It is NOT about me!

This is not an old writing of mine, it is just a thought from devotions this morning.

Matt.16:24-25

Then Jesus told His disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

In Acts, it tells of Paul and Silas being severely beaten and thrown in prison, their response is (16:25) About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

To get to a place where all my circumstances are about Christ rather than myself.  If only I could keep my eyes steadily fixed on Christ rather than what is happening around or to me.  I am quite sure Paul and Silas were not given hot showers, some Advil for the pain, and comfy clothes before they were thrown into their cell.  I am quite sure their surroundings were not "happy and comfortable".  They were stripped and bloody, I would imagine they were exhausted and hurting (physically), but they praised God and not quietly so no one could hear, but out loud praises to God.

I Was Gonna!

5/22/00

I was gonna but I ran out of time. I was gonna but I forgot. I was gonna but I lost track of time. I was gonna but something came up. Have you ever heard these excuses before, or better yet, have you ever used one of these excuses.

It is a good thing that God doesn't treat us with the same regard we treat him. How would we feel if God answered our prayers the way we treat him. Well I was gonna read my bible today but...and he replies, "I was gonna answer your prayer today but I was just so tired." Oh! Does that hit a nerve...sorry. How about, I was gonna say my prayers today and spend some time with you but... and he again replies, "I was gonna be there for ya today but the phone just kept ringing." Ouch! That hurt...sorry again.

I could go on and on with these excuses but, the truth hurts and I am getting really beat up here. God's amazing amount of mercy gets us through these weak human moments.

I don't know about you but I don't know too many people that would continue to love me and be there for me if I always made excuses not to spend time with them. If I always blow them off, eventually even family gets tired of it, but God has patience. God might be disappointed in us but at this point He is not giving up on us. If you ignore Him all day and then come to Him with an urgent prayer He will listen. I think that we should treat our Creator, who loves us more than anything, with more respect and discipline ourselves to give Him our all. Turn your whole life over to Him and all those excuses could melt away, and you would be amazed at all the reward you would receive from God, most importantly eternity.

Here is a little tip, although He continues to hear our prayers and be there for us there will come a time when that will be over. Jesus is coming back some day and when He does if you have been ignoring God well He might just ignore you. Another thing, I know everybody likes to think they will live forever but the truth of the matter is no one does on this earth, and you could die in the next moment and all your chances are gone. When you face God at judgement do you want Him to ignore you or welcome you into His kingdom.

Next time you think about your excuses, instead of giving God your excuse turn it around so that who ever was calling get the excuse, "I was spending time with my Lord." And when you are too tired just give Him a few minutes and you will sleep with more peace. No more I was gonna.

Matthew 7:21-23
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

Hebrews 13: 28-29
There let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

Disclosure: As of 2/23/11 I don't necessarily agree with everything I wrote 11 years ago, but I think there are some good points to it, that is why I decided to post this one.  On my original there were no scripture verses so I added those today as well.

Bare Necessities!

2/23/00

Matthew 6:25-34 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life: And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well, Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Right now we are currently giving up some things in our life that are not necessary for day to day life. Have you ever tried to get rid of something you depended on? Well, we decided to evaluate the things we have, and knock out some of the things that clutter the house or our finances. After we made the decisions of what to cut,then we needed to act on it and actually call the companies involved or whatever and it was hard. We have relied on these things for so long. We took advantage of them as if they were totally necessary to our world and they are not. We had to decide if we needed it or just wanted it. I think most people now days get these two things mixed up all to often. Is it a need or a want: Saying I deserve this is probably a want rather than a need. Saying what are we going to do with out heat...heat is a need.

Anyway after all that rambling the is a point. Jesus didn't have bottled water, satellite TV, cellular phones, beepers, etc...he didn't even have a home. Jesus lived his life on the bare necessities. Night to night he didn't know where he would sleep. Day to day he didn't know where he would get his next meals or the clothes he wore. He didn't have a spring and fall wardrobe. He was content with what He had and He had what God provided him. He might not have known where His next meal was coming from, but He did know He would be fed. He trusted God completely and totally to supply Him with every thing He needed. God made that same promise to us. Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. He promised to take care of us completely if we trust Him. And in the end we will want for nothing. Heaven is filled with joy and happiness. Although earth is sometimes filled with pain and sorrow it is only a short part of our existence. Life on earth is short but it ends and eternity is forever. The beauty of eternity will will shine through and pain and sorrow will be nonexistent. So trust God and let Him supply your needs. Isaiah 58:11 The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden like a spring whose water never fail. You will be surprised cause if you trust Him you may even get some of your wants.

All My Might

11/14/99

The other day my 3-year-old son and I were sitting in the car waiting for my daughter to get out of school. John was sitting in his booster seat in the back and he asked, "Can I get out of my seat?"

I said, "Yes, if you can open it yourself."

He replied, "I can't. "

I mentioned, "If you pull will all your might then maybe you will be able to open it."

He declared, "I will use one of my mights to open it." And  so he tried with one of his mights and it didn't work so he declared, "I will try two of my mights. " And again he tried to open it with two of his mights. He again remarked, "I can't do it."

I again mentioned, "You should use ALL of your might to open it."

So he proceeded to use all his might and he opened it. He exclaimed, "I used all my mights and I opened it, mom!"

It is like us with God, sometimes we don't give him our all. We tend to go at Christianity with only one or two of our mights, instead of, all our might. God asks us to give him our all. Give Christianity all your might and see what a difference it makes.

Mark 12:30
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Just Say I Love You

6/9/99

A couple weeks ago my daughter, who is five, and I sat down to do her bible study lesson. At the end of every lesson there are questions, some are referring to the content and some are thought based.

She always surprises me with her answers. One time in particular she had a better answer than I could have come up with. The question was if you could ask Jesus anything right now what would you ask him? She said, "I love you."

And I said, "No, what would you ASK him?"

She said, "I love you. I would just say I love you."

I thought how simple. I was so impressed with her pure heart. There was nothing important enough to say but I love you. My mind was racing on different questions until she said that. Then I stopped and prayed "God please help me to keep my mind that simple."

We should never let the things of the earth be in so much control that we waste our precious time asking questions that don't matter in the end. Just say I love you.

Luke 18:16-17
But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

Live Smart

4/6/99

When I was 20 I thought I had all the answers for life. I even made a list of 10 rules to live by. A few were not bad but a few were well...I knew it all. My number ten was "live life to the fullest, you only live once". Reading this only seven years later and I disagree. Yes, we should live life to the fullest but we should live smart. Think about it, we never know when our time is up. How do we want to be remembered: Do you want to be remembered as irresponsible, a drunk, a goof off, lazy, lonely? This list could go on and on. I personally would like to be remembered as a woman of God, like someone who really loved and lived for God. So yes let's all live our lives to the fullest for God. Live smart not foolish.

Galatians 6:7-8
Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit will reap eternal life.

This is my added note for Feb. 8, 2011.  I am pretty sure in 1999 I still thought I had all the answers.  As I was growing in the Lord and seeking His ways I proudly thought I had "arrived" somewhere.  I now wish I was only half as wise as I thought I was.  As I read now and study God's word I am learning and growing and I pray that I continue the rest of my days to learn and grow; I also pray that I am not so proud as to think I have "arrived" with all the answers.  God is pretty amazing with His steadfast love for me and His patience with me as I tend to put myself on a pedestal, but thank you God for your kindness of knocking me off.  Romans 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? I am grateful to know that in the next 12 years that God will still be teaching and training me. 

Dealing with Consequences

4/1/99

 The other day my five-year-old daughter was playing outside, she went over to the basement door and started climbing on it so I told her to never ever play on the door again cause she could get hurt.

She said, "Okay mom, I won't."

I went in the house and could hear a banging noise. I wasn't able to just run outside, so I peaked my head out the back door and sure enough she and her three-year-old brother were both playing on the basement door.  I hollered out the door to both of them, "Get in the house now and go straight to time out."  They came in and sat in their chairs.

My daughter sat about a minute and said, " Mom will you forgive me?

I said, "Yes, I do, but please remember that is dangerous."

Then she said, "God will you forgive me?" She paused a few seconds then questioned, "You and God forgave me right?"

I said, "Yes."

She said, "Can I get down now?"

I said, "No, you can't. Yes, I forgave you and God did too because you asked, but you have to finish the time out."

But mom, you forgave me," she noted.

I said, "Yes, I did but you still have to face the punishment of what you did, just because you get forgiven doesn't mean you don't have consequences."

I think it is important that we understand God is willing to freely forgive our sins and as important as it is to ask to be forgiven it doesn't mean there are not any consequence here on earth. If we commit a crime and go to jail God will forgive us if we ask but he is not going to take the punishment of jail away you will still need to serve your time. Knowing this we need to think before we act because the consequences are right around the corner.

Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Hebrews 12:6
Because the Lord Disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.

2Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.