Tonight is New Years Eve. Have you made any resolves for the New Year, I hope so. Even if it is a little one, it will give you courage for bigger ones. I haven't made mine yet but I will before the year is over, which is only a few hours away, so guess I had better get busy. Actually, I am going to resolve to have a better prayer life, I want to have such a close connection with God that I can hear Him speak to me, even if it is only a whisper. I want my conscience working so good that it will let me know I am on the verge of makiing a mistake, before I make it. Wouldn't that be a lot easier than having to make things right after you have made a big blunder. I think it would be wonderful, so that is my resolves for the New Year. Now don't hesitate in making some kind of resolve, it is really beneficial for our character and helps us have a working conscience.
Is your conscience working, do you know how to tell? The way to tell is if your heart is being nagged at about something, or if all of a sudden you don't feel good about something and if you don't know why you are being nagged at by your conscience, then ask God what is troubling you. Because if all of a sudden you feel down and you don't know why, there is a reason and He will come through and tell you, by impressing on your mind what is wrong.
I just had that happen to me this week, I indulged in a conversation that I shouldn't have and all of a sudden I couldn't even study for my blog and I felt completely done in and didn't know why. God was very kind to me and as you can see, He is speaking to me again. I missed Him terribly. He impressed my heart what should be done and I did it and I am free again. What a great feeling!!!!
Has that happened to you? Please don't ignore it, it is God trying to help you be the person you ought to be. I know from experience and am just trying to help you through these troubling times. It is so important that our conscience is working so that we can have freedom in Christ to do His bidding and not live in a dark place without Him.
1 John 3:21,22 "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight."
It is not pleasing to us or to God to have our heart condemn us. It puts us in a dark place and it feels terrible to be there, it is called depression or despondency. I know we have all suffered from it unless you are a rare individual, but I have and I don't like it at all!!!!!!!!
It is such a wonderful feeling to be right with God again, I can't explain it, but it brings peace and joy and a feeling of contentment. I really can't live without it, without trying to solve the problem and the only way I can solve the problem is to ask God to please tell me whats wrong. Unless of course, I know what I have done and make it right immediately and then it's OK again. It depends on how good our conscience is working. I hope mine is not seared, it doesn't seem to be and I hope yours isn't either. If it is, pray for guidance to correct it and get it back working again.
According to 1 John 3:22 if we want our prayers answered, we must have a working conscience and follow it's leading. I pray that yours is working really good.
May God help you have the peace, joy and contentment of a working conscience and do listen to it when it tells you something. I surely am. I pray that you are too, and have the very best New Year yet, by abiding in the presence of God and letting Him lead in your life. Grandma Joan
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 30, 2013
Facing The Giants
Are there Giants in your life that you have to face? I just faced a big one when my husband passed away after 63 years of marriage. How about you? It could be a death, a divorce, bankruptcy, a serious illness, or any other giant, large or small, they are all giants to us.
I am thinking of a story in the Bible of David and the Phillistine giant, all Israel were being threatened by the Phillistines because of their giant. This is a good story about faith.
1 Samuel 17:42-46 "And when the Phillistine (giant) looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and good looking. So the Phillistine said to David, 'Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?' And the Phillistine cursed David by his gods. And the Phillistine said to David, 'Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!' Then David said to the Phillistine, 'you come to me with a sword,, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you, and this day I will give the carasses of the camp of the Phillistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."
Yes, there is a God in Israel (God's people) today, who will fight the giants for us, just as He did for David. David was not afraid to face the giant and neither should we be afraid to face our giant. We need to trust in God as David did, he knew he was going to kill the giant, he even warned him, but the giant was so sure of himself that, well, let's read what happened:
Verses 47-51 David still speaking, "Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands." So it was when the Phillistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Phillistine. Then David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Phillistine in his forehead so that the stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Phillistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Phillistine and killed him, but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over the Phillistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. And when the Phillistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled."
The battle is the Lord's, how true this is, we don't need need to fight the enemy with our meager ways, when the Lord has promised to fight our battles for us, the giants may seem huge to us but to God they are small, but He knows how they seem to us and He is ready to remove them from our life, if we will let him. He doesn't always remove the giant but He removes the effects that they have on us and we can be thankful for that.
Let's be like David and face them with the Lord on our side. He can bring us through whatever they may be.
Matthew 28:20 "...lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." What a promise for the New Year just ahead of us, Let's let the Lord kill the giants in our life for us and sail through the New Year with the confidence that only God can give. Let's stay in His presence and let Him be our Captain and we will have nothing to fear. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Grandma Joan
I am thinking of a story in the Bible of David and the Phillistine giant, all Israel were being threatened by the Phillistines because of their giant. This is a good story about faith.
1 Samuel 17:42-46 "And when the Phillistine (giant) looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and good looking. So the Phillistine said to David, 'Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?' And the Phillistine cursed David by his gods. And the Phillistine said to David, 'Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!' Then David said to the Phillistine, 'you come to me with a sword,, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you, and this day I will give the carasses of the camp of the Phillistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."
Yes, there is a God in Israel (God's people) today, who will fight the giants for us, just as He did for David. David was not afraid to face the giant and neither should we be afraid to face our giant. We need to trust in God as David did, he knew he was going to kill the giant, he even warned him, but the giant was so sure of himself that, well, let's read what happened:
Verses 47-51 David still speaking, "Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands." So it was when the Phillistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Phillistine. Then David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Phillistine in his forehead so that the stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Phillistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Phillistine and killed him, but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over the Phillistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. And when the Phillistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled."
The battle is the Lord's, how true this is, we don't need need to fight the enemy with our meager ways, when the Lord has promised to fight our battles for us, the giants may seem huge to us but to God they are small, but He knows how they seem to us and He is ready to remove them from our life, if we will let him. He doesn't always remove the giant but He removes the effects that they have on us and we can be thankful for that.
Let's be like David and face them with the Lord on our side. He can bring us through whatever they may be.
Matthew 28:20 "...lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." What a promise for the New Year just ahead of us, Let's let the Lord kill the giants in our life for us and sail through the New Year with the confidence that only God can give. Let's stay in His presence and let Him be our Captain and we will have nothing to fear. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Grandma Joan
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Encouragement for the New Year
Encouragement is such a wonderful thing, when someone encourages me on my upward way, I feel so much like continuing. Sometimes troubles come to discourage us, and we just need a helping hand of encouragement to keep going. Has that how it's been with you? I know it has been with me. I know from experience how much it helps to feel encouraged in your walk with Christ each day. It's wonderful.
So today, I would just like to encourage you for the New Year. Have you decided what you might resolve to do this coming year that would improve your life? Think of something that you want to gain the victory over, or somehow improve you living conditions, or how you can be filled with the love of Jesus more and share that love with someone less fortunate. Maybe you are a clutter bug and need to learn a neater way to live. Maybe you are a procrastinator and need to deal with that. Maybe you don't like certain duties that you need to perform every day and you need to deal with that, whether its doing dishes, cooking, or just cleaning up after yourself. You know that God is supreme and He can deal with all these issues and wants to help you deal with yours.
He has been such a blessing to me this past year, I really didn't know if I would survive the year, but it looks like I am going to. That is a real blessing, and my pain has improved this year, I have had my son with me most of the year and he has helped me a whole lot, and that has been a real blessing. We had a beautiful summer this past summer and that was a real blessing. My blood pressure has come down to normal and that is a blessing. I could go on and on and count the blessings. It is a lot of encouragement when we can count the blessings of the past year that God has bestowed upon us. I am sure we could fill pages if we were to write them down.
My experience with God has been more than I could have imagined, my relationship, my prayer life, my thoughts, everything has improved to the point of praising Him for these blessings. I am totally encouraged when I think of the way He has lead me this past year and the blessings He has given me.
If you want encouraged, count your many blessings and name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. The name of that Hymn is 'Count Your Blessings'. It really does encourage us on our journey through life.
If you haven't made any resolves for the New Year, please do at least one, and more if you are up to the challenge, and keeping those resolves, is a real encouragement too. I just want you to have a wonderful New Year all through the year. I pray for each of my readers every day and may God bless you as you travel life's pathway. Grandma Joan.
PS. Don't forget to encourage others as you travel on to know the Lord more fully.
So today, I would just like to encourage you for the New Year. Have you decided what you might resolve to do this coming year that would improve your life? Think of something that you want to gain the victory over, or somehow improve you living conditions, or how you can be filled with the love of Jesus more and share that love with someone less fortunate. Maybe you are a clutter bug and need to learn a neater way to live. Maybe you are a procrastinator and need to deal with that. Maybe you don't like certain duties that you need to perform every day and you need to deal with that, whether its doing dishes, cooking, or just cleaning up after yourself. You know that God is supreme and He can deal with all these issues and wants to help you deal with yours.
He has been such a blessing to me this past year, I really didn't know if I would survive the year, but it looks like I am going to. That is a real blessing, and my pain has improved this year, I have had my son with me most of the year and he has helped me a whole lot, and that has been a real blessing. We had a beautiful summer this past summer and that was a real blessing. My blood pressure has come down to normal and that is a blessing. I could go on and on and count the blessings. It is a lot of encouragement when we can count the blessings of the past year that God has bestowed upon us. I am sure we could fill pages if we were to write them down.
My experience with God has been more than I could have imagined, my relationship, my prayer life, my thoughts, everything has improved to the point of praising Him for these blessings. I am totally encouraged when I think of the way He has lead me this past year and the blessings He has given me.
If you want encouraged, count your many blessings and name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. The name of that Hymn is 'Count Your Blessings'. It really does encourage us on our journey through life.
If you haven't made any resolves for the New Year, please do at least one, and more if you are up to the challenge, and keeping those resolves, is a real encouragement too. I just want you to have a wonderful New Year all through the year. I pray for each of my readers every day and may God bless you as you travel life's pathway. Grandma Joan.
PS. Don't forget to encourage others as you travel on to know the Lord more fully.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
What's for the New Year?
New Years day is almost upon us, just three days away. Then it will be 2014. Doesn't seem possible does it? What will the New Year bring? We don't know do we, but we can do something that will make it a great New Year. Try doing something that will enhance your life and your spiritual condition. You just might like it.
When I was just a teenager about 13, I heard someone talking about New Year's Resolutions and I gave this quite a bit of thought and it came to me that if I made a resolution to God and kept it for a whole year, the problem would be gone, it really doesn't take a whole year to break a bad habit but for sure after a year it doesn't even come to mind anymore.
I loved to read the funnies in the News Paper and for some reason I was convicted that it wasn't right for me to spend my time on this kind of trash, being just a kid when I think back on it, I was baptized when I was twelve years old and I know now that God was working on this childish mind, trying to bring it into line with His mind, 'let this mind be in you, which is in Christ Jesus' Philippians 2:5. So, I made a resolution to put the funnies away for good, and you know I didn't really miss them. I was raised by a severe step father and there wasn't a whole lot of joy in our home and I guess the funnies gave me something to laugh at even though it was stupid. But to this day I never am tempted to read anything like that.
Through the years I have made New Year's resolutions and have usually kept them, I have to admit that there have been times I have failed. When we had our Nursing Home, at Holiday time all the businesses that we dealt with gave us huge boxes of chocolates and I looked forward to that, they were so good and such a wonderful gift, I thought. Little did I know that I was totally and dangerously allergic to chocolate. But I decided to give it up for a year, now that was a little harder on me than the funnies but as the year went by, little by little I didn't crave chocolate as much until by the year's end the craving was completely gone and when we got several boxes, I mean five pound boxes from the businesses, I decided that it would be a friendly gesture to give them to our neighbors as a Christmas gift and that we did, the kids delivered them for me. Later on I ate some at the Hershey plant in Pennsylvania and immediately broke out all over and the next day my bronchial system started shutting down, so I knew then why I was impressed to give up chocolate. Isn't God good?
So today, just a few days before New Years, is there something in your life that you need to get rid of? Can you think of something that has been nagging you in the back of your mind that you need to give up for good? Would God like you to change your diet to something more wholesome? Would He like you to give up something that is harming your health? How about something that is harming your mind? or causing you emotional pain? Are your associations dragging you down? Are you dragging others down? Sometimes we drag others down if we can, so that it helps us not feel so guilty when they join us in our low estate. Is there something we could change in our life that would make our life, our home our neighborhood a better place to live?
I challenge you today to give it some very serious thought, and when you decide on something that needs changing, make your resolution before God and He will help you keep it, I always considered it the most important part of New Years day to make at least one and then keep it for the whole year and by then it wouldn't bother me any more. Seriously, do it, you won't regret it, it just may be the most important thing you do this year. You will be the one to benefit and others may decide to do it with you. How wonderful that would be. God bless you as you make some changes in your life for the betterment and you will never regret it. I am going to do it again, there are always things that I can do to better my life. The best thing you can do is resolve to spend time every day with Jesus, for sure you won't regret that. Grandma Joan
When I was just a teenager about 13, I heard someone talking about New Year's Resolutions and I gave this quite a bit of thought and it came to me that if I made a resolution to God and kept it for a whole year, the problem would be gone, it really doesn't take a whole year to break a bad habit but for sure after a year it doesn't even come to mind anymore.
I loved to read the funnies in the News Paper and for some reason I was convicted that it wasn't right for me to spend my time on this kind of trash, being just a kid when I think back on it, I was baptized when I was twelve years old and I know now that God was working on this childish mind, trying to bring it into line with His mind, 'let this mind be in you, which is in Christ Jesus' Philippians 2:5. So, I made a resolution to put the funnies away for good, and you know I didn't really miss them. I was raised by a severe step father and there wasn't a whole lot of joy in our home and I guess the funnies gave me something to laugh at even though it was stupid. But to this day I never am tempted to read anything like that.
Through the years I have made New Year's resolutions and have usually kept them, I have to admit that there have been times I have failed. When we had our Nursing Home, at Holiday time all the businesses that we dealt with gave us huge boxes of chocolates and I looked forward to that, they were so good and such a wonderful gift, I thought. Little did I know that I was totally and dangerously allergic to chocolate. But I decided to give it up for a year, now that was a little harder on me than the funnies but as the year went by, little by little I didn't crave chocolate as much until by the year's end the craving was completely gone and when we got several boxes, I mean five pound boxes from the businesses, I decided that it would be a friendly gesture to give them to our neighbors as a Christmas gift and that we did, the kids delivered them for me. Later on I ate some at the Hershey plant in Pennsylvania and immediately broke out all over and the next day my bronchial system started shutting down, so I knew then why I was impressed to give up chocolate. Isn't God good?
So today, just a few days before New Years, is there something in your life that you need to get rid of? Can you think of something that has been nagging you in the back of your mind that you need to give up for good? Would God like you to change your diet to something more wholesome? Would He like you to give up something that is harming your health? How about something that is harming your mind? or causing you emotional pain? Are your associations dragging you down? Are you dragging others down? Sometimes we drag others down if we can, so that it helps us not feel so guilty when they join us in our low estate. Is there something we could change in our life that would make our life, our home our neighborhood a better place to live?
I challenge you today to give it some very serious thought, and when you decide on something that needs changing, make your resolution before God and He will help you keep it, I always considered it the most important part of New Years day to make at least one and then keep it for the whole year and by then it wouldn't bother me any more. Seriously, do it, you won't regret it, it just may be the most important thing you do this year. You will be the one to benefit and others may decide to do it with you. How wonderful that would be. God bless you as you make some changes in your life for the betterment and you will never regret it. I am going to do it again, there are always things that I can do to better my life. The best thing you can do is resolve to spend time every day with Jesus, for sure you won't regret that. Grandma Joan
Friday, December 27, 2013
More Gifts that Jesus brought to us
I have found through my relationship with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit that the more time I spend with Him the more I want to be with Him and the more victories I have in my life. Has it been that way with you?
Sometimes I don't even realize what He has done for me, and then all of a sudden a certain thing in my life is gone and I am free from it. What a great freedom that is, I can't tell you how it came about, and I can't tell you when it happened, it just did and then I know it was because I have been spending time with Him each morning and throughout the day and the gifts that I shared with you yesterday become a reality in my life. I cannot tell you what a great blessing it has been since I have been spending time each morning in His presence. Oh, I was spending time before and I am not sure the exact reason things are different but I think I know some of them. For one, I am more devout in my prayer life and see answers to my prayers quite often. Some of them are outstanding and I can't quit praising Him and thanking Him for hearing and answering the prayers of 'such a one as I'. Also, the Bible is coming alive to me and has so much more meaning now when I read it and I can apply it to my own circumstances. Have you experienced these things in your life. I hope so, that is the reason for me doing this blog each day, it is to bring you up to higher ground with Christ, we dwell to near the lowlands of this earth and need to raise our vision to higher things.
So today we are going to start out in Ezekiel 11: 19 A very special gift that God has promised to us if we will spend time with Him each day.
Ezekiel 11:19 "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh." Wow! What a gift, I believe that has been one of the gifts that has made such a difference in my life. Actually, this verse promises two gifts, one is a new spirit the other gift is a heart of flesh, instead of a stony heart with no feeling, we will be given a heart of flesh with lots of feelings for others, more love, more compassion, more thoughtfulness, and I could go on, but you can finish the list. It is a wonderful thing that God does for those who love Him.
Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The gift of peace and I can tell you that this gift is a wonderful thing. It takes away all worries and concerns that bother us from day to day. I must confess that I have been a worrier and things bother me, all kinds of things, but when God puts His gift of peace in your heart, it actually does surpass all understanding, you have a peace that even you cannot understand how it came about but it did.
Hebrews 4:1 & 9 "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." God has promised us a rest that we need to enter into. It is a peaceful rest that is beyond our ideal of rest. Rest in Him as our loving Creator, resting in Him as our Guide and Counselor, rest in Him as our sustainer, rest in Him as our all in all.
Have you ever thought that He might have a special day set apart for you to come apart and rest? It is something that you can check out on your own and we will cover it in a future study, but right now it is important for us to find our place and plans that He has for us so that when we come to greater ideals we will be willing to follow on to know Him better.
John 10:28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand/" What a promise is this!!! Eternal life and not anyone can take us out of His hand. When we draw close to Him this is what happens and it is His final reward for all those who follow on to know Him and spend time with Him. I am looking forward to this gift that is ours because Jesus came and gave His life that we might have eternal life with Him. Are you looking forward to this gift? I hope so, all His gifts are so great but the greatest gift of all is spending eternity with the One who died for us that we might be there. Don't disappoint Him, He cares for you and wants you to be ready when He comes to take you home with Him
Grandma Joan
Sometimes I don't even realize what He has done for me, and then all of a sudden a certain thing in my life is gone and I am free from it. What a great freedom that is, I can't tell you how it came about, and I can't tell you when it happened, it just did and then I know it was because I have been spending time with Him each morning and throughout the day and the gifts that I shared with you yesterday become a reality in my life. I cannot tell you what a great blessing it has been since I have been spending time each morning in His presence. Oh, I was spending time before and I am not sure the exact reason things are different but I think I know some of them. For one, I am more devout in my prayer life and see answers to my prayers quite often. Some of them are outstanding and I can't quit praising Him and thanking Him for hearing and answering the prayers of 'such a one as I'. Also, the Bible is coming alive to me and has so much more meaning now when I read it and I can apply it to my own circumstances. Have you experienced these things in your life. I hope so, that is the reason for me doing this blog each day, it is to bring you up to higher ground with Christ, we dwell to near the lowlands of this earth and need to raise our vision to higher things.
So today we are going to start out in Ezekiel 11: 19 A very special gift that God has promised to us if we will spend time with Him each day.
Ezekiel 11:19 "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh." Wow! What a gift, I believe that has been one of the gifts that has made such a difference in my life. Actually, this verse promises two gifts, one is a new spirit the other gift is a heart of flesh, instead of a stony heart with no feeling, we will be given a heart of flesh with lots of feelings for others, more love, more compassion, more thoughtfulness, and I could go on, but you can finish the list. It is a wonderful thing that God does for those who love Him.
Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The gift of peace and I can tell you that this gift is a wonderful thing. It takes away all worries and concerns that bother us from day to day. I must confess that I have been a worrier and things bother me, all kinds of things, but when God puts His gift of peace in your heart, it actually does surpass all understanding, you have a peace that even you cannot understand how it came about but it did.
Hebrews 4:1 & 9 "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." God has promised us a rest that we need to enter into. It is a peaceful rest that is beyond our ideal of rest. Rest in Him as our loving Creator, resting in Him as our Guide and Counselor, rest in Him as our sustainer, rest in Him as our all in all.
Have you ever thought that He might have a special day set apart for you to come apart and rest? It is something that you can check out on your own and we will cover it in a future study, but right now it is important for us to find our place and plans that He has for us so that when we come to greater ideals we will be willing to follow on to know Him better.
John 10:28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand/" What a promise is this!!! Eternal life and not anyone can take us out of His hand. When we draw close to Him this is what happens and it is His final reward for all those who follow on to know Him and spend time with Him. I am looking forward to this gift that is ours because Jesus came and gave His life that we might have eternal life with Him. Are you looking forward to this gift? I hope so, all His gifts are so great but the greatest gift of all is spending eternity with the One who died for us that we might be there. Don't disappoint Him, He cares for you and wants you to be ready when He comes to take you home with Him
Grandma Joan
Thursday, December 26, 2013
The Gifts that the Greatest Gift, Jesus, brought to us.
If Jesus had not come to save us from our sins, we would be missing out on some very important gifts that the gift of Jesus has given us if we are willing to accept them.
The first gift that God sent to us was Jesus. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Luke 11:13 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him." Another gift that God has sent is His Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us.
James 4:6 "But He gives more grace, therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." So it pays to have a humble spirit, doesn't it because we will receive His gift of grace that He pours out in our life to give us power to obey and love Him.
James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let Him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." Do you need wisdom? Ask God for the wisdom you need and He will give it to you.
Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Faith is another gift from God.
I think there are so many extra gifts that God has sent us through His Son that I had better do one more post on these gifts. I think I have given you enough to think about for a while. They are such wonderful gifts that we can actually enjoy. May God bless you with these gifts. Grandma Joan
The first gift that God sent to us was Jesus. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Luke 11:13 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him." Another gift that God has sent is His Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us.
James 4:6 "But He gives more grace, therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." So it pays to have a humble spirit, doesn't it because we will receive His gift of grace that He pours out in our life to give us power to obey and love Him.
James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let Him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." Do you need wisdom? Ask God for the wisdom you need and He will give it to you.
Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Faith is another gift from God.
I think there are so many extra gifts that God has sent us through His Son that I had better do one more post on these gifts. I think I have given you enough to think about for a while. They are such wonderful gifts that we can actually enjoy. May God bless you with these gifts. Grandma Joan
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
The Greatest Gift of all
The greatest gift of all was when God gave His Son in the person of Jesus 'to save His people from their sin'.
But how many of you know that when He gave His Son to die for us that it included gifts upon gifts. It did and I want to share some of those gifts with you this Christmas day. But first lets think about the sacred gift of God's Son.
I don't know what words to use or how to put them down in writing because I cannot fathom in my human mind what Christ went through for you and me. You could watch the most and worst horror movie and it would not touch what He went through for us. It was so horrendous that He pled with His Father to 'let this cup pass from me, but not my will but thine be done'. It was so bad that His pores were shedding drops of blood as He agonized in the garden whether He could do it or not. It was so bad that God had to send His Angels to strengthen Him or He would have died right there in the garden. It wasn't hanging on the cross that killed the Son of God, it was the weight of the sins of the whole world from the beginning of time until the end of time, it was the weight of your sins and mine and every other human being that has lived or ever will live that was killing Him.
You know that when you do something really bad how it weighs on your heart until you make it right. Well can you imagine the weight of the sins of the whole world weighing down upon you, if it were not for our Savior Jesus, our own sins would crush us, let alone the sins of the whole world. I know it is hard to comprehend, I can't comprehend it and I am sure that you cannot but can you accept this marvelous gift that God has given in the person of His Son? Try hard to put yourself in His place, it's impossible isn't it? How would you feel if you gave such an expensive gift to someone and they spurned it, how would that make you feel? How do you think Jesus feels when everything in this world means more to us than He does? It breaks His heart, as a matter of fact that is what He died from on the cross. The cross was a lingering death that took two or three days to die, but Jesus died in six hours, not from the pain of the nails driven into His hands and feet, not from the scoffing of the people, or the ridicule He received, but from a broken heart, He was separated from His Father with the weight of your sins and mine and everyone else and He could not see himself being resurrected from this awful death. At the time when He cried out, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me'? He did not know that He would come through this awful death. He thought He was forever separated from His Father in heaven and forever. He did it for you and for me, He died for our sins so that we could have His righteousness and live with Him forever. And we spurn this love, how can it be that we cannot love Him in return and obey anything that He asks us to do, it is only for our good. All the commandments that He has given is only given to give us a better life while we are here on this earth, they are not arbitrary, they were given to protect us and bless us if we would but obey them.
Well, I was going to share some of the other gifts that His death brought to us, but you will have to wait till tomorrow for that. He gave His all for you, what will you give Him? How about giving Him all of you to serve Him with all your heart, that would make Him so very happy. And me too. Have a blessed Christmas day for Jesus and in His Name. Grandma Joan
But how many of you know that when He gave His Son to die for us that it included gifts upon gifts. It did and I want to share some of those gifts with you this Christmas day. But first lets think about the sacred gift of God's Son.
I don't know what words to use or how to put them down in writing because I cannot fathom in my human mind what Christ went through for you and me. You could watch the most and worst horror movie and it would not touch what He went through for us. It was so horrendous that He pled with His Father to 'let this cup pass from me, but not my will but thine be done'. It was so bad that His pores were shedding drops of blood as He agonized in the garden whether He could do it or not. It was so bad that God had to send His Angels to strengthen Him or He would have died right there in the garden. It wasn't hanging on the cross that killed the Son of God, it was the weight of the sins of the whole world from the beginning of time until the end of time, it was the weight of your sins and mine and every other human being that has lived or ever will live that was killing Him.
You know that when you do something really bad how it weighs on your heart until you make it right. Well can you imagine the weight of the sins of the whole world weighing down upon you, if it were not for our Savior Jesus, our own sins would crush us, let alone the sins of the whole world. I know it is hard to comprehend, I can't comprehend it and I am sure that you cannot but can you accept this marvelous gift that God has given in the person of His Son? Try hard to put yourself in His place, it's impossible isn't it? How would you feel if you gave such an expensive gift to someone and they spurned it, how would that make you feel? How do you think Jesus feels when everything in this world means more to us than He does? It breaks His heart, as a matter of fact that is what He died from on the cross. The cross was a lingering death that took two or three days to die, but Jesus died in six hours, not from the pain of the nails driven into His hands and feet, not from the scoffing of the people, or the ridicule He received, but from a broken heart, He was separated from His Father with the weight of your sins and mine and everyone else and He could not see himself being resurrected from this awful death. At the time when He cried out, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me'? He did not know that He would come through this awful death. He thought He was forever separated from His Father in heaven and forever. He did it for you and for me, He died for our sins so that we could have His righteousness and live with Him forever. And we spurn this love, how can it be that we cannot love Him in return and obey anything that He asks us to do, it is only for our good. All the commandments that He has given is only given to give us a better life while we are here on this earth, they are not arbitrary, they were given to protect us and bless us if we would but obey them.
Well, I was going to share some of the other gifts that His death brought to us, but you will have to wait till tomorrow for that. He gave His all for you, what will you give Him? How about giving Him all of you to serve Him with all your heart, that would make Him so very happy. And me too. Have a blessed Christmas day for Jesus and in His Name. Grandma Joan
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Hints For A Deeper Prayer Life
Everyone needs hints on how to make things better, whether it is our spiritual life or physical life. I was thinking about this just now and was thinking what could I do to make my prayer life better, deeper and more satisfying?
The first thing that came to my mind was Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."
The next thought that came to me from my own experience, I don't know about you when you pray silently, my mind tends to wander off on to other subjects, so I decided to pray out loud, it doesn't have to be loud, just a whispered prayer though spoken audibly, will keep your mind on your prayer.
Pray with your eyes closed, because if you start looking around, things you see cause your mind to wander again even if you are speaking audibly.
If you can, the best posture is on our knees, but at my age and in my condition, I find a comfortable spot and bow my head in prayer in a sitting position, because it hurts to get up and down.
Come reverently before the Lord and with a repenting spirit, realizing you are coming before the King of the Universe a Holy God, and He wants to hear every whispered word that you speak and He wants to give us the desires of our heart.
Make sure you come before Him with Praise and Thanksgiving and then make your requests to Him. He loves to know that we appreciate what He has done for us and is doing for us and so be sure to praise Him.
Give Him the first hour of your day or half hour, but be sure not to be hurried, He is too important for us to hurry past Him with just a few words and a few minutes. He wants to know that we love Him and want to spend time with Him.
Have a wonderful prayer life. Grandma Joan
The first thing that came to my mind was Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."
The next thought that came to me from my own experience, I don't know about you when you pray silently, my mind tends to wander off on to other subjects, so I decided to pray out loud, it doesn't have to be loud, just a whispered prayer though spoken audibly, will keep your mind on your prayer.
Pray with your eyes closed, because if you start looking around, things you see cause your mind to wander again even if you are speaking audibly.
If you can, the best posture is on our knees, but at my age and in my condition, I find a comfortable spot and bow my head in prayer in a sitting position, because it hurts to get up and down.
Come reverently before the Lord and with a repenting spirit, realizing you are coming before the King of the Universe a Holy God, and He wants to hear every whispered word that you speak and He wants to give us the desires of our heart.
Make sure you come before Him with Praise and Thanksgiving and then make your requests to Him. He loves to know that we appreciate what He has done for us and is doing for us and so be sure to praise Him.
Give Him the first hour of your day or half hour, but be sure not to be hurried, He is too important for us to hurry past Him with just a few words and a few minutes. He wants to know that we love Him and want to spend time with Him.
Have a wonderful prayer life. Grandma Joan
Monday, December 23, 2013
If You Don't Use it, you lose it.
If you don't exercise, you get weak and flabby, if you don't eat, you get weak and lose energy. If you don't spend time in personal devotions, your faith gets weak and flabby and you lose your connection with God. If you give Him the first part of your day, you are giving Him the best part, before anything else has had a chance to enter in and get you all wrought up over the days activities. The same laws that apply to our physical body, also apply to our Spiritual body. So if you eat three meals a day, then meditate or read God's word that often, if you do physical exercise every day, the same applies with your faith, exercise your faith every day.
Daniel 6:10 "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went to his home, and in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem , he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days."
Mark 1:35 Talking about Jesus, "Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place and there He prayed."
These are two good examples of what we can do to keep from losing our experience with God, because if we don't use our time wisely, we will lose it. Daniel knew that the King had signed a death decree for anyone who prayed to any other God than him. He had forgotten about Daniel and his God until the jealous men in his court came to him reporting that Daniel had prayed to his God, then the king realized what they were up to. But it didn't deter Daniel from praying to his God with his windows open and on his knees.
I was thinking that if Jesus needed to get up a long time before daylight to spend time in prayer with His Father, how much more we need to spend time with Him. Much, much more time, because of our sinful condition. Jesus was without sin and He still needed support and time with His Father, He needed His Father's guidance every day to know just what He wanted Him to do and to make sure He was willing to do His Father's will. Sometimes He spent all night in prayer. Have you ever done that? I have tried, but I always fall asleep, just like the disciples did.
I know that I don't realize my own sinful condition and how much I need to spend time in prayer and study with my Father in heaven. I know that I fall far short of being what He wants me to be, but my intentions are good and I know that He will help me be what He wants me to be. Is this the way you feel? I think a lot of us feel this way but there is hope.
Titus 2:13,14 "Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works."
Our hope is in Jesus and we must stay close to Him and remember if we don't use our time wisely, we will lose it and it is our loss, but it will be His too because he died a cruel death that we might not lose out.
Grandma Joan
Daniel 6:10 "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went to his home, and in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem , he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days."
Mark 1:35 Talking about Jesus, "Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place and there He prayed."
These are two good examples of what we can do to keep from losing our experience with God, because if we don't use our time wisely, we will lose it. Daniel knew that the King had signed a death decree for anyone who prayed to any other God than him. He had forgotten about Daniel and his God until the jealous men in his court came to him reporting that Daniel had prayed to his God, then the king realized what they were up to. But it didn't deter Daniel from praying to his God with his windows open and on his knees.
I was thinking that if Jesus needed to get up a long time before daylight to spend time in prayer with His Father, how much more we need to spend time with Him. Much, much more time, because of our sinful condition. Jesus was without sin and He still needed support and time with His Father, He needed His Father's guidance every day to know just what He wanted Him to do and to make sure He was willing to do His Father's will. Sometimes He spent all night in prayer. Have you ever done that? I have tried, but I always fall asleep, just like the disciples did.
I know that I don't realize my own sinful condition and how much I need to spend time in prayer and study with my Father in heaven. I know that I fall far short of being what He wants me to be, but my intentions are good and I know that He will help me be what He wants me to be. Is this the way you feel? I think a lot of us feel this way but there is hope.
Titus 2:13,14 "Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works."
Our hope is in Jesus and we must stay close to Him and remember if we don't use our time wisely, we will lose it and it is our loss, but it will be His too because he died a cruel death that we might not lose out.
Grandma Joan
Sunday, December 22, 2013
More of This and Less of That
Have you learned to spend more time with God in the mornings? I am sure working on it every day, some days I do better than others but as a whole I think I am upward bound. How about you? I hope you are spending more time each day in your worship time and with it you will increase in your faith and trust in your God. In our God. This morning as I was checking my stats on my blog, I remembered that the highest views I have had in one day was 44, I just sent up a quick prayer asking God to increase that number today and guess what? Today I had 49, maybe more by now. I was so thrilled that I just sat here and thanked Him over and over and I am still thanking Him.
I read a thought in my worship time today that I thought you might like and appreciate. It went like this:
"More love, more witnessing, more surrender, more energy equals less discouragement and less depression--all this comes from using the secret weapon of personal devotions." I thought that this was a really profound thought, I never thought of it like that before, but it is so very true. For me it has been just like that but I just never thought of it like that.
It does lift our spirits up on high when we spend time with God and when He answers our prayers like He did this morning, I was elated. I have also asked Him to bless my viewers and I know He is and so if you are being blessed, it is in answer to my prayer for you. I am thankful you are being blessed.
You will receive the blessings of more love, more sharing with others, more surrender,and more energy and less of discouragement and depression, that is an excellent swap is it not? I am willing to swap out discouragement and depression for more love, sharing, surrender and more energy and many other blessings too numerous to mention. God has so much more in store for us that we cannot even imagine. It will bring us so much joy and happiness if we swap our discouragements and depressions for His blessings. So what is holding us up? I hope nothing. We really have nothing to lose. So let's do some swapping. More of love, sharing, surrender and energy and less of discouragement and depression. How about it? Grandma Joan.
I read a thought in my worship time today that I thought you might like and appreciate. It went like this:
"More love, more witnessing, more surrender, more energy equals less discouragement and less depression--all this comes from using the secret weapon of personal devotions." I thought that this was a really profound thought, I never thought of it like that before, but it is so very true. For me it has been just like that but I just never thought of it like that.
It does lift our spirits up on high when we spend time with God and when He answers our prayers like He did this morning, I was elated. I have also asked Him to bless my viewers and I know He is and so if you are being blessed, it is in answer to my prayer for you. I am thankful you are being blessed.
You will receive the blessings of more love, more sharing with others, more surrender,and more energy and less of discouragement and depression, that is an excellent swap is it not? I am willing to swap out discouragement and depression for more love, sharing, surrender and more energy and many other blessings too numerous to mention. God has so much more in store for us that we cannot even imagine. It will bring us so much joy and happiness if we swap our discouragements and depressions for His blessings. So what is holding us up? I hope nothing. We really have nothing to lose. So let's do some swapping. More of love, sharing, surrender and energy and less of discouragement and depression. How about it? Grandma Joan.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
David's Prayer My Prayer - end.
How are you doing? As I said before, I love this prayer of David's. I so hope that you do too. There are a couple of other prayers, one of David's and one of Jabez. Both are wonderful and sometimes I include them too. I will give you where they are found at the end of this post.
Verse 14 "Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness." David was a man of war, but beloved of God because he was gaining the land of Canaan for Israel under God's direction, but perhaps he felt he needed fogiveness or maybe it was because he had Bathsheba's husband killed in battle. Anyway, because of his sincere repentance he was forgiven and was ready to sing God's praises. Are you ready to sing praises?
Verses 15,16,17 "O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart--Oh God, You will not despise."
Have you had a broken and contrite heart before God? I have and He knows how we feel when we really come before Him in deep repentance. He is waiting and willing to forgive us, we just need to trust Him, I hope your trust in Him is increasing day by day as you read my blogs. I pray over them and for you each day and thank God for your participation in my worships each morning.
The other two prayers I was mentioning is Psalms 14:13,14 and 1 Chronicles 4:10. This will give you something to look up and ponder on your own. Thank you for going with me through this prayer of David's, I try to read it every day and I think I will have it memorized one of these days. How about you? Don't give up, God is on our side. Grandma Joan
Verse 14 "Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness." David was a man of war, but beloved of God because he was gaining the land of Canaan for Israel under God's direction, but perhaps he felt he needed fogiveness or maybe it was because he had Bathsheba's husband killed in battle. Anyway, because of his sincere repentance he was forgiven and was ready to sing God's praises. Are you ready to sing praises?
Verses 15,16,17 "O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart--Oh God, You will not despise."
Have you had a broken and contrite heart before God? I have and He knows how we feel when we really come before Him in deep repentance. He is waiting and willing to forgive us, we just need to trust Him, I hope your trust in Him is increasing day by day as you read my blogs. I pray over them and for you each day and thank God for your participation in my worships each morning.
The other two prayers I was mentioning is Psalms 14:13,14 and 1 Chronicles 4:10. This will give you something to look up and ponder on your own. Thank you for going with me through this prayer of David's, I try to read it every day and I think I will have it memorized one of these days. How about you? Don't give up, God is on our side. Grandma Joan
Friday, December 20, 2013
David's Prayer, My Prayer - part 3
Do you feel clean today after praying David's prayer? I always feel clean after praying his prayer for my prayer. It covers my life almost totally.
Verse 8,9 "Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities." David wants to have joy and gladness again, and I want it too, don't you? He wants to make sure that God doesn't see his sins anymore and make sure that they are all blotted out. I don't blame him for that, it is not good to stand before God condemned. It always feels so good when things are right again and we are forgiven, whether its God's forgiveness or someone that we have hurt, it just feels so great to be forgiven.
Verse 10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." I want a clean heart and a new spirit put within in as I am sure that you do. Trust God to do what you ask of Him.
Verse 11,12 "Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit." David is covering all the bases that might have happened to him, it doesn't sound like he is leaving anything undone and that's the way our prayers should be, that's why I like to pray his prayer, eventually I will be able to cover all the bases on my own, but right now I love to copy his prayer and then add some extra bases.
Verse 13 "Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You." I want to help others on their way to the kingdom, just like David did, but he realized one thing and that was he needed forgiven before he could help others. It is the same with us, when we have been forgiven of our past sins, we want others to have the same experience as we have had and so we share. Share what you have learned, share that you have been forgiven, share the peace and love of God that has filled your heart. Just keep sharing and we are told that when we share, more will be given. Luke 6:38.
We are also told in Luke 7:47 "Therefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little". So the more we are forgiven, the more we will love others and want to help them have the same experience. Please join me in finding forgiveness like David did, so that we may love others much like Jesus does. Grandma Joan
Verse 8,9 "Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities." David wants to have joy and gladness again, and I want it too, don't you? He wants to make sure that God doesn't see his sins anymore and make sure that they are all blotted out. I don't blame him for that, it is not good to stand before God condemned. It always feels so good when things are right again and we are forgiven, whether its God's forgiveness or someone that we have hurt, it just feels so great to be forgiven.
Verse 10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." I want a clean heart and a new spirit put within in as I am sure that you do. Trust God to do what you ask of Him.
Verse 11,12 "Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit." David is covering all the bases that might have happened to him, it doesn't sound like he is leaving anything undone and that's the way our prayers should be, that's why I like to pray his prayer, eventually I will be able to cover all the bases on my own, but right now I love to copy his prayer and then add some extra bases.
Verse 13 "Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You." I want to help others on their way to the kingdom, just like David did, but he realized one thing and that was he needed forgiven before he could help others. It is the same with us, when we have been forgiven of our past sins, we want others to have the same experience as we have had and so we share. Share what you have learned, share that you have been forgiven, share the peace and love of God that has filled your heart. Just keep sharing and we are told that when we share, more will be given. Luke 6:38.
We are also told in Luke 7:47 "Therefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little". So the more we are forgiven, the more we will love others and want to help them have the same experience. Please join me in finding forgiveness like David did, so that we may love others much like Jesus does. Grandma Joan
Thursday, December 19, 2013
David's Prayer, My Prayer - part 2
Did you try praying David's prayer? How did it fit your circumstances? It surely fits mine almost to a T. I love it and I think you will too, as you progress in it.
Psalms 51: 5 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." I know there a lot of children today that were brought into this world before wedlock, but you know and I know that David was a man after God's own heart when he confessed his sin with Bathsheba and I don't know if he was brought into this world in that way but if you were, God loves you and you can be a man or woman after God's own heart too. Just like David, he found forgiveness through repentance and you can do the same even if you have sinned, remember He says He is full of tender mercies, and He is.
Verse 6 "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom." See how well He knew David, and how much He had been forgiven.
Verse 7 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." I have heard that the herb 'hyssop' is very cleansing when taken as a tea. Perhaps this is why he requested God to purge him with it and then he wanted washed whiter than snow.
Don't you want to be washed whiter than snow? I do. It has to be a wonderful feeling to know that you have been washed whiter than snow and clean on the inside and outside too. I believe we can have that peaceful and clean feeling if we just believe what He has promised us through His word. Please join me in believing this prayer is answered and having a life full of peace. Grandma Joan
Psalms 51: 5 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." I know there a lot of children today that were brought into this world before wedlock, but you know and I know that David was a man after God's own heart when he confessed his sin with Bathsheba and I don't know if he was brought into this world in that way but if you were, God loves you and you can be a man or woman after God's own heart too. Just like David, he found forgiveness through repentance and you can do the same even if you have sinned, remember He says He is full of tender mercies, and He is.
Verse 6 "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom." See how well He knew David, and how much He had been forgiven.
Verse 7 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." I have heard that the herb 'hyssop' is very cleansing when taken as a tea. Perhaps this is why he requested God to purge him with it and then he wanted washed whiter than snow.
Don't you want to be washed whiter than snow? I do. It has to be a wonderful feeling to know that you have been washed whiter than snow and clean on the inside and outside too. I believe we can have that peaceful and clean feeling if we just believe what He has promised us through His word. Please join me in believing this prayer is answered and having a life full of peace. Grandma Joan
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
David's Prayer is My Prayer
Have you ever studied David's prayer in Psalms 51? I love to pray it, it fits me so very well, except when I add some personal requests and thanksgiving. I am going to go through it with you and maybe you will see why I love this prayer so much. It seems to touch every aspect of my life, almost. I then add my personal requests and thanksgiving.
Psalms 51:1,2 "Have mercy upon me, O God according to Your loving kindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin;"
I need mercy and I am glad that He has a multitude of tender mercies for me. My need is so great at times, I feel overwhelmed. Do you ever feel that way? He is also full of loving kindness towards me, I am so thankful for His great love for me.
Verse 3 "For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me." I have acknowledged my transgressions and my sin and I know that He has forgiven me as He has promised in 1 John 1:9 but Satan loves to throw them up in my face and then I I have to resist him as it says in James 4:7. You see we have direction from the Bible to handle every situation if we only study it out. It really is quite simple, we just make it hard, we always seem to make the Christian walk a hard thing to do, when if we left it with God who makes things so simple for us if we would only do them.
Verse 4 David is speaking about his transgression with another man's wife "against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight--That You may be found just, when you speak, and blameless when You judge." He knew he would be judged righteously and when forgiven be found blameless. Such a
wonderful thought about our past sins. He really does forgive and the Bible says He casts them in the depths of the sea. What better place for forgiven sins.
Will you join me in this prayer of David's? Then add your own personal requests and thanks to it. It means a lot to me and I am sure if you go over it slow and mindful, you will see what I mean. Tomorrow we will look at some more of this prayer, in the meantime, try my suggestion and believe what it says. Is is rewarding and beautiful. Grandma Joan
Psalms 51:1,2 "Have mercy upon me, O God according to Your loving kindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin;"
I need mercy and I am glad that He has a multitude of tender mercies for me. My need is so great at times, I feel overwhelmed. Do you ever feel that way? He is also full of loving kindness towards me, I am so thankful for His great love for me.
Verse 3 "For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me." I have acknowledged my transgressions and my sin and I know that He has forgiven me as He has promised in 1 John 1:9 but Satan loves to throw them up in my face and then I I have to resist him as it says in James 4:7. You see we have direction from the Bible to handle every situation if we only study it out. It really is quite simple, we just make it hard, we always seem to make the Christian walk a hard thing to do, when if we left it with God who makes things so simple for us if we would only do them.
Verse 4 David is speaking about his transgression with another man's wife "against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight--That You may be found just, when you speak, and blameless when You judge." He knew he would be judged righteously and when forgiven be found blameless. Such a
wonderful thought about our past sins. He really does forgive and the Bible says He casts them in the depths of the sea. What better place for forgiven sins.
Will you join me in this prayer of David's? Then add your own personal requests and thanks to it. It means a lot to me and I am sure if you go over it slow and mindful, you will see what I mean. Tomorrow we will look at some more of this prayer, in the meantime, try my suggestion and believe what it says. Is is rewarding and beautiful. Grandma Joan
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
A Relentless Pursuit!!
Have you ever had anyone pursue you relentlessly? I can only think of one who fits that bill. Can you guess who it might be. God of course. He is not One to give up the pursuit, He sticks with it until we give in or just plain tell Him to get lost. I would never want to do that would you? Well, you can be sure that He is pursuing you, no matter who you are. He uses many methods. He uses people in our lives or sends someone to us that lets us know that we are being pursued.
I have been pursued all my life and I am so thankful. From the time I was a little girl, He has been after me and has never given up even when I did or almost did. It didn't matter to Him, He was always there pursuing.
One way or another He was going to get me. Sometimes He sends trials our way to get our attention, that is when we play hard to get, then He gets desperate to get our attention.
To have a Friend who loves us that much is incomprehensible, I cannot understand it but because of what He has done for me and with me, I know it is true.
He is so much into saving us that He has promised that when He calls us, He will also do it for us. In 1 Thessalonians 5:24, Then in verses 14 - 24 He exhorts us what our duties are in order for Him to do it for us. If we surrender our will to Him, He is more than willing to bring His power into play in our lives so that we can live in this world but not of it. We can be confident that when He has begun a good work in us that He will complete it until Jesus comes. Philippians 1:6.
Have you ever had anyone pursue you and then promise that he will do the work for you if you will just let him? I haven't. To have a Friend like Jesus is all we need in this world to make it to the Kingdom of God.
Don't just let Him pursue you, let Him catch you and give in to His relentless pursuing and let Him make you into the kind of person He wants you to be. You will never regret letting Him catch you. Grandma Joan
I have been pursued all my life and I am so thankful. From the time I was a little girl, He has been after me and has never given up even when I did or almost did. It didn't matter to Him, He was always there pursuing.
One way or another He was going to get me. Sometimes He sends trials our way to get our attention, that is when we play hard to get, then He gets desperate to get our attention.
To have a Friend who loves us that much is incomprehensible, I cannot understand it but because of what He has done for me and with me, I know it is true.
He is so much into saving us that He has promised that when He calls us, He will also do it for us. In 1 Thessalonians 5:24, Then in verses 14 - 24 He exhorts us what our duties are in order for Him to do it for us. If we surrender our will to Him, He is more than willing to bring His power into play in our lives so that we can live in this world but not of it. We can be confident that when He has begun a good work in us that He will complete it until Jesus comes. Philippians 1:6.
Have you ever had anyone pursue you and then promise that he will do the work for you if you will just let him? I haven't. To have a Friend like Jesus is all we need in this world to make it to the Kingdom of God.
Don't just let Him pursue you, let Him catch you and give in to His relentless pursuing and let Him make you into the kind of person He wants you to be. You will never regret letting Him catch you. Grandma Joan
Monday, December 16, 2013
He Will Carry You
Have you seen the picture of the footprints in the sand, of two people walking side by side and all of a sudden there is only one set of footprints and the person says to the Lord, 'I thought you were beside me all the time and now there is only one set of footprints' and Jesus answers, 'that's when things got rough for you and I was carrying you'.
Isaiah 53:4 "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
Did you get that? He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, will you let Him carry your burdens and even to the point of letting Him carry you when the load gets too heavy for you. He was wounded and bruised for our sins. Won't you let Him take your sins? He took them to the cross for you so you wouldn't have to bear the guilt of them. We can be healed by His stripes, He will bring healing where it is needed, specially spiritual healing, and we all can use that, can't we?
Let's not fool ourselves into thinking that we are OK, when we know in our hearts that we are not. The Bible says, 'All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one to his own way.' We have all strayed from what we know is the right way, some innocently and others deliberately and others not caring or seeing the results of their straying. It doesn't matter which path we have taken, we have all strayed and come short of the glory of God.
When the path gets too rough for us to handle, let's let Him carry us as the picture depicts. Sometimes I need carried and He is always willing to take the load and make our yoke easy and our burden light. I just want to thank Him for being such a wonderful God and Savior. Don't you? Grandma Joan
Isaiah 53:4 "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
Did you get that? He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, will you let Him carry your burdens and even to the point of letting Him carry you when the load gets too heavy for you. He was wounded and bruised for our sins. Won't you let Him take your sins? He took them to the cross for you so you wouldn't have to bear the guilt of them. We can be healed by His stripes, He will bring healing where it is needed, specially spiritual healing, and we all can use that, can't we?
Let's not fool ourselves into thinking that we are OK, when we know in our hearts that we are not. The Bible says, 'All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one to his own way.' We have all strayed from what we know is the right way, some innocently and others deliberately and others not caring or seeing the results of their straying. It doesn't matter which path we have taken, we have all strayed and come short of the glory of God.
When the path gets too rough for us to handle, let's let Him carry us as the picture depicts. Sometimes I need carried and He is always willing to take the load and make our yoke easy and our burden light. I just want to thank Him for being such a wonderful God and Savior. Don't you? Grandma Joan
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Now, What Do I Do?
The answer to that dilemma is Trust. When God delivers us from a valley of darkness, the next thing to do is trust in Him to continue delivering us from the temptations that cause the darkness. I found so much this morning on Trust, that I can't possibly put it all in here so if I just put in the text where they are found and elaborate on them a bit, would you be willing to look them up. I have already done this and I am amazed what I found.
We can trust in His Name. In Psalms 33:21 I will print the short ones for you, thus a time saver for you and you will still get the message. "For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His Holy Name."
We can trust in His Word the Bible. Psalms 119:42 "So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in Your word."
We can trust in Christ. Matthew 12:21 Speaking of Christ, "And in His name Gentiles will trust."
Trusting brings Joy, Psalms 5:11: Deliverance, Psalms 22:4,5: Triumph, Psalms 25:2,3; God's Goodness, Psalms 31:19; God's Mercy, Psalms 32:10; Our Provision, Psalms 37:3,5; Our Blessedness, Psalms 40:4;
Our Safety, Psalms 56:4,11; Our Usefulness; Psalms 73:28; His Guidance, Proverbs 3::5,6; Our Inheritance Isaiah 57:13.
I just read these promises again and they are so wonderful and the benefits of trusting in God is the absolutely only way to go. Please read them again and again if you have to, to let them sink in, you won't be a bit sorry you did it, it actually relieves the stress of trying to gain all these benefits which is impossible any other way but to just trust in God for that is the ONLY way to go.
When we come out of a darkness into His marvelous light, we can trust in Him and He will keep us on that path and shield us from the temptations that we are so often fronted with. We must stay close to Him as I have stressed in previous studies and do nothing that would separate us from Him. If you have a darkness that does not go away, ask Him to tell you why and He will impress it on your mind what the problem is and you can give it to Him and He will shed light on your pathway and guide you in the right path. Have a great day in the light of the Lord, trusting wholly in Him. Grandma Joan.
We can trust in His Name. In Psalms 33:21 I will print the short ones for you, thus a time saver for you and you will still get the message. "For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His Holy Name."
We can trust in His Word the Bible. Psalms 119:42 "So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in Your word."
We can trust in Christ. Matthew 12:21 Speaking of Christ, "And in His name Gentiles will trust."
Trusting brings Joy, Psalms 5:11: Deliverance, Psalms 22:4,5: Triumph, Psalms 25:2,3; God's Goodness, Psalms 31:19; God's Mercy, Psalms 32:10; Our Provision, Psalms 37:3,5; Our Blessedness, Psalms 40:4;
Our Safety, Psalms 56:4,11; Our Usefulness; Psalms 73:28; His Guidance, Proverbs 3::5,6; Our Inheritance Isaiah 57:13.
I just read these promises again and they are so wonderful and the benefits of trusting in God is the absolutely only way to go. Please read them again and again if you have to, to let them sink in, you won't be a bit sorry you did it, it actually relieves the stress of trying to gain all these benefits which is impossible any other way but to just trust in God for that is the ONLY way to go.
When we come out of a darkness into His marvelous light, we can trust in Him and He will keep us on that path and shield us from the temptations that we are so often fronted with. We must stay close to Him as I have stressed in previous studies and do nothing that would separate us from Him. If you have a darkness that does not go away, ask Him to tell you why and He will impress it on your mind what the problem is and you can give it to Him and He will shed light on your pathway and guide you in the right path. Have a great day in the light of the Lord, trusting wholly in Him. Grandma Joan.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
You Shall Be Free Indeed
Do you like your freedom? I doubt that there is anyone who doesn't. Freedom may mean many things from going your own way without anyone telling you what to do. It may mean freedom of speech, it may mean freedom to choose what ever you are going to do as a life work. It may mean freedom to worship as you please, it may mean freedom from laws of different kind. Some countries do not have the freedom that we have had.
How can we be free from laws? There is a way and that way is Biblical, by obeying the laws of the land, we are free from them, they don't hover over us trying to keep us in line. If someone insists on breaking the law, they are always on the look out for the law to stop them, pick them up and slap them in jail. Is that freedom? I don't think so, you would always be on the watch for someone to get you.
Romans 6:14,18 "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." When we are free from sin, we are free from being under the law of God. When we break the law, we are no longer free, just as it is with the laws of our land. God's law has not been done away with, like a lot of people believe. We are free from it as long as it doesn't condemn us. Just like the laws of the land. It is so simple to understand, put your thinking cap on and think it over, it really is simple. God's will and ways are not hard, it is we the people that make it seem hard. He wants us to experience freedom and we can in Him.
Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." See how we are not condemned by the law as long as we are in Christ Jesus, walking in His Spirit.
Romans 8:36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." There is no freedom in this world that compares with the freedom that we can have in Christ, none. None of us are perfect, but we can be growing daily in Christ and be free moment by moment. If we were expected to be perfect over night, that would certainly be overwhelming, but I do know of some who have overcome some terrible sins in their life in a moments time. My son for one, he drank, chewed, smoked, swore, nothing was left out of his life that he wanted to do and say. He called me and wanted help to be a Christian again. When I suggested that He just bow in prayer and surrender it all to Christ, it was gone and he was free indeed. We have to be sincerely repentant for that to happen but it does happen all the time. Today he is still growing in Christ.
Are you ready to be set free and have perfect freedom in Christ? It takes all the burden of living off your shoulders and puts in on Christ's and He is more than willing to take them. Be free in Christ my friend and you will begin a new life of freedom from condemnation. Grandma Joan
How can we be free from laws? There is a way and that way is Biblical, by obeying the laws of the land, we are free from them, they don't hover over us trying to keep us in line. If someone insists on breaking the law, they are always on the look out for the law to stop them, pick them up and slap them in jail. Is that freedom? I don't think so, you would always be on the watch for someone to get you.
Romans 6:14,18 "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." When we are free from sin, we are free from being under the law of God. When we break the law, we are no longer free, just as it is with the laws of our land. God's law has not been done away with, like a lot of people believe. We are free from it as long as it doesn't condemn us. Just like the laws of the land. It is so simple to understand, put your thinking cap on and think it over, it really is simple. God's will and ways are not hard, it is we the people that make it seem hard. He wants us to experience freedom and we can in Him.
Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." See how we are not condemned by the law as long as we are in Christ Jesus, walking in His Spirit.
Romans 8:36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." There is no freedom in this world that compares with the freedom that we can have in Christ, none. None of us are perfect, but we can be growing daily in Christ and be free moment by moment. If we were expected to be perfect over night, that would certainly be overwhelming, but I do know of some who have overcome some terrible sins in their life in a moments time. My son for one, he drank, chewed, smoked, swore, nothing was left out of his life that he wanted to do and say. He called me and wanted help to be a Christian again. When I suggested that He just bow in prayer and surrender it all to Christ, it was gone and he was free indeed. We have to be sincerely repentant for that to happen but it does happen all the time. Today he is still growing in Christ.
Are you ready to be set free and have perfect freedom in Christ? It takes all the burden of living off your shoulders and puts in on Christ's and He is more than willing to take them. Be free in Christ my friend and you will begin a new life of freedom from condemnation. Grandma Joan
Friday, December 13, 2013
If My Foot Slips???
I know that I am not alone when it comes to slipping up and making a mess of things. I am sure that everyone, even if they won't admit it, comes to the point of slipping up now and then and regretting what just happened. I have been there, have you? We have help in this area and it is Biblical help, all we need when this happens. Get prepared to end your slip ups or at least lessen them. Satan's ground is slippery and dangerous and we need help from above to overcome where he wants us to fall.
Psalms 94:17,18 "Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence, if I say, 'my foot slips,' Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up."
Psalms 91:11,12 "For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways, In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone."
Psalms 121:3 "He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber."
His mercy endures forever, you are in safe hands, do you believe that? He gives His angels charge over us to keep us wherever we are, and they will keep us from dashing our feet against Satan's temptations. He doesn't sleep, He is always alert to our whereabouts and is always willing to come to our rescue.
Take courage and always know that you are in safe hands, always. Praise Him and Thank Him for keeping your feet in safe paths. I am so grateful for His watch care. I have stumbled and fallen so many times, but He is always there to pick me up. He will do the same for you too. God bless you!!! Grandma Joan
Psalms 94:17,18 "Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence, if I say, 'my foot slips,' Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up."
Psalms 91:11,12 "For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways, In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone."
Psalms 121:3 "He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber."
His mercy endures forever, you are in safe hands, do you believe that? He gives His angels charge over us to keep us wherever we are, and they will keep us from dashing our feet against Satan's temptations. He doesn't sleep, He is always alert to our whereabouts and is always willing to come to our rescue.
Take courage and always know that you are in safe hands, always. Praise Him and Thank Him for keeping your feet in safe paths. I am so grateful for His watch care. I have stumbled and fallen so many times, but He is always there to pick me up. He will do the same for you too. God bless you!!! Grandma Joan
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
It's Peace that I want.
How long has it been since you had real, real, deep down peace in your heart? Has it been a long time? You know there is a reason that we don't have peace and we have that nagging hunger for that peace that passes all understanding. I have finally found the peace that I have been looking for and I would like to share with you, how you may have it too.
Psalms 28:13 "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Is there someone you have wronged and you have not humbled yourself and gone to them and made things right with them. I have had to do that so many times in my life and I still kept doing things that I had to make right until just recently I discovered the problem. I was not letting Christ control my every thought, my words and my actions. All of me.
James 5:16 "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that you may be healed."
In a little book called Steps to Christ is this thought, "True confession is always of a specific character, and acknowledges specific sins. They may be of such a nature as to be brought before God only; They may be wrongs that should be confessed to individuals who have suffered injury through them; or they may be of a public character, and then should be as publicly confessed. All confession should be definite and to the point acknowledging the very sins of which you are guilty."
Notice the sentence, 'all confession should be definite and to the point, acknowledging the very sins of which you are guilty. This takes a lot of prayer and heart searching and if we are open to the Spirit's leading, He will lead us in making things right with others and this must be done before we come before God confessing them. I treated someone badly 40 years ago and God brought it to my mind and fortunately I had a contact that I was able to use to make things right and then peace came. We must humble ourselves before those we have sinned against and tell them we are truly sorry and name the sin that we committed, and peace will come as we do this. There may be several that will be brought to mind, it is not all at once that this happens, it could be over a little stretch of time but it will come and we must humble ourselves and do what is required of us to have that peace that God wants to give us.
Whatever you do, don't excuse your sins as Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3:12,13. There is no excuse for sin and confessions of this order are not inspired by God and are not acceptable. Self-justification has always been Satan's method of releasing us from guilt, but it is not God's way.
It is OK to be the chief of sinners, Paul said he was chief of sinners and it is OK for me to be the chief of sinners and freely admit my wrongs and make them right if I truly want the peace that passes all understanding.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Do you believe this promise, then claim it and make things right with those you have wronged and with God and you will have that peace that all men and women long for and cannot find.
I guarantee that you will find the peace that you need if you are truly sincere and are willing to be made willing to reform your life to God's will and become His humble follower. Grandma Joan
PS. God impressed my mind to leave this up for another day. Whoever you are out there that needs this today, I pray God's blessing on you and all you who read this, it really does bring peace to the heart and joy also knowing you are right with God, what a blessing!!!!!
Psalms 28:13 "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Is there someone you have wronged and you have not humbled yourself and gone to them and made things right with them. I have had to do that so many times in my life and I still kept doing things that I had to make right until just recently I discovered the problem. I was not letting Christ control my every thought, my words and my actions. All of me.
James 5:16 "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that you may be healed."
In a little book called Steps to Christ is this thought, "True confession is always of a specific character, and acknowledges specific sins. They may be of such a nature as to be brought before God only; They may be wrongs that should be confessed to individuals who have suffered injury through them; or they may be of a public character, and then should be as publicly confessed. All confession should be definite and to the point acknowledging the very sins of which you are guilty."
Notice the sentence, 'all confession should be definite and to the point, acknowledging the very sins of which you are guilty. This takes a lot of prayer and heart searching and if we are open to the Spirit's leading, He will lead us in making things right with others and this must be done before we come before God confessing them. I treated someone badly 40 years ago and God brought it to my mind and fortunately I had a contact that I was able to use to make things right and then peace came. We must humble ourselves before those we have sinned against and tell them we are truly sorry and name the sin that we committed, and peace will come as we do this. There may be several that will be brought to mind, it is not all at once that this happens, it could be over a little stretch of time but it will come and we must humble ourselves and do what is required of us to have that peace that God wants to give us.
Whatever you do, don't excuse your sins as Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3:12,13. There is no excuse for sin and confessions of this order are not inspired by God and are not acceptable. Self-justification has always been Satan's method of releasing us from guilt, but it is not God's way.
It is OK to be the chief of sinners, Paul said he was chief of sinners and it is OK for me to be the chief of sinners and freely admit my wrongs and make them right if I truly want the peace that passes all understanding.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Do you believe this promise, then claim it and make things right with those you have wronged and with God and you will have that peace that all men and women long for and cannot find.
I guarantee that you will find the peace that you need if you are truly sincere and are willing to be made willing to reform your life to God's will and become His humble follower. Grandma Joan
PS. God impressed my mind to leave this up for another day. Whoever you are out there that needs this today, I pray God's blessing on you and all you who read this, it really does bring peace to the heart and joy also knowing you are right with God, what a blessing!!!!!
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Lord, Have Mercy On Us.
We need His mercy every moment of every day of our lives. There is no time in our life when we can get by without God's mercy. Mercy is showing kindness to someone undeserving. Are we undeserving of God's mercy? I think so but evidently He doesn't think so because we are showered with it all the time, deserving or not. What do you think? I would like to do a little study about His mercy, so let's begin, I think it will be very rewarding.
Isaiah 54:7 "For a moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you." He doesn't leave us, we leave Him." This verse says, His mercies are great, He wants to gather us to Him. So, why don't we let Him?
Isaiah 55:3 "Incline your ear, and come to Me, Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you--The sure mercies of David." His mercies are sure.
1 Peter 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." He has abundant mercy.
Psalms 25:6 "Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses. For they are from of old." His mercies and loving kindnesses are from way back, so let's not forget to ask for His tender mercy towards us.
Lamentations 3:22,23 "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness."
In Psalms 136, every verse says that His mercy endures forever. You can read it. It is because of His great faithfulness that we are here and His mercies are applied new every morning. Shouldn't we thank Him for His tender mercies that He applies toward us every morning. I think we should be more than thankful, for we know not what the day may bring and we need His tender mercies, new every morning. May God bless you with His tender mercies. Grandma Joan
Isaiah 54:7 "For a moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you." He doesn't leave us, we leave Him." This verse says, His mercies are great, He wants to gather us to Him. So, why don't we let Him?
Isaiah 55:3 "Incline your ear, and come to Me, Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you--The sure mercies of David." His mercies are sure.
1 Peter 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." He has abundant mercy.
Psalms 25:6 "Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses. For they are from of old." His mercies and loving kindnesses are from way back, so let's not forget to ask for His tender mercy towards us.
Lamentations 3:22,23 "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness."
In Psalms 136, every verse says that His mercy endures forever. You can read it. It is because of His great faithfulness that we are here and His mercies are applied new every morning. Shouldn't we thank Him for His tender mercies that He applies toward us every morning. I think we should be more than thankful, for we know not what the day may bring and we need His tender mercies, new every morning. May God bless you with His tender mercies. Grandma Joan
Monday, December 9, 2013
The Benefits
When God tells us to do something, there are always rewards for obedience to His commands and following are some of things that we will benefit from, when we have an infilling of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit bestowed in answer to prayer: Luke 11:13 "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy spirit to them that ask Him."
Waiting on God for the outpouring of His Spirit: Luke 24:49 "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."
Holy Spirit empowers for service: Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judae, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."
Holy Spirit guides us into all truth: John 16:13 "Howbeit, when He the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come."
Cleansing precedes the filling of the Spirit: Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Convicts the world of sin: John 16:7,8 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment.;"
Obedience a mark of Sonship: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
A Warning: Genesis 6:3 "And the Lord said, 'My Spirit shall not always strive with man...."
Our Prayer should be: Psalms 51:11 "Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me."
There is a hymn that I love, but I am going to tell you the chorus and hopefully this will be your prayer.
I need Thee, O, I need thee, Every hour I need thee; O bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee.
Will this be your prayer? It is mine. I have such a great need for His presence, I hope that you feel your great need too, is my prayer for you. Grandma Joan
Holy Spirit bestowed in answer to prayer: Luke 11:13 "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy spirit to them that ask Him."
Waiting on God for the outpouring of His Spirit: Luke 24:49 "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."
Holy Spirit empowers for service: Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judae, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."
Holy Spirit guides us into all truth: John 16:13 "Howbeit, when He the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come."
Cleansing precedes the filling of the Spirit: Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Convicts the world of sin: John 16:7,8 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment.;"
Obedience a mark of Sonship: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
A Warning: Genesis 6:3 "And the Lord said, 'My Spirit shall not always strive with man...."
Our Prayer should be: Psalms 51:11 "Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me."
There is a hymn that I love, but I am going to tell you the chorus and hopefully this will be your prayer.
I need Thee, O, I need thee, Every hour I need thee; O bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee.
Will this be your prayer? It is mine. I have such a great need for His presence, I hope that you feel your great need too, is my prayer for you. Grandma Joan
Sunday, December 8, 2013
A Knowledge of God - In Nature
How many of you love nature, I guess my favorite part of nature would be flowers, I love flowers, I can't seem to get enough of them, when ever I have a birthday or mother's day, my daughter gives me a big bouquet of flowers because she knows how much I love them.
I love a beautiful yard and have had lot's of them but not any more, it takes lot's of work to keep up a pretty yard and I am not able to do a big yard any more. I love the ocean, sometimes I can hear the waves if it's stormy on the bay, but we don't get big waves because of the islands out there but we do have a view of the water and I love that. There is another thing I love about nature and that is pretty rocks and stones, I have a rock polisher somewhere but can't find it but polished rocks are beautiful and I love rock shows.
Trees and grass are beautiful, cloud formations are beautiful, above all I love the sunshine, we don't seem to get enough of that here. Even though this world is stained with sin, God has lot's of reminders for us of the Eden garden that He created long ago.
Some people believe that God is nature, but He is the Creator of nature and wants to remind us of what the New Heavens and New Earth will be like when He comes again to take us Home with Him. The beauty will be surpassing anything we have ever seen or heard of.
1 Corinthians 2:9 "But as it is written, 'eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." Don't you want to go home with Him and see all the things He has prepared for those who love Him. It isn't hard to love a God like that, He loves us so very much and to know Him is to love Him. We need to read His Word every day because it is the same as His voice would be if we could hear Him speak to us.
All of these beautiful things He has given for us to enjoy, they tell of His tender Fatherly care for us each and every day of our lives. Just look around you, you will see something of that beauty and care.
Psalms 95:6 "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."
Psalms 95:4,5 "In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land."
Jeremiah 10:10,11,16,12 "Seek Him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, And turneth the shadow of death in the morning, And maketh the day dark with night; He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, And declareth unto man what is his thought; He that buildeth His spheres in the heaven, And hath founded his arch in the earth; He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, Jehovah is His name."
It would be well for us to study the things of nature, even the intricate, delicate formation of the flowers that bloom in our yards and out in nature. So many wild flowers He has given us to enjoy. Another thing He has given us is the fruit of the trees and vines and bushes, this is berry country here and there are so many blue berry farms, raspberry farms and strawberry farms and others. There are apple orchards and then there are potato farms and even lavender farms. I am overwhelmed with all of nature just around me here in the North West. What do you have in your area of this world? Think about it and ponder the goodness of God in providing all of this for His children. I love Him, don't you? Grandma Joan
I love a beautiful yard and have had lot's of them but not any more, it takes lot's of work to keep up a pretty yard and I am not able to do a big yard any more. I love the ocean, sometimes I can hear the waves if it's stormy on the bay, but we don't get big waves because of the islands out there but we do have a view of the water and I love that. There is another thing I love about nature and that is pretty rocks and stones, I have a rock polisher somewhere but can't find it but polished rocks are beautiful and I love rock shows.
Trees and grass are beautiful, cloud formations are beautiful, above all I love the sunshine, we don't seem to get enough of that here. Even though this world is stained with sin, God has lot's of reminders for us of the Eden garden that He created long ago.
Some people believe that God is nature, but He is the Creator of nature and wants to remind us of what the New Heavens and New Earth will be like when He comes again to take us Home with Him. The beauty will be surpassing anything we have ever seen or heard of.
1 Corinthians 2:9 "But as it is written, 'eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." Don't you want to go home with Him and see all the things He has prepared for those who love Him. It isn't hard to love a God like that, He loves us so very much and to know Him is to love Him. We need to read His Word every day because it is the same as His voice would be if we could hear Him speak to us.
All of these beautiful things He has given for us to enjoy, they tell of His tender Fatherly care for us each and every day of our lives. Just look around you, you will see something of that beauty and care.
Psalms 95:6 "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."
Psalms 95:4,5 "In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land."
Jeremiah 10:10,11,16,12 "Seek Him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, And turneth the shadow of death in the morning, And maketh the day dark with night; He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, And declareth unto man what is his thought; He that buildeth His spheres in the heaven, And hath founded his arch in the earth; He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, Jehovah is His name."
It would be well for us to study the things of nature, even the intricate, delicate formation of the flowers that bloom in our yards and out in nature. So many wild flowers He has given us to enjoy. Another thing He has given us is the fruit of the trees and vines and bushes, this is berry country here and there are so many blue berry farms, raspberry farms and strawberry farms and others. There are apple orchards and then there are potato farms and even lavender farms. I am overwhelmed with all of nature just around me here in the North West. What do you have in your area of this world? Think about it and ponder the goodness of God in providing all of this for His children. I love Him, don't you? Grandma Joan
Saturday, December 7, 2013
A Knowledge of God - As Our Creator
The great God of the universe created you and me. He had a purpose for doing it, do you know what that purpose was? It was to take care of the garden that He created and also to take care of the animals that He created and also to reflect His character, in other words to be like Him in character and life. What an awesome God to be like Him and take care of His creation. He wants us to express His thoughts to others and to reveal His glory in our lives. Can we do that? Others have and I know that we can if we so desire.
Psalms 100:1-5 "Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing, Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving. And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting. And His truth endures to all generations."
Psalms 119:89-91 "Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides. They continue this day according to Your ordinances."
Psalms 148:5,6 "Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away."
It is God's power that we have all these things in nature that flourish for the happiness of man. That's why we should praise His name.
I am astounded by the little bit that we even say 'thank you' to those that do us favors, like meals, laundry and keeping the house tidy, or for the hard work that our husbands do to keep food on the table and clothes on our bodies and a roof over our heads. All this deserves a big 'thank you'. But how about the God of the universe providing us with the health to do all these things and sometimes when our health is gone, we realize how precious it was. How about thanking Him for our health, and for the strength to do the work that it takes to live, and all of what nature provides for our enjoyment. We have so much to be thankful for and most of us take it all for granted until it is gone. Let's not wait until all is gone to realize how good God is to us. Let us give Him thanks all the time and praise His name for His loving kindness towards us. That is the very least that we can do for His abundant love and care.
He created us to enjoy His bounties and to give thanks for them. So with grateful hearts, let's bow before Him in praise and thanksgiving that is due His wonderful name. We need to know Him for His wonderful works and for His love and care for us each day of our lives. I hope you are getting to know Him better each day as we study to have a knowledge of God. There is so much more to know about Him. Keep tuning in and we will learn more and have a deeper knowledge of Him. Grandma Joan
Psalms 100:1-5 "Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing, Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving. And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting. And His truth endures to all generations."
Psalms 119:89-91 "Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides. They continue this day according to Your ordinances."
Psalms 148:5,6 "Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away."
It is God's power that we have all these things in nature that flourish for the happiness of man. That's why we should praise His name.
I am astounded by the little bit that we even say 'thank you' to those that do us favors, like meals, laundry and keeping the house tidy, or for the hard work that our husbands do to keep food on the table and clothes on our bodies and a roof over our heads. All this deserves a big 'thank you'. But how about the God of the universe providing us with the health to do all these things and sometimes when our health is gone, we realize how precious it was. How about thanking Him for our health, and for the strength to do the work that it takes to live, and all of what nature provides for our enjoyment. We have so much to be thankful for and most of us take it all for granted until it is gone. Let's not wait until all is gone to realize how good God is to us. Let us give Him thanks all the time and praise His name for His loving kindness towards us. That is the very least that we can do for His abundant love and care.
He created us to enjoy His bounties and to give thanks for them. So with grateful hearts, let's bow before Him in praise and thanksgiving that is due His wonderful name. We need to know Him for His wonderful works and for His love and care for us each day of our lives. I hope you are getting to know Him better each day as we study to have a knowledge of God. There is so much more to know about Him. Keep tuning in and we will learn more and have a deeper knowledge of Him. Grandma Joan
Friday, December 6, 2013
A Knowledge of God - Revealed in Christ
How many of us know God like we should? I would be very safe in saying that not many of us really know Him as we should. So let's take a look at Christ and what He was like and then we will know what God is like through Christ's life.
Hebrews 1:1-3 "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
We can see from this verse that God spoke through His Son and that He is the brightness of His Father's glory and the express image of His person. So let's get a knowledge of God through His Son Jesus.
Matthew 11:27 Jesus speaking, "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Does the Son will to reveal God to you? I believe He does through the knowledge of the Scriptures.
2 Peter 1:2,3 "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue." Grace and peace will be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Do you need grace? We all do. Do you need peace? We all need that too, don't we?
Then we need to gain a knowledge of God and of Jesus to be able to have the grace and peace that He has promised us through His Word.
We need to have a knowledge of the personality of God and we get that from studying the personality of Jesus.
Jesus went about doing good, healing the sick, raising the dead, cuddling little children on His lap, and blessing them, speaking words of encouragement and the way to salvation through parables and sermons, like the 'Sermon on the Mount' in Matthew 5. He was an encouragement to His disciples and loved them and they felt His love and tenderness and saw it in His ministry to the poor and the outcasts. His love and care changed lives from despair to hope in life eternal. And it is the same today, we can study His life and receive the same treatment as they received then. He loves and cares for us the same as He did those in His day.
We can have the same hope and be relieved of the despair that some of us are going through. It is this knowledge that Christ wants us to have to know God like He knew Him. And we can have that by reading about Christ's life as He demonstrated the Father's love and care for His children.
Do you want to know God, then get acquainted with Jesus through His word and study His life and then copy it. Jesus is a safe pattern to copy, the only safe One to copy.
There is a promise in John 14:1-3 Jesus speaking, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me, In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." This is a wonderful promise to all of us who believe on His Word and do it. It is worth believing in, do you believe Him? Do you know Him? Are you willing to follow Him all the way to everlasting life in Him?
Psalms 119:50 "This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life." Do you want life, His word will give us life here and now and also life eternal with God and with Jesus Christ whom he has sent to save us from eternal death. It would be a good thing for us to turn our lives over to Him and study to know Him, the reward is everlasting life. It will be worth it all, I truly believe that, we have nothing to lose except eternal life if we refuse. Grandma Joan
Hebrews 1:1-3 "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
We can see from this verse that God spoke through His Son and that He is the brightness of His Father's glory and the express image of His person. So let's get a knowledge of God through His Son Jesus.
Matthew 11:27 Jesus speaking, "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Does the Son will to reveal God to you? I believe He does through the knowledge of the Scriptures.
2 Peter 1:2,3 "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue." Grace and peace will be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Do you need grace? We all do. Do you need peace? We all need that too, don't we?
Then we need to gain a knowledge of God and of Jesus to be able to have the grace and peace that He has promised us through His Word.
We need to have a knowledge of the personality of God and we get that from studying the personality of Jesus.
Jesus went about doing good, healing the sick, raising the dead, cuddling little children on His lap, and blessing them, speaking words of encouragement and the way to salvation through parables and sermons, like the 'Sermon on the Mount' in Matthew 5. He was an encouragement to His disciples and loved them and they felt His love and tenderness and saw it in His ministry to the poor and the outcasts. His love and care changed lives from despair to hope in life eternal. And it is the same today, we can study His life and receive the same treatment as they received then. He loves and cares for us the same as He did those in His day.
We can have the same hope and be relieved of the despair that some of us are going through. It is this knowledge that Christ wants us to have to know God like He knew Him. And we can have that by reading about Christ's life as He demonstrated the Father's love and care for His children.
Do you want to know God, then get acquainted with Jesus through His word and study His life and then copy it. Jesus is a safe pattern to copy, the only safe One to copy.
There is a promise in John 14:1-3 Jesus speaking, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me, In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." This is a wonderful promise to all of us who believe on His Word and do it. It is worth believing in, do you believe Him? Do you know Him? Are you willing to follow Him all the way to everlasting life in Him?
Psalms 119:50 "This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life." Do you want life, His word will give us life here and now and also life eternal with God and with Jesus Christ whom he has sent to save us from eternal death. It would be a good thing for us to turn our lives over to Him and study to know Him, the reward is everlasting life. It will be worth it all, I truly believe that, we have nothing to lose except eternal life if we refuse. Grandma Joan
Thursday, December 5, 2013
A Knowledge of God That Works Transformation
Does your life need transforming? Mine does and I want God to transform my life into His image. That is a big order for me, but I need it and the longer I live the more I desire it. Do you feel that way too? In this world we need something stable and God is the only real stability that we can have. I was reading some thoughts on transformation of character and I found this quote in a book called 'Ministry of Healing'. P. 425.
"The knowledge of God as revealed in Christ is the knowledge that all who are saved must have. It is the knowledge that works transformation of character. This knowledge, received, will re-create the soul in the image of God. It will impart to the whole being a spiritual power that is divine."
2 Corinthians 3:18 "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory."
2 Corinthians 1:9-11 "We do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness."
These are great promises of being changed into His image and being filled with knowledge and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that we may walk worthy of the Lord and please Him being fruitful and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. What wonderful promises, how can we fail Him who has promised such wonderful works in our life.
He has promised to transform us into His image from glory to glory. I pray that He is transforming me and I know He is, I need Him so much in my life. I pray for you also, that He is transforming your life into His image. I know He is doing it for you too. All we have to do is ask, these are the kind of prayers that we can expect answers to. He is thrilled to answer these prayers for our spiritual growth. So let your prayer be,
'transform me, Father, into your image so I may reflect your likeness to others' and He will do it. Grandma Joan.
"The knowledge of God as revealed in Christ is the knowledge that all who are saved must have. It is the knowledge that works transformation of character. This knowledge, received, will re-create the soul in the image of God. It will impart to the whole being a spiritual power that is divine."
2 Corinthians 3:18 "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory."
2 Corinthians 1:9-11 "We do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness."
These are great promises of being changed into His image and being filled with knowledge and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that we may walk worthy of the Lord and please Him being fruitful and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. What wonderful promises, how can we fail Him who has promised such wonderful works in our life.
He has promised to transform us into His image from glory to glory. I pray that He is transforming me and I know He is, I need Him so much in my life. I pray for you also, that He is transforming your life into His image. I know He is doing it for you too. All we have to do is ask, these are the kind of prayers that we can expect answers to. He is thrilled to answer these prayers for our spiritual growth. So let your prayer be,
'transform me, Father, into your image so I may reflect your likeness to others' and He will do it. Grandma Joan.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
The Helper
What is a helper? To help someone is to aid someone. Do you ever feel like you need help with your chores, or with what ever you might be doing. How about in your Christian walk, do you need help with that? I do. All the time, every day and every minute of every day. I can never go alone in my Christian walk and neither can anyone else, even though they think they can, it will always be a failure, we just can't do it without our Helper.
That is why we have been offered a Helper, because God knows that we can't go it alone. I am so glad that He has been so kind as to supply us with all the help we need if we but ask for His assistance.
Romans 8:26 "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
We may be weak and not even know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit takes over and helps in our weaknesses and turns our prayers into something beautiful before the Father. So take heart my friend and let the Spirit take over your life and mine and life will be so much better for the living.
John 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever." He will be with us forever, did you get that. How great is that?
John 14:25,26 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."
You will never be left alone to fight the battle with the enemy, never. Only if you choose to go it alone.
The Holy Spirit is only a breath away, He is always near and ready to aid us in our battles of life. He comes to each of us individually, pleading with us to let Him help us. Are we willing to let Him in to dwell in us and do our battles for us. He is willing, are we?
Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."
We will not be condemned if we walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, which is our carnal nature. Let's let the Holy Spirit overpower our carnal nature and be filled with his Spirit so that we can walk the walk of faith in Christ. Ask for His presence in your life and I will do the same and we can overcome together and be found faithful in the end. Grandma Joan
That is why we have been offered a Helper, because God knows that we can't go it alone. I am so glad that He has been so kind as to supply us with all the help we need if we but ask for His assistance.
Romans 8:26 "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
We may be weak and not even know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit takes over and helps in our weaknesses and turns our prayers into something beautiful before the Father. So take heart my friend and let the Spirit take over your life and mine and life will be so much better for the living.
John 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever." He will be with us forever, did you get that. How great is that?
John 14:25,26 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."
You will never be left alone to fight the battle with the enemy, never. Only if you choose to go it alone.
The Holy Spirit is only a breath away, He is always near and ready to aid us in our battles of life. He comes to each of us individually, pleading with us to let Him help us. Are we willing to let Him in to dwell in us and do our battles for us. He is willing, are we?
Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."
We will not be condemned if we walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, which is our carnal nature. Let's let the Holy Spirit overpower our carnal nature and be filled with his Spirit so that we can walk the walk of faith in Christ. Ask for His presence in your life and I will do the same and we can overcome together and be found faithful in the end. Grandma Joan
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
The Teacher
After we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we need a teacher to teach us what is our duty towards God. I sure need one, don't you? I believe God is teaching us through His Spirit, every day if we abide with Him and He abides with us.
Luke 12:12 "For the Holy Spirit will teach you in the same hour what you ought to say." He is fast with His teaching, to teach us in the same hour what we ought to say. We can help others if we are filled with His Spirit because He will give us the words to say that would be most helpful.
John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." He will teach us all things and bring all things back to our remembrance the things that we have learned through Him.
1 Corinthians 2:13 "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. We must be VERY careful that what we learn is from God and not from any human source, because the Bible warns us about wolves in sheep clothing going about to destroy in Matthew 7:15 and we need to listen to the Holy Spirit's teaching us what is truth.
1 John 2:27 "But the anointing which you have received from Him, abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in Him."
Here we are told that the Holy Spirit, when abiding in us will teach us truth as we read and study His word and we won't need to listen to any other teaching. We can listen but we need to be sensitive to truth so that we cannot be led astray. Everything that man teaches should be straight from God's word and nothing else, if it differs from God's word it is not truth. That is what we are learning from this study. That is what I am doing with my studies that I am sharing. It is straight from God's word. If anything disagrees with God's word, I don't print it.
I am praying that we will let God's Holy Spirit teach us all things that are necessary for our Salvation and that you and I will allow the teachings to take hold in our hearts and minds because the times we are living in right now appear to be just before Jesus second coming and we need to be ready, isn't that right, never has the world been in such a turmoil and never has the United States been in such bad straights as it is now. We need to be preparing Spiritually for what ever comes about that we will be ready. I truly believe that.
Let the Holy Spirit come into your heart and life and listen to His teachings and abide by them and you will be ready for whatever takes place in the future. I sincerely want to be ready, don't you? Grandma Joan
Luke 12:12 "For the Holy Spirit will teach you in the same hour what you ought to say." He is fast with His teaching, to teach us in the same hour what we ought to say. We can help others if we are filled with His Spirit because He will give us the words to say that would be most helpful.
John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." He will teach us all things and bring all things back to our remembrance the things that we have learned through Him.
1 Corinthians 2:13 "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. We must be VERY careful that what we learn is from God and not from any human source, because the Bible warns us about wolves in sheep clothing going about to destroy in Matthew 7:15 and we need to listen to the Holy Spirit's teaching us what is truth.
1 John 2:27 "But the anointing which you have received from Him, abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in Him."
Here we are told that the Holy Spirit, when abiding in us will teach us truth as we read and study His word and we won't need to listen to any other teaching. We can listen but we need to be sensitive to truth so that we cannot be led astray. Everything that man teaches should be straight from God's word and nothing else, if it differs from God's word it is not truth. That is what we are learning from this study. That is what I am doing with my studies that I am sharing. It is straight from God's word. If anything disagrees with God's word, I don't print it.
I am praying that we will let God's Holy Spirit teach us all things that are necessary for our Salvation and that you and I will allow the teachings to take hold in our hearts and minds because the times we are living in right now appear to be just before Jesus second coming and we need to be ready, isn't that right, never has the world been in such a turmoil and never has the United States been in such bad straights as it is now. We need to be preparing Spiritually for what ever comes about that we will be ready. I truly believe that.
Let the Holy Spirit come into your heart and life and listen to His teachings and abide by them and you will be ready for whatever takes place in the future. I sincerely want to be ready, don't you? Grandma Joan
Monday, December 2, 2013
Unworthy - part 2 - last part
I wanted so much yesterday to tell you about a song my husband use to sing. He use to sing solo's for church and occasions and he was asked one time to repeat a song he had sung before and the title to the song is 'Unworthy'. He loved it and so did I. I use to play for him sometimes when he sang.
I want to share the words with you today so you can see why we both loved it so much. I use to go to bed singing it, it was so beautiful. I wish I could share the music with you, but maybe you could find it on You Tube, not sure about that, but here are the words.
Unworthy
Unworthy am I of the grace that He gave, Unworthy to hold to His hand.
Amazed that a King would reach down to a slave, This love I cannot understand.
My sorry and sickness laid stripes on His back, My sins caused the blood that was shed,
My faults and my failures have woven a crown of thorns, that He wore on His head.
Unworthy am I of the glory to come, Unworthy with angels to sing,
I thrill just to know that He loved me so much, A pauper, I walk with the King.
Chorus:
I'm unworthy, unworthy, a beggar, in bondage and alone,
But He made me worthy and now by His grace, His mercy has made me His own.
If you could only hear the music, it is such a beautiful song and the words are so meaningful. I use to sing duets with him but I can barely hold a tune anymore. But I still love to play and pretend to sing. Maybe God will have mercy and restore my voice. I know He will in the earth made new but it would also be nice now. Nothing is impossible for Him. I hope the words of this song help you in your restoration to spiritual things. Just remembering it has helped me. With Christian love, Grandma Joan
I want to share the words with you today so you can see why we both loved it so much. I use to go to bed singing it, it was so beautiful. I wish I could share the music with you, but maybe you could find it on You Tube, not sure about that, but here are the words.
Unworthy
Unworthy am I of the grace that He gave, Unworthy to hold to His hand.
Amazed that a King would reach down to a slave, This love I cannot understand.
My sorry and sickness laid stripes on His back, My sins caused the blood that was shed,
My faults and my failures have woven a crown of thorns, that He wore on His head.
Unworthy am I of the glory to come, Unworthy with angels to sing,
I thrill just to know that He loved me so much, A pauper, I walk with the King.
Chorus:
I'm unworthy, unworthy, a beggar, in bondage and alone,
But He made me worthy and now by His grace, His mercy has made me His own.
If you could only hear the music, it is such a beautiful song and the words are so meaningful. I use to sing duets with him but I can barely hold a tune anymore. But I still love to play and pretend to sing. Maybe God will have mercy and restore my voice. I know He will in the earth made new but it would also be nice now. Nothing is impossible for Him. I hope the words of this song help you in your restoration to spiritual things. Just remembering it has helped me. With Christian love, Grandma Joan
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Are You Unworthy? So am I.
Jesus really is the only One worthy in this world to save us and deliver us from our fallen nature. I know what it is like to feel so unworthy of His love and mercy. It is hard to fathom such love that He has for us that He would accept being crucified on a cruel cross so that we could have eternal life with Him. What suffering He went through just for me, if I had been the only one, He would have died just for me. Can you fathom that, no wonder we feel so unworthy. We really are unworthy, but He died to make us worthy of eternal life with Him.
John the Baptist felt so unworthy of Him that he said he wasn't worthy to even loose His sandal straps. What a preacher John was and yet he felt he was unworthy of the love and mercy shown to him to be the forerunner of Christ. John 1:27. So it is natural for us to feel unworthy, we live in a sinful world and Jesus was without sin and we can by His grace and mercy live that way too, if we choose too, we are suppose to live in this world but not be of this world.
We can only do it by God's grace and the Worthiness of Jesus to forgive us and cleanse us from the sin in our lives. Can you understand all that? Neither can I. Our understanding of what He has done for us will grow as we grow in grace and knowledge of what He has done for us. And we can only do that by staying in His presence day by day.
o
Are you unworthy? Yes, Am I unworthy? Yes, but someday we will stand in His presence in His eternal kingdom worthy of being there because of His worthiness. He was the only One worthy to die for our sins, are you willing to accept such a sacrifice? We have to prove our worthiness here and allow Him to live in and for us so we will be worthy to live with Him forever. Is it hard to do that? Yes, but only because we choose to live without Him. If we choose to live with Him, remember, He says, 'His yoke is easy and His burden is light'. So let's let Him carry our burdens and make us ready to live with Him who is our worthiness. Grandma Joan
John the Baptist felt so unworthy of Him that he said he wasn't worthy to even loose His sandal straps. What a preacher John was and yet he felt he was unworthy of the love and mercy shown to him to be the forerunner of Christ. John 1:27. So it is natural for us to feel unworthy, we live in a sinful world and Jesus was without sin and we can by His grace and mercy live that way too, if we choose too, we are suppose to live in this world but not be of this world.
We can only do it by God's grace and the Worthiness of Jesus to forgive us and cleanse us from the sin in our lives. Can you understand all that? Neither can I. Our understanding of what He has done for us will grow as we grow in grace and knowledge of what He has done for us. And we can only do that by staying in His presence day by day.
o
Are you unworthy? Yes, Am I unworthy? Yes, but someday we will stand in His presence in His eternal kingdom worthy of being there because of His worthiness. He was the only One worthy to die for our sins, are you willing to accept such a sacrifice? We have to prove our worthiness here and allow Him to live in and for us so we will be worthy to live with Him forever. Is it hard to do that? Yes, but only because we choose to live without Him. If we choose to live with Him, remember, He says, 'His yoke is easy and His burden is light'. So let's let Him carry our burdens and make us ready to live with Him who is our worthiness. Grandma Joan
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