spiritually

January 30, 2020

“Completely and Wonderfully Free”

1 Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past. – Galatians 5:1 TPT

Gal. 5:1-6 TPT;NKJV

When we were born physically, we were born into a sinful world. We live in bodies of flesh that have carnal desires.  Because sin is still in the world and we are all infected and affected by it, we follow(ed) after those fleshly, carnal desires. The lifestyles that we live(d) are/were not pleasing to God. Jesus sent His Son to redeem us from this fallen state.  When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are born again spiritually, we become new creations in Christ Jesus. We get a new heart with new desires but, the flesh does not just automatically and instantly give up and die. The old desires are still there and it is a constant, second by second battle to defeat the desires of the flesh.  To kill those fleshly desires, we not only need open heart surgery, but we need major brain surgery.  Our mindset and our attitudes have to be changed. When carnal, evil, unkind, sinful thoughts “pop up” in our minds, we can be sure that those thoughts do not come from God, but, rather from satan and his minions. We must always remember that they are liars and they are here only to destroy us.

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. — 1 Peter 5:8

We are tempted by these evil thoughts.  If we allow ourselves to be enticed and follow those fleshly desires, they lead us to sin and sin eventually leads to death. But we have a way out, we have a redeemer and a High Priest who has suffered those same temptations and understands our weaknesses. He defeated satan at the cross, so that we could live full, abundant lives.

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. — John 10:10 NKJV

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

Post 01-30-2020

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December 14, 2018

God’s Plan and Timing Is Always Better Than Ours!

22 “How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! 
2 Samuel 7:18-29 NLT
Nathan, the prophet has told David that God will not allow David to build a permanent temple for God.  Nathan also tells David that God will establish David’s house as a dynasty.  There would never be a time when someone from David’s lineage would not rule in Israel.  Instead of being upset that his idea was rejected, David rejoices in the better plan that God has for he and his family. David then prays this prayer of thanksgiving to God.  Then David goes on to be obedient to God and God gives him victory after victory on the battlefield.  David collects all the materials necessary for Solomon to build the temple.  Though God rejected David’s request, He gave David something better.  God always hears and answers our prayers.  When God says no to our request, it is usually for our benefit, so that He can give us something better.  Either the plan is wrong or the timing is wrong.  But, like David, we should accept God’s answer and praise Him for all the things He has brought us through.  We should realize, as David did, that there is no God like our God.  David had never even heard of a God that could do what our God does and neither have we.  Our God fulfills every promise He has ever made.  He does this in His timing, not in ours.  Too often, we are willing to settle for good things and not wait on God to give us the better things He wants for us.  This is true, spiritually, physically and financially.  Don’t rebel against God when He doesn’t answer yes to every request exactly when we want him to do so.  Wait on the Lord, He has a better plan.  Praise Him for Who He is, not what He does for us. He has already given us His Son, why would He withhold any good thing from us?
Romans 8:31-34 NLT
“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous
Post 12-14-2018
August 10, 2018

Growing Richer

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11 In every way you will grow richer and become even more generous, and this will cause others to give thanks to God because of us, – 2 Cor. 9:11 ISV
 
2 Cor. 9:10-13 ISV

​Starting today, we need to prove to God that we are truly thankful for all the blessings He pours into our lives.  We can do that by sharing those blessings, whether they be talent or time, words or worth, things or thoughts.
Someone you see today and every day needs a kind word,  Take a second to smile and greet them. Someone you see today and every day needs someone to just listen to their story.  Stop and listen, really listen. Someone you see today will be hungry and/or homeless. Feed them, naturally and spiritually. Someone you see today is feeling worthless and unloved, take the time to assure them of their worth and value in God’s scheme of things. If we make it a habit to do these kinds of things daily, we will not only be proving to God that we are truly thankful, but the world will know that we have been with Jesus.  When we share our blessings, at the end of the day, each of us will find that we are the one who was truly blessed and received the greatest blessing. 

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’— Matt. 25:40 NIV

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

Post 08-10-2018

March 6, 2017

Raised Up for His Glory

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12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
— Colossians 2:12 NLT

The Old Testament circumcision was of the flesh as an outward symbol of a covenant relationship with God. Our circumcision is of the spirit removing our sinful nature and replacing it with God’s Holy Spirit. Our hearts and desires were changed and God wrote His Name upon our hearts. Our baptism is the outward symbol of being buried with Christ and raised again to a new life.

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”-2 Cor. 5:17
” Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” Eph. 4:24

We were spiritually dead in our sinful nature but now all things are made new. We are new creatures:
 

“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”-Romans 6:4


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

Post 03-06-2017

August 18, 2014

Words Have the Power of Life and Death

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.—James 1:26,27 (NLT)
​I wish​ I had never said that! Sound familiar? Unfortunately, our spoken words are like our texts and our emails, once we have hit the send button, we can’t get them back. Words can pierce us to depths of our heart and the wounds are slow to heal, if they heal at all. In the carpenter trade (which Jesus was very familiar with), they have a saying” “measure twice, cut once”. Of course, the implication is that if you take the time to measure correctly, you want have to cut the lumber again. That would be a good rule for us to follow in our conversations. Think twice about what we are about to say before we say it and maybe no one will get cut to the bone. We should choose words that build up and create rather than destroy. We need to show our faithfulness to Jesus by caring for those around us that need our help. Not just physically and materially, but also spiritually. We need to walk carefully so that we are not corrupted.
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.–Galatians 6:1 (NKJV​)
Post 08-18-14