It is An Attitude of Gratitude

...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:11-14

Saul of Tarus became the apostle Paul when he was converted to Christianity on his way to Damascus one day. He was on his way there to arrest Christians and extradite them back to Jerusalem. He had been persectuting them and the Lord up until that day when Jesus himself came to him and asked him why he was doing that. Jesus told him that he was to go to the city and he would be told what to do. The men he was traveling with were speechless and had to lead Paul by the hand because though his eyes were open, he could not see. Acts 9:2-8

Thus was the very beginning to possibly the most dramatic conversion and ministry of this man that had been persecuting Christians for their belief in God. 

He himself then became a target of the same kind of persecution He was hated by many Jews because he taught that Jesus was the Son of God. But he went through many trials while traveling to proclaim the gospel. In 2 Corinthians 11:25-27, he tells us he was shipped wrecked three times, had problems with robbers and people of his own race, and basically danger wherever he went. He had sleepless nights, went through hunger, thirst, cold and exposure..

How frustrated he must have felt at times for all he was going through and yet it did not give up and ended up himself in prison due to his preaching of the gospel. 

He had known what it was to be in the different situations of life. Times when he had plenty and times he had needs. And yet he remained faithful to God, to the very end of his life, no matter what circumstances he went through.

Can we have that same faithfulness to God even when we are going through tough times/ I do not know about you, but I have nothing on the apostle Paul. Sure there have times I have had a need of things. Even maybe that I might become homeless. Was I greatful for even what little I might have had those times. Probably not like I should have been.

I remember years ago I read a book by Joni Eareckson Tada about her travels to I believe it was Africa. She herself had became a parapalegic in a diving accident in 1967 and out of that experience, has ministered to people who have needed to know that God can still use them no matter what they go through. And not only that but how much he loves them.

In her travels to Africa though she saw how desperate that country was and I remember her saying that those people didn't have anything and to many, God was all they had and they still could praise him for it. (Not a quote)

I have always had a home, even though we had some times that were tough.. But at times I was worried  that my kids would not have enough to eat. But even though, was I grateful enough to God. Because  you know what. He never let us down. We never went hungry and we were never without a home. Close to it a couple of times, but thankfully never without one. As I look back, I can honestly say, probably not.I had really been in too much of the moment in worry, and that took away from my being grateful for what I did have and what God did provide for us.

Like the apostle Paul in the bible and our more modern day Joni who suffered a tragic physical situation, can we be as thankful? I hope I have learned through the people in their world, to be be more thankful for the things I have now. And even in my  past.

Make this season a real season of thanksgiving for you and teach it and be an example to your family and friends. Not just on November 28, but every day of your life. Because it really is an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude to God who is the supplier of our very life.


November 19, 2019 Promise: Now let us come boldly to the throne of God. There we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:16

I am thankful for every one of you that come to this blog! You do not know how much I really appreciate you! May God be an everlasting part of your life and bless you today and every day!

Hello Friends. The past few days have been busy and I apologize for not not getting here. I hope you will come by tomorrow, as I will have something posted about Thanksgiving. Until then, may the Lord bless and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious into you. Numbers 6:24

Did You Know?

Jesus's ministry on earth had a lot to do with us that have come after. Yes, he healed people that followed him and his teachings. He died for their sins. But it wasn't just for those that were around in his day. They were for all of us as well. The things he taught them, and the miracles he preformed for them were lessons for us, so that we can have all that they had in their time.

In fact, did you know that Jesus prays for us?

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John 2:1

An advocate is someone that stands in for someone that can't speak for themselves. He pleads that persons case. He pleads our case

Satan our enemy tries to accuse us before God. But we have nothing to fear because Jesus is always praying for us. Romans 8:33-34. His prayers for us are more powerful then anything that Satan can try to throw up against us. We should always remember that he was defeated at the cross of Jesus and one day will be thrown into the lake of fire.

I heard one time, a preacher say something to the effect, "When Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future."

Indeed.

There is now, no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2

There then should be no fear in us. Because there is no condemnation for those of us that are in Jesus Christ and knowing that he is always praying to the Father for us. Don't let Satan get on your case. Instead be thankful to God that Jesus is praying for us and then remind Satan of where he is headed.

November 16, 2019 Promise: The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Thanks for your visit today, Friends. May God's blessings rain down you today and everyday!

God is Great God is Good?

God is great,

God is good, 

Let us thank him

for our food.

This simple little prayer came to me from my long ago childhood. My dad was teaching us kids to pray. But do we really think God is great? That God is good? Do we have to thank him for our food? 

Seriously?

Some people don't think he is great or good. And yet, the bible tells us he is. 

But they are gravely mistaken. God is great. For look what he did. He created a wonderful paradise for us, only to have his human creations mess it up. His power goes beyond anything even known to man. How great is that?

And he is good. Because when man sinned, he didn't just toss him in to hell. Sure they and everyone that came after them, have sinned and pay the consequences for it, but his love is not conditioned on if we are bad or good. It is in spite of it. His love is unconditional. And to prove that, he sent his only Son Jesus to die for us. How good is that?

I call that pretty great. I call that pretty good. How about you? 

As for thanking him for our food? Of course, we should thank him for our food. And for every blessing that he has given us. Because he doesn't have to. He gives them to us because he does love us. 

Thanksgiving is coming up soon and this month is dedicated to the blessings that we have from God. But the thing is, we should be thanking him every day of our lives. For everything he has done for us. Not just one month out of every year. But instead, every day we live. Because we love him back. 

November 14, 2019 Scripture for the day: I will thank the Lord because he is just. I will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high. Psalm 7:17

Hi Friends. Thanks for coming by today. I am going to leave you with a cartoon that I ran across that I thought was funny. Til next time, God bless! (From Hallmark) 

Seven Went Into Eternity That Day

On January 28, 1986 seven crew members boarded the Challenger Space Shuttle at NASA in Florida, knowing the dangers that could befall them in their travel into space. What they didn't know was that they would go up and never come back. For just 73 seconds as the world looked on, the Challenger blew up and sent all seven people to their deaths and ultimately into their eternity.

I mention this tragedy but as we know, though we don't see these kinds of things happen everyday, (thank the Lord), we see many others that do happen every day. In car accidents, school shootings, murders....just to mention a few. And everyday, people that happen to be involved in them, go off into eternity.

And when I hear of such incidents, I always wonder if they were ready to go? If they were ready to meet God? Because, once they have left this earth at death, that is what happens. They meet God and if they were not ready, they would not be permitted to stay in heaven but instead would be sent to that place that for eternity they will suffer the fires of hell.

So what does it mean to be ready to meet God? I hope you already know the answer to that question. But in case you don't, it means that those that have repented of their sin, and asked God to be Lord of their lives-they will spend eternity with God in heaven. For those that don't repent and ask God to be the Lord of their lives...well, I am afraid that they will have wished they would have-once they die.

Some people want to accept the Lord, but also don't want to end their "fun" that they are having, and so decided that they will accept him someday, just not now.

To God that isn't acceptable, although he is patient with us. But we are not guaranteed a long life, or even another second of life. And once death knocks at our door, it is too late. We have made our choice without really making our choice.

Jesus said, "Truly, Truly I say unto you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but  has passed from death into life. John 5:24.

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that Jesus raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe, and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-10

The Challenger accident was a great tragedy for the famlies whose loved ones ended their lives in it. And for the world that watched it happen.

But the worst tragedy is for anyone that goes into eternity and is not ready to meet God.

If you have not confessed your sin and ask God into your heart and life, please don't wait another second. Because you could go off into eternity at any moment. And you must be ready to meet God when you do.

Are you ready to know Jesus?

Thanks for coming by Friends. God bless you!

Jesus:Our hope!

Many of God's people had struggled with depression as we do today. Why didn't God just make everything perfect so that we wouldn't go through the things that overwhelm us?

The answer to that lies way back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and from then on, God's perfect world which he created for us, began to unravel and become broken.

We could truly put the blame on the two of them. When God confronted them about eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam blamed it on Eve. And Eve blamed it on the serpent. Evidently, no one wanted to take responsibility for their disobedience to their Creator.

Sound familiar? From then on, the human race has become experts at blaming someone or everyone else for their own sin. And God's perfect world was perfect no longer.

Depression is a terrible thing especially when it becomes more then just being "blue" on some days as most everyone does. It can be debilitating and one of those monsters that comes out to rob us of our joy of life and perhaps our life itself.

And it is one of the many reasons why Jesus died for us. To set us free. To set us free from sin and to set us free from the things that hold us down. And the things that living a full and wonderful life.

Depression in some people can be silent. Because Christians are not supposed to be real if they are depressed. And so many bury their feelings in the church so that no one will know because they don't want to be judged.

When going through my own depression years ago in a church I was going to at that time, I had 4 children from ages 1-10 sitting in the service with me, and a alcoholic husband at home by himself. No one around me in that church really knew much about us except that he drank and didn't or couldn't show me the love that Jesus would have had he been in a psychical presence with us. I really kind of felt like an outsider because it didn't seem anyone had the problems that I faced every day. And yet, all these years later and past that awful depression (I do still have my  "blue days" like any one else), I wonder how many others really had suffered with depression and just could not let that be known in the church. I will probably never know, but because of the legalistic teachings they were given, I have no doubt that I was probably not as alone as I had thought I was.

God has brought me a long way from that time. I don't put the blame on anyone for the help that I didn't receive. Rather, I want to pass on the other side of it. That because of Jesus, there is good news for any one that cries out to him in their time of desperation. He is there. Waiting for you to ask his help. He is our answer and he is our hope.

If you are one that suffers from things you cannot control, I urge you to get help for yourself. Don't let anyone tell you that you just need to get up and do something and it will go away. (like a family member of mine used to do when I lay in bed and couldn't bare getting up). It is not that simeple. You may need real help to overcome those dark hours. You might want to begin by reading some of the resources online that I have below.

Know that you are not alone. And more than that, know that God is there for you. He is close to the brokenhearted and he can give you the answers to what you need. Psalm 34:18.

Because he loves you!

For more information on depression see:  Why Christian Love Matters in Depression,       To the Depressed Christian | Cru,        Depression: Reject the Guilt, Embrace the Cure - Focus on the Family



Thanks for coming by today Friends. I hope this series on Depression gives you the confidence that we as Christians can follow (due to our own broken world) our biblical predecessors that God loved even though they went through their own hard times. He doesn't forget us if we aren't happy all the time. But he has given us the answers to our lives. Mathew 7:7 is indeed our promise for today. November 11,2019

Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you.

God bless

Depression: Hanna (part 7)

Hannah ( 1 Samuel 1)

Have you ever had some one that provoked you because they had something that you wanted and could not have?

We have learned about the depression that some men of the bible had during their lives. But were there any women of the bible that were depressed as well?

Hannah was one such woman that maybe had a reason to be depressed.

She was one of two wives married to a man named Elkanah. There was discord between the two wives because Hannah could not have children, whereas his other wife Peninnah did..And Peninnah was bent on letting Hannah know it by harassing her.

The abuse went on for years and whenever she did this, Hannah would not eat and instead verse 7 says that she wept. And probably what made it worse for her was that even though her husband loved her, did not understand why not being able to have children bothered her all that much. After all, he did have children with Peninnah.
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After years of praying for a child, one day she had went to the temple and prayed very bitterly for the Lord to give her a child.  And Eli the priest saw that she was very grieved and he told her to go in peace for God was going to answer her prayers. Hannah was then happy that at last God was going to do this for her and she left.

Hannah did indeed conceive a son which she named Samuel.

It must have been awful for Hannah all those years. Not being able to have children was bad. But then dealing with the abuse she had from Peninnah made it worse plus a not so understanding husband that did not get what her problem was. I think any woman would have been depressed with all that. And yet, Hannah did not give up hope. She knew God could answer her prayers but I wonder if she ever thought that he would. Yet he did, and when he did it was in his own timing.

Just one more lesson for us today. That God will answer our prayers as he sees fit. He is ever faithful even in our despair. Even though we may have to wait for a long time.And it is only in him we can have that hope because he is our hope.

November 10, 2019 Promise: For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. Titus 2:11

Thanks for coming today Friends. God bless you on this his 'Lord's Day!