As she finally realizes that she was wrong for not accepting her child as they are, she finally came to accept her child. She is happy that her child is happy, so she is no longer in denial. She can smile and not cry herself to sleep. She can wake up with joy in her heart for her child. She knows that her child will be prosperous in all that they do, so she no longer has to worry. She does not know what tomorrow will bring for her child, but she knows who holds their future in their hands.
Now when they speak to one another, she can hear the joy in her child. She can see the smile on their face. She hears the words,”I love you mom“. She is more than happy, she has tears of joy in her eyes, but smiles and returns those heartfelt words of, “I love you too my child”.
As I write this story, tears are in my eyes because it makes me think of how much God loves us, and how nothing can ever make Him stop loving us, or accepting us just the way we are. We are to accept others just as they are,and if there is room for change it will happen. We cannot change people, but we can change ourselves. We can change the way we think, act, respond, talk, feel, and be. We have to look deep inside of ourselves and examine ourselves. We must know that in order to change, we have to want to change , not for the worse, but for the better, so we can be who God has created us to be.
We will always have questions about things that we do not understand. We just need to remember who has all of the answers to all of our questions, and His name is Jesus Christ. Don’t forget to spend some time with Him today, He’s waiting to hear from you. Amen.
As I listen to various kinds of music, I listen to the lyrics. I listen to see if it speaks to me, and if it does I continue to listen to it, but if it doesn’t I don’t. Music has to touch that certain part of my heart that makes me want to share it, because if it makes me happy I want to share it to make others happy. Sometimes when I listen to music, I listen to the rhythm of the music, I listen to see if it has a good base line that I can groove to. I like music that puts me in a good mood, that makes me smile, and especially it has to sound so good that I want to listen to it when am cleaning; everyone needs a good piece of music to listen to when cleaning, it make it fun and time goes by fast, and before you know it you’re done. I remember one day I was mopping the kitchen and I was listening to my favorite compact disc, I mopped that floor like it had never been mopped before; I mean it was sparkling whenever finished. I said to myself that I needed to listen to music every time I cleaned the house, and that is just what I have done. It makes cleaning fun and I have a good time doing it. Music sometimes makes me think back to when I was young hanging out with my friends. It makes me want to relive those years again, but that is past history. Music has lyrics that speaks into your life, sometimes it tells stories about joy, happiness, sadness, tragedy, but most of all music is fun to listen to. Without music, we would not be able to ground out the noise that we hear on a daily basis. Music brings families together when we plan parties, family reunions, class reunions, concerts of various kinds, and when you are just listening in your vehicle while driving, or when listening through headphones. There are many ways to listen to music today. Back in the days people listened to the radio, phonographs, record players that played albums such as forty-fives that used a needle to hear the sound through speakers, and if it was scratched the record was ruined, unless the flip side had recordings on it. Now we have You Tube, Internet, I Pods, MP3’s and other ways to listen to music. I must say it has came a long way from the way it was before. There are more ways we used to listen to music. There were Boom Boxes that played tapes that you had to pop in a tape deck, compact discs, or CD’s. There were Jukeboxes that you had to put money in to play a record. Now everything is electronic.
I love music. I think my life would be boring without it. I grew up listening to music all of my life, and now our children does as well. I don’t think I will ever be without a way way to listen to music; even if I have to sing it to myself. So, for everyone that loves music, keep on listening to whatever makes you happy and want to groove. Keep on sharing that universal language. Peace.
Jeremiah 29:11- For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
There are times when I wonder what our Lord thinks towards me. I know that I am not perfect, I have my flaws just as anyone else and God still loves me the same. When I was younger, I would think that God was just waiting for me to do something bad to be punished for, but although I may have made a mistake here and there, I still loved God. As I grew older and learned things that would make me wise, I started looking at God differently. I started seeing Him as my loving Father. Now that I am grown and have children of my own, I try to be the best parent that I can be for them. My children often talk about what they want to do after they finish high school, what they want their futures to be like, where they want to live, but they always have told me that they would always come back home. I want my children to have bright futures. I want them to live their lives loving God and always knowing that HE will always be there for them. I want them to know that God wants them to have peace in their lives, never evil, and I never want them to give up on hope, and the future that God has planned for them. Our Father wants us to have the very best of everything, He will not give His children just anything. He wants us to prosper in our lives. HE wants us to be happy; even though there are things in this world that could harm us, HE wants us to be happy in Him knowing that HE is here to protect us from harm. HE thinks the best thoughts towards us; we are His children, just as we have the best thoughts for our own children. God does not have any evil thoughts towards us; HE loves us! HE loves us just the way we are, flaws and all. Let us always remind ourselves that HE only want the best for us; just as we want the very best for our children.
Matthew 6:33-“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things shall be added unto you.
When we feel that all hope is lost, and we are feeling in despair, we can seek God and talk to Him about how we are feeling. When we need to know the plans that HE has for us, we can ask Him. We have a Father in heaven that is always ready to listen to our hearts cry about the things that are going on in our lives; it is not that HE doesn’t already know, but HE wants us to share them with Him. HE wants us to know that HE cares about every aspect of our lives. When we need wisdom we can ask for it, when we need understanding about certain things, we can ask for it, when we are at our wits end, HE IS THERE TO HELP US COME BACK TO REALITY TO KEEP US FROM LOSING OUR MIND. We are human beings. Life sometimes has us distracted by the things that are going on around us. We lose focus of what is really important, and that is our relationship with our Heavenly Father. When we seek Him first, everything else falls into place. There is no telling how many blessings we have missed out on because we forgot to put Him first. We must always thank the Lord for all that He has done, for all that HE is doing, and for all that HE is going to do in our lives, and in the lives of our family members, and friends.
Don’t forget to consult with our Heavenly Father, and most of all, don’t forget to pray for this great nation that we live in that is the United States of America! Amen.
In verse (3), God tells us that He will give us the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that we may know that He, the Lord , who call us by our name , Am He, the God of Israel. God knows our name. He knows everything about us. He knows how many hairs we have on our head. He will give us the treasures that the enemy has stolen from us, He will give us treasures that we know nothing about that are hidden in secret places. God will call us by our name just as He called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by their names.
In verse(4), For Jacob My servant’s sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. This tells me that eventhough there are those that do not know God, He named them. It is a shame when someone names you and you do not know who they are, or want to find out who they are.
In verse(5), God tells us that HE is the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God beside Him. He will gird us, though we have not known Him. There are a lot of people in this world that do not know God. They have never heard His name spoken, or they have never had the Word preached to them about Him to get to know Him. In order for us to get to know Him is to read and study the Word that HE has left here for us. It was not just written for the fun of it, it was written for us for a purpose, and that purpose is to get to know God, and to get to know His Son that we may become disciples of Jesus Christ. That we may follow in His footsteps doing the right thing for others. He left us the Great Commission is this: Mark 16:14-18 says this: Later HE appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and HE rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe these who had seen Him after HE had risen. And HE said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ” “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” “And signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; “they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”He also tells us that HE makes peace and create calamity; He is the Lord and He does all of these things.
We are not to complain about what God does. HE is God, and HE does what pleases HIM. We are to just accept it. Never forget how much He loves us; including those that do not believe in Him. Just know HE is watching over us all of the time. HE never slumbers nor sleep; HE is ever watching, leading and guiding us through our lives as we live from day to day. We are His workmanship. We were created by HIS hands, and it is because of HIM that we have life, and not just life on this earth, but eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ. May God our Creator be Praised, Worshiped, and Glorified, and Adored from generation to generation. May His name be always spoken. God bless.
As we know, John has baptized Jesus, and the Spirit has led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Jesus was in the desert for forty days and forty nights without any food and water to eat and drink. When a person goes that long without food and water, their minds does weird things. You began to see things that are not there, and hear voices. But Jesus knew why He was in the wilderness.
Now when the tempter came to Him, he said,”If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread”. But Jesus answered and said, “It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds fro the mouth of God”. Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him,”If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: “He shall give His angels charge over You”, and,”In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone”.
Jesus said to him,”It is written again, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and shawed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him,”All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me”.
Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written,”You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve”. Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Are we that strong when we are faced with temptations in life? Do we think about what Jesus did when He was in the wilderness. Countless times we have been in the wilderness; it may not be the same kind of wilderness that Jesus was in, but it is still the same when it comes to temptations. Are we strong enough to resist it, or are we not?
We have the Word of God to fight the Devil with, just as Jesus used His Father’s Word to fight Him with. When we remember what Jesus did, it is not hard to fight the Devil; He has to bow down and flee when it comes to the Word of God. He does not have any control over us. He takes the Word of God and twist it by saying,”If this, and if that”. God’s Word is true and it is final. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken from it. You are either going to believe it, or you are not going to believe it; the choice is yours becasue God gives us free will. He lets us make our own decisions about things, becasue He knows that when we see that we cannot do anything without Him, we are going to come back to Him so He can help us fix what has been broken.
Tonight has been special, my daughter and I had bible study together. She taught the lesson and it was great! I am so proud of her. She has really learned a lot from me. I sometimes wondered if she was paying attention to the way I was teaching; she was and that makes my heart happy. She is the baby of the family, the last one. It is special to me the times we have had Bible Study together. I like making memories that will last a life time. It makes me happy to know that I am doing the right thing by teaching her the Word in this way. She teaches with authority. It makes me happy to know that she loves Jesus the way that she does. I never thought that I would have a daughter like her. She is so smart in discussion of the Word. God has used her in such a way that she may share the Word with her peers. I just do not know what I am going to do when she makes her way in this world someday. I know that she will remember everything that I have taught her. I have been teaching her all of her life since I had her. Her faith is so strong. Sometimes she has to remind me of things that I have taught about faith; she is such a blessing to us all. She has joy like no other. She always has a smile on her face when she talks about Jesus. His Spirit lives deep within her heart, and I can see it when she speaks His name.
Take some time out and spend some time just discussing the Word with family and friends, you never know, someone just might give their lives to the Lord. May God be praised in Jesus’s name Amen.
The story of Ruth is one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read. It starts out sad because all of the women have lost their husbands due to death. It was in the days when the judges ruled, and there was a famine in the land. Elimelech was Naomi’s husband, his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-Judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. They took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
After they lost their husbands, Naomi told her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. To make a long story short, Orpah left, and Ruth stayed with Naomi. She loved Naomi. She went with her. Naomi wanted them to leave because she had no more sons, no husband to have anymore sons, and if she could have more sons, would they wait until they were grown enough to marry, I EXPECT NOT, because if they did, by the time they were old enough to marry, her daughters-in-laws would be too old to marry them anyway. She wanted them to go and have a life of their own, to start over, to have their own families, to marry again. I can totally understand why she wanted them to leave. Yes, she loved them, but she loved them enough to let them go. They were sad and in tears; it was a bittersweet moment. Ruth clave unto her. Naomi told Ruth ,”Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law”. Ruth said to Naomi, “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Ruth loved Naomi as if she gave birth to her herself. She made it plain and clear that she was not leaving Naomi, so Naomi stopped asking her to leave, they left where they were and went to Bethlehem. When they arrived to Bethlehem, all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
They all were surprised to see her. Naomi told them not to call her by her name, but to call her Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with her. She told them that she went out full, and the Lord hath brought her home again empty: so why call her Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against her, and the Almighty hath afflicted her? She wanted to be called what she was feeling, and what she was going through. We are not identified by what we are going through, but we are who God say that we are, and it is a blessing that we do not look like what we have been through.
Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. Sometimes we go through things that we have no control of, and we see the bad in all of it, but instead of looking at all of the bad in things, we must look at the good as well. Things happen for a reason because God has already had things planned that way. We may not understand everything that is going on, but God will take our situations that we are going through and turn it around and use it for our good. There is a lesson in all that we go through. The lesson is that God sent His Son into the world to redeem us of our sins and ourselves. Just as Naomi ,and Ruth were going through what they were going through, God turned it around for their good. He already had planned who the kinsman redeemer was going to be to Marry Ruth, and that Naomi would have someone to take care of her in her old age. See, God has a plan for all of our lives, we just have to ask Him what that plan is, and He will show us.
Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. Boaz took on the responsibility as the kinsman redeemer. Just like Jesus is our kinsman redeemer, we are joint heirs with Jesus, so what is His is ours, and what is ours is His, but in actuality, everything is His already. Boaz was a good man. He made sure that Ruth was taken care of when she was in the fields gleaning, he made sure she was protected while she was in the field gleaning, he made sure she had all that she needed. She only was to work in his field with his hired hands, and his maidens. He told them what to do for her and they made sure they obeyed him. She did just as he said as well. We are to obey God. He is our Father; He created us. We are to show Him respect just as we show those respect that we work for.
In the last chapter of Ruth, verse fifteen, ,”And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life , and, a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him. And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.(16)
(17)And the women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
As this chapter ends this book, it gives the generations that leads to King David’s birth. I have read this love story more times than I can count. I see something different in it every time I read it. It makes me think about where God has brought me from in my life. It makes me think about when I met the love of my life. What is it that you see in this beautiful love story? How does it make you look at the things that you have gone through in your life? We have all gone through tragedy at some point, but God was there to deliver us through it all. He redeemed us when Jesus shed His blood for us on the cross. Those were our nails of sin, that was our crown of shame that was placed upon His head. Those were our stripes that He took for us all night long. He took the punishment that we deserved. We may have not been there in person when all of that was going on, but all of our mistakes, tears, heartaches, heartbreaks, disappointments, and all of everything that would ever go wrong in our lives was on Him!! We complain about all of he things that we go through, but it is nothing compared to what Jesus went through for us that we may be free. It was His sacrifice that set us free. It was His blood that washed us clean. He laid down His life for us, so what gives us the right to complain and grumble about anything that is going on. We should count it all joy when we go through things, because Jesus paid it all. He paid the ultimate price that we will never be able to repay, not in this life, or in our eternal lives with Him. We all need to take inventory of our lives and examine ourselves before we start to complain about things that we have no control of. He is in control of everything in this whole universe; every living thing, and every blade of grass; animals and all. So the next time we start to complain, we should think about Jesus our Lord and Savior.
May God bless and keep you in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Amen.
Matthew 5:17- Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.
First of all, Jesus fulfills the law by example. He fulfills it by His life. He said truthfully,”I do always those things that please My heavenly Father”. The father said,”this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. The Scritures say He was without sin; He fulfilled its every demand. What it said, He did. What it described, He was. He is both the Holy Son of God and perfect man at all the same time.
A Second way He fulfilled the law was not in His life, but in His death at the Cross. In that He was fulfilling the penalty of the law. The law said,”The soul that sins must die”. And we were all under the curse of the law and deserved death. He died on the Cross that separated Him from the Father-when all along it was we who deserved death. Thank God He fulfilled that law. Otherwise we’d have to fulfill that part ourselves. It would be all over. And eretnal death would be ours for the eternal crime of transgressing against an eternally Holy God.
The Third fulfillment of the law. Jesus fulfills the law by empowering us to walk day by day in godliness.
Colossians 1:27- To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Galatians 2:20-I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Romans 3:21-24-Also goes a long way toward telling us how Jesus fulfilled the law in the area of justification on our behalf.
Romans 3:21-But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ***Pay close attention here-this is good news! May it be that these verses are used of God to bless your soul. The righteousness of God is there in the law for it says, be righteous just as God is righteous. ***The law of God tells us how righteous God is-and how righteous we ought to be. But here we note a righteousness that is apart from the law; it is wholly unavailable through the power of the law.
Romans 3:24- Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christs Jesus:
Romans 8:4-That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
I have really enjoyed sharing this lesson that I have been studying with you all. It makes my heart happy to know that God has provided a way to share His Word with all people. I hope this has been an inspiring lesson. I hope eyes were opened and hearts were touched. As a continuation to this lesson, I want to share the remaining Scriptures with you all from the lesson : Growing In the Grace of God that I recently posted.
Romans 6:14-For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
John 1:17-For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth comethrough Jesus Christ.
2Corinthians 3:7-8-But if the ministration of death, written an engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?
John 1:16-And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
John 1:14-And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us(and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)full of grace and truth.
Galatians 2:21-I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Romans 3:24-Being justified freely, by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Titus 2:11-For the Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Titus 2:12-Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in the present world;
2 Peter 3:18-But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
Acts 20:23-So now bretheren, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Hebrews 13:9-Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines,[that is, weird teachings contrary to the Word of God, often contrary to the grace of God.] For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods [that is, ceremonial, religious foods] which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.
2 Timothy 2:1-You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 5:2-By whom we also have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 1:17-For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written,”Then the just shall live by fath”.
Romans 4:16-Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace.
Living By Grace : James 4:6 ; Romans 5:2 ; Romans 1:17
God is so good to me. He has given me the ability to write this, eventhough I have been having writers block for the past few days. Again, please take some time and just let God know what He means to you. He is an Awesome God! I just do not know where I would be if He were not in my life. His love will never fail, it will never run out, and HE will never give up on us; He loves us! I pray that God will continue to smile on this country. Don’t forget to tell someone that you love them. God bless everyone, Amen.
When we see the word “foundation”, we think of houses being built, tall buildings being built, and we cannot wait to see what the finished product is going to look like. There are instructions that are to be followed, blueprints to go over, and deadlines to be made. Everything must be perfect in order for things to go right ; so that the building will be strong to stand for many years.
When we look at our lives, I believe that we may sometimes think that everything is perfect, when in actuality it isn’t. We are all flawed in some way, we all have imperfections, but that doesn’t make us any less unique.
When we look at Jesus, and when we think about our faith that we have in Him, we know that He is our True Foundation. We build our faith in Jesus. We stand on His Word because we know that it is very strong, and we don’t have to worry about it failing. Jesus is our Perfect Foundation. He will always be Mighty and Strong! Nothing can ever make Him Fall, He is The Almighty God in the flesh! His Words penetrates our souls that we may stand strong in Him as He stands strong in us. When we are weak, He is strong in us. When we are weary, He is comfort for our souls. When we are hungry, His Words feed our spirit. When we are thirsty, He is water to our souls. When there seems to be no way, He is our way. When we were lost, He came and found us.
He has and always will be Our True Foundation. We don’t have to be like the man that built his house on the sand, we are those that has built our house on the one and only solid rock that is Jesus Christ. We never have to worry about being washed away, or blown down. Jesus is our stay.
Our faith is what we believe, our heart is our house, and Jesus is our perfect resident that lives in our hearts, minds, and our spirit.
Make Jesus your One True Foundation today, you will be glad that you did. Jesus loves us all. He is smiling , and He is waiting with His arms open wide for His lost children to come to Him. No matter where you are in your life, you can always return to Jesus; I did, and I am so very glad that I did. He will change your whole life, you just have to want Him to.
May our God bless and keep you safe in Jesus Mighty Name! Amen.
He holds us all in His Mighty Hands. He will never let us go. He is the love that will never, ever let us go. Amen!
The message of the Law is thus: Be as holy as God if you want to relate to Him-be as holy as God if, by your best effort, you wish to measure up to His commands and standards. The message of the Law of God is that if one wants to relate to a perfect God through His performance before His standards and Laws, then there is one thing that person must be: PERFECT.
Galatians 4:22-For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman.
Galatians 4:21-tell me, that ye desire to be under the Law, do ye not hear the law?
The Inability of the Law of God: Hebrews 7:18-19-Speaks to us from God Himself concerning the inabilities of the law of God. *There is a better hope. It is called the grace of God. And it is by which that we do draw near to God. Hebrews 7:18-19-For there is verily a disannuling of the commandment going before the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
Galatians 2:16-Emphasizes that the law cannot in the same area of justification -as well as sanctification-the law cannot provide what is needed before a holy God and perfect. Justification (the beginning of our new life with God)and sanctification(growing and maturing with God): these are experiences foreign to the work of the law. The law makes nothing perfect, neitherin the area of justification.
Justification-Being declared innocent, not guilty-and that the one declaring it is the holy, perfect, righteous judge. We are justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. So the law cannot save us. It cannot give us a perfect standing before a holy, righteous, and perfect God. The Law cannot justify. We have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ. No one can be a Christian unless they understand it is not by works of the law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ that men are saved.
Galatians 3:2-This only would I learn of you;Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or bythe hearing of faith.
Galatians 3:3-Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye made perfect by the flesh?
Romans 3:19-20-Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
First: the law is able to silence every mouth. Second: The entire world is accountable to God because all have violated His standard. Third: The law gives us knowledge of sin. The law does have ability and we want to let the law do its works.
Galatians 3:24-Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: The greatest ability and greatest purpose of the law os God is to tutor us, teach us, train us, and instruct us of our absolute and total need for the Lord Jesus Christ. **Because of the measure of the law, we,recognize we need something better than the law. We recognize our need for Christ. The law says,”Be perfect”, [holy”]. And we can only respond, “Perfect? But I am far from Perfect”. Yes, you need Christ. This is the message of the law; it leads us to Jesus Christ.
First Timothy 1:8-But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully; **If we use it for the reasons God sent. The law has still more interesting work that it can accomplish in the life of a Christian-even once we have found Christ. The law deals with rebelliousness and carnality.
First Timothy 1:9-Knowing this, that the Law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and profain, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
First Timothy 1:10- For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers,for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
Galatians 5:18-But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. **When led by the Spirit, God’s children are not under the law. If we are being led, day by day, by the Holy Spirit, Walking in the Spirit, depending on the Spirit, then we are not under the law.
Rather, we are relating to God by the Spirit’s work in and through and with us. But if we are walking in self-sufficiency, walking according to the flesh, we throw ourselves in the midst of our rebellion back under the law. So then, the law can have a work in our lives as Christian. The law can minister rebuke from a loving, heavenly Father. It can minister to our need for humbling in light of rebelliousness and self-suffiency in our lives. It speaks to our redeemed hearts, reminding us that we need to return to God; dependence on Christ and His Holy Spirit. We need to flee back to grace.
*In the message of the law is that we must be holy and be perfect. But the inability of the law is this: it cannot make us perfect, neither in justification nor sanctification. So then, its ability thus: its power to reveal God’s character, His standard, and His will; its power to hold us accountable to God; its power to strip men of every defense before God; and most importantly, its power to reveal the truth and depth of our sin and thereby tutor us to Jesus Christ.
Jesus is always there whe we need Him. We must remember that. Amen.
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
What kind of light are we? Are we dull, or dim? Are we so bright that we are seen is a dark world, or are we so dim that we blend in with the darkness of a dark world? Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth. We are seasoned with the Word of God, but how may we be seasoned if we are not studying it every day? We should be seasoned in and out of season with the Word of God; so that when we are asked what is the hope of our salvation, we will be ready to give an answer. We are like a city that is set on a hill, we cannot be hidden in a dark world, we stand out even in the darkness. Because we have Jesus living inside of us, He is seen in us, and His light is shown all around. His light breaks the darkness and brightens the way in this dark world that we live in. When we are doing the work of the Lord, people will see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
If a basket has cracks or holes in it, and a light is put under it, the light beams comes out in all directions, it does not just shine in one place. Just like us, we cannot just stay in one place; the word of God must be spread to all of the ends of the earth, and when that happens I believe Jesus will be ready to return. Our nation is going through so many things, and our nation has gone through a lot since 9/11. We need Jesus to look on this nation from heaven and smile on us, but that will take a miracle. The world is a beautiful place, but because of sin, it became a very sinful place. We need the light of Jesus Christ to permeate this world, to make things right.
We need His love to lead and guide us when our hearts are hurting because of sin. We need Him to comfort us when we see all of the devastation that is going on all over the world. We need His love to be in out hearts when everything is tumbling down around us, and we just don’t have a place to turn, or to run to when all hell is breaking wide open. We need His strength when we are weak in our spirit, because of the warring that is going on with our spirit and our flesh. We need His peace when the enemy has beat us down with our past mistakes and failures. We need Him when our children are rebelling to do their own things, and turn from God. We need Him to hold us when we are falling apart. We need Him like we need our next breath, our next everything.
When we pray, let us not forget to ask Jesus to shine in us, through us, for us, and all around us. Most importantly of all, PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO ASK HIM TO COME INTO YOUR HEART AND BE YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR. Amen.
John 1:1-In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The Word has always existed, we had not yet been born to know God, or know the Word. God created the world so that we would have somewhere to be born, and to learn about Him. Had God not created the world, there would be no place for us to live. God has always been, and He will always be even after this world has passed away. His Word will always stand forever.
John 1:2-The same was in the beginning with God.
This verse takes me back to Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. All things in this world was created by God, if it were not for God, nothing would have been made. Life would never have been created. God has power to speak things into being; HE spoke and it was. This explination resonates through verses 3-4.
John 1:4-In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Verse 4. All life is in God. HE is the ultimate light in all life. He is the light that shines in all men and women. It is His light that produces the love; His love that He wants all people to see. We are to be the lights that give hope to a lost and dieing world that does not know Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Once we lived in darkness doing the deeds of the Devil, but now that we live in the light, and for the light, we no longer have to live for darkness, or live in darkness because the light who is Jesus Christ lives and shines in us.
Living in the darkness brings up strief, lust, false accusations, jealousy, envy, hate, murder, and all the things that are not of God, but of evil. When someone lives in darkness, their heart and soul is in darkness and they cannot comprehend nor see the light. The person doesn’t know how to live in love because it is not there. They cannot do something that they were not taught, and they cannot give what they don’t have. They listen to rubbish that is fed to them from those that are living in darkness themselves, so that is all they know. A person that calls themselves a Christian should know better than to listen to such things that are not of God. God is truth, and the Holy Spirit is truth, and Jesus is truth.
The Holy Spirit will lead and guide us into all truth. He will teach us the ways of God. He is there to comfort us when we lose someone we love, He is there to help us understand things that we don’t understand. There are times when God is silent and we don’t feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. We become uneasy, nervous, and afraid. It is in theses times that God wants us to pray evenmore, and trust Him eventhough we may not sometimes feel His presence.
We must know that God will never forsake us. He is always with us leading and guiding us, protecting us from danger , and harm. He is always watching over us through every storm of life that we go through. He is forever speaking to us through His Word, to our spirit with His still small voice. The love that God has for us will never fail.Human love does not always last, because human life and love isn’t forever. Humans hurt one another on a daily basis. He’ll never stop loving us because that is who He is.
It would take a lifetime for us to learn how to love like that. I feel that it hurts God’s heart because we do not know how to really and truly and genuinely love someone as He wants us to.
My Prayer: Dear Father in Heaven, Please help us to remain in the light of Your love. Help us to look to You for guidance and instructions concerning our lives. Please help us to know You more, and how to love one another as You have always loved us. Help us O, Lord, to seek Your face in all things from this time forth even until forevermore. All praise, glory, and honor, and thanksgiving belongs to You O, God, We love You. In Jesus name I pray and ask all of these things, Amen.
Continued Scripture from John:
John 17:3-Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, to whom You have sent.
John 10:10-The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life,and have it to the full.
John 20:30-31-Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
Don’t forgt to spend some time with Jesus, He is waiting for you.
Proverbs 22:6-train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
A mother is a person who takes care of her children from the moment she knows she is with child. She takes care of herself properly to ensure that her child is born healthy and strong. She reads good material to keep her spirit up, and she listens to soft music that is calming to her spirit. When time has come for her child to be born, there is pain like no other. After it is all said and done the pain is forgotten. A mother looks at her child with love in her eyes; she knows that it will never fail. She holds her child close to her heart to feel the heartbeat of her child that connects them forever.
She raises her child in the ways of the Lord. She teaches her child right from wrong. She hopes that her child will always remember what they have been taught. She talks to her child about life and the things that she wants for her child. After years has come and gone, and her child has grown up , she notice changes that ought not be so. She just wonders why. She doesn’t want to accept it! She hopes and prays that it is just a phase, and hope that it will soon pass away. She loves her child, but that lingering feeling of sadness never leaves her. She asks her child of certain things, but to no avail the truth isn’t told; those around her knew and saw the truth that she didn’t want to accept.
She asks herself, where did she go wrong, and what did she do wrong for all of this to happen. She doesn’t understand any of this at all. She is frustrated by this sudden truth. She does not know what to say, think, or what what to do anymore. She has so many questions as to how can this be? How and why did this happen? She poured into her child the Word of God!! Now she feels like she has wasted her time, only to be poured out like water on a dry and thirsty ground, but it just stays on the surface never receiving the water , so the ground is still dry, parched, and cracked.
She finds herself back in the “Valley of Why”?!? Why does things like this happen when a mother raises her child right? Why would a child turn to rebellion instead of doing what is right? Why would a child hurt their mother, father, sisters, and brothers by their wrongdoing?
It makes her feel as if what she done was not enough. It makes her question herself as a mother. It makes her feel empty and numb to the point that she cannot sleep. Her heart is just devastated! How can she accept such a thing as this? How does she deal with this kind of truth? How can she not have questions about this matter? Will things be the same? Will things be different?
She will love the same, she will not judge, but her heart cries out for the answers that plagues her. She knows that God has all of the answers to her questions. She knows He will answer in due time. So, for now, she will pray for strength and guidance, and she will forever love her child that she gave birth to, the child she raised. Who knows for how long due time will be? Only God, because certainly not she.
Jesus, in the Valley Alone, praying. It doesn’t hurt to be alone with the Father of all creation pouring out out hearts to Him. Amen.
In this part of Isaiah, God is telling us some very important things that He will do for us when we walk with Him. Cyrus was His instrument. When we think about it we are to. There are times when we feel like we have to take on paths in our lives that will lead us to the things that we want in our lives, but we want to do it without God. We cannot do anything without God. Without God,we will always run into brick walls.
In verse two, God tells Cyrus,”I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron”.
God will go before us and make all of the crooked places straight. He will make our walk smooth. There are always roads going in different directions that will try to take us off the path that we are traveling on. Those crooked paths are things that are not really important; they are destractions, such as the things of our past. We do not want to travel back down those roads. We must focus on the path that is set before us, and that path leads to life everlasting.
There may be obsticles in our way but God will break them down. It doesn’t matter what kind of materials it is made out of. God created every stone , material, and every element, there is nothing that He cannot, or will not break down concerning His children. God is a Mighty God. He is strong and victorious in all that He does.
When you feel yourself becoming anxious because you do not know what path to take, turn to Jesus, He will always lead you in the right direction in all circumstances. No matter what the situation is in your life, you can always count on Jesus. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will hold your hand all of the way home. He will be there for you whenever you need Him. He is our Father! Not only is God our Father, He is our best friend! He will be there through the good and bad times. He doesn’t just want us to call on Him in the bad times, but in the good times as well. He wants to commune with us; have a relationship with us, He is our family! He wants to give us the desires of our hearts. He looks at us with love in His eyes on a daily basis; not just sometimes but all of the time. Is it so hard for us to remember that? When we look at ourselves in the mirror, we are looking at His reflection. We are created in His image, He is beautiful and so are we. When He created us, He created masterpieces. There is not one person that is the same in the whole world. We are all unique in our own way, but most of all we are His! He loves us all just the same, there is no respect of persons, He treats us all the same. He loves us all the same. What He does for one he does for another. He is a good Father!