Grace?

But he gives more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. James 4:6

A short passage in James 4, that has a large word in it. Grace. God knows that we are going to mess up at times. But he has an antidote for that called Grace.

I did not feel any grace coming from the leaders of the church during the time that I was there.

But thank God, at least I had it from the One whose opinion of me was much different than what I was given.

My goodness, if they felt I was out of line and needed to change, they hadn't even handled it right. Mathew 18:15-20 gives the details on how situations in the church should be handled if a member sins. Instead, they went straight to putting this situation before the whole church. 

No grace there, believe me. 

You may think I sound bitter. I probably was back in the day. I am no longer bitter. But I did come to it, that they, like I, were human and they made mistakes as everybody does. 

I did not know their hearts. I can only know mine as much as I can. 

Actually, in looking back, that experience taught me a lot. And I am a better person for it.

God gives grace to all that love him. Are we so great that we need not give it out to those around us, as well?

I think not.

I want to stand before him one day, and receive his gift of grace in full. But, I must practice it, here.

Thanks for coming by, Friends. God bless your

day!

!

Judgment or Mercy?

 

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs overS judgment.  Romans 2:12-13

If anything during those months that I spent attending this church, I felt no mercy or freedom. Understand, that at the time I was studying the book of Romans, I was trying to apply it to my own life. It was the leaders in the church that had not bothered to get with me to try to understand what I was living through at the time. I was not "growing" at a fast enough pace for them, and it was during the sermon that had put me down, that told me that. And it had really hurt at the time. Because I had been trying hard to grasp their beliefs as much as I could.

We are sometimes so quick to run to judgment with people when we ourselves have no idea what we might do in the same situation. There is a passage in Mathew that helps remind us, that we need to remember what else God says about it.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in your own eye? Mathew 7:1-3

In other words, you might say, " We get what we give." And, "Who gives us the right to judge others when we don't know or understand especially, what they might be going through?"

Judgment and mercy. Which do we want for ourselves when we stand before a Holy God? I would hope we would truly want mercy. But if we don't practice it during our lives here on earth, we will probably not see much of it when that time comes. 

I don't know where the leaders of this church are now. Have they learned the difference and do they practice it with the people they know and deal with? Are they even still leaders in a church? As for as myself, I learned something about it during these days that I spent with God and I do try to practice it in my life. I can only judge my own attitudes. I don't always do a great job. But I try. Even if I have to ask God's forgiveness many times for the judgment I render towards someone. 

Thanks for stopping by today, Friends. I suggest to you that when you feel like you are judging the actions of someone, you stop and ask God what you can do to give them the mercy they really deserve. He loves them as he does you. 

God bless,

Judging Others

  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. Romans 2:1

The following website explains what this passage means better than I can, so please go there if you want more info about it.    I am going to copy a portion of it here for you, that is meaningful to me. 

What does Romans 2:1 mean?

Paul now seems to read the minds of these self-appointed "judges." He says to them—to all of us, really—that they are not the one with the gavel. You, "oh man," are the one on trial. And we are all guilty. How can this be? Paul says it plainly, "You do the same things." In addition to participating in some of the sins Paul lists in Romans 1, these judges also practice the sin of hypocrisy in their judgment of other guilty people.

Judged? I felt judged in this church. From pretty much the beginning. Why? Because at the time, I had four children ages 1-10, an alcoholic husband, and I wore glasses.

Wore glasses? What?

This church did not believe in doctors of any kind. Even if you broke a leg. Honestly, one boy did from another city. I am not sure if the parents did deny him medical help, but I digress because I do not know. What I do know is that the church leaders taught against it. How do you deny medical treatment for children that are sick. They even had home births. So you may imagine that wearing glasses was quite taboo as well. I tried hard to believe the way they taught. But honestly, I needed glasses because I was born with an eye disease and it has continued to deteriorate over the years even up to now. 

I did not ask pity for it, just understanding. Which I never got. Because one thing that made me leave that church eventually was the fact that after I had not stopped wearing glasses after close two years into my attending there, I was called out in a sermon about it. Oh, not by name. But I knew who it was about, and it had been very embarrassing. 

Judging others? Paul had it right back in his day. I had felt very judged. But that wasn't just meant for his day, but ours as well. 

Those people, or at least some of them, had no idea what my home life was like at that time. And it was not very good. (To be fair, I think that a few did have empathy for my situation. Those that didn't feel they were not so perfect, that they got to know me a bit even though they were probably encouraged not to get too close.)

Judging others is something that I try very hard not to do. I admit I am not a perfect person, and believe me I do know it. But I do know what it is like to be made a spectacle of someone elses judgment, even if I was not called out by name. I didn't like it and so I work on that all these years later, so that I don't do the same to those that aren't doing what I think they should.

Thanks for coming today, Friends. Have a blessed day!

Called of Jesus Christ

 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: Romans 1:6

Today I am going back a bit in Romans chapter 1, to pick up the first few scriptures.

The apostle Paul had once been killing the Christians of the early church until the day came that he met Jesus and his life forever changed. He then took on the title, of being an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Because he had become a Christian, he received grace and that title for his obedience and faith in Jesus Christ. 

And in verse 6, he had been called of Jesus Christ. 

But what was he called to? He was called in to the service of God, to preach the gospel of Christ instead of killing them, now he was preaching to them.

Thinking on that part of the scripture, I wondered. Was I called of Jesus Christ?

I had accepted him when I was 8 years old. Did he have a calling for me even back then? Could that church I was going to take that away from me? 

I didn't know, because, at that time, I hadn't really understood that I had really been brainwashed to a degree and it would take weeks to understand that the answers to those questions were yes, and no. Yes, he had a calling for me, and no, the church could not take away my salvation. 

To add to that, even though it hadn't been a part of that study at the time, I would like to say that as Christians, we are preordained to our calling from the beginning of time. Not from the beginning of our lives, but way before even that.  Consider this scripture:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, Ephesians 1:5-6

He knew us BEFORE the world even began! How is that possible? I don't know. It is one of the mysteries of God that maybe someday we will get to know when we are in heaven. Until then, I am just satisfied that he knew me, and called me even before my life began eons later!

However, reading these verses was not convincing on that day years ago, because of what I had learned at that church. It would take much more of the Holy Spirit's teaching to break through my thick hard brain. 

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. bless your day

 

Nothing And No One Will Separate Us From The Love Of God!

 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 conquerors 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. Romans 8:35-39

Sadly, in today's world, there are so many children and even adults who have not or are not knowing the love of a father in the home. Those that have and do are very blessed.

The father that we can always count on is our Heavenly Father,  So what does he do for those that love him?

Well let's see:

He is the one that created us: Isaiah 64:8

And He is also the giver of life through his Son Christ Jesus:  1 Peter 1:3-5

He is the Father of Lights, who comes down to give us every good gifts: James 1:7

He never changes: James 1:7

He strengthens us, and delivers us: Colossians 1:11-14

He is our teacher: Psalm 25:5

He provides for us: Mathew 6:26-30

He is our Peace: Thessalonians 1:2

God is everything we need in the life we have on earth, to make it to him on high. Things in the world are sometimes bad. They are sad, crazy, and even dark. But if we keep our minds on the Light, and stay focused on Him, we can have perfect peace. Isiah 26:3

The problem is, it is not an easy thing to do. But God knows we are human, and are imperfect. That is why he is also our helper. Psalm 54:4.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. In the next post, I will get bac to the book of Romans. Have a peacefully blessed day! 

"I Will Remember My Covenant"

 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:  I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” Genesis 9:11-16

Our daughter had returned home from Oregon this week and so yesterday my husband and I happened to be in her city for another reason and after that, we had stopped at her house to pick her up to go to our home for a visit. Later that late afternoon, a storm had rolled in and was still going on while we took her home. After dropping her off and heading towards home, we saw this huge and beautiful rainbow off to the side of the highway. It made me remember the story in the Bible about how God had destroyed the earth by flood because the people had become increasingly evil and were doing really bad things. He had Noah build an ark because God had been pleased with this man who He had found to be faithful to Him. As a result, Noah, his family, and many animals were saved on the ark as He destroyed the earth by flood,  to restart the world when the rains were finally stopped.  

As I watched that rainbow for miles, it had been amazing to think of a God who had loved us so much that he would promise never to destroy the world again with flood and at this very time, God too was seeing it from his place in the heavens and remembering that everlasting covenant that he had made to Noah so many thousands of years ago.

It also reminded me of the promises he has made me, not only over the years of my life but specifically, of the ones that brought us to a new state to live in not so long ago. Not knowing how the impossible was going to turn into the possible, and where we would land when we got here. But it all had, and It has all been because of God and the promises He had made us! 

He has never forgotten the promise he had made to Noah and we too can remember it and those he has made to us, as we gaze upon the beautiful handiwork of a loving God, who always keeps his promises.

Thanks for coming by, Friends. My God bless you today!

"He hated her and he hates me"

 I read a story this morning about a man whose mother had been abused by his father, and at a very early age, when coming home from school one day, people were gathered in his yard. His parents both lay on the floor of his house, dead.

His mother had loved God and she had passed that love on to her young son. But when he had learned she was dead, his faith took such a dip that he stopped loving God, and though he went on to grow up, work hard and do well for himself, he took the credit for his own life. God was no longer a part of it. 

Until one day, an old man told him some things that suddenly made some sense. 

But that day, as he thought on the man's words as they made their way into his heart, something happened that gave him a bit of a pause.

Did he just witness a miracle from God? Was the old man an angel?

You be the judge. His story can be found here if you would like to read it and decide for yourself:  Full-Service Saviour – A Inspirational Short Story by Jamie Smith – Reedsy Prompts

All I can tell you is what the bible has to say about some things that we experience but do not understand and that is this:

Angels are real

and

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. 

And so I can only conclude that no matter if this story is real or not, it can be believable. God can use any manner he chooses to bring someone to him. Even you and me. Because even though his father hated his mom and himself, his heavenly Father loved him!

Have a blessed day, Friends. Thanks for coming!

Lead Me to the Rock

 

To have real peace in our lives, we first have to have the kind of foundation to receive it. And only that comes by having a real relationship with the Rock. That is with Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we get what the world has because they don't want or understand that through Jesus, their peace can be soooo much greater.

I mean let’s face it. Who really wants this religious stuff.? This stuff that wants to deny and take away our fun? What kind of nuts want that? Who wants their fairy tale existence?

As for me and my house, we will serve ourselves. Right?

WRONG!!!!!

AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!!!!! JOSHUA 24:15

Let Jesus lead us to the Rock and real peace,. The kind of peace

that the world will never have apart from God, but the kind we can have when he

leads us to him.

 

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Have a blessed day!

but

Count It All Joy...

 

 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; (...James 1:2)

Are you facing any trials or temptations today?

I myself am not. But that doesn't mean that I won't be at some point today. After all, where I am, it is only going on 8 a.m. It is still early. But notice that Paul does not end that verse at 2. Check out verses 3 &4.

knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

We go through the trials and temptations we do for a reason. Sometimes when we don't understand why. If we don't go through them, how can we expect our faith to grow? 

We do not like them, do not want them. And generally would not ask for them. But we need them to see the work of Jesus come alive in us. 

I truly hope you aren't facing some trial in your life today. And maybe you aren't, but before the day is over, you and I could be. But when our next one comes, no matter when that is, will we get through it better people because of it, or maybe cursing God because we blame him for it.? 

The first step is to be joyful. Knowing God is doing a work in us.

It's up to us.

Hello, Friends. I am back on track. Thanks for coming! I do apolgize for not getting here to at least post a scripture. But thank you for being patient with me. Til next time...

God Bless!

I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel...Rom.1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to first the Jew and then also to the Greek. Romans 1:16

If I had to say what my favorite book of the bible is, I would have to say that it is truly the book of Romans. And the reason why is that I read it at a very crucial time in my life when I had been questioning my own salvation and wasn't sure if I would end up in hell because I had left a church that I felt had been preaching a very extreme gospel.

It is with that in mind that I would like to share with you some of my very favorite verses in that book, that helped pull me out of that fearful mindset and put me on a whole new path of love for my Savior Jesus Christ.

I was raised in a Baptist Christian home. My first experience with God was at age 8 when one night after church, my father led me to the Lord. I was very receptive to this and even though didn't  understand the ways of God throughout most of my life, the bottom line was I  really did want to please him. Even when I wasn't.

In the late 70s my sister got hooked in with a group in Ohio that were following the teachings of then Hobart Freeman of Indiana. They had home bible studies and also one of his approved teachers would come down from northern Ohio to teach on Sundays and Wednesdays. (By the way, he started as a Baptist, and eventually got out of that and started his own beliefs)

I won't go through what they taught. At least not today. I might have done that in some of my other posts if you care to check. (it's been a while since I wrote about those experiences)

But, it was in this organization where I got off into a place I would come to regret. 

In the meantime, my sister and her family moved to Florida with some of their friends, to 'start their own bible studies' under this man.

Sadly, the whole thing came between my sister and our parents and messed all of us up to a degree. Our parents did not agree and thought the teachings were too far off the grid of truth. In fact, my dad called it a ' borderline cult." And my sister came to the belief that being called a Baptist just wasn't pliable anymore for her. Its teachings just were not enough and all of the rest of our family better start believing the way that she came to believe. She tried to push it on whoever she could as much as she could.

I myself was a part of it for probably going on two years. Long enough that when I finally tried to leave, I really was scared that if I left, I may go to hell when I died. It took several months to get my mind straightened out and it was because I finally decided that I wanted to do my own study in the bible to learn what I did believe.

And I believe it was at that point, the Holy Spirit led me into the book of Romans which I read through and studied each morning after my family had left home for the day.

Romans 1:16 became a very favorite scripture to me because what I was to learn was that I would return to almost all of the teaching I had grown up with within the Baptist Church. For me, it represents the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, I believe there are other denominations that have born-again Christians in them that teach Jesus. And there are many that don't. But, for me, I chose to identify with the Baptists. And unlike my sister that became ashamed of what she had grown up with, and decided it was no longer good enough for her, I returned to it by the end of my study which took me a month of study incidentally. 

I identify with the apostle Paul that was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God to those of us that believe, no matter who we are. And as long as we believe it, we do not have to be ashamed of who we are in Christ. 

And that is why Romans 1:16 is one of my favorite verses in the bible.

❤❤❤

Thanks for coming by today friends.

I hope this post makes sense today. I hope you will have patience with me as I go through this book. Have a blessed day.

Imagine What God Could Do

 

Thought for today:

If the Christian Church would put the words above into action, imagine what God could do!

For with God, nothing is impossible

Luke 1:37

Thanks f0r stopping by today, Friends

May God bless!

Stealing God's Pen

 

I found this today on Pinterest and wanted to share it with you because sometimes its true, we try to steal God's pen, to write our own stories. Or change them. We all have done it. And until we learn not to, we cannot experience the fullness of joy that he promises.

You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore

Psalm 16:11

It was David that penned that and if anyone knew what it was like to live or not live in the fullness of God's joy, it was him. And so do we. Why would we  want to go our own way when we can say as David said in verse one of that same passage, "...You are my Lord; I have no good, apart from you." 

We mess up everyday if we are honest with ourselves. But as I said yesterday, God keeps that door open for us to communicate with him.

Because he loves us.

Thanks for coming by, Friends. 

God Bless!

Open Door Policy

 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sup with him and he with me. Revelation 3:20

In my childhood home, there hung a  picture much like the one that I have posted here. Jesus standing at the door knocking on the door asking to come in. The door represents our hearts or perhaps our lives. And you will notice that the door has no knob to get in. It must be opened from the inside by its occupants.

In thinking this morning about this scripture, it made me think of the phrase 'open door policy.'. What is an open door policy, anyway? Actually, it goes back to 1899-1900 which called for the protection of equal privileges for all countries trading with China and for the support of Chinese territorial  and adminisrive integrity according to Open Door policy | Purpose, Meaning, Significance, & Facts | Britannica

However, I also found out that it can also mean that companies that have this policy indicates to its employees that the door to its supervisors and managers office is open to address complaints, questions, comments, suggestions and like wise to encourage open communication the employees may have. 

Relating the definition of the one used today as communication between employers and employees and that picture of Jesus standing and knocking on the door, the two are similar, if we think about it.

Jesus has his own open door policy in that he wants to communicate with those that love him and opened the door to let him in. And that is why he taught us to pray. We can ask for forgiveness, pray for God's guidance, pray for others, receive healing, let our requests be known, and yes, air our grievances to God. 

God wants us to always be able communicate with us, but first we have to open the door and invite him in because he won't push his way in to insist on what we don't want. 

An employer can be of help, of course. But in the grand theme of things, who better than to have an open door policy with than with the God of heaven, and his Son Jesus Christ.

There is none under heaven by which we can fully communicate! Any time of the day or hour, his door is open!

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Have a blessed day!

Follow the Heart or the Head

 

I happened to hear someone say this morning on the tv that someone she had been talking about, "should follow her heart". 

We have all heard that in our lives. To follow our hearts. But is that always true?

Over the July 4th week, I have just spent several days with a friend who has done that most of her life. And her life so far as the men in her life, has really been well...not so great. In fact, she could probably teach a class to young women on what not to do so far as male relationships.

She had just informed me that the man she just broke up with was the same one she had been with for the past nine years, but whom she had told me I don't know how many times, that she had broken  up with. I had not heard any more about him for the past couple years so I thought she no longer was with him. Until this past week. She just did not want tell me she was, probably because she knew what I would have to say about it. 

There are too many problems with him. Beginning with the fact, that he is not a Christian. The bible says we should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers because when we are, we as the righteous come together with those that are unrighteous. 2 Corinthians 6:14 

That in it self is asking for trouble. And just by listening to what she had to say about him all those times, he was trouble. Yet, every time they broke up, she would always take him back. 

The bible also says: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Jer.17:9

The thing is, it doesn't matter whether we follow our hearts or our heads. Because either can mislead us.

So what are we to do? How can we know what to do in the important things in our lives?

The answer for Christians really isn't all that hard to answer if we apply God's word to our lives.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraided not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5

That day last week when my friend admitted to me that she was still with this man but had again broken up with him, he had treated her very badly at a really bad unrelated time she had been through. It had been very hurtful and every four letter foul word had come out of her mouth against him in telling me about it. It was very unbecoming of a Christian who professes to love God with all her heart. 

Not to pass judgment on her, for we all come short of God's glory and I am no different. But truly, what can she expect when she has blatantly  allowed this situation in her life and has been disobedient to God's laws.

He does not give them to us to take away our fun. He gives them to us to protect us from just this kind of thing. And when we disobey him, we usually have to pay the consequences.

I hope my friend has broken up this time with him once and for all. I had told her that if she goes back with him again I was going to remind her of the day when she sat spitting out the words she was saying and crying, and she said she wants me to. 

But why? It's never done any good before. And sometimes, all we can do is keep quiet and pray because after all, some people are going to do what they do, no matter what God says, let us alone what we say.

I  love my friend. I don't like that she is being hurt. But only God can help her. 

❤❤❤

 Thank for dropping by today, Friends. I hope you had a wonderful July 4th. God bless America .and God bless you and yours

If It Be Thy Will God...

 

God bless America, and God bless you! I pray that you had a wonderful July 4th