This is my song based on various Scripture verses about who we are in Christ. It's fun, upbeat, and will stick with you. Remember who you are at all times!
I have been waiting for some email responses lately, some of which can potentially change my life. It has been nerve wracking for me. I've prayed about it, gave it all to God, and yet it still weighs on my heart and mind - the uncertainty, the wondering, and the not knowing. It's hard to truly let go sometimes. I believe I trust God with my whole heart. And yet when there are some issues on the line that affect my life, affect my immediate future, and just plain can either make life harder or easier for me, I give in to anxiety. It is a miserable place to live! But I do not need to stay in that miserable state of mind. Especially when I belong to omnipotent God who is for me, on my side, ever watching out for me, and doing all sorts of wonderful things on my behalf behind the scenes. How do I know He does all of these and more? He promises to do them. And if you are a child of God, you too have the same promises from His infallible Word. We will still have to wait on so
In the age of "unfriending" and "ghosting," divisiveness and polarizing, it is more crucial than ever that we be grounded in God's personal love for us. It is very easy to fall into the trap of comparing God's love for us to people's love for us. God's love is unlike human love in every possible, imaginable way. The love we give and receive from others is but a taste, a tiny glimpse, of God's vast love for us. They really cannot be compared at all, if we are honest with ourselves. People can be very fickle. People change. People have issues of their own that they are either dealing with or in denial of. People can be looking more to get love than to give love. Most wait to give love until they get it from another first. It is the rare person who gives love freely without expectation. That is exactly how God loves us. We love because He first loved us (see I John 4:19). While the world seems to be spinning out of control, resulting in a so
The number one thing I want Christians to understand is this. There is nothing in us, in and of ourselves, that can pull off the Christian life. Now let's pause right here. If the "Christian life" means nothing more to you than attending church and trying to be a "good person," you haven't a clue as to what it is truly about. God calls us to be holy. God calls us to love each other. God calls us to live a life worthy of Himself, His calling for us. God calls us to forgive others. God calls us to put Him first above all else (including reputation, money, and family). The question we must face is this: are we able to accomplish any of these things on our own? The answer: no way, no how, not in a billion years. Maybe outwardly, but not from our own inner selves. So why would Jesus tell us to do what we are not able to do? We must be able to do these things or He wouldn't have commanded them, right? We truly can only do all of these, and more, through C
We learn in chapter 5 of Nehemiah that the government was overtaxing the Jews. Nehemiah's response to this had various stages. First, he was angry. Then he thought about it. Let's pause here. How many of us give in to anger over injustice only to "live" there instead of regrouping and giving it thought? Do we tend to let our emotions get the best of us? Or do we move on into rational thought instead? It's hard to do sometimes, but very possible! Nehemiah's response after he gave it some thought was to confront the powers that be over their misdeeds. He told them flat out that they were taking advantage of his people. He said directly, "The thing that you are doing is not good." (v 9) That took guts! Then, Nehemiah told the governor to fear God and restore to the Jews everything they had stolen from them. It's like they needed to be told, like children, right from wrong, and how to rectify their wrongdoing. And they listened and did what
Continuing my study of Nehemiah, we learned that he finished the physical labor of building the wall around Jerusalem. But wait, there's more! Once his work was done, there was the work of maintaining what he had built. Isn't that just like our lives? We think we have "arrived" in some area, finished a task, only to find that it isn't really over. And though the building process is difficult and wrought with challenges, maintenance brings its own set of issues. We cannot rest on our laurels, as tempting as it may be. There is always some more work to do. In chapter 8, we read that Ezra read God's Word to God's people. There was much rejoicing and worshiping. However, there was also weeping and grieving. It does not say why the Jews were weeping, just that they did so while hearing God's Word read aloud to them. "For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law." Nehemiah 8:9 My guess is that they were conv
Comments
Post a Comment