Wordless Wednesday!

20/365 days of blogging.

Wow!

Do We Believe God?

18/365 days of blogging.

Notice that title didn’t say do we believe IN God.  It said Do we believe God?  Believing IN God is a lot different than believing God.

For the next few days I will be blogging about a wonderful Bible study I have been revisiting.  It is a Beth Moore study and the title of it is Believing God.  Check it out online.  I think you can do the study online and you get the video’s and all right at your finger tips.

I think the study is a lot more about faith than it is believing.  The fact is that those two words are a vicious cycle that work against each other.  You have to believe to have faith and you must have faith to believe.

In the 1st chapter, verses 11-23 it says this;  “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.  In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.   Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.  And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

God’s purpose is to offer salvation to the world, just as he planned to do long ago.  God is sovereign;  He is in charge.  When your life seems chaotic, rest in this truth:  Jesus is Lord, and God is in control.  God’s purpose to save you cannot be thwarted, no matter what evil satan may bring.

The Holy Spirit is God’s seal that we belong to Him and His deposit guaranteeing that He will do what He has promised.  The holy Spirit is like a down payment, a deposit, a validating signature on the contract.  The presence of the Holy Spirit in us demonstrates the genuineness of our faith, proves that we are God’s children and secures eternal life for us.  His power works in us to transform us now, and what we experience now is a taste of the total change we will experience in eternity.

Paul prayed that the Ephesians would know Christ better.  Christ is our model, and the more we know of Him, the more we want to be like Him.  Jesus is the same Jesus he was back in biblical times and remains that same Jesus in today’s life.  If we spend time in prayer with Him and develop a personal relationship with Him, growing our personal knowledge of Christ will change our lives tremendously!

The hope we have is not a vague feeling that the future will be positive, but it is complete assurance of certain victory through God.  This complete certainty comes to us through the Holy Spirit who is working in us.  The world fears the power of a nuclear bomb, yet we belong to the God of the universe who not only created that nuclear power but also raised Jesus Christ from the dead.  We don’t seemed to be afraid of that at all.  God’s incomparable great power is available to help us.  Nothing is impossible with Him.  We just lack the will to tap into His power.  Jesus Tells us we can do greater miracles than he did but we don’t believe it.

Why do we lack in faith?  The answer is simple….We are lazy human beings and it takes too much work.  If we would just stop and realize that what brought us to the moment of salvation was act of faith!  But it doesn’t stop there.  Having believed in Him, we are called to continue believing all He came to do and say.  Tragically some who have believed in Christ have believed little of Him since then.  He who began a work in us wants to continue to mold us into the image He wants us to be.  An image like His Son.

Do you see God’s heart?  Yes, He requires much if we’re going to fulfill a divinely ordained destiny.  I won’t kid you, but what He is prepared to do in behalf of those who are obedient staggers the imagination.

Hear this:  Anytime you put forth the time and attention into seeking God’s face and diligently reading His Word, and apply what you read to our life,you will be greatly rewarded.  God is the giver of all good things.  He wants to give you all the blessings you deserve.  Did you read that last sentence.  He wants to give you all the blessings you deserve.  Deserve?  do we deserve any blessings?  No.  But He wants to give them to us anyway.  The only requirement we have is to be obedient to Him and ONLY Him.  Living for HIM and not for the world.

Battling In God’s Army

17/365 days of blogging.

When is the last time you served in God’s Army?  When is the last time you adorned the Armor of God and went into battle for Christ?  Have you defended your faith lately?  Have you stood up for your right to worship God?

If we are calling ourselves Follower’s of Christ we should have had an answer to those questions that resembled something like “a few minutes ago” or at the very least “yesterday.”

We are at war people!  In a battle we are going to have to have soldiers who are willing to stand and be counted on. We’re living in a day when there are just too many soldiers who are AWOL (absent without leave). There are also many who are pretending to be in the Lord’s army who haven’t even enlisted.

What does it take to qualify as a soldier for Jesus Christ?

I didn’t know how real the devil was, even after I was saved, until I started walking with Jesus about 10 years ago.  I had no idea what sin I had been bound in until I walked away from the world and started serving Jesus.  THAT is when I found out that satan was as real as could be.

Salvation is not anything that we can just lie down at or take for granted. The Word of God lets us know we need to be soldiers and do our part and make sure that we are GOOD soldiers for Christ. In order to be a good soldier for Christ, God’s Word teaches us that there are qualifications that every one who is in God’s army must have.

Those who fight for the devil fight WITHOUT a cause, but children of God have a cause to fight for. What is the cause;  their very soul, their children’s souls, and the lost who are around them.

People make being a soldier for Christ seem so easy.  Many say “Well all you need to do is go to church” or “As long as you go on the important days like Easter and Christmas.”  It takes more than just going to church to be a part of the family of God.  Not everyone who says they are a part of the “family of God” is actually a part of it.  We have to make an attempt at righteous living.  Many people proclaim a lot of things, lifting up their cause at one time or another.  But you don’t eve hear people say “I live righteously.”

Psalm 4:3 says this:  But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly;  The Lord will hear when I call to Him.”  The godly are those who are faithful and devoted to God.  We can be confident that when we call upon Him, He will hear our prayers and answer them. We are not attempting to live a righteous life, by our own guilt we feel inadequate to God’s help.  God wants us to know that he doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called.  It is those who claim righteous living and say they are fighting the good fight that slowly become AWOL.  When we choose to live in the world instead of following God, we are not a part of His army.

In the book of Matthew, the 28th chapter, verse 19 Jesus gives us a commandment.  It wasn’t a suggestion or even “if you feel like it” comment.  He tells us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you;”

We can give God all the lip service that we want to and maybe others will believe that we are living a righteous life, and think we are holy.  But truth is when we are walking with God and holding satan’s hand….that is not righteous living.

Do we qualify?  Or are we pretending to be in the army?  Are you AWOL today?  Or are you ready to put on the Armor of God and go into battle.

This world is full of battles that we will certainly win some of and lose some of.  However as born again believers in Christ, we have the victory of knowing that Jesus has already won the war.  We know the outcome.  We know that Heaven waits for us.  Our battle is letting others know that Heaven waits for them too.  It is our Job to lead others to Christ.  If God’s plan were for Jesus to do it then he would have never taken Him into Heaven to sit at His right hand awaiting His signal to return for us.

Folks, I believe that the return of the Son is closer than we think.  God has already instituted the draft.  He has already showed us the way;  Given us a dotted line to sign;  Given us the physical;  and certainly prepared us for battle.  Let’s put on our Armor of God and go into battle for His kingdom.

Are you ready for battle?

Throwback Thursday

16/365 days of blogging.

edit* This was supposed to have posted automatically on Thursday but it didn’t.  So I posted it today.  Sorry it is not Thursday and sorry it is late.  :)

Throwback Thursday!  This is my handsome Husband when he was 18.  And for grins I threw in my graduation pic also.  I think we still make a pretty awesome couple!

              

 

I fell in love with this man a little over 32 years ago and love him more today than I did back then.  I didn’t know that was possible until we finally got married almost 10 years ago.  Sad that it took so long to be together but very happy to be Mrs. Richard Davis!

Wordless Wednesday!

16/365 Days of blogging.

Wordless Wednesday!

 

My incredible big baby brother…..whom I miss so very much!

Old School Blogging Mime!

15/365 days of blogging.

My thanks to Kerry from Experienced Bad Mom for inviting me to participate in Old School blogging meme.

The Old School blogging meme was started by Elaine at The Miss Elaine-ous Life and Heather atTheta Mom. Their questions for this month are in bold.

How did your husband pop the big question?

We went out to dinner at a VERY nice restaurant.  Well nicer than I am used to anyway.  It’s been over 10 years now.  We got a quaint little table in the back of the restaurant and ordered our food.  When it came time for dessert he ordered a sinful chocolate dessert made with a brownie and a scoop of ice cream and hot fudge poured all over it.  But he only ordered two forks.  When it came…he came over like he was going to lay my napkin in my lap and he took my hand and knelt down on one knee and told me this….(I still remember it like it was yesterday) “Jeannie, I loved you th e first time I saw you in the halls of BHS almost 25 years ago.  You were the love of my life then, you are the love of my life now, and I am asking that you will be the love of my life forever.  Will you marry me?”  Then he opened a box and of course I cried.  All the while there is a table of single men and women out on dates across the room and the girls were all swooned by his gesture and the guys were all like ‘O brother’.

What are the three most surprising things about married life?

1.  As long as you keep God first in your marriage, everything else falls into place.

2.  Never Go to bed angry.

3.  Always, always, submit to Christ first and then your husband.

How did you find out you were pregnant for the first time?

I went to the doctor with pain in my sides and back to see if I had the shingles.  Surprise!  Your pregnant.

How did you choose your baby’s first name?

Her name was Micah Marie.  She was named after he father, Michael, and my middle name is Marie.

Describe where you see yourself 10 years from now.

Serving God in some compacity.

Describe how you find bliss either by using words or images.

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How about you, dear readers? How would you answer any of the questions above? If you have a blog, consider yourself tagged to join in the fun!

Another Homeschooling Post?

14/365 days of blogging.

I was going to write a post on Obama’s Lean Forward Education but I ran across this post on the Living Well Spending Less blog and I thought that Ruth said it better than I could ever have.

Please take time to head over there and read this post.  It is incredible to believe that God gave each parent the responsibility of raising a child and for them to try to make it a community event?  Wow!  That’s all I can say.

 

Well written Ruth!

Share this with all mediums and on your blogs!  Let’s get the word out!