it’s my choice

I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on Your laws.

—Psalm 119:30

I am studying the book of Psalms in school right now, it is an amazing place to be.

This one stands out.

We all have choices in life.

I am trying to lose weight right now, and every day I have a choice of the food that will help me reach my goal, or the Dunkin Donuts in the next pod down.

My taste buds want that donut, but my brain knows that it will not help me to eat it.

Sometimes we contemplate straying from His path, even when our hearts know where we need to be.

Choose the way of truth, set your heart on Him.

Have a blessed day!

i am not ashamed

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

—Romans 1:16

I am not ashamed!

Look around you.

Everywhere you will find people that try to make us ashamed about our faith, claiming that we are stupid, insensitive, judgmental, and hypocritical.

I feel like I can safely say that the majority of my friends know my heart and know that I am none of those things.

I am not ashamed!

I try to share my faith humbly and gently with those who do not know Jesus. 

Sometimes I push, and sometimes that pushes people away, but I love my friends, and the bottom line is that I want to see you in Heaven the day we get there!

I am not ashamed!

I believe that my Jesus left heaven to come to earth and risk everything so that I could come home to heaven with Him.

The Gospel is powerful.

The Gospel is transformational.

SONG REFERENCE!

The gospel changes everything
The turning point in history
And even now it's changing me
From who I was

The story of my Savior calls
Me to the wonder of the cross
The gospel changes everything
And it is changing me

You saved my soul
By Your blood
And I'm undone
By Your great love
You made a way
So I could come
Just as I am
To You my God

Jesus changes everything
There is no greater mystery
That God would come to rescue me
From who I was

The kindness of my Savior calls
Me to the wonder of His love
Jesus changes everything
And He is changing me

Do not be ashamed.

The Gospel is amazing.

Have a blessed day!

what's in your heart?

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

- Luke 6:45

Oh look at that! 

The verse I posted on Monday, Matthew 12:33-35 says the same thing, nearly word for word.  

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.  You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

- Matthew 12:33-35

I have mentioned this before, (last week and previously too) but have you ever noticed that there is a lot of repetition in the Bible?

Good things come from people with good hearts.

God obviously wants us to be aware, and to be good.

What is in your heart?

Have a blessed day!

get serious

Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

- James 4:1-2 (MSG)

OK, this is kind of a strange verse to share.

Look at the NIV version of this verse.  

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.

Now, I am no expert, but I think that what is being said here is that we need to be aware of what is in our hearts. 

When we see something we want, we can always go for it, live your dreams and all that.

But our dreams should not compromise our morals.

We should not have to fight to get what we want.

We should ask God.

Seriously, ask.

If it is God’s will and His timing, we will get our dreams.

But don’t go against everything you’ve been taught and resort to evil deed to achieve your dreams.

It is not worth it.

Have a blessed day!

measuring up

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

- Luke 6:38

I am sure that everyone has heard of the whole “pay it forward” concept.

For a while it was a pretty big deal.

Have you ever noticed though, that the more you give, the better things are for you?

I can honestly speak to the fact that when there is love in my heart and I give freely everything that I can, I find that my heart is even more full than when I started.

I’m not talking about money, I am talking about giving freely of myself: my time, my love, my prayers, my support.

Maybe this doesn’t make sense to you, but it really really works that way.

Open a door for someone, give up the “good” parking spot, let someone cut in line.

There is truly much joy in forgetting yourself and blessing someone else.

Sometimes people don’t see what we are doing, and that is ok, don’t let it stop you. 

Let others see Christ shining through you, because if we’re doing everything for the glory of God, it won’t matter if others take notice or not. 

But if someone does happen to observe us freely giving ourselves, hopefully they will see it as “a God thing”.

Maybe they will turn to God because of what we’ve done. 

Have a blessed day!

what are you made of?

Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

- James 3:11-12

Here is something to ponder . . . What are you made of? 

We need lots of things, we need the salt water and the fresh water, but we get them from different sources.

I like olives, figs and grapes, but I can’t get them all from one tree.

It is true then, that we need to be aware of who we are, because we don’t want people to think that we are something we are not.

Would you plant a pear tree and expect it to produce apples?

So what do people expect when they are around you?

What are you made of? 

Have a blessed day!

what kind of tree are you?

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.  You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

- Matthew 12:33-35

At first, I struggled a little with the first part of this verse . . .

Like how do I make a tree good or bad?

But then I read further, about how a tree is recognized by its fruit. . .  yes, yes, I know an apple tree from an orange tree, from a pear tree.

The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

OH!

My fruit might be bad if I never care about the things I say or do, and then people will recognize ME by things I have said and done.

OH!

We need to remember that people are always observing, and will be quick to form an opinion based on what they see.

What kind of fruit is on your tree?

Have a blessed day!