Tag Archives: God

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Choices

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Reading over what I have written, I can’t help but notice some re-occurring themes. God loves us, we have a God given purpose, there is a real enemy trying to stop us, and it’s all about choices. We have to choose how we are living our lives, choose to accept what God has for us, what Jesus has done for us, and where the Holy Spirit is leading us. It’s all a choice. God has given us free will, and then in His perfect plan, we line up our will with His.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (KJV), “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Joshua 24:15 (NIV), “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

God doesn’t curse us. Our Senior Pastor puts it this way, (I am paraphrasing), “Every choice we make plants a seed. When we plant a good seed we get exactly what that seed packet shows in the picture of the mature plant. If we plant bad see, we get that as well.” So let’s say you have a package of corn seed, the picture outside shows a juicy cob of yellow corn. That shows you what you will get, the outcome of the choice of planting that seed. If you chose to plant poison oak, (thank God you can’t buy those seeds!), you would expect to get what is on the outside of that package. When we plant the bad, God holds up that package and say, “this is what you planted.” The good news is that in His mercy and Grace, we can pray for crop damage. Living that way isn’t acceptable though. Paul says His grace doesn’t give us a license to sin.

What do you want in your garden?

I choose to plant good seeds, seeds that will come to fruition and glorify the Father, seeds that will bless, nourish, and benefit others. We plant, God waters, and His light nourishes. The harvest will be huge!

I Peter 1:13-21 (ESV), “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

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Book Review for “Many Waters”-Christian Fiction-YA

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I was given a copy of “Many Waters” by the author, William Woodall, in exchange for an honest review. This is book two of a series. I enjoyed both books. They are written about young people who are faced with trials. With God’s help (the author does not preach) and some help from friends and family they are able to overcome. This is a story of good versus evil, and has not only an element of fantasy, but is a good romance as well. Good for readers Jr. High and up. I think geared for YA. I do feel like there is some things left unexplained, some of the characters and who they are are a little vague. I would have given it four stars had things been a little clearer. These books need to be read in order. Not stand alone. I will definitely finish the series. No swearing or sexual content, some violence.

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Evil For Good

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Psalm 38:20 (Holman Christian Standard Bible), “Those who repay evil for good attack me for pursuing good.”

Psalm 109:5 (NIV), “They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship.”

Have you ever tried to help someone, it was even something laid on your heart by God, only to have it backfire? You poured out your love and in return they called your good evil, or repaid your good with evil? Maybe they slandered you, lied about the whole situation, tried to make you look bad? Maybe caused you some sleepless nights and some grief?

Join the club!

David is in this club. You can tell by some of the things he writes in Psalms. Some of his close friends and his very own family turned against him. They kicked him when he was down, shook their heads, and behaved as if they were ashamed of him. They lied about him. They returned his good for evil and his love for hate.

Jesus is in that club. He came to save God’s chosen people, along with the rest of us. Only to have them shake their heads, mock Him, and to call Him a liar and a blasphemer. People accused Him of everything, they still do.

Isaiah 53:7 (KJB), “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

1 Peter 2:23 (NIV), “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”

I am a member of this club. I’ve paid my dues. Not on the scale of David or Jesus, but it didn’t hurt any less. I have had evil repaid me for the good I have done. I taught school for thirteen years. It happens in the classroom all the time. Students lie about their teachers to cover their cheating, poor work effort, etc. In almost every instance their smart parents brought it up during parent teacher conferences, and the students were found out. However, that didn’t take the sting out of what they said. Some of the parents spread the lies and chose to believe their children. Those students ended up leaving our school and things didn’t turn out so well. The others, fessed up, and still treat me with love and respect when they see me. I have had people live in my home, family members, abused wives, abandoned teenagers, and foster kids. Most of them left with attitudes and slandered me and my husband. The few who accepted our love and our wisdom still stop by, they call, and they come for holidays. One is officially part of our family now. As an elder in the body of Christ, I have people talk bad about me. Sometimes they misunderstood something; sometimes they are just trying to take the heat off of themselves. It happens.

We can’t stop helping others. For my husband and I, after several not so good experiences with sharing our home, we decided we were done. Then a visiting prophet spoke over us that we were going to open our home up to those who needed love and help. My husband was going to love them unconditionally, he is good at that, and I was going to impart wisdom and tell them what they needed to do to get their lives right. Needless to say, we weren’t thrilled with that word! I can laugh about it now, but it wasn’t funny at the time. We had just come out of an ugly situation where we had to have a sit down with about three families and our Senior Pastor due to the lies that had been spread about us. But God knows who and when we need to help. So we trusted Him. I now have a family member in our home. My husband does the love thing, and I am doing the accountability thing. So far this is looking like a good outcome.

David didn’t stop helping. He asked God for help. He resorted to prayer. He continually put his hope and his trust in God.

Psalms 109:1-4 (AMP), “O God of my praise! Keep not silence, For the mouths of the wicked and the mouth of deceit are opened against me; they have spoken to me and against me with lying tongues. They have compassed me about also with words of hatred and have fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my adversaries, but I resort to prayer.”

We can’t hold it against them, no grudges. We have to forgive and love them. Keep them in our prayers. Jesus forgave.

Luke 23:24 (NAS), “But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.”

Doing anything less gives Satan the upper hand. He is the one who tries to bring division in the Church and in families. We have to do what we know we are supposed to and know that God preserves those who fear Him, those who trust Him. He preserved David and his household, all the way through until His own Son, Jesus, sat on the throne of David forever.

Do we live as doormats and allow people to walk all over us? No. Jesus didn’t rail against the people or even open His mouth to defend Himself at His trial. That is true. But we cannot allow division in the Church, (Satan’s divide and conquer technique) and as a teacher I couldn’t allow disrespect in the classroom. Those things weren’t Kingdome building behaviors. I called every one of them on the lies. I went through proper channels, parents with the students, pastors with the adults. Most of the time dealing with it directly brings repentance and forgiveness, which is a wonderful way to restore relationships. It keeps unity. The Apostle Paul had to deal with some bad behavior. It’s part of being a family. I am pretty confident that every Pastor, teacher or anyone who has opened up their home to help others has or will get burned. It’s human nature. But we now have God’s nature and we need to rise above that kind of thing. We are warned by Paul to not give up.
Galatians 6:9 (KJB), “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Love people. Help them. Be quick to forgive and slow to anger. Don’t hold a grudge, ever. Live like Jesus. Open your heart and if God calls you to, your home, and He’ll take care of the rest.

Romans 12:18 (Holman Christian Standard Bible), “If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.”

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I Am Fully Yours

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Psalms 96 (AMP), “O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless (affectionately praise) His name; show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be reverently feared and worshiped above all [so-called] gods. For all the gods of the nations are [lifeless] idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O you families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come [before Him] into His courts. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; tremble before and reverently fear Him, all the earth. Say among the nations that the Lord reigns; the world also is established, so that it cannot be moved; He shall judge and rule the people righteously and with justice. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all the things which fill it; Let the field be exultant, and all that is in it! Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy.” Before the Lord, for He comes, for He comes to judge and govern the earth! He shall judge the world with righteousness and justice and the peoples with His faithfulness and truth.”

Do you ever, like David, think about who God is, His magnificent, awesome, powerful, mind-blowing character? Then think about how small and fragile we are? I do. Yes, He is my Dad. I can be real with Him and He can be real with me. Just like He was real with David. Once when reading through the psalms I thought to myself, “David was kind of a whiner.” You know what God said to me? He said, “Kind of like you.” That wasn’t God being angry with me, or even His correction. It was my Dad being real with me. I swear I heard Him chuckle when He said it. So even though we are close and I am getting for familiar with Him every day, I have to still remember Who He Is. He is God. C.S. Lewis in the “Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe” puts it this way, when the children are in the Beaver’s home, one of them ask about Aslan, the lion who represents Jesus, “Is he safe?” Mr. Beaver answered, spluttering in exclamation, “Safe! Safe? No, He is not safe…but He is good.” He isn’t “tame.” He is wild and extravagant. He’s the wave pool, not the lazy river. He’s every adrenaline junkies dream.

But He is good. He is on our side and He loves you!

Father, I am overwhelmed by Your love! You made the worlds and set the stars, the suns, and the moons in the sky. You placed the deep waters in the earth and called forth all live. You created, in minute detail, every flower petal, every rain drop, and every downy feather on the swan. Yet, Your mind is full of me. You own everything, the cattle on a thousand hills, the very air I breathe. Yet, You gave your life’s blood to purchase me. I am fully Yours.

I was held hostage by the enemy, was a slave to my own sin. I was covered in my own blood, ragged and dirty, filled with sorrow and shame, when You came to me and covered me with Your robe of righteousness. You called me Your “Beloved,” and accepted me into Your family. You have cherished me as a loving Father, pursued me as a faithful lover, and taken care of me as a trustworthy husband. I am fully Yours.

You have captivated my heart and You alone know my inward most parts. You can discern the thoughts and intents of my heart. Preserve me in Your righteousness. Hold me in Your love. Deliver me in Your mercy and Grace. Uphold me in Your Justice. I will praise you all of my days. I will serve You with a full heart. I will faithfully pursue the calling You have placed on my life and generously give to those You love. I am fully Yours.

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Who Can Save Us?

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The world looks to all kinds of places, people, and possessions for their salvation. We all at one time realized that our lives weren’t the best. We tried to run and hide, we tried to find an escape, if only for a short time, we tried to cover up our mistakes, change our address, get a new job, or get a new spouse, only to have to face the hard truth, our lives were a mess. Some tried drugs, alcohol, relationships, immersed themselves in work, or in serving others, and still couldn’t find fulfillment. Others went to doctors, psychologists, counselors, palm readers, and fortune tellers, consulted our horoscopes, the stock exchange, googled, twittered, and tried to re-invent ourselves. But when we looked in the mirror, or looked at the condition of our soul, we were sorely disappointed, the change wasn’t there, was only skin deep, or wasn’t enough, or worse yet, we had changed so much that we weren’t even us anymore.

So where do we place our hope? Who can save us?

Psalm 62:1-2 (AMP), “For God alone my soul waits in silence, from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my defense and my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved.”

Romans 5:8-9 (NIV), “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”

We can’t fix us. We can’t even clean us. We end up being white washed graves, looking good on the outside, but full of death on the inside. A doctor, a psychic, a teacher, or a religious leader, can’t change us. A ten step process, a secret formula, or some new “spiritual” phenomenon, won’t change us, not fully, or completely. Bull dog tenacity, strong willed perseverance, nor stiff necked stubbornness, can’t get us what we need, what we so long for.

We need a Savior. Who can save us?

There is only One who can. In fact, He already did. Not two thousand years ago, but before the beginning of time! We just have to accept it. Apply what was purchased on the cross, by the very blood of the Son of God, to our lives. Then He doesn’t give us the “wash and wax” or just to a make-over, He makes us brand new, something never seen before, not put together out of old junk, no Frankensteins here, just a complete new edition. It’s a miracle, plain and simple. All the work, the time wasted, the pain and brokenness, all for nothing. We hurt ourselves and others trying to do it on our own, and it’s time to stop.

Maybe you are still living in the living hell of this fallen world. Just give up, surrender your heart to Him. He knows what you’ve been through, and He knows what you need. He sees your brokenness, your hurts, your faults, and frailties. Only He knows how. Nobody knows you like He does. You can trust Him with your life and with your heart. He is trustworthy. He is faithful.

Psalms 62:5-8 (ESV), “When we give Him our heart, truly and completely, then we can say with David, “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.”

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Off With Their Head

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Did you ever watch “Alice in Wonderland,” of maybe read the book? There is an evil character in that story, the queen of hearts, that likes to scream “Off with their heads!” I think she got that idea from Satan. He wants to separate us from our Head. The bible is clear, we are the body of Christ and He is the Head, (I Corinthians 12.) God’s word is also clear about the fact that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and that nothing can separate us from His love. Our enemy cannot “be-head” us. He, Jesus, will not allow Himself to be separated from the body, so, Satan has to get us away from our Head. Does that make sense?

How does he do that? He has several tactics, none of them new. One is distraction. He will bring everything, including the kitchen sink, against us. We tend to get our minds fixed on our problems and not on God and His solution. We fight that by rebuking our enemy and his plans against us, and speaking God’s word over our situation. Another ploy is to get us in discord or dis-unity with those around us, our family, friends, and our church family. We get so caught up in the drama that we lose sight of God’s purpose, His vision, in our lives. It can destroy a marriage and a church. We combat that by not listening to gossip, not spreading lies, and by building strong, healthy, Godly relationships. When people know us, they won’t believe any lie that is spoken by others about us. If you hear something that is untrue don’t repeat it, and don’t allow it to continue. Call the person who is gossiping on it! If needed go to the elders of the church. Promote unity! Pray for God to bind us together with bonds of peace and with love. Satan is the liar, have no part in his ways.

This one is a favorite of our enemy; he tries to convince us that God is keeping something from us, or that we have to work to receive from our Father. That’s the original lie that Adam and Eve believed. We wear ourselves out trying to get, earn, rob, grab, acquire, obtain, something that God, in His love, just wants to give us! Sounds pretty crazy, but I’ve bought into that one more than once, thinking the doctor could heal, the bank could bail me out, that the grass was greener… Don’t buy into that lie. God is good, He wants to bless you abundantly, and His gifts are free. They were already paid for by the shed blood of Jesus.

We don’t live in a fairy tale, and out enemy isn’t a misguided, misplaced card out of some strange deck. Our enemy is real, and we are cautioned not to be ignorant of his devices.

II Corinthians 2:11 (God’s Word Translation), “I don’t want Satan to outwit us. After all, we are not ignorant about Satan’s scheming.”

I Peter 5:8 (NIV), “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Did you catch that part, Who he may devour? We don’t have to let him!

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Is Your Heart Clean?

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Psalm 51:10,16-17 (KJB), “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me…You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”

David knew his heart wasn’t clean. He had just committed adultery with Bathsheba. When kings were going out to war, David stayed behind, just sending his men to fight. One night he sees a beautiful married woman bathing on her roof. After sending for her and conceiving a child, he tried to cover his track by calling her husband home to sleep with his own wife. Uriah, however, is more honorable than his king and refuses to sleep in comfort with his wife while his own men were still on the battlefield. David then digs himself in deeper and causes the unsuspecting husband to be placed in a dangerous place in battle and is in fact responsible for his death. Still, unrepentant, he marries the woman.

None of this was hidden from God who sends his prophet, Nathan, to prove it. I know, we all see David as such a wonderful person. God even said that David was a man after His own heart. So we hate to look at this part of his life. I say you can’t separate one from the other. God didn’t say that before the sin. In God’s eyes the sin was always there. David didn’t pull a fast one on God. He knew what was going to happen from way before time even was created. It is David’s reaction to the correction of God that makes him so special. Was he perfect? My lands, no! But that isn’t the question we need to ask. The right question is “did he repent.”

Let’s look at a few places in Psalms that show a repentant heart.

Psalms 32:1-2 (NIV), “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.”

3-7 (AMP), “When I kept silence [before I confessed], my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand [of displeasure] was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord [continually unfolding the past till all is told]—then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! For this [forgiveness] let everyone who is godly pray—pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely when the great waters [of trial] overflow, they shall not reach [the spirit in] him. You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!”

David is clear. When he tried to stay silent, keep his sin to himself, it was rough going. Consequently, when he acknowledged his sin, he tells us God forgave him instantly. He then goes on to tell everyone who is Godly to pray the same way, asking for forgiveness. We don’t have to get saved again. We don’t have to start all over again in our walk with God. We repent, turn from our wicked ways, and go on.

I want to point out that our confession of sin isn’t a way to get out of the consequences of sin. For example if you have stolen from your neighbor and spent the money, even though you confess, you may go to jail. David confessed, but one of the consequences of his sin is that the child conceived in adultery didn’t live. Now, God could have made Bathsheba barren, or taken the throne away from David, or any other thing that He saw fit. But, God, in is love and in accordance to the promises He already made to David, brings forth Solomon out of the union of David and Bathsheba, and God says He “loved Solomon very much.”

We have all messed up, in small ways and in huge ways. Don’t fret! Don’t try to hide it. If you try to cover your sin, you only get tangled up in the lies even more. Sir Walter Scott (Marmion, 1808), said, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive.” Just look at David, he tried everything to hide his sin and it just kept getting uglier. We live under a different covenant than David. Now we have the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin. If we have to wait for someone to come and tell us what we are doing is sin, which means we have ignored the Spirit until we quit hearing Him. Because God loves us, He won’t allow us to stay in sin. He’ll make sure we know what He thinks one way or another. Don’t ignore that tug when you are considering giving in to temptation to begin with! That will prevent a lot of grief. Nevertheless, if you do cave, be quick to repent. He is quick to forgive.

Psalm 86:5 (NIV), “You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all to call you.”
Let’s finish out Psalms 32.

Psalms 32:8-11 (AMP), “I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Be not like the horse or the mule, which lack understanding, which must have their mouths held firm with bit and bridle, or else they will not come with you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on the Lord shall be compassed about with mercy and with loving-kindness. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you who are upright and in right standing with Him]; shout for joy, all you upright in heart!”

Besides our forgiveness, what other good things come out of our confession of wrong doing? God will instruct us and teach us the right way and we will be surrounded with His mercy and love.

Is your heart clean? Is it broken and contrite?

If not, trust Him. Come clean! He is so ready to forgive and then He even forgets. Won’t you let Him?