One of the most cruel and destructive ... if not the most destructive attitude ... for a Christian to possess and display is hatred. Let's think about it and ask ourselves this question: How bright can the saving light of Jesus Christ shine in a life that's totally shrouded in hatred, anger, rage, and malice (Eph 4:31-32)? And what picture of Christ can this type of person reveal to the unbelieving world around them? Not a very pretty one as we might imagine.
Hate is ugly and cruel and paints a dark, distorted, and damaging image of the Savior. Hate is a total breakdown in the Christlike attributes we are called to exhibit in our lives. And yet sadly, even in our churches, it's not difficult to find individuals just brimming and spilling over with hostility against others or against a particular group of people. This is a grave matter. Let's give it serious concern. We would do well to ask ourselves where this vile and dangerous venom comes from. It comes from deep inside us where we try to hide it from the revealing light of Christ. We must always be on guard against it. And we must denounce it wherever we find it, in ourselves and in others. One of the main reasons we believers are just as prone to hatred as the unbelieving world around us, is our inability to forgive those who have hurt us ... especially when such treatment is felt to be undeserved or unfair. Even if that were so, where in Scripture can we find support for this type of unforgiving spirit? We can't.
Let's take a minute and take a "hate test." For a moment, let's think about someone who has hurt us in the past and consider these "hate checks":
1. If we hate someone, we cannot dispose of the memory. Does the image play out over and over again in our minds, festering with disgusting malice and ill will?
2. If we hate someone, we can't honestly wish them well or hope they have good fortune. Can we honestly still wish the very best for them? Can we hope for them the same Christian attributes we hope for ourselves?
3. If we hate someone, we want that person to hurt just as much as we hurt. Do we secretly desire this person to experience the same degree of pain that was thrust upon us? Do we, deep down inside, desire bad things to befall this person? Do we want revenge? Do we strive and hope for a "justified" sense of retribution?
If these questions have revealed any animosity in our hearts toward any one, or any group of people, we mustn't leave our computers today without prayerfully meditating on the verses in Ephesians chapter four and asking God for forgiveness. When we harbor unforgiveness toward anyone, it interferes with our forgiveness from God, and exhibits in us, behaviors unbecoming a Christian. Let me say that again: Unforgiveness toward anyone interferes with our forgiveness from God, and exhibits in us behaviors unbecoming a Christian. We need to read the verses in Ephesians out loud and personalize them into a prayer, letting God's Holy Spirit cleanse our hearts by empowering us to forgive an old hurt. If we won't forgive others, how can we hope to be forgiven by God? (Notice I didn't say "can't forgive others." In Christ it's possible for us to forgive every one for every thing. If we don't forgive it's because we won't forgive and not that we can't forgive. This is a hard truth but one that we need to fully understand and correct when and where necessary.)
Hate is a vicious venom that paralyzes and slowly erodes at the quality of our Christian life, and there is no room in our hearts, cleansed and renewed, for holding unforgiveness (Ps 51). We have been forgiven and we in turn must forgive others. This is not optional for us. This is a very serious matter between us and our God and is a prerequisite for us. We must take whatever time we need to rid our souls of the cancer of hatred. We mustn't leave our chairs until we right this wrong. This is an insidious errant matter that must be remedied before it totally eats away our ability to stand forgiven before our God. An unforgiving spirit not only tries to damage those we feel have wronged us, it damages us at the same time ... in the same way. Because it interferes with our relationship with God we must be intolerant of this type of attribute and not allow it to take root in our lives. We are called to glorify our God and we can't do that if we are harboring hate and an avenging spirit. Christ will not forgive us if we won't forgive others. Hatred damages our relationship with our heavenly Father and won't allow us to live the way we are meant to live. We mustn't allow ourselves to fall victim to this instrument of Satan. And we can know it's of Satan by the very fact that it does not bring anything worthy of Christ into our lives and into the lives of others.
This has been a difficult devotional to write. I've tried to express how dangerous and damaging an unforgiving spirit is to ourselves and I'm afraid I have failed. An unforgiving spirit sits inside us like some hot, pulsating pustule of bacteria just swelling and festering with the infection of hatred. We must do away with it before it bursts and poisons our entire being. Hatred does more than injure the ones we hate, it injures us in the process. How can the love of Christ grow in a heart that is over shadowed by intolerance and unforgiveness? How can this tarnish glorify the light of Christ? It can't. That's the whole point to today's blog. We don't so much injure others as we injure ourselves when we possess an unforgiving spirit. It's like a boomerang that comes back to us if we throw it out to other people and it slams shut the door to the gospel. There is simply no place in our Christian lives for malice and hatred. It does not fit. It consumes everything good in us and leaves us standing as empty shells before our God. I hope I have gotten the point across but I fear I haven't done a very good job at it. I love words. I'm a person of words. But sometimes words fail me. Simply put: When we hate others, we injure ourselves.
Well Kathleen (my Heart) should be getting back from her vacation today if they didn't make it back yesterday. She has shared her vacation with me via email and it's been a lot of fun. Pray for her that she comes home refreshed and revived and ready to use her experience in the lives of her students when school resumes next week. Betty is still in Albuquerque and I forgot to go online yesterday so other than just saying hello/goodbye to her, we haven't yet had the chance to talk about what and how she's doing. Pray for her that she'll learn quickly and be set to go to work as soon as her training ends.
I was told that I didn't put skatemama's blogspot in correctly so I will attempt it again. Her address is http://skatemama.blogspot.com/. Don't know what I did wrong before but hopefully this has cleared up any problems I may have caused. We have a beautiful blue sky outside but the air is a bit brisk this morning. I'm supposed to meet with Pastor Dan this afternoon to go over making the slides of the praise songs. I have serious doubts that it's something I can do. Guess I'll find out. No other news to write about. It seems to take me so long to write my blog sometimes. Other times I breeze right through it. Today was not a breeze. I had to really work for what I wrote and now can only hope my message was understandable and I got my points across. I hope you have a wonderful day today and until tomorrow... [Afternote: My blogger keeps telling me that unforgiveness isn't a word and believe it or not, I can't find it in my dictionary. But I will just have to hope it's a word and I've spelled it correctly.]
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Moses: Forward by Faith - 2
Living by faith almost always guarantees hardships. Obviously, people don't generally like this message, but it's true more often than not. It always seems that the more intimate we are with the Lord, the more difficult our walk. When we choose to surrender to God and obey Him no matter what, we will sometimes suffer for that decision and at times we may even be asked to make painful sacrifices. In order to serve the Lord, Moses had to choose to go forward by faith in spite of the daunting challenges. We can learn much from Moses' actions and lifestyle.
Moses grew up in the Pharaoh's palace. So he knew all about the Egyptian ruler's pride, his huge ego, as well as the importance of Hebrew slave labor. With such knowledge, he recognized how difficult it would be to carry out God's command to free His people. Yet, he left his comfortable life behind so he could obey God as his master.
As it turns out, Moses' job only began with the freeing of all the Hebrew slaves. He then spent more than 40 years leading this errant people around in circles in the middle of the hot, merciless desert sun and interceding for them when they disobeyed God, calling upon the Lord for rescue when they faced great peril.
Moses' life was marked by challenge and sacrifice, but more than that, it was shaped by an intimate relationship with God. Every hardship that knocked away his trust in himself, strengthened his faith in the Lord. When a new challenge arose, Moses turned first to God for guidance and provision. We would do well to imitate him. We must learn to realize how much easier our Christian walk will be if we just consult God first.
Scripture tells us that trials produce a deeper intimacy with the Lord: "Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves with the same attitude, because he who suffers in the the body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God" (1Pe 4:1-2). Moses' life demonstrates this principle, which holds true for us today also. Hardships, trials and struggles are inevitable. How sad it is that we often try doing everything within our power to avoid them. But how blessed we are that we're almost always unsuccessful. A wiser approach is to meet the challenge head on and go forward by faith the way Moses did, learning to rest in the strength of the Lord. He is sufficient for all our needs.
Just a short blog today as I've had arthritis flare up in my left hand and it's painful and difficult to type this morning. Guess I've done too much knitting lately. I will give it rest for a day or so and see what happens. It really is painful to move my fingers this morning. I knew it was flaring up yesterday because I kept getting painful twinges in the big joint of my "pointy" finger.
For the past few days I've been waking up early thanks to the Lord. I pray every night that He will wake me early so I can get my blog done before noon! and he's been faithful to wake me, so with Michael still in bed at that time I can't very well get my bed made for the day. So I've put off doing my chores until after he wakes up. I guess it will probably be this way from now on out until next summer. So I'm going to finish this up and get in there and get my chores done.
The days sure are getting shorter now. It gets dark so early and stays dark in the mornings until a much later time. We had rain last night (.78 of an inch!!) so I'm glad I thought to make sure my car windows were up before coming in last night after prayer meeting. Which, by the way is changing to 5:00 PM on Tuesdays instead of 7:00. I don't know how that will work out around dinner and the feeding of the animals. Michael was very encouraging, suggesting that we just eat late on Tuesdays so I can still make my meeting. (I thought that was nice of him!) We'll have to see how it goes. I just hate to be gone so much away from Michael. I get to feeling like I'm neglecting him. He never seems to mind but that doesn't keep me from feeling guilty. Well, I know this has been really short for today but I'm not going to push my hand and fingers.
If you get the chance check out skatamama. She's got some awesome cloud pictures. Didn't get the chance to talk to Betty last night on msn but I got a short email from her and got the impression she might be struggling over things. So keep her in your prayers. Franci asked us to keep Freddie in our prayers so that he will adjust to doing his schoolwork and not get too headstrong against it or her! Kim had cataract surgery yesterday so keep her in your prayers that she might heal quickly and be back to work in no time at all. Peggy's back surgery has been rescheduled for the 24th so she needs prayer. Pray that the doctors will be guided by the Lord and that the surgery will be successful enough to at least lessen the pain in her back. And pray for me with my hearing loss. It has really been giving me a difficult time lately. The roar I hear all the time has increased to an almost impossible-to-stay-sane level. It was so bad at prayer meeting last night that I couldn't even pray. I couldn't understand what anyone else was saying. I just get so tired from the constant roar in my head. It's just like trying to hear what someone says while standing next to a waterfall. Very stressful! And poor Michael. I had to ask him to repeat almost everything he said to me. I hate having to do that but if I don't ask him to repeat it, there's no communication between the two of us. Regardless, it is unpleasant for both of us. And pray for clear weather for Saturday because I still need to wash my car. It's been two weeks now and I don't want to get out of the habit of keeping it clean. Guess I better stop and rest my hand it's really beginning to throb. Until tomorrow...
Moses grew up in the Pharaoh's palace. So he knew all about the Egyptian ruler's pride, his huge ego, as well as the importance of Hebrew slave labor. With such knowledge, he recognized how difficult it would be to carry out God's command to free His people. Yet, he left his comfortable life behind so he could obey God as his master.
As it turns out, Moses' job only began with the freeing of all the Hebrew slaves. He then spent more than 40 years leading this errant people around in circles in the middle of the hot, merciless desert sun and interceding for them when they disobeyed God, calling upon the Lord for rescue when they faced great peril.
Moses' life was marked by challenge and sacrifice, but more than that, it was shaped by an intimate relationship with God. Every hardship that knocked away his trust in himself, strengthened his faith in the Lord. When a new challenge arose, Moses turned first to God for guidance and provision. We would do well to imitate him. We must learn to realize how much easier our Christian walk will be if we just consult God first.
Scripture tells us that trials produce a deeper intimacy with the Lord: "Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves with the same attitude, because he who suffers in the the body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God" (1Pe 4:1-2). Moses' life demonstrates this principle, which holds true for us today also. Hardships, trials and struggles are inevitable. How sad it is that we often try doing everything within our power to avoid them. But how blessed we are that we're almost always unsuccessful. A wiser approach is to meet the challenge head on and go forward by faith the way Moses did, learning to rest in the strength of the Lord. He is sufficient for all our needs.
Just a short blog today as I've had arthritis flare up in my left hand and it's painful and difficult to type this morning. Guess I've done too much knitting lately. I will give it rest for a day or so and see what happens. It really is painful to move my fingers this morning. I knew it was flaring up yesterday because I kept getting painful twinges in the big joint of my "pointy" finger.
For the past few days I've been waking up early thanks to the Lord. I pray every night that He will wake me early so I can get my blog done before noon! and he's been faithful to wake me, so with Michael still in bed at that time I can't very well get my bed made for the day. So I've put off doing my chores until after he wakes up. I guess it will probably be this way from now on out until next summer. So I'm going to finish this up and get in there and get my chores done.
The days sure are getting shorter now. It gets dark so early and stays dark in the mornings until a much later time. We had rain last night (.78 of an inch!!) so I'm glad I thought to make sure my car windows were up before coming in last night after prayer meeting. Which, by the way is changing to 5:00 PM on Tuesdays instead of 7:00. I don't know how that will work out around dinner and the feeding of the animals. Michael was very encouraging, suggesting that we just eat late on Tuesdays so I can still make my meeting. (I thought that was nice of him!) We'll have to see how it goes. I just hate to be gone so much away from Michael. I get to feeling like I'm neglecting him. He never seems to mind but that doesn't keep me from feeling guilty. Well, I know this has been really short for today but I'm not going to push my hand and fingers.
If you get the chance check out skatamama. She's got some awesome cloud pictures. Didn't get the chance to talk to Betty last night on msn but I got a short email from her and got the impression she might be struggling over things. So keep her in your prayers. Franci asked us to keep Freddie in our prayers so that he will adjust to doing his schoolwork and not get too headstrong against it or her! Kim had cataract surgery yesterday so keep her in your prayers that she might heal quickly and be back to work in no time at all. Peggy's back surgery has been rescheduled for the 24th so she needs prayer. Pray that the doctors will be guided by the Lord and that the surgery will be successful enough to at least lessen the pain in her back. And pray for me with my hearing loss. It has really been giving me a difficult time lately. The roar I hear all the time has increased to an almost impossible-to-stay-sane level. It was so bad at prayer meeting last night that I couldn't even pray. I couldn't understand what anyone else was saying. I just get so tired from the constant roar in my head. It's just like trying to hear what someone says while standing next to a waterfall. Very stressful! And poor Michael. I had to ask him to repeat almost everything he said to me. I hate having to do that but if I don't ask him to repeat it, there's no communication between the two of us. Regardless, it is unpleasant for both of us. And pray for clear weather for Saturday because I still need to wash my car. It's been two weeks now and I don't want to get out of the habit of keeping it clean. Guess I better stop and rest my hand it's really beginning to throb. Until tomorrow...
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Moses: Forward by Faith
Moses, an unknown and lowly shepherd, stood before Pharaoh and ordered the most powerful ruler on earth (at the time) to release the Israelites. The confrontation must have seemed a ridiculous spectacle, even to the slaves Moses had been sent by God to rescue. But finally after 10 plagues and numerous dealings with the Egyptian leader, Moses brought the country to it's knees with a simple shepherd's staff and his faith in God.
We have our own personal Pharaohs, each of us being enslaved by a power more often than not, more powerful than ourselves. Moses died and was buried thousands of years ago so who will empower us to stand before our Pharaohs today? The same One that Moses trusted. He's the same God. The only God. He will put Himself up against our Pharaohs, no matter how big and bad they are, and free us from captivity. We meet up with a lot of Pharaoh's but our biggest dictator, (causing us the most problems), is our Sin Pharaoh. It's a scary situation because we know we don't have a big bag of plagues to cast out against our Pharaohs. It's just us and our God. Will we stand firm? Can we stand firm? How big is your faith?
Choosing to walk by faith instead of living on the basis of feelings, opinions, and higher "logic" often means we are misunderstood by those around us. Sometimes our actions may appear unreasonable to the outside world (and, truthfully, sometimes even to ourselves), but what could be more logical, more reasonable, than us allowing our all-knowing, all-wise, all-everything heavenly Father to guide us? When we are like Moses and find our talents and abilities are no match for the task at hand, God's power will accomplish through us what needs to be done (2Co 12:9). The Lord God isn't always "reasonable" as we may interpret reason, but He works out our circumstances through our obedience. And we can be confident that He who used a mere shepherd to challenge a mighty Pharaoh is still as trustworthy for us as He was for Moses. He will stand just as strong and unmovable today as He did all those many years ago. Times have changed, but we keep meeting up with the same Pharaohs. And luckily, we still have the same God. He will stand against our Pharaohs and we will come out victorious just as Moses did. Our God is dependable. We can count on our God. He has promised on Himself (for there is nothing higher to swear by) to stand His ground. Today we may not have a Moses to go against our Pharaohs but we have Jesus, our High Priest (He 2:17-18; 4: 14-5). Hebrews 4:16 reads, "Let us, then, approach the throne of grace with confidence." We can be absolutely positive that Jesus will always be there to face our Pharaohs for us. He is the ultimate and faithful High Priest able to sympathize with our weaknesses, having been tempted in every way, just as we are, only without sin. We have Someone more powerful than Moses.
Living by faith requires releasing our human sense of what is best and reasonable in order to rely wholly on God ... it involves obeying when the Lord indicates we are to speak or to act. God wants us to trust that He has a plan for our lives and is constantly directing circumstances to ensure that His purpose is achieved. Whatever the challenge, we can be successful by choosing to depend entirely upon God. He will stand us up before our personal Pharaohs and make us victorious.
This morning has been interesting. I can't seem to get my devotional to gel. It won't coalesce but I'm hoping you will get something out of it. It just seemed to want to go in too many directions today. So if you find that today's blog is more confusing than usual, please know that I struggled with it.
We had another cold night last night but not freezing. I'm cold and I want to turn on the heater but Michael is still sleeping and it gets too hot in the bedroom with the heater running. So I sit here and shiver! I woke up at 5:00 again this morning. That's getting to be a habit with me. Oh well, I enjoy having the extra time to get things done. I don't usually finish my blog until around noon so I'm like 5 hours ahead of myself. Of course with Michael still being asleep I haven't been able to get my chores done like I'm supposed to before I start blogging. Oh well ... that just breaks my heart, he he!
I think I have a meeting to go to this afternoon. I should probably find out for sure from someone but I'll wait and let the world wake up first. I know I have a meeting tonight and I'm going to go back to my exercise class tomorrow night. And I have a meeting Thursday night.
Betty is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, away from home so everyone please keep her in your prayers. http://skatemama/. blogspot.com is always fun to read. It's always fun to check out her latest pictures and read what the kids have been up to. Kathleen, my Heart from church, has been on a vacation in Arizona for the past week or so but she's been taking me with her via email and photos. It's been a lot of fun. Chris and Brenda's wedding is this coming Saturday. That should be fun. I haven't been to a wedding in close to 20 years. Brenda is very nervous about getting up in front of everyone to say her vows so please pray for her that she might have peace and nothing but good memories of her wedding day. Jenn is still struggling to get enough women to come to the exercise class to make it pay for her expenses so pray for her too, that she might be a peace no matter what happens with the class. Please pray for our church as we head into the 40 Days of Purpose Campaign that we would have a huge success for God and great spiritual growth as a congregation.
Well, I'm going to go back and proofread my blog and see if it even makes sense today. If it's too bad, I'll have to rewrite it so keep your fingers crossed that it'll be okay. Just a little confusing. [I've decided to go with my blog as written. Hope you can get something out of it.]
We have our own personal Pharaohs, each of us being enslaved by a power more often than not, more powerful than ourselves. Moses died and was buried thousands of years ago so who will empower us to stand before our Pharaohs today? The same One that Moses trusted. He's the same God. The only God. He will put Himself up against our Pharaohs, no matter how big and bad they are, and free us from captivity. We meet up with a lot of Pharaoh's but our biggest dictator, (causing us the most problems), is our Sin Pharaoh. It's a scary situation because we know we don't have a big bag of plagues to cast out against our Pharaohs. It's just us and our God. Will we stand firm? Can we stand firm? How big is your faith?
Choosing to walk by faith instead of living on the basis of feelings, opinions, and higher "logic" often means we are misunderstood by those around us. Sometimes our actions may appear unreasonable to the outside world (and, truthfully, sometimes even to ourselves), but what could be more logical, more reasonable, than us allowing our all-knowing, all-wise, all-everything heavenly Father to guide us? When we are like Moses and find our talents and abilities are no match for the task at hand, God's power will accomplish through us what needs to be done (2Co 12:9). The Lord God isn't always "reasonable" as we may interpret reason, but He works out our circumstances through our obedience. And we can be confident that He who used a mere shepherd to challenge a mighty Pharaoh is still as trustworthy for us as He was for Moses. He will stand just as strong and unmovable today as He did all those many years ago. Times have changed, but we keep meeting up with the same Pharaohs. And luckily, we still have the same God. He will stand against our Pharaohs and we will come out victorious just as Moses did. Our God is dependable. We can count on our God. He has promised on Himself (for there is nothing higher to swear by) to stand His ground. Today we may not have a Moses to go against our Pharaohs but we have Jesus, our High Priest (He 2:17-18; 4: 14-5). Hebrews 4:16 reads, "Let us, then, approach the throne of grace with confidence." We can be absolutely positive that Jesus will always be there to face our Pharaohs for us. He is the ultimate and faithful High Priest able to sympathize with our weaknesses, having been tempted in every way, just as we are, only without sin. We have Someone more powerful than Moses.
Living by faith requires releasing our human sense of what is best and reasonable in order to rely wholly on God ... it involves obeying when the Lord indicates we are to speak or to act. God wants us to trust that He has a plan for our lives and is constantly directing circumstances to ensure that His purpose is achieved. Whatever the challenge, we can be successful by choosing to depend entirely upon God. He will stand us up before our personal Pharaohs and make us victorious.
This morning has been interesting. I can't seem to get my devotional to gel. It won't coalesce but I'm hoping you will get something out of it. It just seemed to want to go in too many directions today. So if you find that today's blog is more confusing than usual, please know that I struggled with it.
We had another cold night last night but not freezing. I'm cold and I want to turn on the heater but Michael is still sleeping and it gets too hot in the bedroom with the heater running. So I sit here and shiver! I woke up at 5:00 again this morning. That's getting to be a habit with me. Oh well, I enjoy having the extra time to get things done. I don't usually finish my blog until around noon so I'm like 5 hours ahead of myself. Of course with Michael still being asleep I haven't been able to get my chores done like I'm supposed to before I start blogging. Oh well ... that just breaks my heart, he he!
I think I have a meeting to go to this afternoon. I should probably find out for sure from someone but I'll wait and let the world wake up first. I know I have a meeting tonight and I'm going to go back to my exercise class tomorrow night. And I have a meeting Thursday night.
Betty is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, away from home so everyone please keep her in your prayers. http://skatemama/. blogspot.com is always fun to read. It's always fun to check out her latest pictures and read what the kids have been up to. Kathleen, my Heart from church, has been on a vacation in Arizona for the past week or so but she's been taking me with her via email and photos. It's been a lot of fun. Chris and Brenda's wedding is this coming Saturday. That should be fun. I haven't been to a wedding in close to 20 years. Brenda is very nervous about getting up in front of everyone to say her vows so please pray for her that she might have peace and nothing but good memories of her wedding day. Jenn is still struggling to get enough women to come to the exercise class to make it pay for her expenses so pray for her too, that she might be a peace no matter what happens with the class. Please pray for our church as we head into the 40 Days of Purpose Campaign that we would have a huge success for God and great spiritual growth as a congregation.
Well, I'm going to go back and proofread my blog and see if it even makes sense today. If it's too bad, I'll have to rewrite it so keep your fingers crossed that it'll be okay. Just a little confusing. [I've decided to go with my blog as written. Hope you can get something out of it.]
Monday, October 8, 2007
Joseph: Forward by Faith
Every believer will falter occasionally when it comes to matters of his or her faith. When that happens there are ways we can keep our doubts to a minimum. The important thing, the key to the entire issue, is to keep our eyes and hearts focused upon God so that we can move forward in His will and not fall victim to our own fears and insecurities. When we focus in on an object or a person, all other things in view blur. If we focus in on our problems, everything else (including God!) goes out of focus. But if we keep our eyes on God instead of our problems, then our problems blur, and God remains crystal clear to us.
After reading Genesis 39, let's continue with the Old Testament hero, Joseph, who trusted God through the harrowing events and experiences of his early years. Faith sustained him through events that I would venture to guess would completely side-line most of us: betrayal, slavery, imprisonment. But Joseph rested on his confidence in the Lord and didn't allow circumstances, environment, or the opinion of others to distract him from acting in God's will. Joseph believed every situation of his life was by God's design. He fully understood that his life's events ... even those difficult ones ... were orchestrated and used by God to fine-tune Joseph's faith. "You intended to harm me," Joseph later said to his brothers, "but God intended it for good ..." (Ge 50:20). We mustn't miss the point that God didn't just take the evil acts of his brothers and turn them into good. No, it says that God "intended them for good." Can we fully grasp this? God intended for Joseph to be sold into slavery. And when Joseph had to spend all that time in prison, God intended for it to happen that way. So we might be driven to ask how a loving God could do such things. He could because He wasn't looking at the transitory events and discomforts in Joseph's life at the time. Instead, He was looking at the overall good for Joseph. He knew that Joseph would never turn out to be the man He could use mightily without him first enduring the trials God intended for him.
We tend to react to trials in a critical way and complain that the situation and circumstances are unfair, unjust, and undeserved. We are so focused on our temporary circumstances and how unfortunate they are that we often miss opportunities to serve God.
Joseph chose another approach to the situation. This young Hebrew whose own brothers had sold him into slavery while still a youngster decided to do his work with excellence instead of doing it grudgingly. His duties in Potiphar's house were not of his making and were probably of the menial kind, but he performed his routine tasks as if he were performing them for the Lord. Everything a believer does can be done unto the Lord. Whether it's laundry or vacuuming, everything we do can be done as an act of worship toward our God. We can approach every chore, every task as an opportunity to do it well and please our Lord. Only through this type of commitment could Joseph have earned the attention and respect of his earthly master. And the young slave was rewarded with more responsibility and freedom. We too, by our responses to our different and varied circumstances, can gain the respect and admiration of others. And this not for ourselves, but for the fact that we can reflect the glory of the Lord in everything we do and say. God notices when we do this and it pleases Him.
As Joseph moved through one hardship after another, he stayed focused on God, who had promised to raise him to a position of leadership (Ge 37:10). He had a practical, God-honoring approach to the downward turn in his fortunes: he kept thinking about God and serving Him instead of dwelling on his trials. We too can turn disappointments and hardships into personal victories by taking note of the way Joseph responded to his circumstances. We tend to take our focus away from Jesus our Lord and therefore away from God Himself and this only complicates things and makes matters worse. If we keep our eyes focused on God, instead of on ourselves, we can turn hardships into victories and we can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that even if we don't see the victory, it's still there. Everything we do unto the Lord earns Him a victory. And we need to remember that everything we endure in this life has a purpose; every action against or for us, has a reason. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can happen in our lives without first passing through the Father's hands. So if we're going through difficult times, let's determine to turn them into glory for the Lord. Let's seek out ways to honor Him in all of our circumstances.
It's Monday. Where do the days go? Today is a beautiful Fall day here again. It was another night below freezing last night. Not hard freezes, mind you, but freezes just the same. Halloween will be here before we know it and then come Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Seems like we did the holidays just a couple months ago to me. It sure doesn't feel like an entire year will have gone by.
Church services were incredible last night. We had communion and sang songs and talked about the changes God makes in us when we allow him to. These weren't superficial changes either. We talked about the deeply ingrained habits and inclinations of our hearts and how God can take those and turn them into victories. It's like with my smoking. For years I struggled to quit. I wanted to quit and tried countless times but I just couldn't make it happen. I always kept it a prayerful thing between the Lord and I and sometimes I'd think that maybe the Lord didn't want me to quit. Maybe he intended for it to be the thorn in my flesh. I couldn't think of any other reason for God to not make me quit. I still don't know what happened, why I was able to smoke that last cigarette and never go back. It sounds so ridiculously easy and simple, something that anyone should have known. But just one day it dawned on me, I mean really dawned on me, that smoking was a choice. I could choose to smoke that cigarette or I could choose not to smoke it. Seems so simple it's silly. But this time there was a deeper degree of understanding. It was like someone had just flipped on a switch and in the light I could finally see things clearly for once in my life. And suddenly I knew with a "supernatural knowing" that I had a choice. And that was the end of it for me. It was all over. My struggle ended in victory for the Lord. And for me. Not that I don't still have urges but that I can still make the right choice. Each and every time I choose not to smoke that next cigarette. That's really what it was. It was the tackling of each cigarette, individually. I just went one cigarette at a time and each time I made the choice to not smoke it. And it's been 9 months now. I will always be a smoker though. It's like it is for alcoholics. I don't think you're ever "cured." You just learn to say No each time. I've often said that if I'd known quitting would have been so easy, I would have quit years ago. LOL!!
Pastor Dan asked me to help make slides of all our praise songs last night after the service. I told him I would do that if I could. And it's a big if. If I can't do it, I won't hesitate to tell him so. Computers and I don't always get along. That's what happens when you come up against a computer program that's smarter than you are. You throw up your hands and say, "I quit!" Right? That's what I always do. I don't mind the work at all. It's trying to outsmart a computer that gets to me. It would be so much easier if I'd just learn to work with the computer instead of against it.
I woke up with a bit of a sore throat this morning and some congestion in my nose. Sure hope that doesn't mean what it usually means when that happens. I really, really don't want to have a cold. I'm hoping for allergies and that I will be just fine in a little while. I don't know what will happen to my blog if I were to get sick. I'd have to be pretty sick not to feel like blogging but I've certainly been that sick in the past. We'll just have to wait and see if that ever happens. Hopefully it won't.
I have things to do so I think this will be it for my blog for today as I'm out of things to write about and my floors need vacuuming and my laundry needs my attention. I can only put these things off for so long and then they become major issues with me. Until tomorrow...
After reading Genesis 39, let's continue with the Old Testament hero, Joseph, who trusted God through the harrowing events and experiences of his early years. Faith sustained him through events that I would venture to guess would completely side-line most of us: betrayal, slavery, imprisonment. But Joseph rested on his confidence in the Lord and didn't allow circumstances, environment, or the opinion of others to distract him from acting in God's will. Joseph believed every situation of his life was by God's design. He fully understood that his life's events ... even those difficult ones ... were orchestrated and used by God to fine-tune Joseph's faith. "You intended to harm me," Joseph later said to his brothers, "but God intended it for good ..." (Ge 50:20). We mustn't miss the point that God didn't just take the evil acts of his brothers and turn them into good. No, it says that God "intended them for good." Can we fully grasp this? God intended for Joseph to be sold into slavery. And when Joseph had to spend all that time in prison, God intended for it to happen that way. So we might be driven to ask how a loving God could do such things. He could because He wasn't looking at the transitory events and discomforts in Joseph's life at the time. Instead, He was looking at the overall good for Joseph. He knew that Joseph would never turn out to be the man He could use mightily without him first enduring the trials God intended for him.
We tend to react to trials in a critical way and complain that the situation and circumstances are unfair, unjust, and undeserved. We are so focused on our temporary circumstances and how unfortunate they are that we often miss opportunities to serve God.
Joseph chose another approach to the situation. This young Hebrew whose own brothers had sold him into slavery while still a youngster decided to do his work with excellence instead of doing it grudgingly. His duties in Potiphar's house were not of his making and were probably of the menial kind, but he performed his routine tasks as if he were performing them for the Lord. Everything a believer does can be done unto the Lord. Whether it's laundry or vacuuming, everything we do can be done as an act of worship toward our God. We can approach every chore, every task as an opportunity to do it well and please our Lord. Only through this type of commitment could Joseph have earned the attention and respect of his earthly master. And the young slave was rewarded with more responsibility and freedom. We too, by our responses to our different and varied circumstances, can gain the respect and admiration of others. And this not for ourselves, but for the fact that we can reflect the glory of the Lord in everything we do and say. God notices when we do this and it pleases Him.
As Joseph moved through one hardship after another, he stayed focused on God, who had promised to raise him to a position of leadership (Ge 37:10). He had a practical, God-honoring approach to the downward turn in his fortunes: he kept thinking about God and serving Him instead of dwelling on his trials. We too can turn disappointments and hardships into personal victories by taking note of the way Joseph responded to his circumstances. We tend to take our focus away from Jesus our Lord and therefore away from God Himself and this only complicates things and makes matters worse. If we keep our eyes focused on God, instead of on ourselves, we can turn hardships into victories and we can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that even if we don't see the victory, it's still there. Everything we do unto the Lord earns Him a victory. And we need to remember that everything we endure in this life has a purpose; every action against or for us, has a reason. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can happen in our lives without first passing through the Father's hands. So if we're going through difficult times, let's determine to turn them into glory for the Lord. Let's seek out ways to honor Him in all of our circumstances.
It's Monday. Where do the days go? Today is a beautiful Fall day here again. It was another night below freezing last night. Not hard freezes, mind you, but freezes just the same. Halloween will be here before we know it and then come Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Seems like we did the holidays just a couple months ago to me. It sure doesn't feel like an entire year will have gone by.
Church services were incredible last night. We had communion and sang songs and talked about the changes God makes in us when we allow him to. These weren't superficial changes either. We talked about the deeply ingrained habits and inclinations of our hearts and how God can take those and turn them into victories. It's like with my smoking. For years I struggled to quit. I wanted to quit and tried countless times but I just couldn't make it happen. I always kept it a prayerful thing between the Lord and I and sometimes I'd think that maybe the Lord didn't want me to quit. Maybe he intended for it to be the thorn in my flesh. I couldn't think of any other reason for God to not make me quit. I still don't know what happened, why I was able to smoke that last cigarette and never go back. It sounds so ridiculously easy and simple, something that anyone should have known. But just one day it dawned on me, I mean really dawned on me, that smoking was a choice. I could choose to smoke that cigarette or I could choose not to smoke it. Seems so simple it's silly. But this time there was a deeper degree of understanding. It was like someone had just flipped on a switch and in the light I could finally see things clearly for once in my life. And suddenly I knew with a "supernatural knowing" that I had a choice. And that was the end of it for me. It was all over. My struggle ended in victory for the Lord. And for me. Not that I don't still have urges but that I can still make the right choice. Each and every time I choose not to smoke that next cigarette. That's really what it was. It was the tackling of each cigarette, individually. I just went one cigarette at a time and each time I made the choice to not smoke it. And it's been 9 months now. I will always be a smoker though. It's like it is for alcoholics. I don't think you're ever "cured." You just learn to say No each time. I've often said that if I'd known quitting would have been so easy, I would have quit years ago. LOL!!
Pastor Dan asked me to help make slides of all our praise songs last night after the service. I told him I would do that if I could. And it's a big if. If I can't do it, I won't hesitate to tell him so. Computers and I don't always get along. That's what happens when you come up against a computer program that's smarter than you are. You throw up your hands and say, "I quit!" Right? That's what I always do. I don't mind the work at all. It's trying to outsmart a computer that gets to me. It would be so much easier if I'd just learn to work with the computer instead of against it.
I woke up with a bit of a sore throat this morning and some congestion in my nose. Sure hope that doesn't mean what it usually means when that happens. I really, really don't want to have a cold. I'm hoping for allergies and that I will be just fine in a little while. I don't know what will happen to my blog if I were to get sick. I'd have to be pretty sick not to feel like blogging but I've certainly been that sick in the past. We'll just have to wait and see if that ever happens. Hopefully it won't.
I have things to do so I think this will be it for my blog for today as I'm out of things to write about and my floors need vacuuming and my laundry needs my attention. I can only put these things off for so long and then they become major issues with me. Until tomorrow...
Friday, October 5, 2007
The Missing Paragraph
[I will try typing out my first paragraph on a separate little blog.]
James calls believers to ask of God for our needs and we "must believe and not doubt" (Jas 1:5-8). This may sound unreasonable to us since we are naturally inclined to doubt in response. But James realized that when we consistently feel uncertain that the Lord can and will provide, we are not practicing faith. [Note: I had other comments I put in but I can't remember what they were and my rough doesn't show the additions.]
James calls believers to ask of God for our needs and we "must believe and not doubt" (Jas 1:5-8). This may sound unreasonable to us since we are naturally inclined to doubt in response. But James realized that when we consistently feel uncertain that the Lord can and will provide, we are not practicing faith. [Note: I had other comments I put in but I can't remember what they were and my rough doesn't show the additions.]
Faith's Fixed Focus
James calls us to ask of God for our needs and we "must believe and not doubt" (Jas 1:5-8). This may sound unreasonable to us since we are naturally inclined to doubt in response. But James realized that when we consistently feel uncertain that the Lord can and will provide, we are not practicing faith. We have nothing to hang on to when our world starts to spin in circles. We lack that secure feeling of being anchored in Christ's love and assurance, and in the knowledge of the Son of God and what He accomplished for us. Doubting itself, is not a sin but it places us in a position where it's far easier to sin than when we rest in our faith in God.
And what exactly is faith we might ask? Faith is the hope for something with the sure expectation of receiving it (Heb 11:1). It is not based on mere "hopes or happenings," it is based solely on the assurance that we will receive what we are waiting for. It's like a child knowing Christmas is coming. He's so excited he feels like it's never going to get here and yet he knows it's coming. It always comes year after year. So he longs for Christmas with the assured expectation of what he hopes for. It may feel like it's never going to come to him but he knows in the back of his mind that Christmas is coming. Our faith is like that. We don't yet have that which we were promised but we know we're going to get it. We know it's going to happen. Faith is that kind of experience. It's not hoping something will happen like we're hoping to win the lottery and never knowing whether it will ever happen. No, faith is waiting for something that we know positively is going to happen. There's really no hoping involved. It's more a "waiting" until it comes or happens.
At times we will all have doubts in our minds, but such qualms are to be released in favor of trust in God. As stated earlier, doubting isn't a sin but our actions coming from that doubt quite often can be. How can we look to God with confidence if we don't know that He is trustworthy? And how can we learn He's trustworthy if we don't read His history? We must learn of His nature, commandments, and ways. We can build up a storehouse of trust by reading Scripture. The Bible is a record of all His interactions with His creation. We must nourish our spirit with His Spirit by reading mankind's history in the books of the Bible and see God's faithfulness time and time again. Then we must fix our attention on Him and focus our faith upon His faithfulness instead of just wringing our hands over circumstances.
Before Scripture was fully recorded and available, parents and elders passed down family stories about God much the same way as Native Americans did in more recent history. That is how a young Joseph absorbed the example of his ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. From such a rich oral history, he gleaned deep truths about God's sovereignty, His faithfulness, and the consequences of doubting Him. Joseph was in his teens when his brothers sold him into slavery and when he most needed to fix his focus on God, he was able to do so because he had built up trust in the One who had shepherded his ancestors.
We, too, are to build up a trust in our Lord by reading and studying the Scriptures that reveal God's beautiful mercy, forgiveness, love, and faithfulness. We can read of Joseph's life and those of many other faithful followers in Scripture and learn from them God's ways of dealing with humankind. In addition, we can find many valuable examples of unwavering faith within our own church memberships. If our doubts outweigh our faith, our heavenly Father will be pleased to teach us all about Himself through the stories of His other children. All we have to do is open the Word and open our hearts. Rather than doubt, we can learn to put more and more faith in our minds and hearts by pausing on the great Bible stories about people who accomplished miraculous things because they never wavered in their faith in an invisible God who promises to never leave us, abandon, or forsake us. (Deut 31:6; Heb 13:5). As our faith increases our doubts automatically diminish. We need to keep our focus on the Lord and what He's done for His people and what He's doing for them today. It's a lot like us focusing in on objects near and far. When we are focusing on things close to us, everything in the distance fades and blurs away. The same thing happens if we focus on things far away, all the things near us will blur and fade away, becoming almost transparent. It matters greatly where we keep our focus. And it is imperative to keep our faith's focus on Jesus and on all the things our great God has done for us.
Well I'm back to doing the devotional first again. It just seems to work better that way. They've been a little shorter for the past week so it's just easier to write them directly under the heading. It seemed silly to separate the devotional from it's title and unnecessarily awkward to repeat the title down in the blog. Hope you don't mind that I'm just kind of feeling things out as I go. It is overcast and cold today, with an almost a dreary winter feel to it. I dreamed last night that I woke up to snow this morning and by the feel of things I'm surprised we don't have snow. It's quite chilly this morning. (I just got up and turned on the heater. I'll let it run for a little while and take some of the chill out of the air.) I'm surprised we're chilled as it didn't really get all that cold last night. We were about 10 degrees warmer last night than the night before.
I've got my lavender scarf about half done last night. I didn't knit for very long because I don't want to use up all my yarn so early in the month. I could knit a lot of scarves in a month if I can complete one in two days. I'll work on it more tonight. I don't have anything planned for today except to get my 40 Days project finished. Michael has been busy getting some artwork packaged up and wrapped for shipping. Some of the people at his navy reunion paid him for some copies of his art so that's what he's been working on for the past day or two. I don't know what is taking him so long. Of course I don't really know what he's doing so he may be whizzing through what he needs to get done for all I know. I thought he just needed to make a couple copies and slip them in an envelope but I was wrong I guess.
We had a great time up at my granddaughter's place Tuesday night. There must have been close to a dozen people there for dinner. She made a wonderful dinner for everyone. Especially considering her back was hurting her pretty much all the time. She and her fiance were in a wreck on Monday (I think it was) and she hurt her back a little bit. Mostly muscular I think. At least I hope it isn't anything more than sore muscles. The accident wasn't their fault. The woman pulled right out in front of them. They had the right of way.
I guess I should go get dressed since the house has warmed up now. It didn't take the heater long to warm things up. I don't have any plans to go anywhere for today. I will need to go out to the store tomorrow and buy something to make to take to church with me on Sunday. We're going to have the prayer walk around the church and then serve lunch. I thought I might make up a batch of Swedish meatballs since that's so good and it's quick and easy. The sauce is a breeze. The only thing that really requires any work at all are the meatballs and the dish is very, very good to eat. Anyway I think I'll go get busy doing things around the house. I keep feeling like there are things I need to be doing but I've checked my calendar and my days are blank until Sunday. I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh well. I probably won't blog over the weekend (it's hard to believe the weekend is here already). I'm planning on washing my car since I skipped that task last Saturday. I just don't know what the weather's going to be like tomorrow. Guess I'll just have to wait and see. So anyway, until Monday... [this is an edit comment: for some reason my first paragraph is coming out in tinnie tinnie type. I've retyped it and it still comes out in tiny type even though it doesn't show it that way on my rough and I don't know what I can do to fix it. Sorry.]
And what exactly is faith we might ask? Faith is the hope for something with the sure expectation of receiving it (Heb 11:1). It is not based on mere "hopes or happenings," it is based solely on the assurance that we will receive what we are waiting for. It's like a child knowing Christmas is coming. He's so excited he feels like it's never going to get here and yet he knows it's coming. It always comes year after year. So he longs for Christmas with the assured expectation of what he hopes for. It may feel like it's never going to come to him but he knows in the back of his mind that Christmas is coming. Our faith is like that. We don't yet have that which we were promised but we know we're going to get it. We know it's going to happen. Faith is that kind of experience. It's not hoping something will happen like we're hoping to win the lottery and never knowing whether it will ever happen. No, faith is waiting for something that we know positively is going to happen. There's really no hoping involved. It's more a "waiting" until it comes or happens.
At times we will all have doubts in our minds, but such qualms are to be released in favor of trust in God. As stated earlier, doubting isn't a sin but our actions coming from that doubt quite often can be. How can we look to God with confidence if we don't know that He is trustworthy? And how can we learn He's trustworthy if we don't read His history? We must learn of His nature, commandments, and ways. We can build up a storehouse of trust by reading Scripture. The Bible is a record of all His interactions with His creation. We must nourish our spirit with His Spirit by reading mankind's history in the books of the Bible and see God's faithfulness time and time again. Then we must fix our attention on Him and focus our faith upon His faithfulness instead of just wringing our hands over circumstances.
Before Scripture was fully recorded and available, parents and elders passed down family stories about God much the same way as Native Americans did in more recent history. That is how a young Joseph absorbed the example of his ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. From such a rich oral history, he gleaned deep truths about God's sovereignty, His faithfulness, and the consequences of doubting Him. Joseph was in his teens when his brothers sold him into slavery and when he most needed to fix his focus on God, he was able to do so because he had built up trust in the One who had shepherded his ancestors.
We, too, are to build up a trust in our Lord by reading and studying the Scriptures that reveal God's beautiful mercy, forgiveness, love, and faithfulness. We can read of Joseph's life and those of many other faithful followers in Scripture and learn from them God's ways of dealing with humankind. In addition, we can find many valuable examples of unwavering faith within our own church memberships. If our doubts outweigh our faith, our heavenly Father will be pleased to teach us all about Himself through the stories of His other children. All we have to do is open the Word and open our hearts. Rather than doubt, we can learn to put more and more faith in our minds and hearts by pausing on the great Bible stories about people who accomplished miraculous things because they never wavered in their faith in an invisible God who promises to never leave us, abandon, or forsake us. (Deut 31:6; Heb 13:5). As our faith increases our doubts automatically diminish. We need to keep our focus on the Lord and what He's done for His people and what He's doing for them today. It's a lot like us focusing in on objects near and far. When we are focusing on things close to us, everything in the distance fades and blurs away. The same thing happens if we focus on things far away, all the things near us will blur and fade away, becoming almost transparent. It matters greatly where we keep our focus. And it is imperative to keep our faith's focus on Jesus and on all the things our great God has done for us.
Well I'm back to doing the devotional first again. It just seems to work better that way. They've been a little shorter for the past week so it's just easier to write them directly under the heading. It seemed silly to separate the devotional from it's title and unnecessarily awkward to repeat the title down in the blog. Hope you don't mind that I'm just kind of feeling things out as I go. It is overcast and cold today, with an almost a dreary winter feel to it. I dreamed last night that I woke up to snow this morning and by the feel of things I'm surprised we don't have snow. It's quite chilly this morning. (I just got up and turned on the heater. I'll let it run for a little while and take some of the chill out of the air.) I'm surprised we're chilled as it didn't really get all that cold last night. We were about 10 degrees warmer last night than the night before.
I've got my lavender scarf about half done last night. I didn't knit for very long because I don't want to use up all my yarn so early in the month. I could knit a lot of scarves in a month if I can complete one in two days. I'll work on it more tonight. I don't have anything planned for today except to get my 40 Days project finished. Michael has been busy getting some artwork packaged up and wrapped for shipping. Some of the people at his navy reunion paid him for some copies of his art so that's what he's been working on for the past day or two. I don't know what is taking him so long. Of course I don't really know what he's doing so he may be whizzing through what he needs to get done for all I know. I thought he just needed to make a couple copies and slip them in an envelope but I was wrong I guess.
We had a great time up at my granddaughter's place Tuesday night. There must have been close to a dozen people there for dinner. She made a wonderful dinner for everyone. Especially considering her back was hurting her pretty much all the time. She and her fiance were in a wreck on Monday (I think it was) and she hurt her back a little bit. Mostly muscular I think. At least I hope it isn't anything more than sore muscles. The accident wasn't their fault. The woman pulled right out in front of them. They had the right of way.
I guess I should go get dressed since the house has warmed up now. It didn't take the heater long to warm things up. I don't have any plans to go anywhere for today. I will need to go out to the store tomorrow and buy something to make to take to church with me on Sunday. We're going to have the prayer walk around the church and then serve lunch. I thought I might make up a batch of Swedish meatballs since that's so good and it's quick and easy. The sauce is a breeze. The only thing that really requires any work at all are the meatballs and the dish is very, very good to eat. Anyway I think I'll go get busy doing things around the house. I keep feeling like there are things I need to be doing but I've checked my calendar and my days are blank until Sunday. I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh well. I probably won't blog over the weekend (it's hard to believe the weekend is here already). I'm planning on washing my car since I skipped that task last Saturday. I just don't know what the weather's going to be like tomorrow. Guess I'll just have to wait and see. So anyway, until Monday... [this is an edit comment: for some reason my first paragraph is coming out in tinnie tinnie type. I've retyped it and it still comes out in tiny type even though it doesn't show it that way on my rough and I don't know what I can do to fix it. Sorry.]
Thursday, October 4, 2007
The Unpardonable Sin
As I said, we did our shopping yesterday and boy! were we ever tired afterward. I think we were tired more from the stress than from the physical activity but we were very tired by the time we got the car unloaded and everything put away. You do the shopping and are tired and then remember that you still have to unload the car and put everything way. Buying it all is only part of the chore. But we did really well, spending wise. I think overall we spent less than usual and it seems like we bought more than usual. Of course Walmart was out of the dry cat food my cats like so I had to buy one bag of the original flavor (which they will tolerate but certainly let me know they prefer the seafood medley) and we'll have to go back over mid-month and buy another bag of the seafood flavor, hopefully. We're going to make a day of it though and play some dominoes with my sisters and brother-in-law when we go back over. We haven't all been together in quite a long time so any excuse is good enough. I will be tied up at church until noon on that Saturday but we'll still have plenty of time to go over. We can't be gone too long anyway because of the dog being inside the house.
I'm a woman without a plan today. I know I need to work on my 40 Days project but other than that I have no plans to do anything. If I didn't already have the bed made, I'd probably end up going back to bed and sleeping the day away. It's a little on the nippy side this morning and those are my favorite days to go back to bed. Instead I'm sitting here at my computer writing this blog. I've got my flannel sleep pants on and one of Michael's old long-sleeved shirts to keep the chill away. That's right, I'm not even dressed yet but I am intentionally skipping that chore this morning because I'm more comfortable in what I have on so it's okay. I have the rest of my chores done and I'll get dressed as soon as it warms up a little. It doesn't count when I intentionally skip a chore. (Hey! They're my chores and I can make the rules if I want to! LOL.)
Mario is up here sitting beside my keyboard watching me type. He's trying to be a cool cat but what he's really wanting is my chair. We fight over my office chair every morning. For some strange reason he seems to be under the impression that my chair is his chair and he does everything possible to bug me into leaving so he can have the chair. This is really intimidating now because he's moved to the other side and it sitting with his head and neck out over the keyboard. He thinks if I can't see the keys I'll stop typing but he's wrong; I don't need to see the keys to type. Oh, here comes the paw. When I don't give in and share the chair with him he'll periodically paw the air in my direction with his ears lying back a little onto the top of his head. He's got the whole routine down and he doesn't miss a trick to try to con me into moving so he can have my chair. The problem is, he's sitting on the handwritten copy of my blog so I can't type it until he moves off my writing pad so I can see what to type. One of us is going to have to give up but it's usually always me who does the giving.
I got a good start on my 6th scarf last night after I finished the one I was working on. I bought enough yarn for 6 scarves yesterday. Each skein was supposed to have been $2.74 but after I got home and looked at the receipt, she charged me $4.47 for each skein! You know, it's getting to where you need to stand right there and watch to see what price rings up with every single item. We never do our shopping without finding something wrong with it. Usually it's a wrong price like yesterday. But sometimes it's charging us for more items than we purchased. That happens a lot. We'll buy three items and will find out after getting home that we were charged for four items. I think from now on I'll just push my cart out of the way inside the store and stand there and go over my receipt. I hate to have to do that, and I shouldn't have to do that but that was a $10 mistake yesterday! Ouch!!! It doesn't take too many of those to make it worthwhile to drive back over or shop somewhere closer.
Anyway back to my scarves. I got enough yarn for 6 new scarves. Six different and new colors. I really don't need that many, I just enjoy knitting them and I also enjoy wearing them. I'd never worn a scarf until a couple years ago and they are so incredibly warm to wear on a cold outing. And I like the looks of them too. They're nice accessories to my wardrobe. But I mostly wear them because they're so warm around my neck. I have a couple scarves that I'll give to my granddaughter. I know she will like them. My other granddaughter had me knit a wardrobe of scarves for her. I think I made her six. She loves to wear scarves and wanted a whole bunch of them so that's what she got for her birthday last year: a big box of scarves. But they are so quick and easy to knit. After I finish these scarves I will make a bunch of hotpads out of left over yarn and then I think I'll start on a pair of slippers. If I can remember the pattern which I think I do. I haven't knitted a pair in years and years but I think I still remember how. They are a lot more work than scarves but maybe I could start and by next Christmas have enough to give a pair to everyone. We'll see. I found a box out in the garage that had 8 skeins of yellow yarn in it and I can use that yarn for slippers. The yarn I use for scarves is different from the kind used for slippers. Well, now that you've heard all about my scarves and slippers maybe I should start on my blog. You're bound to be bored stiff by this time. (I can always find something to write about. I just regret that it's always boring stuff.)
The Unpardonable Sin
Do you worry about the unpardonable sin? Are you afraid you will slip and fall victim to the one sin for which there is no forgiveness from God? Listen carefully. No one today can commit the unpardonable sin. Did you hear that? Write it down. No one today can suddenly find themselves committing a sin for which they cannot receive forgiveness (1Jn 1:9). According to the Bible, the only action God will not pardon is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, committed by the Pharisees.
These Jewish religious leaders (who should have known better) were given compelling evidence that Jesus was the Son of God, and yet they sought to undermine Him in hopes of maintaining their own status and prestige. After witnessing Christ's miracles, the Pharisees blasphemed by assigning His supernatural power to the works of Satan. Christ Jesus' response to their sin was a warning that whoever spoke this way against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven (Mt 12:22-23). Make no mistake about it, to accredit the works of the Holy Spirit as works of Satan is a very serious sin today. But it is not an unpardonable sin. As bad as that sin is, there is still forgiveness available for the person if he asks for it.
Since people living now do not have the undeniable physical presence of Jesus Christ in the world, they can't recreate the Pharisee's sinful event. However, it is possible today to end up in an unpardonable state. This can happen when a person rejects the Holy Spirit's call to salvation and holy living, and then dies while in a condition of unbelief. Unbelief is different from disbelief in that when a person is given undeniable evidence to the contrary, they choose to not believe that evidence. That is called unbelief. Disbelief does not have the element of compelling evidence working with it.
These are the stages leading up to an unpardonable state. An unbeliever chooses to sin, even though he knows what he's doing is a flagrant violation of the Word of God. He resists the Holy Spirit's gentle promptings toward conviction and salvation, and in the course of many years hardens his heart against God and against God's right to decide how people should live their lives. A time comes when the Holy Spirit makes no impression at all, and any desire for the Lord has dried up like a creek bed in the hot desert sun. There isn't a sermon or a song capable of moving him. His heart has become petrified to the gospel.
It is imperative for us to understand that absolutely no sin can separate us from God's love. Only a conscious decision to reject the Lord can result in a person spending an eternity apart from Him. However, we need to be careful that we don't claim a supernatural work of God that happens today as something done by demons or by Satan himself, because, while it is not unpardonable, it is still a very serious sin to commit. Jehovah God does perform incredible miracles in the lives of His people today. He always has. He always will. Be careful not to accredit Satan and his demons with works of God Himself!
I'm a woman without a plan today. I know I need to work on my 40 Days project but other than that I have no plans to do anything. If I didn't already have the bed made, I'd probably end up going back to bed and sleeping the day away. It's a little on the nippy side this morning and those are my favorite days to go back to bed. Instead I'm sitting here at my computer writing this blog. I've got my flannel sleep pants on and one of Michael's old long-sleeved shirts to keep the chill away. That's right, I'm not even dressed yet but I am intentionally skipping that chore this morning because I'm more comfortable in what I have on so it's okay. I have the rest of my chores done and I'll get dressed as soon as it warms up a little. It doesn't count when I intentionally skip a chore. (Hey! They're my chores and I can make the rules if I want to! LOL.)
Mario is up here sitting beside my keyboard watching me type. He's trying to be a cool cat but what he's really wanting is my chair. We fight over my office chair every morning. For some strange reason he seems to be under the impression that my chair is his chair and he does everything possible to bug me into leaving so he can have the chair. This is really intimidating now because he's moved to the other side and it sitting with his head and neck out over the keyboard. He thinks if I can't see the keys I'll stop typing but he's wrong; I don't need to see the keys to type. Oh, here comes the paw. When I don't give in and share the chair with him he'll periodically paw the air in my direction with his ears lying back a little onto the top of his head. He's got the whole routine down and he doesn't miss a trick to try to con me into moving so he can have my chair. The problem is, he's sitting on the handwritten copy of my blog so I can't type it until he moves off my writing pad so I can see what to type. One of us is going to have to give up but it's usually always me who does the giving.
I got a good start on my 6th scarf last night after I finished the one I was working on. I bought enough yarn for 6 scarves yesterday. Each skein was supposed to have been $2.74 but after I got home and looked at the receipt, she charged me $4.47 for each skein! You know, it's getting to where you need to stand right there and watch to see what price rings up with every single item. We never do our shopping without finding something wrong with it. Usually it's a wrong price like yesterday. But sometimes it's charging us for more items than we purchased. That happens a lot. We'll buy three items and will find out after getting home that we were charged for four items. I think from now on I'll just push my cart out of the way inside the store and stand there and go over my receipt. I hate to have to do that, and I shouldn't have to do that but that was a $10 mistake yesterday! Ouch!!! It doesn't take too many of those to make it worthwhile to drive back over or shop somewhere closer.
Anyway back to my scarves. I got enough yarn for 6 new scarves. Six different and new colors. I really don't need that many, I just enjoy knitting them and I also enjoy wearing them. I'd never worn a scarf until a couple years ago and they are so incredibly warm to wear on a cold outing. And I like the looks of them too. They're nice accessories to my wardrobe. But I mostly wear them because they're so warm around my neck. I have a couple scarves that I'll give to my granddaughter. I know she will like them. My other granddaughter had me knit a wardrobe of scarves for her. I think I made her six. She loves to wear scarves and wanted a whole bunch of them so that's what she got for her birthday last year: a big box of scarves. But they are so quick and easy to knit. After I finish these scarves I will make a bunch of hotpads out of left over yarn and then I think I'll start on a pair of slippers. If I can remember the pattern which I think I do. I haven't knitted a pair in years and years but I think I still remember how. They are a lot more work than scarves but maybe I could start and by next Christmas have enough to give a pair to everyone. We'll see. I found a box out in the garage that had 8 skeins of yellow yarn in it and I can use that yarn for slippers. The yarn I use for scarves is different from the kind used for slippers. Well, now that you've heard all about my scarves and slippers maybe I should start on my blog. You're bound to be bored stiff by this time. (I can always find something to write about. I just regret that it's always boring stuff.)
The Unpardonable Sin
Do you worry about the unpardonable sin? Are you afraid you will slip and fall victim to the one sin for which there is no forgiveness from God? Listen carefully. No one today can commit the unpardonable sin. Did you hear that? Write it down. No one today can suddenly find themselves committing a sin for which they cannot receive forgiveness (1Jn 1:9). According to the Bible, the only action God will not pardon is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, committed by the Pharisees.
These Jewish religious leaders (who should have known better) were given compelling evidence that Jesus was the Son of God, and yet they sought to undermine Him in hopes of maintaining their own status and prestige. After witnessing Christ's miracles, the Pharisees blasphemed by assigning His supernatural power to the works of Satan. Christ Jesus' response to their sin was a warning that whoever spoke this way against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven (Mt 12:22-23). Make no mistake about it, to accredit the works of the Holy Spirit as works of Satan is a very serious sin today. But it is not an unpardonable sin. As bad as that sin is, there is still forgiveness available for the person if he asks for it.
Since people living now do not have the undeniable physical presence of Jesus Christ in the world, they can't recreate the Pharisee's sinful event. However, it is possible today to end up in an unpardonable state. This can happen when a person rejects the Holy Spirit's call to salvation and holy living, and then dies while in a condition of unbelief. Unbelief is different from disbelief in that when a person is given undeniable evidence to the contrary, they choose to not believe that evidence. That is called unbelief. Disbelief does not have the element of compelling evidence working with it.
These are the stages leading up to an unpardonable state. An unbeliever chooses to sin, even though he knows what he's doing is a flagrant violation of the Word of God. He resists the Holy Spirit's gentle promptings toward conviction and salvation, and in the course of many years hardens his heart against God and against God's right to decide how people should live their lives. A time comes when the Holy Spirit makes no impression at all, and any desire for the Lord has dried up like a creek bed in the hot desert sun. There isn't a sermon or a song capable of moving him. His heart has become petrified to the gospel.
It is imperative for us to understand that absolutely no sin can separate us from God's love. Only a conscious decision to reject the Lord can result in a person spending an eternity apart from Him. However, we need to be careful that we don't claim a supernatural work of God that happens today as something done by demons or by Satan himself, because, while it is not unpardonable, it is still a very serious sin to commit. Jehovah God does perform incredible miracles in the lives of His people today. He always has. He always will. Be careful not to accredit Satan and his demons with works of God Himself!
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