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Showing posts from 2012

A Sweet Aroma

Triumphal Procession I came across 2 Corinthians 2:4 again today: But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. (NLT) This verse makes me reflect on what God has seen me thru and how others view me going thru it.  Lets break it apart a little: But thank God!-   We are told in Psalm 136:1 to give thanks to God for He is good. You may be going thru a most difficult time right now. Did you know that when you have nothing else to give or to do that you can still give thanks? But-   regarding everything else... no matter what... Thank God! He has made us his captives  and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession- Jesus, when we have decided to follow Him..  takes us and makes us His very own. We have faith in Him to lead us in  triumphal procession in all the circumstances of life. Just as he had VICTORY over death

David

David I am currently studying David: Seeking a Heart like His by Beth Moore. Are there times in your life when you learn a valuable lesson and you want to shout it out to others around you? Kinda like doing good on a test and passing your notes back to someone else so they can benefit from what you learned. Well this is one of those times for me. This study has got me thinking of some things and I want to pass my notes back to you!! Evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life: (see if any apply to you) 1. One of the most important jobs of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin. (John 16:8)      Lots of time we measure sin as in comparison to others. Our standard of measuring should be the holiness of God. Who are you measuring up against?  "The Holy Spirit uses the individual's conscience as the striking ground for conviction. Does God ever prick your conscience? 2. Conviction from the Holy Spirit brings on change of behavior     If we do not listen to the Holy Spirits con

Soapbox

I know I am on a soapbox today and I dont ever do this...and this is not directed towards anyone particular.  #loveGodloveothers...  just burdened by this.. What if we forgave instead of hated?, what if we asked hard questions in love instead of becoming a gossip?, what if we loved unselfishly not wanting in return?, what if we saw others thru the eyes of a Loving God instead of judging?...  I think lots of healing would come to those who hurt. Stop being quietly mad and upset.. Start loving , praying and responding with grace to one another. Stop giving Satan a foothold by hashing up old problems. LET THEM GO! especially if you can't change them. Grieves me to think how many hurting people we are around every day that we gossip about rather then seek to help them!!! :( You wouldnt  judge someone if they had cancer or lost a love one....lots of people hurt because of things they dont have control over...some made poor decisions. Hurting is hurting...not for us to judge....we are c

God's Love

“ I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.   My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.   Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.”                    1 Corinthians 4:3-5 I find these verses very intriguing in the light of what God has been teaching me the last few weeks.   It has been brought to my heart that I have not been seeing myself for who God sees me to be.   Results of that in my life have been low self esteem, seeking approval of others and therefore, judging others and looking on them in the same way I was judging and looking at myself.     You see, when we see ourselves as God sees us (if you are a born again believer) then the bible tells us these truths… God sees us

You are Significant

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The Search for Significance. I am so loving reading this book and getting to share it with a group of Ladies. One thing that has really spoken to me is that we are ALL God's masterpiece. I have always heard that and I am very familiar with the verse in Ephesians 2:10. I just have not been applying it to my life and knowing it deep in my heart. I was recreated in Christ Jesus. AND I did not do anything to deserve it. NOTHING!  That simply means to me that HE loves me. I cannot prove my love back to him to get him to love me. SO then why do we try to 'prove' ourselves to others? Why do we get so caught up in what others think about us...or that they might not like us because of this or that? Are we not that confident in the LORD when He has already died for us and said YOU ARE SIGNIFICANT! What if we went thru the day today feeling significant for Christ? How would that change our way of thinking, acting and re-acting to certain people or circumstances. Wom

Abandoned

“Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.” Psalm 9:10 Do you ever get the feeling that you are abandoned? Alone, scared, tired of making all those hard decisions on your own. What I love about the Bible is that it is alive and active. Which means it is for us today, to apply to our lives, today. After sometime of feeling alone and scared, mad and unwanted…God lead me to this verse. “Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.” Psalm 9:10 I was continually searching, searching for anything that would help me thru this dark place in my life. This verse was like a light in a dark room to me. It illuminated the darkness and it brought in light. Light that I needed, I needed to see that I was not alone. God was with me and he was not going to abandon me…no matter what. True there may be times when I am not as close as I should be... sin separates us from our fel

Without Faith

“ Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”  Hebrews 11:6 What do you believe God for? Do you have fear in that?  What does faith look like? The bible tells us in 1 John 4:18 “ There is no fear in love . But perfect love drives out fear...”   Faith starts here. There have been many times that I have had to check my faith. Lots of times it has involved a money situation for me. I have often times tried to fix the situation myself afraid that if I didn’t fix it that it would get worse. I would panic and ask around or do what I could to stop something bad or worse from happening. I got pretty good at a short-term fix instead of trusting in the Lord for the outcome. Sometimes I wondered though, what would this be like if I let God do this? Wonder what could He do that was so much better then my quick fix? Well I put faith to action. The next crisis I came hea

One Truth

One Truth She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me, “ for she said, “ I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13 Hagar... that was her name. She had been running to try and get away from her problems when ( in verse 7) the Lord found her. The Lord found her!  Doesn’t that make you feel awesome inside. He really saw her and he really found her... He knew exactly where she was. Do you need to hear that today? Sometimes I just do not know what truth is and what is real. I get so caught up in all that is going on around me that seems so crazy in this life that I just don’t know what to believe anymore. A few years ago I came across this story again. I had heard it all my life but this time I was in a place where I needed to hear truth. This was that truth. El Roi... The God who really sees.  From that moment on every time I went thru a struggle, and it seemed as though life was continually falling apart, I would stop and say

A lesson in keeping my mouth shut


That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weak nesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak , then I am strong . 2 Corinthians 12:10 In what areas would you say you are weak? For me it is my mouth. Why does that seem so hard to control?   Do we really believe that God has the best for us? The bible is God’s written word. Active, alive and true. So if we know and believe this…why do we not apply it to our lives? I used to really have a problem with my mouth. I said whatever I thought without thinking and it was usually not good. It would cause the situation to be worse, not better. But for the life of me I could not control it. I started giving this area to the Lord. Trying to trust in and believe in Him for the direction of my words. Then one day God showed me Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth ; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is

Every Effort

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification” Romans 14:19 You may have been yelled at, treated wrong, or accused of untruthful things. Or maybe you have been the one doing the yelling and treating others wrong. Maybe you think you have the right to say and do certain things because of what has happened in your life. Paul is telling us in Romans 14 about the Christians in Rome and about how they were judgmental and critical of each other. If you read the whole chapter you find out that some of the Romans thought it bad to eat only vegetables and some did not and so on and so on. Why would this be in the bible for us? Who cares if they did or didn’t eat meat or vegetables? Paul’s point is this… Do not pass judgment on others. Paul says in verse 19 therefore, because of these things, make every effort to live at peace…God knew how hard it was going to be... we were all made so different. Therefore (because of these things) m

What God has taught me this week!

My emotions are crazy sometimes.  Yours??  We get really caught up in what we feel is real. Sometimes I let the enemy attack me because I agree with him on issues I think are real. Examples would be.. I have never accomplished anything....I will be alone.....Im not very smart...I fear....I fail as a parent/coworker/friend..  Just a few to make you think. Why do we let oursleves do this. Agree with the enemy. He wants to take us down. To make us less effective for the kingdom of God. So here are somethings God has taught me this week. Im so excited to share them with you!!! They seem pretty random.. but I think they need to be said/heard. 1) Jeremiah 29:11 You know the words "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord.."  Did you also know that in some translations 'plans' is translated 'thoughts'.  In Psalm 139:17 says 'How vast the sum of them'  Talking about God's thoughts about us. He thinks of us. I heard a preacher this week pu

Where am I?

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Where are you? Do you know where you are? Maybe you are a stay at home mom,..maybe you are a working woman doing your best to make ends meet.. maybe you are a  wife or mother..maybe you are a single mom.. Where has God called you to be right now ? What is your current situation?   you may not be where you thought you would ..maybe your past has gotten in the way of your today..maybe the job you have is getting old..maybe you are tired and wish your husband would be the man you wanted him to be..maybe your tired of struggling paying the bills..maybe your lonely waiting on 'the one'...maybe things look pretty good from where you are.. truth is no matter where we are..God knows!! God knows our struggles and our joys..We can lay it all before Him and He knows!!  He is there... That should give us comfort and peace. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that we are ALL part of one body . The body of Christ..a body of believers. the amazing part of God knowing where you are is that He kno

Who am I?

2 Samuel 7:18-22     David's Prayer 18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said:    “Who am I, Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign LORD, is for a mere human! [ c ]   20 “What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign LORD. 21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.   22 “How great you are, Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. These are some of my favorite verses of the bible. They spoke to me at a time in my life when I really needed to hear God's voice. It amazes me the words of David are often how I feel when I look back on all the things God has done for me.        You may know my