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Showing posts from August, 2023

Bless The LORD, O My Soul

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Scripture For The Day    August 31, 2023 "Bless The LORD, O My Soul"  We talk quite a bit about our own Blessings but did you know that God, Himself, is Blessed? That’s an obvious answer to Yes! But do we think about how Blessed HE is? He is Great and Mighty and Powerful and Loving and Merciful. He is Compassionate and so, full of Love for us.  And HE is Good, All The Time, and All The Time, HE IS GOOD! He is Goodness, in itself. Without Him, there is no such thing as Goodness. There is nothing that He can’t do for us. and like a parent, there is nothing He won’t do unless it is putting us in a place we don’t need to be. He is over the top, ABUNDANT! And HE in All His Glory and Love for us, wants to give us abundant life.  He is a generous Father. We don’t know what’s best for us. We don’t know the purpose of certain things in our lives. But what we do not know is that whatever circumstances we are in, it can be used for The Glory of God and we can Bless Him. ...

Get A Grip

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Scripture For The Day   August 30, 2023 "Get A Grip"  I struggled last night to sleep. I kept thinking of all kinds of scenarios over a specific situation. I couldn’t get any peace. After praying and reading scripture I turned on a sleep app that I have on my phone that softly speaks scripture until my heart finally began to quiet down. It was only then that I started thinking of the ‘good’ ways that this could go. God is so Good All The Time and I knew that I was getting myself so worked up and anxious that I had to get a grip on myself. There’s no arguing with the fact that satan is a formidable enemy. His goal is to keep the lost, lost, and the saved; broken and fearful, to damage our witness. But if we are honest, our worst enemy is often ourselves. That’s why God’s Word teaches us so much about self-control; temperance. Translated from the word kratain; meaning to grasp”. Simply put; “Get a hold of yourself” We have a spiritual battle going on all around us and...

No Eye Has Seen

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Scripture For The Day    August 29, 2023 "No Eye has Seen"  When problems crop up, we can have the silliest notion that we can solve the aforesaid problem on our own.  Many of us have a self-proclaimed title of ‘problem solver’ invisibly stamped across our foreheads. So, when people come to us, we mistakenly assume we can ‘fix’ the problem.  When the truth of the matter is; we don’t have a clue! The church people in Corinth were dealing with some problems within the church. But because they thought they knew better; they chose to trust worldly intelligence above Trusting in the Word of God. So, Paul, through the guidance of The Lord, taught them a different method. He taught the people that God’s wisdom can be found through His Word and by the guidance of The Holy Spirit. He encouraged this church to look to The Cross for all The Wisdom that is needed. We can’t understand in our flesh what God has revealed through Jesus Christ. “No eye has seen, no ear has h...

What's Love Got To Do With It?

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Scripture For The Day  August 25, 2023 "What's Love Got To Do With It?"  What’s Love Got to do with it? What’s Love but a second-hand emotion? Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken? You remember that Tina Turner song? You, probably, like me, can even hear her singing the lyrics. Of course, it was a song about casual sex and how the word love is thrown around without any deep meaning, so why bother because Love can hurt too much. But True Love is far from being a second-hand emotion.  Meaning that it passes quickly and is worthless. But without Love we are all lost. Without Love, life has no meaning whatsoever.   We can read all throughout God’s Word what Love Really Means. It Means Life. It Means Grace. It Means Everything! It Means JESUS! It Means so much more than a second-hand emotion and Paul shares with us how important Love is in 1 Corinthians 13… paraphrased… I may be able to speak in different languages, whether human or even angels but if I don’...

Never a Dull Moment

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Scripture For The Day    August 23, 2023 Never a Dull Moment  We can't help but giggle when we recognize that every single room in our house has some proof that a pair of wild boys are often here. When our pest control man first showed up at our house months ago, I was a bit embarrassed by all the clutter and apologized to him. He stopped me in my tracks and told me that when he looked around, he knew immediately that this was a house filled with love and he couldn’t wait until he had grandchildren of his own.   This morning as I look around at my clean house, I know that in a couple of hours, it will be turned upside down. But that’s okay. It can be turned right side up when they go home. Easy Peasy.  Without these wild blessings of mine, life would be dull. Proverbs 14:4 tells us “Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.” A barn with no cattle might be clean, but strong bulls are needed for a good harve...

Sawubona

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Scripture For The Day    August 22, 2023 "Sawubona"  In South Africa, they have an ancient greeting in Zulu that translates into “I see you, and by seeing you, I bring you into being.” According to their tradition, using this greeting helps to negate any preconceptions and judgments. We can strive to see each other as God created us. I love that. This ancient greeting includes two parts. The first part is Sikhona, which means, “I am here to be seen.” And the other part is the reply-  Sawubona, which as I stated before means, “I see you”. This affirmation helps to remind us that we do exist and that we are equal and that we should treat each other with respect. What a loving world we would live in, if we treated each other with that kind of respect. With the way our society is today, even our children struggle with feelings of not being seen. Though it may be far from reality because of the love that surrounds them, it still doesn’t take away from how they may ‘...

He Picks Us Up

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Scripture For The Day    August 21, 2023 "He Picks Us Up"  Last night, my husband and I walked outside and remarked how we couldn’t see. The humidity was so thick that our glasses had fogged over. I was carrying some things so I couldn’t stop and wipe the fog away.  It was already growing dark outside and I began struggling to see the ground as I walked. So, I carefully watched my step to avoid tripping. This morning, as I was speaking with The Lord, I began thinking about that foggy moment, which got me to thinking about how much my mind is staying muddled and foggy and confused. It’s getting worse and though it is expected… I don’t like it. It takes every bit of my concentration to focus on one task at a time when I used to be so good at multitasking. But fog is like that. It is oppressive and overbearing. It can be dangerous because the fog hinders our eyesight. It takes every bit of our concentration to keep from getting hurt. I stay concerned about how peopl...

Get To Steppin'

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Scripture For The Day    August 17, 2023 "Get to Steppin" Nowadays, many of us have a stepping goal. My goal for several years now has been a minimum of 10,000 steps a day.  I recently read that a daily goal of 10,000 steps a day can add up to about 115,000 miles in a lifetime. I thought to myself, well that would depend on your age at the time, wouldn’t it? But 10,000 steps a day for the rest of your life is more than four times around our planet. So, they say; Whoa!  Sadly, many people struggle with walking in general. I personally used to be more adventurous with my walking but now I have been given limitations. Still, I keep on walking.  As much walking as I enjoy doing, I can struggle at times just to walk twenty feet across a room. Not because of any physical limitation but because of stepping out of my shy box. If it wasn’t for God Given Boldness, I wouldn’t be able to do much of anything. I am an imperfect, insecure, shy, mess of a person. I can sit ...

Call On Him

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Scripture For The Day   August 15 th , 2023 "Call on Him"  A beautiful thing happened Sunday, our grandson was baptized. He was saved back in June and it kept staying on his heart to be baptized. He can be timid about many things but he was determined in his heart to be baptized. He even told his momma beforehand that he wasn’t scared at all; he was excited.  People; that is God. But the enemy will try and make us question the things of God.  I firmly believe that the enemy was attacking my grandson yesterday.  He was not his usual self. He was struggling. Everything was an argument. Though he probably needed a whipping; I didn’t give him one. I scolded. I talked to him. I recognized that something was going on. Until finally I said, "Let’s go to the couch.” We knelt and I began to pray. Before we even got up from that spot, he began sharing his concerns and worries and the dark cloud that had been hovering over him began to lift.  Before he was do...

Fear Tactics

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Scripture For The Day    August 11, 2023 "Fear Tactics"  I turned on the radio the other day and a man was speaking. I assumed it must be the news by the seriousness and authority of his tone. But then I realized it was just another fear tactic commercial. Everyone needed to sign on with him by a certain date or our money will be rendered useless. I began shaking my head; that is our society; scare tactics. It’s also the way with the enemy? He can’t read our minds. But he knows our fears by our past mistakes, our body language, and what we verbally share. He is a fantastic profiler. He examines us closely. The enemy will take our fears and exaggerate the situation in our minds to the point that we are scared to death that such and such will happen.  We essentially become like deer in the headlights, frozen to the point we get ran over. If we are going to stand against the enemy at all, we need to understand his tactics. He is sly. We are told to prepare for the f...

Waiting To Welcome Us Home

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    Scripture For The Day  August 8, 2023 "Waiting to Welcome Us Home"  Stephen was one of the first deacons in the Bible.  The Apostles were needing help with the aid of the widows and the poor in the community. A complaint had been made against the Hebrews for not taking daily care of their widows. So, the twelve apostles got together and summoned up the full group of disciples and said that they shouldn’t give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.  The solution was that they needed seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom to be in charge of this duty.  Among those seven was Stephen.  The discipleship body prayed over this group and laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.   But Stephen did more than look after those in need. He did what he did- He spoke about Jesus. He preached The Word of God, everywhere he went. And the Jews began to get angry. Stephen was unknown. So, it wasn’t necessary t...

Even So, Come, Lord Jesus

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    Scripture For The Day  August 7, 2023 "Even So, Come, Lord Jesus"  We don’t know how old the Apostle John was when he passed away. We know that, unlike the other disciples, he lived to be a very old man. Obviously, God wasn’t through with Him. He had a message to get out. He had people to share Jesus with. Early church elders reported that long after John could walk, younger brethren would carry John in a chair to be gathered for worship. Reminds me of a dear Pastor friend of ours, who preached as long as he could. Riddled with cancer, preaching from a chair He still encouraged my heart so much. One of John’s final sermons focused on love. He was the final living original Apostle. He was well respected and continued to serve The Lord until his last breath. A commentator shared that they picture John dying just like he lived- nestled close and reclining on the breast of The Savior with his weary head in Jesus’ tender arms… And in the distance could be heard ...

The New Jerusalem

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Scripture For The Day   August 3, 2023 "The New Jerusalem"  After the thousand-year reign and after the enemy is done away with, The Lord creates a New Heaven and Earth. Revelation 21 tells us all about this New Jerusalem. It will be massive; 1500 miles high and 1500 miles deep and 1500 miles long and more beautiful than we could ever imagine.  Then a loud voice from the throne is heard “Now God’s home (His Tabernacle) is with His people. He will live with them and be with them and be their God.” After all of that is when God finally wipes away the tears from their eyes. The New Jerusalem; The Holy City will be as beautifully dressed as a bride for her husband- Jesus.  There will be no need for a temple; no need for a church. Because The Lord God Almighty AND the Lamb are its temple. There will be no need for a moon or a sun to shine because God’s Glory will be the Only light needed. There will be no more need for baptistries, remembrance tables, doctrinal...

When John Saw His Name

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Scripture For The Day    August 2, 2023 When John Saw His Name All of us struggle with something or another. Maybe it’s low self-esteem. Maybe it’s pride. Maybe it’s fear. Reading Revelation 21:9-21 this morning, I was given a new perspective by a commentator that I hadn’t fully appreciated before. John was given a vision of The New Jerusalem. He remarks how precise the angels were with measuring the New City all per God’s Instruction.  It will be Perfect. The city will Shine Bright with the Glory of God. The splendor of it all will be spectacular.  John does his very best to describe what he saw.  Verse 14 is what I want us to picture with our hearts. “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”  John is watching and soaking in all the details and beauty that he is seeing. The Bible doesn’t say he paused over this particular moment. But I can’t help but wonder what went through his mind wh...

Before It's Everlasting Too Late

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Scripture For The Day    August 1, 2023 Before It's Everlasting Too Late  The Great White Throne Judgment is reserved for condemnation. It’s not a seat that God will take any pleasure in. “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways;…”- Ezekiel 33:11 When the thousand-year reign has ended, satan will be set free once again. You would think that after that length of time being with Jesus Christ, a person would be secure in knowing whom they want to serve. But then again, we have Lucifer as an example and he was in heaven serving God for who knows how long, since time doesn’t exist in heaven.  But after this thousand-year reign, satan will be loosed again. He will go out to deceive the nations and gather them together in battle. Can you imagine his rage after being pent up for so long? He will be out for blood. People will be deceived. People will turn to satan. As much as this ...