Blessed be the name of the Lord…

Today has been a day of great struggle for me. Patience has not come easily but, the Lord has been faithful. Though the clouds be heavy and the storm ever weary, Blessed be the name of the Lord!

 

I have read so many great blogs today. Some people might find their blogs unimportant, but they are so useful. It is an opportunity to share things in a personal way that you wouldn’t otherwise feel compelled to do.

I have read about heartache and sadness. At the end of it all though, the Lord has a way to bring each and every one of the people that were affected a sense of hope and a renewal in their love for the Lord. I feel the blessing that may not even be known has been given, and for that I would like to say thank you to everyone that took a leap of faith, and shared their love for the Lord.

Trust in the Lord…

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding

In All your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.

If my path is unclear, I need only to look to this verse and see what is missing. I must not be trusting in the Lord. I must not be leaning on Him. I must not be acknowledging Him in All my ways. Thank you Lord for this clear picture of Your love and care for me.

Recognizing the Signs….

I was reading in Matthew 24 today and I came across several verses that tied together and really came alive for me. I don’t pretend to know when the Lord will come again, but these verses give me comfort.

Matthew 24:15

Therefore when you see the Abomination of Desolation which was spoken through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)

vs. 16    Then those who are in Judea must flee into the mountains.

I just finished reading Revelation a couple of weeks ago so this immediately jumped out at me as the Remnant left of Israel.

vs. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

vs. 29  But immediately after the tribulation of those days, THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, ANDTHE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

vs. 30  And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.

After I read that a couple of verses down vs. 32 stood out and I felt alerted to something new.

vs. 32 Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near;

vs. 33  so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.

I don’t need to wonder or worry or speculate when will He return. First of all I know that He will. Secondly I know that first the SUN MUST BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT AND THE STARS WILL FALL FROM THE SKY. THE SON OF MAN WILL APPEAR IN THE SKY. He will come on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. Amen.

Christ, the Son of the Living God…

In Matthew 16:16 God uses Peter to proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Just 5 verses later, Peter is then rebuked by Jesus.

Matthew 16:21-23

From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.

Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”

But He turned to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s”

One moment Peter is a useful tool in the Lord’s hand and praised by Jesus, and the next he is being rebuked as Satan! How crushing this must have been. In fact, I know just what that feels like as I am sure most Christians know how that feels. How many times have I been blessed with opportunities to serve the Lord and receive His blessing only to let Him down with arrogance, anger or pride a moment later. They are sadly to numerous to count. My next thought is then, what can I do? How can I ever get over this? The answer is in the next verse.

Matthew 16:24-26

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Lord I pray to be a useful and faithful servant in Your Kingdom. Please guide me and bless my soul to take up my cross and follow You.

Trusting in God’s promises…

Why is it that when I am about to begin a sentence it is going to begin with the word “I?”

 

Whenever I think about this blog, I feel so guilty. I cannot think of anything to write about. My bible time with the Lord has been very consistent, and consistently the same. My prayer has been that the Lord, who began a good work in me, is faithful to complete it. I have been saved, by grace through faith, a gift from God. 

There has been a Psalm that my heart clings too most fervently. I decided to have the children memorize it as well and I thank the Lord for such a good idea. Teaching them really does give me an accountability that is so lacking in general.

Psalm 63:1

Oh God, You are my God

Early will I seek You

My soul thirsts for You

My flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

Love Is….

I have been reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and meditating upon these wonderful words of encouragement. Do any of us really know what love is? I find myself saying it all the time, to my husband, my kids, about my favorite things. But when I read this portion of scripture, I feel inadequate, I am woefully coming up short on many of these points.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,

does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

So, now that this is all out in the open for all to see exactly what love is, can it be credited to my account?

I think not. I am rarely patient with my children, rarely kind, I am jealous of what other people look like, I feel prideful often. I often act unbecomingly, not in public of course, only at home. I am too often looking out for myself, after all isn’t society always telling us you have to look out for number 1? When someone points out the truth of a wrong done, do I rejoice? Does my love cover a multitude of sins? Do I believe the best about people, my family? Do I hope and endure all things?

I read this to the kids this morning and we talked about all of the ways that we don’t show love. We talked about how we can and should show and love one another. Love is not just a word, or an emotion, it is an action too.  I hope that I can keep this train of thought close to my heart and remember how Christ came and showed us through His life and death and Resurrection what love is.

The Wages of Sin…

Romans 7:20-23

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

When we are slaves of sin, we are still free in righteousness. Sin will always enslave us, but God’s truth and righteousness are always freedom.

Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.

Even in sin we bear fruit, so what kind of fruit did you have in the things that now bring shame? No matter what the fruit was, the outcome is the same, death.

But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

Paul says earlier in vs. 19 that he is speaking in human terms, which is why he says here that we are enslaved to God. So, now that we are free from sin, we bear a different kind of fruit which results in sanctification and eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are paid for our sin with death. Sin brings no other currency. By God’s grace, He has given us a free gift. Amazing, wonderful eternal life in Christ Jesus! Thank you Lord for saving me, a sinner. Who am I that you are mindful of me? I am Your child, by Your grace, it is a gift from God, that no one should boast. Amen.

The Living Water…

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water…..

My Soul will be satisfied as with the richest  of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 

Psalm 63:1, 5

There are times of abundance and times when I have little. I am talking about spiritual abundance in this case.  The Father gives us those times of hunger and thirst for one reason. How can we lead others to the Living Water if we don’t hunger or thirst for it. O God you are my God. My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you! In this dry and weary land where there is no water, I will ever praise.

Believe in Him…

John 6:25-40

Jesus had just fed the 5,000 with five barley loaves and two fish. The people, Jesus knew, wanted to make Him a king so He withdrew to the mountain by Himself. His disciples started across the sea to Capernaum. When the disciples were three or four miles out in the sea, they saw Jesus walking on water toward them. The disciples were frightened.

vs 20 He said, ” It is I; do not be afraid.”

Jesus got into the boat with them and they arrived safely on the land. The crowds knew that Jesus had not left with the disciples. When the people arrived across the sea in Capernaum, they were all trying to figure out how Jesus had gotten there.

vs 25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

vs 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

vs 27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

vs 28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”

vs 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

The people wanted to see more signs and wonders so that they could believe Him. He tells them He is the bread of life, that whoever believes in Him will never hunger, never thirst. The people were thinking of physical hunger and physical thirst and thought this was a great thing.

vs 40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Heavenly Father, Your patience and love for Your children is everlasting. I await Your return and believe in You, that You will raise me up on the last day. Help me to live according to Your will and good purpose. Amen.

Spiritually Ready…

Luke 21:28

“But when these things take place, straighten up and lift your heads because your redemption is near.”

“These things take place,” what does this mean?

• Luke 21:9  Wars and disturbances take place first.
• Luke 21:10 Nation rise against nation.
• Luke 21:11 Great earthquakes, plagues, famines, terrors and great signs from heaven.

 

Luke 21:12

“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.”

Luke 21:13-15

“It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony.”

“So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves;

“for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.”

The opportunity for a testimony sounds like the Apostles. They were brought before officials and were able to offer up a testimony that no one was able to refute. This was to take place before all of “these thing.”

Luke 21:32-33

“Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass way until all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

God’s word will always remain true and shall never pass away! What a great comfort it is to know that.

We are to be on guard, do not let the entanglements of this world (ie. worries) weigh you down. The trap will be set and will come upon all on the earth. So be ready, be alert, pray for strength and a way of escape.

Am I spiritually ready to go all lengths for my Lord?