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To live is Christ- Paul
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus

To live is Christ- Paul

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I have seen a lot of pain, mostly caused by people, I have seen a lot of tears, I have heard a lot of cries, I know that pain and suffering fill this earth and I know that many say, “then how can there be a loving God who could prevent all this?”

I get it, it’s hard to see how good He is when the news shows so much evil in this world, but we must remember, He gives us a free will and people have dark hearts at times, evil lives here on earth and the devil is constantly causing people to sin. We are selfish at times, we are uncaring at times, so there is pain. People want to claim that God doesn’t exist and then when bad things happen blame everything on Him because that’s the easiest solution it seems at times.
So why in a world so racked with pain do I believe in a loving God? Because there os still laughter, there is still healing that the doctors can’t explain, there is still hope in the eyes of the persecuted, those who are dying because they believe in Jesus so how dare I, how dare any of us who believe in Christ be willing to give up the fight because people want to laugh at us, or call us names, or wrongly accuse us? If people who are being killed still have hope in Jesus and do not deny or doubt Him in the midst of all they suffer then shouldn’t we?
To live is Christ Paul said. To live is to live for Jesus, nothing matters in this world but Him. If He is all that matters to you, then the opinions of this world won’t harm you.
Right now the persecuted Church needs extra prayer, and so do the people going back to school, those people who like to cause pain are out there, but God sends Warrior Angels to protect His children, just ask for them and look to see the difference that God makes. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength- Phillipians 4:13

Dear Jesus,
Send your warrior angels to protect your people this moment and every moment ahead of them. This world is full of pain and hate so helps us to be love through your healing to this hurting world. Help us to be different in a good way and to be so full of you that those around us can’t hurt us. I ask this in Jesus name, amen.

Fear
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Fear

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Fear

Today I want to discuss fear. Why? Because today I was afraid. What I hate is that I had just listened to an amazing sermon on being happy and still my fear took me over. What happened next, I was condescending and rude to the person I was afraid for. I was not at risk of anything but they were and I care about them a lot, so I reacted to my fear for them and have felt sick about it all day. I needed to trust that Jesus had it covered, but instead I rose up and was unkind while trying to protect the person I care about. Love shows itself in many different forms, aggression and anger sometimes being those forms, which actually doesn’t make a lot of sense. When you are afraid you react, and that reaction can cause bad things to occur. What are causes of fear?
Being human.
We know that God has things covered and yet fear grabs us and destroys our rational thinking. Some say of you fear you aren’t a true Christian because it means you don’t trust God. I disagree. Fear can hit us even when we are trusting God because we are still human, yes we should take our fear to God but we should also know that He isn’t angry at us for being afraid. David criticized his own soul for it’s fear and told it to have courage in God, but the fear was still there. Fear is not a sin, how we respond to that fear can be. But God understands, He isn’t angry that you are afraid, He simply wants you to give your fear to Him and to trust Him.

God values YOU
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · searching · The Bible · True Joy

God values YOU

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One person does not define you.
Five people don’t define you.
People don’t define you, God does.
Jesus defines who you are, He directs who you are.
Look at your life through the eyes of the man on the cross, the man walking out of the tomb, God sitting on His throne. If He was willing to die for you, the you who you are right now, then what person has earned the right to try and judge you? If God loves you enough to give up everything for you, then isn’t that enough to show you your value? Because you do have value! You right now reading this, God wants you to know that you have value and are valued by Him.
People don’t define you, God does.

Listening or just hearing?
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Listening or just hearing?

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I want to live like I have been listening.

Do we live like we have been listening? I know that I don’t always. There will be things I say or do or don’t do and I realize after that it was not Christian. I know that sounds ridiculous to some, or maybe it sounds familiar others but it is still true. I used to always wear a WWJD bracelet to school so that I would remember that I was to live like Christ, yet it is so easy to forget who we are supposed to be following. The world says ‘If it makes you happy, then do it.’ But God says to do all things that are pleasing to Him (Romans 21:1). Do people ask us why we are different? Do they see Jesus in us? Do we live like we pay attention to our pastors, to our Bible, to Jesus? Do we live like we have been listening? I know that I don’t always, and I ask Jesus and The Holy Spirit to help me do better, all you have to do is ask and they will guide and help you. Trust Jesus, listen to Jesus and live like Christ the best you can. You won’t be perfect, you can’t be, but God looks at the effort of us doing our absolute best and that is all we need to strive for, because only He is perfect.

But he was God’s man, so he succeeded.
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But he was God’s man, so he succeeded.

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But he was God’s man, so he succeeded.

How often do we see this in the Bible? How often do we watch as something unbelievable happens simply because the person is God’s.
Today my dad spoke on Genesis 14, he told is many great things to remember but the thing that stuck out to me the most was what he said about Abraham. If Abraham hadn’t been God’s man, if you hadn’t had had the angels of heaven, the armies of God coming with him you never would have been able to defeat the Kings and save lot. That is so true in so much that we go through. There are so many times when I feel like I should fail because I am inadequate to the task, but because I call on God and have him with me somehow I succeed. There is no way we can survive or succeed on our own, yes there are people who have made a success of themselves even though they are not Christians but it’s not the same, it’s not the kind of success that’s fulfilling. If you have Jesus you have everything, if you don’t have Jesus you have nothing. I know there will be times when Jesus doesn’t feel like he is enough to sustain you but he will always be enough and eventually you will see it. Keep pushing through and fighting forward, because somehow Jesus will do the impossible.

A dry flower
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A dry flower

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Today I was watering my grandpa’s flowers and when I came around the corner, in the far back away from every other plant, I saw this small and dehydrated pansy. Obviously I poured some water on it and watched it spring back up. I felt happy as I watched the flower regain it’s zuberince. Then I realized how like us that flower is, we have dry moments, sometimes even dry years, where we feel like we are separated from everyone else and that nobody notices Us and nobody cares. Suddenly, just as we feel we are about to fade away, God delivers us from our drought and pours his healing water on us, and we are able to stand once again. Jesus never looks away, and he always sees us, Even in our times of testing in trial, Even in our times of dryness, he is taking care of us and he never lets us fade away. Right when we don’t think we can take anymore he pours his healing water on us and we come alive again. Don’t let your times of drought make you feel like the father doesn’t care or isn’t watching, sometimes we have to become dry so we can grow in him. Even if you can’t feel his presence today, he is watching and caring for you, and loves you.

Somehow
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Somehow

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Jesus is the God of somehow.

Somehow the disease vanished, somehow the pain is gone, somehow they got the job, somehow they survived it, somehow it was all okay.
Jesus is the God of the amazing and unexplainable, the things that happen that don’t make sense- the impossible. When the doctor says, “I don’t know how, but the colitis is gone” -that’s God. When the police say, “there is no reason they should have survived that accident” -that’s God. When the addict says, “I don’t know how but I managed to turn away from my addiction”- that’s God.
God is the God of the unexplained.
He doesn’t prevent suffering all the time, sometimes He let’s us go through something that we need Him to help us through or rescue us from so that we acknowledge His wonders. You may say, “what about when God doesn’t heal or rescue?” That is a painful but fair question, sometimes God’s miracle is simply being sustained through suffering or trial. I know that for some that isn’t good enough, but when you have God the burden is lifted. That doesn’t mean that it is gone, that means that it is raised so that you can keep walking. Someday, somehow God will end the pain, and when He does you will probably say, “somehow, I’m still okay.”
Somehow she kept her faith.
Somehow she persevered.   
Somehow she held on to Jesus so tight that she feared at times her hands would give up, but she kept on and saw her redemption.

I know many of you are in the pain moments right now and I would like to take a minute to pray for your somehow moment.
Dear Jesus we ask in your name that you will touch every person who is in pain right now oh, that you will touch them and heal them from there pain and suffering whether it is physical and emotional, psychological, whether it is an outside suffering that is plaguing them or an internal suffering. In their families or in their bodies or in their daily lives. Jesus whatever the painful is help please we ask, and give these people who you love their somehow moments, their moment of ‘somehow I made it through’, ‘somehow I was delivered’, ‘somehow it’s all okay’ because somehow you always manage to work things out for our good even if we can’t see it from where we stand now, we ask these things in your name of Jesus, Amen.

Beyond your cage
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Beyond your cage

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Reach beyond your cages and praise God!

Today my beautiful mom was worshiping God behind a covid safe screen in our church this morning and it made me realize that God is reaching down behind many walls and cages, He’s reaching for us. There are people in prisons, in underground churches, in basements, in flood and fire areas, in churches that are restrained by the government, in their own homes- afraid to go out. In hospitals, In sick beds, in care homes. Whatever your cage is. If your cage is literal or figurative. God is reaching down behind your walls and your cages to grab your up reached hands, up reached hearts and to lift you out of your cage. Sometimes Jesus enters in and if you look around you can see Jesus in your cage with you.
                             Your cage is not God’s cage.
God is working even when you can’t see past the bars. My dad’s old school mate Billy Richards said that faith is a muscle, you need to use it to make it strong. You can either let your cage defeat you, or you can let it grow you and your faith. Believe that Jesus can save you, He has already saved you, trusting His will can hurt- but it is always the right path to take.

No matter your cage, remember that Jesus loves you, and you have the savior with you.

        Jesus, we know that you can save us from our cage, no matter what it is, we use our Faith in you and know that you are with us even in our cages- amen.

Read Paul’s letters from prison and see how God can work beyond the bars of your cages❤ 
        

Crows in your attic?
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Crows in your attic?

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Last summer I lived in our trailer during the covid lockdown to make it feel like I was camping. While there I found that I had new neighbors, a pair of crows. They had built a big nest nest to me in the rafters of our pole barn. No big deal right? Ha! They had three babies, loud babies, from dawn till 10 am crying babies. Oh ya. At first I hated them, so loud all the time. Then as a week went by and then another I learned to love them. I named them and would call to them when I walked by, and they learned my voice and responded to me. The cawing I hated became the sound of a friend. Did you know that crows learn to recognize your voice so they can avoid you if you are an enemy? These ones learned to trust me as a friend, and now that they have moved on because a racoon destroyed their nest this year, I miss them.
Isn’t that the way it is with people? You can learn to hate them, to hate things about them and to want them gone, but then after you get to know them you sometimes realize that they are actually great! That you eventually can’t imagine life without them and miss them when they are gone. Just like my ugly feathered friends, the more you get to know and understand these people – the more they welcome you into their circle, the more you learn to care about them. Maybe that’s why Jesus had his disciples eat with other people, spend time with other people oh, and get to know them beyond where they stood in the community. Because He knew that when you open yourself up to others you learn more about yourself and are more accepting those around you. 
I am grateful for my ugly feathered friends teaching me the lesson of learning to love those around you, even if they are noisy and messy and oh so very loud.

Gain through giving?
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Gain through giving?

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I once heard it said, that the reason we give so much up in our lives for other people is because they are what we leave behind when we are gone, through them our lives continue. It sounds a little strange until you think about it. When I mention a ‘but God’ moment, it’s my poppa speaking through me, when I struggle and find myself putting scripture in my shoes so all day I am standing on the word of God, that’s my nana. Those who are gone leave their legacy in us, and if they hadn’t taken the time and effort to teach me, serve me and be with me I might not have the strength that their words gave me. Nana is gone to Heaven but she still lives and guides and teaches through all the people she put effort into. We live in a ‘serve yourself first and then you will have the strength to serve others’ theory in this world, even evangelist speakers have said this once in awhile, and not that serving yourself is wrong, but if the only one you serve is yourself then that is wrong. Jesus didn’t say ‘love yourself, that is the greatest commandment,’ He said ‘love the Lord your God, and your neighbour as yourself.’ If all we ever do is serve us we miss out on the true Joy of serving others and through serving others serving God. Our joy comes from fellowship with Christ, you cannot serve yourself only and have fellowship with others. This sounds really discouraging I know, but I’m not saying drop everything and give up all your time for others, I mean we should actively aim and strive to be servants. If you want to spend a day sitting on the couch watching TV that’s fine, but if while sitting on that couch somebody calls you in need and you refuse to go because you’re busy taking care of yourself isn’t that wrong? As in all things there’s a balance, you can’t only serve others because you’ll hit burnout, but you can’t only serve yourself because that’s not how Christians Act. It always comes back to the old adage, what would Jesus do? Would he say no cuz he was too busy taking care of himself? Or would He go to help those in need? I guess that’s a dumb question, considering the answer is so obvious.