are you ready?

“Ready for Christmas,” she said with a sigh
As she gave a last touch to the gifts piled high…
Then wearily sat for a moment and read,
Til soon, very soon, she was nodding her head.
Then quietly spoke a voice in her dream,
“Ready for Christmas, what do you mean?”
She woke with a start and a cry of despair.
“There’s so little time and I’ve still to prepare.
Oh, Father!  Forgive me, I see what You mean!
To be ready means more than a house swept clean.
Yes, more than the giving of gifts and a tree.
It’s the heart swept clean that He wanted to see,
A heart that is free from bitterness and sin.”
So be ready for Christmas - and ready for Him.

Bedtime Blessings

I am one who cannot study my bible with back ground noises such as tv and people talking so I redid one of our spare bedrooms into a sewing/reading room. It is really nice to get away and read with no distractions. 

While I was in there this morning I came across a book titled BEDTIME BLESSINGS by John Trent, Phd.  It is a book of activities you can do to help your little ones learn about God and stay interested in Him for awhile, hopefully, a life time.

My youngest daughter is not a firm believer in any form of religion.  She is  spiritualistic, she says.  Whatever that is, that is what she is.  I have her daughter every weekend though and we take her to church.  My daughter has no problem with this.  I have decided to do some of these activities with her and one is writing a letter to God every night.  I think it is such a cool idea.  She can talk to me about what she wants God to know and I will write the words for her and let her pretend to write.  This book is filled with Great ideas like that.  I am going to donate it to our church when I am done with it cause there are many young couples with children in there and I know they would use it.

I think I may be the only way my grand daughter will learn about Jesus and I am going to do what I can to make sure she does know.

Touch The Lord

Often when I am troubled by life's events such as what has been happening lately, I page through one of my bibles and I always find relief, whether it is in bible scriptures or in one of the many devotioanals that is in a bible my friend gave me.  In one of them, WOMEN'S DEVOTIONAL BIBLE. I found a devotional written by Wanda K.Jones.   It is called Touch the Lord.

It is the story of the woman who had bleeding for twelve years.  She believes that if she can get close to Jesus, he can heal her of her illness.

“And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? … And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” (Mark 5:25-30,34)

Jesus did not have to ask who it was.  I believe he knew who she was.  We need to be more like her.  Even though He knows everything but He wants us to trust in Him and go to Him with our problems.  He will take care of them.  This devotional lifted my spirits a great deal.


If you are hurting for any reason, whether it be physical, emotional, or someone is causing that pain, Go to God.  Touch the Lord with your prayers.  He will help.

The Trinity

I do not know how many of you believe in the trinity.  God, the father, son and holy ghost.  I know it is hard to imagine but I believe in it and I think there is nothing impossible under God.  It is very hard for me to explain but I found this article that explains it quite well.

Q: "What about the doctrine of the Trinity, the Holy Trinity?"

our A: You and I live in a three-dimensional world. All physical objects have a certain height, width, and depth. One person can look like someone else, or behave like someone else, or even sound like someone else. But a person cannot actually be the same as another person. They are distinct individuals.

God, however, lives without the limitations of a three-dimensional universe. He is spirit. And he is infinitely more complex than we are.

That is why Jesus the Son can be different from the Father. And, yet the same.

The Bible clearly speaks of: God the Son, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit. But emphasizes that there is only ONE God.

If we were to use math, it would not be, 1+1+1=3. It would be 1x1x1=1. God is a triune God.

Thus the term: "Tri" meaning three, and "Unity" meaning one, Tri+Unity = Trinity. It is a way of acknowledging what the Bible reveals to us about God, that God is yet three "Persons" who have the same essence of deity. Some have tried to give human illustrations for the Trinity, such as H₂O being water, ice and steam (all different forms, but all are H₂O). Another illustration is an egg having a shell, egg yolk and egg white, but this egg illustration shows that there would be "parts" to God, which isn't the case.

God the Son (Jesus) is fully, completely God. God the Father is fully, completely God. And God the Holy Spirit is fully, completely God. Yet there is only one God. In our world, with our limited human experience, it's tough to understand the Trinity. But from the beginning we see God this way in Scripture. Notice the plural pronouns "us" and "our" in Genesis 1:26 -- Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Though not a complete list, here is some other Scripture that shows God is one, in Trinity:

• "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" (Deut. 6:4)
  
• "I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God." (Isa. 45:5)
  
• There is no God but one. (1Cor. 8:4)
  
• And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." (Matt. 3:16-17)
  
• "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28:19)
  
• Jesus said: "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30)
  
• "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14:9)
  
• "He who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me." (John 12:45)
  
• If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. (Rom. 8:9)
  
• "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 1:20)
  
• And the angel answered and said to her [Mary], "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)
  
• [Jesus speaking to His disciples] "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you." ... "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him." (John 14:16-17, 23)

I guess, growing up and hearing it being taught to me Sunday after Sunday, it is not hard for me to understand the concept.   I try to explain it to people who do not understand and it is not easy.  I hope this helps some of you.

Trust

How many times have we had a problem in our life and we thought there was no way to solve.  We worried and fretted for days over a bill that would not get paid or a secret we did not want others to know about. Instead of trusting in God to help us, we blunder on in our own way, just knowing we knew how to solve and we didn't.  Often times we made it worse.

Why didn't we just get on our knees and asked God to show us the way or simply say, "Father, I put it all in your hands and what ever happens, happens. Your will be done." You can do that and know that some way it will be taken care of.  Eccl. 3:5 says... Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.   You see, leaning unto our own understanding on how things should be done is much harder then giving it all over to God.

I know that many times people have told me to trust them and I did only to have them betray me.  God will not betray those who trust him Him. I am not saying you should not trust others.  We have to have those in out life whom we love and trust but the main being we should put our trust in is God.  Psalm 118:8
“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”

Psalm 28:8
“The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.”     I tell you he is my rock.  I am so glad I have him to rely on.

How much do you pray daily?

The pastor gave a very interesting sermon on prayer this Sunday.
He mentioned a poll that was taken and it said most Christians spend less then five minutes a day praying.
How can that be?  How can we spend so little time talking to God and so much time complaining to others about things or doing things that prevent us from talking to God.  He did mention one woman who spent four hours a day praying and her prayer lists had over 6,000 names on it.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (King James Version)

 ¹⁸In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

When you get out of bed you should be thanking God you have a bed to sleep in as many people do not.  As you slip on your slippers, thank God you have shoes  or slippers on your feet.  The world is filled with people who do not have shoes. It only takes a few minutes to do that.  We all have two or three minutes to spare then.

Psalm 118:24 (King James Version)

 ²⁴This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

God gave you this day.  Resolve to be happy and asked Him to help you be happy no matter what happens .  If someone cuts you off in traffic, be happy.  Thank God an accident did not occur and be on you way.  If someone hurts your feelings at work, rejoice and let God guide.  He/she may have problems you do not know about and ask God to bless them and help them in whatever way they need.

Psalm 119:133 (King James Version)

 ¹³³Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

Give God control over every situation.  Just hand it over to Him and he will see you thourgh it.

Ephesians 5:18-19 (King James Version)

 ¹⁸And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
 ¹⁹Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Give of yourself.  Fill yourself with the spirit of God. Humble yourself when you pray. You do not have to shout it from the rooftops.  You can be sitting in a crowded bus station and mentally shut the door so you can pray about the things that happened at you workplace or in your home. The important thing is to shut the rest of the world out as you talk to your father in heaven.  Finding the extra time to pray is not hard but you have to be determined to do it daily.

Praying before meals is great if you do not use the same mundane prayers day after day. Mix it up alittle and pray like you really mean it instead of repeating the same thing over and over.  I often pray after the meal.

I do not have a certain time of the day I pray. I just pray when the spirit hits me and it has hit me often lately.  God bless all who read this. 

Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.

Had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. 


He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us. 

Stop playing the victim

I read this letter to the editor in our newspaper and I wanted to share it with everyone.  It says alot about how I feel about some of the Christians I have known.

Quit playing victim card
I find it almost laughable that Marilyn Mourer, as stated in a recent letter to the editor, thinks that she and other Christians are being pushed around by people of various backgrounds and then hints that the problem is being caused by the “slop” on TV, the computer and video games.
Those “sources” are things that many people, including Christians, knowingly and voluntarily introduce into their homes. What’s more laughable is that most of us, if we have invited those “sources” into our homes, pay to have them delivered to us, and some of us even pay to have “the premium package: 500 channels in high definition.”
The reason I don’t find Mourer’s premise entirely laughable is that she seems to think that there is some entity “out there” that needs to be pushed back when, in fact, it is the appetites of those who indulge in these “sources” that need to be controlled, from within.
If we sin, it is not because “the devil made me do it”; it is because we chose to turn our backs to God.
Mourer seems to think that the decadence of this world is, somehow, caused by “them,” and if we somehow fought back, all would be well. She longs for a world free of temptation, the idyllic days when good Christians were in charge.
Unfortunately, those days never were. Jesus came to redeem a fallen people, not to celebrate with the sinless. He sent his disciples “as sheep in the midst of wolves.”
It’s time for Christians to quit playing the victim card and acknowledge our own culpability in the degradation of God’s Kingdom, our own sinfulness. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” He did not suggest pointing fingers at others.
Mourer’s weak-kneed Christianity seeks to defend the poor, helpless Christian, to “fight back.” The muscular Christianity of Jesus commands, “Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despite fully use you.”
Those don’t sound like fighting words; they are, instead, the confident words of a humble people, a people strong enough to accept responsibility for their own behavior.
People strong enough to acknowledge their own faults don’t need to “push back” against others.
Instead of “pushing back,” let me suggest another option. Just say, “No, thank you.”



I left the name of the person who wrote this off but I will just way it was not me. I wish I had.  We need to stop blaming tv, computers, and videos for what is going on in the world.  If you do not like them, turn them all off.  And do not be afraid to regulate what your kids watch on television and monitor what they are doing on the computer. Our kids were not allowed tvs in their room or computers until they needed them for college.  We monitored what they watched.

She is right.  Christians never had it easy and we never will but we do have a God that will see us through all those rough times.  We are not to point fingers at those who do not worship the way we do. My mom always said when you point a finger, four more are pointing back at you.

What about forgiveness....

I mentioned this in the other blog but will do so again for those who did not read it. Yesterday I was talking to some women when this woman we all know came by.  She is rather crass and mean at times but yesterday she was subdued because she lost a friend this past weekend. She was with him when he died and I expressed my condolences.  I waited for the others with me to say something to her and the friend that was with her.  They said nothing.  They just looked rather smug and glanced away.  As they walked away, the womans friend said, 'See how 'Christian' they are.'

Once those two were out of sight, my friends lashed at me for saying anything to her. I simply told them I felt sorry for her and felt it was the right thing to do.  They felt otherwise and reminded me of all the nasty things she had said to them at times. Yes, she did say nasty things but I did not think that I had to stoop to that level.  Besides, I felt that as a Christian it was up to me to try and overlook some of the bad things she said and show her I felt sympathy for her and what she was going thru.  I looked at the women I was with and said, 'I said what I had to say and I do not regret it'.

I think those women I was with missed a chance to witness to two women who do not believe and show them what being a Christian is.  Are we not to forgive those who trespass against us? If we believe what is in the Lord's Prayer, He tells us we are to do that.

There are days when I wish I could hold a grudge against all who have wronged me. I would have a great excuse for venting day after day about all the wrongs that have been heaped up on me but who does that  hurt?  It hurts me because the person I feel that way about may not even care that I am mad or frustrated so I refuse to go with the flow in such an instance.  As a matter of fact, my God tells me to forgive.....

Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (NIV)

Forgiving does not mean you have to have them over for Sunday dinner or be extra nice to them.  It simply means to let bygones be bygones and move on.

Forgiveness is not part of human nature so we must learn to forgive by faith and many people find that so hard to do.  

How many know the story of Corri Ten Boom?   She and her family were taken prisoners by the Nazis for helping the Jews in Amsterdam. Corrie and her sister Betsie were placed in a prison camp.   Betsie died while in the camp.  Corri's life there was terrible and the Nazis did terrible things to all who were there.  She could have spent her life hating them.  Instead, she forgave them.

"Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you." is what Corri said.  She was right.

What happened to me???

I went to say my prayer tonight and while I was going thru the same words I say at each meal, I was inspired to pray more earnestly for our country. I always pray for our leaders and our country but it was sorta mundane.  However, tonight I wanted to put more feeling into and it felt like the words I was saying were not even my words.

I suddenly began to wonder when our country began to push God out of our country. I think it began when one woman got up and demanded that prayer be taken out of our schools.  Nobody was forced to pray but it gave those of us who wanted t pray, a chance to do it without being ridiculed.  Those who did not want to pray just stood there and showed some form of respect for those of us who did.  What was wrong with that?  What was wrong with people just praying their day would go right and God would watch over us?

Our country needs to get back to God.  We need people who are going to protest when a man of God gets fired for preaching what the bible says.  We need people who are going to let the world know how angry they are when a teacher is fired for wearing a cross to school.  (that happened where I once went to high school.)  It was just a few years ago that they fired her for  wearing what they considered a symbol of christianity. What is wrong with people?

Why did that come to me while I was praying for my meal and thanking God. I felt like someone had just taken over.  It just was a weird feeling.

When did you know?

There comes point in our lives when we have to decide who we are going to follow.
 Are we going to follow the teachings of Jesus or that of the devil?  Or, I should say follow the path that is easy to follow because it is a well trod path and so many are leading the way for us.

I don't remember my exact age. I was either eleven or twelve and we were at campmeeting.  They had this huge tabernacle made of wood and I loved to go there for the meetings that were held there each August during the first ten days. It always started on the first Friday and lasted ten days.  I do not really remember the exact message but I just remember being pulled towards the alter when the sermon was done.  I did not really know where the alter was but I was just drawn to go forward.  Once a lady took my hand and knelt with me, I felt my whole body fill with light as she prayed with me. I never experienced anything like that before or sense. I know it sounds crazy but I felt as though I had been washed totally clean. The spirit filled my very being.  I know some do not think kids that young can feel that way or understand what is going on but I know I was saved that night.

I wish I could say I continued down the godly path but Satan was just so strong and during my teen years and early adult life, I strayed.  But I never strayed so far that I knew I could not get back on the right path.  Finally, my husband I both rededicated our lives to christ and we did manage to get back on the right track again. I did not feel that wonderful feeling that I did the first time. I think that is a once in a life time thing.  I felt good about what I had done though and know it was what God wanted me to do.

Rev. 3:20 ~ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.  I was lucky.  He knocked on my door twice and I let him in.    I hope that I can be the kind of christian He wants me to be.

My prayer

My daughter always gives me prayer journals when she can find one she thinks I will like.  I was doing my bible study today when I came across Refuge for our Despair.

Often I hear people ask how God could forgive someone like David. I had one man tell me the other day that he did not believe in a  God who would forgive someone for murdering just because he said he was sorry for doing it.  Well, you and I both know it takes more then that.  We have to be sincere and really live a christian life, or try to live one the best we can.

And David really repented for his sins.  David also believed God would see him through the rough times he was having because of the many sins he had committed. 

Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed : lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy .

David acknowledged that God was all powerful thoughout his life. No matter what happened, God was in control.  We all have to acknowledge that.    We have to give Him the credit He deserves and know that He will be there when we are at the lowest point in our lives.  So many people only remember Him in the good times and blame Him instead of lean on Him in the bad times.
This was my Prayer for this morning...
Dear Lord,
You are the God of my life.  God over all that happens to me.  You have always been there for me. You were there when I was taken from my mother and placed in an orphanage.  You were there when they shifted me from one foster home to the next til I was placed in the care of a wonderful christian woman who loved me deeply.  You were there during my rebellious teens and you picked me up when I was ready to return to you.  You were with me when my babies died in my womb.  You comforted me during those times.  You were there when my foster mother and my biological mother died.  You helped my husband and I through all the rough times in our lives.  You were always there, dear Lord and I am thankful.....Amen.