Obedience

If you love me, you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father,and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever---   John 14:15-17


"If you love me you will obey me."

Why is it so hard for us to obey, even as little children we do not obey our parents, as adults we want to balk when someone tells us what we need to do or we ought to do.  Why can't we just do what we are suppose to do?  As my sweet little granddaughter Kate said to me, "its to hard".  I agree it is hard, but as a child of God that is what I am called to do, not because I am made to but because Jesus said, "if you love me you will obey me."  And I do love Jesus.  But I am not alone, I have the Spirit of truth living in me, and he will guide me in all things.  I just have to obey.
I will leave you with this quote:
"The person who wants to know God but who has not heart to obey Him will never enter the sacred courts where God reveals Himself to the soul of Man."  Sinclair Ferguson
  

As I was getting ready for bed last night and turned the televison on to hear the local news the headlines were reading, "Usama Bin Laden dead".  I took a second look to make sure of what I was reading and thought OH Lord and almost started rejoicing,  but God's word came to my mind that we should not rejoice over our enemies misfortunes.  It says in Proverbs 24:17-18 " Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and He turn away His anger toward him".  I know this man was a very evil man, everything he did shows that, and he needed to be removed from leadership of any kind, but God created this man just as he created you and me and it brings sorrow to His heart when one of  His  Creation strays from the truth.  But I can not and will not rejoice over another humans death.  When one dies they do not get another chance to know the Lord and everyone needs to know Jesus Christ as savior, even Bin Laden and men and women like him.  So as I see images of people dancing and singing in the streets it saddens me that as humans we can rejoice and laugh when another human has lost their life.  While Jesus was on the cross, He asked the Father in Heaven to forgive those that wanted Him crucified.  So, did Bin Laden need to be taken out, my answer is yes evil should always be dealt with.  Proverbs 24: 20 For there will be no future for the evil man; The lamp of the wicked will be put out. But we should  rejoice, I think not.   

We must keep praying for our country and for our military people that put their lives on the line everyday!
Most of all I pray that those who do not know Jesus Christ as their personal savior will seek Him out and turn their lives over to Him.

May the peace of God rule in your hearts.

Jesus...

"Living He loved me
                                                Dying He saved me
                                                Buried He carried my sins far away
                                                Rising He justified freely forever
                                                One day He is coming OH Glorious Day, OH Glorious Day!!"

Jesus is coming again and my greatest desire is to be all I can through Him, for Him and to do His will.
And I can only do it by letting the Holy Spirit control every ounce of my being.  Oh Lord use me for your glory. 

God's Love

Isaiah 49:15  Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb?  Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you.

We all can look back and remember when our children were born and the overwhelming love that we had for them at the moment we first looked upon their sweet little faces.   And as much as we love our children God loves us even more than we can imagine.  His love is so great that he sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins.  Through out life we are going to have problems, God's word tells us we will.  But, we must always remember that no matter what we go through in life He never leaves us or forsakes us.  He is there watching over us waiting for us just to turn it all over to Him.  His love and compassion for us is more dependable and more enduring than the love of a mother for her baby.  It will never fail.

"God's love for us is as expansive as the open arms of Christ on the cross."

"God will not forget His children
Nor will He forsake our care;
His compassion is enduring
Even when we're unaware."

Be Diligent

This weekend I attended with my daughter and some other friends from church a Mom Heart Conference.  You may ask why would a 53 year old woman with 2 grown kids want to attend a conference with young moms, well because of my 6 wonderful grandchildren.  The conference was lead by Sally Clarkson.  I read one of her books Mission of Motherhood a few months back and it touched my heart in a mighty way. As I read her words on what Gods mission was for women, I saw things in a new light and as tears flowed down my face, I knew that I did not truly fulfill my mission for motherhood while my children were young.  So why go to a conference where young mothers or soon to be new moms were there, because I can not go back and change the why I raised my kids but I can help teach and show my grandkids who God is and what His purpose is for their lives.  And He has a purpose for each one of His children.  His purpose for Moms is to raise their children to know Him and to pursue Him with all that they have.  All you have to do is look around you and you can see faimlies are falling apart.  There is no guidance in young peoples lives.  As Moms we need to be diligent in teaching our children and our grandchildren to know who God is, to know His laws and show His love.  As we were told "If we don't teach our children God's law it will be forgotten.  We see it more and more everyday, people are drifting away from God, they don't know what God's word says they were never taught.  But we first as Moms have to know who God is and what He expects of us as Moms.  If we don't have a passion for Christ we can't pass it on to our children or our grandchildren.  There was so much more but this stuck out to me because raising my children I was not diligent enough.  Are you?  I will leave you with this:

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, The LORD is one!  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  Your shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Let us all as Moms and Grandmothers be diligent in teaching and leading our little ones in the ways of the LORD our God.

Snow

I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland again for the second time this year, who would think that Grand Saline, Texas would have snow twice in the same year much less two times in less than a month.  I love the snow, I know that I do not have to work in it, I don't have to get out in it if I don't want to.  I can just sit in my cozy little chair drinking my coffee and look out in to a wonderful world of white.  God has truly blessed me.  But as I was sitting in my cozy little chair drinking my coffee and reading God's word, I started thinking about what the snow really means to me when I look at it.  It reminds me of what Jesus did for me on the cross, by shedding His blood for me he has cleansed me as white as snow, I am made clean and new in Him.  My life is no longer dirty, drab or dreary.  I am clean just like the new fallen snow that I see out my window.  Thank you Jesus for you sacrifice for me and thank you for the snow.

Isaiah 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, Says the Lord, Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.

John 3:16

John 3:16 For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, so whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

I am sure at some point in our lives we have all heard, or memorized this verse.  But have you ever really stopped and let it sink in what this verse means.  As I was sitting hear reading God's word this verse came to my mind.  God the creator of the universe loved us so much (not just the white Americans) that He gave His only begotten son (Jesus) that whoever will believe in Him (Jesus, his birth, death and resurrection) should not perish but have everlasting (eternal, live with Him forever) life.  Lets think about this, most people say they believe in God, there are a lot who say they believe in Jesus, but does our lives reflect that belief.  The demons even believe in Jesus and they shudder because they know who He is, the Son of the most High God.  God wants to have an intimate relationship with us and the only way we can have that relationship is through His Son Jesus Christ.   We can't have any unconfessed sin in our lives or the relationship will be broken.  Our lives need to reflect what we say we believe.  We have to follow in the ways of Jesus Christ.
I hear so many people say, I love Jesus, I am a Christian, but then their lives do not reflect that.  When we accept Jesus Christ as our savior our lives are no longer ours to live as we want, we are to follow in Jesus footsteps and live as He lived.  Is it easy, no but it sure is worth it.  When I am walking with Him and following Him in what he wants me to do then and only then do I have joy in my heart.  I want to please Him above all others because He is my Lord and my Savior and He died that I might have everlasting life.
Do You Love Him, let your life reflect it.