Stop saying how things are “supposed” to be

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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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God ordains good for our lives

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God ordains good for us even in the midst of great suffering. When Jesus hung on the cross , it seemed like it was over.  His apostles were bewildered and discouraged.  They may have felt that all was lost. However, God ordained Jesus' sacrifice since before all time.  God knew how it was going to go down in the Garden with Adam and Eve .  But He is always working out, ordaining, good plans for us, for the world. I have been in a very difficult situation, some would say near impossible, for around 11 years now.  If I believed everything I read about leaving "toxic" relationships, I would have disobeyed God and taken matters into my own hands with a seeming "fix." Our culture has become so self-obsessed that enduring even the least bit of suffering, even for Christians, is to be banned, to be unacceptable.  We've bought the bill of goods that this life is to be about nothing more than our pleasure and comfort. But when God allows all kinds of suffering in...
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