This area will be devoted to Bible verses. I am going to try to read from the Bible each day, something I should have been doing for many years now. I think there are times when you are reading the Bible and wonder how the words back then relate to your life today, but then there are those verses that transcend time and speak to your soul.
Friday, February 8, 2007
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:4
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
Psalm 130:5 (New International Version)
Monday,December 25,2006
"Children are a gift and a blessing from the Lord." Psalm 127:3 CEV
Amen.
Wednsesday, December 6,2006
"Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' does your work say, 'He has no hands'? Isaiah 45:9
As children we quarrel with our parents. How can they know or understand our needs or wants? We know they want what is best for us, but they don't know us enough to understand our deepest fears or desires. God does. I have been quarreling with God for years. I have been telling Him that he doesn't know how useless I really am. How can He place before me situations that fill me with dread at the thought of failing? I am facing a possible choice in my new teaching career. One possible teaching position is easy (in my mind) whereas the other will require more from me than I feel capable of succeeding in. I have been quarreling with God with this decision; as if I know more that Him, as if He is not capable of turning me into something He can use, as if He is not powerful enough to mold me to do His work. Yet He can move mountains, bring down armies, and change the hearts of evil men. I'm sorry God, use me to do your work so that I may feel your love flow to those around me, so that I may know there is no way I can fail so long as I ask you to guide me.
Sunday, December 3,2006
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider other better than yourselves. Philippians 2:3
This was one of our verses in my women's study this morning. The study, an entire book, has the reader delve deeper and deeper into the meaning of helping "one another." At first I thought it a bit boring and redundant, but then I learned there is so much more. For example, who is one another, what should we do to help them, how should we help them, what kind of attitude should we have in helping others, what can we do to be prepared to help others, what kind of reward can we/should we expect, and why should we want to help. I will add more to this later, it's quite late and I have to get some sleep since I'm helping others at the boy's school tomorrow. :)
Friday, December 1, 2006
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15
Crystal clear! Unfortunately it is one of the hardest things to do. A good friend wrote this about forgiveness and it hits the nail on the head:
I have been thinking a lot on this subject. I
definitely hate it. The Lord's Prayer hits it right on, and you know
what? It is hard to live up to. Forgive your trespassers as
He has forgiven you. Whew. You might think that you haven’t done anything
to be forgiven for, yet there is always that little niggle in the back of your
brain that says... YEAH RIGHT... Then you remember that thing.... maybe
the thought of ... what if... for a brief second... when somebody nice walks
by. Or how about when your day really sucks and some flippin’ idiot cuts
you off and ... don't they realize that you have kids in the car??? OOOOH I
hate them... God says hate is akin to murder and lust is just like adultery.
Worry is not putting God first, and that breaks the first commandment, and I
seem to do that all the time. How about working on Sunday... oh yeah that
one... Basically I SUCK as a Christian. That is the easy part to
admit.
Forgiveness... it makes my gut hurt to think about it, yet
it hurts to fail to do it. How do you forgive the man who ruins your
childhood, and still lives on in memory? How do you forgive the person who
steals from you or kills your kid? How do you forgive adultery, or better
yet... the adulteress? Do you have to? Do you want to? Heck,
double LL no! Why do I have
to? I didn't do anything wrong! I am not the one who did this
to me... I am innocent...
Aren't I?
Besides, forgiveness makes you weak. Just let me kick
you again you fool, (Satan says to me). Everyone will see you as foolish
and week, and a sitting duck, HA, I have you now. IDIOT
I am here today to say that forgiveness has always been the
hardest thing for me to do. I DON'T WANT TO. And I stomp my
feet. I WON'T. I pound my hand. I try to sweep it all
away, yet it comes back to devour me again and again, leaving me
destitute. Empty and ... alone.
Why alone? Because God says "forgive your
trespassers, as HE forgave you."
Well ok, maybe I can forgive, but I know in my heart that I
WON'T forget, that dirty bastard. He will pay someday, and you know what
...I want to see that... I will even buy tickets to watch. I HATE HIM....
wait...
Just a minute... I am sinning ... again...
Soooo what do I do?
Simple.... just what God says....do as He has done for
you.
If God said”Well ok, maybe I can forgive *Monica, but I know
in my heart that I won’t forget, that sinner. *Monica will pay someday
and you know what... I want to see that. I will even buy tickets to watch.
I HATE HER."
It scares me to even think of that. I can live with a
lot, but I can't live without my God. I don’t ever want to be without
Him. I am a sinner,
No better than my trespasser, no better than you. My
sins are no different in Gods eyes than a serial killer, or a child molester,
or a home wrecker. I suck...
Yet He forgives me... and forgets... again and again.
I am beginning to understand Gods pain, at what I do to him ALL the time.
I am sorry God.
So as much as my gut hurts to forgive, I know that it will
hurt me a lot more not to. God takes that power of healing and gives it
to us in such a simple complicated word. Forgiveness.
*Names
have been changed to protect the innocent.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived that which God has prepared for those who love him" 1 Corinthians 2:9
This
verse I have loved for many years. I think of all the riches in this
world, the homes of the wealthy, the kings' castles, the billion dollar
cathedrals, but no matter how we "decorate" our lives with earthly
goods, they are nothing in comparison to what God has to offer.