12

Proverbs 27:21 Fire test the purity of silver and gold but a person is tested by being praised.
 
My Thoughts
There was so much I read today that I would think, "I am going to write my thoughts about this verse!" My One Year Bible is set up with some Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms then some verses from Proverbs.  Some of what I read in the New Testament this morning went so well with something I read in the Old Testament and I thought oh I so need to ponder this.  That is what I am doing when I write about a verse, I am pondering it for me ... a chance to figure out just how it applies to my every day life.  Then I came to this verse!!!  Oh how I needed to ponder this verse!!
 
A person is tested by being praised!!  Oh how I can get caught up in praise,  I think we all can!! But the more we are praised the more we can feel a bit puffed up about what we can do!!  Sometimes forgetting that God had His hand in our ability. I know this when I stop to think about it... but so often in the middle of praise I completely forget the God part and I begin to get all puffed up!!  If there was a cartoon picture drawn of me where all my impurities come to the surface in blisters, I could look like a balloon about to take off. 
 
I love to knit on looms and needles. I love to crochet and I even spin yarn on a spinning wheel occasionally...oh and I can weave on these wonderful looms my husband, Robby built me. I spend a lot of time studying about all of this!  I learned to really study what I am interested in from a book called A Woman After God's Own Heart (thank you Susan Glove Strahan!) It was just a small part of the book but it said to make yourself fat files about 5 things you are interested in.  I have 3, maybe 4 if you break down knitting and crocheting into two files.  They are more files in my head...but I am learning all I can.  I was so horrible when I first started...oh those first gifts I gave!!  Those poor people that had to smile and say thank you.  But then I begin to pray about my knitting... I would hold my loom in my hand and say, "God please help me be good at this!"  And He did, I grow better and better all the time...He helps me to retain what I learn...and He has enable me to truly understand how the stitches work so that I am not just doing them...but I am able to apply this knowledge to things I want to design myself.  I have so far to go...but I have come really far in a short period of time.  Because I asked God.  This verse reminded me that I have not done that as much lately... I was getting a bit puffed up with me and what I could do!  I was forgetting to ask and more importantly forgetting to tell God thank you each time I made something or learned something new!!  Praise was showing my impurities!!
 
Today when I knit or crochet I will say my prayers, I will ask for knowledge and the ability to understand what I learn.  I will say, "Thank you God for all that you have given me...thank you God for the ability to understand and apply."  Today I will print this verse on a card and put it on my frig so I will not forget that it isn't me.. it is God working within me!!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

11.15.12

Proverbs 27:20 Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.
 
My Thoughts
WOW!  WOW! We are always going to want...want, want, want, want, want!!  Always!!  We don't even need the media to tell us what to want...if there were no media we will still going to want something that we don't have.  Being aware of this is so very important!! So often we think we will make time for God "after." After we get the thing we are working for.  But, there is always going to be a new thing to work for, to want and if we don't make time for God in the mist of our wants we will never make time for God... because this verse tells us that our human desire is never satisfied.  We are going to "want" right up until Christ comes back for us... so if we don't make time in the mist of our desires there won't be time.
 
So today when we think we should pray, or we think we should take time to read God's word, or we think we should call a friend in need .. we don't need to decide to do it "after." We need to do it now...because we are never, ever going to be finished chasing our desires.   
 
Did I say WOW!?
 
 

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

11.14.12

Psalm 121:1&7 Praise the Lord! How joyful are those who fear (extreme reverence or awe) the Lord and delight in obeying his commands. They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust in the Lord to care for them.
 
My Thoughts
I love this...the more I know God... the more  I am aware that it is God who is taking care of me... the more I am able, when bad news comes, to say, "Ok God I know that you are bigger than this!"  I use to have anxiety all the time... sometimes it would be constant for days even weeks on end.  My mother had it... all her brothers and sisters had it... I thought that I was just destined to live that way. At times  when my anxiety was at it worse, when it was a constant, when something new and scary would happen my body reacted with panic.  If you have never had a panic attack it is hard to put it into words...but they are awful and can come on you so suddenly.  They are much like those scenes in horror movies where the room seems to rush up on you all of the sudden and then your heart starts beating really hard and really fast and you feel like you can't move. I heard it described this way once that it was like being locked in a dark closet and somebody screaming fire and you can't get out.  Anyway the  more I learned to trust God the more my fear went away.  I have a wonderfully sweet husband... who was sweet from the start and still is... he takes wonderful care of me..but even he with all his love and care could not make those attacks go away. But God did.  The more I knew God and the more I trusted God the better and better that got.  It was slow at first at first the panic went away...then the anxiety got less and less and less. My anxiety could start over the smallest thing...now those little things...well they are just that little things that happen and don't change anything about my life. Before something small could make me so afraid that I was useless to anybody... the devil had me right where he wanted me... all he had to do was say boo! And I was useless! I gave him so much power by not trusting in God. 
 
Now I rarely have an anxiety attack and it has been a long time since I had a panic attack.  Even when big things happen!  Every once in a while I begin to feel a little anxious... it was such a way of life before that it can sometimes take me a few hours to realize what is happening...when I do I use God's word and I tell the devil... God is with me, God loves cares about me, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, God knows the numbers of hairs on my head, God cares about my needs and even the desires of my heart! Then I begin to praise God and thank God...and all that anxiety goes away. I feel it, that peace that passes all understanding settling over me.. so real that I can feel it start at my head and move down into my body to the bottom of my feet.
 
The Bible tells us to constantly renew our minds in Romans 12:2. I have learned that reading God's word each day keeps me in a good place.  It reminds me that God loves me and is in control when I let Him be.  God does not want me to have fear and anxiety..and when I give my all to God I don't have fear and anxiety. Each day I trust God with more of me and each day my life gets better.  I am so thankful to be in a place where I understand this verse!!  And I see it's fruits in my life!!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

11.13.12

Hebrews 11:23 It was by faith that Moses' parents hid him for three months when he was born.  The saw that God had given them an unusual child, and that they were not afraid to disobey the king's command.
 
My Thoughts
I love this! Moses' parents defied a king to honor God. Look what happened!  Not only did Moses live...but his mom got to be his nurse, she got to raise him... he had his mom to love him and he had all the treasures of being a prince...then, then he became a great man, a great leader... all because his parents had faith!!  Oh the stories his mom must have told him when he was old enough...and oh how those stories of faith must have molded him and shaped him to be a man of faith himself!! 
 
This story tells me at least two things... that when we honor God the blessing that He sends down on us for honoring him are far more than we can imagine. Those stories of faith in our own lives need to be passed down to our children and grandchildren to grow their faith. We need to stay aware and notice God and what He does in our lives...we need to remember what He does for us and share it with our children and grandchildren so their faith can grow strong.  We need to remember so our faith will stay strong.  Oh and yes...these stories of old...we need to read them over and over again until we understand their importance so that they will grow our faith.
 
The faith of Moses' parents did so much... it set them free, it set their whole family free, it set their friends free... it set a nation of people free... it put in motion so many of the great miracles of God, years before they happened that teach us even today how mighty our God is! It saved their son, it gave a mother back  her child. We never know how important our acts of faith may become!

Monday, November 12, 2012

11.12.12

Hebrews 11:1-2 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in the days of old earned a good reputation.
 
My Thoughts
All it takes for our faith to start growing is having just a little of it to begin with. Then we need to make sure and pay attention. As things start to happen in our lives through our faith, our faith grows. The more times that I stop and pray, "God, I am putting this in your hands, I know you will take care of it." And He does, and I stop at take time to notice that it was God the stronger my faith is the next time and the faster I put my problems and situations in God's hands.
 
Just think how much faith the priest and prophets of old had to have to tell kings and nations of people the things that were about to happen to them!! So often the news they were taking would have gotten them killed if God had not been their protector!!  Then God would do what he promised, promises he sent down through the prophets and priest. The people would learn to believe the words of the prophets and priest.  God made sure that they had a good reputation. 
 
When I stop and think about the people I know with good reputations I realize that they are the godly people I know.  And one thing I know about those people is that they have such faith in God!!  Their faith comes from knowing God and His word so much that they know what to believe in. They know God's voice in their hearts. They know God's word enough not to be deceived by Satin. These are the special people I can go to for advice and trust that advice.
 
Our faith produces so much... the more our faith grows the more gives we are able to receive from God.  God cares about every part of our lives and the more parts we give over to Him in faith the more He is able to do for us...and in the end He even makes sure that we have a good reputation!! 

Sunday, November 11, 2012

11.11.12

Hebrews 10:25 Let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.
 
My Thoughts
The harder life gets...the busier life gets.. the more stressful life gets...the more important it is to meet with our brothers and sister in Christ so that we can keep each other strong.  So we can build others up and they can build us up.  So that we have the opportunity to feel God's love through others that love God.  When wee take time to meet together to honor God, God honors that time. 
 
There is strength in numbers.. energy produces energy... love produces love when we spend time in the presence of God with others that love God in us grows stronger.  We need to build our strength in the hardest times...for the hardest time.  And we need each other to build that strength strong!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Hebrews 10:1-2 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves.  The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.  If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
 
My Thoughts
Oh wow... I love this.. just love it!!!  Jesus is the new law... He died once and cleansed us from all of our sins, every single one of them!! And look at this part, it is so important, "their feelings of guilt would have disappeared."  God does not want us to feel guilty!!  Did you hear that??? It is so important, I will repeat it again... God does not want us to feel guilty!!!   In verse 12 of this same chapter it says this "Then He says, 'I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.'"
 
Our part is to go to God when we mess up, and say (and mean it!), "Please forgive me I have sinned, I have messed up."  Then we are suppose to move forward and do our best to do better.
 
What I have come to understand is that guilt comes for Satin... he loves to make us feel guilty. When we feel guilty we act in all sorts of ways... some of them hurt us and some of them hurt others.  Guilt can make us withdraw from the world, or react in anger. Guilt can keep us from people we love.  When I wallered in guilt I become completely useless, I get filled with anxiety and become immobile completely incapable of doing me or anybody else any good at all.  That is not from God... guilt is not from God.
 
When God sent Jesus, Jesus removed our sins and our guilt.  God convicts us.. to remind us that we are about to do wrong or that we are doing wrong..but as soon as we confess God forgives us and never again remembers our sins or lawless deeds!!  God, Himself says, "I will never again remember their sins or lawless deeds." If God does not remember what we did wrong, God can not make us feel guilt for our past wrongs. 
 
When Satin comes along and tries to use guilt to keep stopped in our tracks  he does it so we can't do good. Or he uses guilt to make us act out in anger... or make us think only of ourselves.  All we have to do is use God word to send him on his evil way!!  We can say that God does not remember my sin!!  God has forgiven me...I am right with God!!  Those very words can work wonders over our lives.
 
After my mother died I was feeling guilty one day, thinking there was so much more I could have done for her.  Right there in that moment God dropped this into my heart, "When you waste time worrying about the things you didn't know how to do you can't become the person you are meant to be." 
 
We are suppose to learn and grow in wisdom... moving forward all the time.... doing our best to be better and better at being a child of the most high God. God knows that we have to grow!!  Lets not waste time in guilt.... lets not accept that burden that the devil himself places on us and accept that wonderful love and forgiveness that God give us, so that we can become the people that God intends for us to be!!

Friday, November 9, 2012

11.9.12

Psalm 107:4-9 Some wandered in the wilderness, lost and homeless. Hungry and thirsty, they nearly died. "Lord, help!" they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.  He led them straight to safety, to a city where they could live. Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.  For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
 
My Thoughts
God takes us from our darkest places and puts us in safety! No matter where our dark places are God hears us when we put our faith and trust in Him.  When we go from bad to good it is God!  Let us always remember to praise Him!  God does not just satisfy and feed us when we are hungry...He does it with good things!!!!  How sweet is that!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

11.8.12

Ezekiel 19:30-32 Therefore, I will judge each of you, O people of Israel, according to your actions, says the Sovereign Lord. Repent, and turn from your sins. Don't let them destroy! Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Israel? I don't want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!
 
My Thoughts
Look.. God says right here "I don't want you to die!!" God even puts the Holy Spirit inside of us to direct us to do good, to prompt us, to remind us to help us know what is good and what isn't.  God gives us every opportunity and He even sent Jesus to die for all the times we mess up. God loves us so much and He WANTS US to live forever in a beautiful heaven with Him.  It is so important to understand that no matter what we have done God wants us and loves us. All He ask is that we turn in His direction, that we move toward Him by doing out best to do the right things...and doing our best to get better and better and better at doing what is right. I loved when I finally "got it" that God didn't love me because I was good.... He wanted me to be good because He loves me!!! He loves us all!!
 

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

11.7.12

Proverbs 27:7 A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes good to the hungry.
 
My Thoughts
When we are hungry for Godly wisdom, for God's word and all that it teaches us even the hard parts come across as blessings. We can see the love of God shinning through all parts.  But when we our minds and hearts get too full of worldly things even the grandest promises of God will not matter to us. 
 
God's goal is to get us to heaven to live with Him where we are protected from evil totally 100 percent protected... a place where He can shower us with a love that we can not even comprehend here on earth.  God wants to keep us from the pain and darkness of hell.. from the demons and the fire.   If we can love Him surrounded by wonderful things then we get to be blessed by wonderful things here on earth.  But if we let "things" fill us so full that we refuse God's sweetness God puts us in a place where we can see His face. Not because He doesn't love us... but because he loves us so much and knows how important it is for us to seek His face and turn from the devil.
 
It is like a child that will not stay out of the road.  We don't want to punish then... we don't want to spank them.... we want to just be able to say.. you can stay out and play if you will stay out of the road....but if punishment is what it takes to keep them from loosing their life then that punishment is an act of great love even tho it is hard, so hard to do.  A good parent does it anyway, for the sake of the child, because they love that child so much.   God does not want us to loose our lives to darkness to death, to the fires of hell.  If He can tell us to stay out of the road while we play on our swing set then we get to play... but if he has to take everything away to keep us safe it is worth it. Because in the end He will give us so much more than time on a swing set. 
 
We need to stay hungry for God so hungry that even the bitter is easy to swallow... so hungry that we understand that sometimes God has to do things to get our attention... so hungry that when God does do something to get our attention that we look up into the heavens and say God thank you for loving me so much!!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

11.6.12

Proverbs 27:4 Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous.
 
My Thoughts
I am reminded of James 4:2 where it says,  "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."
 
I have read James several times...trying to get it deep into me.... where it becomes a part of me.  Verse 4:2 I read over quickly I wasn't killing anybody or waging ware...I was not picking fights.  Then one day I read it and thought about how when we want what others have... or even the things we see on TV.  When we are jealous that somebody might have something we don't have we kill our joy!  We kill our peace! We kill our ability to even stop and think of others!  Anger we can see, wrath usually passes quickly...but jealousy slithers around and catches us off guard.
 
If  you stop and think about it jealousy is the cause of so much... anger and wrath are more often the result of something...but jealousy is the cause of so much.  Jealousy can cause anger and wrath... jealousy is like a thief.  Think about it jealousy can actually rob us of all of the fruits of the spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. Jealousy takes away all of these!! Every one!! 
 
We should never, ever, ever let our wants rob us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control.  When we feel our wants taking away any of the fruits of the Spirit in our lives it needs to remind us that we have crossed over into jealousy, then we need to remember that jealousy is even worse than anger or wrath and stop it in it's tracks.
 
 

Monday, November 5, 2012

11.5.12

Psalm 105:37-38 The Lord brought his people out of Egypt, loaded with silver and gold; and not one among the tribes of Israel even stumbled.  Egypt was glad when they were gone, for they feared them greatly.
 
My Thoughts
When I read this verse I thought, "Look what happens when God is on your side!" They not only left the captivity of slavery...they left with treasures. They were bogged down with treasures!!  Look it even tells us that no one among the tribes of Israel even stumbled.  God gave them the strength they needed.  And, and, their enemies feared them greatly.
 
What does this tell us about our lives?... about today?  It tells us that if we keep our eye on God...if we love God with all our hearts that when He needs to rescue us He will, when He needs to protect us, He will. It tells us that when we stand with God against our enemies will will not only walk away, we will walk away with a prize!! 
 
God loves us so much! He does not want to see us hurt or hurting. He has so much He wants to give us.  When we choose to walk with God, to love God, to spend time with God. We get the extra blessing of living under the protection of the Almighty!!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

11.4.12

Proverbs 27:1 Don't brag about tomorrow, since you don't know what the day will bring.
 
My Thoughts
In James 4:13-16 it says that boasting about tomorrow and all that we are going to do is evil.  We are also told that in Matthew 6:34 not to worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has enough troubles of it's own.  Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has plans for us, plans for our future plans to prosper us, good plans not evil plans. Plans for a future and plans that will give us hope.
 
We don't know what tomorrow brings for us... but God does!  He loves us! He wants us to live in this day, today and take it all in. When we worry and plan for tomorrow we miss so much that today has for us!  We need to live wisely like there will be a tomorrow but beyond that we are to do our best today! We are to love God like there will not be a tomorrow! 
 
One Wednesday night at Church we were talking about not sinning and the question was asked if we could go without sinning. In John 3:11 Jesus tells the woman at the well to "Go forth and sin no more." He doesn't tell her to go forth and try not to sin, He tells her to sin no more. He would not tell her to do something that is impossible.  I thought about this for a long time and I thought "For one day I could not sin...but not for a lifetime."  How much better could we be at not sinning, at all, if we lived one day at a time?  If we didn't think about tomorrow and left it in God's hands?
 
So often when I feel overwhelmed it is when I am thinking way to far ahead. Those thoughts of I will never get this done by this time or that time.  Oh, how am I going to accomplish all of that? In 24 hours there is only so much that I can do.  If I plan just for today I won't get bogged down with worry and I can do so much more!  If tomorrow comes to mind I need to ask myself only this question, "Is there anything that I can do today that will make that easier?" If the answer is no I need to focus on just today... if the answer is yes then I need to focus on just what I can do today.  As hard as a bad day can sometimes be we can get through one day at a time.  Just think how much easier it would be to get through if we don't put all of our tomorrows on our shoulders.. if we just leave those tomorrows in God's hands. 
 
God is always telling us how to make our lives easier, better.  Living in today seems to be pretty important. Living in today will make every day of our lives better. God has only our best interest in his heart. He says today is important all by itself.  We don't know what tomorrow brings for us. God does know what tomorrow brings for us ... we are so much more protected when we leave it all in His hands!
 
I so needed this reminder!

 

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Hebrews 5:7 While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God.
 
My Thoughts
I looked up the meaning of reverence... here is how it was defined....
1.
a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.
2.
the outward manifestation of this feeling: to pay reverence.
3.
a gesture indicative of deep respect; an obeisance, bow, or curtsy.
 
To revere someone we need to feel it and show it in our actions.  If we feel it we will be in constant contact with God throughout our day.  We show it by our actions...by doing what God would have us do.  By asking ourselves before we act, "Would this please God?"
 
God heard Jesus' prayers because Jesus had a deep reverence for God.  Have you ever felt your prayers were only getting as high as the ceiling?  I have!  It is not because God is not willing to hear.. it is because we have failed to show God our reverence for Him. 
 
We don't have to be perfect!  God sent Jesus because we are so far from perfect.  But we do have to love God. Truly love God not just say we do.  We have to believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose again on the third day.  Then we show God we love Him by spending time with Him, always learning. Then we put what we have learned into action. 
 
This verse doens't say God heard Jesus because Jesus was Jesus... or because Jesus was perfect...it says that God heard Jesus because Jesus had a deep reverence for God.  If we look back at David and his life... God listend to the prayers of David and David was far from perfect. But, David always, always revered God.  God heard David's prayers.
 
If we think God is not hearing our prayers we need to stop and ask ourselves, "Have I show God how much I love him? Have I given God the reverence He so deserves?"

Friday, November 2, 2012

11.2.12

Ezekiel 3:17-19   (God said) "Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, warn people immediately.  If I warn the wicked, saying, 'You are under the penalty of death,' but you fail to deliver the waring, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths.  If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins.  But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me.
 
My Thoughts
We went to a church one time that hired a new preacher.  They hired him because he spoke God's word clearly and powerfully, but with love. Then not long after he arrived, just a few months he preached a few weeks on those everyday sins...those sins the people in our church were doing.  People started with-holding their tithes and ran this man of God off.  They didn't like what he had to say so they ran him off.  It was a very sad time to me... it really hurt my heart.
 
We should never get angry when we don't like what our pastors are preaching...if we do we need to stop and look honestly at ourselves and ask, "Is that something I need to be working on?" When we silence our pastors because we don't like what they say.. we put our own lives in danger. 
 
Have we really learned anything if when we go to church we hear about not murdering, committing adultery, stealing?  You know those big sins that most all of us see as sins.  Our pastors are doing us a favor when they preach on gossip, over spending, tithing, selfishness.  It is the job of our pastors to tell his congregation what they are doing wrong, the sins they are committing. When he does that he does it out of love for us... he is condemning our sins not our persons. He is loving us not judging us!!
 
God did not send angles down to be our pastors, he put people in that roll. People who mess up... who sin... who find themselves doing the very things they are called to preach about. People who understand what it is to mess up.  We should not get angry at these men/women.  We should love them for loving us enough to risk the wrath of our anger. Anger that comes from knowing somebody is right about us when we don't want them to be. 
 
Next time your pastor says something that make you squirm in your seat..don't get angry and refuse to come to church for a few weeks...we only hurt ourselves when we do that. Instead we need to shake his hand or hug his neck and thank him for loving us so much!!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

11.1.12

Hebrews 3:16-19
And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn't it the people who sinned, whose corpse lay in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when He took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn't it the people who disobeyed him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter His rest.

My Thoughts

Here is what I have learned. I can't believe what I don't know.... and it is up to me to learn it! For so long the only part I truly knew was that Jesus died for my sins and if I believed in Him and asked Him into my heart I could go to heaven. I heard that part, I knew that part, I believed that part... I wanted to believe that I would go to heaven. But because I didn't know all the other wonderful things God could and would do for me... I was not able to be a part of all of that. Not being able to be a part of the peace of God made me question if I, me, Jeannie was really going to heaven. What I didn't know...I couldn't believe in...what I didn't believe in I couldn’t get.
There are so many, many "if's" and "then's" in the Bible. God tells us all the time, "If you do this, I will then give you this." The better I get at the doing...the more of the treasures I receive. Don’t get me wrong...I can't work my way into heaven...to get to heaven I have to believe in Jesus, ask forgiveness of my sins, and ask Jesus to come into my heart. I can't work my way into heaven...that is a gift from God, it is God's grace giving me what I could never earn. But there are so many, many other gifts of salvation. Once you learn what they are and you do the "if's," "then" get start reaping all the rewards that God loves to shower down.
God's rest comes from giving God control of my life. Learning to say, "Here I am God." The more I give God my thoughts, my words, my feet, my hands, my heart, my thanks‘, my praise. The more rest I feel because I know that God has my life in His hands and He is going to provide all my needs!! And on top of that He cares about the desires of my heart and He will give those to me if they are good for me.
There is a couple at my church, Terry and Dot Lewis. They love the Lord so much... He needed a lung to live, they believed! They believed that God would provide. He would make Terry's lungs better or make sure he had a new lung. They never gave up...they always had such peace. Terry got sicker and sicker and they still believed, they showed such peaces and rest. This week Terry got his new lung...and is doing wonderful. His progress after his transplant is amazing. When they took him back to do surgery they realized that Terry was closer to deaths door than even the doctors knew. Terry was in his final hours of life. If he had not believed and if he had not rested in God Terry may have used up that energy that kept him going, but Terry and Dot knew that God's plan was a good plan...they kept believing. Today Terry has a new lung. Dot and Terry knew God's promises and they believed.
If we what all that God has for us... we have to believe in God and His promises.... to believe in those promises we have to know them and understand what they are. "If we take the time to learn and believe "then" we get to have all the blessings of God.
Each day I know more... each day I believe more... each day my life gets better and better... each day I am more rested because more and more and more of my hope ... more and more of my life I place in God's hands.
If you want that kind of rest I beg of you to find a Bible that you can understand and start reading it... If you want to know.. all you have to do is pick up your Bible and tell God you want to understand and each day you will understand a little more and a little more and a little more.. Then one day you when you wake up for your sleep you will feel that smile on your face and that peace in your heart that only comes from trusting in God. It is amazing!!