I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
Remember the Biblical story of the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus, yet only one came back to thank Him? How many times have you been the one who remembered to give thanks instead of continuing on your merry way and forgetting quickly what God has done for you?
We don’t need to give God thanks because He needs to hear it. Our hearts need to be open to the relationship with God that becomes fuller and more complete when we give Him thanksgiving instead of taking His love for granted.
Look at that very small and very important word “all.” When things are going well, be thankful. When things are not going great, be thankful. Getting into the habit of having an attitude of gratitude will open our hearts and minds to hear from God and be blessed by Him, even in the midst of trying circumstances.
What do you think about when you hear the word pure?
Do you picture a tall glass of crystal clear water? A freshly washed load of white sheets? Or maybe someone who’s morally wholesome and good?
In the sixth of the beatitudes—a series of promises Jesus made about God’s Kingdom—Jesus said this:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Matthew 5:8 NIV
The word “pure” means clean or blameless, free from corruption or contamination, purified by fire, or unstained by guilt. None of us can truly be pure on our own—despite our best efforts.
Before Jesus showed up, the highest ranking Levitical priests were charged with ministering and mediating in the holiest spaces (inside the tabernacle in the wilderness and, later, the temple in Jerusalem)—where God’s presence dwelled on earth. But even they had to be purified over and over again.
Now, because of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross, He has paved the way for us. His blood covered our sins, and when we accept the sacrifice, He makes us pure. Now and forever, we can “come boldly to the throne of our gracious God,” where we can find mercy and grace when we need it most (Hebrews 4:16). Now, our bodies are the modern-day temples where God’s Spirit has chosen to dwell.
Being pure of heart is not about being perfect, but trusting in Jesus to purify our souls.
As Isaiah once prophesied…
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”
Isaiah 1:18 NLT
Every day that we breathe and walk the earth, whether our condition is healthy or not, God is in control. Every day is a new day to serve God and ask for His guidance on what He wants to accomplish through us this day. And every day is a new day to be thankful that we have not been totally destroyed because of our own selfishness and sins. Grace keeps us but mercy continues to reach out and not allow us to be destroyed.
God is always just and righteous and would be righteous in judging and destroying all of us.
The Bible Study Tools online has a good description of God’s mercy and grace:
May we never forget that every breath we take and every step we take is because God is merciful to us and has provided Jesus to save us from our sins so that we do not face His merited wrath.
As Thanksgiving draws near, many of us are thinking about what we’re thankful for. Novelist and memoirist Anne Lamott says she is filled with “wonder at the just sheer beauty of creation.” She discusses her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers.
— Read on www.npr.org/2012/11/19/164814269/anne-lamott-distills-prayer-into-help-thanks-wow
Interestsing insight on prayer. We are quick to say “help” may or may not show gratitude and say “thanks” but how many of us take time to sit in awe of what God has done and say, “Wow”?
God’s Word is clear that we will have troubles in this life. Jesus even says so:
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”” John 16:33 NLT https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.16.33.NLT
God does not lie and he says that we will have trials and sorrows. That hardly seems right, does it? We turn our hearts over to God and we still face trials. Pondering on this fact got me to thinking and reading Scriptures about the trials we face.
As a student of languages, I notice things like conjunctions. In this verse, “when” is a conjunction, drawing all of the thoughts of the verse together. I noticed right away that this verse does not use the conjunction “if.” If would be more comforting for me, implying that I may or may not pass through rivers (troubles), and I may or may not walk through fire. But God’s prophet Isaiah used the word when and that says just what it means. We will indeed walk through rivers, be overwhelmed by them (like we’re drowning in a sea of troubles) and we will walk through fire. But in order to get comfort from this verse, one has to read the entire verse carefully. Yes, troubles will come, but God will be with us. The waters will not be able to overwhelm us although they will indeed try to do so. Finally, when we walk through the fire, we won’t be burned by it or consumed within its flames. God’s promise is that even though we will have troubles, He will be with us and take care of us.
Why, then, do we have troubles and trials if God is going to take care of us in them? Why doesn’t He just take them away?
Every time we face a new trial, a new overwhelming problem, if you will, that gives God the opportunity to do a new thing in our lives. His ultimate purpose is to help us to be more like Him. He is the one who shows us the new pathway to take and gives us water to drink in the desert. We may not like where we are or the trials that we face, but we can trust God to bring us through to the other side and that we will learn from them and be more like Him once we overcome. God’s plan is not to make life easy for us, but instead He plans to use life’s lessons to make us more like Him, bearing the fruits of the Spirit and able to climb the next mountain more easily.
I am still studying the Book of Job in my devotional every day and a quotation from Tina Wilson’s book STEP INTO SCRIPTURE resonated with me this morning and made me think deeply about its meaning and its application in my life.
This quotation is from Day 9 of Tina Wilson’s devotional, STEP INTO SCRIPTURE. Think about it. If Job had not been found faithful, Satan may have left him alone and he would not have lost all that he had. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
Once again, we have the dilemma of trusting God through the troubles or turning away from Him in bitterness and anger.
God has a plan and it’s a good one. We just have to trust Him to carry us through all of the troubles that it takes to get to the end of His plan for us. Ultimately, His love wins and so do we, if we persevere and don’t give up!
What is our normal reaction when things go wrong? I don’t know about you, but I usually withdraw and question God’s sovereignty. Both are the incorrect approach to adversity. I am currently in an online Bible study with the women at my church, using the Chronological Bible and the book by Tina Wilson entitled STEP INTO SCRIPTURE. We are only on Day 6 of this amazing study and I am already learning so much about God and about myself. Here is what I took away from today’s lesson.
This is a key verse in Job as he struggles with all of his misery and his friends blame his adversity on his own sin. Job’s reply is that he will still hope in God. I want that to be my heart’s cry when the thunder rolls and the mountains quake, but I’m not there yet. Just knowing that Job could have his eyes and heart fixed on God gives me hope that when the time comes, I will be able to say the same thing. The point is not that Job is blaming God for his troubles, but He knows that God knows what is happening to him and he recognizes God’s sovereignty over all.
This is the book that we are using and a quotation from today’s study. God isn’t angry with us when things go wrong, nor has He turned His back on us and is ignoring us. He is watching over us and seeing how we react to our troubles. Will our faith grow stronger as we turn to Him or will we turn away? Obviously, God loves us and wants our faith to grow as we mature into all that we can be for Him. Jesus was committed enough to go to the cross for us. His faith is the model for the kind of faith we should have when we face any kind of trials or challenges in our lives.
I highly recommend this Bible study, especially if you are doing it with a group, but it can be done individually as well. Here is a link to get the book if you are interested. It is free on Kindle Unlimited if you have that resource.
I am thoroughly enjoying the insight that I am learning from this book as it delves deeply into the Scripture and explores what is happening in the heart of the author as well as how we can and should respond. I hope that you will check it out.
Let me know what you think. Does adversity build faith or tear it down? How difficult is it for you to trust in God in the hard times?
If you have been walking with the Lord for any length of time, you have read the Scripture that says:
Thus if you want to please God, then you know that you need to have faith. But what is faith and how do you strengthen and build your faith?
Faith is putting your trust in God, regardless of circumstances and outward appearances. David had faith when he faced Goliath. Gideon had faith when he took a small band of men with him to defeat a large army. Stephen had faith when he faced those who ultimately stoned him.
How do you build your trust and your faith? The answer has always been there for you. You read the Word. You listen to the Word. You follow His Word. In doing so, you build your faith, that is, your trust in God. It’s hard to stand on God’s promises if you don’t know what they are, so it is imperative to memorize His Word so that you have it handy when you need it. God makes our faith strong by giving His unerring, infallible and eternal message to us. It is up to us to read it, hear it and heed it.
I want to see the invisible God, believe for unbelievable miracles and receive what others say is impossible. I’m spending time in God’s Word so that my faith is stronger. I pray that you are doing likewise.
“Be the light!” the preacher proclaims from the pulpit. “Shine in the darkness,” says the Sunday school teacher. All good advice, but the practicality sometimes escapes us as we hurry away from the darkness and try to stay near the light ourselves. We are missing the point that we are the light and in our haste to move away from darkness, we are missing opportunities to shine His light on a dark world.
We try to stay insulated in our protected group of Christians who all believe as we do when what we are supposed to do is go into the world and shine the light that we have on the people who don’t yet know that they need Jesus. When we are doing what we should be doing, we are going to naturally attract others and need to have an answer for the hope that is in us. Be ready at all times to tell others how Jesus has made a difference in your life! Like a moth is attracted to a flame or any kind of light, so people in darkness need to know that there is a light that they can turn to. At the most unexpected times and from some of the most unexpected sources, you may have people seeking answers from you because they have seen your light and want to know more about what makes you different. Be ready to be that light!
Many times we fear approaching darkness because we are intimidated by just how dark it is and the fact that we cannot see “two inches in front of our face.” That’s okay, Step into the darkness and it won’t be dark anymore because your presence brings the light with you.
The light that is in us comes from the Lord Jesus. When darkness is all around, we can continue to shine and attract others to the beauty of salvation and the peace and hope that it offers.
Ah! The official beginning of summer, beach traffic and tanning season! But, Memorial Day is much more. Just a reminder that many gave their all so that we can have the freedom that we cherish today. Let us pause from our celebrations, picnics, cookouts and family time to remember their sacrifice and to be thankful that they were willing to die for their nation.
“It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives — the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember.” Ronald Reagan 🇺🇸
My hope is that we all have a mother somewhere in our lives, whether it is our biological mom or someone who nurtured us. May each of us remember to honor that special person today.
The best thing that can happen to a mother is to have her children appreciate her. Show your appreciation today for all of her sacrifices. My mom was sometimes harsh and not always loving, but she was my mom and even twenty years later, I miss hearing her voice. I know that she would have loved meeting all of her grandchildren because she did love little ones. If your mom is still alive, cherish your time with her because one day, when you least expect it perhaps, she will no longer be here on earth with you.
Be a mom first so that you can be a good friend once your children are adults.
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