Shine!

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 My Scripture song on Philippians  2:14-16.

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Cha-Ching!

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Are you a member of any rewards programs?  I am.  It's fun to receive bonuses and offers simply for being a good customer.  You know the ones I mean, a discount offer, something for free, and other special perks.  Who doesn't enjoy these rewards? But did you know that Jesus offers us eternal rewards that never spoil, fade, or perish?  I want in on that program!  Of course, it is not a program at all.  But there are definitely awesome rewards.  But you need patience to wait for them, and lots of faith to know that they are waiting for you, because they won't be revealed this side of heaven.   Some of the rewards we can look forward to: Loving our enemies.  Cha-ching! Forgiving those who hurt us.  Cha-ching! Obeying God no matter what. Cha-ching! Seeking Jesus daily.  Cha-ching! Trusting God more than self.  Cha-ching! Believing in God's goodness during the hard times.  Cha-ching! Knowing God.  Cha-ching! Choo...
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Putting Jesus first

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This morning, during my quiet time, I was thinking about how I put the Lord first.  My internal dialogue went something like this. Lord, I put You before my husband.  I felt the Spirit in agreement. Lord, I put You before family.  I felt the Spirit's approval in this, too. Lord, I put You before self.  Crickets. That is where the Spirit stopped me short.  Not so much agreement there. Oh, Lord.  How do I do this?  I do not want to put myself before You!  Help! I felt the Spirit speaking to my heart: You do this every time you don't trust Me about something or someone.  You put your human reasoning first instead of My Omniscience about a person or situation.  This, My beloved is nothing but pride. Ouch.  The deadliest of all sins.  And yet I know the Lord has humbled me through the many years I have known Him - and I let Him humble me. So is pride something we wrestle with as long as we're in this body?  And how do we even k...
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Admit defeat and win!

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Admit defeat and win?! That statement doesn’t make sense! Or does it? When we surrender to God, admit that we cannot win against the spiritual principalities in our own strength, then He comes in and wins for us. That is the only way to victory in the Christian life!  But first, we must acknowledge that we are no match for the devil, the enemy of our souls, when it comes to spiritual warfare.  That is a job for Christ, for only He is the Victor. Our Lord made a spectacle of the devil when He died for us on the cross.  Satan was defeated then and there.  Alleluia! So though the devil is still active in this world (duh), think of him as always trying but never winning.  That is the great deception that he offers the world - that he can still take God’s place.  He is already defeated. But millions around the world do not know this, and that is how he gets into people’s hearts and lives, unknowingly. So when we admit that we cannot slay our Goliaths, but in the...
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Beyond, not better

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Some are further along their walk with Christ than others. That doesn’t make them “better than” others, but they are beyond them.  This is not prideful but simply a fact. I may be on mile 4,000 and you may be at the 10 mile marker. Or vice versa. Why bring this up at all? Because we cannot expect others to “meet us where we’re at” if they have never been where we are.  More importantly, we should not let others pull us back to a place with God from which we have already trod. Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land out of a courage based on their faith that God was with them. Hard to believe, but they were the only two to do so out of millions of Jews. Not very good statistics, but fact. I believe this historical fact plays out still among God’s followers. Not many will enter the Promised Land out of fear or other excuses.  Were Joshua and Caleb “better than” the others? They were as human as the rest of them. But they went most definitely beyond the others.  So w...
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He sees further than we do

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When you accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, you sign up for all sorts of things that you didn’t know you were signing up for. For me, much of the time I don’t like God’s plan. Just sayin’. Why not? Because. It’s. Hard. You can love the Lord with all your heart and still not be crazy about His plan at times.  Yes, of course I am familiar with Jeremiah 29:11.  But we all know that some days, some seasons, some years, some lives are just plain hard. Growing up is hard and that is exactly what we’re called to do as His children: become mature adults in every way, especially spiritually. Where’s the fun in that, you may wonder. God asks hard things of us. There’s a popular saying these days: We do hard things. Good for you. But the sorts of hard things that Jesus calls us to are actually impossible in and of ourselves. Why? Because they are supernatural. How many of these can we actually do in our own strength? - stay in peace while being attacked verbally or spiritually or ...
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