God's Word tells us, "We aren't making outrageous claims here. We're sticking to the limits of what God has set for us. But there can be no question that those limits reach to and include you." These words were written by Paul in his second letter to the Church in Corinth, Chapter 10, verses 13,14.
Paul assured the church of Corinth that he had a right to minister to them, either in person or by letter. After all, Paul was personally selected for this work by the hand of God. Jesus spoke to him on the road to Damascus and Paul was changed into Jesus' Apostle to the world. And the world was changed, forever.
Changing the world is the hope of each and every person who loves Christ and is trying to be obedient to the call to go into the world and testify to the Message of God's Son, who was crucified for our sake, was resurrected after 3 days, and now is at the right hand of the Father. This message must again change the world, the world in our day.
This is why I blog. I blog in the hope that someone out there someday will call upon Christ. I pray each sentence will be like a cannon blast to the heart of one who has turned away from Him. Maybe he or she has been hurt by a church whose people have not all grown up yet.
That could be most any church, for the church at large is filled with unholy people who are struggling to be holy, and not understanding that holiness belongs to God! And we are only to follow Him the best we can, in the hope of finding holiness somewhere along the way, touching upon it at odd moments. People in the church need forgiveness as well as needing to learn to forgive. The church is also the place for people who think they are holy. For someone will come along and show them that they, too, need repentance before they find forgiveness. Yes, the church is full of the people who need to be there. And many of us are meeting Jesus head-on!
So, Lord Jesus, I pray for all those who have turned to you for your loving kindness, direction for their lives, for your healing power in their lives, for those who are lost and don't know why, and for forgiveness for those who have yet to accept the forgiveness for which you died.
For myself, I pray for your guidance for my words, knowing you are all I will ever need.
I am still......Your Jo
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
PRAISES FOR THE BLESSED GOD!
"Cornucopias of praise,, praises springing from the city like grass from the earth...blessed God, Israel's God, the one and only wonder-working God! Blessed always his blazing glory!"
(Ps. 72:16,18, THE MESSAGE)
What a wonder this would be, especially in these days. Imagine the city--any city--all cities--expressing love for God by praising! Think! Praise after praise springing up from the concrete and blacktop like the earth's grass, green and thick. The city whose sidewalks are stained and whose neighborhoods harbor gangs and trouble, this city is praising God! There it is! Praise for God's blazing glory!
If it were only so! On any stated moment all battles would be forgotten, all traffic stopped, men, women and children halted in their work, their play and raised shouts of praise toward God Himself. Yes...They would see God's blazing Glory. Yes...What a wonder that would be!
Imagine, too, God's tears...maybe on His cheek. Would He raise His mighty hands in forgiveness and welcome? What a moment that would be! Could it ever be? Do you think it might be something like the day that Christ died on the Cross? God received profound Love from His Son that day. But praises from his newest children might bring Him a little Love, as well. We can hope. Yes. God might shed a tear of gratitude that His Glory and Love was seen and received by His newest children.
Yes! Praise for the blessed God!
Lord God, May we see that day come when all cities will praise You in grand unison and we would see and know forever your "blazing Glory!"
Happy waiting, Jo
(Ps. 72:16,18, THE MESSAGE)
What a wonder this would be, especially in these days. Imagine the city--any city--all cities--expressing love for God by praising! Think! Praise after praise springing up from the concrete and blacktop like the earth's grass, green and thick. The city whose sidewalks are stained and whose neighborhoods harbor gangs and trouble, this city is praising God! There it is! Praise for God's blazing glory!
If it were only so! On any stated moment all battles would be forgotten, all traffic stopped, men, women and children halted in their work, their play and raised shouts of praise toward God Himself. Yes...They would see God's blazing Glory. Yes...What a wonder that would be!
Imagine, too, God's tears...maybe on His cheek. Would He raise His mighty hands in forgiveness and welcome? What a moment that would be! Could it ever be? Do you think it might be something like the day that Christ died on the Cross? God received profound Love from His Son that day. But praises from his newest children might bring Him a little Love, as well. We can hope. Yes. God might shed a tear of gratitude that His Glory and Love was seen and received by His newest children.
Yes! Praise for the blessed God!
Lord God, May we see that day come when all cities will praise You in grand unison and we would see and know forever your "blazing Glory!"
Happy waiting, Jo
Monday, April 8, 2013
MUCH GIVEN; MUCH EXPECTED?
The Apostle Paul was concerned with the people of Jerusalem who were dying of hunger and wanted the new Christians of Europe to dig into their pockets to help feed them. 2 Cor. 8:15 written by Paul, saying, "Nothing left over to the one with the most; nothing lacking to the one with the least." This reminded the church of an earlier reading from Exodus 16:18 which says: "Every one had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough."
Paul used these nearly same expressions to encourage the Corinthian Church to share their plenty with the hungry of Jerusalem.
Do either of these sound just a little familiar?
The United States has a president that many dislike. (I read Facebook!) Disliked or not, our president is familiar with the Bible and seems to have some trust in what it says. President Obama has been actively seeking a raise in taxes to help to alleviate the discrepancies made in our economy primarily by the cost of wars over so many years without taxes being raised to pay for them.
Somehow, the tax burden we're being asked to bear doesn't seem so ludicrous when it's compared to the Biblical interpretation of feeding the hungry. Goodness knows, there are a lot of new subscribers to the many food banks we have going at least in our city. Homeless and near homeless, sick of mind and sick at heart, jobless and job-not-so-great. All of this and perhaps more in the future as our population grows and grows, surely this tells us we need to look around over our shoulders, under our feet, and behind us, in fact everywhere and take it in. People are in need. Some, perhaps, are in want--yes, I agree. But most just need, need, need. This is our world today. People, most people have real need.
How can we not respond? I for one like the President's plan. What would it take? Would it just take extra, our fun funds that we so carefully save for a vacation? Or some of what we have saved for retirement? I don't know. Is it worth a sacrifice to get our country back to a normal economy? I hope so.
Who knows how this will all turn out? I don't. But I hope there is a way to try. And God's way surely must be a good way! After all, it is His world and He did found this country!
Just sayin',
Jo
Paul used these nearly same expressions to encourage the Corinthian Church to share their plenty with the hungry of Jerusalem.
Do either of these sound just a little familiar?
The United States has a president that many dislike. (I read Facebook!) Disliked or not, our president is familiar with the Bible and seems to have some trust in what it says. President Obama has been actively seeking a raise in taxes to help to alleviate the discrepancies made in our economy primarily by the cost of wars over so many years without taxes being raised to pay for them.
Somehow, the tax burden we're being asked to bear doesn't seem so ludicrous when it's compared to the Biblical interpretation of feeding the hungry. Goodness knows, there are a lot of new subscribers to the many food banks we have going at least in our city. Homeless and near homeless, sick of mind and sick at heart, jobless and job-not-so-great. All of this and perhaps more in the future as our population grows and grows, surely this tells us we need to look around over our shoulders, under our feet, and behind us, in fact everywhere and take it in. People are in need. Some, perhaps, are in want--yes, I agree. But most just need, need, need. This is our world today. People, most people have real need.
How can we not respond? I for one like the President's plan. What would it take? Would it just take extra, our fun funds that we so carefully save for a vacation? Or some of what we have saved for retirement? I don't know. Is it worth a sacrifice to get our country back to a normal economy? I hope so.
Who knows how this will all turn out? I don't. But I hope there is a way to try. And God's way surely must be a good way! After all, it is His world and He did found this country!
Just sayin',
Jo
Friday, April 5, 2013
ONE MAN DIED FOR EVERYONE!
"One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in His death so that everyone could also be included in His life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own." This statement, made in the book of 2 Corinthians, is truth personified. I, as a person perfectly imperfect, know of its truth. Christ died for all men and for each person, individually. Therefore, each person is qualified to be included in knowing and carrying the life of Christ within him or herself; the resurrection of Christ after His burial personifying the new life available to us. AND this new life carries the Spirit of our Lord. We, then, live in the very Life of Jesus Christ and He in us. Simply put, God in us.
Sound like magic? a trick of some sort? mysterious? a great, big, fat lie? No, there is no lie or magic. Hard as it is to fathom, this Word is the absolute Truth as only God can perceive it. (Truth from God deserves a capital T, otherwise truth can wear a small t.) God is the only one who can perceive this Truth and the only one who can help us to find Truth. God's Truth is to be respected, loved, worn in our hearts and minds, and fought for. His Truth is everything!
For this reason, those who have accepted this Truth, have been asked to be a speaker for this Truth, a witness by their actions of this Truth, and a person who carries the Lord within his or her heart. And why not? This man died for me. He died that I might live. He died that the whole world might not die in self and vanities.
The world is like a finishing school for the next life. It is a costly school, but perhaps by serving God here we will be better adapted to the next world when we die. (These are my thoughts; the Word of God does NOT suggest this!) The next world.....? I dream of a life as shown in the Book of Revelation, but I expect we each shall know it some day in one way or the other. I hope to see God in the next life, and I hope He will be glad to see me.
Don't forget that One Man who died for each of us! He is pertinent to all that is good.
Keep smiling! God is watching! Jo
Sound like magic? a trick of some sort? mysterious? a great, big, fat lie? No, there is no lie or magic. Hard as it is to fathom, this Word is the absolute Truth as only God can perceive it. (Truth from God deserves a capital T, otherwise truth can wear a small t.) God is the only one who can perceive this Truth and the only one who can help us to find Truth. God's Truth is to be respected, loved, worn in our hearts and minds, and fought for. His Truth is everything!
For this reason, those who have accepted this Truth, have been asked to be a speaker for this Truth, a witness by their actions of this Truth, and a person who carries the Lord within his or her heart. And why not? This man died for me. He died that I might live. He died that the whole world might not die in self and vanities.
The world is like a finishing school for the next life. It is a costly school, but perhaps by serving God here we will be better adapted to the next world when we die. (These are my thoughts; the Word of God does NOT suggest this!) The next world.....? I dream of a life as shown in the Book of Revelation, but I expect we each shall know it some day in one way or the other. I hope to see God in the next life, and I hope He will be glad to see me.
Don't forget that One Man who died for each of us! He is pertinent to all that is good.
Keep smiling! God is watching! Jo
Thursday, April 4, 2013
LIGHT UP THE DARKNESS
Why should anyone believe me about Christ living in His people? Who am I? I'm nobody. No credentials, no certificate of learning, certainly nothing that will qualify me as an expert in God and Godliness. I am not even an expert at typing on this...........................computer.
I am not Paul, or Peter. I am a whistler in the wind trying to get the wind to carry this message to someone out there who will believe the little bit I have to say. I hope someone will give God a trial period, at least. I pray someone will connect to something that is said, or seen, or experienced in some way. I pray that experience will reveal the One who died on a cross so that someone may be filled with Christ's Spirit. Would that He who lives within might become the Person who really lives and loves and serves His Father, but has the face of you or me, pursing the lips to whistle in the wind as we try and catch the attention of someone out there somewhere in the world.
These thoughts are my hopes , but mostly, my prayer. Oh, how I pray that it will be--someone somewhere praying for Christ to come into his or her life. This requires a great amount of trust, trust that the Father is saying, "Come here, my daughter. You are precious to me. I place my Spirit in you, that you may reveal me to others. Thank you for being One with me and with my Son. All you are will reveal me to others. Believe it! Trust it! You are mine. It is my work you are doing. I need you to be in the world to testify about my world. When you see me someday I will know you well, just as you will know me."
So trust is the secret word. Trust that I am a Child of God. Trust that I appear before others in love, caring for them when there is a need, and therefore revealing His Presence to them. If they do not see His Presence, it is because they do not bother to consider what they see as Truth. Continue to pray that Christ will be revealed, and that person will acknowledge Him.
Let there be light, O Lord!
If others only look at me, they might miss the brightness! Jo
I am not Paul, or Peter. I am a whistler in the wind trying to get the wind to carry this message to someone out there who will believe the little bit I have to say. I hope someone will give God a trial period, at least. I pray someone will connect to something that is said, or seen, or experienced in some way. I pray that experience will reveal the One who died on a cross so that someone may be filled with Christ's Spirit. Would that He who lives within might become the Person who really lives and loves and serves His Father, but has the face of you or me, pursing the lips to whistle in the wind as we try and catch the attention of someone out there somewhere in the world.
These thoughts are my hopes , but mostly, my prayer. Oh, how I pray that it will be--someone somewhere praying for Christ to come into his or her life. This requires a great amount of trust, trust that the Father is saying, "Come here, my daughter. You are precious to me. I place my Spirit in you, that you may reveal me to others. Thank you for being One with me and with my Son. All you are will reveal me to others. Believe it! Trust it! You are mine. It is my work you are doing. I need you to be in the world to testify about my world. When you see me someday I will know you well, just as you will know me."
So trust is the secret word. Trust that I am a Child of God. Trust that I appear before others in love, caring for them when there is a need, and therefore revealing His Presence to them. If they do not see His Presence, it is because they do not bother to consider what they see as Truth. Continue to pray that Christ will be revealed, and that person will acknowledge Him.
Let there be light, O Lord!
If others only look at me, they might miss the brightness! Jo
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE LIVING SPIRIT
Paul must have loved the church in Corinth a whole lot! His second letter is quite filled with good greetings and commendations to them. He tells them, "Your very lives are a letter anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ Himself wrote it--not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled in stone, but carved into human lives!"
What would you give to have someone say that about you? I suppose that is what Christians dream of everywhere. And hoping God's Spirit is doing His work in each of us that we might have Jesus and His ways carved right into our souls. Oh, to be marked in this way by the Spirit of God!
Lord Jesus, grant that my spirit greets, cherishes, and is gracious to your Holy Spirit, that my life might be a testimony for the world to see and know your Life, your Spirit, and your World! Yours is the Government of the Living Spirit, a government of your people and for your people.
I am pledged to you forever.
Jo
What would you give to have someone say that about you? I suppose that is what Christians dream of everywhere. And hoping God's Spirit is doing His work in each of us that we might have Jesus and His ways carved right into our souls. Oh, to be marked in this way by the Spirit of God!
Lord Jesus, grant that my spirit greets, cherishes, and is gracious to your Holy Spirit, that my life might be a testimony for the world to see and know your Life, your Spirit, and your World! Yours is the Government of the Living Spirit, a government of your people and for your people.
I am pledged to you forever.
Jo
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
POUR ON THE LOVE!
Today you get a twofer! Both Jerry, my husband (as you know), and I wrote about similar things in our journals, and we both thought it might be worth sharing with the world! 2 Corinthians 2:7,8 reads in THE MESSAGE, "Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet. If all you do is pour on the guilt, you could very well drown him in it. My counsel now is to pour on the love."
Several years ago a similar incident occurred in our old church. An unhappy wife encouraged a good friend's husband and the two ended up together with the other two people bereft. Those who knew both couples were scandalized. How could a thing like this happen? Now what do we do?
The guilty man was in a small group which customarily prayed for each other and held each other accountable. All good friends, they hurt for each person involved and prayed to know what best to do. After their soul searching, they forgave their group member and held him close. Their group never stopped praying for all involved in the situation and for one another.
This was hard for us, my husband and I, but we came to learn that not forgiving two didn't help the two who had been hurt by their mates. Paul, in the above verse, is right. Hard as it may be, we must forgive the two who have fallen, even while we also must give love and understanding to those who remain the hurt spouses.
Only God's love can combat the pain to people who have been hurt by lack of faithfulness in marriage. We can only try. Sometimes our "help" only magnifies their pain.
Today, Jerry read 2 Cor.:17 which says: "We are not peddlers of God's word like so many imposters; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity sent from God and standing in his presence." Jerry felt that Paul is beseeching us to interact with others by coming from a position of love and sincerity. Our purpose is to build up the Body of Christ in which we are placed with Paul's kind of absolute love and sincerity.
Jerry and I are each grateful to God for this teaching and other things we learn every day. We pray that incidents of hurt will happen rarely, but in this world we do find these incidents. We both, together and separately, pray that God will direct us in all instances to His kind of love which includes forgiveness and that love will be wrapped in sincerity and understanding, and not rebuke.
This world is a glass house. Who would dare throw a stone?
With sincerity and love, Jo
Several years ago a similar incident occurred in our old church. An unhappy wife encouraged a good friend's husband and the two ended up together with the other two people bereft. Those who knew both couples were scandalized. How could a thing like this happen? Now what do we do?
The guilty man was in a small group which customarily prayed for each other and held each other accountable. All good friends, they hurt for each person involved and prayed to know what best to do. After their soul searching, they forgave their group member and held him close. Their group never stopped praying for all involved in the situation and for one another.
This was hard for us, my husband and I, but we came to learn that not forgiving two didn't help the two who had been hurt by their mates. Paul, in the above verse, is right. Hard as it may be, we must forgive the two who have fallen, even while we also must give love and understanding to those who remain the hurt spouses.
Only God's love can combat the pain to people who have been hurt by lack of faithfulness in marriage. We can only try. Sometimes our "help" only magnifies their pain.
Today, Jerry read 2 Cor.:17 which says: "We are not peddlers of God's word like so many imposters; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity sent from God and standing in his presence." Jerry felt that Paul is beseeching us to interact with others by coming from a position of love and sincerity. Our purpose is to build up the Body of Christ in which we are placed with Paul's kind of absolute love and sincerity.
Jerry and I are each grateful to God for this teaching and other things we learn every day. We pray that incidents of hurt will happen rarely, but in this world we do find these incidents. We both, together and separately, pray that God will direct us in all instances to His kind of love which includes forgiveness and that love will be wrapped in sincerity and understanding, and not rebuke.
This world is a glass house. Who would dare throw a stone?
With sincerity and love, Jo
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