Really!!?

I was listening to a preacher who was talking about Lot, the nephew of Abram (Abraham). I was listening when something caught my attention. Have a look at this. Genesis 13:12 "Abram dewelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his ten TOWARD Sodom."
I don't know why but I always had the impression Lot had pitched his tent IN Sodom. It is clear that he started by looking in that direction and being impressed with the riches of that land. (see Gen. 13:10) Then he took the first step that would change his family's life for ever; he pitched his tent toward Sodom. Slowly, he worked his way INTO Sodom.
Every morning he woke up, open the door to his tent and looked out there and desired that life in those 5 cities including Sodom and Gomorrah. The hustle and bustle of business, prosperity, self confidence and happiness. That's what he saw anyway.
I knew, from reading God's word, that Sodom, Gomorrah (& 3 other cities which I didn't realize) where destroyed for homosexuality and immoral sexual activity, but I thought that was it. Having that ignorance took away the importance of the state of my city's sin. I knew that the city and surrounding cities where sinful but not as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah. Right?!
Here's what Ezekiel 16:49 and 50 say, "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread(eating in abundance), and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw [good]."
In Ezekiel 15:49 and 50, God tells us more in detail what was happening in that city. That put into a better light, how God sees the wickedness of our society.
Although God was displeased with Lot for being there, He gave him a chance to escape. Some of his family members laughed and mocked him, his wife turned back to see what she had left behind. The bible says she turned into a pillar of salt. I didn't know this but just on the edge of where Sodom was, is "Just opposite the site of Zoar, on the south-west coast of the Dead Sea, is a range of low hills, forming a mass of mineral salt called Jebel Usdum, "the hill of Sodom."" (http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/ebd/ebd347.htm) I found that interesting.
God was displeased with Lot but gave him a chance, at his repentance but God was always pleased with Abraham. Hebrews 11:10 "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God."
I know there's a lot of work to do in our society, to bring them back to God but we must make the first step; not to pitch our tents, our sights, towards Sodom, towards the glorification of wickedness. We must do like Abraham, set our sights on the jobs, ministries, actions, and lifestyle which has a "foundation, whose builder and maker is God." Then one by one we will be able to draw men unto God.
Keep focused on godliness.

His love for us

I don't know if you mind me putting videos. I know I am very visual and this is a video that I can't help show you. You might of already seen it.
It's a man who's dream is to do a triathlon. The only problem is that he is severely handicaped where he must be in constant care. He lives with his family; a dad who loves him very much, so much that he trained to be able to do a triathlon in his son's stead. His son gets all the credit for the race, his father does all the work because of his love for him.
The video is to compare the love of a father for his son to the love of our Father in heaven for us.
I want to cry at the thought of that comparison. Think about it. Jesus Christ was beaten, tortured just so that we can enjoy the peace, love and presence of God in heaven. A free gift because of His love for us.
We don't have to do a thing, He's done it all already. He did all the work, He ran the course, He suffered the pain, He paid the price. We just have to accept the payment. The Father knew what was the price but He still did the sacrifice. Why?
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Get yourself some tissues, because when you see what this man did for his son, you will be touched by what God did for us. Think of the cross.

Introducing....

Well, it's been a week and I have busy, too busy to write something this week. I can't believe how quickly the week has gone by.

We homeschool and we finished two weeks ago tomorrow, and I've been getting caught up in housework (spring cleaning).

For fear of not being able to post something tomorrow, I came across this video and I got chills. I want to share it with you and hope you will be blessed by it as I was.

Enjoy!

Who are you waiting for?

Luke 5:1-11, "And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing [their] nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto [their] partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw [it], he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so [was] also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him."
Are you sitting waiting for someone to step up, then you'll get up and follow?
What is it that you're cheating God out of, for your pride and selfishness?
That's what the Lord spoke to me about when I read this passage.
Back in verse 3, Jesus spoke to a discouraged, frustrated man. He had a family (a wife and mother in law, we don't know about children) to provide for. He possibly had to pay to have his boat "parked" where it was and he had to pay his men.
On this particular day, they caught no fish. Do you think maybe God had something to do with that? Hummmmmm.... So picture if you will, here is a discouraged man with no hope, who is approached by a stranger, who He, is being followed by a large group of people (vs.1). This stranger asks Simon to bring his boat out a bit, then He sits down. Peter must of thought it was so weird and he was probably curious, therefore decided to do as he was asked.
He listened to Jesus teach and preach. He was obviously moved and amazed by Jesus' commonness and down to earth presence yet, such a scholar who knew not only the bible but wanted to teach others God's word. He must of been impressed by Jesus' compassion because when Jesus was done, He asked Simon (Peter) to go further into the deep waters. Peter hesitated while he explained of their failure the previous night, but he obeyed through faith in this man, Jesus.
Look at the impact he had. His men where with him, they heard Jesus teaching and preaching. (These are our fellow church people.) They didn't step up to the plate to encourage Simon, they followed him once he obeyed.
Verse 7 says that when the work was too much for them, they, Peter and his men, called out to their partners for help. They came, and were part of the miracle of God's provision.
At the end, they ALL surrendered to Jesus' call to "fish" for men.
What an influence Peter was on all those men!
Now who will be the Peter in my church and in yours?
Will we be the one that follows and is just a part of God's miracles of healing, restoring and saving grace or will we be the one who gets up and leads in service to influence others for Christ's sake?
Will we be the one, the Peter, whom God knows He can count on to obey and get the job done? Who will God be able to use?
I don't know about you but I want to be used by God, to draw people to Him. It might take a lot more faith but I want to be a part of His work.
Keep UP... the work, His work.

Are you blessed?

I cam before God's Word with a wicked heart.

I was tired from staying up the previous night; watching hockey with my husband, and I was offended by my eldest son because he did not obey me with a cheerful heart, when I asked him to do something.

I put the children to bed, expressed my frustration to my son, then I got my bible, still frustrated, to sit down under the covers of my bed and read. I opened it to Psalm 32:1 which says, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."

OUCH!!!!! That truth hurt!

I certainly didn't feel blessed so I must of transgressed against God and my sin was not yet forgiven.(Go figure!)

Sometimes, God doesn't beat around the bush with me. I think He's so annoyed with my pride that when I come face to face in the mirror of His word, He shows my sin right away without compassion.

Some of you might not understand the connection between my son's disobedience and my pride. Here it is; I was not offended by his disobedience because he was transgressing/rebelling God's law/guidance of Ephesians 6:1-3. I was offended because I wanted something done he didn't care to do what I wanted. "How dare you?! Don't you know who I am?" my prideful heart said.

I was so convicted by this passage that I could not read on. I had to confess my sin of pride and anger to my holy and righteous God, besides, He only wants what's best for me.

I did that and like 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

I went on to read the rest of Psalm 32, and just like God said, I was blessed now that my transgression was forgiven.

I read how David had sin in his life and in verse 5, he confessed it and just like me, God forgave him.

Then the Lord encouraged me by telling me, in this Psalm, how much it pleases Him when we seek His purity in our heart and life.

Then He spoke to me, asking me to not harden my heart with sin because I will no longer be able to learn of Him nor from Him.

Now I was blessed and I knew those lines of communication, between God and me, were open again.

To be cleansed of sin is a great thing. Something worth praising God for.

Keep that phone line clear.

Funny!

Proverbs 17:22 "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spririt drieth the bones."

I love to laugh. When God and I are alone, we have a hoot! While with others who are more on the serious side, we try to be more calm... if you will.

When I go through struggles, He will show me the funny side of it or the funny/stupid things I did. I always learn but God usually puts a humorous twist on things because He knows I usually need to loosen up. I tend to be a perfectionist at times.

Having said all that, I thought I would give you all a little bit of medicine.

Open wide.....

Just Blind

Luke 4:1-7 "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine."

I read that and it blowed my mind to think how blinded Satan was by his pride.

Satan is very aware who God is and the Trinity at that! He knew Jesus was God manifested in the flesh.

Really think about it. Satan once was the most esteemed angel, Lucifer. He was the one who stood behind God and covered Him with his wings. He knew who and what God was and is! Yet he stood in front of Jesus, the Son of God and showed Him riches of this world, hoping Jesus would fall for it.

It's the first time I actually see how self centered Satan really is. Someone who is self consumed and centered has no clue of reality nor of who is hurt by their actions.

When we are selfish, we are sooooo blinded from truth, we don't make rational judgements. It sounds a lot like Satan's situation.

We think of pride as a little o'l sin. A sin that everyone has, it's bad but just do the best you can to not have it; that's all you can do.

Wait a minute! Doesn't Proverbs 6:16-17 say that pride is one of seven things that are an abomination unto God? If it's something God hates so much, don't we think God would love to help us get rid of it completely, from our life? Don't get me wrong, we are all born in sin and will die sinners, but if we have been born again; born physically then born spiritually, the second done on purpose, by our own will, are we not new creatures? (2Corinthians 5:17). Isn't our past swiped away (Psalm 103:12)? Doesn't Philippians 4:13 say, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."? If we sincerely want to be used by God and not be a stumbling block to others, especially our younger brothers and sisters in Christ, don' you think Psalm 37:4, "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." or Matthiew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." would come into play?

Jesus said if we ask in His name, in other words, ask for things that He would agree with or ask for. If we ask God, in Jesus' name, to free us from the pride we carry in our minds and our hearts; He will answer those prayers, the Bible says so in John 16:23.

What stops us from asking God to free us from our pride? We asked Him to free us from drinking, smoking, drugs, premarital sex, anger lying etc. Why not pride? Let's face it, pride feels better than all those thing I just mentioned, but fro a season. I think it's because we too wear the same shoes as Satan did that day when he dared to try to "trick" Jesus into desiring worldly riches but end up bowing before Satan in the end.

Can you imagine the look on Jesus' face? Something like, "You're kidding right?!" "HELLO Satan! Remember me? You know... J-E-S-U-S... God in the flesh?! I made those cities you're showing me. I gave power to those people in those kingdoms. If I wanted it I could get it by myself... thanks. Good try though!... *wink*"

That's where spiritual battle gets a little clearer for me. He doesn't just attack me, tempting me because he knows I'm weak and I'll fall to his devices. He just wants to be worshiped so badly! He is blinded by his desperation, his pride. He'll attack anyone who is weak at any moment. The only smart thing he did when he tried to tempt Jesus, is that he tried it when Jesus' flesh was weak since he hadn't eaten for 40 days while in the wilderness.

3 major things I learnt in this passage:

1. pride blinds us from reality and of your direction and directives to others


2. Satan will attack me because he wants worship and my fall


3. wilderness= hard times (trials). When it's walked without being in prayer and reading God's Word, it now means weak, in the wilderness. Be sure we'll be tempted

Keep strong, even if in the wilderness.