I look at my life as a parent and cannot help but see the parallel to God with us.  As I have journeyed through this life, I have learned some lessons the hard way.  I saw that to do things a certain way really is a good idea.  I use to be one of those that tested things.  I had to learn things through experiences.  But I am glad to say that as time has marched on I have become wiser.  I listen to advice more, I watch to see the way I should go and I understand that there really is a right way and everything else really is the wrong way.  I don't say this to start an argument but state it as fact according to my years on this earth.

I am not in anyway trying to start a discussion about it.  I am just stating that there is a narrow path and a wide path.  On the path that is wide, it is easy for a time.  It may even seem right or fun.  But I can tell you that in math 2+2 is always going to be 4.  You can try all the other answers but they will still be wrong.  It doesn't matter how much you debate it, how much you argue that it is not 4, truth is NOT relative.  Truth is truth.

As a parent, we try to lead our children in the path which is good and right for their sake.  Just as our Father has given us very specific guidelines to live well in this life.  As scripture says "so it may go well with you."  Our confinement in the commands of God are our salvation.

When we go off on our on in this life, we find that walking the wrong path is dissatisfying and we get frustrated.  When we disregard God's commands, we are walking our own way and trying to do life in spite of God.

I can tell you that living in that manner cannot lead you into peace.  We were not created to live separated from our creator as much as many would like to think.  It is the center of who we are; we seeks for meaning and purpose.  We may seek fame, money, success, relationship, drugs, sex etc. to fill the longing, but I can tell you it will never be enough.  It will not satisfy and we will never be at peace in it.

Peace comes when you finally figure out that you are not in right standing with God and you need to be reconciled with Him.  Redemption comes when you receive His restitution for you.  It comes when you begin to line yourself up with what He says and what He wills for your life.  The wonderful news of the gospel is that I can be at peace with God through Jesus Christ.  He paid for my sin on the cross so I wouldn't have to.

Our pastor painted an amazing picture of Christ's suffering and crucifixion and the thought came to me as he was being quite graphic that that is what my sin looks like on my insides and on the insides of others that I sin against.  With each laceration, His stripes healed me and made me right with God.  It justified me. (Just-if-I'd --never sinned)  He made it as if I had never sinned.  That is the good news.  (The best part of waking UP is not Folgers in your cup.  It is waking up to this wonderful truth that I can be in RIGHT standing with the God of the universe and that He wants me to be in relationship with Him)

So the best part is that He showed us a better way to live this life through His commands and they are not just a good idea.  They are the WAY to live victoriously. (they are narrow and specific - not vague so we have to wonder)  There is no better feeling than to sit before God at peace with Him.  Having nothing between us.  Being fully and completely one with Him.

Go today and seek the right path.  Walk in it and even when it seems difficult and challenging, do it any way. Consider the trials you face as you walk in this right-ness, pure joy.  Because as you walk right and the trials come so does the development of character and perseverance.  Walk it out and become a person of integrity.  Do it well.  Choose to continue to walk in this path for the rest of your life, day by day. You will see what the Lord intended for your life if you will just choose to walk in the way of Christ.  Let the Bible be your road map today.

I dare you!

New Year's Resolution

Now that we are in a new year.  I am thinking this is a great time to begin to challenge myself to some sort of New Year's resolution.  This year I wanted  to drink water in the place of my typical drink of choice, un-sweet tea and do it for the month of January.  I do love me some tea to drink and I prefer it to the food I eat.  But I have to admit trying to accomplish this has been difficult.  Although I have blown it several times already, I just keep on trying.  I think it is a great idea for me to challenge these choices in my life to be certain I am in balance and that there are no things that are controlling me in my life other than Christ.  So if you have made a resolution to lose weight, to exercise, or whatever, know this, if you happen to mess up, just get right back at it.  Don't give up.  (Also, if you say I want to start at the beginning of the week and by midweek you blow it, don't wait until the beginning of the next week to start again.  Just start back the next day)  Don't sabotage yourself.  Do pace yourself and be reasonable with your expectations.

I know that with those wanting to drop weight, if you mess up you feel as if you have completely blown it and you may give up.  But I want to take the time to encourage you.  Please do not go on a diet.  Diets NEVER work permanently.  You ask "why", it is because dieting is a misused word in our vocabulary.  Diet is just the way you eat.  We have turned it into depriving the body of certain foods temporarily  to lose the weight we want until the weight is gone.  Then we return to eating the way we did and returning to the weight we were and then some more.  Yet everyone just needs to change that way of thinking.  It doesn't work long term.  If you want permanent weight loss it has to be a LIFESTYLE change.  You have to change the way you relate to food for the rest of your life.  If you choose a diet, ask yourself this question, can I eat this way for the rest of my life.  If the answer is no, keep looking for a reasonable meal plan.

So here is the way to succeed in my opinion.  Eat a sensible diet (notice I didn't say go on a sensible diet).  Eat when you are hungry where you have much more fruits, veggies, healthy grains and nuts.  I typically keep my meat intake to 3 or 4 ounces as my serving size. (I don't have to have meat at every meal)  Drink lots of water.  If you do not like water, try to find a fruit you like to flavor the water, such as lemon, strawberry, or even a cucumber or bananas.

I always suggest getting off of the artificial sweetners.  Too many studies show headaches and weight gain as the side effects.  http://www.doctoroz.com/search?q1=artificial+sweeteners&cat=all&sort=relevancy
Several references are available by other sources as well.  However, here is my greatest source, look around at all that choose this type of sweetners, are they small or not?  Test it for yourself.  I do not know of anyone that actually lost weight as a result.

But I simply would like to see each person that reads this to be healthier in 2013.  I have been watching a number of documentaries about eating healthy.  If you have a membership with Netflix, I recommend watching a few of these.
Food Matters;  Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead;  Hungry for Change.
These videos are good sources of information if you are interested.

And lastly, be a body in motion.  You don't have to have a membership to a gym.  I recommend it since I work at one and I believe it is such a great incentive to work out.  But you can find other options too.  Buy a low cost pedometer and wear it all day.  At the end of the day it is recommended you walk a total of 10,000 steps.  That comes to approximately 5 miles.  If you would like further information, check out this website.  http://www.thewalkingsite.com/10000steps.html

Be healthy and blessed today and hope that 2013 is a great year for you.

Searching

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Psalm 139:23-34

I love this verse.  I saw it posted this morning on Facebook by a friend of mine.  It reminded me how I need to pray this to God frequently.   Many years ago, I was doing a bible study by Beth Moore and that was one of the verses  she talked about and I frequently have prayed this verse in prayer.  I cannot tell you the full fruit that has come from me doing so.  

As I have asked God to search me, He already does but I give Him a welcome invitation.  As He does so and begins to give me conviction and revelation about myself, I then ask Him to forgive me and equip me to walk free of those things that offend Him.  He does so predominately by filling me with the holy spirit.  As the Holy Spirit becomes more full in me the less offensive I am to God.  

So my challenge today is to ask God to search me, to know my heart.  To test me and know my thoughts that are troubling me.   To point out the things in me that offend Him and to be led in a right life that pleases Him by the Spirit.

Hope you will join me.

Be blessed today.

Pondering the Book, The Harbinger

What is becoming of our society?  We are traveling rapidly down a very slippery slope.  I am not sure where we will end up.

I have been reading the book "The Harbinger" and it really has me thinking.  This is not lighthearted reading.  It is one of those books that keeps you thinking and pondering.  It also keeps you engaged in the story.  I recommend it to those who look around and cannot quite put their finger on what is wrong with what is happening in our society.  But for those who do know for certain, we are way off track as a country.

Those of us who are patriotic and love our country and all it stands for, or at the least, stood for, I recommend this book.

Amazon - The Harbinger
  

Getting Dressed

Looking at the Old Testament and New Testament verses that tell us to "put on".

Click here to see all of the scripture verses in the Old and New testament telling us to put on something.

As I ponder these verses, I think of our daily routine.  We get up out of bed, we eat breakfast, we shower, and we chose to get dressed for the day.  We women tend to contemplate our attire more deeply than our male counterparts. Either way, we all make an effort to get dressed.

So as I review these verses, as I stated in my pondering of the OT verses, So our garments that we PUT ON spiritually transmit holiness?  It sure is worth thinking on.   

What are we told to put on?

OT

Put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban.

Put on strength

Put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head 

And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.

NT

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ

Put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Put on the new self,

Put on the full armor of God

      HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

Put On the New Self

Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience ;

Put on love

Put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

So we are to intentionally to get dressed each day spiritually just as we do physically.  We are to be clothed in Jesus Christ.  We mortals are to put on immortality as God has set eternity in our hearts.  As we put on Jesus, we cannot manufacture it.  As we sit quietly in His presence, basking in that fellowship, He becomes our armor bearer.  The armor bearer helps the warrior PUT ON their armor before the battle.  We cannot do it ourselves.  We must come before our armor bearer and allow Him to work with us as we CHOSE to PUT ON all that we are to PUT ON for the day.  You see we have an armor bearer that KNOWS what we need to wear in order to face the day that is before us. 

So as we choose to be clothed in Christ, we will be a new self, we will be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle and patient.  As we allow Christ to dress us in this new self

Since we no longer really use a breastplate, lets take a look at what it is.

• One definition says it is a device worn over the torso to protect it from injury, as an item of religious significance, or as an item of status. (I think the closest thing we have in our time is the bullet proof vest)

• Also a "breastplate" or "breastpiece" was among the clothes of the Jewish High Priest. In the Bible, the word Breastplate is used figuratively to describe protecting oneself from unrighteousness ( Isaiah 59:17, Ephesians 6:14 )

Read some of the information regarding the breastplate on this web page.  It is beautifully written. The Breastplate of the High Priest   Also  from Breastplate of Righteousness    "At the time the Bible was written, the breastplate was perhaps the most important piece of armament for a Roman soldier to put on and keep on in battle.  It protected his heart area, and other vital organs.  What significance does the “breastplate of righteousness” have for believers now? It is perhaps best understood in this manner:

• Project yourself into the future.  Imagine standing before God on the Judgment Day.  You will enter the place of Judgment with one of these two garments.
• 1) Your filthy robe of unrighteous rags.
• 2) Christ’s spotless robe of righteousness.  
• Either you will have your filthy unrighteous robe of rags covering you, or you will have Christ’s spotless robe of righteousness covering you -- there is no third robe God will allow you to wear on the Judgment Day.  And ... it will be your choice of which robe you will be wearing: God gives each of us that choice right now. 
• How do we describe your or my “filthy robe of rags?”  Our robe of filthy, sin-saturated rags is our own perceived holiness – our own perceived righteousness - we bring or attempt to present to God, based on our “religious doing good.”  This was what we ignorantly (or pridefully) did during our lifetime on earth to try to help make ourselves “good enough” to be allowed to spend eternity in heaven with God."

The battle for Christians is in the mind. Thoughts believed become spirit. God has given us armor to protect us in this thought life battle. Righteousness is the first thing to seek, and the first thing the devil wants to take from you. If he can get your righteousness he can inflict a terrible wound.  The devil always wants Christians to base their righteousness on their own performance. Your performance will never qualify you to be righteous. Even if you had a a perfectly flawless performance and never sinned but one time you would be disqualified. The bible says Jesus is our righteousness. When the priests took the lamb before the sacrifice in the temple they examined the lamb for the flaws not the person bringing the lamb. If you start talking to the devil about anything righteousness related that relies on your performance you loose. The only righteousness that exists for human kind is the blood of Jesus Christ. Their is no human righteousness. If you messed up then put it under the blood and use your breastplate.

Joseph prince quote:

“I believe that right believing leads to right living. You cannot set yourself free from condemnation by self-efforts. But when you believe the finished work of Jesus has made you righteous in God’s eyes, you receive His power to reign over your negative circumstances and live the abundant life.
Condemnation kills, but the Spirit gives life! Always look to the finished work of Jesus who paid the price for your freedom. Look and live!”

As a trainer in the fitness industry, I am always encouraging my clients to strengthen their core.  the reason we strengthen the core is so we can stand strong and be able to properly support our structure.  A strong core helps prevent injuries and maintain healthy living, it also allows you to do the things you need to do with less fatigue.  ALL physical movements originate in the "core"

Protection from Prosperity

Protect yourself against prosperity that brings death spiritually.  How?  I believe the Lord wants to bless us.
Prosperity deals with overall well being, abundance, and overflow.  So when we are in abundance of anything, we grow complacent in that area.  We forget who supplied the abundance and that very forgetfulness can become the reason we lose it.

We protect prosperity by being thankful to the ONE that supplied it.

God wants to bless us with all spiritual blessings, but because he is such a great Daddy, He will only give us what we are ready for and what we can handle.  Too much abundance brings death to the soul.

Be on guard.

Remember we enter His presence with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.  So praise Him for who He is and thank Him for all He has done, and as always, walk in obedience to Him daily.

Just a few moments ago I posted another blog post about the book The Harbinger.  Read the two in relationship to each other.  This was a post I had prepared some time ago but held onto it in my drafts.  I guess it was not finished with it.  But as I was reading thru my old drafts, I couldn't get passed how it pertains to the book I am reading and referenced in my post this very day.

HMMM!

Paul Harvey's Prophecy

This is a little something that was sent to me in an email.  Just something to ponder.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/H3Az0okaHig?rel=0

Focus on the Present

We need to learn to LIVE in the present. It is the only time/situation you can affect. You can't change the past. Worrying about the future will not alter it one bit. So deal with the future once it is today. Did you know that about 90% of the things we worry about never happen. That means we worry for nothing 90% of the time. Besides worrying doesn't do anything to help the situation. It just robs us of the moment we have before us. So BE ALERT to the moment. Live in the moment. You will feel much better and enjoy where you are. Even enjoy your life. We can make good intentional choices and decisions TODAY.

If your current moment is filled with Lemons, learn to love lemonade. Remember, no matter how hard you try to make a lemon into an orange, it will never be. So add lots of SUGAR (SWEETNESS) and drink up. You may not love lemons and prefer the orange, but maybe in this season of your life, God knows you need the lemons! YIKES

Renovation (again?)

Going thru another renovation in my home.  This time it is the small 1960's size bathroom (looks like an average size closet).  We cannot really increase the size but we are updating the look.  As I am typing this, there is the sound of breaking tile and hammering going on.  The cement behind the tile is really thick and the there is wire behind that.  I think it is going to take lots of time and effort to get that out of there.

However, progress is noisy, messy, intrusive in our daily lives.  But in order to go from where we are to where we want/need to be, it takes going thru the mess, noise and discomfort.  Spiritually speaking, God never wants to leave us in our current state.  He has plans for us that go beyond what we can even fathom.  We long to be significant yet we don't want to get out of our comfort zone in order to become significant.

I was watching a movie "What If..."  and this angel is talking to the main character.  The man says to the angel, "It can't be that simple."  And the angel replied, "It is that simple. It is just hard."  That made me think that the entire Christian walk is that way.  It really is simple but it is hard for us because we really don't want to go thru the renovation process with our Lord.  It takes work, it is painful and yes sometimes it can be a bit annoying and noisy.  We really just want Him to do a miracle in us and immediately have the new person appear.  We always like the miraculous, but God loves the process.  He also knows us.  We need that time, and that process in order to appreciate the work He does in us.  We think of miracles as being those instant changes, but that process works in us a maturity and a staying power in us that no instant fix can ever do.   so really that process of God working in us is a miracle.

BUT with my bathroom scenario, the process of change takes time, hammering, strange smells, LOTS OF DUST, and the intrusiveness of having people in my home until the BEAUTY of a new bathroom appears.  So will be the case for us and our process of change to become significant and be able to be used by God in His purpose for our lives.

So here is my question for the day; Are we willing to go thru the pain, discomfort and interruptions to become the beautiful creation that our Lord died for us to become?  The only way we can truly see what He has in mind for our lives is to surrender to Him and tell Him you are ready for your new remodel!!!!!!!!!

Let the construction begin!

PS. I came across a little statement that I thought went along well with this topic.  "It was never promised to us to be easy, only worth it."


Be blessed today.
Your sister in Christ

The Love Letter Christ

2 Cor 3:3  Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.        

Oh I want to be a letter worth reading!  How will that be possible?  I think through cooperation with the Holy Spirit in full surrender, willing to be molded by obedience to God's word, allowing my "own evil desires" to be crucified daily, and learning to walk in love; I will be a love letter from Christ to the world worth reading.

Wow, the world needs this  hope and yet the very place I am called to minister (the world) can become a distraction to me.  The world can become so enticing that we loose sight of our Lord, our calling, and our ministry.  It makes my heart ache at how much the world needs what we have, which is the hope of glory and salvation.  But believers in Christ who get distracted by the world are like a doctor you go to for help with your health and the doctor is too distracted by his own health that he starts talking more about his own ailments than being concerned for your welfare.

We were called to demonstrate the "results" of being reconciled with God through Christ to a world that is in desparate need of the same results.  Although they may not know it, they too need to be reconciled with God.  This reconciliation should bring about a life of joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, compassion.  Is the world seeing that in the believers?  We each need to search our hearts and answer that question honestly.

I for one want my life to be a letter worth reading!!
 

 

Be Still and Know that I am God

 Pondering the things that consume our time.  I wonder how it is that we get so busy doing things that we may have even been led by the Holy Spirit to do.  Yet in the midst of the execution of our tasks, we lose site of the one that called us to it.  I think that I personally forget that the reason the Lord called me was in order that I may be His instrument to accomplish HIS will.  I can feel myself saying in the middle of the busyness "well I have got it from here" and just going on my merry way just doing the thing by my self.

You know that God created us because He wanted to be in relationship with us.  Not so we could "do things" for Him.

I am really trying to rest in the "be still and know that He is God" command right now.  That is right where I am and where I want to stay.  It is such a great place of rest for me.

I have been in the middle of some serious activity.  Things have been going on that just gets your attention.  I spend WAY too much time in the trenches.  As I am in the midst of this whirlwind of activity, I have to remind myself that I am too busy NOT to seek the Lord.

Hoping to have some much needed time of rest and rejuvenation.