christianity Archives - Page 9 of 18

March 8, 2018

Brick by Brick

2 Corinthians 4:8-9
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

I am struggling today with a couple of personal issues. My father is in the hospital with pneumonia. Praise God he is doing well, but it was quite a fright for all of us last night.

While in the ER, I received some life-altering news that part of my dissertation examination was rejected. Besides feeling like a failure, I am not sure where this path is leading me.

What I do know is this, there is a plan for me. I may not see the path right now but it is being laid out brick by brick.

I don’t know what you are going through today, but I woke up this morning after a horrible day and the Son still shined! He brought me these verses for comfort and now I pray them over you.

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19

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February 26, 2018

I Want it MY Way

Isaiah 40:31
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

I have faith in God
I don’t worry that God Can or Cannot do something
I worry if and when he will do something
Will he do it my way?
Will his way be painful?

I know the verses also about him loving me
If you being evil give good gifts
How much more God will give those who ask. (Matthew 7:11)
But will It be my way?
But will it be painful?

Realization:
God will work out everything for my good! (Romans 8:28)
No, It will not be my way!
Yes, It may be painful!
But In the End
It will be perfect and wonderful!

February 19, 2018

Sit Back and Watch

Philippians 4:6-7
⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In one of my devotions this morning, I was reading about not worrying and learning to trust God with all your problems. I loved it when the author said to tell him your problem with trusting and thanksgiving, then watch him supply your need.

Then watch him supply your need…

I pondered these words for a few minutes and two things came to mind right away.

First, just like Elsa, we need to Let it Go! I am not saying stop praying, but stop worrying. You have turned it over to the only one that has total control over the situation. Let him do his thing. Often when something is eating at me, I have to turn to verse seven. I lay claim to that peace which transcends all understanding. I have to tell Satan (and myself) I have already prayed about this and it is out of my hands and now I am going to rely on God’s peace!

Second, (I chuckle at this one because it sounds so like me) when we make our problems known to God it doesn’t say, give him your suggestions for solutions. It says to make your requests known.

Maybe that is why he tags on verse seven, hoping if we relax in his peace we will Let it Go and Let God.

God never promised us life without problems. He promised to walk through life with all of its problems right beside us. Troubles will come our way. Anxieties and worries will strain our very last bit of hope and faith. However, we can take all of our problems to God and be assured he will send you peace while you sit back and wait for him to supply your need in his own way and his own time.

February 9, 2018

Waiting On Trains

Romans 12:12
Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times.

So I am currently stuck in my car waiting on a train. What do I mean by stuck? Well, there was a train on the track in front of me so I turned on the road before I got to it.

That didn’t work out so well because there was a train stopped on that road too!

Can you say a lesson in patience?

Yes, friends and family and all those that know me all too well, I CAN hear your laughter!

No one has ever accused me of being patient.

However, today I am taking a minute (or 30) to take a breath and laugh.

Yes, laugh!

Let me let you in on the joke…

I had been driving a car that I am pretty sure was held together by tape and chicken wire. It has selective heat. I mean it has heat as long as the car is moving. However, stop moving, for a light, stop sign or perhaps a train and Boom! Nothing but cold air. On my way home from work, I am generally stopped by a train 2 to 3 times a week.

Earlier this week, I found myself blessed with a new Jeep. I was so excited! God not only gave me heat. He gave me heated seats!

That is what I call a God wink. you know that moment when you can feel God winking at you and saying,”I got ya, girl! I love you!”

Well… now comes today. On my way home, I laughed as I drove over those tracks. I was thinking now that I have heat, I haven’t been stopped by a train.

I am sure somewhere in Heaven angels rolled their eyes as God said, “Challenge Accepted!” you know the rest. Or almost…

The train finally cleared the tracks thirty minutes later and I thought I had finished my blog. However, I had to add to it once I got home. You see, after going over the tracks, I managed to hit EVER SINGLE red light the rest of the way home.

Yep, somewhere God is getting a good laugh at this. You know what, so am I! Because I had heat AND a warm behind!

February 5, 2018

Grace and Love

1 Corinthians 13:4
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud

I realized I forgot to blog on Friday. Actually, I had a lot on my mind. I had a migraine on my mind.

My doctor had me give up coffee and tea. Cold Turkey! Can you say major withdrawal? I had severe migraines, flu-like symptoms and oh yes, I was cranky! I am not sure I have apologized to everyone enough.

I am so lucky my family and friends were able to exhibit some 1 Corinthians 13 love. I sure needed their grace and understanding.

Aren’t you glad God gives us gace and love? How good are you at extending that same grace and love to those around you? Do you give grace and love to only those you believe deserve it?

News Flash!

That is not grace or love!

God does not dole out grace to only those he finds worthy. Thank Goodness! I am sure I would not be one of those worthy people.

Next time someone has you at your wit’s end, remember to fall back! Thank God! He has never left you without grace or love. So don’t give up on this person either. I am guessing you could both use some grace and love. I know I could!

January 29, 2018

Yet I Rejoice!

Habakkuk 3:18
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

I want to begin by apologizing for not blogging last week. It was a rather difficult week for me. For those of you who know me or have read my story, you know I am accompanied by a service dog. Meshach is my current service dog. He is actually my second service dog.

Annie was my first. We met when she was just six weeks old and were a service dog team for 8 years before I had to retire her because she was going blind.

This past week she had a stroke. We believed she was going to come out of it fine because she got up the next day as if nothing had happened. By Monday evening though, it was a very different story. She began to have seizures. She was no longer able to get up and move around. By midnight we knew we were going to have to make a hard decision the next day.

Tuesday morning I had to say goodbye to a dog that had saved my life so many times. I held her until her very last breath. She was surrounded by family and friends and made as comfortable as possible.

It has been a week since I came home and found her totally disorientated. It has been a long hard road, but I can now say her name and smile. I can remember all the funny things she did and laugh again.

Tomorrow will probably be rough because it will be one week since I said good-bye. The day the veterinarian calls to let me know I can pick up her ashes will be another. However, through this whole situation, the verse in Habakkuk has kept ringing in my ears. “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Every time I would begin to cry and get upset, I just kept repeating this verse. I won’t lie and tell you it made me smile right away, but it did make me breathe. It made me realize I would go on and I would smile again.

I can’t say for sure that our pets will meet us again in heaven, but I sure hope so. One of my friends put it to me this way. “Love is in heaven and Annie was pure love!”

January 19, 2018

He Trusts You!

1 Timothy 1:12
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.

What is your service? Do you work outside of the home? Is your service to your family in your home? Do you do both? What about church? Friends? Strangers?

God’s service is not confined to the four walls we call church. Nor, is only given to pastors, missionaries, and bible scholars. God has a service for everyone.

Here is something else you may not know. His service for you may always be changing. I mean daily!

I have heard that little voice before encouraging me to call someone, pray for someone, let the person go in front of me or even offer a helping hand. These little nudges come quite unexpectedly out of nowhere. I have even found myself in the place where God has asked me to give up my last couple of dollars to someone when I needed it. These are all calls to service.

Have you ever thought of it the way Paul so eloquently put it in 1 Timothy 1:12? God considered you trustworthy and appointed you to His service. Did you catch that? God considered you TRUSTWORTHY! He is trusting you to follow his instruction. He called YOU!

Not your pastor.

Not your Sunday School Teacher.

Not your small group leader.

Not the missionary or evangelist

Not even the little old lady down the street who knows every verse in the bible by heart and quotes it in every one of her prayers.

No, he trusted and called on YOU to perform this great service. No matter how small you may think the task is, in God’s plan, it is HUGE! And he has trusted you with it. The God of the Universe! The maker of all things has trusted you enough to ask you to do him a favor and perform this service.

So, the next time you hear that small voice answer with a “YES SIR! Right away sir! And thank you, sir, for trusting me with this task.”

January 17, 2018

Joy in Pain

James 1:2
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

Anyone else ever wanted to use a black highlighter over the above verse?

I mean, the word trials is synonymous with pain. As a matter of fact, Webster defines it like this:

a person, thing, or situation that tests a person’s endurance or forbearance.

synonyms:

nuisance, pest, irritant, problem, ordeal, inconvenience, plague, thorn in one’s side, one’s cross to bear;bore; informal pain, pain in the neck, pain in the butt, headache, drag, bother, nightmare, albatross; nudnik, burr under someone’s saddle, trouble, anxiety, worry, burden, affliction, ordeal, tribulation, adversity, hardship, trying time, tragedy, trauma, setback, difficulty, problem, misfortune, bad luck, mishap, misadventure

Well, that just sounds something worth being joyful over now, doesn’t it! Surely, God didn’t really mean we should be joyful when we are in pain. Or did He?

Let’s look at this another way. As a matter of fact, let’s take a look at the next couple of verses.

James 1:3-4

Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature.

Have you ever worked really hard on something? Maybe it was a craft like a painting, wrote a song, a book, crocheted a blanket. Or maybe you have done something athletic like made it on a team, lost weight, ran a marathon, triathalon or biked a century. Or how about saved up for something like a down payment on a house, a new car, cellphone or other big ticket item. Whatever it was you had to sacrifice. You sacriced time, money and yes, sometimes a little pain.

As a matter of fact it just might have been a nuisance, pest, irritant, problem, ordeal, or inconvenience.

The point is, when it was over you made it! You finished! You persevered! You probably learned a little something along the way. If nothing else, you learned you can do it! How sweet was that reward!

There are a lot of trials on Earth you would much rather avoid like, the death of loved one or an illness. However, even these have nuggest of joy. You grow stronger as you persevere through the trial. Maybe you find a friend to travel with you. Or perhaps you grow closer to God as he travels with you.

God never promised us he would get us our of trials, but he has promised he will go through them with us.

That is joy!

January 15, 2018

Don’t Be A Small Actor on the Stage of Life

Mark 12:41-44
The Widow’s Offering

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.

“Man we are scraping the bottom of the barrel!” Meaning we have no more! This is all we have to work with and this is it!

I have been in situations where I didn’t even have the barrel! I mean peanut butter and jelly was a luxury. I have stood in this widow’s shoes!

I can almost hear her thoughts right now…

Lord, the rent is do tomorrow.

My cupboards are bare and I really need to go to the market.

The oil is low, I won’t be able to heat my home or light the lamps.

But Lord, I have you. These two coins aren’t mine. They belong to you. You will provide all my needs.

Her actions were about so much more than money. They were about how large her faith, hope, and dedication to Christ was compared to the others. It is about how important the “little” things are when done for Christ.

These rich men gave what was needed. They showed up did what was expected of them and went on their merry little way. Their week ahead was not changed in any way. They were the “Sunday Morning” Christian.

God, I will give you what is expected. No more! No Less! I will put forth enough faith and hope to say I believe in you, but the rest of my life is my own.

The widow, on the other hand, puts all her faith and hope in God that day. She had no idea what laid ahead of her that week. She knew there were bills to pay, obligations to be met. She knew she would have no other way of surviving other than put all she had in Him.

Which spiritual coin purse are you working from? Do you give just wanted is expected of you to make it all look good? Or do you, like the widow, go all in? Do you bring to the table everything you have and put all of it in the hands of God?

There are no large or small jobs in the sight of God. There is only large or small faith in everything you do.

January 12, 2018

Today I Want to Pray for You!

Lord, today I lift up my family and friends before you in prayer, and in agreement with your word, I ask:

That they will love You will all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Mark 12:30

That they will be patient thus gain greater understanding, and that they will be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Proverbs 14:29, James 1:19

Thay You protect them spiritually, mentally, and physically. Psalsm 28 & 41

That they will submit themselves to you, resist the temptations of the evil one, and acknowledge You in all that they do so that You will direct their steps. James 4:7

That you will give them the desire, strength, and courage to run the race with boldness, so that they may press on toward the goal that You have called them to in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14

That they will be a wise steward of all the things You have given them, remembering that all things are Yours, given to us by You for Your purpose and glory.
Matthew 6:19-21, Luke 16:10-13

That they would meditate on your word, pray without ceasing, and stay faithful to you Lord Jesus to the end. Psalms 1:1-3, 1 Thesselonians 5:17

In Jesus Name, Amen!

Tag: christianity

Brick by Brick

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I Want it MY Way

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Sit Back and Watch

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Waiting On Trains

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Grace and Love

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Yet I Rejoice!

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He Trusts You!

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Joy in Pain

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Don’t Be A Small Actor on the Stage of Life

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Today I Want to Pray for You!

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