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Citizenship

Posted on February 24, 2014 ·

So Now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s people. You are members of God’s family.  Ephesians 2:19

blog picture passportWhen I was in Europe a few years ago I carried my passport with me everywhere. I wore it in a little pouch under my sweater the whole time I traveled. It was the only thing that proved that I was a US citizen. I couldn’t even get back into the US without it.

When we made Jesus the Lord and Savior of our lives we became citizens of a new country – Heaven.

Being a citizen of a country gives that person rights and protection of that country. Just think about that.  We are citizens of heaven. Usually we think of ourselves as living on earth and waiting to go to heaven, but the Lord says we are already citizens of heaven with all the power and protection of our God available to us.

How do we live as citizens of heaven. We depend on the strength of the Prince of Peace not our own. If we need defending we have our Lord to defend us.

We live here as foreigners- strangers here on earth.

Don’t let the distractions and stresses of the earth make you forget that you belong to the Lord and you are a citizen of heaven now.

Jesus is Lord!

Filed Under: Heaven · Tagged: ,
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“Tug of War”

Posted on February 17, 2014 · 
blog picture tug of war

 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7.

I prayed to the Lord to day to ask Him what we need to hear. We have touched on what to do with worries, but He wants us to learn a bit more.

One thing we have all done is play “tug of war” with the Lord. We pray “Lord, I give you all my problems.” Then the next day we take back the worry and worry about it again. We say “Here Lord, I know you can take care of this” but a few minutes later we try to figure out what to do ourselves. We go back and forth with the Lord. This should not be!

It is better to see the problem solved by the Lord in our mind. If praying for a loved one who is unsaved, picture them lifting their hands in worship to the Lord. I did this for years for my Dad. I stopped thinking of how he was not saved, and started thinking how great it was going to be when he was saved. He did get saved after many years and it was a terrific miracle by the Lord. During those years before he made Jesus his Lord I did not feel any anguish over my Dad’s spiritual condition. I kept picturing him saved. I had prayed that the Lord not let him die unless he was saved.

It finances are a problem ask the Lord to pay all your bills and then picture all your bills “Paid in Full”. If you are sick pray for healing then picture yourself well – maybe dancing before the Lord. He is able. Leave it to Him.

Jesus is Lord!

Filed Under: Faith and Trust ·
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How Do I Love Me?

Posted on February 10, 2014 ·

picture blog girl looking in mirror Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’[e]38 This is the first and greatest commandment.39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[f]40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

“Love you neighbor as yourself”. I was thinking about this a few days ago. I need to love my neighbor – which we know is everybody- the way I love me. So let’s think about this. We feed and clothe ourselves. When we are sick we take ourselves to the doctor’s. We make sure we have a roof over our heads. We easily forgive ourselves for the mistakes we make. We are merciful to us. We look kindly at ourselves in the mirror and try to look our best. We are good to us. We love ourselves.

Now we need to think about our neighbor. The way the Lord defines our neighbor is any and all people of the earth. Everybody is our neighbor. Now the challenge is to love the people around us in the same way we love ourselves. That would mean we treat them kindly, meet physical needs – like food, clothing and shelter as we are able. Forgive easily the mistakes that others make. Love them from our hearts.

Notice that the Lord says that “Loving your neighbor as yourself” is equally important as loving the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul and mind.

Let’s love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Jesus is Lord!

 

Filed Under: Love, Obedience, Word of God ·
audio

From BEST FRIENDS:

Love Your Enemies

Sung by Maia

 

 

 

 

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The Measure

Posted on January 27, 2014 ·

Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken togetherpicture blog measuring cups and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38

 

I was baking a raspberry cobbler to day and as I measured out the flour, I remembered how the Lord said give and it shall be given  to you a good measure, pressed down shaken together  and running over will poured  into your lap. For the measure that you measure with, it will be measured to you.

 I measured out a cup of flour. Then I shook it down, then I pressed it down and I was able to add more flour to the cup.

But what if I used a quarter teaspoon to measure? Then I could expect a quarter teaspoon filled, shaken together and running over into my lap. If I use a gallon to measure with then I could expect a gallon pressed down, shaken together and running over into my lap. That’s quite a difference in volume, isn’t it?

So the bigger I give the more the Lord gives to me. He uses the measure I use! Really, most of us expect the Lord to be a big giver. When we pray we are not afraid to ask for big things, big solutions to our problems, big blessings for our families. So why shouldn’t our God expect us – His children – to be like Him?  Just as we have expectations of Him – so He has of us. He expects His children to be big givers – just like Him.

Give to whom?  To those that have a need that are in our lives, to valid charities, missions – what ever you have the unction to give to. Let the Lord lead you. We can never out give the Lord. Let’s use a big measure.

Jesus is Lord!

 

Filed Under: generosity, Love, Uncategorized ·
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Look Behind You

Posted on January 20, 2014 ·

blog picture runnersIf you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: Deuteronomy 28:1-2.

 29 “And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things.30 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs.31 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need. Luke 12:29-31

 

The people of the world spend a great deal of time thinking about their needs and how they will be fulfilled. They chase after the things of this world. They worry about so many things.

 But when we obey the Lord and put Him first in our lives blessings chase after us.

Picture a race. We are running as fast as we can toward the Lord and coming up fast behind us and catching up with us are blessings. Take a moment and have a look at Deuteronomy 28:1-14. I call it the blessing scripture because there are so many blessings in it.

 So we as faithful followers of Jesus take our eyes off the things of this world. We follow the Lord and blessings will catch up with us.

 Jesus is Lord!

Filed Under: Faith and Trust, Obedience ·
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Something to Think About

Posted on January 17, 2014 ·

blog picture baby wtih cakeFor the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them]. Philippians 4:8

 

Have you ever found yourself remembering a painful moment in life and in your mind adding in things you should have or could have said at the time? How about mulling over what someone at work said to you? Or at school today? Or worries about things that have not happened? These thoughts can make us feel angry, hurt, and sad or rejected or fearful.

 

Paul in his letter to the Philippians addressed this common problem. Led by the Holy Spirit, he advises us to replace these unpleasant and useless thoughts with thoughts about things that are true. When I start thinking about some worrisome thing I ask my self if it true? For example I was going on a plane flight. Thoughts of plane crashes started to pepper my mind. So then I had to ask myself, “Are my thoughts about me being in a plane crash true?” The answer was “No”. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Peace, Uncategorized, Word of God ·
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The Word of God Is Like a Seed

Posted on January 6, 2014 ·

blog picture seedlings13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?14 The farmer sows the word. Mark 4 :13

This is probably one of the most critical pieces of information that Jesus has given us about how the kingdom of God operates. He as said that the Word is like a seed. Let’s think about it for a minute. Let’s picture a tomato seed. Now we plant that seed into good soil and a plant grows and produces, let’s say, 10 tomatoes. Not only will we have the tomatoes but we will also have hundreds of seeds. If we take the hundreds of seeds and plant them, when we have our next harvest, not only will we have hundreds of tomatoes, but thousands of seeds. Wow! What ever we sow will produce more like itself. The whole tomato plant is in that seed. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Obedience, prayer, Word of God ·
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And He Who is seated on the throne said, See! I make all things new. Also He said, Record this, for these sayings are faithful (accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy) and true (genuine). Revelation 21:5

May the Lord bless,protect and reveal Himself to you in the coming year.

Love,

Lori

 

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God’s Perfect Plan

Posted on December 30, 2013 ·

blog picture perfect planFor I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Have you ever wondered why you were going through something? I have. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to make sense. Why would the Lord let someone lose a job, let a house burn, let a divorce happen, let someone young get a serious disease?

I remember when I had to take my children for their immunizations. They could not understand why they had to get a needle in their arm. I could not explain it to them. It was too complicated: immunity, vaccine, eventual protection from a disease and antibodies. They were just too little to understand. Later when they were older they had enough understanding of the world for me to explain. But it still hurt to get a shot! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Faith and Trust ·
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