The Why . . .

As a Christian and when I accepted Christ, the Holy Spirit enters our lives to guide and direct us and lives in us.  But a non-believer may have difficulty wrapping their heads around that.  It is important that we have a why.  Today I asked in a youth class, what is your favorite place to get ice cream and he had a good concrete answer.  He knew why he liked it.  When a non-Christian asks us, how do we know the Bible is true, it is important to be able to give an answer.  What we call apologetics has been on my heart and mind recently.  Of course I believe and have from a very young age, but if someone were to ask me, a response might have been difficult so I am taking time to look into how I would respond if someone asked me.  Many may not use the word apologetics but it is from Ancient Greek and means in defense or and was later translated into English sometime in the 15th century.

He's a Good Father . . .

The other day I was driving on a country road that many people take and I read the sign on the church billboard and it said, “sin is a short word with a long sentence.”  It really struck me and I wanted to share this with my readers.  Even if just one person reads it.  We have the assurance as Jesus promised in scripture, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Because Jesus gave his life and then arose on the third day we have the free will to accept him into our lives and he forgives our sins.  We don’t know someone to intercede for us because Jesus is our intercessor.  Asking for forgiveness of our sins is not a one and done never ask again because we should continually be asking God to forgive any sins we might have.  Accepting Christ means that we will have an ongoing relationship with him.  Think about it.  A parent loves their children and when a child does something wrong they ask for forgiveness.  I’m sorry mommy or I’m sorry daddy please forgive me.  They don’t say that once in their lives, they say that when they have done something they know is wrong.  We have become a society of not saying I’m sorry.  That is sad and we need to get back to God.  Once we accept Jesus into our lives, take time each day to pray and daily ask for forgiveness, spend time in his word, and meditate.  “He’s a good good Father” (Originally written by Pat Barrett and Tony Brown.)  I love to hear Chris Tomlin sing this song.  He is our Father but he does discipline us.  

What can we learn?

For a while I have been reading through the Book of Nehemiah.  I decided that I needed to dive deeper so I added a few resources to my study and have gained so much insight into his life.  He was a humble man, gave God credit for everything and did not seek glory for himself, focused on God.  I began to think about Nehemiah and his life and what we can gain through his experiences.  First of all, what an amazing man of God that both men and women can learn from.  The Book of Nehemiah starts out with a sincere prayer to God which was triggered by learning from his brother Hannani who travelled from Judah that Jerusalems’ walls had been broken down and the gates burned.  This brought great sadness to Nehemiah and after fasting and crying with sadness this prayer he prayed:  “5 I pray Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, 6 please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the pray of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You.  Both my father’s house and I have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8 Remember I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 9 but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.’ 10 Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand.  11 O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sign of this man.”  (Nehemiah 5:1-11 NKJV)  We can take a lot from this prayer he prayed.   Nehemiah had a passion for God and His work from his role as a cup-bearer to the king to the builder of the wall and then the governor of the people.  His leadership and faith is a true testimony and as we learn a little more about Nehemiah we learn he had to learn the waiting game, which as we all know, is difficult.  We want answers now and not next week or next month or next year.  God hears our earnest prayers when we have a personal relationship with him.

Do you often wonder . . . 

When I got up to shower and get ready for church this morning I just had some thoughts come through my head.  If we are not here to sere God than why?  I could come up with no other reason than to share God with others to bring more people into the kingdom.  The sermon at my church today was on being humble and it just made me search my own heart.  Going through cancer right now, I was diagnosed just about a year before I officially retired from teaching, I don't now why God decided to let me experience this but He did but I am still here and I know he  has a purpose for me a mission if you will.  My life experiences and background have prepared me for a time such as this and whatever God needs me to do I am willing.  When we encounter a "Christian" someone who is controlling and is not open to others input, it is not a reflection on my thoughts it is a reflection on their internal state and may require one to just step back and trust God especially if one has already shared their own perspective.  Harsh judgment by Christians is not a christlike attitude and requires humility on our own part.  Pray for humility and respond with a humble heart.

Why lent . . .

Lent defined is "a period of fasting and regrets for one's sins celebrated 40 days from Ash Wednesday until Easter. " (Merriam Webster). The time is actually 46 days and many celebrate each Sunday as resurrection Sunday and do not include them.  Regardless of how you choose to celebrate or give up something or add in something.  We think of the 40 days in the wilderness when Jesus sacrificed food and depended on mana from Heaven to sustain him through this time.  He was of course tempted but did not succumb to those temptations.  We can read about this time in both Matthew 4:1-11 and in Luke 4:1-13.  As we contemplate lent and whether we are led to participate, do it with a right heart.  

From the heart . . .

Today I have been thinking about a lot of things that are going on in our country and the importance of not taking scripture out of context.  Don't get me wrong, memorizing scripture is important but are we grasping it in its entirety.  The roll of the Christian in society is to serve and go tell the world about Jesus.  What does that even look like?  God has asked us to fullfil The Great Commission and in his Words John 12:44-49 Jesus cried out, “The one who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me. And the one who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and doesn’t keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and doesn’t receive my sayings has this as his judge: The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a command to say everything I have said. I know that his command is eternal life. So the things that I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.”  Jesus came to save the world and by dying on the cross but it was not his job to judge just like it is no our job to judge others motives.  We will be judge on judgement day whenever that comes for us.  There are going to be things we do not agree with but how we respond to these things may be a problem on judgement day.  It is the Christian we must have a heart of Christ and not judge but share salvation, kindness and love whether agree or disagree with their beliefs.  If someone has accepted Christ and we will be convicted of things we need to change and I am not the ones we judges that.  So let's be Jesus to everyone and daily ask God to guide us in our motives and conversations and thoughts.  

Servanthood . . .

We live in a society that is self-serving, self-indulging, and out for themselves.  When we accept Jesus into our hearts  we follow God's calling for our lives.  But how to we know what he wants us to do?  God tells us in scripture to humble ourselves and that is what a servant does.  Jesus came to earth to serve not to be served and in Phillipians 2:5-11 we learn that to be like Christ we must humble ourselves as Jesus did.  If we obey God's plan for our lives we are serving him and will also serve others.  What does servanthood means we show kindness and love our neighbors, send a card of encouragement or thoughtfulness to show kindness, or listening to someone and being patient and not grumbling doing things of service.  How do we fulfil God's plan for our lives and truly serve?  Spend time in His Word and on our knees.  This is something I find I sometimes lack and am asking God for direction so that I may be more caring and have concern for others.  The prayer room is a perfect place to start but we don't just have to pray for this in our prayer room.  All prayers can be lifted up anytime.  When we are washing dishes, changing diapers or changing the oil.  Be a humble servant.  The story of the Starfish is so moving and it touches me everytime I read it and I want to share it here.  -Author Unknown-  

"A man was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up. Left on the sand by the receding tide the starfish were certain to die as the sun dried them out. The man also saw a boy picking up starfish and flinging them back into the sea. Planning to teach the boy a little lesson in common sense, the man walked up to the boy and said, “I have been watching what you are doing, son. You have a good heart, and I know you mean well, but do you realize how many beaches there are around here and how many starfish are dying on every beach every day? Surely such an industrious and kind hearted boy such as yourself could find something better to do with your time. Do you really think that what you are doing is going to make a difference?” The boy looked up at the man, and then he looked down at a starfish by his feet. He picked up the starfish, and as he gently tossed it back into the ocean, he said, “It makes a difference to that one.”

Many of us have heavy hearts .  .  .

It is a difficult time of unrest right now, in this country and around the world and we need to pray.  The scripture that I founded this website on is If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  -II Chronicles 7:14  It does not say pray what you think should happen, but to get down on our knees and pray and he will forgive our sins.  We do not pick and choose what part of the Bible to believe, it is a package deal.  We may disagree with leadership but instead of an unhealthy obsession, we need to pray for leadership.  It is unhealthy to obsess.  It is not Christ like to obsess but to let go and let God and pray.  We have become a society of believing everything Social Media tells us and not respecting authority because "no one is going to tell me what to do" that we forget what this is doing to our children.  If people do not learn to respect their parents and authority what would a classroom look and what will it look like in t five or ten years.  Complete chaos.  A few years ago I had a situation in a classroom and I asked the student to put their phone away and they refused multiple times and I did this calmly.  She continued to refuse.  I had to send her to the office where they took her phone until the end of the day.  All she had to do was put it away and everything would have been fine.  Another situation a couple years ago I had a situation in which someone was being treated unfairly by a supervisor and I was obsessed with the situation to the point I could not quit talking about it.  At that moment God said, lift the person up in prayer.  Oh wow how can I pray for someone I kind of despise but I did and God gave me relief and it allowed me to let it go.  I Timothy 2:1-4 makes sense so we do not let hate overtake us even as Christians.  "First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority,  so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness  and dignity.  This is good, and it pleases God our Savior,  who wants everyone  to be saved  and to come to the knowledge of the truth."  Social Media is not tha answer.  Yes there are good things and it can be used for uplifting but when one spends hours scrolling it becomes an obsession.  As a result I decided that I needed to remove social media from my phone.  I sitll have it but have to actively sit down and log in.  As Christians we need to ask God for wisdom and pray for situations especially those out of our hands.  

God's Word . . .

We can learn much about how we should live as Christians in God's Word.  Titus 3:2 (NCV) "to speak no evil about anyone, to live in peace, and to be gentle an polite to all people." and Titus 3:9 "But stay away from those who have foolish arguments and talk about useless family histories and argue and quarrel about the law. Those things are worth nothing and will not help anyone."  Let's be Jesus to everyone we meet.

 “The devil who rules this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, they cannot see the light of the Good News– the God News about the glory of Christ, who is exactly like God.” (II Corinthians 4:4)

The Great Commission

We will all experience great losses in our lives and having experienced several recently I have been led to take time to share something that is on my heart.  Fulfilling “The Great Commission.”  Matthew 28:18-20 “Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth. God, therefore, and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  As Christians we are called to share the gospel whether it is as missionaries in other countries or in our communities and families.  Let’s make a commitment to ask God to direct us on a path to share His Word.

Do not grow weary . . .

2 Corinthians 4:1-4 (NCV) “God, with his mercy, gave us this work to do, so we don’t give up. But we have turned away from secret and shameful ways. We use no trickery, and we do not change the teaching of God. We teach the truth plainly, showing everyone who we are. Then they can know in their hearts what kind of people we are in God’s sight. If the Good News that we preach is hidden, it is hidden only to those who are lost. The devil who rules this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. They cannot see the light of the Good News–the Good News about the glory of Christ, who is exactly like God.”  I have been praying for a couple who are lost and 2 Corinthians 4:4 is a scripture I have been focused on and today it was part of my scripture reading.  Praying for the lost, asking God to open doors or put others in their path is such a crucial part of our prayer time.  My God is bigger, my God is greater than any other.  Believe it!