Today, I just leave you with this picture and this verse from
Romans 8:10 (NIV Bible):
“But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
Archive for March, 2009
From Death Comes Life
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alive, dead, righteousness, sin on March 30, 2009| 1 Comment »
Practice Makes Perfect
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged battles, perfect, practice, spiritual muscles, victory on March 26, 2009| 1 Comment »
As a child, I can remember my parents, grandparents, and teachers telling me, “Practice makes perfect”. It wasn’t until the other day God opened my eyes to the fact He uses this method with us. There is not an event that can happen to us in which God could not speak a solution into existence. However, if we are to grow in spiritual maturity and gain some spiritual strength He requires us to flex some spiritual muscles of our own.
Holman’s Bible Library describes perfect as “reaching an ideal state of spirtitual wholeness or completeness” It further states that “it is not a quality which is achieved by human effort alone, nor is it an en unto itself.” I understood this more clearly when the Holy Spirit reminded me of the the time I had to learn to use my legs again after the train accident (refer to older posts). I first had to picture myself wiggling my big toe, then attempting to wiggle my big toe until finally my big toe moved. This scenario went on for every joint of my lower body until I could lift my legs up and down. Then, I had to teach my muscles to roll over in bed, sit up by myself, stand up, etc. until I was able to walk. Through each process, I had to first develop the physical muscle to move on to the next process.
God wants us to develop our spiritual muscles so we can stand up and fight our spiritual battles. Part of flexing our “muscles” is realizing from the onset of the battle we are NOT fighting it alone. Always remember, we have the Big Guys on our side.
Faith
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged church, marriage, meals, menus, nourishment on March 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »
For many years, I felt it was unnecessary to go to church. In fact, if you asked me about church during those years, I would have told you I was very much against organized religion. However, as you can hopefully tell, I have changed my opinion. I have come to realize through the help of Rick Warren’s PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE that church is as necessary as food to our well-being. In order to survive in this world today we need to be spiritually strong. The writer of this article I received says it best:
Why Go To Church?<br />
A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”
This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
“I’ve been married for 30 years now.. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this.. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”
God’s Promise
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged forgive, heal, pray on March 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Following is a portion of an email I received today. I am posting it here hoping every one who reads this will pass it on to their friends.
OUR NATION IS/HAS BEEN ON THE SLIPPERY SLOPE TO HELL FOR A LONG TIME. IF YOU LOOK AROUND YOU WILL FIND CORRUPTION, GREED, MORAL DECAY AND A STEADY MOVE AWAY FROM THE THINGS THAT MADE US GREAT. THE PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH THIS NATION WAS FOUNDED ARE NO LONGER OUR BACKBONE. HOWEVER, WE CAN REVERSE THIS TREND.
IN GOD’S WORD HE STATES,”IF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES, AND PRAY AND SEEK MY FACE, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, THEN I WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN, AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN AND HEAL THEIR LAND.”
I AM CONVINCED THAT WE MUST PRAY FOR OUR NATION AND ITS LEADERS AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS. SO I ASK YOU TO JOIN ME IN THIS PLEA TO OUR LORD.
WOULD YOU PLEASE SEND THIS TO AT LEAST 25 PEOPLE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, (SEND IT TO ALL OF THEM). ASK THEM TO PRAY EVERYDAY. 25 TO THE 5TH POWER IS 9,765,625 PEOPLE. IMAGINE IF EACH PERSON REACHES TEN OTHERS.
One of Satan’s biggest lies is: One person can’t make a difference. That was disproved when one man was born, preached for three years, died on a cross, was raised three days later, seen by thousands of people, and ascended into heaven to sit on the righthand side of God, His Father.
Can you sleep when the wind blows?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged chickens, cows, hand, haystacks, peace, wind on March 4, 2009| 1 Comment »
I received this in an email today. It was too good not to share with you.
CAN YOU SLEEP WHEN THE WIND BLOWS
Years ago, a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. “Are you a good farm hand?” the farmer asked him. “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help,
hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!” The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.” Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm.
To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
MORAL OF THE STORY
When you’re prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves in the Word of God. We don’t need to understand, we just need to hold His hand to have peace in the middle of storms.
Talking with God
Posted in Uncategorized on March 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »
In my posts, I have often stated how God and I have talked or discussed or argued about this or that. This may bother some reading these posts for the first time. Has she lost her mind? How can you talk with God? Is she hearing voices? No, I haven’t lost my mind; hopefully, I will clear up how I talk with God and He talks with me; and no, I’m only hearing my Heavenly Father’s voice. To clear up one question, I talk to God just like you do, through prayer. More importantly, how do we have discussions or arguments? I could give you all the Scriptures that tell how God speaks with ones; but, I feel it’s more important to tell you how He speaks with me. Maybe then, you will recognize a similarity in your relationship with Him.
In the beginning, He spoke to me through Scripture, through Bible studies, or something a friend said. Always, it is a still, quiet voice that brings peace rather than confusion and turmoil, brings answers rather than questions.
Recently I had my first speaking engagement where I spoke on how some of the articles in my book, TRAVEL GUIDE FOR THE SOUL, occurred. Then, I talked on the background of some of my posts. At one point, I stated how I wasn’t an individual who memorized Scripture. It’s not my forte. However, when I looked at something, words of Scripture would flow through my mind. At first, I didn’t realize what was happening. Then I realized the Holy Spirit was nudging me and I would take the picture. Then I would return home and look up the words in my concordance only to find they went together beautifully. He used this method to intensively train me to recognize His voice.
Most importantly, God is not the author of confusion, turmoil, or frustration. You may not like what He says; but His words, whether they are written or spoken, will always shine a light not cause darkness.
Faithful Journeys 