Tag Archives: Jesus

Every Grace Counts

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Romans 5:20

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.
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How many of us have family members or friends that just drive us to seek God’s grace for their lives?  I mean it seems like every time we see them, we have to brace ourselves, stay in the love of God and just listen to them rant and rave about whatever life has thrown at them this time.  Ya know those people who can’t say a nice word about anything and feel like the whole world is against them.  Or what about the ones who are in sin and choose to stay there while there lives are falling apart?  Lastly, what about the persons who think they have it all together but you can clearly see the unhappiness in their lives?
All of these people need grace…not our grace, but God’s grace.
I have several persons in my life that I feel I need to give grace to on a daily basis.  Some of this borders with compassion, yet I feel without God’s grace I could not have the compassion to love.  I know people talk about me behind my back and some may even despise me.  Some don’t get why I divorced and remarried.  Others are perhaps envious of how happy I really am.  In the whole scheme of things, it is not I who needs to take care of these situations, it is Jesus.  God will never leave or forsake me and He will take care of my enemies, I am called to love and love means grace, forgiveness and compassion.
When you combine love with grace you are able to forgive and when you forgive you can find room in your heart for compassion.  If you melt all these things together you find freedom.  With freedom comes peace.  Sigh!  What a relief to discover that the root of all we have to do is love.  God is love and it is through Him that we even obtain grace.  If He gave it to us and it freed us from our sin then why would we not want to free others around us with His grace?
Who are the persons in your life that are in need of grace?  Are you withholding grace because of offenses?  Do you desire to be free?  I urge us all to seek out the grace God gave to us to give to others.  We are called to love and sometimes that means just keeping the peace in certain relationships.  Sometimes grace needs to be from a distance and that’s perfectly okay.  Just remember grace comes from love and all the love you need is in Jesus.

Drops of Healing

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Joel 2:23

Rejoice, you people of Jerusalem! Rejoice in the Lord your God! For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness. Once more the autumn rains will come, as well as the rains of spring.
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Sometimes when we hear the sound of an approaching storm we begin to prepare ourselves for the downpour.  Depending on how severe a storm may be we might seek shelter and cover the windows for safety.  If we are caught outside we run for the nearest dry place and wait until the storm passes through.  Yes some storms are destructive and can do some very bad damage while others just pass by with a little sprinkle of rain.  We can clearly compare these real rain storms with ourselves.
There are storms which come in our lives that are tougher to handle than others and it takes all kinds of gear to protect ourselves from the pain they bring.  We hide ourselves from the storm not wanting to get wet or struck by lightening.  We have learned from past experiences that the storms just take a toll on us and we have no desire to face another one. As I faced one ordeal after another in my previous marriage I was so tired of the storms raging I wanted to pack it all up and move to a state or country far, far away yet I knew the storms were building my faith, even if I could not see it.
Every time I endured a storm no matter its’ size, I grew more and more dependent on God to help me through it.  When the storms first began, I was not following after God and it all seemed hopeless, however, once I let God back into my life the storms got a little easier because I gained wisdom for the situations.  Just like if you moved to a state that was prone to hurricanes, after the first time of being in one you would know better how to brace yourself for the next one.  Same thing with God, He teaches you how to endure the storms while He makes a way for you to be healed.
I look back now on all of the storms in my life and I can see them for what they actually were, character building, healing rains.  Every storm has something to glean from it.  Every storm brought me closer and closer to who I am in Christ today and I am ever so thankful for the rain.  The rain provided drops of healing for my broken heart.  It was the rain that held me together.  Now I see the storm and my feet want to dance in the rain instead of hide from it.  

Hole Perspective

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So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. Romans 8:1-2 NLT

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Raise your hand if you have every been picked on in your lifetime.  I can pretty much see by the show of hands that we have all been there before.  Lies and rumors and hurtful names can cut at you worse than actually being stabbed with a sharpened knife.  Kids tease and parents ridicule.  We get told we are not good enough or that we will not amount to anything.  We are bombarded with comments about our weight and overall appearance.  These are truly Satan’s attacks on our lives, especially since most of it occurs when we are very young and once the rejection sets in we begin to believe it to be true because it is all we know.

I was teased a lot in elementary school and it really destroyed me as a person until I got to high school.  I was called names and teased for my clothes.  My parents were not financially blessed but they did their best.  My mom shopped at Goodwill when it wasn’t cool, it was considered a place where you went when you were poor.  The other piece to the destruction to my self image was my dad at times would call me chubby and it quickly became who I was and I struggled in junior high to get rid of that feeling.  I ended up staying skinny but it wasn’t because I had healthy eating habits.  I still struggle sometimes today about my appearance but because I have learned to see myself as Jesus does, the pain is not there.

Just like a tree that has been pecked at over and over by the woodpecker, our souls begin to get holes in them.  The more we get teased, the more holes we accumulate and then pretty soon part of us begins to die and sometimes no matter how much someone tries to pour life back into us it just seeps out the holes.  We just no longer know how to receive anything good about ourselves, we have accepted all of those crazy lies and we have no idea how to stop the pain.  Just like in my blog the other day, we have to expose the roots and start forgiving those who have hurt us.

For me, it took forgiving a lot of people in my life and finally accepting myself for how God saw me.  I had to read His promises for my life to fill in the holes from the enemy and it was the only way for life to begin again in my soul.  If we dwell so much on what others say about us we will never see what God made us for.  We will never be able to experience love and acceptance.

Today, choose to forgive those who have put holes in your soul.  Begin today to see yourself as God does.  Let those who truly love you, pour into your soul and help you heal. Allow God to show you how He sees you.  Give yourself another chance to be a living member of society knowing where you stand with God.  You are a Son or Daughter of the Most High and He delights in everything about you!  

New Every Time

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Acts 20:24

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
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Ever feel like we are just doing the same things over and over again without any changes? We go through the seasons of our life Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall and still nothing seems to be any different.  Why do we not take advantage of the seasons of change in our  own personal lives?  Why are we happy to stay in stagnant situations without wanting any of it to change even though we are fully aware that we are going nowhere?
My personal opinion is that we get to comfy in our own zones and we have completely forgotten what it is like outside the box we have built.  Did we not take risks when we were younger?  Did we not find happiness in trying new things?  I know of the things we choose not to do anymore is out of wisdom, however, what about meeting new people? Trying new restaurants?  Walking in a different neighborhood?
I know a few years ago when I chose to attend a revival for 54 days, people thought I was crazy.  I still worked my 43 to 45 hours a week and raised my kids all the while letting God “mess up” my life.  I still look back and wonder myself how I made it through but I can also see the fruit of my sacrifice   Just like Abraham I had to take my Issac (my life) to the altar and trust God with all of it.
Now here I am years later, happy, healed and whole.  I am living a life of happiness and I am closer to God than ever.  I chose to take my Spring season and allow new life to burst forth.  I have let Jesus take control of the tending of my heart and the renewing of my mind and I can honestly say I could not have ever asked for this.  Often God gives us what we need before we realize we need it.  We think it’s not something we want and once we allow God to show us His love, then we come to the realization it was what we really wanted all along.
Will you choose to embrace Spring?  Will you be willing to take your life to the altar and give it all to Jesus?  Trusting in Him is the first step and second one is letting Him water and nurture you into a new creation.

Too Busy for Knowledge

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Hosea 4: 6 (KJV) My people perish from a lack of knowledge. 

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Ever wonder why we do not have time to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives?  Why are we too busy to do the two things God asked us to do:  Love one another as He loves and spread the Gospel?  I feel like two things are to blame for this, one being Satan busy distracting us and the other, our lack of knowledge in the Word.  Now I am not attacking anyone at all because I am not fully proficient in the Word myself and perhaps it is time for me to step up my game.

God instructs us not to become conformed to this world but to grow in the renewing of our minds by the reading of His Word.  Sometimes in day to day living we get too busy to even pop open the Bible to read a verse or two.  As for myself I get excited about a devotional only to find myself a week later “too busy” to keep up with it.  I also like to use the excuse of being in revival meeting four times a week and that’s where I get the Word.

Another aspect of being too busy for knowledge is that we get caught up in the news media and television.  We get so interested in what is going on all around us, we forget to focus on the very thing that God has right in front of us.  Yes some of us are gifted to help those who need rescuing from disasters and those who need specialized care in certain circumstances.  He does not design all of us with the same giftings, if He had we would be so busy helping the disaster victims that we would have a world full of depressed and broken hearted people with no one to help them.

Do you see the picture I am trying to paint?  People all around us are saying we are in the end times and the world is at it’s worst, but what are we doing to save the world?  What will save the people of this world is Jesus and if we just do the two things we were instructed to do, everything else will just fit like puzzle pieces and God will protect those who are under His wing of protection.

I myself need to dig a little deeper into God’s Word so that I may be filled with the knowledge that will allow me to life my life to the fullest.  When we read His Word we hide it in our hearts and it will stay there for eternity.  When we read the Bible we are filled with hope and we learn to discern what are giftings really are.  Yes this world is a crazy place but when we have the peace that passes all understanding, we are able to push through and accomplish the tasks God sets out for our lives.  Choose today to seek His knowledge and begin to life a life of freedom in Jesus.

Before the Dark

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Amos 5:8

It is the Lord who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name!
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We all know the sun sets every night all over the world and we also know there will be a sunrise in the morning, but has anyone paused long enough to think about this:  it is always dark and it is always light at the same time.  SO, why do I bring this to a point? Because in life there is always light and dark.  There is always good present with evil.  Also just like the sunset and sunrise you can never stop it from happening on your own power.  Only God can end the rising and setting of the sun and it is only God’s power that can make evil flee.
Often times as Christians, we try to take on the whole world to get rid of the darkness.  Even if every Christian on earth witnessed to just one person and they turned from their sin towards God, there would still be a lot of evil lurking around.  Now of course if those people who were just saved did the same thing and this repeated itself non-stop over and over again then yes eventually we would have more good than evil in this world.  Wait? Why can’t that happen?
As Christians we are saved by the grace of Christ dying on the cross, but why do so many Christians stop at the cross?  Shouldn’t we be going beyond salvation and seeking to save the lost?  God asked us to preach the gospel and show His love to everyone….what is preventing us from doing this?  Is it our insecurity?  Our lack of wisdom?  Our satisfaction with just being saved?  There are so many questions left unanswered in this that it makes my head spin.
I know that I do not do my part sometimes to spread the gospel and I think it’s because of my fear of being rejected, however, it is not me they are rejecting when they say no to Jesus, it’s God.  Knowing this I should be out there sharing my testimony with everyone I meet and inviting them to church.  I really don’t know what else holds me back except for maybe I just expect people to not be interested.
As I have been seeking God these past few years I know beyond the shadow of a doubt He will be by my side everyday.  I want to step out on the water and begin to reach more people for His Kingdom.  Will anyone join me out on the water?

Yup! That’s It!

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Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
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So it’s no coincidence that God brings us back to the exact word He spoke into our lives at just the right moment in time.  I have been sitting here discouraged and feeling like nothing is happening in my life and suddenly like a mighty rushing wind, God shows up out of nowhere to remind me He is still there.  Yes, a million and one good things have come to pass in the last few months and I know somewhere in this brain of mine that things have changed, yet I feel like I am not making a difference.  Leave it to God to call us out and point us in the right direction again.
After months of being refined in the fire, I finally woke up this morning different.  I cannot exactly explain how or why, just renewed.  I feel alive again in the things of God and I am ready for what He has next.  My husband and I were told that we would have a powerful ministry and God said our love would be like no other love between a married couple.  Well, these things seem to be true yet I still felt like we were just not making an impact for God’s people.
Last night we attended a revival service to support a friend and we were called out as husband and wife and God renewed EVERYTHING He had already spoken over our lives and took us to that next level.  He said we were destined to be holding marriage seminars and that our love would be super strong.  As I stood next to my husband on that altar in tears I was just overwhelmed by the love that was being poured out upon us.  Never before have I felt so close to God.  In that moment I finally felt like I actually mattered to God and that He would be using us mightily for His purposes.
So here we are today, a new day, a new beginning.  Here I stand in this moment, waiting on God, knowing I am in His plans and that He has great things in store for my husband and I.  We have come to this great revelation that what God has put together no man can separate.  We also are ready for what the next step is without any fear for we are covered in the Blood of Jesus and the devil has no business messing with our lives.
Are you in a slump?  Do you need a refreshing wind to sweep over you?  I encourage you to seek His face.  Lie down in a quiet place and let Him wash you again in the blood, cleansing you from head to toe.  I guarantee that when you arise you will not be the same.

Matter Over Mind

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Ephesians 6:12

      For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

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Mind over matter seems like a lie just now, shouldn’t it be what matters takes over our minds? How else are we going to be in the Presence of God? If we let all the thoughts of today meander in while we are worshiping we will never touch God! If Jesus is all that matters then He should take over your mind.

This thought ran across my mind as I was recently riding in the car listening to a worship song.  I snapped out of the zone I was in and quickly wrote this thought process down which was then followed by a mini-sermon preached to my husband.  My spirit was just on fire for a moment as I marveled at this revelation. It was as if someone took over me for a moment just to get this into my spirit.  Seriously if we are aspiring to be more and more like Jesus, shouldn’t we be letting Him take over our minds so that we can think like He does and act they way He would?

I posted that exact quote above on Facebook that very day and I was astonished to discover that no one liked it.  Not one of my 1,800 friends liked that status, which caused me to further reflect on it’s weight in my perspective.  I talked to a few friends.  Did a little research and I still came up with the same feeling, if all that matters is Jesus then He should have control of our minds.  The Bible even says to hold all thoughts captive and turn them over to Jesus.

I know it’s hard to change, believe me I went kicking and screaming to the altar several times.  I did not want to change all the ugly things I had hidden away.  I wanted to just keep walking forward pretending that everything was just A-okay.  Change hurts.  You have to face past hurts and woundedness.  You might have to forgive a few people along the way, including yourself.  Who wants to go through all of that?  I do!  Pick me!

I no longer wanted to stay where I was in life so I chose to make Jesus the center of it all and my life had completely changed in just three short years.  I was relocated, reloved and finally happy for the first time in years. I learned how to be compassionate and accepting of others.  I was changed from the inside out but only because I put what mattered the most over my mind, Jesus.

Are you in a place right now that you know is not where you really desire to be?  Perhaps you have taken some wrong turns or made the wrong choices in life, well, you are not stuck.  There is a simple solution to it all:  Jesus. Maybe today is the day you yell out to God and He grabs your hand and pulls you from the pit.  The mind is a powerful thing and once you let Jesus take it over, the sky is the limit!!!

When is the Last Test?

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Hebrews 2:18

Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.
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Ever just look up at the sky and simply say, “Really?  This AGAIN?”  You are thinking to yourself, I am POSITIVE I have been through this testing before and I surely passed last time, so why are we going through this same test again.  I guess maybe our idea of passing a certain test and God’s is different.  God purifies us in the fire just like gold until we are “refined” and closer to His image of us.  I don’t know about you, but retesting is such a difficult thing because you know you failed the last one.
This testing happens to me quite often concerning my attitude.  Every time I think I have conquered not getting upset about something, sure enough God sets me up and I fail!  Over and over He tries, but back in the fire I go.  Well, today I feel more confident than ever that I just may have passed the test in one area of my attitude….not 100% positive, however, my reaction to the situation was way more relaxed and controlled then I had been in the past.
God loves us enough to put us back in the fire over and over again until He is confident we have learned to handle any situation which arises in our daily walks.  Why does He do this?  Because He wants us to become just like Jesus and this process will surely make that happen according to His plan. Now, the key is to notice when the testing is occurring so we can remember if we happen to be retested that we need to choose a different way to react.
So, to avoid the same fire over and over again we must learn from each testing process what we can do differently the next time to change our reaction…not that easy I know.  Sometimes I wish I could just close my eyes and see that marvelous “A” written across the top of the page, then I would know for sure if I had passed that time.
How great is our God in His patience with us?  Great enough to keep on testing us until we have it just right.  Long enough to soften our reactions to life and increase our compassion.  I encourage each of us to not hate or dread the test, but instead embrace it as a chance to change…a chance to be more like Jesus.

Skip the Chapter!

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1 Corinthians 11:25

In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.”
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When one is writing a book, they usually go chapter by chapter, connecting words into sentences and paragraphs all the while telling a story.  A story perhaps about their life or a how to book or maybe a documentary, but the main point is to tell a complete story chapter by chapter.  This too is how we often live our life, we say we are going to start a new chapter and I am here merely today to suggest, why don’t we start a new book instead?
Chapters are good but it means you are still in the same story, nothing really has changed in your life is what you are saying.  If you start a new book then it will be more exciting.  Let’s take a person who has stopped drinking.  The said person has now closed the book on a life of alcohol abuse and is now starting  a whole new era in life instead of just adding a chapter to the past.  Does that make sense?  As interested as a person could be in seeing how the story ends, sometimes they are even more excited about opening a new book!
Jesus did the same thing for us when He died for us on the cross.  When He crucified His flesh the ways of the Old Testament were made new with the covenant of Grace, no longer are we bound by the past commandments.  We have been given grace and it is sufficient for all things.  Yes, if we are following after Jesus and aspiring to become more Christlike, we should have not desire to swear, dishonor our parents, lie, murder, have false Gods and all those other temptations.  We have been given a whole new book to read, the New Testament.
So are you ready to start a new chapter or does your heart desire to start a new book?  Are you tired of the same old same old?  Is it time to really seek God and say you are done with the old way of thinking?  I encourage all of us to begin a new book in our Christian walk, take a new approach to our old thinking, press further into the things God has planned for us.  Go ahead, close the book on the past and begin writing a new story today!