Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Sisters in Christ

I so value my sisters in Christ. At one point in my life I either knew my sisters in Christ in person or figuratively as members of the Body of Christ, then a new category was born - my blogging sisters in Christ. I keep up with a few of you on the Net (and I've met 2 of you in person - Annette & Ang) via your blogs. I really appreciate knowing your hearts through your posts.

One sweet sister is Wendy, I've read her posts pouring out her heart concerning her husband and his fight with COPD. David passed away earlier this month.

I ask you to lift Wendy up in prayer as well as her family. So many of you are hurting for 1 reason or another. Know we are here to pray with you and for you. We are to carry one another in prayer just as the friends carried their friend the paralytic to Jesus.

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

We are to lift each other up, not tear each other down. We are to speak words of love not gossip. We are to love not judge. (Don't confuse judgment with discernment!) We need to listen instead of always speaking.

If you need prayer, please leave a comment. As always - Stay in the Word!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Love

I blog about love frequently, I hope I will always have a fresh perspective on love and never take God's love, my husband's love, my family's love or my friend's love for granted.

I chose Kelly Minter's Loss, Legacy, & Love for the women's Bible Study group which meets at my house on Monday nights. Much to our surprise Beth Moore chose it for the Siesta Summer Study as well. We have so enjoyed the study and been reduced to tears a couple of times too.

Sometimes, I think as Christians we don't think about love being being a central theme in the Old Testament which is highly inaccurate. The Old Testament is filled with stories of love, the following are but a few:

God's love for His people revealed through out through out the Old Testament
Abram's love for Lot
Joseph's love for his father and family
David's love for God
Ruth's love for Naomi

Ruth left her home, her family and set off for Israel with Naomi. They were widowed, she was childless, and a foreigner from Moab of all places going to live in the Promised Land. Ruth loved Naomi so much, she worked hard to support her. I think her love brought healing to Naomi. (That's just my opinion.) I never knew a deep love from my mother-in-law, I loved her very much at one time but the love died slowly but surely over time due to various circumstances. I prayed for God to fill me with His love for her, I think that prayer was answered, but I never "felt" love for her like I did before.

Some of the most famous words in the Bible are found in Ruth, I must use King James for this:

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

Ruth totally died to self, she worked hard from sun up to well past sun down, hard physical work and then went home to serve a woman who wanted to be called Mara (Bitter), but Ruth kept loving and finally we see Naomi calling Ruth daughter and asking the Lord to bless Ruth. Do not despair as you serve and pray for a loved one. God hears our prayers and answers them, He sees our tears, He knows the number of tears we shed.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A Lost Diamond and Lung Cancer

Yesterday, my friend had surgery to remove cancer from his lung. He and his wife are believers and are standing in faith but have had a little trouble with fear.

They booked their vacation months ago for last week. The doctor told them to take it, so they did; some of their family joined them. They stayed at a marvelous resort on a beach with pools and many amenities. During the vacation, the diamond fell out of my friend's ring. They searched for it to no avail. The next day, their grandson was swimming in 1 of the resort's gigantic pools with numerous other guests and stepped on something. He picked it up to see what it was. It was his grandmother's diamond.

I believe that was a sign reminding them God never forsakes us, He never ever leaves us, and He is ever faithful. Once again, we must not only believe in Him, we must believe Him and to believe Him requires knowing what He promises us in His word.

This is a small sampling of His promises to us:

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Matthew 28:20b Jesus said, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Romans 3:21-23 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Compromise

In our culture we frequently see articles in magazines with the word Compromise listed in the title; especially in articles pertaining to marriage and relationships. (Of course we see many other articles with phrases such as: Be Selfish) In the Bible, the Israelites compromised every so often and it never worked out for them. Take a look at Solomon who at one point wanted nothing more than wisdom from the Lord.

1 Kings 11
1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.
7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."
Solomon compromised when he married idolaters and he became an idolater himself. He was no longer fully devoted to the Lord. Many times compromising is not choosing the Lord’s best for us. Dying to self, casting aside pride, letting go of a controlling spirit (the need to always be right) are good things, they are godly things and certainly not compromises.
Ask the Lord to reveal to you if you have compromised in an area of your life which leads to sin of some sort. Also, ask the Lord to reveal to you where you need to die to self, cast pride out or let go of a controlling spirit which brings so much freedom and victory in our lives. Let’s choose God’s best for us!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Asparagus Fern Revisited

2 years ago, I wrote about the Asparagus Fern in my flower bed, people still comment on the post. I updated the post over the weekend for a friend's newsletter. Following is the updated version:


In 2008 my father was very ill and began the year in the hospital where he remained for 5 1/2 months. As a result of the hospitalization, I did not get to the big spring lawn clean up that year. All the shrubs needed pruning, weeds needed pulling, and summer annuals needed planting.

An asparagus fern had popped up in one of my flower beds. It had to go, it was taking up valuable space which had a Black Eyed Susan's name all over it. I'd left it alone during the winter because birds could eat the red berries on it, but it was Memorial weekend and the thing was going to pulled up by the roots and discarded. I trimmed it back, dug the ground around it, and began to pull but could not remove all of it. The asparagus fern was established. In desparation I drove to a local hardware store and purchased Round Up.

I sprayed the asparagus fern and waited for it to wither. I checked it daily, it was beginning to die. I thought alright next week, it is history. My father was back in the hospital and I didn't work in the yard for 2 more weeks. I went out 1 morning to dig up the remains of the asparagus fern and there it was thriving, green and almost as big as it was before I cut it back. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry and decided to leave it there. (I even fertilized it as an apology.)

I realized it had deep roots and that is how we need to plant the Word of God in our spirits. We must plant it deep and be rooted and grounded in His Word. Following are a few Bible verses pertaining to the Word:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

Jesus replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

In 2009, the asparagus fern survived Hurricane IKE, in 2010 it survived 3 days of 20 degree temperatures because the roots are deep. Planting the Word deep is vital to our spiritual lives and beneficial in many ways - our feet are shod with the shoes of peace as mentioned in Ephesians 6, we can draw on the Word hidden in our hearts when we are facing a tough situation, it brings discernment when we need it.

Plant the Word of God, it is vital...