Inside Out

Titus 3:3-8

The Message (MSG)

3-8 It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life!  

Luke 3:16

The Message (MSG)

16-17 But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

In both of these scriptures it talks about changing us from the inside out, not from the outside in. We humans sometimes are so much more worried about what we look like on the outside rather than what we are truly like on the inside.

It's kind of like taking care of our cars. We can wash them, vacuum them, detail them completely, but if we don't check the oil, fill them with gas, check the tires and keep them tuned up it makes no difference how clean they are. They will just be sitting in our driveways. 

There is another thing that I noticed from these readings. We do not have to change on our own. We can come to Christ as flawed we are. God loves us enough to take us "as is". When we except the gift, of Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to us. He helps us with the changes in our attitudes, the changes in our thinking of others, the changes in our actions, and helps us move towards being more and more Christ like on the inside, so that it shows in our actions on the outside.

Basically speaking the Holy Spirit is our conscience. Cleaning us and helping us move towards perfection. God sent His Spirit because He loves us and wants the best for us. There is a warning with this though. Rejecting or speaking evil of this gift, according to the scriptures, is unforgivable....

Matthew 12:31-32

New Century Version (NCV)

31 So I tell you, people can be forgiven for every sin and everything they say against God. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.32 Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, now or in the future.

God is a big guy. Jesus is a tough guy. They can take our attitude, our anger, our doubts. But they cannot nor will not take the rejection of the gift of the Spirit.

The next time your feel your conscience speaking to you, be grateful. You have a God who wants you to be your best. How could we even question this. He gave us life. He gave us wisdom. He gave us love. He gave us His son. He gave us His Spirit. In other words He has given us all He can give.

Here's to feeling squeaky clean. Inside out!!!

Blessings!

Anticipation!

Our son, Phillip, and his wonderful fiance, Patty, are finally getting married this weekend. As I am doing laundry and packing for the trip I keep thinking about how happy Phillip is now compared to his life in the past.

Phillip has been married before and even though she was a great girl she and Phillip just couldn't make it work, for various reasons. During this time in his life he would call me so upset and sometimes would ask me why life was so hard and when would things get better. I would assure him that we were praying for him and in time he would be happy again. I knew he and his children needed to have hope of this, but I also knew I was right in this. God and time are healers of so many things.


We all live in anticipation of something. For Phillip and Patty and our family, right now we are all so excited and can hardly wait for this Saturday when Rodney will get to pronounce them, "Husband and Wife". She will be such a added blessing to our family, but for me to be able to see the happiness and contentment on our son's face and to know that his time of loneliness is over and his healing is complete, is going to be such a gift from God.

Unfortunately our world has been waiting for healing for a long time.  Here in America we have job losses, problems with health care, poverty, hunger, worries about our safety and an uncertainty for our futures. The rest of the world has these same problems but some people have them on such a grand scale, we here in the states can't even imagine it. Hope is failing and as this happens our world becomes a sadder and sadder place to be.

But hope can and will be restored....

Romans 8:18-21

The Message (MSG)

18-21 That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.


God is going to change this world's circumstances. We will live in peace and contentment again. In time we all will be healed of all of our problems. Either on this side or on the next. The hard part for us is that we have to wait for this. During this waiting "The Evil One" is not making our lives easy. But soon he will be defeated too.


In time we will all be healed and safe, but for now we wait in certain anticipation of this. Are you waiting for healing? Do you have hope in this? If not turn to the one who can give you that hope!! Turn to the one who can put a smile back on your face! He is waiting in joyful anticipation for you, even more than you are waiting for healing from Him!


Blessings!

Where have you been?

I was asked this question the other day. It has been quite a few days since I have gotten to sit down and write a blog. Life has been a little crazy just lately.  Rodney was in Guatemala and I had a Craft Show that I had some things in. Then, of course there were things to do at the church. 

Of course I allowed some of the crazy schedule to happen to me. I sometimes have trouble saying no. Hey, sometimes I just don't want to say no. I enjoy doing some of the things I do and am willing to be busy. But is it for my gratification or the Lord's?  

Don't get me wrong. It is OK to enjoy the activities that are in our life. I don't think that we would find ourselves in the places we find ourselves in, without some Divine intervention. I'm sure that God wants us to do our best in the legitimate and goodly places and jobs we are involved in. We are to shine Him in everything we do. But if you are like me, sometimes, I think we are doing things just to look good or to impress others around us. 


This kind of busyness just makes us exhausted and worn out. We take our eyes off of the mission we are on and turn our thoughts inward. The Bible Study from our ladies group took us, this week, to the passage in Luke 10 where Martha and Mary had Jesus come to their house. During His visit Mary sat at His feet listening to His every word, but Martha was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to make everything perfect. She didn't feel free to sit with Mary. This made her unhappy and distracted. She felt like she was missing something and of course she was.

Not everything in our lives has to be perfect. Things can be "good".  Sometimes we just need to sit at the feet of our creator and listen, not try to rearrange the whole world. 

Hey I am talking to me more than anyone, so today I made myself take a day of rest. I needed to refresh and to catch up on a bit of quiet. It has done a world of good on my joints and my mood. It helped me stop worrying about getting everything perfect and to refocus on what my priorities truly need to be.

This passage in Philippians really spoke to me as I read it today...

Philippians 4:6-7

The Message (MSG)

6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

So, ladies, don't forget that we are human. Perfection is a very hard thing for us to reach. So instead of trying to do it all and then fretting when you can't, make sure that whatever you are up to, it is for the glory of God and not the glory of you.

Then we can stop fretting and let God give us the peace of knowing that what we are doing is "good" and really going to make a difference without wearing and stressing us to the point of frustration, disappointment and exhaustion.

If your remember, even God rested!

Blessings!

Cherish Each Moment

Today I spent the afternoon with a very sad family. A wonderful man lost his fight with life early this morning after running into trouble with a semi, while riding his motorcycle. It is hard to understand why these things happen. One minute you have someone and the next minute you don't. Sometimes life is so mean, especially concerning death. I keep asking why life is so hard.  My wonderfully wise pastor husband can't answer me on this. No one can. This world does not spare any of us from hurt and pain. So all I could do, today, was listen and hug.

Job 4:19

So how much less these bodies composed of mud,
    fragile as moths?
These bodies of ours are here today and gone tomorrow

This uncertainty of life gives us all the more reason to make sure that the ones we love know how special they are to us. As a matter of fact we are to love all of our neighbors, as God does.

The scriptures tell us over and over to love one another...

Romans 12:10

Common English Bible (CEB)

10 Love each other like the members of your family. Be the best at showing honor to each other.

John 13:34

Common English Bible (CEB)

34 “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other.

Ephesians 4:2

Common English Bible (CEB)

2 Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love,

1 John 4:11

The Message (MSG)

11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

As we go through this busy life. It can be tough to get chances to love and show love. There is so much on our plates and we are pushing everyday. Love is something we have to choose to do on a daily basis. Asking God to help us with this does make it easier.

As I sat with this sweet wife today, the one thing she could find comfort in was that she was positive that her lost husband had known that he was deeply loved, and she knew the same was true of his love for her. Imagine how much sadder she would be if they hadn't made sure of this each and every day of their lives together. 

I am not trying to be a fatalist but no one can know what a day will bring. Accidents happen, bodies fail, situations change and this world is getting weirder everyday. 

Don't let another day go by without holding tight to the ones you love. Tell them you love them. Show them you love them. Go out to your neighbors and show Christ's love to them too.  

You don't want to wish you had!


Blessings!

Are we healthy?

Our Riley has been sick for the last three days. I took him to the clinic last evening and he has an ear and a sinus infection. He always gets sick after the first few days of a new school year. His immune system has to get used to the germs of others around him in his classes. Once he does get used to them he usually stays well most of the rest of the school year. Just has to toughen up and get his immunity's strong.

This got me to thinking about a couple of things we as a people need to become stronger against. Things that make us sick and weak in our moral fiber. The list could probably go on forever but here are a few I thought of....

First, I believe, is the lack of preserving our Sabbath. We have so many children's sports teams that require the children to play on Sunday mornings. Also people are just choosing to stay home. Siting that this is the only morning to be together as a family. Sad thing about this choice is, that going to church, as a family, really goes along way at making the family unit stronger than ever. I know that in Mine and Rodney's life there was a time when work in our store took us away from our Sunday worship. We had a restlessness in our beings knowing that this was not putting God first. We had to work this situation out and when we did our relationship with the Heavenly Father came back into line and peace in our family returned...... 



Romans 14:6-9
The Message (MSG)


6-9 What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.

Another thing I think that keeps us weaker is our lack of respect for human life. Abortion is up and the government and our insurance companies have started picking and choosing who gets treatment when we are ill. Which usually makes it harder for our senior adults and our special needs people to get the services they need. 

Even our children seem to not understand the importance of protecting life. There is a theory that this comes from the violence in their video games and the lack of respect for life in their favorite TV shows. I think the saying "garbage in, garbage out"  is pretty true! The scriptures are quite clear on how we should treat one another.....

Galatians 5:13-14

The Message (MSG)

13-14 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.

God loves us so much and desires for us to have a healthy life in a world that remembers who our creator is. If we keep our priorities in the order that keeps God first and for most in our lives we will stay strong in our immunity's to the sicknesses of our world. Our morals will show who we truly follow. We will love others around us and feel the importance of life. And a peaceful healthiness that you may never have known before will settle in.   

If we all would remember and follow this scripture our land would be stronger and healthier than ever before.... 

Proverbs 14:34
The Message (MSG)


34 God-devotion makes a country strong;
God-avoidance leaves people weak.

Here's to strong immunity's in each and every one of us!

Blessings!

Too Much!

Ladies, have you ever had one of those days you had so much to do that you didn't get anything done? That seems to be me today. I putzed all day but didn't really get to check anything off my list.   Life is so busy in other areas that stuff at home gets put on the back burner and when a day comes that I can just stay home and work, I look at all that needs to be done and just get tired. I picked at the piles but only brought them down a little. You already know about me and laundry. 

Wonder if God feels like that sometimes. He has so much to do. Like holding the universe in place, creating new life, healing old life. hopefully bringing Spring soon and all the while loving and keeping us. He sees us at war, sees us fuss, sees us destroying, sees us turn from Him. Sees us worry, sees us cry, sees us try to handle things on our own. Sees us gossiping, sees us hating, sees us turn from Him. God loves us so much! From the beginning of sin He has had a plan for us. But the human race just keeps turning from Him and thinks they can handle everything on their own. Has to make Him so tired. I'm sure He wishes we would see He's there for us!
 

Romans 5:7-11

The Message (MSG)

^6-8 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.
^9-11 Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!

 

Easter is on it's way. The celebration of the completion of God's plan. Christ gave so much. Humbled himself and became human. Suffered more pain than we can even imagine. Was humiliated and forsaken! All for us, this human race, people who keep forgetting to turn to Him.

This Easter is even more special to the group I was with in Israel. We got to be in the area where Jesus suffered and died. but we were also where He left the grave and defeated death. Thinking of the amazement of this and the joy of this miracle takes the tired right out of you!

I have stopped and reminded myself that no matter what I have going on in my life, My God Loves Me, Christ gave all for me and I am not alone. As you are going through your day remember He Loves You Too! No need to go it on your own!!

Blessings!