The Wise Ones...For Once I am Glad I am not So Smart

You know what's amazing. The closer I get to the Lord. The more I learn to love Him. The more faith I have in him. The more I learn to trust him. The more I realize I NEED him. The more I realize I CAN'T LIVE A MOMENT without Holy Spirit breathing....whispering to me the very words of life I need to hear to keep me going.

One would think it would be just the opposite. But it's not. As I am made acutely aware of the majesty and holiness of G-d almighty. Lord of all. Creator of everything I can and can not see. Giver and taker of life. I am at the same time made acutely aware of my humbleness. My sinfulness. My unworthiness to be anywhere near this G-d and ruler of all.

I am sooooo thankful for Grace......G-d's AMAZING Grace!!! Given to all mankind. Through His Son Jesus. His death. A mystery to all but life to those who will receive it by faith.

So simple the word of G-d tells us that it confounds the wise of this world to point where many will refuse to believe this message of salvation because of the simplicity of it. Quite sad if you ask me...but then I am not one of the wise ones....lol

This brings me to why I am writing today.

The "wise ones".

Sometimes I think we can be too wise for own good and in my humble opinion end up becoming much like the pharisees of Jesus' days. (i.e. having a tendency to be self righteous and or hypercritical. True the pharisees didn't have the blood of Jesus then, as we do now, but to make my point here .....if anything THAT should only give us less of an excuse to fall into this sin.) Still I see an alarming number of believers falling into the trap of leaning on their own righteousness rather than on the righteousness that comes through the Blood of Jesus. (Amazing Grace) Which if you REALLY THINK ABOUT IT is IMPOSSIBLE TO DO because the word of G-D tells that none is righteous but G-d himself.

Why am I so disturbed about this? enough to write about this? Well, for a few reasons.

For starters it affects me personally.

Also ~ It not only affects the individual who lives this way.... but each person who chooses to be head strong and and lean on his own will and self works to try and please God, their lives have a ripple affect spiritually, emotionally and relationally.

Also....it affects the entire Body of Christ. If there are rouge Christians out there doing their own thing thinking "they are right" and they don't need grace or fellowship or whatever, this is unhealthy. We will never have the church Christ intended, with all those unhealthy members out there. We need to be one body.... As the whole Body of Christ...One Body working together under Grace.


I understand there have been disagreements theologically since the beginning of time. I am not totally ignorant. However, on a one on one basis I see far too many occasions where forgiveness is a HUGE problem. Followed by bitterness and legalism.

AND.....The number one issue I see over all of these is lack of love. I guess you could say lack of love is what allows all the others to come about. What's funny is that in the world of today, I hear just the opposite. I hear.....if you forgive....THEN you can love and also, if you can let go of the bitterness THEN you will be able to love. However what I personally have learned am still very much in the process of learning is that LOVE is the chief corner stone the foundation that you need to establish deep within your heart and soul and mind and spirit well before you attempt to forgive....or let go of bitterness. You see once you have LOVE, true love, agape love, THEN and only then will you be able to forgive. Then and only then will you be able to LET GO of what ever it is that is causing you to be bitter.

Because G-D is LOVE .....TRUE LOVE is G-D.

Love covers a multitude of sin.

How many times have we said ,I have forgiven them." and still we cannot see them or talk to them or have feelings that are not loving or godly towards someone?

Forgiveness is a verb.

It is possible to forgive anything and everything. Jesus forgave YOU.

I am on a quest...to become like Jesus.

I am very glad I am NOT a Wise One.

:)

Shalom

One Day at a Time

Today is the day to live my life.

Not yesterday, not tomorrow.

One day at a time to it’s fullest for me.

For I know not what tomorrow holds.

Today, I shall live abundantly!



One day at a time; yet making the most of it.

Being extra careful about what I say;

Thinking of others; remembering to pray.



One day at a time, seizing every moment;

Listening closely to hear the softest spoken word

stepping lightly to meet others' needs without being heard.



One day at time, looking forward to eternal life;

Sharing the gospel with everyone I can.

Loving and caring for every race of man.



Yes

One day at a time; I will live my life.

For the one who gave his life for me;

So that I could learn to grow and be;

And live this life I now live;

One day at a time.



AmyColleen February 2010

I think this picture says it all
The time has come for it's seeds to fall
A Sonflower bold and beautiful, for all the world to see
Must die to enter eternity
Leaving behind seeds of life to grow
Through which all the world will know
The beauty of the Son

In loving memory of a faithful friend and beautiful woman of God
Kathy Wagner
who left this world February 12, 2010
to be with our Lord in Heaven

She will be greatly missed by all who knew her!
<3

IS the JOY of the Lord YOUR Strength?

So,

have you ever felt like you were needing

"Strength".... Spiritual strength?....Physical strength?

I know I have....The SONG,

"The Joy of the Lord is My Strength"... comes to mind at the moment.

Perhaps you are familiar with it?



I know I have been in a place more times than I care to admit, where I have felt weak both spiritually and physically.

The word of the Lord tells us that .... the "Joy of the Lord is our strength."

Nehemiah 8:10
( Where the ever famous song is inspired)
Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

What does that mean?

Does that mean that if we are happy in Jesus that we should feel strong in any given situation....both spiritually or physically?

Actually......as nice and "easy" as that would be....Uh.....no.... I do not see that in the word of God to be so.

But rather.......I read in Isaiah 58, the chapter where God himself speaks to Isaiah about what true fasting is all about, God also at the end of this chapter very pointedly says what it takes to obtain the "joy of the Lord" in your life.

13"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.


If I may, I would like to stress, only because the Lord himself did first, the words highlighted in yellow. As they draw attention to "us" and "our will".
I grew up (the last 30+ years, my life as a child of God) thinking all this time that the "joy of the Lord" was simply something that came to me by way of Holy Spirit as I pondered on the love of God and the Grace of God and all the he has done for me; all that I have in and through God and his son Jesus.
As honorable as that sounds, that just isn't scriptural. To be honest, finding this out by way Holy Spirit revelation has been very liberating!

Why? (you might wonder) Simply because....for so many years I have TRIED and failed on many occasion, to obtain on different occasions, the JOY of the LORD and wondered what the heck was WRONG with me!
I have asked the Lord, "Where is my joy? I love you beyond even my comprehension and with a passion that has cost me so very much! Yet I can not seem to muster an ounce of joy at this time in my life when I need it most! WHY, Lord? I NEED STRENGTH...to carry on.....help me to carry on...to understand...please!"
Well, he did. He showed me this scripture. You may have noticed that I posted it just a few weeks ago and I have been studying it since.
The Sabbath was made for man.Going back to even the VERY beginning, God created the world in six days on the seventh day he rested. I am not going to go into a long dissertation on the Sabbath. However I will say a few things that I think will make my point...God is LOVE...everything he does he does out of love for us.

God made a point from the very beginning, knowing we would need help in this area (the area of of us needing rest), to put in place for us one day out of seven for us to rest. He did so in such a manner so as not to take away our free will; as he will never invade our free will; but instead offered us an insurmountable joy and blessing if we obeyed him. (this is the key here....to the "Joy of the Lord". vrs 14)

Like all of his laws if we obey we will reap blessings we cannot contain.
If we rebel and do things our own way we will also reap according.

So many of us have been brain washed through the centuries, unfortunately, that the laws of God are restrictive and bad and mean. When in reality they are completely the opposite
They are liberating, holy and created out of love by our loving Father.
When we follow them we find life and blessing abundant to follow us through out a thousand generations.

So are YOU tired?........Weary?..........Need some strength?

Take a day off.....set it aside, make it Holy. Rest in the Lord.

Let the Joy of the Lord over come you and Be Your Strength!

****