peace

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

- Colossians 3:15

Peace - that elusive state of grace that incorporates all of life's well-being.

I feel it so rarely these days.

It is interesting that this particular verse is actually talking about peace among people, we are the Body of Christ and of course a body does not want to be at war with itself.

But aside from the chaos in the world, I have in my own mind a battle that rages on.

Yet because of Jesus, I have peace.  

And I am thankful.

Have a blessed day!

promises

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.

– Hebrews 6:17-18

When God made His promises to mankind, He did so by making an oath not to us, but to Himself.

Why?

Think about the ways that we are constantly unfaithful to Him.

Then think about the way He constantly loves us.

God knows that we would not be able to keep and agreement like this agreement, but He know that he can, and He will.

We couldn’t deliver ourselves, so He came as a man to deliver us.

God is the initiator and the guarantor of this agreement.

God has promised to be our God and hear our prayers through Jesus Christ.

This is not based upon you, but upon Jesus.

This is His promise.

Run to Him today. 

Have a blessed day!

do what's right

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

—Judges 17:6

Always do the right thing, even when no one is looking.

That is something our children are taught early, but what is the “right thing”?

It’s all “relative”, right?

Relativism is the belief that there's no absolute truth, only the truths that a particular individual or culture happen to believe.

If you believe in relativism, then you think different people can have different views about what's moral and immoral and basically everyone is right.

But not everyone can be right.

At the same time, not everyone is going to believe the same thing that you do, because guess what?

We are not the same.  

That said, remember that just because someone does not believe the same way you do, does not make them the enemy - the dark one is the enemy, and he uses other people’s lack of knowledge of our Father to plant doubt in our hearts.

We cannot be passive, standing by and letting this happen!

We have to study God’s word, know who we are and listen - if you’re not prepared don’t act like you are, because when you are not prepared, that is when the enemy does get in.

Guard your heart.

Do what is right in God’s eyes.  

Have a blessed day!

jealousy vs. envy

A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.

- Proverbs 14:30

I have gone most of my life thinking that jealously and envy are the same thing. 

They are not the same!

Jealousy is, “I want what you have.”

Envy is, “I don’t think I can have what you do, so I don’t want you to have it either.”

Both are terrible feelings to have.

Set your heart right, and you don’t have to have either jealously or envy.

And really, isn’t tranquility what we really want?

Have a blessed day!

His will

Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

—James 4:15

I really like to have choices, and I like to be responsible for my own decisions.

OK, maybe that is a little untrue.

I like that I have choices, but sometimes I need a push in my decision making.

I am truly thankful that God allows me to submit my life to His will and place my trust in Him.

Now I just have to practice what I say and truly give myself to Him.

Only then can I honestly say “His will be done.”

Have a blessed day!

walk the walk, talk the talk

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

—1 John 3:18

Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words.

How many times have you heard that expression? 

More importantly, how often do you live like that?  

Look at today’s society – how scary have we become?

We must start showing love for our family, our friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ by the way we live and what we do for each other.  

Have a blessed day!

navigation?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

—Proverbs 3:5-6

 Here is an oldie, but goodie.

Trust can't be half-hearted, either it is full trust or it is clouded with suspicion.

When I am going through rough times I have to stop and remind myself that God is in control and I have to “let go and let God”.  

We all feel a little bit hopeless at times, sometimes it feels like just when things are starting to go right and everything is coming up roses something comes along to make it all come crashing back down. 

It’s a horrible feeling and it’s easy to get lost in a sea of despair. 

Enter the navigation system: Navigation systems are so convenient - type in the coordinates or the address of where you want to go, and if you listen to her, she will get you to your destination. 

Even if you turn right when you are supposed to turn left, or if you go straight when she told you to turn, she simply says “recalculating” - she never gives up and shuts off or tells us to go away, she simply recalculates until you are back on the right path.

God is like our personal navigation system – and our coordinates are typed in from birth.

We want to get to Heaven, but along the way, we get lost - a lot, and we recalculate - many times.  

But God, He never gives up, He keeps nudging us in the right direction until we are back on the right path.

There are times though, when we are tempted to turn off the navigation and try to make our own way.

This is when the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness just swallows us up. 

So what do you do? 

What we should do is turn to God, He has a lot to say to us when we’re feeling hopeless and when we do turn to Him, we find a bit of comfort. 

We need to realize that we are not alone in feeling hopeless, it happens to all of us.  

So as we face the everyday challenges of life, or as we look for answers in deep and difficult problems, we need to put our full trust in the LORD.

When things are tough, call on God and lean on His mercy and grace.

No matter how insightful, wise, experienced, or knowledgeable we may be, God can guide our steps properly.

God asks us to trust Him and His wisdom even when we can't immediately see the rationale behind it.

To live by God’s words will challenge our current understanding of “the way things ought to be”.

This can cut across our habit patterns and ways of thinking and learning to think that way can be painful, but if we surrender to God’s wisdom, we find that many of the bad decisions we used to make start to diminish.

To venture into the uncomfortable views of the Bible is greater than staying in the familiar patterns of our own understanding.

This is how HE will make our paths straight.

Aren’t we lucky to have a great navigation system?

When we trust in Him, things fall into place, good things happen and we get the answers we seek. 

How awesome is that?

Have a blessed day!