What about LIFE?
I am a deep thinker or maybe even a ponderer of things not usually thought of. I don’t require much, just the palette that the Lord gave me – His Holy Word.
How big is God?
God made everything…EVERYTHING. Scientists, philosophers and figure-heads have tried since the beginning of time to build a case against God being the Creator of Life and the universe. What a daunting task trying to unseat God!
Can a person assume to understand God’s completeness? Would a mere human understand that the Greatest Story ever told needed a beginning and end, not just the juicy middle that everyone only conveniently remembers? If you cannot grasp the beginning and end, then you cannot assume to understand the vastness of God and LIFE.
In the ‘known’ universe, there are thus far 70 sextillion stars…that’s 21 zeros after 70. The most current estimates guess that there are 100 to 200 billion galaxies in the Universe; it’s been estimated that about 10% of stars have planets which would mean about 20 billion solar systems in our galaxy alone.
This is where men like Stephen Hawking comes along; trying to unseat God by giving us the ‘Big Bang’ THEORY….everything is here by some kind of extraordinary accident. What God has created with His immeasurable love has been deemed an accident.
We are by no means AN ACCIDENT. God cannot make accidents otherwise He would not be perfect. While we ponder Life and its beginning, middle and end, there is Jesus who God gave us to show us our imperfections, that were are teachable, and that we are eternal with Him if we choose to be.
Truly, Life is quite simple. We have the vastness of the universe to show us how important we are to God to have something so incredible. And, we have Jesus, who God gave us to prove His compassion, not His dispassion:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Today, the Word of God says I Am:
My husband writes:
I woke up this morning not feeling so “Holy & Righteous” and realizing I need to rediscover what God says about meand who I am as his child even though often my actions don’t always match up to the description below. I thank you lord this morning for fresh and New Mercy and an opportunity to make this day an awesome day!
Today the word of God says I Am:
- I am faithful (Ephesians 1:1)
- I am God’s child (John 1:12)
- I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
- I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15)
- I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:20)
- I am a member of Christ’s Body (1 Corinthians 12:27)
- I am assured all things work together for good (Romans 8:28)
- God (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
- me (Philippians 1:6)
- I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)
- I am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
- and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7)
- me (1 John 5:18)
- blessing (Ephesians 1:3)
- I am chosen before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4, 11)
- I am holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4)
- I am adopted as his child (Ephesians 1:5)
- restriction (Ephesians 1:5,8)
- I am in Him (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:30)
- I have redemption (Ephesians 1:8)
- I am forgiven (Ephesians 1:8; Colossians 1:14)
- I have purpose (Ephesians 1:9 & 3:11)
- I have hope (Ephesians 1:12)
- I am included (Ephesians 1:13)
- I am sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13)
- I am a saint (Ephesians 1:18)
- I am salt and light of the earth (Matfthew 5:13-14)
- fruit (John 15:1,5)
- I am a personal witness of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8)
- I am God’s coworker (2Corinthians 6:1)
- I am a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
- I am alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5)
- I am raised up with Christ (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:12)
- realms (Ephesians 2:6)
- grace (Ephesians 2:7)
- God has expressed His kindness to me (Ephesians 2:7)
- I am God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)
- blood (Ephesians 2:13)
- I have peace (Ephesians 2:14)
- I have access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18)
- I am a member of God’s household (Ephesians 2:19)
- I am secure (Ephesians 2:20)
- I am a holy temple (Ephesians 2:21; 1 Corinthians 6:19)
- I am a dwelling for the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:22)
- I share in the promise of Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:6)
- God’s power works through me (Ephesians 3:7)
- confidence (Ephesians 3:12)
- I know there is a purpose for my sufferings (Ephesians 3:13)
- is (Ephesians 3:18)
- I am completed by God (Ephesians 3:19)
- I can bring glory to God (Ephesians 3:21)
- I have been called (Ephesians 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:9)
- others (Ephesians 4:2)
- I can mature spiritually (Ephesians 4:15)
- has called me to (Ephesians 4:17)
- I can have a new attitude and a new lifestyle (Ephesians 4:21-32)
- I can be kind and compassionate to others (Ephesians 4:32)
- I can forgive others (Ephesians 4:32)
- righteousness and truth (Ephesians 5:8-9)
- I can understand what God’s will is (Ephesians 5:17)
- I can give thanks for everything (Ephesians 5:20)
- I don’t have to always have my own agenda (Ephesians 5:21)
- I can honor God through marriage (Ephesians 5:22-33)
- I can parent my children with composure (Ephesians 6:4)
- I can be strong (Ephesians 6:10)
- I have God’s power (Ephesians 6:10)
- I can stand firm in the day of evil (Ephesians 6:13)
- I am dead to sin (Romans 1:12)
- I am not alone (Hebrews 13:5)
- I am growing (Colossians 2:7)
- I am His disciple (John 13:15)
- I am prayed for by Jesus Christ (John 17:20-23)
- I am united with other believers (John 17:20-23)
- I am not in want (Philippians 4:19)
- I possess the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16)
- I am promised eternal life (John 6:47)
- I am promised a full life (John 10:10)
- I am victorious (I John 5:4)
- peace (Philippians 4:7)
- I am chosen and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12)
- I am blameless (I Corinthians 1:8)
- I am set free (Romans 8:2; John 8:32)
- I am crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20)
- I am a light in the world (Matthew 5:14)
- I am more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37)
- I am the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)
- I am safe (I John 5:18)
- I am part of God’s kingdom (Revelation 1:6)
- I am healed from sin (I Peter 2:24)
- I am no longer condemned (Romans 8:1, 2)
- I am not helpless (Philippians 4:13)
- I am overcoming (I John 4:4)
- I am persevering (Philippians 3:14)
- I am protected (John 10:28)
- I am born again (I Peter 1:23)
- I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
- I am delivered (Colossians 1:13)
- I am redeemed from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13)
- I am qualified to share in His inheritance (Colossians 1:12)
- I am victorious (1 Corinthians 15:57)
Like this:
What’s in YOUR house?
Joshua 7:1, ‘But the children of Israel committed a
trespass regarding the accursed things,
for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of
Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the LORD burned against the
children of Israel.’
I got saved December of 2001 and backslid soon after. The reasons
why are obvious: My house was NOT clean. Not only did I continue an alcoholic
relationship but I never physically cleaned my house.
After nearly 3 years of perverse drinking and the lifestyle
that accompanies it, I felt the Lord around me again. God was trying to draw me
out and I finally decided to clean house. I was winding down a backslidden
season of my life and I was getting ready to take responsibility of a Christian
life.
God knows me…He knew I needed a helpmate to get me where I needed
to be in Him, a man I later married. But one day I took a good look around my
home and I remembered something that my sister told me – the day she got rid of
the ‘evil’ in her house. At that time I didn’t realize how spiritual that was. But
that day in my home I saw evil everywhere and it was time to clean house.
It’s amazing how much garbage a person accumulates. I looked
in closets, in drawers, in cabinets, in my storage locker, my space at work…I had
no idea how much of the world I had around me. I threw it all away, I sold none
of it. It was my opinion that giving or selling my sin was SIN. I even threw
away glasses that reminded me of being in a bar! EVERYTHING MUST GO!!!
It was freeing to see it all in a dumpster. I hated how the
world sucked me in but I loved how the Lord made me see with my spiritual eyes
what was like a noose around my neck if I didn’t let it all go. Now, I do not
own any secular music, swim suits, shorts, or even sandals. Do I believe that
everyone has to ‘work out their own salvation with fear and trembling’? Yes,
BUT justifying sin around you because you think its harmless is very DANGEROUS.
Like Joshua, I heard the Lord tell me that there was sin in
my house and that it had to be gotten rid of to keep my way with the Lord pure
and not sullied by the world and its demons. There are many Christians that don’t
believe it’s necessary to do purge their house because they’re such strong
Christians…nothing can be further from the truth.
Like this:
The Travesty of the Seeking Convert
I find that in the ProLife world that I advocate, there is a lot of conversions to Catholicism from people that have ‘converted’ – from abortion advocate to prolife. More often than not, these converts were either atheist or agnostic, not a denominational convert. Ironic is what I think of the whole thing because I WAS Catholic. I also think it’s a travesty.
Catholicism is a man-made religion to strike fear in a person of a Hell they may not get prayed out of, not Grace as the Bible teaches. What’s obvious is that those who convert are seeing something that they are not getting in their life or church. What the seeker sees is structure – structure in that there are rules and regulations to follow and heed, a hierarchy. People that seek this super-structure, an organization of billions, are looking for something to lean on, not glean from. People want something beautiful to idolize like cathedrals with pomp and circumstance, not our risen Savior because:
“There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
Again, the irony of it is that the New Testament teaches that religion killed our Savior, not save Him – which you will not see in teachings of the Catechism. When I was Catholic, I often wondered where they got their ‘information’ because it didn’t jive with the Bible because if it had, then more Catholics would have brought their bibles to church?…I thought in my young mind. No one ever referred to a Bible.
Remember, I pick on Catholics because of my own personal experience with it. Another denomination that courts the seeker in the same way is the Mormons. They show a loving, joyful, ever-placid lifestyle that quite frankly, everyone wants! But does Mormonism jive with the Bible? NO. Catholicism and Mormonism leans on teachings from sources other than the Bible. That I cannot condone.
I cannot stop the seeker from being weak in their search. It grieves me because time is so short and coming to a close real soon – Jesus Christ is coming back: not a dead pope or Joseph Smith or Mary…Jesus Christ as THE risen King.
In my own opinion (just mine!), a person needs to stay away from denominations and just read their Bible and see what the Holy Spirit will reveal to them. Let the Lord lead you to where He wants you to be.
God’s greatest blessings even on a bad day.
I stood in front of about 100 people at my local 40 Days for Life closing rally speaking on behalf of post-abortive women. I felt that I did a mediocre job although friends and family said otherwise. Would they have said that I did not?
On a very bright sunny day I stood there and saw darkness as if a great storm is about to deluge us. I could hardly see and the wind was fierce, so much so it was hard to talk. It was as if I saw only death around me, not Life.
I have a burden for Catholics which is who typically comes to prolife functions, and they seem to like me. I wonder if they think they can proselyte me…hardly; I came out of that bondage a long time ago. But the good thing is that I get the gist of their ‘faith’ when a priest says the rosary and such, while they look at me in wonderment and believe I’m the one going to Hell. Most of my family still calls Catholicism their ‘faith’ and NEVER go to church…they love the arrogance of saying they are Catholic. Even though Catholicism is saturated in false doctrine, at least these Prolifers walk the walk.
But I’m getting off subject here…let me reiterate that I literally saw death that day, so much so that I couldn’t raise my eyes to meet the gazes of those that came to hear me! God was letting me know that even though I love to see their fervor, they are still in darkness doomed to a fiery Hell and that I need to watch my back or that darkness can consume me, too. Christ is the way, not the way of Catholicism.
No wonder most of the world hates God – the world looks to religion to get to know God and that simply cannot happen. Religion killed Jesus Christ and religion will bring Him back in the not so distant future.
This day, 3-15-2011, a Word from the Lord.
It is not often that God speaks so loudly that you have to pull your car off the road. That is what happened to my husband this morning.
In the light of a changing world around us, a world that humans only tend to see with idolatrous eyes, we are in grave trouble! What has happened to Japan is not the beginning of sorrows; that has already begun. Have we already forgotten the tsunami that wiped out a lot of Thailand? Or the earthquake that held Chilean miners ransom?
The Bible says to look for signs and wonders of the coming day. This is a call to be ready, not be a tourist.
WE ARE IN THE LAST OF THE LAST DAYS.
Pray up, and grab as many as you can…the Lord is coming soon and He wants many more for His harvest.
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Thus Says the Lord God Jehovah
The earth has begun to Groan, mourn and long for its healer and redeemer. It is sick from the seed planted by a Liberal Idol worshiping world and a steady diet fed to it from a CHURCH wrapped in a Laodicean Spirit and has begun to regurgitate from its sickness and disease.
This is just the beginning of My wrath for the lack of fear of Man that I have created and given breath and life and opportunity to serve me and reap of my grace and mercy.
I say to the World, turn from the worship of idols, self and things before it is too late. Come to the Jesus and to His Cross. To the Church which has gone a-whoring, I SAY come back to Calvary and to the perfection of My SON and His CROSS of complete perfection and provision and completely forsake all others and be a Faithful Bride.
He who has ears to hear let him hear, I am coming quickly. Turn to Me or be cut off and that without REMEDY.
Grace under Fire
Being a born-again Christian is a life I recommend, a life I love. Knowing where my eternal home is gives me joy and security. As a Christian, I want to do better in all things; prayer, study, being a good example, setting the bar higher and higher to exalt my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Understanding Grace through Faith, I know that NOT ONE WORK will keep me saved or make me saved. I know there is no such thing as a moral evolution of salvation, like most unsaved people do….I used to think that way when I was Catholic. Anyway, some Christians think that we are now exempt from doing a work or works either because now the ‘pressure’ is off to do anything (laziness) OR works is considered to be legalism, or law (pharisaical) OR live like the world because you’re under Grace. So, now no one is doing anything for the Kingdom and it’s an ‘anything goes’ kind of attitude.
What happened?
“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
I see all too often people shouting the victory on Sunday morning but goes back home to a live a life of fornication, adultery, alcohol, gambling, homosexuality, or pornography….the list is endless.
Sometimes it is the Church’s fault for not teaching about sin and its consequences, but not always. I believe that the responsibility falls on the believer to do the right thing every day; God sees us no matter where we go.
What Bible are they reading?
That’s exactly it…they are not reading the Bible. The Bible does not mince words about what is acceptable and what is not. Holiness is paramount to living for God, there is no other way. But somehow living in Grace has believers confused or maybe bemused. I have to wonder if these errant Christians are actually backslidden not just lazy:
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.”
The Prolife Christian
After a recent arrest of an abortion ‘doctor’ in Philadelphia, Prolifers have come out from the woodwork screaming ‘DEATH PENALTY’. True, this doctor did horrible gruesome things to children and women, but who is in charge of Life and death?
It’s hard to see people that say prolife but have a different view when the rubber meets the road. All Life is sanctified and given by God only and it is up to Him when death is necessary. These ‘Moderate Prolifers’ are the fair-weather friends of Life.
Many, many Evangelical Christians are in favor of the Death Penalty, even some that I know personally. If we give man the authority to kill, what have we to preach about? Life when it’s proper and lawful? How can that be when the Bible says ‘Thou shalt NOT kill’?
Does God judge through man?
Yes, in Genesis 9:6 He plainly said: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.’
What is being taught in the pulpit, Life or death?
Christians love to bring up the Old Testament ‘eye for an eye’ mentality but the reality is that we are in a new covenant WITH Christ, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself’.
Scripture balances Scripture.
Confusing? No, if God judges a man or woman to death, He will use whom He will use. However, if a man or woman takes the Life another, Leviticus 19:18 says, ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.’
God is LORD. Just God. Through Him justice comes:
- At the altar – for forgiveness and restoration
- At the ‘woodshed’ – those he loves he chastises; sickness, finances
- Through His mercy – die prematurely
Christians should never believe in the death penalty BUT accept it as law, as Scripture says in Romans 13:
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
The Entitled Christian
I earned it, I deserve it, what about me; mine mine mine. If this is true, then there would be no need for God.
“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.”
Being of the world separates us from God. 
People have this misconception that all is theirs whenever they want it, at their fingertips. The Bible does not teach that Christians are entitled to worldly goods and pursuits, but Christians are just as guilty of feeling as entitled. Christians absently believe that God is there to make their life easier with bigger homes and better cars when the opposite is true: We are to have no need of the world; we are called to be separate from it – ALL OF IT.
God gave us what is most precious to Him and we give Him a wish-list.
Before coming to Christ, we were all doomed to a fiery eternal Hell. Our love of goods and things – entitlement – brought us all to need the world, not God. God gave us a part of Himself, Jesus Christ, to be our savior that we would not see Hell if we would just let the world go and believe on Him. How did Christians get to the point of not needing God anymore?
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
The world in which we live has set us up to fail. Christians need to get that: We have been set up to fail. The devil sets his traps as soon as you separate yourself from what is his – the world and your belief of entitlement to it. The devil knows what bits and pieces of the world that tempts you from a godly life and ministry.
“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
When you hear a bird outside in 13 degree weather happily chirping, you realize that God has taken care of that bird even in the harshest of conditions. Our entitlement of things to make us happy is not of God; He provides for our needs, not our lusts.
The Christian Minimalist
Minimalism in the end of End Times
Millions of fish are dying and birds are literally falling out of the sky all over the world. The economy ebbs and flows with the fluctuations of the government. The price of oil is driving up the price of gas again to all time highs. Experts say there will be food shortages. Foreclosures are more the norm than not. The middle class is shrinking at a rapid rate, and global warming – temperatures have been at an all time low in much of the world. Sign of the times, you say? It’s the sign of the End Times.
Current events are pointing at a world that is in utter turmoil and the Church is sound asleep. Christians will not go through the Tribulation but that does not mean we will be spared of persecution, wars or famine. No one knows when we will be raptured but the Bible says we need to be prepared for all things.
This is a subject that is very close to my heart because since I was little, I have always lived with as little as possible. It’s as if the Lord was preparing me for a time such as this. Humans live very bloated lives raking in more and more to prove their worth to others, whether they are Christians or not and whether they can afford it or not; it’s in the Church as well as in the world. Letting go of the world is what we are commanded to do according to Scripture. Nowhere in the Bible does it say to amass as much wealth as possible and not spread the Gospel. We are commanded to be ready for the coming Lord.
A minimalist attitude is how Jesus and the Apostles lived. Before Jesus went to the Cross He spoke of when He would return and what to expect. He already spoke of a coming Day when these things would take place and we are not to know when this is but we are to be prepared.
