Category Archives: Thoughts

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Forget About It!

Forget About It!

I love Psalm 103 (well I love a lot of scriptures), however this one has so much to say about what God has already done for us. Some of these things are: “His lovingkindness is forever to those who fear Him,” He knows we are dust so He doesn’t flip out when we mess up, He has the compassion of a Father towards us, “He is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness,” He renews my strength like the eagle, performs righteous deeds, “He has redeemed your life from the pit,” “Pardons all my iniquities and heals all my diseases,” and here is the verse we are talking about today:

Psalm 103:12 (NASB), “ As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

East will never meet West. So apparently our sins are gone, gone, gone. He says so. If we have truly repented, turned from our wicked ways, He removes that sin. Again, it’s gone.

Isaiah43:25 (NIV), “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

Our sin is gone, it’s blotted out, removed, gone, and here’s the important part, He remembers them no more. Did you get that? He chooses to forget about them all. Anytime you try to remind Him of how ugly you used to be, His answer is, “I don’t remember that.”

A great man said it this way,

“Until God can change or lie, he never will bring to mind again the sin of that man whom he hath pardoned.” Charles Spurgeon

So…

Quit holding your past mistakes over your head, quit holding others sin over theirs. You need to do what God did/does. I have heard people say, “I forgave, but I just can’t forget about it.” Well, that’s what the Holy Spirit is for. He’ll help you forget and whenever you think about that sin, yours or theirs, rebuke that memory, and choose to think of something else. Remind yourself of these scriptures.

And…

Forget about it!

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I Don’t Fit In!

Hebrews 1:14 (NLT), “For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.”

Like a square peg in a round hole, we just don’t fit. That’s because we were meant for so much more than what this fallen world has to offer.

God clearly tells us that we are just passing through this life. Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for us with the Father. Heaven is our home. Spiritually, we are already seated there with Christ.

So what is a sojourner to do?

I spent years of my life trying to fit in. I was a bit like that little lizard that can change to hide himself in whatever environment he is in. I became an expert at being fake. That seriously messed with my head. I lived in constant fear that someday they would figure out that I wasn’t really who they thought I was. Even my own family didn’t truly know the “real” me.

What a waste of time!

Thank God that He not only knew me, He loved me, the real me. I couldn’t pretend to be someone else for Him. What a relief. It took years to undo the damage I had done to my life. I had to learn to be a God pleaser instead of a people pleaser. I had to find my identity in Him. He showed me my true home and my wonderful future. That wasn’t even enough for Him, then He promised to give me heaven here on earth.

Now, instead of trying to “fit in,” I am trying to bring heaven to earth. I am doing my best to introduce others to His love and care. When they accept Him and His love, they too will stop trying to fit in!

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What Are You Investing Your Time In?

Jeremiah 2:32 (NIV), “Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.”

How many of us go about our day and “forget” God? I know, we have a multitude of excuses, and reasons, and complicated lives. Yet, it’s all a matter of what is important to us, where our priorities are. Listen to what Jesus tells the disciples in Matthew.

Matthew 6:19-21 (KJB), “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

He is talking to them about what they are investing their time, money, and energies into. Instead of working for things that are short lived (temporal of this earth and for a limited time), they should be working for treasures of heaven (long term, eternal, heavenly things that last forever). Whatever we earn here is quickly used up, wasted, rotted, spoiled, moth eaten, and temporary! Yes, we have to work, yes our kids need shoes and clothes and a warm place to lay their heads. However, that can’t be our first or only priority.

When we put God first, spending time with Him in the word, in prayer, listening to what He has to say, fellowshipping with Him and other believers, the rest will come easier.

Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan? And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans pursue all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.”

Stop worrying! Don’t fret. He wants what’s best for us. He always has and always will. Investing your time in a close relationship with Him will always pay off.

“We can be tired, weary and emotionally distraught, but after spending time alone with God, we find that He injects into our bodies energy, power and strength.” Charles Stanley

No matter what happens during our day, when we purpose to spend some quality time with Our Father, peace will come into our hearts and lives.

What are you investing your time in?

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Trust

Jeremiah 17:7 (NLT), “But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.”

Blessed is the one who trusts in Him. Period. This isn’t rocket science. If we trust Him, we are blessed.

It all boils down to this: How much does He love me? When we are sure He loves us we stop questioning Him and just do what He tells us to do. This is putting our faith on Him and Him alone.

I have been struggling with some trust issues the past few days, feeling like I have bitten off more than I could chew and felt like I didn’t have it in me to do what I had purposed in my heart to do. An old enemy, anxiety, came creeping back, and I am ashamed to say I didn’t toss him out as quickly as I should. After a wonderful encouraging Sunday morning message, and some lengthy prayer, I finally realized that my lack of trust wasn’t in myself, that unwelcome anxiety was the result of placing my trust in ME instead of in Him.

Simply put, it was sin. So, what does a person do when they realize they have misplaced their trust? Repent! I told God I was sorry, thanked my Pastor for the message, and changed what I was thinking.

This morning during my quiet time with the Lord, He spoke these words into my heart, “I LOVE you, let that be your strength today.”

Do I trust Him! You bet I do. Do I sometimes forget He is trustworthy, sadly yes, yet, He is faithful to remind me of His love. And because He loves me, I can put my trust in Him.

Amen!

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See Him Smiling

Numbers 6:22-27 (Message Bible), God spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron and his sons, this is how you are to bless the People of Israel. Say to them, God bless you and keep you, GOD smile on you and gift you, God look you full in the face and make you prosper. In so doing, they will place my name on the People of Israel—I will confirm it by blessing them.”

(Verse 25 NIV), “the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;”

I am not sure which version I like better. God smiling on me is a wonderful picture. Who doesn’t like to have someone’s face light up with a big smile whenever you walk into the room? However, the words “His face shine on you” reminds me of the warmth and brightness of the sun. On a gloomy, overcast day, with moods grey as the sky, when the sun bursts forth from behind the clouds, something sings in my heart.

For too long, people have had a vision (a false one) of God being angry, a picture of a stern face and a disappointed Father. It’s not the kind of Father most people would want.

It’s time to get that lie of Satan out of our minds and out of our hearts. He (God, our true Father) is SMILING ON YOU! He is NOT angry, disappointed, or ashamed of you. He loves you, He is there to help you, and He wants only the best for you. He isn’t some distant deity that is watching on high to catch you doing something wrong. He is patiently waiting for you to give Him a place in your heart. He longs for you to return His love, just like a child to a father.

He is not frowning on me, my Heavenly Father is smiling on me!

See Him smiling on you.

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Get Up!

Luke 22:46 (NIV), “When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

We all get tired, lazy, under the weather, weary, and lethargic and the list goes on… But God says to us, “Get up!”

Not much good happens while we sit on our backsides. Sure a bit of office work, some reading or computing, but actual work for the Lord, work that wins souls and pleases Him happens when we are up and moving.

Sure Jesus made it through it all without the prayers of the disciples, but perhaps His suffering would have been less, or maybe the real suffering happened to the disciples because they didn’t watch and pray.

We do get down, but make sure you call on the strength of God and get back up.

We feel week and tired, but He promises us rest.

He also cautions us not to grow weary in well doing. That doesn’t mean don’t do good things, it means build yourself up in His most Holy Word and walk in His love and strength.

Get up!

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What Is Your Bait?

Romans 4:2 (BSB), “Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?”

Matthew 4:19 (NIV), “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

If we look at these two scriptures it is clear that Jesus want us to be a witness to people. He wants out lives to be a shining example of the Father’s love and goodness. Why? Because people will see how kind and caring He is and want what we have… the love of a Father.

If we think a minute about fishing in the natural. We find out what fish like to eat and then we “bait” our hook or traps with it.

We don’t fish with a frying pan.

Neither can we “catch” converts by telling them they are sinners and treating them like they are sub-par to us (Christians).

The end of that fish may very well be the frying pan, yet we don’t show them one and expect them to want to get on the end of that hook. They are gonna run from us.

If we spout hell and damnation to the lost… yep, they’ll run.

The goodness of God turns hearts to Him. Is He good? You bet. Has He been good to you? Tell someone.

That folks is our bait.