Praise His name forever!

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My personalized version of Psalm 44:5-8:

Through you, Lord, I push back my enemies; through Your name I trample my foes. I do not trust in my own resources; they do not bring me victory, but You give me victory over my enemies. You put my adversaries to shame. In God I make my boast all day long, and I will praise His name forever!

And from Psalm 34:1-6:

I will extol the Lord at all times.  His praise will always be on my lips.  My soul will boast in the Lord.  Let the afflicted hear and rejoice.  Glorify the Lord with me.  Let us exalt His name together!

“ . . . And that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown,” Linus concluded.

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And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.

“ . . . And that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown,” Linus concluded.

Will we mourn or rejoice?

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Revelation 1:7, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.”

While reading this scripture today, the Lord gave me insight that I hadn’t really had before.  Sure, I’ve always known that His word says Jesus will return “in the clouds” and “every eye will see Him”, but today I noticed the end of the verse, “and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.”

My dear reader, do you know Jesus, or will you be one who mourns at His coming?  You see, once we accept Jesus into our hearts, acknowledging what He did on the cross in payment for our sins, He comes to live inside us by means of His Holy Spirit.  At that point, we are no longer “peoples of the earth” but instead peoples of His spirit.  We will not mourn at His return but will instead rejoice because we will forever be with Him in Heaven for all eternity.

I Corinthians 15:50-54 declares that “…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…”  Peoples of the earth live out life in their flesh and blood.

Let’s break down what John 3:18 says, “Whoever believes in Him (referring to Jesus) is not condemned (this person has eternal life in Heaven with God), but whoever does not believe (the peoples of the earth who reject Him) stands condemned already (this person is condemned because of his own heart and actions) because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only son.”  (We must acknowledge our need of a Savior, accept that Jesus is that Savior, put our life in His hands and live for Him the rest of our days, not living for the things of the world.)

So, which will it be?  Will you mourn or rejoice at His coming?  He is coming back soon and I hope you will be among those who rejoice at His return!

Stickers on my fruit

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Trying to peel off a sticker from my apple this morning, I got to thinking how much I dislike stickers on my fruit!  Then the Lord spoke to me of how often things in my life can be just like those stickers!

Maybe it’s a habit I am trying to break, and maybe it is one that is relentless and just doesn’t want to be broken.  It can be like one of those stubborn stickers that insists on leaving a piece of itself behind on my fruit, which was the case this morning!

Then there are things in my life that seem easier to give up.  God showed me I should let these go and with His help I am able to do it easily.  They are like the stickers that peel off right away and I get to eat the whole fruit without spoiling the section where the sticker was.

While following Jesus is such an awesome experience, and I have such fun serving Him, there are certainly worldly things that He has asked me to give up, such as gossip, complaining, criticizing, grumbling, murmuring.  For sure, I don’t always do everything right.  Oftentimes I slip back into something God has told me to lay down and stop doing, but He is faithful to forgive me when I ask Him, and the Holy Spirit is gentle to remind me that I am doing something He told me not to do and help me stop doing it.

So when I think about the stickers on my fruit, I think about things in my life I’ve been able to peel away and continue on unaffected.  But then I think about things in my life that are a constant struggle to give up and realize they are more like the sticker I was trying to remove this morning, one that insisted on staying on my piece of fruit!  I had to bite off and throw away that spot on the fruit so that I didn’t eat that part of the sticker.  Sometimes God has to remove things in our life that can be painful in order to perfect what remains.  He wants to make us perfect just like Him, and I am certainly still a work in progress.

Thank you Lord that you remove all the stickers in my life, especially the ones that don’t want to let go of my fruit!!

“For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light or the Spirit [consists] in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life.”~Ephesians 5:9

The Power of our Words

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Did you know our words have power?   They do!  What we say can fuel a fire or quench the flames.  We can praise someone’s accomplishments and abilities or tear them down with the words we say.  It is important to think before we speak and offer words that uplift and encourage, not tear down or bring shame.

“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.  Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.”~ Proverbs 12:18-19

Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death…”  Think about that!  Our tongue (what we say) has the power of life and death!!!

We can sow value in someone’s life with good words, but we can take away value with words that sting, wound and tear down.

Also in Proverbs we learn that “a lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.”  ~ verse 28 of Chapter 26

Using our words to lie is probably one of the worst ways to injure others, and eventually ourselves.  Lies always have a way of coming back around to the one who said them.  Lies never do anyone any good.  The devil is the father of lies and he would love nothing more than to trap us into thinking it is okay to tell a lie.

I Peter 3:10 states, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.”  Deceitfulness is a form of lying.  Being deceitful is not being truthful.

Even if we have said something hurtful or harmful to someone else, we can speak life-giving words to restore the damage that was done.  It may take awhile for the other person to accept an apology or forgive an offense, but if we keep sowing kindness into that person’s life, eventually forgiveness and restoration can come.

James Chapter 3 speaks a lot about our words.  We need to depend on God to help us tame our tongues.  The Holy Spirit will guide us and help us not to say things we shouldn’t.  We must, however, listen to His leading and not be too quick to speak without considering our words.

Quote from my pastor who spoke on this topic this morning, “We lack the power to change our words, but with the Holy Spirit’s empowerment we can perfect our speech.”

Let’s look to God and pray Psalm 141:3, “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the the door of my lips.”  He will do it!

Being a Woman of Faith

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After attending the Women of Faith Conference this weekend, I came away with such good information to apply to my life.

I am loved!!!  You are loved!!!!

I need to forgive!!!  You need to forgive!!!  Forgiveness sets us free.

I need to be about God’s business, growing, changing, advancing, going where He is going!

I will define myself by what I find in God’s word, not by anything the world tries to put on me.

The enemy, the devil, comes to steal, kill and destroy but just because he comes doesn’t mean I have let him to steal, kill or destroy anything in my life!!

Quote from Christine Caine, “The devil on his best day didn’t take me out on my worst day!”

Philippians 4:13: I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength.

Matthew West sang about Forgiveness and being A Child of the One True King!  Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!!!

Loving the Lord with our Whole Heart

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Just how do we love the Lord with our whole heart?  The bible says we are to do this, and yet the cares of the world tug and pull on our hearts all the time.  Spouses, children, parents, close friends, all draw from the love in our hearts.  How do we give enough love to all those we care about and still love the Lord with our Whole Heart?

The Amplified bible says it this way in Mark 12:30, “And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength.  This is the first and principal commandment.”

Then the next verse commands us to love our neighbor as ourself.  So how much love can we give out of this whole heart of ours and still give it all to God?

Well, I’d like to think about this as stated in the Amplified version, “out of and with.”  So we love “out of” our heart, and we love “with” our heart.  The bible says that God is love, and when Jesus saves us and sends His Holy Spirit to live within us, His love then becomes part of us.  This then enables us to have enough love to share “out of and with” our hearts, our souls, our minds.  What a mystery and a miracle!  Thank you Jesus!

Anyone care to share any additional thoughts or insights?

Friendship

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A friend is someone who fills our lives with beauty, joy, and grace.

And makes the world we live in a better and happier place.

There is a miracle called friendship, that dwells in the heart. You do not know how it happens or when it gets its start.

But you know the special lift it always brings. You realize that friendship is the world’s most precious gift!

 

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