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Christmas Joy
This past week my advent study focused on joy. If you missed the last post, you can read Christmas Peace here. As believers we should know that true joy is not based on circumstances but on our position in Christ. I can trust Him and bear His fruit even when my heart is breaking. It’s through surrender this happens. As we stay surrendered to Jesus, he allows our fruit to bring Him honor. The second thing the writer mentioned as a part of this joy was obedience. I’m sure you know that joy is not what we experience when we are disobedient. God will not allow His children to continue…
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On That Day
As I was reading Zechariah 12 this week in my Bible in a Year reading plan, I came across this phrase, “on that day”, over and over. This refers to Judah’s eventual restoration under the Messiah’s rule when He comes back again. Verses 10-14 describe mourning over the pierced Messiah. We know this becomes reality but it also refers to how our disobedience will also cause us to weep and calls for repentance when we do. God taught the nation of Israel this over and over…and often they just didn’t get it. Often neither do we! From judgment to blessing, from being scattered to being restored, Israel would return to…
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Formed, Forgiven and Never Forgotten
I recently re-read what may be for some a somewhat obscure passage in the Old Testament. It was for me, but I saw something that warmed my heart as I saw the connection between the Old and New Testament, between Israel and us. Isaiah was prophesying what God told him to say to Israel. He would deliver this rebellious nation from their enemies. He’d made a covenant with Abraham and He would not break it, no matter what they did. The section that stood out to me in Isaiah 44, that I found so comforting, for Israel, and for myself, was in verses 21-23: This reminds them God created them.…
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I’m Not That Bad! Part 2
The best part of experiencing conviction from the Lord, is the result when we repent…restoration. So let’s conclude this line of thought from last week with that beautiful gift He gives us. If you missed last week’s post, please read back to Part 1 . In Isaiah 38, we see what happens when Hezekiah, who was stricken with a deadly illness, prayed for God’s healing. As God extended his life, he wrote a poem. “Indeed, it was for my own welfare that I had such great bitterness; but Your love has delivered me from the Pit of destruction, for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back (Isaiah 38:27).…
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I’m Not That Bad! Part 1
I’ve noticed as I have aged and grown spiritually, the Lord is quicker to get my attention to sin in my life. My toes stay sore most of the time as He steps on them in conviction. Repentance is a daily ongoing activity! The more I learn about Christ and understand the depth of His holiness, the more I am aware of how far I am from it. I desire it but continue to miss the mark. What triggers awareness of sin in your life? What do you do to stop at the trigger before allowing the temptation to become sin? If we do not know the Word, our awareness…
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The Weight Of It All
What is the heaviest thing you’ve ever held or worn? What did that feel like? Now add 20 pounds to that & feel the weight. I do not enjoy heavy clothes in winter, much preferring to summer wear that is so much more comfortable. I can’t imagine adding more weight to my heaviest winter coat which is already heavy! Approaching Holy Week, my chronological Bible reading had me in Exodus, having recently read about the first Passover as Israel left Egypt bound for the land God promised would be theirs. As happens so very often, something jumped off the page to me and immediately connected with Easter approaching. Another Old…
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Genesis…Again?
Yes, again. But I’ve read it multiple times, why again? I just started my 5th D-Group. Each group has lasted a year to a year and a half. Each group reads through the Bible chronologically using Foundations: F-260, New Testament 260, Old Testament 260 or The Bible in a Year. This new group This is using The Bible in a Year by Kandi Gallaty. And guess what, each time we begin in the beginning because, well, chronologically, it teaches about the beginning of time! I know, not a shock to you who know scripture! (insert smile here) So, this week I’m reading through part of Genesis and Job. What in…
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5 Women With a Connection…Part 5
Do you sometimes wish you had this idyllic background and life story that was filled with family, faith and obedience? The women we’ve studied in this series all had issues, pain and loss…just like us. This final post in this series looks at Mary (Luke 1-2). Different in many ways from the other 4. They included one who betrayed and slept with her father-in-law, one was a prostitute, one had paganism in her background, and one was an adulteress. Then there is this humble Jewish teenager. Mary engaged to a man and, no doubt, excited about planning a wedding and looking forward to a home filled with love and children.…
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We Never Stop Learning
Whoever said we can put down our “books” and cease learning and growing at a certain age is just plain wrong!! We do not get to say, now that I’m (you fill in the blank) years old, I know it all and I can say and do anything I want…like we have it all figured out. The enemy of our lives wants us to believe that. The Lord knows it’s false and continues to call us forward in our walk with Him and others as long as we breathe. It’s easy to fall into the mindset that we’ve lived longer, we’ve read more, we’ve experienced more….so what can the Bible,…
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Grieving God’s Heart
Don’t you love it when you hear God speak the same message through different avenues? Perhaps it is in the course of a day, or several days or weeks. But the message recurs in various ways, all leading you to the same principle. Some days, because I study and read several things at the same time, they all seem to point in a particular direction. This happened the day before I wrote this post. I was reading Genesis 6-7 as a part of my Foundations F-260 chronological reading plan. The verse that stood out was Genesis 6:6. After creation, sin entered the world. Adam and Eve were banished from the…
