Beauty in your life- change your thoughts for a positive outlook
What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?
Most holidays are so commercialized in America. I find it hard to not be stressed out during any holiday. I like Christmas but only for celebrating Jesus’s birthday. It’s not about expensive gifts and the stress of getting everything done just right.
Christmas to me is having family around enjoying their company. And celebrating the greatest gift of all time Jesus coming to pay for our sins and give us life.
It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are. Sometimes compromise is good, it is good in marriage and many times in business. But when it comes to our spiritual relationship with God compromise isn’t good.
It can become too easy to compromise our faith by giving into the world temptations. Scripture tells us that when we see people who reduce God to something they can use or control we need to get away from them as fast as possible.
If you have ever felt close to God and are now feeling separated from Him, as many have, it’s because you moved God didn’t. Satan’s policy is to make us believe that not only does He not exist, but that there is no evil in our hearts that would cause God to move away. I have learned from experience that when you flirt with the devil and sin all you do is allow him to get his foot in the door. When his foot is in the door this allows him and his demons to influence our thinking and discernment process, as well as taking up residence somewhere in our hearts. This is why we can’t compromise in our spiritual life,
This doesn’t mean that we can’t seek to live in harmony with people who have different opinions. It just means we have to be aware of unrighteous living.
God wants our devotion. God is selfish and it is not the same like of selfishness that leads to our sinful acts. God’s selfishness is a kind of selfishness that is out of love for us. We may have a difficult time wrapping out heads around this concept, but God way is not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8-9).
We cannot have God’s blessings and flirt with the devil. Sadly we are seeing this and it’s repercussions in the world today.
God commands people, multiple times in His Word to pray. But why do we need to pray?
If God is in control and directs our lives, then what’s the point of praying? The answer lies in understanding what prayer is.
If you see prayer as merely a means of taking some level of control of your life and the world as a means of leverage then you will be inevitably troubled by unanswered prayers.
For years I prayed and thought God wasn’t hearing me, I felt as if He was ignoring me. If He wanted me to have the desires of my heart, (Psalm 37:4) what was wrong with me that He wouldn’t answer my prayers? It some point I stopped praying because I felt He didn’t care.
After I was saved I learned to see that prayer primarily as an ongoing conversation with God, and realized there was no such sing as an unanswered prayer.
If prayer us a conversation between you and God, His promise to always listen was the answer that my heart needed.
God might not choose to do what we ask Him to do it. And there might be seasons when we find it hard to hear what He’s saying all a lot of reasons. It’s hard when someone says no, or even no yet, to what seems like a good valid request.
Understanding that if we take delight in God, over and above anything else in our lives, then He will shape our hearts so we will want the things He already wants to give us. His desires will become our desires.
If God is in control and already directs our lives, then what’s the use of praying? Psalm 115:3 even tells us, ‘But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. To understand why we need to pray if God already knows what will happen we need to think about “the sovereignty of God.” God is powerful and authoritative to the extent of being able to override all other powers and authorities.
It is true God already knows everything that will happen for the rest of eternity. He knows the big events and the small moments of each of our lives and nothing is beyond His control. So it’s senseless to think of prayer as a way to change God’s mind or His direction in a situation.
Prayer is a process by which we learn to trust God. He listens to us patiently. He takes our requests seriously. Then He considers everything in the context of the bigger picture only He can see,
It’s in prayer that we use to come into agreement with God’s will. For example, I may pray that I wish to go somewhere but God knows if there are dangers that involve me going there. And He is trying to protect me.
Psalm 139:1-4 says
“Lord, you have searched mem and you know me. You know my sitting down and rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold. Lord, you know it altogether.”
if God knows what you are thinking, then why is He so concerned about you talking to Him? Because prayer is one of the main ways you connect with Him. When you pray God will give you peace by explaining or resolving every situation you bring to Him. When we pray it eases our fears.
Through prayer, we develop a trusting relationship with God. Over time, we learn how to recognize His voice when He speaks. The Bible clearly shows Him choosing to act in response to the prayers of His people,
Have you ever been camping?
I have been camping. I absolutely love camping in the mountains, the air has a feeling of peace about it. The brisk air is exhilarating. Hiking and spending quality time with family is the best. No phones or television to disrupt the adventure. Cooking over an open fire makes the food taste better. And the strong coffee from a percolator is amazing.
The simple act of being in a location where I get to appreciate the trees, lakes, sunlight, birds, and other natural details can help my mind relax and put puts me in a calm peaceful mood.
When do you feel most productive?
I am most my best writing and praying in the early hours of the morning. Usually between 2 and 4. This time allows me a quiet, distraction free period as I can focus on God and myself and be more productive.
There are many reasons why God should never use us. But He does. Moses stuttered and was a murderer. Miriam was a gossip, and David had an affair. Solomon was filthy rich and was obsessed with women. Gideon and Thomas, we are doubters. Elijah was suicidal. The list could go on. God used them all. God qualifies the unqualified. It is not God who disqualifies. Then who is it?
We can look at Peter in the Bible, Did he fail? God is more concerned with who we are than what we do; what we become is more than what we achieve. If success makes us proud, self-sufficient, and uncaring, and failure makes us less selfish, less independent, and more sympathetic, which is better? Being the person God wants you to be is more of a true measure of success than achieving the goals you have set for yourself.
The Book of Peter is an account of how Jesus builds lives out of failure. We are Jesus’s success story.
God separates the ones He chooses from the world. He separates unto Himself. Another word for it is “sanctification.” He separates the unqualified from what is unholy and causes them to be devoted to God.
Every minute someone leaves the world behind. We are all in “the line” without knowing it.
We never know how many people are before us. We cannot move to the back of the line. We cannot step out of the line. We cannot avoid the line.
So while we wait in line-
“Take up your cross and follow Me,”
These are Jesus words from Mark 8:34. In preceding verses 31-33, Peter had just objected to the idea that Jesus would die. In verse 32, we are told that Peter rebuked Jesus. Jesus in turn rebuked Peter for objecting.
Then Jesus tells us what must happen if a man or woman wants to follow Him.
“He summoned the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself and follow me” -Mark 8:34
“Come after” in Greek means “to come after to z point of being with” Him. Jesus is saying that someone who wants to follow Him must take up His cross. But what does that mean?
“Let them deny himself…
Jesus is saying the starting point is to deny ourselves. Again we should understand the Greek meaning “aparneomia.” This is a strong word meaning that a person must refuse to think about themselves. It paints a picture of complete denial of one’s desires and wishes.
Take up his cross…
Then Jesus said the person must take up their cross. In Jesus’s time, everyone understood the meaning of the word cross. The Roman soldier literally crucified two thousand people on crosses on one occasion. To carry your cross meant that you were dragging it along and eventually reached the place where the soldiers would crucify you. Therefore, Jesus’s point is that you must be so committed to denying yourself that you are willing to die for Him.
And follow Me.
Then Jesus added what must happen after a believer, takes up their cross, if a believer is truly willing to did for Jesus, he or she will follow Jesus. Luke 5:1-11 gives us an important illustration of following Jesus. On this occasion, the disciples had already been asked to follow Jesus two previous times. What happened on this occasion was so incredible that the disciples left everything and followed Him.
“When they brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him“ – Luke 5:11
They left everything and followed Him. This is an excellent example of Jesus’s command to “let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
No one will truly follow Jesus who continues to be more interested in themselves than in Jesus. Jesus does not give us the option of calling Him our Savior and Lord while continuing to satisfy our desires and wishes. We must deny ourselves to the point of death in our following Him. This is the character of a true follower of Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 16:25 Jesus said losers are the spiritual winners.
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
All of Jesus’s disciples lost their lives because they chose to follow Him. Except for John who suffered greatly because of Jesus throughout his long life.
We will all die that’s a fact. The disciples died for Jesus. In 2 Timothy 3:12 tells us that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Isaiah 41:10 says “So do not fear, for I am with you, do not be displayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
There’s a quote that I think most true believers believe,
“I’d rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God.”
What topics do you like to discuss?
The topics I like to discuss. I am not a very social person, especially when it comes to crowds. I would rather stand back and watch my surroundings. It is not a trust issue or anything it’s just how I am.
One on one I do fine with people. Some of the things I like to discuss are pretty deep. I have noticed most people just want small talk.
Some of the topics I like to discuss are anything that is open-ended. If you’ve read anything in my blog you know I like to talk about God, I love talking about what God is doing in people’s lives. How has He affected your life?
I like to give people hope. This world tends to be a cold place. Without hope, it’s easy to get depressed. I want to know the most difficult experience people have ever had. The problem is people would rather distract themselves from their most difficult issues instead of trying to fix them.
In the Bible, a remnant is a group of people who remain loyal to God after a time of hardship. There is a special meaning to the remnant of believers that will exist in the last days, when the earth is at its worst, right before the Messiah returning.
The beauty of God’s plan is He promises there will always be a remnant who will remain faithful to Him (Ezekiel 6:8-10). No matter how dark the world becomes or how dire the circumstances that emerge, the church of Christ will never be defeated (Numbers 16:18). The light that had come into the world through Jesus will never be extinguished (John 8:12). Sometimes I wonder how big that remnant will be in our generation.
The more I learn and the closer I draw to Christ, the more concerned I become about the multitudes who profess Jesus with their lips but deny Him with their lives. I see no evidence that everyone who calls themselves a believer of Christ is part of the remnant of God. I see a lot of people walking the path of “doing church” who could never squeeze through the narrow gate.
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it“ – Matthew 7:13-14
I remember the story of Gideon in the Old Testament in Judges 6-8. When God chose him to deliver His people from the hands of the Midianites, Gideon got an army of over 32,000 men to fight. But soon it became apparent that not everyone who showed up for the battle believed in the Name they were called to defend. The first to leave were those who lacked faith that God would ever deliver them. Gideon told all those who were afraid of the enemy to go home, and over two-thirds of his army left (Judges 7:1-3). Then God removed all those who were not diligent to pay attention to the battle before them. All those who relaxed and carelessly drank in the refreshing water and ignored what was around them were sent home as well. (Judges 1:4-7). Only 300 out of the original 32,000 remained with Gideon. These were the ones who trusted God to deliver them and were unafraid to stand for God’s name. Those were the ones who would not take their eyes off the battle for the sake of their own comfort. They would not allow their personal desires to distract them from their mission. This was the remnant God used to deliver Israel from the hands of their oppressors. Less than 1% of those who reported for duty were chosen.
How many of the thousands of people who say they are church members across our lands will be part of the remnant? How many will be chosen? When times get tough and persecution mounts, how many will tremble and return to their homes? How many will grow weary of fighting and succumb to cultural pressures, and take their eyes off Jesus, just for a moment, to seek comfort and relaxation? Who will remain steadfast and alert? Who will be part of the remnant of God?
How many will have what it takes to hold fast go our convictions and persevere? This is not something that can be done in our own strength. If a person wants to be part of the remnant of God, they must live Him and all their heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). Leaning on God for every decision and living with the courage to not deny Him. (Deuteronomy 31:6; Proverbs 3:5-6). They must take up their cross daily and die to themselves (Luke 9:23; Galatians 2:19-20).
Matthew 24:9-13 tells us that many who come to Jesus will fall away. When times of trouble come and we face persecution of any kind, God will ask us, “You don’t want to go away, do you?” (John 6:66-67). Will we answer like Peter answered, “Where else would we go? For you have the words of eternal life!” (John 6:68-69).
Will we stand firm and never waver? And be a part of the remnant of God.
Today was a particularly hard day for me. Everything that has happened I’ve felt like crying. I saw a magpie in a tree and remembered my father rescuing one that was hurt, and nursing it back to health. A flood of old childhood memories came back instantly.
Then I remembered that nothing is sweeter than believing in God for freedom from past hurts. While it seems like an oversimplification to believe that mercies come fresh, and experiencing freedom from past hurts is simple. It’s not easy, but it is simple.
God’s Word says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning great is His faithfulness” – Lamentations 3:22-23
Emotional hurt can be caused by so many things, the loss of a loved one, a toxic relationship, or past trauma. Anything that can being wounded to the soul (which can heal slower that physical injuries). Sometimes it can feel like full healing will never come.
The Bible promises us that we can and will heal. Isaiah 52:5 tells us, “But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on Him and by His wounds we are healed.”
Jesus’s finished work on the cross promises not only spiritual and physical healing but emotional healing as well.
Many times the people around us tell us because we believe in Christ that we should be okay and we should always be happy and perfect. But that’s not the case. We all have hurts, pain, struggles, and wounds.
And I believe one reason people hide their hurts is because of shame and pride. But God tells us to humbly confess our hurts to God first and then to others. Acceptance is always the key to start the healing process. And part of starting that healing is to humbly admit we are hurt.
There’s a song by Crowder that says, “Lay down your burdens, lay down your shame, and lift up your face…come as you are.”
We. Just surrender every hurt to the cross. There is nothing in this world that can heal the soul. The only thing that can do that is Jesus’s finished work on the cross. Because of what Jesus did for us we can freely declare that, “by His wounds we are healed.”
God’s desire is to bring us to a healing place, and that starts with us coming to God and leaving our hurts at the feet of Jesus. Matthew 11:28 tells us to “Come to Him, all who labor and are heavy laden and He will give us rest.”
Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as “the comforter” in John 14:16. That’s because in God’s presence comes refreshing comfort which allows us to experience great mercies. When we are in God’s presence we are fully restored.
One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible says,
“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and you will praise the name of the Lord, your God, who had dealt wondrously with you, and my people will never again be disappointed” – Joel 2:25-26
When we are filled with God’s Spirit, He restores and mends us. All we need to do is allow Him to do so and give Him full access to our hearts.
I know bad days will come and many I’m sure will come again. But I chose to stand on the Word of God. Knowing that they will always lift my spirit and give e strength to come ahead toward my final destination.
From Pity to Praise