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.

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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. 

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 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