Advent Reading ~In His Word 12-4-2020

 

Advent Reading ~In His Word 12-4-2020

We have reached the fourth day of the last month of 2020! We are getting closer to Christmas and we are getting closer to a New Year; but are we any closer to God? Are we any closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ? In today’s reading I chose to read Psalm 42 because it reminds me of how many feel this year…

We long for God to fix things, we hunger for things to become as they once were but in the same time we know it will never be the same, we cannot go backwards. So then we begin to get down hearted, or sad, even depressed, but then God reminds us in His Word that we can rejoice and we can hope in Him, we can trust Him for He is faithful and just! Even if our friends and neighbors do not accept that Christ is Lord, and ask us where our God is in all of this, we can trust that He will bring us into His perfect peace as long as we keep our minds on Him! (Isaiah 26:3)

 

As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? Day and night, I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?”

My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers,      leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration!  Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?

I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again, my Savior and my God! Psalm 42:1-6

Let’s make the choice today to put our trust, our hope, and our faith in God to be the one to follow; then let’s follow where He leads us.

While Mary was carrying baby Jesus, she had to overcome obstacles. At first Joseph did not believe her, he thought of divorcing her before they had even gotten married! After the angel spoke with him, he changed his mind and he too put his faith in following God’s plan. You can imagine the ribbing the neighbors gave them before they knew the truth as well.

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.

Matthew 1:18-24

 

It is easy to allow ourselves to be swayed by other people to believe the worse, but it takes a strong will to stand up for Jesus and do what is right. To believe what God says in His Word and follow it to the end, that takes a strong person.

Joseph and Mary grew strong as the awaited the birth of the Lord, the Christ Child. They trusted completely in God the Father to walk them through it. I want to be like that; I want to walk through 2020 with Him.

Your Challenge... In His Word 11-16-2020

 

Your Challenge.. In His Word 11-16-2020

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to walk in the Spirit in this year, in this lifetime, in this day of unbelievable odds.

Walk in the Spirit, live by the Spirit, and walk in peace.

To walk in the spirit means to live a life according to the Word of God, but to live accordingly we must know the Word, our Bibles. To know the Word of God we must read the Word and pray.

 

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow [a]thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:1-3

 

We pray first because God wants to communicate His word with us, and He wants us to understand the Word of God, obvious to some may not be obvious to others.  If we pray first, then we can be putting aside the things that hinder us.

 

You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?  It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. Ephesians 5:7-8

 

We all have the Holy Spirit within us to enlighten or heighten our knowledge of what we read, but unless we pick it up and open the book then pay attention and focus on what we are reading its not going to get in our head. If it does not get in our head, it will not influence our heart, our soul and our lives.

Romans Chapter 8:9-11 says, But, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Study it out! Study to show yourself how to live approved by God and stop trying to live your life approved by man.  What is more important? Approval of God, or man?

 

God, -- peace, hope, love unconditionally, eternal life, direction, good things happen when we follow His directions, for all things work together for the good of the called… we are the called according to His purpose. (

 

Man’s approval—temporary, no peace, just stressed out trying to keep up with everything that they are doing, or what you think they are looking for in a friend, or in a situation, it’s a totally long process trying to please man, take it from me, a people pleaser!

 

I have tried to keep the peace in my family, I tried to keep the peace in my life around me, and often times it made me  so overwhelmingly upset because all the work I try to did to appease people, and do what they want me to do. Inevitably, I get tattered and torn, like an old sweatshirt that you have warn because it feels comfy, but it does not keep you warm anymore. It’s so thin that holes are showing up, you try to patch it but its just not the same and you really cannot use it. Sometimes you want to but are afraid to toss it because its your feel-good sweatshirt. You have memories of it being good. I am telling you that influence must go!

 

That sweatshirt may have kept you warm in the past , just as that influence you have to be perfect, or rowdy like your friends or dark because they are dark, it has to go!

 

You need to find the focus in the Word that God has for you! You need to keep your mind on things above and not on the earthly things that draw you away from your commitment to follow after Him.

The enemy will do what he can to threaten your resolve, he wants you to fail, but if  you keep in focus to walking in the Spirit, He will remind  you of the scriptures when you need encouragement. In a sense, like a new sweatshirt, God will keep you warm!  He will give you a new garment of praise! A new sweatshirt is all soft and comfy!  The perfect fit!

When we get a new sweatshirt, we do not settle for one that is too big or too small, but one that is just the right fit!

God is the right fit!

 

Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.

“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:25-32

 

All of this is walking in the Spirit.

Getting rid of the things that hold you back, stepping into the things that give you joy, peace, hope, and a good direction to follow.

All of this comes from piling in the words from the Word of God. The Bible is the same book people have been reading for generations, it is the best seller of all times, and it’s God breathed! God inspired.

To walk in the spirit, is to walk accountable to God, doing what is right in His eyes and not our own.

For I am not my own I was bought with a price, I was purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ… the song rings true!

 

Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. Colossians 2:14-16

God’s approval comes when we walk in His Spirit.

His approval is the reward for a challenge well met! You can do this!

Get in the Word today, study to show Him you can do it. Then as you read pray asking God to show you the lesson you need to receive from it, or to reveal the personal connection or answer He has given you in this. Then walk in it.

 

Heavenly Father, give us the words to live by from Your Word, the Bible. Help us to live it as we walk in Your Spirit… in Jesus’ name Amen.

Read some more?

Romans 8: 1-39, Ephesians 4: 1-32, and 1 Peter 2:1-25

Listen up, Act right, Do the thing! – In His Word 9-7-2020

Listen up, Act right, Do the thing! – In His Word 9-7-2020 

 

Throughout the history of Israel God the Father has tried and tried again to get the people who He called by His name to obey Him, to give Him honor and glory where He deserved it and to worship Him only.
His people continued to try to do things on their own, again and again they failed because after all God was God and without Him they had no chance to stand.

Today we Christians consider ourselves also God’s people and yet we too tend to try to do things on our own. Let me tell you something, it did not go well with Israel or Judah when they ignored God and tried to fix things on their own.

Now today we stand on a promise that calls us to humble ourselves and call on His name, the Name of Jesus to ask Him to heal our land. We are doing this daily during this time of separation from one another. We pray asking God to heal the lands, to heal the world, to fix the sick and strengthen the healthy and we ask Him to fix it mean while we try to do it our own way too.

When I read through these chapters, in Hosea and in Jeremiah I see a sad God who wants to help but the people keep looking to their ‘gods’ or their own way to fix the problems they have created. God wants to help us today, but He wants us to give Him the glory where glory is due. He wants us to walk the walk He put before us and follow His commands and directions as He sees fit for us to do them. Then when we are obedient to Him, then He will be able to heal our land.

“But since my people refuse to return to me, they will return to Egypt and will be forced to serve Assyria. War will swirl through their cities; their enemies will crash through their gates. They will destroy them, trapping them in their own evil plans. For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me.

 “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you… Hosea 11:5-9 

Look around you. Do you see people who are seeking God? Out side of your family, or prayer groups, do you see people praying for God to heal the land? Do you think they even know they are being warned? Do you think they know that this day, now is the time, to come to Jesus and follow after Him? Have you told them? Have I?

“Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’” But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”

Jeremiah 18:11-12 NLT

Don’t be like that!

It is time for us to tell the world that Jesus is Lord, it is time for us to share His love, compassion, and kindness. Moreover, it is time for us to warn them that the time is coming and for some may be today that Jesus is calling them to stand before them. Our job is to tell them that Jesus loves them and wants them to be saved, He longs for them to be a part of His family. One way we can do this is to help one another out. We can feed the hungry, we can give a light to someone who has not electricity. We can invite people to share a meal or share a truth with them, or both! We can ask for something to pray with them about and then pray with them right then, instead of saying the common “I’ll be praying for you” and going on our way. Let’s face it, the chance is that we will forget to pray for them if we do not do it right then. Then again, if we stop and pray with them right there, we will touch their lives with the words we use, we will instruct them in righteousness and guide them in how to talk to God.

Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.  If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. Ephesians 6:2-4

Some of us feel as if we have not the words to say when we want to pray with someone, but when you pray God will hear your heart, He will reveal what to pray that will help that person with your words. It’s funny how that works, because when we pray aloud with one or two people we know that Jesus is right there, but we don’t think about the fact that He is there to minister to the person we pray for and to us as well. He will grow our boldness the more we open our mouth to share, He will grow us closer to Him with every cry of our heart.  He longs to spend time with us, enough that He kept Israel alive even when He was so hurt by them. He loves us the same today, so let’s bring others to Him that they can find His love, and allow Him to take their burdens as well.

How do we do this?

-        We share the love of God first, then the Word second.

-        We feed their souls and remove their burdens in prayer.

-        We walk them to the gates to the path of Righteousness by introducing them to Jesus.

-        Then we thank God with them for the new beginning they will have in life.

-        Make connections for them, that they may grow Christ and move forward in a healthy life with Him.

-        Give God the glory because it was not about you, but about Him and His kingdom. 

Heavenly Father, help us to share your love, and give You the glory for all that we can do for them. It is not for us but that we help one another but for You and the Kingdom of God. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Suggested reading: 6:1-18, Hosea 11:1-12 and Jeremiah 18:1-23

Dailies 2019

Dailies ~in His Word

March 2019

The following scripture gives me such freedom when I doubt God’s plan or that He will heal me.

I recall one time specifically that He healed my 'rotator cuff', I did not have the faith to do it but my friend Joanna and some other wise women of God did! Joanna is the one, who realized the time was then to pray, and I felt the healing, I just had to believe it was so and I personally could not. Not until the surgery was over and my sweet hubby told me the doctor could not find the tear did I believe. Sometimes it’s just not about us doing the praying for our healing but what it does in someone else’s life. My doubt actually was someone else’s chance to shine!

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Mark 9:23-25

Heavenly Father, thank you that you send friends to come along side of us and lift us up when we are down, to lift us up in faith when ours is weak. In Jesus name, amen.

Teresa M. Wilson