Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas to ALL my viewers

Just a little personal touch this Christmas morning.  As I have grown older year by year until now, I have not felt the excitement of Christmas that I use to feel when I would be watching my children open their gifts.  Somehow it has worn off.  But I still believe that Jesus came and gave us the opportunity to choose Him and surrender to Him and let Him have control of my life.

I don't know what I would do without Him.  I can't even imagine what my life would be without Him. He definitely is the reason for the season, even though many people have left Him out and don't even remember what Christmas is all about.  To most people it is just gifts and big dinners and I'm afraid that is the whole thing, no mention of where Christmas came from or the meaning of it.

I just want to say, 'without the gift of Jesus, where would we be?' Where would you be? I'm afraid I would not be here for sure.  He is our life line in every way and I just want to say, Merry Christmas to all my viewers and have a blessed New Year with Jesus as your guide.  You cannot fail Him if you stay close to Him day by day.  We will be in that earth made new for all those who love and serve Him with all their hearts.'  That's a future worth waiting for and looking forward to.  Grandma Joan

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Does God seem distant, continued from yesterday.

(6)   "For the Lord will not cast off His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance."  Psalm 94:14
It is God's desire and intention to save you.  He is not in the business of throwing people away.

(7)  "The Lord is near to them that have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit."  Psalm 34:18.  When you are at your weakest point, God is close by to help you.

(8)  "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one whom comes to me I will by no means cast out."  John 6:37.  If you have given your heart to Jesus, you can be sure He will never push you away.

(9)  "Behold,I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  Rev. 3:20.  Jesus knocks at your hearts door, Have you invited Him in lately?

(10)  "I am with you always, even to the end f the age." Matt. 28:20.  If you are His follower, Christ's straight-forward promise to you is that He will be with you and will see you through every aspect of your life until the very end of the world."

Aren't you glad the Bible leaves no doubt on this subject?  If you are seeking God, He is with you at all times, even when your emotional state makes it difficult to sense His presence. You are His precious child.

I am so thankful for these verses.  I need to read them every day to keep me in tune with the real things of life.  Thank you Doug Batchelor.  Grandma Joan

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Does God seem distant?

Probably all of us have days when God seemed especially  far away.  Even the psalmist David sometimes felt abandoned by God.  Yet he would not turn away from the Lord, instead he would seek God more intensely.  His faith paid off, and so will yours if you cling to God regardless of your feelings.  Absorb these reassurances from His word.

I am sure you can identify with the above paragraph and if you read the Psalm you will see that David had his low times too.  I know I have felt God was far away when I am not feeling well and my brain doesn't want to function properly but I also know that He is near without a doubt but it is hard to comprehend things like that when it pertains to God. There's times when He feels very close and you seem to feel you can reach out and touch Him.  Those are the times I like.  This little study was put together by Doug Batchelor.  Hope it gives you lots of reassurances.

(1)  "And those who know your name will put their trust in you;  for you, Lord,  have not forsaken those who seek you." (Psalm 9:10)  If you are honestly seeking God, you can be assured He hasn't disowned you.

(2)  "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."  (James 4:8)  If you come to Him, the Lord is ready and willing to draw you into a closer relationship with Him.

(3)  "But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you will seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deuteronomy 4:29)  It takes willingness and effort on your part to seek God, but the Bible confirms that you will be greatly rewarded for that effort.

(4)  "For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you or forsake you."  (Hebrews 13:5)  If you belong to Him you will never, ever be truly alone.

(5)  "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." (Psalm 46:7)  The God of the entire universe stands beside you and will help you!!

These verses have helped me so much and encouraged me to keep putting forth that effort that will never fail to give us that assurance that God is as close to us as will let Him be.  Please be blessed.
Grandma Joan

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

More Verses To Lift You Up

Continued from yesterday.

6.  1 Peter 1: 18,19  "Knowing you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold...but with the precious blood of Christ."  (God was willing to pay the highest price in the universe to redeem you - the blood of His dear Son.)

7.  2 Corinthians 5: 17  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."  (If you belong to Jesus you have a brand new, sparkling clean life in Him.   That is great news.)

8.  1 John3:1 "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God."  (God actually considers you His very own child.)

9.  Ephesians 2: 4-7  "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ...that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
(Your heavenly Father has planned a magnificent, never ending future for you.)

10.  2 Corinthians 5:20  "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us."  (God has given you a high calling as a ambassador to share His great love with others)

You belong to God as long as you cling to Him, no one, NOT  ANYONE, can take that from you.  His Word overwhelmingly confirms that you are His cherished treasure.  I love this thought that I am God's cherished treasure, don't you?  That is enough right here in these verses to give me the lift that I needed.  I know satan is going to try me again as he always does when anyone is on the right  track to God's kingdom, but now I will resort to these verses for strength to resist him.  Isn't that what we have been learning.  Resist the devil and he will flee.  God's Word scares him away because he knows that he has lost his case against us.

I like the idea that when we belong to Christ we have a brand new, sparkling clean life in Him.  Don't you like that?  The price He paid for our redemption is the highest price in the universe, the blood of God's dear Son.  Please join me in deciding not to disappoint Him by rejecting His great love.

Grandma Joan

Monday, December 21, 2015

Your True Value with God!!!!!

I have been sick with a lung infection, very sick, so hope you will bear with me as I struggle to keep up my blog.  I have kind of fallen in a depressive pit and according to my own advice I turned to the Bible and was lifted right out.  Today I want to share the verses that lifted me up.

1.  Genesis 1:27  "So God created man in His own image; In the image of God He created him, male and female He created them."  (You were created in the very image of God by the hand of the creator Himself.)

2,  Isaiah 49:15  "Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb?  Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you."  (You are always cherished by God.)

3.  Jeremiah 29:11  "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."  (You are always cherished by God.)

4.  Jeremiah 31:3  "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you."  (His love for you is relentless, immeasurable and infinite.)

5,  Romans 5:8  "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  (The Creator of life loves you so intensely that He allowed His own Son to die in your place before you ever repented.)

There are more for tomorrow, just dwell on these for today and see the value that God places on YOU.  It has been a great blessing to me.  It seems that when I am sick, the devil really attacks me and tries to bring me down but God always has a lifter up for me and these verses really helped so much today.  I hope they help you in the same way and tomorrow I will share some more.  Have a great day lifted on high today.  Grandma Joan

Saturday, December 19, 2015

We Need Comfort, We Need Guidance and We Need A Helper

If you don't need anyone of these things, you are one blessed person or persons.  I have to say that I need all three and in the worst possible way.  I cannot live my life without any one of these things.  This is the reason that we can live a life of full surrender to Christ, no other way works.

DA 668 Bottom of page and page 669.  'Before offering Himself as the sacrificial victim, Christ sought for the most essential and complete gift to bestow upon His followers, a gift that would bring within their reach the boundless resources of grace.  'I will pray the Father', He said 'and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.'  John 14:16-18.
     Before this the Spirit had been in the world; from the very beginning of th work of redemptionHe had been moving upon men's hearts. But while Christ was on earth, the disciples had desired no other helper.  Not until they were deprived of His presence would they feel their need of the Spirit, and then He would come.
      The Holy Spirit is Christ's representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally.  Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on  earth.  No one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ.  By the Spirit the Savior would be accessible to all.  In  this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high.
     At all times and in all places, in all sorrows and in all afflictions, when the outlook seems dark and th future perplexing, and we feel helpless and alone, the Comforter will be sent in answer to the prayer of faith.  Circumstances may separate us from every earthly friend; but no circumstance, no distance, can separate us from the heavenly Comforter.  Wherever we are, wherever we may go, He is always at our right hand to support, sustain, uphold, and cheer.
     The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of not avail.  The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing.  Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fulness of divine power.  It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world's Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure.  Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature.  Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil and to impress His own character upon the church.
     Of the Spirit Jesus said, 'He shall glorify Me.'  The Savior came to glorify the Father by the demonstration of His love; so the Spirit was to glorify Christ by revealing His grace to the world.  The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity.  The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is involved in the perfection of the character of His people."

This makes the work of the Holy Spirit so plain that we really can't misunderstand what His work is all about.  We need to pray for His presence in our lives every morning, first thing so there is no chance for evil to come in and overtake us.  Will you make this your priority every morning to submit to the Holy Spirit's power in your life?  Please do, it makes things so much easier to deal with, anger disappears, evil thoughts evaporate into thin air.  We are filled with love where once we had hate in our hearts  Misunderstandings disappear too and life is filled with abundant love and happiness even when things go wrong.  Be assured, I am struggling too.  You are not alone but I know what the out-come is all about and I think you do to, so it really is worth it all, isn't it?  Please say yes.!!

Grandma Joan

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Something very important

To be reminded of something three times in one chapter, it must be something of importance.  I would like to share with you this important message.  I have read it so many times and thought I got the meaning but yesterday as I was studying, these verses came back to me and I went over them again and saw that we have been reminded three times of their importance and the reason that it struct me so much was that he said that he wrote it down so we could be reminded even after his decease.
Here is the reminders:

2 Peter 1:12-15  "For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things though you know and are established in the present truth.  Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent (alive), to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.  Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease."  What is this reminder all about?  As I have studied and have been seeking a closer walk with God I have seen that this reminder is all about this very subject and I was so pleased to find this and believe that it is the secret to a closer relationship with God through Jesus. I am going to go through these verses piece by piece because I have seen the importance of them and believe they have a very great and important message.  He is giving this message to those of like precious faith through the righteousness of God and Jesus Christ, verse 1.  I hope you don't mind if I personalize them to fit my need and perhaps it will help to fit yours too.

Verse 2 This message of grace and peace will be multiplied to us through the knowledge of God, how do we get the knowledge of God?  It would be through the study of His Word, wouldn't it?

Verse 3 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.  We have no excuse because He has already given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.  We just need to study His Word to find out what He has given us, and we will find out shortly.

Verse 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these we may be a partaker of His divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.   Through these promises we don't have to be a partaker of the worlds sins anymore, because we have His divine power to keep us close to Him through His promises.  Isn't that a wonderful thought?

Verse 5  Also for this very reason giving all diligence, (giving everything we have) to this study, add to your faith virtue (goodness)  and to virtue knowledge (from the Word),

Verse 6 and to knowledge self-control (our speech, our thoughts and actions) and to self-control perseverance (being persistent) and to perseverance godliness (god-likeness) and to godliness brotherly kindness (being kind to one another) and to brotherly kindness, love.

Verse 7  If these things are yours and abound (increase) you will neither be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Your knowledge will increase and you will be able to share with others the things that you are learning.

Verse 8  He who lacks these things is shortsighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.  We don't want to be in this state of mind, do we?

Verse 10  Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;  What a promise and that's not all,

Verse 11  for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly  into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Then comes the reminders that I mentioned at the beginning that make these verses seem so very important to our Christian walk and to me.

If we study His Word, we will find all sorts of promises that will make us a partaker of His divine nature by believing His Word and putting into practice what it says, we will be a partaker of His divine nature, in other words, we will become like Him which should be every Christians goal.

Get a notebook and as you are reading His Word and come across one of His great and precious promises, write it down and memorize it if it is something that you greatly need.  I am going to do this, it just came to me as a great idea in giving diligence to His Word.  Then you can go over them again and again and let them soak into your very being and you will be transformed into His likeness, it just happens and we don't know how it happens, it just happens and we don't even know when it happens.  It is a miracle of God's grace and mercy in our lives and we can be ever so grateful and thankful for what He is doing in us and for us.

Please be reminded over and over again of these very important verses in 2 Peter, Let Peter remind you and I will help him, is that OK with you?  Get a notebook, and I will get one too and we will get started on our way to living a life full and free in Christ.  I can't wait!!!!!  Grandma Joan


Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Transformation

I'm sure that the thought of 'wish I could go back and live my life over, I would sure change a lot of things'.  Ever crossed your mind?  Oh, I'm sure there are really good people out there that probably haven't thought of that, but this poor soul has and lots of times.  If only I could change this or that, if only I could go back and do it all over, things would have been so much different.

Of course we can't do that, but we can start over today and change everything if we want to, the biggest reason we don't want to, it seems too hard, or of no use, or what good would it do now?  Well I am happy to tell you that it isn't hard and it has lots of benefits and it makes life much more easier and happy and contented.  Want to try it?  You won't believe what a difference it will make, I challenge you to give it a try and you won't want to go back to the way you were.

Romans 12:1,2,& 3  "I beseech you therefore, brethren,by the mercies of God, that you present your  bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable  to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among, you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

First, let's think about these verses,   God says, 'it's a reasonable service to present our bodies to Him as a sacrifice,  what is a sacrifice?  It's a giving up of ourselves in a total surrender to Him, now I know it seems like a sacrifice to us at the time, but really, is it?  The benefits are out of this world, really they are.  A clearer mind, a healthier body, a closer walk with the Savior, a perfect guide in all that we do, no worries anymore.  There are many more that I can't think of right now, we would be holy, acceptable to God if we gave Him our all, which He says is our reasonable service.

"And be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."  Have you been conformed to the world in your habits of speech, of what you put into your mind and body?  I know that I have, in my speech and not spending time with God each day, eating or drinking things that are not healthy for me.

 How do we renew our mind?  By spending time in His word, it actually does renew your mind by giving you better things to think about rather than dwelling on the things that don't lift us up, it helps us to make better decisions, it changes our outlook and we don't see things the same as we did before, therefore we can react differently to the same situations with a much greater attitude, anger dissipates before our very eyes, we see others struggling like we are and it makes a big difference in our attitude towards them.  We are transformed into this new person by digging into God's word, it actually does transform us, IF we allow it to.  You have to get serious with God, don't take these verses lightly, there is a miracle wrought in these verses if we just let God have His way in our lives.

We learn what His perfect will is in our lives and what is acceptable to Him, I have learned that my pride of opinion had to go, my self-seeking, instead of these things, I needed humility and to put others first in my life, Oh what a difference that has made.  Takes away a lot of struggles that we have had and gives us peace.  Something that I have needed for a very long time.  Helps me accept my lot in life, even though it has been rough the last years, I can have peace with Him.  It helps me endure the pain, physical, mental and emotional, a great benefit.  It helps us think soberly and not take things for granted anymore, We see things through God's eyes and He has given us a free measure of faith to start with that we can build on as we grow in Him.  Are you convinced?  I am only sharing these things with you so you can enjoy life to a greater degree without all the down times.  I have had plenty  of those times and don't want anymore, since I found out how to keep from having them or getting rid of them when they creep up on me.  I hope that you have found some help in this little study and will try to let God transform you, it happens so stealthily that you all of a sudden realize things aren't the same anymore.

I want to leave you with this thought that I found recently, "The science of salvation cannot be explained, but it can be experienced. He who sees his own sinfulness can discern the preciousness of the Savior."  God bless you my friends as you study your way to the kingdom of God.  Grandma Joan

Monday, December 14, 2015

Beating Depression

This time in this worlds history, there seems to be a lot of depressed people and I have to admit that I have been there a few times, the worse time was when I was losing my husband in his long term sickness, even though you know it's coming you are never prepared.  But before that when ever I would feel a little down I would remember that somewhere I heard that if you picked up your Bible and started reading the depressive feelings would leave, so I thought I would try it.  I don't remember the incident that caused my low point but I certainly remember what happened when I started reading the Bible, the depression just vanished like a cloud would evaporate, and it was gone.   I haven't always remembered to do that and that is kind of what this post is all about.

James 4: 6,7,8 "But He gives more grace, therefore He says; 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."

Isn't that a great message for a depressed person to read?  This is how I interpret it for myself.  When we are sick with depression we must remember that God gives more grace to the one who humbly comes to him seeking help and when we open His Word, the devil flees and the cloud is lifted and reading His word will cleanse us and purify our hearts and we won't be double-minded any more.
Double-minded means 'the inability to hold to a fixed belief', I guess you would say we are wishy washy in our belief, believing something one day and the next day changing our mind.  That sounds double-minded doesn't it?

If you are depressed and need help, try this solution and see if it doesn't help you in your down time.  It sure does mine.  Right now I am sick from black mold spores and didn't sleep last night but I wanted to share with you how I beat depression and it always works for me.  I am sure someone reading this needs it desperately or it wouldn't have come to my mind to post it. So if that is you, please try it and let God take it away, it is the tool of the devil to try and keep us down.  God's word has a way of scaring him away and I am so glad.  Also another way is to sing hymns, the devil doesn't like that either, but when a person is depressed he really doesn't feel like singing usually, so reading is easier and then you can burst into song.  May God help you try this, it really works.  Grandma Joan

Sunday, December 13, 2015

A Prelude on the Book of James

I have studied the subject of Faith a lot and a lot more, I mean it has worried me to no end that I don't have much faith and so I keep delving into the Word to find more answers.  I found this yesterday and am anxious to share it with you.  I found it in my study Bible that I bought a while back and it is the best human definition I have ever read.  So here it is:

"Faith without works is dead and dead faith is worse than no faith at all.  Faith must work; it must  produce;  it must be visible. Verbal is not enough; mental faith is insufficient.  Faith must be there but it must be more.  It must inspire action.  Throughout his epistle to the Jewish believers, James integrates true faith with every day practical experience by stressing that true faith must manifest itself in works of faith.

Faith endures trials. Trials come and go, but a strong faith will face them head on and develop endurance.  Faith understands temptation.  It will not allow us to consent to our lust and slide into sin.  Faith obeys the Word, it will not just hear but will do.  Faith produces doers.  Faith harbors no prejudice.  For James faith and favoritism cannot co-exist.  Faith displays itself in works.  Faith is more than mere words; it is more than knowledge;  It is demonstrated by obedience; and it overtly responds to the promises of God.  Faith controls the tongue.  This small but immensely powerful part of the body must be held in check.  Faith can do it.  Faith acts wisely.  It gives us the ability to choose wisdom that is heavenly and to shun earthly wisdom.  Faith produces separation from the world and submission to God.  It provides us with the ability to resist the devil and humbly draw near to God.

Finally, faith waits patiently for the coming of the Lord.  Through trouble and trials it stifles complaining."

That's it.  I am going to have to read it over and over until I can get a hold on faith.  This was an awesome revelation to me and all the thoughts come from the book of James.  I read it through last night to see if I could pick out the thoughts that were presented and yes they were there.  Try it.  I hope this inspires your faith as it has mine.  I want to increase my faith until I have implicit faith in all the promises of God.  Is it possible?  I believe it is.  May you increase your faith in the same way and we will meet in heaven when Jesus comes.  A great reunion day to be sure.  Grandma Joan

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Let Freedom Ring

Everyone loves freedom, at least I hope everyone does.  We love it because we love to make our own choices and we are free to do that.  We love our country's flag because it represents freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom to make the choices that makes our life what we want it to be.
Freedom is a wonderful thing to enjoy but are we really free.  Let's study this subject a little this morning and see what real freedom is.  I haven't studied this out before, in fact most of my studies are free studies with no help except the Bible and the Holy Spirit and that's the way it ought to be.  We don't need men's ideas, do we?  We can make many belief's out of the Bible if we don't have the Holy Spirits guidance and so that's why I always ask His presence as I study so I don't twist and destroy the real meaning of God's word.  I pray that it will always be that way.

Freedom means unrestricted action, so if we believe that, we can do what we want to do and say what we want to say and of course think what we want to think so we can just live our life anyway that we want to live it, isn't that right?  Well, there is a false freedom and a true freedom, do you believe that?

John 8: 34-36  "Jesus answered them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever but a son abides forever.  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."  Does a slave have freedom, not really, unless he loves his master, love can make a slave's work wonderfully easy because he absolutely loves what he is doing.

Romans 6: 17-22  "But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin you became slaves of righteousness.  I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.  for just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your member as slaves of righteousness for holiness.  For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.  What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed?  For the end of those things is death.  But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life.  For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Satan's wages for following him as master is death but God's gift for following Him is eternal life. What a comparison, when we are slaves to satan we are under a dominant control and he will do anything that it takes to keep you in his control.  But when you are slaves to God you still have a free choice to keep Him as your master or leave Him and go back to your old master of sin.

Galatians 5:1  "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."  God is telling us here that satan's yoke is a yoke of bondage. Christ's yoke is liberty, freedom from sin.

I say, LET FREEDOM RING, LET FREEDOM REIGN  in yours and my life and our wages for this freedom will be eternal life with Christ Jesus our Lord.  Heaven is cheap enough, wouldn't you say.?  I think so.  Grandma Joan

Friday, December 11, 2015

All that is within me.

I want to share five verses that I have shared before but perhaps in a different way.  These are some of my personal help verses, I have others too but today I want to share these and maybe more, we will see.  What helps me I believe will help others so here goes.

Psalms 103: 1-5  "Bless the Lord, O, my soul; and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name!
                                    Bless the Lord, O, my soul, and forget not all His benefits;
                             Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
                                     Who redeems your life from destruction,
                             Who crowns your with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
                                     Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
                              So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Why do these verses bless me so?  Because I just discovered that blessing the Lord is giving thanks for all these good things that He provides for us on a daily basis.  For example, we can thank Him for all His benefits and not to forget to thank Him.  He forgives us of ALL our sins, and heals us of all our diseases, and redeems our life from destruction and on top of all that, He crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies and then satisfies our mouth with good things, so that our youth is renewed like the eagles.

Do you think He gets tired of showering us with all these blessings?  I don't think so,  He loves us so much that He showers them on the just and the unjust, but here is the catch that I caught as I am pondering these verses, Do you think He would like to be thanked and praised for all His goodness,  I believe He is waiting with a longing desire to hear our thankfulness and praises.  I believe with all my heart that the more we Praise Him or Bless Him the more blessings we will receive, not because we deserve more but because He deserves more and wants to pour out more upon those who receive them with a grateful heart.

I learned a valuable lesson as a child. I was very timid and when my birthday arrived there was a lady at church who gave me a pretty card and there was a pretty hankie in it and I was so timid I was afraid to say anything and my mother who was standing beside me said, 'what do you say' and I uttered 'thank you' but it humiliated me to the core that I had to be reminded to say thank you and I went home and cried and cried over my thoughtlessness.  Forever after, I hope I have never forgot to say thank you to anyone who gives anything to me in word or deed or gift.

You know how you feel when you receive an overwhelming thank you in appreciation of what you have done or given.  You know it came from the heart and was really appreciated.  Can you imagine what God feels when we sincerely thank Him from the bottom of our heart and praise Him every day for His bountiful blessings.  I know that I fall short of praising His name, and this morning He gave me an insight to these verses that I had not seen before.  I have them memorized and repeat them almost daily, but now I will repeat them and add my personal praise to Him too.  How about you?

I know that He wants to bestow upon us much more than we allow Him to by our ungrateful hearts.
Ephesians 3:20  "Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us"  (That power is the Holy Spirits power).

So if we have that grateful heart for His abundant mercies and Bless His Holy Name with all that is within us, which means in all sincerity and with a reverent spirit, He will do exceeding, abundantly more that we could ask or think.  What a loving God we have.  We just need to be a lot more appreciative and from a heart overwhelmed by His love.  Thank you God for this wonderful worship you have given me this morning, please bless every reader, I pray.  Amen  Grandma Joan

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Another Great Promise to add to the last one.

I just want to build up your faith in God's promises and yesterday we talked about terrorism and not being afraid to die because we have such a great promise waiting for those who die in Christ.  So today I would like to strengthen your faith a little more by sharing another great promise along with yesterdays.

John 14:1-3  "Let not your heart be troubled you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In MyFathers 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."

Don't let your heart be troubled my friend, if you believe in God you also believe in Christ and He is preparing a place for us in His kingdom and His promise is sure that He will come again.

Matthew 24:30,31  "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect fro the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Doesn't that get you excited friends, let's be sure that we are ready for that great event that will end all the terror and sin in this world.  Everyone will be one with Christ and His Father and with the Angels.  The wicked will be destroyed and we will reign with Christ forever and ever.  Get yourself ready and pray for your families and help them to see the great reward that God has planned for His people.  Nothing will equal what God has planned for His elect, nothing, 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."1 Corinthians 2:9.

If you want to read a description of what heaven and the new earth will be like, read Revelation 21,22. It's a beautiful land where everyone is loving and kind and sin no longer reigns, no tears there, no heartache, no pain, no sickness, happiness will pervade the atmosphere.  I long for that day and want to make sure my heart is entwined with the heart of Christ day by day until that great day.
Please I beg you to be ready, you will never regret your decision to follow Christ.  Grandma Joan

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Terrorism and a calming spirit.

With all the terrible shootings that are happening around the world and even here on America's soil, terror strikes the heart of most people.  What do you think the reason is for people to be so terrified of death?  Probably the biggest reason is they are not sure what takes place after death.  Will you bear with me as I use the Bible to explain this subject.  I will do my best although I am not a preacher, I have no fear of death and good reason.  Here it is:

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What are wages?  Isn't it something that we earn for what we have done?  So if we live a life of sin, then we have good reasons to fear death.  If we live a life in Christ, we will have eternal life in Christ.

God has never asked us to believe in Him for no reason, nor has He asked us to live for Him for no reason.  Jesus died for us that we might live eternally with Him.  That is the reward for us that choose to live for Him and let Him clean up our life of sin.  If we choose to live a life of sin, then the reward is death, eternal death.  So there is good reason why He has made it His goal to save sinners from their sin, not in their sin.

John 6:13  "I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have not hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words."

Jesus called death a sleep in several places and the people laughed Him to scorn until they saw that He meant they were sleeping until He should call them forth from their death like sleep.

Do these words comfort you?  They should, the price of redemption is cheap enough, to live for Christ is cheap enough for the reward He has promised to those who love Him and wait longingly for His second coming which is just around the corner.  Those who die in the Lord are just sleeping in their graves until Jesus comes and He will raise them from their graves before He calls those who remain on earth that have lived for Him.  There is no reason to believe that sinners are in heaven when He has asked us to give up our sinful life for a life of victory in Jesus.

What a great hope the Christians have to know that they are going to go up with Christ when He comes and live with Him forever.  That's why I have no fear of death.  If I die, it will only seem like seconds when I hear Jesus call me from my grave and my loved ones who have lived for Him too.

So if terrorists come, know that they can kill the body but not the soul that Jesus is saving for eternal life.  He has promised and He will keep His promise, we just need to believe His promises and live for Him and our spirit will be calm no matter what comes or happens.   I hope this has given you much hope and taken any fear or terror from your heart.  Grandma Joan

Monday, December 7, 2015

Even as God has forgiven us.

Ephesians 4:32  "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."  I want to permeate my soul with the attitude of forgiveness and I believe through Christ I can do that.  Do you think that is possible.?  I do.  He has done so much for me already I have no doubt that He can fill my heart and mind with forgiveness.   I already feel Him at work on my heart since my last blog.

It really is easy to get rid of bad feelings, grudges, hate and all that stuff if we just give it to Christ who then takes it to the Father as our intercessor, and the Father loves us as He loves His Son, I know some of you probably won't believe this but if He gave His Son's life for our sins, then He has to love us as no other being could.  And of course Jesus gave up His life for us as well  What love is this?

God has forgiven me over and over again and I can see that it is possible through Christ that I can do the same thing, but I need to follow Matthew 18 to allow that to happen so am going to try to do that to the best of my ability..  Will let you know how that works.  You can pray for me on this adventure.

In the mean time, study for yourself about forgiveness, as I have been looking things up in the Bible,  I see that it is a most important trait in the Christian character.  This is short today, must get things together, have to do some work at the church tonight.  We are having a 'Walk Through Bethlehem' and it is worth seeing.  My son and I are both working there for the four nights that we have it.  Tonight being the last night.  We have had so far around 1,400 visitors, tonight is usually the biggest.

God bless each of you with a heart full of forgiveness and I pray for the same for myself.  Grandma Joan

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Forgiveness again.

This post today has to do with forgiving again and again, over and over.  I desperately need this or I wouldn't be studying this topic , I hope someone out there needs it too and is helped by it.  Unforgiveness is one of the hardest sins to overcome and I guess that is why Christ gave us the example when He was hanging on the cross and prayed for those that crucified him.  A hard thing indeed for us to do the same, especially when the hurt goes deep into the heart and cuts like a knife.
I have had this happen to me in the last 3-4 months and am seeking forgiveness every day and sometimes  or lots of times during the day.  So bear with me as I share from my heart.

Matthew 18:21,22  "Then Peter came to Him and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?'  Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.'"

 This is a hard saying for me, I have forgiven this person over and over but the hurt keeps coming back again and again.  So I keep searching and forgiving until I find a solution.

Matthew 18: 15-17  "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you  and him alone.  If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.  And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.  But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. "

In this case I'm not sure this is the way to handle it because of the circumstance and of who the person is.  I am still seeking help.

According to the Scriptures, forgiveness means: Blot out, Isaiah 43:25; Remission, Matthew 26:28;
Pardon, Isaiah 55:7;  Remember no more, Jeremiah 31:34.

When God forgives us He blots out and gives us Remission and Pardon and He Remembers them no more, but is that possible for us?  I don't know.  I'm still seeking.

Psalm 6: 8-10  "Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.  The Lord has heard my supplication; The Lord will receive my prayer.  Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled; Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly."

I know that God has heard my prayers over and over to give me forgiveness for this person or persons.  I know that He has seen the tears that have been shed over this and has received my prayer. I pray that He will take it into His hands and cause those who have done this great hurt to be ashamed of what they have done and greatly troubled.  I pray that it will happen suddenly.  I am greatly stressed and it has affected my health.

Those of you who read my blog, please pray for me, this is an emergency case for me.  I believe God will take care of it but I hope soon, He knows my condition and how much I can take. Thank you for reading and caring, I know you do or you wouldn't be a faithful reader.  Grandma Joan

Friday, December 4, 2015

Some questions and answers.

Question 1.  What guidance may be obtained from a study of the Bible
Answer: Psalm 119:105 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

I am so thankful to have a guide that is sure and unmistakably true that we can depend on.

Question 2.  For what purpose were the scriptures given to man?

Answer:  Romans15:4  "For whatsoever things were written aforetime,were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
1 Corinthians 10:11  "Now all these things happened unto them for examples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come."
2 Timothy 3:16,17  "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect. thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

The scriptures were given for our instruction and in learning the things of God and what He would love to work out in our lives.

Question 3.  How were men inspired to write the these books of scripture?

Answer:
2 Timothy 3;16  "All scripture is given by inspiration of God".
2 Peter 1:21 "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

Question 4.  How should we regard the writings of the Bible?

Answer:
1Thessalonians 2:13  "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you who believe."

Notice that we must believe for the scriptures to work in and for us and thank God all the time for giving us His word to guide us.

Question 5.  Why is it important for us to understand the Bible?

Answer:  
2 Timothy 3:15  "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
Matthew 22:29  "Jesus said unto them, 'ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.'"

The study of the Scriptures make us wise unto salvation and a lack of knowledge may cause us to misinterpret the Scriptures.  That may be the reason for so many religions today.  We need to be wise for our own good and eternal life.  I hope you have enjoyed these Q &A.  More tomorrow.  Grandma Joan

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Controlling yourself made possible.

Proverbs 25:28  "Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls." Satan would love to see us broken down and having no rule over our own spirits.  And he does control lots of people and they don't seem to have any control over their tongue or their actions.  Haven't you noticed people like that.  I know for a while, I didn't seem to have very good control over my own tongue and I noticed it was very hurtful to whoever I said things too.

Then one morning when I was having my worship, God impressed my mind with who was causing me this trouble, I was letting Satan rule my tongue, not all the time but a few times it got the best of me and I crashed under Satan's temptation.  Have you ever done that?  And then regret what you said with all your heart.  I felt like a city broken down without any self-control.  Proverbs calls it walls.  I read somewhere in my studies some time back, even a few years so can't tell the reference but anyway using my own wording.  'Angels are like a wall of fire put around us so we do not stumble.'  I have thought of that so often.  So glad to have that wall of fire, but it is only when we submit to God can He set His angels about us to protect us.  I want that wall of fire about me in the worse way, don't you?

We can get out of control in many ways but the worst way is with our tongue.  The book of James has a lot to say about the tongue.

James 1:26  "If anyone among you think he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, that man's religion is useless."  Do we claim to be religious and can't control our tongue?  Our religion would be useless to us if that is the case.  There is so much to self-control.

James 3:2  "For we all stumble in many things. If any does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body."  Wow!  What a statement, 'able to bridle the whole body'.  Don't you wish you could bridle your whole body?  I do and here is the instruction on how to do just that.

Proverbs 12:15  "The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise."  I find it difficult to try and help someone younger than I to steer them away from trouble, they always seem to think they no better than I.  I don't consider myself as a counselor but my years of living have certainly given me lots of experience to help others if they tend to want to listen.  Some do and some don't, where do you find yourself?  I don't think I have one friend that is older than me, I'm sure there are lots of people out there that are, but they are not my friends.  I would like to counsel with someone older and wiser.  It would help with some of life's problems.  I love the following verse:

Proverbs 3:5  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths."  I guess from going over this verse again that I don't need someone older to counsel me, do I?   I just need to  trust in the Lord with all my heart and don't lean on my own understanding, just acknowledge Him and He will direct my ways.
That is the best counsel that we can find for self-control.  I love it.  Who else can we trust more than we can trust God?  There is no one wiser, that knows us better and that loves us more than He does.
Let's trust Him with all our hearts to give us the self-control that we need so that we do not fall into condemnation.  Grandma Joan

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Talebearing

I am trying to clean up little traits of character in my own life and these different topics are helping me a lot.  Hope they are doing the same for you.  This morning the thought came to me that even little things that we tell sometimes hurt people and I don't want to be guilty of hurting anyone.  I know that criticism hurts too, very much, sometimes to the point where we really get discouraged and can't function in that area any more or don't want to.  It breaks our spirits when we feel condemned.  We don't want to be responsible for breaking anyones spirit, sometimes it will destroy their will to do good, especially children, but it does that to many, not just children, but children are most vulnerable.

Proverbs 11:9  "The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor."

Proverbs 11:13  "A talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter."

This is how we destroy people and also how a faithful person can help by concealing what is going around, we can stop the gossip with us.  I know that I don't want to destroy my neighbor.  I have a little experience about that.

We live in our Motorhome in an RV park and my neighbor looks exactly like I remember the thief looked like that broke into my home a couple of years ago.  Stole all my electronic equipment and some money.  I felt really uneasy having him for my neighbor but the longer I'm here the more I don't think he is the one.  But I don't know.  I haven't told anyone except my son and he needed to know because the uncle of the boy that robbed me came in my back door in my home and didn't know that I had a German Shepherd dog and the dog took him out in a hurry.  So if it is him, I have a reason to be scared of him and his family, but I really don't think it is.  I wouldn't want to ruin his reputation here in the park.

Proverbs 12:18  (last part)  "The tongue of the wise promotes health."  I want to be healthy.

Proverbs 13:3  "He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction."  I want my life to be preserved too.

Years ago I was having trouble with my legs going numb after a little bit of walking and some lady told around that there was nothing wrong with me and that I was just making it up.  I finally went to the doctor and I was in bad shape nerve wise in my abdomen and after surgery, I walked nearly at a run for years.  I was always a fast walker anyway and was told by friends who were with me to slow down.  The gossip really hurt because I am not a pretender at all, if I am ill or hurting, I never make it up, I find out what is wrong and deal with it.  I am so sorry that people need to find excuses for not dealing with their own feelings but instead make stuff up to cover their own hateful feelings.  Sort of like the fanatic, huh?

Proverbs 21:23  "Whoever guards his mouth  and tongue keeps his soul from troubles."  O, how true that is.  There is enough trouble in this world without us associating with trouble.  It's good to stay away from gossipers and troublemakers, don't you think?  I want to end this study with the following verse from:

Proverbs 25:11  "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."  Let's make sure that our words are fitly spoken all the time.  It might even be a good idea to mull the thought over before speaking it, what do you think?  A great study on talebearing and criticism.  I learned to watch my speech very closely, did you?  My desire is to be like Jesus and I am sure He never spoke a hurtful word.  He did tell the Pharisees what they were like but it wasn't done in anger, it was always in love hoping that they would reform, but most of them didn't.  So if I need to rebuke someone, it better be in love or not done at all.  That's what I have learned today.  Grandma Joan


Monday, November 30, 2015

Is There A Fanatic In The Attic?

Fanaticism, what is it and how does it fit in our character?  This is a subject that almost scares me to tackle.  First I want to pose some questions.  Will the way we dress save us?  Will what we eat save us?  Will spending all day in prayer save us?  Will spending all day reading the Bible save us?   Will pointing out other's sins save us?  If you are guilty of having an unbridled obsession on any of these topics or any other topic, then you have a fanatic in your attic.  Now all these topics are good of themselves but when that is our whole religion it becomes an unbridled obsession.  We become critical of others and condemnatory and generally speaking a fanatic is covering up something in his or her life that they don't want people to see or find out about.  For instance:

I met a man in another state that was always criticizing everything about the church and he kept cornering my husband telling him all about all his fanatical ideas and he had a weird appearance and after we left that area we were told that he was abusing his wife's children.  I suppose he has been in prison for a while, but not sure what happened to him.  All his complaining and fanaticism was a cover up of what was going on in his life and he did a good job of covering it too, for a while.  Sin almost always catches up with us, doesn't it?

I have a friend that I just made recently that dresses odd, she is clean and really matches her clothes well but always has her head covered because the Bible says a woman should have her head covered.  She dresses in long dresses that don't look bad but the style makes her look old and people are always taking her for 20 - 30 years older than she is.  She believes in praying for hours and reading her Bible for hours, she does all these things to earn salvation, at least thats what I gather from our conversations.  Yet she doesn't share Jesus with others, doesn't fellowship with people of like faith and altogether is quite the loner, however she is the type of person if I told her about it she would probably quit doing it.  She is a sweet person and wouldn't hurt a flea, but she has some fanatics in the attic too.  I will end up talking to her about some of those things because it is bothering her that she looks older than she is and someone is always mentioning it to her.

I believe in having a strict vegetarian diet, but I don't promote it to anyone.  I wear long dresses to church because I feel modest in them, but I don't expect everyone else to do the same.  I believe in prayer and Bible study, two or three hours a day combined and sometimes longer, and sometimes less, depending on the time I have.  It's a good way to stay close to God and to be filled with His thoughts and character traits.  But I don't expect everyone else to do what I do.  I think in the past I might have had a few fanatics in my attic, because I believed that I had to earn my salvation instead of allowing Jesus to transform my character so that I could live a Christian life and keep myself surrendered to Him. 

We are not all on the same rung of the ladder in our walk with the Lord and should not expect others to be on the same rung as we are on.  It is a progressive journey and we need to give others the same space that we need in our Christian growth.

At one time in my life, I thought people should eat like I ate and study like I studied and I finally found out that I was being a Pharisee or a Hypocrite whatever you want to call it.  Now I allow others to grow at their own speed and am trying my best to be patient and understanding in this area.  As I have said before, I surely haven't arrived and I have a long way to go to being like Jesus, but my desire is there and with God's help I will make the goal that He has for me, and no more fanatics in the attic for me, I hope.  Grandma Joan.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

The Faith I Live By.

There have been so much written on 'faith' and still it seems a mystery to many.  I have struggled with it some too, in fact quite a bit.  Faith as the grain of mustard seed, what kind of faith is that? A mustard seed is no bigger than a straight pin head, a small one at that.  How much faith is that? I have written a blog on faith and still it seems a mystery to me at times.  The Bible says that 'The just shall live by faith', Habakuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11.  Have you any idea what that means?  The just shall live by faith?  This study is going to help me so much, I can feel it coming!!!

Hebrews 11:1  "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  It seems like we hope for things that we cannot see.  The just shall live by things that they cannot see.  Can we always see what is before us?  I can't.  I don't know what tomorrow will bring, I wish I did, it is not for me to know, it is for me to trust God in the things I don't know or can't see.  The other night at prayer meeting the pastor said faith and trust are two different things, so I asked him to explain.  He said, 'you have faith in something and then you trust that it will go through'.  What do you think?   It sounded OK to me, but I'm not through yet, there is more to living by faith than meets the eye.

Romans 10:17  "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God"  It sounds like if we want more faith, we need to spend more time in the word of God to build ourselves up in the faith.

Romans 1:17  "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith'."  It seems to me that the righteousness of God is revealed by the 'just' living out their lives by faith, from generation to generation.  Do you see that too?

Hebrews 4:2  "For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it."  When we hear the gospel, it needs to be mixed with faith in order for us to benefit from it.  It is something we cannot see, we can only experience the gospel and only because we have mixed our faith with it.  In other words we must believe it to experience it, totally by faith.

Hebrews 11:6  "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him."  We MUST believe that He is and He rewards those who diligently seek him.  How do we seek Him? Through His word, diligently.  This study is causing me to diligently seek Him and His saving faith.

Acts 26:18  Jesus tells us that we are sanctified by faith in Him.  We must have faith to believe that we are sanctified in Him.

Ephesians 2:8  "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."  We are saved by grace through faith in Him.  Faith is a gift from God, because we cannot save ourselves, it is strictly through faith in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:7  "For we walk by faith, not by sight".  We can believe that, can't we after this study, we simply have to walk by faith, not by sight.  Our Christian walk is simply by faith.  We must trust Him for everything in life.  This is the faith that I live by, How about you?  Do you live by faith, there is no other way that I know of, it is the Biblical way and that's the way we want to walk.  I'm sure that those of you who are following my journey believe the Biblical way is the only way.  It is the way of peace, joy and love for others.  Let's walk by faith and live by faith in the One who has saved us and provided a way for us to be sanctified and saved by faith in His name.  Grandma Joan



Saturday, November 28, 2015

Are Your Burdens too heavy to bear?

Yes, sometimes they are way too heavy and we become bent over with the weight of them.  I do not pretend to be burden free or have all the answers to these kind of problems.  Perhaps it is our children that are giving us problems, maybe a spouse that doesn't love the Lord, or it could be financial problems, what ever the problem, it could become a heavy burden too hard to bear.  There are many types of burdens that we tend to gather up and try to carry on our own and they become so heavy that we can't carry them any longer, what do we do?

We are told by many to lay them at the feet of Jesus and He will carry them for us.  That is very good advice, but how do we do that?  It is not something we can see, or lift up and deposit somewhere, they seem to converge on us without us realizing it and since we can't lift them from our minds and hearts, there has to be a way to get rid of them 'so to speak'.  There is a song that says, 'Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus'.  How do you do that?  I wonder how many people have tried to do that and didn't succeed.  I have and I have learned so many lessons lately about life, that I am over whelmed with gratitude to God for caring so much for me to allow me to learn these lessons.

I was telling my son yesterday that I feel like a little Job, you know, the man in the Bible that lost everything.  Well, I really haven't lost anything important like he did, but I have gone through a series of 'how do I take care of this', it would be such a heavy thing and I didn't know how to find the answer.  I discovered a very important issue that God was having with me, it was, ' being forgiving when a wrong was done to me'.  First it started with a small thing and I clung to it to try and solve the problem but it didn't work.  Some gossip that someone said and didn't really make it right when they were wrong.  So then (I am just speaking for God now) God said, I need to teach her to forgive and the little thing didn't work so now I will add something that I know will hurt her and see what she does with that.  So the next thing stunned me, it was an act of unkindness that really hurt from someone that I loved, so what do I do with that?  I mourned over it for a few days and then I said to myself, I have to forgive them, this thing is way too heavy for me to carry and its been many years since I've been treated in this manner, many, many years so I only knew one way to forgive and that was to ask God to put forgiveness in my heart for this heavy thing that was hanging over me and crushing me down.  I begged Him to help me to forgive and that is exactly what He did, He put a forgiveness in my heart that I had never known and a love that did not waiver.

Well, here comes the final blow, well maybe not the final one, but I hope it is.  I know if you have kids you will know what this did to me,  it blew me away, my thoughts were not good.  I thought about this yesterday and God seem to say to me 'remember Job', yes I remember Job, but I'm not Job, 'well, I just want to make sure you know how to forgive, you have learned a great lesson but this one will prove whether you have really learned it or not.

Someone very important to me in their status, told a whole bunch of lies about a child of mine and it was so bad and so untrue that I simply could not take it.  It was almost a crime and I was carrying it around like a ball and chain.  It hurt really bad, if it had been true, I could have accepted it to some extent, but lies, no way was I going to sit back and let it go, it was the biggest problem among people that I have ever faced.  This person was held in high esteem but they picked someone who was wicked in his transactions and with his mouth, as a friend and the friend hated my child and probably me, so he loaded the person down with his lies and this person told them to a couple of my family members as truth and it got back to me.  Wow!!  What now?

How do you forgive someone like that?  I kept mulling this over and over and I kept praying for God to put that forgiveness in my heart for this person and it just didn't work.  I wrote them a letter and got it off my heart that way, but ended up getting rid of the letter, so now what do I do, I knew if I confronted them it would be a bad scene and what I really needed before anything was said, was forgiveness and the other day I was put in the presence of this person and I was praying the whole time which was about an hour and the hard feelings left and I had forgiveness.  What a relief!!  Now I think I can confront them in peace if the opportunity arises and I'm sure it will because they need to learn a lesson too, don't you think?  For their salvation sake I believe I can help them now that I have learned how to forgive something that hard to take.  It has affected a lot of people and needs to be made right but the best part of the whole thing is that I have learned to forgive again.  I don't want to go through that again, the lies involved character, thousands of dollars and so much more and it really weighted me down like I've never felt before.

Was my burden too heavy to bear?  Yes, it was, way more than I could handle and way more than God wanted me to try and handle on my own.  He has a miraculous way of changing things and the heart is one of His Specialties.  So now that I have learned this lesson, can I forgive again if something happens, I so hope so.  Unforgiveness is probably the hardest burden for me to bear.  I just don't like it at all.  I have always been a forgiving person, I thought, until something too heavy to bear was laid upon me and I fell apart, literally fell apart.  This was over a period of months.

I am so very thankful that God can lift the heaviest burdens and it is nothing to Him to do it.  He is well aware of our hurts and can heal the brokenness that comes from the hurts and we must let Him heal our brokenness before He can heal our bodies and our spiritual lives.  He is willing, are we willing to let go of our hurts and live for Him.  I hope I am, how about you?  Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus, He will heal our brokenness and save us as He did Job.  Grandma Joan

Friday, November 27, 2015

Lord, I Am Not Worthy!

I find myself hesitant to ask God for His blessings and favors to me because I feel so unworthy.  I use to feel like I could ask for anything and He would give it to me, but that is not the case for me any more.  Back, years ago in the 1970's, I believed that I had to prove myself to God by the things I did and was continually trying to make myself better day by day.  About this time I heard a few people talking about 'Righteousness By Faith' and it puzzled me because of what I had been taught, I couldn't even comprehend what they were talking about, so I found a couple of old books written on this subject.

Now, I want you to know that I have been a sincere follower of Christ all my life, but that doesn't mean that I had it made or had it all together right.  It means that I had a great desire to follow Him and do what is right and I was trying with all my heart to do that.  But something was wrong and I didn't know what it was.  I kept reading the book of Romans and 1 John and even in Philippians and 1 Thessalonians, over and over and it just did not agree with what I had been taught and I would ponder them and ask questions and no one, not anyone could help me with answers to my questions, so I just let it slip for a while because I did not understand and it appeared that no one else did either, so if no one could help me, then I must be interpreting things wrong.

These old books were on that very subject and so I read them over and over and I discovered that the closer I came to Christ the more unworthy I felt and that didn't seem right either but that is what was happening and then I read a statement that woke me up to a certain fact, the fact was that the more I studied about Christ and His life, the more I could see my own faults and sins and the more unworthy I felt.  I learned that Jesus died on the cross for me and took the punishment for my sins so long ago, and that if He hadn't done that, I would suffer death for my own sins and that would be my eternal destiny but instead Christ did it for me and I don't have to suffer eternal death for my sins, so now the thought came to me, 'who is the One who is worthy'.  It's not me, I have done nothing to bring me into a right relationship with God and I can't possibly do anything to merit eternal life with Him.  He did it all right there on the cross.  He took my sins, your sins, no matter what they were or are and they were nailed to that cross in the person of Jesus Christ.  He took all the murders, rapes, theft, tortures, immoral acts, you name them and that is what He bore for you and me on that cruel cross.

Now, I understand a little bit more about being worthy.  Who is worthy of the blessings I receive each day, who is worthy of my sins being forgiven, who is worthy to come before a Great and Holy God?
Yes, who is worthy?  I am not, neither are you if you are honest with yourself.  Jesus is the Worthy One and only Jesus, He paid the price for our salvation and when we accept his Sacrifice for our sins, then and only then can He take them and present them to the Father for forgiveness,  He presents His nail pierced hands as a promise He has made to us that we will be forgiven if we ask and the Father sees how earnest Jesus is in presenting our case before Him and applies the blood of Jesus to my account and to yours.

We can come before the Great and Holy God in the precious name of Jesus who died for us and is willing to present our petitions to His Father and apply His merits to our account.  What an awesome thing to realize that we do not earn our salvation by the things we do or don't do but by the precious blood of Jesus.  Let me share some texts with you.

Ephesians 2:13  "But now in Christ Jesus, ye who were sometimes afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ."  If you have felt far away from Jesus, can become near to Him through His blood that He shed for you and I.  A wonderful thought.

Philippians 1:6  "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."  Who will do the work in us?  It is not me, I have learned that I can make a mess of my life on my own, but when He is performing His work in me, it becomes a perfect work because it is not my work, but His.  An awesome revelation to say the least.

1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24  "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God that your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it."  That tells us the same thing that Philippians tells us, that He will sanctify us wholly and our whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is willing to take our sins and present them to the Father in His name and through His blood and also to do the work in us that will prepare us for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I hope that you understand this, Romans is full of these thoughts, read the whole book and you will see the gospel of Christ more clearly.  That is your assignment for this day.  May God bless you as you study His word and apply it to your life is my prayer for you.  I am just a nobody and this is what I have learned as I study His word.  I have not attained but I am attaining day by day and so will you and I am learning more and more as I travel this Christian highway, even though the Bible calls it a narrow way and few there be that find it, it is possible to travel on it because He is doing it for us as we surrender our lives to Him day by day.  What a glorious future lies before us in Christ.  Grandma Joan

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Powerful Prayers

I am searching this morning for 'How to have a powerful prayer life'.  First thing that comes to my mind is the powerful prayers that Jesus prayed and the results of those prayers.  People were forgiven, they were healed of all types of diseases, they were raised from the dead, they had a new spiritual life.  One man, as soon as he was told his sins were forgiven, was so relieved of his stressful situation, he seemed to be happy just to know that his sins were forgiven and then Jesus told him to rise, take up his bed and go home.  He hadn't walked for years.  Can you imagine the joy that he had knowing his sins were forgiven and then being able to walk home, the joy that his family must have had?  It is hard to imagine such joy and just knowing that there is nothing between you and Jesus that would keep your prayers from being answered like that.

I remember a time when I was helping my husband lift a wood stove up on a hearth that he had made and a vertebrae popped in my lower back and instantly I had a swelling on my spine that was at least two inches across and red and I couldn't use my legs.  To make a long story short, during the day time I was put on the couch in the family room and at night in my bed, to get back and forth between the rooms I had to have assistance and used crutches to swing my legs and someone to keep me from falling.  I was on the couch for eleven days wondering about my life and what I was going to do in that situation.  I was in traction to keep the pain down and on my back, and had plenty of time to consider my life and future life.  God had me turn to Psalm 6 and it seemed to hit me square in my conscience.  The whole chapter is only 10 verses long but the first few verses seemed to fit my situation.  You can read the whole chapter but I will concentrate on the first four or five.  This was David talking and it seemed to fit me perfectly.

Psalm 6  "O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten me in thine hot displeasure.  Have mercy upon me O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed.  My soul is also sore vexed; but Thou O Lord, how long?  Return O Lord, deliver my soul: O save me for Thy mercies sake.  For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?

I read these words and contemplated them with my situation and the thought came to me that if this was to be my lot the rest of my life, then with God's help I could live with it.  I would not turn my back on Him because of my condition.  I was laying there thinking on this when I realized the pain in my spine was gone.  I got out of the traction, I don't know how now, but I sat up, and then I stood up and I was in such shock that I fell back on the couch, my husband came in just about that time and I said, 'look, I can sit up, I can stand up, see what my spine looks like and the swelling and the redness was gone and all that was left was a little tiny dark mark where it had been.  Talk about joy, I could walk again and am still walking and that was about forty years ago.

I don't know why God healed me, I am nothing special, and I didn't do anything special for Him to have mercy on me, except to accept His decision for me for the rest of my life.  Now I am handicapped in that I can only stand for a little while without pain and walking with a cane or walker or hanging on to a grocery cart.  My whole spine has been fractured twice and I shouldn't be walking but I am, I have a lot of pain now and then but I have learned to live with it.  I went through a very stressful period in my life which caused a lot of stress, terrible stress and I was told that, that was what led to my condition of Osteoporosis, which is what has caused the breaking of my vertebrae and a broken hip and most of my ribs and some more than once. I have prayed for healing and am still praying for healing, but only if it is God's will.

I know that prayers can be a powerful means in our lives, to save others for God's kingdom and to heal our brokenness and right now I have been thinking about all this and the the verses came to my mind yesterday in Isaiah 59:1,2.  "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,  and your sins has hid His face from you that He cannot hear."  I am praying every time I think of this that God will show me what is standing between Him and I in the way of my healing and of the salvation of those that I pray for each and every day.

I know that He has answered many prayers of mine just recently, but it's not enough, I want to be so close to God that I can see the answers before my time on this earth is up.  Is that asking too much?  I don't think so, He is a powerful God and His love for us is just as powerful and I know that the Holy Spirit takes our prayers to Jesus in a powerful way, and Jesus presents them to His Father in a powerful way too and so all in all our prayers are powerful because of who is handling them.

God is showing me some things that need improvement in my life and I am accepting each one and want to live for Him so that my prayers will be as powerful as is possible in this life.  He has been so good to me, just recently He saved my life by impressing me to get to the emergency room and ask for a blood transfusion.  I have never accepted transfusion before , but since that incident I have been feeling better and better and my blood count has risen higher than it's been in years, so I know He is helping me, I guess I am just impatient.  I want so much to be well, so I can do so much more for Him but maybe I can do more for Him in this condition, I don't know.

I do know this, that I love Him and am seeking His guidance each and every day and to be filled with His Holy Spirit so that I will live close to Him and can hear Him speak to me even more than He has in the past.  I never hear an audible voice but the impression in my mind will be so strong that I cannot ignore it.  I believe this is one of His ways of leading us in His paths of righteousness and if we are following Him to the best of our knowledge, we can be sure that the nudges we get are from Him and He is leading us to His kingdom.  I want to pray more powerful prayers, really powerful prayers, how about you?  I know it is possible to receive definite answers from my own experience.   I just want more of Him in my life.  I hope my little testimony has helped some of you out there with your prayer life.  It is so important, we can't have a real relationship with Him without it.  Grandma Joan

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

My Purpose.

My purpose of these blogs, is to help you have a closer walk with Jesus day by day and to learn to trust Him with all your heart.  Actually you are following my experience, as I walk with the Lord, I am not there yet but I am struggling just as you are and my intentions are to be in God's kingdom when He comes in the clouds of heaven to claim us as His own.  My greatest desire is to be with Him eternally.  We may slip and fall and come to Him weeping because of some sin we have committed but He is always there to reinstate us with all the mercy and forgiveness that we need in our situation.  I am learning to love Him more and more and trust Him more and more.  It is because I am spending more time with Him and trying to memorize more scriptures and I am learning how to have a different prayer life and how to pray for those on my prayer list.

Speaking of prayer lists, I would encourage you to make one and list each name of each person that you are impressed to pray for.  List their needs and ask God to forgive them for their waywardness and ask Him to apply the blood of Jesus to them so that the demonic spirits that are controlling them be driven away so that God's Holy Spirit will be able to strive with them and draw them close to Him.  I use to pray for everyone else and forget to pray for myself, so not in a selfish way, I put my self at the top of the list so that I can pray for cleansing and forgiveness so that my prayers will be heard for those whom I pray for.  I remember those closest to me and then those who have been part of my family in the past and my friends in the past and present and I remember my pastor and His needs and how he needs to be close to God because of his position and to always speak truth.  You will have your own way and your own lists, including our government,  missionaries, programs, and all those that are working for God.  I just now am learning to add some more to my lists by trying to help you form a list.

Because I am handicapped, I cannot kneel, so before I get out of bed, I do a blog for the day which is usually a short study that helps me in my daily walk, and then I focus on a scripture to memorize and then I bring my prayer list before God and spend time talking to Him about each individual thats close to my heart.  And before I get out of bed I asked to be baptized by His Spirit and filled with His fullness as He has promised to do if we ask.  Then I cautiously slip out of bed to face another day.  The reason I said cautiously is because I don't trust myself at all.  I want to remain in His will all through the day but I know how easy it is to let self come to the front, we must let God keep self subdued and let Him be in control of our life, and put others first.

I want to share a scripture with you that I have memorized that is full of promises that I need every day and it means so much to me, I like to repeat it over and over until I have it so down pat, I won't forget it.  I am going to repeat it in a personal way as I do many scriptures.

Psalm 103:1-5  "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits,  Who forgives all my iniquities, who heals all my diseases, who redeems my life from destruction, who crowns my life with tender mercies and loving kindness, who satisfies my mouth with good things so that my youth is renewed like the eagles."

Isn't that a beautiful text to start your day with, I love it and it means so very much to me, it is hard for me to memorize now at my age of 84, but I can still do it, it just takes more effort and takes longer.  God has been very good to me and has given me a great longing to please Him, all my life I have wanted to be like Jesus but didn't know exactly how to get there and I want you to know that I haven't arrived yet but I know He is leading me and holding my hand all the way and when He comes I will welcome Him, UNLESS, I let go of His hand and trust in myself instead of Him.

I hope my little journey and purpose for this blog has helped you, it has helped me to share with you how I have been traveling this rocky road to God's kingdom, it hasn't been smooth, I have suffered heart ache, severe pain most of the time in the last few years, tripped up lots of times when self got in the way but as an overall picture, I am still holding His hand and He is the best friend I have ever had and ever will have.  He never gives up on me and never condemns me, just forgives and encourages me to keep on holding on to His hand.  May you be blessed as you realize you are not the only one who is stumbling along and reaching out for a better life here and now.  May God bless you as He has blessed me, and more.  Grandma Joan

Monday, November 23, 2015

The Gift of Love

"Who loved me and gave Himself for me."  Galatians 2:20.  How personal is this?  I am one of those whom He loves.  Each person in the world can say, "He loved me and gave Himself for me.'  I can say it, you can say it, and it is true.  He does love each one of us immensely, so much so that He gave His life to redeem you and me.  I ask you again, how personal is this?  There is a beautiful song that says, 'When He was on the cross, I was on His mind'.  He was thinking of us down through history whom He was saving as He hung there on that cruel cross.  Do you think we understand that kind of love.  I don't think I do, but I want to.  So how do we come to understand it?  I'll share a few texts that might help us.

Philippians 2:5  "Let this mind be in you which is in Christ Jesus."  I think we might understand His gift of love if we had His mind formed in ours.  What do you think?

Proverbs 3: 13  "Happy is the man who finds wisdom.  And the man who gains understanding."
If we have the mind of Christ we will find wisdom and gain understanding of the things of God, and one of those things is understanding His gift of love.

2 Timothy 1:7  "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Three gifts from Him and love is right in the middle of them.  Power, love and a sound mind.

Colossians 1:27  "To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."  Christ in you the hope of glory is a mystery, isn't it?  We don't know how it takes place, we only know when we experience it and we can experience it when we have His mind dwelling in us.  His Spirit dwelling in us.  He indeed is willing but our flesh is weak.

His gift of love is so perfect, so unblemished, it is so hard to understand the totality of it all, but when we ask Him to dwell in us through His Holy Spirit, we can count on Him doing it and giving us His mind because He has said, 'let this mind be in you which is in Christ Jesus.'  And that Christ in us is the hope of glory, another great promise to help us understand His great gift of love. In the book, Desire of Ages, we are told to spend a thoughtful hour a day contemplating Christ's lasts hours on this earth.  It will help us understand His great gift of love and in being filled with His love, we will be able to love like He does.  And be able to share it with others.  Let's pray to be filled with His gift of love, so we can pass it on to others.  God bless you as you seek to have His mind in you.  Grandma Joan.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Unlimited Help

How many of you need help in your daily life?  In decisions, in directions, in speech, in choices like what to wear, what to eat, where to go, life work, O, so many ways in which we can use unlimited help.  I know that I need unlimited help in all the ways that I mentioned above and probably many more.  Following is some verses that I thought should be put to memory because of the content of them and how much it would help in my daily life.  This is the prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesians and we can pray this prayer for any and all those on our prayer list, there is much power in prayer.

Ephesians 3:14 -19  "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Would it be alright with you if I dissected these verses bit by bit and show you how it has helped me?  First off, I memorized them, then I read how the whole family in heaven and earth is named.  Remember this is Paul's prayer for the Ephesians and it can be our prayer for those on our prayer list too.
He will grant us answers according to His riches in glory, and to be strengthened with might, how? Through His Spirit in our hearts, that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith; so that we will be rooted and grounded in love, and may be able to comprehend with all saints, this love that He is offering us which passes knowledge, that we may be filled with ALL the fullness of God.

God is able to do exceedingly abundantly ABOVE ALL that we ask or think, according to the Holy Spirit's power that works in us.  It will glorify Him in the church through Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.  (Emphasis supplied)

Can we comprehend His riches in glory?  I can't.  And be strengthened with might, so that we can obey Him through His Spirit because His Spirit dwells in our hearts through faith.  We will be rooted and grounded in His love and be able to comprehend His love that He has offered us which passes knowledge and we will be filled with all the fullness of God.  How able is God?  Exceedingly, abundantly able to do above all that we can ask or think to ask ACCORDING to the Holy Spirit's power that is working in us.  I pray for that power every morning before I even get out of bed, that God will baptize me with His Spirit and then fill me with His Spirit so that I will be victorious in my daily walk with Him.

Can you see the unlimited help that we have through His Holy Spirit.  It is powerful indeed.  Grandma Joan

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Feeling Unforgiven?

You are not alone, I say God has forgiven me but really what happens, I don't forgive myself and that in turn probably means that I don't feel forgiven at all.  Otherwise why would I feel so bad about something I have been forgiven for.  Does anyone here understand that feeling?  Now, I know that I have been forgiven, but for a long time I kept playing over and over in my mind some things that I was so sorry for but couldn't ask for forgiveness because the person was not here any more or I lost track of them.  I have even tracked down people that it was important for me to speak to about the way I had treated them.  Then there are those that have passed away and I can't say a word to, but I can ask God to forgive me but there was a time when I could not shake the feeling of the wrong I had done and felt unforgiven.  I know there are a lot of people that feel the same way, unforgiven.

There are several reasons that we feel unforgiven, one is that we have separated ourselves from God in that we don't spend time with Him and therefore don't think that He is interested in us.  Another reason could be that we don't trust Him to forgive us or that we have made such horrible mistakes that He can't forgive us.

1 John 1:9  "If we confess our sins He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  Me must take God at His word and believe Him, unbelief is another reason we don't feel forgiven.

Here is a text that I love and gives me so much encouragement about the way He  treats us, it is so wonderful I know that is what He is doing for me, so here it is and let it soak in at any age, you don't have to be elderly, you will fit in at any age.

Isaiah 46:4 "Even to your old age, I am He, and even to grey hairs I will carry you!  I have made and I will bear; even I will carry you and deliver you."  That doesn't mean just in old age will He carry us but up to old age and even before we have grey hairs He will carry us.  So let's not worry about not being forgiven.  God has promised if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive.  Let's believe Him and when He says He will carry us, it means when we are weak and can't navigate ourselves through all the problems we are facing, He will carry us through them and we will come through victorious, because He has cleansed us from all unrighteousness.  Hold on to His hand and believe what He says.  Grandma Joan