Well, today Mike had to work a double shift so I had lots of time to clean. I worked in the craft room today. I love it when things are cleaned up and really love it when I have put every thing in its place. Clutter stifles my creativity and can make me grouchy. I am more creative when I have simplicity around me. Simplicity, I like that word. God has been dealing with me the past few months to simplify my life. It is not hard to understand because He is a God of order. Psalm 37:23 says,
"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delights in his way."
Also in 1 Corinthians 14:33 says,
"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace..."
Peace, another good word, and it is even better when peace reigns in your heart. Walking in the "love of God" keeps peace in our hearts. Peace is a deep knowing that He who has promised is faithful to us always. When we are tempted to walk outside the boundaries of the word, God gives us an escape route. (1 Corinthians 10:13) His word has an answer to every problem we will ever face and His love is unconditional. Jesus said in Luke 11:9-13,
" And I say unto you, Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish give him a serpent?
Or if he ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
If you then, being evil know how yo give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?"
Thank you Lord for faith, hope, love and peace. It sustains me day by day.
I will say of the Lord, He is my hope and my salvation.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Still isn't easy.
Well, I have posted a few times and it isn't any easier to do. As I have said previously, I have notebooks (many, many) full of things I have written. I have Bible notes and sermons, thankful lists, make life better lists, journal writings to my grand-daughters, poetry I have written and other things. It is never a problem to write a few lines. But writing in a blog is not so easy for me to do. For one thing I'm not sure if anything I have to say is interesting to anyone else but me. (maybe that is the key it should be written for me.) Having said that I know that other people will be reading it. My purpose for blogging has been to be an encouragement to others.We all need encouragement and kind words spoken. In Proverbs 25:11 God says,
"A word fitly spoken and in due season is like apples of gold in settings of silver."
Ephesians 4:31 instructs us to,
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you."
And in Proverbs 15:1 King Solomon says,
"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger."
When we pattern our lives after Jesus and walk with Him we can live in love and peace. We all want to be loved and we all want to live our lives in peace. In Him we have it all.
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." (James 1:17-18)
"A word fitly spoken and in due season is like apples of gold in settings of silver."
Ephesians 4:31 instructs us to,
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you."
And in Proverbs 15:1 King Solomon says,
"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger."
When we pattern our lives after Jesus and walk with Him we can live in love and peace. We all want to be loved and we all want to live our lives in peace. In Him we have it all.
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." (James 1:17-18)
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
You can't change anything by worry.
Worry, we all have done it and some of us are better at it than others. There was an article written in Decision magazine once that said "You can't change the past, but you can ruin a perfectly good present by worrying about the future." So what is wrong with worry? Well, it is the opposite of faith. You can't have worry and walk in faith. In Matthew 6:25-34 we read what Jesus says about worry:
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than clothing?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take you thought for clothes? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.
But seek you first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
When we are consistent every day to spend time in God's word and put it in our heart it gets easier not to worry, as we trust Him and in trusting we know that He takes care of us. It doesn't make sense to spend precious time worrying about things that most times never come to pass in our lives.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7---
"Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you."
Also in Matthew 11: 28-30, Jesus says---
"Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Quiet your mind and trust God.
Thank you Lord for your promise of being with us every day of our lives.
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than clothing?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take you thought for clothes? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.
But seek you first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
When we are consistent every day to spend time in God's word and put it in our heart it gets easier not to worry, as we trust Him and in trusting we know that He takes care of us. It doesn't make sense to spend precious time worrying about things that most times never come to pass in our lives.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7---
"Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you."
Also in Matthew 11: 28-30, Jesus says---
"Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Quiet your mind and trust God.
Thank you Lord for your promise of being with us every day of our lives.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Favorite Verses
James called today. It was good to hear from him as it always is. God has been so faithful to him everyday and even though James has suffered many struggles with CVS in the past, he has been faithful to God, always looking to Him to meet his needs. We were talking about our favorite verses from the Bible. My favorites verses are in Romans 8:35-39. Paul says:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerers through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I love these verses. Nothing will separate us from God's love. Also He doesn't just say we are conquerers, but we are more than conquerers...and this should be our confession. Paul says, in Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." God doesn't ask us to do anything that he doesn't give us all the tools we need to get the job done. He doesn't send us out with our own strength but with His strength. We are to be obedient to His word and he performs His word on our behalf. (Isaiah 56:11) "Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might." (Ephesians 6:10) When we follow Him that "knows the beginning to the end" we can say as King David said, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)
Lord, I will frame my world with Your word.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerers through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I love these verses. Nothing will separate us from God's love. Also He doesn't just say we are conquerers, but we are more than conquerers...and this should be our confession. Paul says, in Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." God doesn't ask us to do anything that he doesn't give us all the tools we need to get the job done. He doesn't send us out with our own strength but with His strength. We are to be obedient to His word and he performs His word on our behalf. (Isaiah 56:11) "Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might." (Ephesians 6:10) When we follow Him that "knows the beginning to the end" we can say as King David said, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)
Lord, I will frame my world with Your word.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Choices
"This is the day that the Lord has made, I will be glad and rejoice." (Psalm 118:24)
How do we be glad and rejoice in days ahead that appear to look very bleak? We have recession, unemployment, panic and losses of one kind or another. Well, according to God's word we make a conscious choice every day. "I will" denotes action on our part. Does God say be glad for what you suffer? No, He says be glad in spite of your circumstance. Another scripture says, "The joy of the Lord is my strength." (Nehemiah 8:10) Our joy comes from knowing the One that claims our hearts and he knows what we need every day to walk in victory. We have His Holy Spirit, His love, His mercy, His strength and His peace. As we spend time with Him, trusting that His word to us is true, we receive answers to our prayers.
The Bible says in 1 John 5:13-15---
"These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son Of God that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us:
And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know we have the petitions that we desired of Him. "
How do we know the will of God? His word in the Bible is His perfect will for us. He left nothing out of His plan of Salvation. The word "salvation" is the Greek word soteria (so-tay-ree-ah) and is translated in Strong's Concordance. It's meaning is "rescue, safety, deliver, health and save." At the cross Jesus died for our sins and we became the righteousness of God in Him when we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. He rescued us from darkness and brought us into the glorious light of His gospel. In Him we have spiritual wisdom and knowledge as we renew our mind with His word. The stripes laid upon His back was for our healing; "...and with His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5) He gave us "...all things that pertain to life and godliness." (2 Peter 1:3) It is for us to walk out our faith in Him day by day , being led by the Holy Spirit who teaches us. As we study His word we find that there are many promises and blessings that belong to us and also many nuggets of truth that instruct us how to live in victory every day of our lives in spite of how things look around us.
He is my all.
I AM the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
How do we be glad and rejoice in days ahead that appear to look very bleak? We have recession, unemployment, panic and losses of one kind or another. Well, according to God's word we make a conscious choice every day. "I will" denotes action on our part. Does God say be glad for what you suffer? No, He says be glad in spite of your circumstance. Another scripture says, "The joy of the Lord is my strength." (Nehemiah 8:10) Our joy comes from knowing the One that claims our hearts and he knows what we need every day to walk in victory. We have His Holy Spirit, His love, His mercy, His strength and His peace. As we spend time with Him, trusting that His word to us is true, we receive answers to our prayers.
The Bible says in 1 John 5:13-15---
"These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son Of God that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us:
And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know we have the petitions that we desired of Him. "
How do we know the will of God? His word in the Bible is His perfect will for us. He left nothing out of His plan of Salvation. The word "salvation" is the Greek word soteria (so-tay-ree-ah) and is translated in Strong's Concordance. It's meaning is "rescue, safety, deliver, health and save." At the cross Jesus died for our sins and we became the righteousness of God in Him when we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. He rescued us from darkness and brought us into the glorious light of His gospel. In Him we have spiritual wisdom and knowledge as we renew our mind with His word. The stripes laid upon His back was for our healing; "...and with His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5) He gave us "...all things that pertain to life and godliness." (2 Peter 1:3) It is for us to walk out our faith in Him day by day , being led by the Holy Spirit who teaches us. As we study His word we find that there are many promises and blessings that belong to us and also many nuggets of truth that instruct us how to live in victory every day of our lives in spite of how things look around us.
He is my all.
I AM the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
Friday, December 5, 2008
Official Start
Well...here goes, the official start of my blog. While I never thought I would be blogging I have always loved writing. Give me a notebook and a good pen and I am happy. I thought, "hmmm should I start a blog?" Then I wondered "what would be my purpose?" Then I thought "well how hard could it be?" I write all the time for myself. Then writer's block came and that doesn't happen often. It seems easier to write when I know that no one else will be reading my thoughts but me. I'll see how it goes in the days ahead. Next time...
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