WARNING!!!!

"A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day;
restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand."  Proverbs 27:16-17

The words above may or may not reflect the wife of our home :)

Faith - Belief - Rewards

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

It is a three fold admonition with a promise.  You need faith to please God.  You must believe that he exists.  And believe that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. 

Let's make sure we know more about what pleases God...it is not an act of service in your church or nursing home or school or family gathering or anything that makes you work at getting approval.  No.  It is believing that He exists.  The bible starts with the words, 'In the beginning, God created...' so that is where faith starts. Believing that God was there in the beginning of the creation of the World and that He is the Creator. 

It takes faith to believe.  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Were any of us there in the beginning? Nope! But, if you ask Him in prayer today He will show you in a very personal way that He was there.

And if we respond to the faith and begin to believe, it takes root in our heart. And it begins to show us that we have a problem.  Ungodliness. Things in our life that don't please God. And we must believe Him for even more than His existence.

An anointed word was given to the nation of Israel about the need and promise of a coming Savior. Isaiah, God's Prophet, foretold that God would send the sign of a virgin woman who would be with child and give birth, and we would call that child Immanuel - which means God with us. 

Scripture says that God so loved the World that he sent his one and only son to it to save the world from sin and ungodliness.  And that whoever believes in the Son will be saved from their sinful choices and patterns and spend eternity with God.  

Was Jesus called Immanuel? God with us? Yes. By the multitudes who met him, walked with him, saw him die and saw his resurrection. And by all today who believe because of those eye witness accounts in the holy scriptures that pointed to Him and the signs that accompanied those words. And the signs that still point to him today.  He was with us then and with us now for all who believe.

And if you believe, you will be rewarded.  But let's look at that reward...it will not always be financial or relational (as in desiring a committed  relationship with a certain person) or material or physical or emotional. No. It is receiving the reward of knowing that He knows you and has called you His Child.  And then, when you come into a relationship with Him, you will see your desires begin to line up more with His desires. And He desires to give you the desires of your heart. He says his reward is with Him and he will give to everyone according to what he has done. It is a future reward.  Though we have many heavenly blessings on earth too!

God is faithful.  He has prompted all in one way or another to seek after Him. No one is without excuse of seeking after Him. No one. 

So what have you done with the promptings of God to believe in Him? In the whole counsel of God's Word? In what ARE you putting your faith? In what do you really believe? And from where do you want your rewards to come? From this world alone or from a future hope in the Everlasting God who loves you with outstretched arms and desires to draw you to him with cords of lovingkindness? 

Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe he exists! And those who earnestly seek Him, will be rewarded.

Hebrews 11:6, Genesis 1:1, Isaiah 7:13-14, John 3:16, Matthew 1:21-23, Hebrews 11:1, Psalm 37:4,  Romans 1:20, Psalm 57:10, Revelation 22:12

Power and Mercy

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  "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power."—Nahum 1:3

 
 My Lord is like a highly decorated soldier in full uniform with his young toddler by his side who is not afraid of the weapon he holds in his holster.

Plans

Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
    but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Proverbs 19:21

A New Season

Many people have asked us what we are going to do since my husband has left his job after 30 years.  It is a question that causes a bit of anxiety, but we have turned that over to God and are committed to not running ahead of His Plan. Yesterday we asked for a fresh promise from His Word.  We received an answer today.

"Stand firm. Let nothing move you.  Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58

All we can say is "Amen!" to that.  And trust that He will add another layer to this new promise.

Love

"God is love'"

Do you believe that? It is a biblical truth that is told to us so that we can discern the difference between hate and love.  It is powerful to even think about, especially when we celebrate Valentine's Day and the word 'love' is so lightly used. I wanted to research true love. So I found a letter from one of Jesus' disciples.  I would love for you to read it.

Dear Friends,

Let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us; He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

This is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Love,

John


1 John 4:7-11

Heartfelt words

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ”

John Bunyan (November 28, 1628 - August 31, 1688), a Christian writer and preacher.

Refreshing

My mom is a wonderful cook and has blessed many with her hospitality.  Lately, I see our daughters opening their home and hearts to friends...it is their way refreshing others. It is lovely to see the tradition continue.  There is a proverb that speaks to the blessing received when one is generous in this way.

"A generous person will prosper;
    whoever refreshes others will be refreshed."
                                                                                          Proverbs 11:25 
 
 

Enlightenment

The apostle Paul was once blinded to the spiritual truth about Jesus. It can be similar to us who try to read the bible for the first time.  We may understand the historical content or a story, but we are blinded to the truth and our spiritual understanding is foggy.  It actually can be frustrating and discouraging. Paul was so angry with those who followed Jesus that he raged against them. But one day, God chose to knock him off his high horse and blinded him by light. When Jesus spoke to him at that point, he believed.  (See Acts 9 for Paul's Conversion)  Later, when Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus, it was personal. He knew that in order for them to understand spiritual truth, they needed the spirit of God to enlighten their eyes. Otherwise, God would have to knock them off their horses too! When you try to read the bible, pray to God to help you understand. I know He will help. Today's devotional;

  New Eyes

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope . . . the riches of His glorious inheritance. —Ephesians 1:18

A college student I met had recently placed her faith in Christ. She described her initial life-change this way: “When I trusted Christ for salvation, it felt like God reached down from heaven and placed a new set of eyes in my eye sockets. I could understand spiritual truth!”

It was moving to hear how her encounter with the Savior brought new spiritual perception. But her experience is not unique. Everyone is endowed with spiritual sight when they trust Christ as their Savior. Yet, at times a “fog” rolls in and our spiritual vision becomes cloudy and unclear. That happens when we neglect our relationship with Him.

In Paul’s fervent prayer for believers’ spiritual sight, we see how important it is to fully appreciate all that God has done and will do for us through Christ. He prayed that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened that we “may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:18).

Each believer has been given new eyes to discern spiritual truth. As we keep our hearts tuned to God, He will help us to see with our spiritual eyes all that He has given to us in Christ. —Dennis Fisher

I once was blind but now I see!

Our Daily Bread Ministries www.rbc.org

Boldness

As I read the scripture today about the Apostle Paul, it brought back to mind how I first responded to people who tried to share the hope of Jesus Christ with me.  I was a mocker.  The bible tells us that Paul was a mocker and murderer of the early Christians. Paul later wrote that the early churches in Israel had only know him as, "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." And yet later, they praised God because of him...because of his boldness AFTER he came to believe.  After he believed, he lived for Christ and Christ lived in him.

	The Indwelling Christ "And they praised God because of me." (Galatians 1:24)   One of the greatest doctrines of the Christian faith is the amazing truth that the Lord Jesus Christ indwells each believer, through His Holy Spirit. "Christ lives in me," said the apostle Paul (Galatians 2:20) and, since that was true experientially as well as doctrinally, he could invite people to see Christ and hear Christ and follow Christ by seeing and hearing and following him. This might seem incredibly arrogant if it were not real.   He could say, for example, that "it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me" (Galatians 1:15-16). And he could say, as in today's verse, that those who heard him "glorified God in me." He also commanded, "Whatever you have learned, or received, or heard, or seen in me, do: and the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:9).   The Lord could say to His disciples, "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9), and no one thinks it inappropriate, because He fully manifested the heavenly Father in word and deed. Similarly, Paul said that "the truth of Christ is in me" and referred to "Christ speaking in me" (2 Corinthians 11:10; 13:3), noting that Christ was "at work in my ministry toward the Gentiles" (Galatians 2:8).   This was not boasting, for Paul acknowledged that "in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18). Still, he was bold to exhort, "Be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1).   Now the same Spirit of Christ who dwelt in Paul also indwells all true Christians, for "if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (Romans 8:9). We should be able to say with Paul, in practice as well as theory, that "Christ lives in me."   Days of Praise Devotional - Henry M Morris www.icr.org