Sunday, August 15, 2010

What will you have to say when Christ comes?

What will you be doing when Christ walks again on this earth? The scriptures teach that Jesus Christ will come in the "blink of an eye". If you were to blink right now and open your eyes to the face of the Jesus, the son of God and he asked "what have you done today?" would you have something truly noble to share in his Holy presence? Or would you open your mouth to nothingness, having under your belt a days worth of selfish, vain and earthly driven acts? When God sends his only begotten son once again to the eyes of man we will be expected to account for our daily lives. He will expect to hear how we as Christians helped others and acted in ways he himself would have acted towards our neighbors, friends and family. He would expect to see never ending love, gratitude and respect towards the words of our Father , the law of the land and our Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

Right now I am going to climb down off of my pedestal to tell you that I as a normal human being  have nothing truly remarkable to share with my Savior Jesus Christ and that if he were to come to me right now I would be terribly ashamed of myself.  Terribly ashamed that the only ting I have truly done for him was to keep a blog on the internet. Sure throughout my life I have done noble acts of righteousness here and there but none have measured up even close to those my Savior has done. They haven't even measured up to those some of my fellow brothers and sisters in God have done. I could pull these moments out of a hat but would those moments be enough to satisfy my Savior? I personally do not think so. I know with all of my heart that my Savior expects so much more from me than what I have done so far.  I strive daily to give him all that I have but I know at the end of the day I fall short.

Why is it so hard for us to be like our Savior Jesus Christ? The fact is that being "Like Jesus" didn't even come easy to the Savior himself. He struggled throughout his life with the job personally handed to him by our Father in Heaven. Even he doubted God asking him "why, why O Lord do you do this to me". If it were a struggle for Jesus Christ how can we be so selfish to believe it would come so easy for us? We just have to keep faith and keep moving forward in our lives to see to it that we have something to say when the end comes near. The important thing is that we at least have "something" to say and that the noble works far outweigh the selfish works.

We must all remember that when we wake up in the morning that the day is not about us, it is about our God and Savior Jesus Christ. It is about how we can be a friend to others, how we can show love to someone who needs love, how we can mend a broken heart or a fallen spirit, how we can share the love of our Father in Heaven and the sacrifice of his only begotten Son with the lost and how we can raise up our own hearts to God higher than we ever could have imagined raising them. We have to be willing to give up all our ungodly belongings, hand over our homes and sacrifice our children should the Lord ask, all in faith that we will survive with them still in our arms. We have to put our mirrors behind us and our minds in our heart to see to it selfishness does not lead our way through the day. Until we manage to flawlessly do these things we will never have anything worth telling our Savior Jesus Christ other than "I'm Sorry".



Matthew 24: 36-39  No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.   As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.   For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;  and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.  That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Mark 13:35-37   Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back - whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.  If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.  What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'


With Love Always,
Your Sister in Christ

Saturdays and Sundays

What day of the week do you celebrate the blessings and existence of God? Many people in this world disagree on which day of the week actually represents the holy Sabbath day, some celebrating on Saturday, some on Sunday. All over the world people debate the issue, some spreading hate amongst the people of God with something as little as a day that was commanded over 3,000 years ago. The argument over the real day has caused many people to turn their backs on religion with the idea of "If they don't even know the day then how can they know the truth." Trivial arguments such as a day are the very things the devil uses to sway us away from the loving arms of God and straight into the lying wake of Sin. Do you honestly think God cares if we celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday? God surely understands the wide span of time between the words of the bible and the way of the land. God surely understands that days, weeks, time has changed into something completely different making it near impossible for us as mere humans to figure out the mathematics of a day of the week. If God laid hope that we would chose between Saturday and Sunday he would be so outraged that we each celebrated a different one and send a prophet to the earth to set us straight because that is how God works. He sees something wrong and he is quick to correct. But over the years God has not seen enough wrong to send us a prophet. If he has sent us one we are too caught up in each of our man made religious beliefs to listen to that prophet. However it is in fact my belief he has not sent a prophet because all of these arguments were settled the day Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. Why is it so difficult for Christians to understand an accept that Jesus died for all the wrong we may do in life? Including not celebrating on the correct day of the week whatever day that might be? In the end however, God just wants our love. He wants us to make up our minds which day is for us and rejoice in his name. Which day it was done 3000 years ago is not important to him. What is important to God is if we bother remembering him the other 6 days of the week. Do you, if you do remember him and rejoice in him daily then the correct day of the week should not even be an issue. If you truly rejoice in the Lord on a daily basis , even if unaware, you are rejoicing in the Lord on the correct day of the week. Did it ever occur to you that's exactly how God wants it? 

With Love Always,
Your Sister in Christ

Friday, August 13, 2010

Thankfulness to the Lord

Life is so hard, often times so hard that we forget to thank our Lord and Savior. To give him the appreciation he very much deserves and needs to hear from us. Jesus might have suffered great pain so we don't have to suffer at the hand of sin but he doesn't expect us to go through life being negligent in our appreciation. Sure we may wake up in the morning and say the same prayer we say day after day, repeat the same words we utter the same day at meal times but are we really giving thanks to the Lord or are we saying these prayers because we have become accustomed to saying them?  The Lord asks that we remember him at all times. That the first thing we think about in the morning be him and that all other things that cross our minds should do so with our Father in mind. This is why so many people feel an absence of God in their lives. Instead of living for God they expect God to live for them. We often let our troubles build up and upon our backs until the weight becomes so unbearable that we are forced down to our knees by the sheer weight of sin, hate and other troubles.  Weight that could be lifted almost immediately if we stopped trying to get God to live for us and started living for God. Weight that could be lifted if we stop expecting our Lord to save us when we get too deep in our problems and troubles. We should not be forced upon our knees by the weight of the world because Jesus Christ has taken the weight of the world and promised to bear it for us. Through faith and living FOR God we can all have access to a weight free life, a life empty of pain and empty of suffering. A life when put to the challenge can stand strong and upright like the most beautiful flower in the garden.

An example of a daily life living for God should go a little something like this:

Wake up "Thank you Lord God for another beautiful day of life"
See our children for the first time in the AM: "Thank you Lord God for another day with these beautiful blessings"
Have breakfast: "Thank you Lord God for the nourishment to get through this day in health"
Get dressed: "Thank you Lord God for the clothes you put on my back so that I may not get cold"
Walk out the door for work: "Thank you Lord God for the means to get to work and a job to go to so that I may provide for the family you have so graciously blessed me with."
Come home from work: "Thank you Lord God for the roof over my head, that I may have shelter from the storm and comfort after a long hard day at work."

and so on and so on....

A life of living for God should not just consist of the same monotonous prayer we say daily but of a days worth of thankfulness. It is being truly thankful that will keep us from devaluing the life we have been blessed with. It is through thankfulness that we will always be reminded that even though we might have troubles and challenges we still have God on our side because we ALL have blessings in our lives.  And it is through thankfulness that we always remember who is the most important being in our entire existence, our Lord God and the Savior Jesus Christ.  Because our faith is so often discouraged we tend to become overwhelmed by daily struggle even though it is promised that if you live according to the Gospel we will be overwhelmed with greatness and be able to overcome all struggles. This is another thing thankfulness is good for, it is good for allowing us to always keep faith in our Heavenly Father so that we can live the promised life. Isn't that what we all want, to live in everlasting peace? Everlasting peace is promised to all of those willing to reach out to the Lord and take it. The guidebook to living in everlasting peace is the same book you take with you to church service on Sundays or for some Saturdays, the Bible. We should all keep this wonderful book with us at all times to read when life gets tough because the bible is filled with loving words from our Father so that we might get through this life.

Speaking of which I challegne whoever comes across this page to open up your bible right now and start reading from Genesis all the way through the New Testament. Read it, study it and pray when it leaves you confused, joyful, sad and overwhelmed so that the truth of it's words will fill your soul. Once you are done reading it, read it again because what you read the first time will say different things the second. And if you are thinking to yourself you will start this challenge after you finish reading whatever meaningless book you are reading at the moment, ask yourself why you are putting this Author above your God and why your Jealous God might have just gotten angry with you. Then put that meaningless book in a drawer and follow the path of your heart and your conscience which is your God leading you to do the right thing. It is my promise and the promise of God that if you do so you will be filled with the great love of the Spirit ten fold because his words are holy and blessed. 

Psalm 97:12 Be glad in the LORD, you righteous ones, And give thanks to His holy name.


With Love Always,
Your Sister in Christ

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Hugs from the Lord...

The other night after the kids were in bed and my wonderful husband was snoring away I stepped outside for my nightly conversation with my Lord in Heaven. I stared up at the beautiful starry sky enjoying the quiet night and told the Lord how much I loved him. Numerous times during our conversation I felt his arms around me, wound tightly just as real as if my husband or one of my children had wrapped their arms around me. I felt warm and at peace as I always do during these wonderful and enlightening conversations when my father holds me close and lets me feel his love on a higher level.

There have been times in my life where I shared these moments with others, telling them what they must think is crazy talk. Telling them about how wonderful it is to be hugged by God. Almost every time they tell me how impossible it is to be physically embraced by our father in Heaven. And each time and every time I reply to them "Impossible? Are you telling me you as a believer in the Lord honestly think he has never physically embraced you?" Typically they jump around things not quite knowing how to respond. If they say no, they are basically saying they don't believe anything they have been taught, if they say yes they sound as insane as I do.

But let me tell you my friends, if ever there was a day that our Lord in Heaven did not wrap his arms around you I will jump from the highest peak of the highest Mountain in the world to my death because my life is a lie. I can assure you that just as I feel the Lords arms wrapped tightly around me you can feel them wrapped just as tightly around you. I don't care who you are, where you come from, what sins you have committed he is your Lord, he is your Father just as much as he is mine and he loves you as much as he loves anyone.  To physically feel his loving arms all you must do is establish a real and true relationship with him. Go to him with your arms open wide, treat him as if he were the only person in your life who has ever truly loved you because he IS the only person in existence who knows what true love is in order to give it. God taught us all in the bible that no one in this world would love us as he loves us. That everyone especially our family and our friends will turn on us at some point in our lives. Sure our family might come back with open arms but the Lord God will never turn on us because he honestly COULDN'T turn on us! He loves us with such purity and honesty that it would be impossible for him to turn and deny us the love that we ask him for.  Even in times we feel alone he is with us, holding us together and keeping us strong. I know in my own life there are things I have been through that there is no way in the entire world I could have made it through alone.  It was with God's love that I came back to the reality that is this life the Lord has given me.

Like everyone else I struggle with daily challenges. Bills must get paid, jobs must be tended to, children must be nurtured and problems must be solved. I have a disabled child who presents her own struggle. But with each smile, each song she sings, each prayer she prays I know she is as perfect as a rainbow sent down from heaven to remind us how much The Lord loves us. She is my rainbow reminder, her and my other two precious Angels. My children are Gods physical manifestation of his love, just as are your children. God shows us in so many ways the love he has for us , all we need to do is be receptive to that love. It truly is THAT EASY.  God Loves you my wonderful and amazing brothers and sisters, embrace him as I have embraced him and your life will never be the same!

Love always,
Your Sister in God

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

How To Find God 101 minus 100:

 STOP RUNNING, he is in the other direction!

 

Follow this simple rule and you will find yourself in a new relationship with the greatest friend you will ever have.  I can assure you that you will find God in the same place you left him when you started running away.  And you know what? Chances are if you stay right where you are and just stop running he will catch back up to you, God is quick so be on your toes! 

Love,
Your Sister in God

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Finding God

I have always had a special relationship with my Lord in Heaven. He has shared my joy, pain, suffering, love and tears. I have spent many daily hours speaking directly to him knowing he was listening to every word. Each conversation I had with God since I was a small child gave me peace. I have not ever just said a prayer, other than those I say at the dining table before a meal or the one I say on my knees at bedtime. My normal "prayers" are full on in detail conversations like those I have with my best friend, mainly because my best friend is God. I do not get down on my knees and beg for change or for God to make things better. In fact I actually say no payer at all other than the prayer commanded by my brother Jesus Christ which we all know as The Lords Prayer. Through this prayer I know my Lord will answer any questions I may have or address any need that needs addressing as he knows more about me than I know about myself. I have always adored the relationship I have with my Heavenly Father, it has been my rock in the hardest of times. Knowing he was there for me no matter what mistake I made kept me strong even in times where my strength felt like it was failing me.

My relationship with God and the fact I know he is there, that he is walking right beside me. That sometimes we even share the same shoes is why it makes it so hard to hear my husband tell me he thinks God does not love him and that there is no hope for him so difficult. How my husband could hear daily my love for my father and still not open his heart makes me hurt so much for him. How he could not see the light in our 3 year old's eyes when she hears the name Jesus Christ or the love in our 20 month old's heart when she crosses her hands for dinner prayer.  I know in this world we are given challenges that can make believing difficult and my husband has had many of those challenges as have I. Some we have even weathered together.  But I also know that God walks beside him, holding his hand tighter than he ever held mine and that God yearns for the day he opens his heart even the slightest. I know one day that time will come, I have seen tiny glimmers of hope time and time throughout the years. My husband just has yet to understand that HE is the one running from God, not Vice Versa. That God would welcome him with loving arms if he would only ask for God to wrap his arms around him just one time. The same goes for everyone. God loves each and every one of us equally and his arms are open constantly. BUT he would chose to save the one struggling to believe before he would save the believer. As believers and lovers of Christ we are already saved, saved by the grace of our brother Jesus Christ.  It is the wanderers of the world that need Gods love the most. God is standing at the crossroads waiting for those who cannot seem to stop running from him to slow down long enough to hear God shout "I LOVE YOU".  Long enough to realize that the day Jesus Christ died on that cross he died for all of us. God wants to tell you that you are saved just like I am saved. I beg of you my brothers and sisters, my amazing wonderful husband to walk with me, walk with God and accept his saving grace as he accepts you as you are.  There is no love in this world greater than the love of our Father!

Love always,
Your Sister in God