Author: Faith

“What if Jesus was asking His followers to value things differently?  Not just things, such as our possessions, but our children, our egos, our health, our bodies, looks and abilities, our reputations, our intellects, memories and accomplishments?  Matthew’s Gospel today tells us that true followers of Jesus have radically different orientation to our earthly, embodied experience.  That which we think of as our is not ours, but gifts for use in the span of a lifetime.” -Author Unknown

With inflation growing by leaps and bounds (“Groceries up 12%, Gas up 60%, Electricity up 14%, Rent up 5.8%…”), it’s important that we remember the above message.  We will all  need to share with those in need, no matter how much or little we have.  God’s Gifts are a Trust.  A Trust that we will use the Gifts He has so kindly given to us – as He would.

And so that always needs to be our first question when deciding how to allocate God’s resources, “What would Jesus do?”

Difficult days are ahead, we need to Pray and Prepare now.  Be Ready.

“I will remember the works of the LORD: Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, And talk of thy doings.”-Psalm 77:11-12

“O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.”-Psalm 105-1

So basically, we need to say Thank You and Share the wonderful, amazing things that God, Our Father, has done for us! 

Just to name a few, He created the world in which we live, He created us!  He created the Sun and the Stars, the Mountains and Seas.  And when we created a chasm between God and us, He created a Plan to Save us.  And those are just the things He created for everyone!

And then there are the things He has done for each of us!  Personal prayers that were answered!  A still, quiet voice that directs and comforts us ?.  He is our Hope.  He is our ever present anchor when we face life’s storms.  He is our shelter, when we face a fear or temptation bigger than our abilities.  He protects us when we can’t protect ourselves.  And most of all, His love for us always surrounds us and goes before us ?

Remembering all God has done in my personal life helps me to grow in faith, love and trust. It’s easy to forget in the throws of life’s struggles, that is why a prayer journal, or even a photo journal, help so much!

God is with us!  And He loves us! We can Trust Him during good times and bad ones ?

A Pastor I like and respect a lot, gave a sermon on how Christians should handle disagreements, much of which I agreed with ?.  I especially liked the way he set up some of the categories:  Beliefs, Convictions and Preferences.  He said in Beliefs unity, Convictions Liberty and in Preferences charity.  And in all things:  Love. (although I am paraphrasing that last line:).

In taking a deeper dive:  what falls into beliefs and what falls into convictions matters.  Because what is dividing this country today is – Beliefs.  Some Americans simply do not like what the Bible teaches us about beliefs.  For example:  abortion ( we shouldn’t argue with a person about our Beliefs every time we see them.  He’s so right!  It’s hard for a person to feel our love, if every time they see us, they also get an argument!  But we do have to share our Beliefs at some point.

The Pastor said that we shouldn’t argue with a person about our Beliefs every time we see them.  He’s so right!  It’s hard for a person to feel our love, if every time they see us, they also get an argument!  But we do have to share our Beliefs at some point.

In Ezekiel 33:9, it says, “ Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have ^[]delivered your soul.”  It can be hard to share the Bible’s Beliefs if we are expecting a negative response, but we really don’t have a choice when it comes to sharing the Bible’s Beliefs, not if we want to follow Jesus Home ?

“In all things Love”.  People must know they are loved first!  And if we hope that the people we care about so much will one day share the Bible’s Beliefs, we must love them just as they are, where they are.  Just like Jesus did for us ?. 

There are not enough pages in the world to write about the Goodness of God :). Because He is so Good and so Faithful, even when we are not!

“For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.” – Isaiah 60:2

It even says “deep darkness”! But in the last sentence, it is clear that the darkness will not stay! For God’s will “arise” over us. How Good is our God 🙂

” For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”- Jeremiah 29:11

This is one of my very favorite verses. It’s planted in my heart and easily comes to mind whenever the day is long or hard. For I know that God’s Plans are always better than mine :), and that gives me great hope!

Plant your favorite Bible verses in your heart. One’s about the goodness of God and Hope. And when you need them the most, they will be there 🙂

Find your Joy! God’s Grace will always be enough 🙂

God loves us. Jesus is coming back and the Holy Spirit will live inside us until He does :). It really does not get better than that 🙂

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28″

Because we now belong to Jesus, no one can ever destroy our soul. It’s just not possible. So do not fear!

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,  And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” – Psalm 52:12.“

This is one of my favorite prayers! With the hardness and busyness of life, it’s easy to forget just how wonderful it is that we are “Saved”.

It’s almost like we need a moment to dwell on just how wonderful it is! We are going to Heaven! We have a Savior that will always walk with us and never leaves us. The Holy Spirit lives within us. And last, but definitely not least, God our Father is with us! Once again, we have been restored to our Lord.

And because we have, nothing can ever really hurt us! And nothing ever will 🙂

And because we have, we will never be lonely 🙂

And because we have, we will always know just how loved we are 🙂

And because we belong to God, we will always have Hope!

“The Eternal Faithfulness of the Lord”

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord!  Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works!
Glory in His holy name;  Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore!
Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth”- Psalm 105:1-5″

What an encouragement!  And what great advice ?.  Many Christians keep what is known as a Prayer Journal.  And this is the reason they keep it – so they can remember.  Being humans, it’s easy to forget all of the times God has answered our prayer!  Keeping a journal simply makes “remembering” easier.  And when the chips are down or our faith is feeling weak, “remembering” really helps!

In Psalm 105, it also says “Make known His deeds among the peoples!”.  Sharing the wonderful things our Lord has done for us gives others hope!  And we all need hope.  Perhaps their prayer has not been answered yet; perhaps they are just beginning…Whatever the reason, we may be their hope.  And in some cases, we may be their only hope!

Remembering and sharing with others can only help us-and others 🙂  Amen.

“ As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,  rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding ^[]in it with thanksgiving.” – Colossians 2: 6-7 Remember that old song, “I need you like the flower needs the rain”.  Think about that phrase for a minute.  The flower can not grow without the rain and we can not grow without Jesus.  There are many who say we grow forward or fall backward, but we do not ever stand still.  There is much truth in this saying.  And the same is true of our relationship with Jesus, we are either growing closer to Jesus, falling away from Jesus, it’s our choice.  We need to choose wisely ?

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” – Lamentations 3:22-23. God’s Blessings are New every morning.  They always will be!  His faithfulness is more than we can comprehend as human beings.  But one thing we can understand is that God will never leave us.  People leave our lives.  Sometimes they die, sometimes they move, sometimes they just make that choice.  But God will not!  He will always be with us and for us ?

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”- Romans 15:13 The Holy Spirit, is and always will be, our Comforter and Friend.  In one of her songs, Kari Jobe refers to the Holy Spirit as our “Living Hope”.   That is a good description.  The Holy Spirit can fill us with hope again and again.  And Hope is something we can not live without.  These may seem like difficult times, but they are nothing compared to the days that are coming.  We will need the Holy Spirit (Living Hope) more than we realize.  We need to strengthen that relationship now, while there is still time ?

There are so many reasons to Love God and Trust Him-no matter the season.  He will walk through them with us-ALL of them. And we will need Him!

God already knows our sins and Jesus has already paid the price for them.  So why is Penance so important?  In her poem “I Am A Christian”, Maya Angelou said, “When I say I am a Christian, I am not bragging of success, I’m admitting I have failed.”  It’s important that we admit to ourselves and to God when we fail.  That is one reason confession is so important!

Mary, Our Blessed Mother, also felt deeply that Confession and Penance were very important. When she appeared in Fatima, Mary said, “… People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord anymore, for He is already too much offended!”

Does Confession need to be made to a Priest or simply to God?  Many Christians believe that Confession and Penance need to be made to God.  However, may also believe that Confession and Penance need to be made with a Priest. Since Jesus is our High Priest :), I don’t think it matters how Confession and Penance is made, as long as we make them and remember that forgiveness comes through our faith in Jesus ?

“¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God”-Hebrews 4:14

And it’s important that we remember, we all fail, every day!  An easy way to identify our sins is simply to measure our day by Jesus’ two commands:  Love God with our whole heart and soul and love our neighbor as ourselves.  We can simply ask ourselves if there is any way we fell short in these two areas.  Another thought we may want to remember is that there are sins of omission and sins of commission.  They both matter!

Jesus Saved us from our sins, but Confession and Penance are required! They tell God just how sorry we are and how much we want to change, and that we do want to be closer to Him. Sin separates us from God; Confession & Penance brings us closer to God.  It really is that simple. 

A word on Penance. Sometimes Penance involves actually going to confession and doing the Penance we are given.  Sometimes Penance includes a saying a number of Prayers such as the Hail Mary.  Sometimes Penance is making a wrong – right.  And sometimes Penance simply involves doing a good deed to make up for a sin we have committed and offering that good deed to God as Penance.

In Psalm 106:1, it says “Praise the Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercies endure forever.”

 While we are alive, there is no sin that God will not forgive in Jesus’ Name.  We need to seek His forgiveness now, while we still can ?