Freedom Isn't Free

 

                                        Memorial Day. 

A day to be thankful to be Americans or a day to be ashamed of our country? And how about those that hate our country?

God has given us this country and from its almost beginnings, groups of people have tried to tear it down. To make it socialist. To make it evil. 

To make it the exact opposite of what God created it to be.

I for one am proud to be an American. I am proud of those in my extended family that went to war against the enemies that would seek to take us over. To bring their socialist ideas into our country. To destroy us.

They are still doing it today. From Russia and in our own back yards. They are seeking to destroy us in our own government. 

It doesn't matter what kind of terrorism there is here. Maybe you don't think that when someone decides to take the innocent lives of people as in New York and Texas just recently, isn't real terrorism because after all it wasn't committed in another country.

If you have that belief, I ask you to think about how those victims and their families felt. Surely there was evil intent. Surely there was terror in their lives as a gunman turned his gun on them during a horrific rampage.

Oh God, that He would work on the behalf of all who love Him. Because He is our only hope. And thank God we have Him to turn to in our hours of need.

And as we wait on his divine judgement, which will indeed come to all evil, we can thank God for those that sand up against all the injustice of an ungodly society that seeks to destroy innocent lives. No matter what form it takes. 

MEMORIAL DAY

A day to be thankful to be an American

It is our God given right.

And we should not let it be taken

Without a fight

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 

2 Chronicles 7:14

Thanks for coming by today, Friends

God bless your day today and always!

Hurry Up God...

 

They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles: they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Why is it that we think we should have what we want right now without having to wait on God to deliver it to us on a silver platter?

Have you ever gotten tired of waiting on him and decided just to go and take it for yourselves?

If you have, I ask you: How did that work out for you?

I know what that is. To get impatient on those things that I asked God for. And so, because of that, I have jumped headlong into some fires that went on for long periods of time before finally God in all his wisdom to let me make bad decisions for myself, put them out for me.

For you see, God doesn't make us do anything we don't want to do. If we don't want to wait on his timing, he lets us go off on our own way until we get to the place that we get so sick and tired of being sick and tired and will go running back to him. 

He has our futures planned out. And because of that, we don't always know why he doesn't just answer our prayers when we think he should. We get tired of waiting a lot times. We take our lives into our own hands. And eventually, we can become weak and tired if we have turned from him.

If we wait on him. Know that he is working in our lives despite the fact that it sometimes doesn't even feel like it, we become as eagles, strong and able to get where God wants us to be. 

This is then the song we should be singing everyday:

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be wear they shall walk and not faint

Teach me Lord,

Teach me Lord, to wait!

Thanks for stopping by today, Friends. God bless!

More Like A Million Times....

 

A thousand times I have failed, still your mercy remains.

Have you ever felt that way?

I do.

More than a million times though.

More like at least that many times per day

Yesterday was an especially one of those days.

Not that anything bad happened.

It was just an off day for me. 

And I failed God in so in so many ways.

But he didn't fail me.

For his mercy endures forever. 

Why? Because he is good. 

Psalm 136:1

If you are having an off day today. 

Or if you are having them on many days, 

take this to heart:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 

Lamentations 3:22-24

For there is hope for you. 

Thanks for coming by today, Friends.

God bless!

Did You Ever Wonder....

 ....if you sinned just one too many times? If your sin was so great that God would not forgive you? If you were a bad person, not worthy of God's favor? 

If indeed God could not love you?

If you have ever felt that way Friend, I have good news for you.

Jesus did this for you!

It took 1 cross and 3 nails.

But it also reqired the death of an innocent man.

He did it for you.

And me.

Because:

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever should believe on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16.

There is nothing that we can do to earn it.

And likewise, for those of us that believe on him, there is no way that we can lose God's free gift.

His love is not conditional.

And neither is his forgiveness

It is there for the asking.

No matter what we have done.

No matter what we are doing.

Whem we go to him with a humble heart,

he is there.

Ready to forgive

Ready to forget

Thanks for coming by today, Friends.

God bless you today and always

The Anger of a Holy God (part 4)

 I have posted on anger before. There is way too much of it going around these days. The world seems to be spinning off into madness. As Christians we wonder and even ask God, 'When will all of this end?" "When will you come back and take us out of here?" "Why aren't you stopping it?"

We don't know the answer to our questions. We only know what God's Word says. And it is best if we learn to trust him.

Because some day he will come back and end it all.

In the meantime, we are left here with the madness and sometimes our own anger. Having to deal with what we ourselves don't always understand.

Anger at the stuff going on in our homes, communities and in the world. What do we do with it? Other than trusting God, I mean. Because it can pop up at the most inopportune moments.

Jesus is our example. As loving and forgiving as he was and is, he has and still does get angry.

And so can and do we. At all the injustice of what goes on around us. I don't believe that he sits on his throne in heaven and is calmly watching what goes on down here without having any emotion about it. 

The difference is, he is God. We are not. But we too can be angry. It is just that the bible teaches us to not let the sun go down on our anger. Ephesians 4:26

How do we do that and keep going. We can't just let things go Can we?

I found a good article on it that I feel really helps spell out and deal with anger. You can put the title in your search engine should you want more information about it. I think they offer some real good suggestions.

5 Practical Ways of Gaining Control of Anger As A Christian 

Anger is a strong emotion. But we can have a handle on it if we choose to. God wants us to be a joyful people because if we are angry all the time and people see only that side of us, why would they want to become Christians?

Let's face it, they wouldn't. 

It is better to be a joyful person for many reasons. And one of those is that joy in the Lord gives us strength. Nehimiah 8:10

A good way to stay ahead of anger, don't you think? Because I don't believe that joy and anger can exist in us at the same time. And one of them has to go for the other of them to be there. If only for a time moment or a time.

Not that we can't become angry, but knowing how to get deal with it and get past it, offers the hope of reuniting our spirits with God again and taking on his spirit of joy.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. May your day be joyful and blessed

The Anger of a Holy God (part 3)

I don't know if you have ever gone to a church where someone there was doing something that was evil. Like as just an example, dipping into the offerings perhaps. Or a "teacher" that might be doing something to young children that was despicable. 

If you have, and if that person was caught, how did it make you feel? Angry no doubt. Maybe even so mad you wanted to throw something and maybe even take revenge against the ones responsible. 

Well, Jesus got angry at some people in the temples one day. They weren't doing either of the examples I suggested above. But never-the-less, what they were doing, did not make Jesus happy. That is for sure.

 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. Mark 11:15-17

Oh yes, Jesus was angry that day. Perhaps we can think that the comparison between that event and someone harming children today is well....no comparison at all. And yet,  the fact that it is in the Bible does show us a side of Jesus that while perhaps not seen so much, it is still there. 

Indeed, there were times that his anger did come out.

 I do not believe it is always wrong to be angry. And there are some scripture passages that prove that. Come back tomorrow and we will look at what the Bible has to say on the subject.

Thanks for coming today. God bless!

 

The Anger of a Holy God (part 2)

The anger of Jesus didn't just stop with his disciples that tried to keep the children from him. He also had it with some religious leaders of the day.

He had asked them if they believed that it was okay to heal someone on the Sabbath. He of course knew their answer and they didn't give him an answer.

And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. Mark 5:1-5

It goes on to say that the Pharisees then started plotting between themselves how they would get rid of him. (verse 6)

They were more concerned about their own laws then they were about the healing of someone that needed it.  And that had angered him. To the point of his own detriment. 

How like God that was, to go against the laws that man had come up with, to love someone that needed healing.

Yes, Jesus got angry at times. At the injustices of ungodly laws and beliefs. The kind of anger that we as Christians should have at todays injustices. that the lawmakers and groups of people try to impose on us. 

That we would be like Jesus. 

Thanks for coming today, Friends. Come back tomorrow for another post on this subject. God bless you and yours today!

The Anger of a Holy God (part 1)

 I have posted on the subject of anger before. But for a few days, I want to post something more about it. If we go back to the bible and Jesus, we find there that even this man that we think of us as mild mannered and all loving and forgiving,... got angry at times as he walked on this earth because of the injustices of the human (or was it un-human?) race.

We have been hearing a lot about the obvious injustices/inhumanness of those people that want to destroy innocent lives before they are barely in the womb, much less out of it. Murders before. Murders after.

To get rid of the most venerable and yet those that Jesus himself would certainly be angry at if he were to appear before those that would take innocent lives. 

His love for children shows up in the following passage:

And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. Mark 10: 13-16

I can't imagine how people can knowingly and intentionally inflict pain, suffering and death on anyone, let alone those cannot possibly defend themselves from their tormenters. It is beyond my ability.

And I think about God looking down on his creation and is saddened to see what goes on in the minds and lives of those that do these horrible acts.

 I wonder if he was so angry in his days on earth that he would not let his own disciples keep the children away from him, why doesn't he do something now to stop the violence to so many.

I do not fully know the answer to that question. Only to say that he gives a free will to each of us to do as we please.

Only to say that one day it will stop.

Only to say that those that do harm will eventually face him in judgement and be repaid for the evil they have done.

That's all I know. Its all I trust. He knows the big picture and I don't.

But to me, it also shows that a loving God, can and does get angry. Because it tells me that in his Word.

What other instances can we find where he became angry: Come back tomorrow for another one of those times.

Thanks, for stopping by, Friends. May God bless your day!

God Cares

If the above doesn't ring true today, I don't know how. I think about being out with my son who because of an eye disease cannot drive himself or his family anywhere. He is going through some problems now that would seemingly threaten his world if he did not believe and trust in his heavenly Father. We take him to his doctor appointments or on errands he needs to do and thankfully can do that for him. Whenever I am with him in a grocery or other store, despite his own problems, he never fails to speak kindly to the cashier or even to other patrons he might see there. Offering silly simple jokes or thanking someone in the military or a policeman for their service or just to tell someone to have a nice day. He is just that kind of person.

Would it be that despite our own problems we could be that type of person when we are out and about, to offer someone a smile just to maybe lighten their day which even though we have no knowlege of, but maybe make them glad they ran in to someone that cared enough to show them a little bit of light or perhaps hope for a better day?

Is it too much of ourselves to forget what we might have left at the door of our home to make someone feel a bit better? I think not. For even that little bit we do can show our care for someone else. 

Why?  Because......

 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.1 Peter 5:6-7

Sometime Friends, in the storms we face whether they don't come often for some but others just seem to live in them, knowing that God cares for us can be all we have.

But let me tell you, the thing is, knowing that is all we really need. 

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

 

Blessings

 

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to sail through life, not having to struggle at all, while others wonder what bill to pay next, or what they are going to feed their kids every day?

Some seem to waltz through life, while others are pounded with everyday hard life situations that never seem to end

You would think that Christians would be the ones that have life easy and those that could care less about God, would be the downtrodden.

Check out this passage:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17

How about this one:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

In Christian circles, why are there some that become  depressed because they are that one that struggles while it seems everyone else around him doesn't, and may even look at him with distaste because even though he works hard, life just isn't easy for him.

Why isn't God blessing everyone the same?

I surely don't know why. Maybe its because it really has nothing to do with God. Maybe it has to do with their own inability to make their lives better. Maybe they have made mistakes that took them down the wrong path. 

What I do know is this.

God is just.

God loves us.

God is good.

 God knows what we need. 

And God wants us to trust him.

In good times.

In bad.

Someday we will understand the things that we went through here on earth. And it will be then that he will reward us for our faithfulnes to him. Whether we struggled through this life or not. 

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. May God bless you today as always, in his most perfect way. 

The Devil Made Me Do It?

 

Why do we as Christians often want to blame our all of our sin completely on the devil? To make ourselves feel better.? To avoid responsibility? To justify our actions? 

It really doesn't matter to God, what we do to try to get out of it. What does matter is this. Sin is sin. No matter how we slice it.

He has laid it out in his word what we need to avoid and if we choose to ignore those things that he tells us to avoid, then there are probably consequences to be had.

People can struggle with different sins. Addiction is a strong one for someone that maybe wanted to escape their problems and didn't know that God's way is always better when it comes to solving them. Before they know it, they are in deep. Even Christians can struggle with this kind of situation. 

We all struggle with sin. It is always at the door of our hearts, trying to get in to ruin our lives.

But some of us play that game, "The devil made me do it." and choose to continue on in whatever we are struggling with, to make ourselves feel better and less guilty.

Instead, we need to look to God's word:

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

1 Corinthians 10:13

Get those first words, "there is no temptation..." zip, none, not a one that we can not escape with God's help.

We have no excuse to blame everything we do on the devil. He can only tempt us to do those things. But he cannot make us do them. And even when the temptations are too great for us to simply ignore him, God will make a way for us to bear it. 

Thanks for coming by today, Friends.

Have a blessed day!

Peace or No Peace

 "Peace. Hump...what does that mean for me in my world? My life is falling apart. My husband wants a divorce. We are broke. Worst of all, my son is taking drugs. Jesus had it wrong. There isn't any such thing as peace. Look at what is going on in the world. How do you explain that?" She asked.

 "Real peace is not the absence of conflict or trouble." I explained. "Because Jesus said, '...in the world you will have tribulation.' "But notice he didn't make that part of the passage stand alone. Looking at it as a whole, he said this:

'These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.' John 16:33

"Real peace does not mean we will not have conflict in our homes, or even in the world. It means we will have it by knowing that no matter what is going on around us, whether near or far, we can trust and know that Jesus has our backs. Not only backs, but our whole being. 

And trusting that he is working everything out to our good. No matter what those things may look at to us ." Romans 8:28

Real Peace

It is not the perfect marriage. It is not money or material goods. It's not a perfect family. It isn't even world peace.

No matter what the world is trying to tell us, it is. It just isn't.

It is truly trusting that Jesus really did overcome the world. It means that when the storms come, or even if we constantly are living in them, he is there to walk us through them. To take care of us. Why? Because he loves us. Because that is just who he is.

What kind of peace do you and I have? It depends. Who do we trust? Ourselves. Others. The world.

Without Jesus, there is none.

Have a blessed day, Friends. Thanks for stopping by.

The Hardest Job in the World

 

Motherhood. Some say it is the hardest job in the world. I am no expert on the job market, But I agree that is has to be at the very top of the list.

Many teens have an unrealistic view of motherhood. Especially those that crave love that they are not getting at home, and so they go looking for it, in all the wrong places. With all the wrong people.

Many end up pregnant long before they should. But that isn't a bad thing, is it? Or is it?

After all, now they will have something to love and cuddle. One that will love them back and fulfill the need for the love that they have missed out on.

They don't realize that cuddling and loving their baby even though it has wonderful benefits, it also comes with a hard job. 

Those 2 am feedings, dirty diapers, sick babies. They aren't fun. And add other children in the mix, and lets just face it. It can become very difficult. Very quickly. Because motherhood isn't just all about gifts, attention and parties. 

It becomes real work.

But it can be awesome. Rewarding. Wonderful. even through the hard times. 

Let's look at Jesus' mother Mary. She was very young when she found out that she was to become a mother. Was she confused? After all, she hadn't even been with a man. Was she frightened? Her intended could have her put away for her infidelity which was the custom of the day if he would have chosen to. What would her parents say, let alone everyone else they knew? 

The fact is, no matter what her initial thoughts and feelings were, she trusted her God. And if he said it, she believed him and took up the challenge of motherhood that he had for her life.

When our own babies were on our way, did we think about Mary and Jesus? When our babies were born, and we first celebrated Mother's Day (no matter the day or month) that day, did we think about what God had planned for us and our child?

Maybe not. I know I didn't. I didn't even think about how my children were going to change my own life. Not even after the fourth one was born. 

But the fact is. It did change. More and more each time. And it often was hard. Because motherhood is hard at times. And yet, I am on the other end of it looking back and through all those hard times, it had been rewarding. And in many aspects it still is. But just as God got Mary through, he got us through as well.

Motherhood. Hardest job in the world? You betcha. But, without God, where would we be? I for one, do not ever want to know.

Happy Mom's Day to you. You deserve it

Falsely Accused

It is no secret that the devil is a roaring lion seeking whom he can destroy. 1 Peter 4:8. 

If we can believe that at any time in our lives, we can sure see it now. All we have to do is turn on the news. The attempt to embarrass, accuse, and more, against Christians is rampant.

But what are we to do when it happens at our own doorstep?

The family member that I told you about yesterday has come under a great cloud hovering above him that has been created by the devil to make him look like a terrible person, let alone trying to break him down to curse God instead of loving Him.

There are many people in the Bible that the devil went after back in the day. I direct you to one-man in particular who God considered to be "upright, perfect, and one that feared Him." Job 2:3.

He (Satan) indeed was the accuser and did everything to get Job to become someone that would do and be just the opposite of the kind of man that he really was.

And who did he use to do that?

Job's own wife told him to "curse God and die." Talk about being an accuser.

But through all that he lost, eventually through his faithfulness to God, God rewarded him with even more than he lost.

 

I think if anyone in the bible can be our example today, Job is the one. No matter what we go through, we need to have the faith that God is working behind the scenes to get us to the place instead of denying Him, but where He will reward our faithfulness to Him.

Our family member will be rewarded by his faith in God at some point. God has a reason for letting him go through what he is. We don't know the whole reasoning behind it, but one day we will.

If you or someone you know is going through something similar, hang on to God with all you can. And when you can't hang on anymore, don't curse or deny Him, because it by is His strength that you will not lose the grip that holds you to Him.

Thanks for coming by today friends. God bless you!

True or False?

If you have ever been accused of doing something that you know you haven't done, can you really laugh at your accuser?

Good question. Because being accused of something repeatedly, especially by the same person or group of people can do a lot of damage to one's life. not to mention their self-esteem. 

I know, because a family member is going through this right now. With people that can do them irreparable damage, if they were a weak sort of person that did not stand up for what they believed. And for that reason, I know this person has indeed laughed at them at times.

For their stupidity. Let alone their ignorance. For the power that they feel is due them in society.

But is this right to do? Does God indeed laugh at the stupidity and ignorance of people?  Let's look at what He says:

The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth, The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.  Psalms 37:12-13

God does laugh at the wicked. But what are we to do when we are attacked by these kinds of people that can make our lives miserable? Especially those of us that belong to God.  

David in the bible prayed this:   Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah. Psalm 3: 1-8

I don't think that it is a bad thing to laugh at those who show themselves to be foolish. Because some of their ideas are just incredulous. Sometimes just plain crazy. Stuff we can't believe what they are saying. My dad used to say, "It's better to laugh or you would cry." Some people don't deserve our attention any other way. 

But at the same time remember as David did that we belong to God and He and only He is our righteous defender against all the wickedness of the people that come against us.

Are there any other things we can learn about what we can do when our enemy is on the hunt for us. Come back tomorrow and we will check it out.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Be blessed and be a blessing to others!