Tag Archives: christian

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Do Over!

id-like-do-over[1]

Lamentations 3:21-26 (NASB), “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the LORD.”

Remember the school playground? When we were kids whether we were playing foursquare, hopscotch, or kickball, at some point you would hear the words shouted, “Do over.” Usually it was by the kid who threw the rock across the blacktop instead of in the hopscotch boxes, or tripped instead of kicking that ball. I loved that phrase. It allowed us to pretend we hadn’t messed up. Our mistake didn’t count against us. We could totally miss the ball and then in a “Do over” hit it out of the park.

Have you ever, as an adult, wanted to shout “Do over!”? Or maybe you weren’t that kid, so that phrase isn’t one you are comfortable with. Instead you would say to yourself, “why did I do that?” or, “I wish I could start over,” this one is popular, “If I had it to do over again…” When we say or think these things it is always with regret. In our thinking it’s a done deal. There is no “do over’s” in real life. Right?

Psalm 103:8-18 (God’s Word Translation), “The LORD is compassionate, merciful, patient, and always ready to forgive. He will not always accuse us of wrong or be angry [with us] forever. He has not treated us as we deserve for our sins or paid us back for our wrongs. As high as the heavens are above the earth- that is how vast his mercy is toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west- that is how far he has removed our rebellious acts from himself. As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him. He certainly knows what we are made of. He bears in mind that we are dust. Human life is as short-lived as grass. It blossoms like a flower in the field. When the wind blows over the flower, it disappears, and there is no longer any sign of it. But from everlasting to everlasting, the LORD’s mercy is on those who fear him. His righteousness belongs to their children and grandchildren, to those who are faithful to his promise, to those who remember to follow his guiding principles.”

David wrote this, before Jesus paid for our sins. Under law, he knew of the compassion and mercy of God. Our opening scripture in Lamentations, still under law, written before salvation had come to mankind. If Jeremiah and David knew that “His mercies are new every morning” and that “As far as the east is from the west” He has removed our sins from us. How much more, now that Jesus has died for our sins, should we know of His everlasting mercy and grace?
So are there still “Do over’s”? You bet there is! It’s the biggest “Do over” of all, and it won’t cost you a thing.

You just have to be like that little child again and admit you messed up. Go ahead, dare to think it, yell it, or even scream it… “DO OVER”, now accept the work He did for you and let’s move on to a better life, shall we.

Father God, Thank You for Your patience. Only You could continue to love me, care for me, and extend Your hand of mercy again and again. Your love knows no bound, Your forgiveness is complete, and your patience is monumental.

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Review Anyone?

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I have just published my third Devotional, “Further In” and am in need of some reviews. Reviews sell books! If you are interested in reading this book, or any of my other books, and leaving a review for me on goodreads, amazon and/or smashwords, I can email you a digital copy of one, or give you a code to purchase one (for FREE) on smashwords. I am only asking for an honest review. If you are interested you can comment or email me at authorjodiwoody@yahoo.com
Thank You!
Jodi

Here is the link to my author page on Amazon if you are interested in any other books: http://www.amazon.com/Jodi-Woody/e/B00BYDBQ0A/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1429101933&sr=1-2-ent

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We the People

Constitution[1]

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

If you are an American Citizen, you should recognize these two phrases. The first is the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. The second is the opening to the Constitution of the United States of America. I am proud of them both and the men who had the courage to draft them. Though they may not be popular today, and so many are trying to slander the men who wrote them, they are a testimony of a group of people who came out of tyranny into freedom. It may be hard for modern Americans to appreciate or understand either of these documents, but for Christians it should be easy. I use that word, “should”, because for most of us we don’t. There are many Americans who wouldn’t be able to identify either of these documents, and sadly even more Christians who don’t even understand that they have won freedom from the tyrant.

I guess I can’t really blame the Christians after all they don’t teach that kind of history at school, Biblical History. However, it’s time to educate ourselves! Here is a simple lesson.

Adam (and Eve) disobeyed God. From that day on mankind had lived under the tyranny of Satan. Each person born is born into sin, they have a sin nature and Satan is their ruler.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…For if through the offence of one many be dead…For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one…Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation.” All taken from Romans 5:12,15,17,18 (KJB)

Romans 3:23 (Aramaic Bible in Plain English), “Because all of them have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God,”

It’s not my fault! I hear you thinking. Original sin may not be your fault, but what makes you so sure you wouldn’t have done the same thing, or sinned in a different way, sin is sin? You may have been born with that nature, but you don’t have to hang on to it. Keeping it is your choice. If you still have it, it is your fault. There is a way to change your nature; in fact you can be given a brand new one. God has made a way for you to live free. You don’t have to live under Satan’s tyranny any longer.

Shall we take another look at some of those verses in Romans 5?

Romans 5:15-21 (KJB), “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

One man may have messed it all up, but One Man fixed it all. Yep, all. It’s finished. All you have to do is declare yourself free. Speak out your own “Declaration of Dependence”. Declare yourself dependent on God, on His plan of salvation for you, and Jesus’ work on the cross.

Then line yourself up with your new Constitution. What is that? Your Bible. It lists every right and responsibility that is yours as a citizen of Heaven. They are unalienable rights that have been endowed by your Creator. I know that is a very simple way of looking at Salvation. So what, it was never intended to be complicated. We complicate things. Look what we have done to the Constitution of the United States. Those founding fathers wouldn’t recognize it now either.

Let’s recap: once you were a slave to your flesh and under Satan’s rule. Christ died for you and now you have been made free. He has given you all authority to walk as a son of God. The only thing stopping you from doing that is you. Easier said than done? Maybe sometimes, but that won’t keep me from trying. My faith isn’t in me, it’s in Him. I may not be able, but He sure is.

I am free! So are you. If that doesn’t get you excited then nothing will.

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Prayer of Exaltation

praying-hands[2]

Oh, Heavenly Father, Maker of the Universe, Breaker of Bondages, Most Great and Wonderful, Marvelous is Your Name. Holy are You, Lord, Righteous Ruler of Heaven and Earth, how great is Your Mercy and how abundant is Your Grace. Father God, bless me this day, my spouse and my offspring, those we bore and those we adopted, in Jesus Name. Surround us with Your favor, guard us with Your Mighty Host. Dispatch Your angels to work on our behalf and to minister in our lives according to Your perfect will.

Lord, let the world see how You have blessed us and be jealous of those blessings. Let their hearts desire an intimate relationship with You. Let Your goodness, evident in our lives, turn their hearts to repentance. Holy Spirit, brood over their hearts and bring Godly sorrow so that they yearn to be free from all the bondages of sin and death.

Holy Father, You alone are worthy of all praise. You who have formed me and fashioned me according to Your purpose and plans for my life, I exalt You, Lord. Thank You for Your unfailing Love towards me.

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Free Christian Romance EBook

Savage_Love_Cover_for_Kindle

I am offering one of my Christian Romance books free for the month of April. Follow the link. If you want to leave a review for me at smashwords you will need to add it to the library by clicking on that button. Options are for epub (e-readers), mobi (kindle version) or pdf (a document for computer).

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Your Labor is Not in Vain

AngelWarrior[1]

I Corinthians 15:58 (AMP), Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord [always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord], knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not futile [it is never wasted or to no purpose].”

We who are born of Heaven are not working on our own. We are co-laborers with Christ. We have a myriad of angels working on our behalf, ministering in our lives according to God’s perfect will. There is so much going on “behind the scenes” that it would make our heads spin. In the spiritual realm there is no inactivity, no sleeping, it is always moving and things are being accomplished every second. Satan knows that his time is short, so the battle that is being wages is massive. Sometimes I wish that I could be like Elijah’s servant and see “those that are for us” who outnumber those who are against us. Remember only one third of the angels fell, which means there are twice as much for us as are against us. We are at war; we are soldiers of the Most High.

What are we fighting, laboring for?

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT), “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

God handcrafted us as a master artist, to do good works. Every gift and talent that He placed within us is to further His Kingdom, to bring Heaven to earth. He has so much love that He isn’t satisfied with a small family, He wants a huge family. Our job is to bring them in.
I recently read a book about the Andersonville prison camp for northern prisoners of war, in Georgia during the Civil War. The conditions there were horrible; you can google it if you want all the gory details. The general in charge had never stepped inside the walls. The townspeople ignored the smell and the rumors of the men who were rotting alive. Some of the guards who were called “Sentinels” were about the only ones who felt any compassion as they witnessed it firsthand. Those were so overwhelmed by the futility of trying to help over 13,000 prisoners, without the general’s approval that they did nothing. One particular part of this story really moved me… there was an older guard who began bringing a potato, or a lemon and dropping in from his guard tower for a particular soldier to eat. When a younger guard who had become so depressed by what he was seeing that he was losing all faith in God, asked him “what is the point?” This was his answer (paraphrased), “I may not be able to feed them all, but by God I can feed one.”

I got to thinking about that, after I cried for about ten minutes. That’s how I feel sometimes when I see how bad the world around me is, when I feel like there are so many who don’t know God. I have asked myself, “how can we ever reach so many”, or “what can I do, I am just one person?” But, if we all have that same attitude as the older guard, each one reach one, our churches would be full! I am not responsible to save the world. Jesus already did. I just have to take one person at a time and let them know that this war is already one. Tell them, and more importantly show them the love of God. His goodness turns hearts to repentance. Those angels I was talking about are working on them, the Holy Spirit is brooding over their hearts preparing them to receive, and Jesus is wooing them.

Yes, there is work for us to do. Spiritual and physical, we need to witness and clean the toilets. We need to feed the hungry and change diapers. All done for God, all as co-laborers with Him, and it will all glorify Him.

We are not spinning our wheels, if we are led by His Spirit, though it may seem that we aren’t accomplishing much in the natural, our labor is not wasted or futile!

So, keep working. Take one day at a time, but look at each one and each opportunity in the light of eternity. Always remember, there are more for us than against us!

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I Am Not “A Sinner Saved by Grace”

I Am What I Am[1]

If you’ve been around for very long in Christian circles or even if you haven’t, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “I am just a sinner saved by grace,” usually uttered in false humility, true low self-esteem, or full of pride and bravado. The problem with this saying is that if you are saved, it just isn’t true!

Yes, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (I John 1:8, Romans 3:23). However, once we surrender to the loving Creator of the Universe, the God of Mercy and Truth, He makes us brand new!

II Corinthians 5:17 (Holman Christian Standard Bible), “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.”

Ezekiel 26:36 (NIV), “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

We aren’t renovated, remodeled, or patched and pieced back together. We are brand new. Not made from old junk, but made of all new material. We are born of heaven now. The Kingdom of God is in us! There are no sinners in the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of God is not in a sinner.

Luke 17:20-21 (ASV), “And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God cometh, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, There! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you.”

Jesus who was sinless, through the finished work on the cross has made me righteous. I have been brought out of darkness into His light. I have been adopted into his family and am now a son/daughter of God. He was the firstborn of many brethren. I am one of those brethren. Not because I am something special, or because I deserved it, or earned it, just because He loves me. I could have never fixed my life, or made my heart brand new. Only He could, and He did. He said, “It is finished.”

II Corinthians 5:21 (KJB), “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV),” For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

When I was born, I was born into sin, into this world and under the ruler of this world. By no choice of my own, Satan was my “father.” Thankfully, I gave my life willingly to a new and better Father. He rules with Love and Peace, not fear and hate. Once I was born again, or born from Heaven, I received as a gift, the nature of my new adopted Father. I have the nature of God, not the nature of my old father (Satan). I don’t have two natures. Just like a cat can’t have a nature of a dog. There is no place for false humility, and if you are saved you should find an abundant amount of confidence in Him. There is no place for pride, we can’t boast. Pride is sin, plain and simple. When we have the attitude that we are “sinners saved by grace” we want to boast about our sin, how horrible we were. We also want to justify any sin that we still commit. “Of course I sin, I’m just a sinner saved by grace.”

Romans 8:17 (ASB), “Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

I am still alive, in a fallen world, and Satan is still alive and active in this world. My spirit is willing, but my flesh is still weak. So yes, I will sin until I die. However, it doesn’t happen as often, and I don’t let it keep me back. It doesn’t make me a “sinner.” (Using a butter knife to remove a screw does not make it a screw driver.) If there was nothing I could do before I was saved to make me a saint, why would anything I do after I am saved make me a sinner? Now when I mess up I repent and move on. Each day I am getting more and more like Jesus. God forgives and then doesn’t remember the sin ever again. When He looks at me, He doesn’t see my past sins, He sees his son/daughter. He sees a joint heir with Christ, a co-laborer with Him.

David questioned God about being so focused on us, just human beings. Before Jesus died for the sins of the world, before redemption and restoration, God was “mindful” of us. We were in a class just a little beneath the angels. Angels and humans alike are created beings.

Psalm 8:5 (NIV), “You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.”

Now that I am accepted in the beloved, adopted into His family, and am the body of Christ and His bride, I am in a different class. Now I am in the same class of Jesus. I am not deity, never will be, but I am still seated in Heaven with Him. Now those same angels are here to serve me. They aid and protect me, and they minister in my life according to the perfect will of God.

Hebrews 1:13-14 (NIV), “To which of the angels did God ever say, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Emphasis mine)

Now I am a SAINT. You don’t, or can’t earn sainthood. It’s not something that you become once you perform certain tasks and then die, hopefully to have the church recognize you later and label you “saint.” When I accepted Jesus as my personal savior I became a saint. The veil was torn, I now have free access to the Father and He calls me a saint.

Philippians 4:21 (NASB), “Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you.” (Again emphasis mine)

Greet every saint, every believer, every follower of Christ, every Son of God, every member of the body of Christ, that’s who Paul was talking about. Other versions say, “God’s people”, “God’s holy people”, and “Every one who believes in Christ.”

We need to be sure of who we are! We waste time and energy if we don’t. How can we walk in the power and authority given to us by God if we want to identify ourselves with who we were before we met Him? Does a butterfly fly around saying, “I am just a caterpillar with a fancy set of wings?”

Yes, I was a sinner, but now through the finished work of Jesus on the cross, by His grace, I am now a saint.

Who are you?