Let’s do the RIGHT THING always, in all ways. Jesus is worth our very best.

Lord Jesus, help us to do the right thing. Give us the courage needed for each and every moment, each and every temptation. Keep us strong and courageous, for You!!

“Rejoice greatly, O daugher of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the horse from Jerusalem;
The battle bow shall be cut off.
He shall speak peace to the nations;
His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea,
And from the River
to the ends of the earth.’

Zechariah 9: 9-10

“He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.” ~ Psalm 72:8

Prophecy about Jesus from the Old Testament was fulfilled in the New Testament:

“The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel!’

Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.‘”  ~ John 12:12-15

Had to share this video. Great perspective.

By Blueprint for Life
April 3, 2013

Listening to some ladies sharing past experiences at our bible study last night opened my eyes to some of the ways churches can bind up people after they accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.  How sad that is!!  Jesus came to set us free, not put us in deeper bondage.  We don’t put off the chains of the old law only to take on chains of a new one!!

Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”~Matthew 5:17 

Only Jesus can fulfill the law of the Old Testament.  We cannot. 

I listened while ladies spoke about rules in their church growing up, how so many of those rules made them feel unworthy of God’s love.  Well, guess what!  We are unworthy!  That is why Jesus came to save us!!  He didn’t come because we deserved it.  He came because we don’t and can’t!

The bible says in Romans 4:7, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered.”

Ephesians 2:8 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith.”  It is by His grace that we can be saved.  All we have to do is put our faith in Him.  We don’t have to be worthy.  We don’t have to deserve it, because actually we cannot.

Oh, praise Jesus!!  We are forgiven!!  Our sins are covered!!  Let us not forget that we now live by grace, His grace showered upon us freely even though we don’t deserve it.

You know, condemning others or even ourselves really just shows our own pride.  If we ever think we could be good enough, we are only fooling ourselves.  Only Jesus is good enough.  Only Jesus is righteous.  Only Jesus can keep the law and fulfill it.

BUT……and this is a BIG BUT…..

He has forgiven us.  He has died to set us free.  All we need to do is put our faith and trust in Him and walk in His righteousness, the wonderful thing He imparts to us.  I marvel at the fact that when God the Father looks down at us, He only sees Jesus!

Do you know Jesus?  Have you put your faith and trust in Him?  If not, do it TODAY!

If you are Catholic, you believe in Jesus, right?  If you are Catholic, you believe in the virgin birth, do you not?  If you are Catholic, you believe in Mary, the mother of Jesus, don’t you?  If you are Catholic, you believe in God the Father, right?  If you are Catholic, you believe in the trinity, God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, correct? 

So if you are a Catholic and you were to die tomorrow, are you certain you are going to heaven?  Well, if you think that simply “being” Catholic will get you into heaven, you are WRONG!!  Simply being a Catholic gives you no better chance of getting into heaven than an atheist or an agnostic.  Do you know why?

The reason why is because there is only ONE WAY to get into heaven, and it really has nothing to do with what church we attend.  That ONE WAY is a person and his name is Jesus, the one you “believe” in! 

You must have a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus to get into heaven.  Simply “believing” is not enough, and just “being” Catholic is not enough either.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No man comes to the Father except by me.” ~ John 14:6

Only Jesus can get us to heaven.  Have you invited Him into your heart?  Have you given your life to Him?  Do you acknowledge Him as Lord of your life?  You can do this TODAY!

I’ve been hearing a lot about forgiveness lately. It’s even been the topic of teaching at my church. What is so important about forgiveness anyway? Is it really necessary? Well, when we read the Word of God, we can see that it is. 

In Matthew 6:14 we read, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”  And in Mark 11:25 we read, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop, in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your own failings and shortcomings and let them drop.”

Consider what I heard one person say, that if Jesus had waited for us to ask for forgiveness, we would never have received it. Hmmm, kind of got me thinking.

Oftentimes we need to forgive others even if they do not ask for forgiveness.  When we do not forgive and instead harbor bitterness or anger in our hearts toward someone, it actually interferes with our relationship with God, hinders our prayers, and blocks our blessings!

Consider what the bible says in Luke 6:37b: “acquit, forgive and release (give up resentment, let it drop), and you will be acquitted and forgiven and released.” (The Amplified Bible) 

These verses tell me that God expects us to forgive, even requires it, and He promises to forgive us when we do.  He states that unless we forgive others, we will not be forgiven by Him.  I don’t know about you but I sure want God to forgive me for the things I’ve done wrong!

I also heard it said that a person who will not forgive does not realize what they themselves have been forgiven of.  The bible says that we are ALL sinners and fall short of the glory of God.  Jesus said in John 14:6 that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no one will get to the Father (in heaven) except by Him.  That means we must put our faith and trust in Him if we ever hope to meet our Father in heaven.  Jesus took our sins upon Himself on the cross in order that we would be forgiven for those sins. 

Have you put your faith and trust in Jesus?  If not, don’t delay.  DO IT TODAY!

We hear so many motivational speakers say that we need to change our thought life. They say we need to speak positive aspirations to ourselves. Speak what we want to happen in our lives as if it already has happened. They say it is vital to our success in life.

But what does the bible have to say about our thought life? My pastor gave a timely message this morning concerning the things we think about. As I listened and took notes, I was inspired to share some of his points with you.

Pastor Steve has been doing a series for several weeks now on “The Pursuit of Happiness” and today’s topic was “Happy People Pursue Good Thinking.”  He went on to talk about thinking good thoughts, referencing Philippians 4:8-9 which says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard of me–put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you.”

That’s a lot of happy stuff there.  I decided to look up definitions for each word: 

True:  Consistent with fact or reality; not false or erroneous; steadfast, loyal, honest, just.
Noble:  Possessing outstanding qualities; of high birth or exalted rank; grand or impressive especially in appearance. 
Right: Righteous, upright, suitable, appropriate, genuine, real.
Pure:  Unmixed with any other matter; being thus and no other; free from moral fault or guilt.
Lovely:  Delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace; eliciting love by moral or ideal worth. 
Admirable:  Deserving the highest esteem.
Excellent:  Superior, eminently good.
Praiseworthy:  Applaudable, commendable, creditable, meritorious, admirable.

One thing Pastor Steve said that really encouraged me was that God wouldn’t tell us to change our thinking if it wasn’t possible to do it.  Even when bad thoughts seem to haunt us, if we replace those thoughts with true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy thoughts, we can surely change them!!  We do this by reading God’s word, filling our minds and hearts with His thoughts.  His thoughts and His ways are higher than ours and we can allow His thoughts from His word to permeate our thinking and drive bad, ugly, untrue thoughts away.

Happiness comes when our thoughts align with His thoughts.

Thanks Pastor Steve!

As 2012 comes to a close and we welcome in 2013, should we spend time reflecting on the good, the bad, the ugly of 2012, or should we look ahead to our future in 2013?  Personally, I prefer to look ahead.

Don’t get me wrong, lots of good things happened in my life in 2012.  God has done some amazing things and I praise and thank Him for each and every one!

But, new beginnings are always so exciting.  It is great to look forward into 2013 with great expectations, enthusiasm and hope.  Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.  I am excited to see what Jesus has in store for me in 2013.

How about you!

It’s Christmas morning and I was reading the account of Jesus’ birth and the beginning of his earthly ministry in the book of Matthew.  As I read chapter 4, verses 21-22, it struck me with the thought of what Zebedee might have felt when his sons dropped everything and followed Jesus. 

Simon Peter and Andrew had just left their fishing nets to follow Jesus, and as they walked along together they saw James and John and Jesus called them to also join Him.

Hear what the word of God says in these verses: “And going on further from there He noticed two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets and putting them right, and He called them.  At once they left the boat and their father and joined Jesus as disciples…”~Amplified version

Notice how the scripture say at once they left the boat and their father.  The scripture doesn’t say they discussed it with their father to ask if he would mind if they left.  It doesn’t indicate whether or not their father approved.  It just says at once they left.

This got me thinking about Zebedee.  Was he distraught that his two sons just up and left to follow this man Jesus?  Was he angry?  Did he call to them as they left, asking what they were doing and why?  Did he question whether or not they cared that they were leaving him with the mess of finishing the work alone?  Or was he happy to see them follow Jesus?  Did he wish them well and thank Jesus for choosing his sons to be disciples?  Did he understand anything about Jesus at all?

Sometimes when we follow Jesus we have to walk away from others in our lives who are not willing to follow Him.  That doesn’t mean we just leave them behind and forget about them. We need to let them know that Jesus is worthy of our worship and our commitment to follow Him no matter what.  We need to tell them what Jesus has done for us and what He can do for them.  We need to show them the love of God, but we also need to be faithful to One who called us NO MATTER WHAT!

Will you be faithful to follow Jesus no matter what?

Heard a co-worker say this recently when excited about something she wanted to happen.  Got me thinking.  Do we only pray when we want or need something, or do we pray just to tell God we love Him, we appreciate Him, we are thankful for all the many blessings He has put in our lives?

Pray, Pray, Pray, Pray….Yes!  But pray about everything: what you want, what you need, even what you already have!  Pray for direction.  Pray for guidance.  Pray a prayer of thanksgiving and a prayer of praise.

Our God is worthy!

1 Thessalonians 5 “¹⁶ Always be joyful. ¹⁷ Never stop praying. ¹⁸ Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”