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
Saturday, November 28, 2015
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
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
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
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
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
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
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