changes

December 18, 2019

“Whatever Is Good and Perfect”

17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.— James 1:17 NLT

James 1;16-18 NLT

Every good and precious thing that we receive while we are on this earth is a gift from God. He never changes or even gives any indication the He is thinking about or considering change. God is good all the time because God is God all the time. He is the same yesterday, today, and will be the same tomorrow. He is the Solid Rock on which we can plant our feet and know we are protected. He is the Father who never changes, but is always there when we fail him and come humbly back to Him. He gave us a new birth by giving us His Word, both written and in the flesh. We are His possession because He bought us at the highest price anyone could pay. The death of His only Son. We must be faithful in following the example of His Son because of the price He paid for us.

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave[g] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ​ — John 3:16 ​

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 12-18-2019

Advertisement
March 14, 2019

“All to Jesus”

1  O Lord, I give my life to you. — Psalm 25:1 NLT

Psalm 25:1-7 NLT

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to abide within our hearts and minds.  God has sent Him to be our guide and our teacher.  If we are sincere about our repentance and listen to His teachings, we will soon discover that Jesus wants to be not only our Savior, but also our Lord. If we are going to allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives, there will have to be some changes made.  We are becoming new creatures and that requires tearing down the old.  We have new hearts inhabited by a new Master.  He also wants to renew our minds.  Jesus, better than anyone, understands that the true battlefield is the mind.  It is where our thoughts and ideas originate. We have to learn to control our thoughts and imaginations and bring them all into the obedience of Christ Jesus.  Once our thought patterns change, our words and actions will change and our words and actions will let those around know which God we serve.

 2 Cor. 10:3-6 NIV

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 03-14-2019

January 2, 2016

The Old Me Painted Over

even-smaller-bug-light121 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”– Mark 2:21, 22 NIV

It’s that time again, the time when we make all those resolutions to do better and be better.​  The gyms will be full of those determined to slim down and/or bulk up. The sales of salads will probably be at their annual high. Some might even venture so far as to read a good book and do a daily good deed.  The flames of love and hope are burning brightly.  But then, a few weeks later, the moaning and the groaning will start.  The weight is not coming off as the diet plan promised, the muscles aren’t noticeably bigger, they are just sore,  I just haven’t had the time to finish that book and nobody even notices when I do a good deed. A few more weeks later and it’s “I weigh more than I did before I started.”   (Believe me, I know that feeling). Those programs just don’t work for me.  Why are these failures so prevalent?  Because the flesh is strong and has strong desires that we, as humans, are not equipped to defeat.  How many times did I eat things that weren’t on the diet?  How many mornings did I sleep in rather than go to the gym or spend a few minutes reading that book?  How many times did I fail to do a good deed to someone who was really in need and not a neighbor or a friend? The problem is that we are focused on externals rather than internals.  The changes have to come from the inside out.  To win the war, we have to lose the battle.  We have to get to the point that we say to God, “I can’t but you can.”   Allow God to make the internal changes and He will direct you in the externals.  Otherwise, the patches tear off and the wineskins burst.  Don’t  gloss over the old self, get rid of it and start anew with Jesus.
Post 01-02-2016