Good morning to everyone. Grace and peace be with you.
One of the struggles that I have is making myself go to His house every Sunday. That’s right. I struggle with it, as in battle my inner me. Yesterday’s battle in my head was it was cold outside. Yep. You can see how that is a viable excuse right? Please understand that the battles began the night before, through my dreams, during my coffee and devotional time, and even during my drive to church. There really was no option in my head, I had decided that I was going, but all the excuses and wars still raged inside me. All the ‘things’ I could accomplish if I skipped. All the ‘messages’ I could watch from the comfort of my home. What if something happened to my husband and I did not hear my phone? You name it, it crossed my mind. However, none of the gates of hell stopped me from crossing the chasm of excuses and I walked into His house for a cease fire.
During my clerk Christmas, the clerk who drew my name got me a basket of beauty. In that basket was a box of prayer cards. Yesterday’s card was this, “The second is this: ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31. As a matter of fact it has been my prayer all weekend. A wonderful reminder of how we should be. I need that sometimes.
One of the points of the sermon yesterday was this. Whose blood will you be washed by in the new year? The blood of the Cross. Or…the blood of the flesh. This is a very strong point to consider going into the new year. How are you going to battle the conflicts of the new era…with Him who saved you or he who here to destroy you?
Before the service started, I overheard an elderly woman in the congregation talking to her adult granddaughter about a situation that she witnessed and was grieve. The bare knuckles of the conversation… a lost soul walked into a church to be baptized, and they turned them away because they did not ‘know’ them. That is sad. That is more than sad. That, to me, is horrific. I have lots of fleshy comments that I could retort here, but I must deal with those. If you love the Lord as much as I do, I am sure you have some fleshy comments raging through your mind as well. Why…if you love the Lord, because we are human and when we go to the defense of those we love the most, we lean to the fleshy side of defense.
At our church we take communion every Sunday in remembrance of the Man who saved us. Due to covid, they are now individual servings in plastic baggies. God spoke to me several months ago about communion and what it means to be part of the Family of God. When the baggie is open, we are exposed to the uglies of this world and the those uglies can get to us easily. However, once we become a member of the Family, and that baggie is sealed around us, nothing from the world can harm us. It can crinkle down around us, but we are still sealed in Love.
Yesterday was an enlightening day. It was a battling day. It was a loving day. It was His day with His children. The enemy tried to detour me, he tried to steal my peace, he tried light my rage, he tried invading my joy, he tried to create chaos in my baggie. But it did not work. Today I pray for the one who wanted to be baptized and was turned away. I pray for those who made that decision and that they are convicted that it is not up to them to decide but God who gets to enter the Kingdom. I pray for those who are hurting. I pray for those who are lost. I pray that my baggie never opens again.
This year I choose to live this year covered in the blood of the Cross.
Be blessed today my friends.
***Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. – Isaiah 11:5
One of the struggles that I have is making myself go to His house every Sunday. That’s right. I struggle with it, as in battle my inner me. Yesterday’s battle in my head was it was cold outside. Yep. You can see how that is a viable excuse right? Please understand that the battles began the night before, through my dreams, during my coffee and devotional time, and even during my drive to church. There really was no option in my head, I had decided that I was going, but all the excuses and wars still raged inside me. All the ‘things’ I could accomplish if I skipped. All the ‘messages’ I could watch from the comfort of my home. What if something happened to my husband and I did not hear my phone? You name it, it crossed my mind. However, none of the gates of hell stopped me from crossing the chasm of excuses and I walked into His house for a cease fire.
During my clerk Christmas, the clerk who drew my name got me a basket of beauty. In that basket was a box of prayer cards. Yesterday’s card was this, “The second is this: ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31. As a matter of fact it has been my prayer all weekend. A wonderful reminder of how we should be. I need that sometimes.
One of the points of the sermon yesterday was this. Whose blood will you be washed by in the new year? The blood of the Cross. Or…the blood of the flesh. This is a very strong point to consider going into the new year. How are you going to battle the conflicts of the new era…with Him who saved you or he who here to destroy you?
Before the service started, I overheard an elderly woman in the congregation talking to her adult granddaughter about a situation that she witnessed and was grieve. The bare knuckles of the conversation… a lost soul walked into a church to be baptized, and they turned them away because they did not ‘know’ them. That is sad. That is more than sad. That, to me, is horrific. I have lots of fleshy comments that I could retort here, but I must deal with those. If you love the Lord as much as I do, I am sure you have some fleshy comments raging through your mind as well. Why…if you love the Lord, because we are human and when we go to the defense of those we love the most, we lean to the fleshy side of defense.
At our church we take communion every Sunday in remembrance of the Man who saved us. Due to covid, they are now individual servings in plastic baggies. God spoke to me several months ago about communion and what it means to be part of the Family of God. When the baggie is open, we are exposed to the uglies of this world and the those uglies can get to us easily. However, once we become a member of the Family, and that baggie is sealed around us, nothing from the world can harm us. It can crinkle down around us, but we are still sealed in Love.
Yesterday was an enlightening day. It was a battling day. It was a loving day. It was His day with His children. The enemy tried to detour me, he tried to steal my peace, he tried light my rage, he tried invading my joy, he tried to create chaos in my baggie. But it did not work. Today I pray for the one who wanted to be baptized and was turned away. I pray for those who made that decision and that they are convicted that it is not up to them to decide but God who gets to enter the Kingdom. I pray for those who are hurting. I pray for those who are lost. I pray that my baggie never opens again.
This year I choose to live this year covered in the blood of the Cross.
Be blessed today my friends.
***Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. – Isaiah 11:5
Good morning to everyone. Grace and peace be with you.
One of the struggles that I have is making myself go to His house every Sunday. That’s right. I struggle with it, as in battle my inner me. Yesterday’s battle in my head was it was cold outside. Yep. You can see how that is a viable excuse right? Please understand that the battles began the night before, through my dreams, during my coffee and devotional time, and even during my drive to church. There really was no option in my head, I had decided that I was going, but all the excuses and wars still raged inside me. All the ‘things’ I could accomplish if I skipped. All the ‘messages’ I could watch from the comfort of my home. What if something happened to my husband and I did not hear my phone? You name it, it crossed my mind. However, none of the gates of hell stopped me from crossing the chasm of excuses and I walked into His house for a cease fire.
During my clerk Christmas, the clerk who drew my name got me a basket of beauty. In that basket was a box of prayer cards. Yesterday’s card was this, “The second is this: ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31. As a matter of fact it has been my prayer all weekend. A wonderful reminder of how we should be. I need that sometimes.
One of the points of the sermon yesterday was this. Whose blood will you be washed by in the new year? The blood of the Cross. Or…the blood of the flesh. This is a very strong point to consider going into the new year. How are you going to battle the conflicts of the new era…with Him who saved you or he who here to destroy you?
Before the service started, I overheard an elderly woman in the congregation talking to her adult granddaughter about a situation that she witnessed and was grieve. The bare knuckles of the conversation… a lost soul walked into a church to be baptized, and they turned them away because they did not ‘know’ them. That is sad. That is more than sad. That, to me, is horrific. I have lots of fleshy comments that I could retort here, but I must deal with those. If you love the Lord as much as I do, I am sure you have some fleshy comments raging through your mind as well. Why…if you love the Lord, because we are human and when we go to the defense of those we love the most, we lean to the fleshy side of defense.
At our church we take communion every Sunday in remembrance of the Man who saved us. Due to covid, they are now individual servings in plastic baggies. God spoke to me several months ago about communion and what it means to be part of the Family of God. When the baggie is open, we are exposed to the uglies of this world and the those uglies can get to us easily. However, once we become a member of the Family, and that baggie is sealed around us, nothing from the world can harm us. It can crinkle down around us, but we are still sealed in Love.
Yesterday was an enlightening day. It was a battling day. It was a loving day. It was His day with His children. The enemy tried to detour me, he tried to steal my peace, he tried light my rage, he tried invading my joy, he tried to create chaos in my baggie. But it did not work. Today I pray for the one who wanted to be baptized and was turned away. I pray for those who made that decision and that they are convicted that it is not up to them to decide but God who gets to enter the Kingdom. I pray for those who are hurting. I pray for those who are lost. I pray that my baggie never opens again.
This year I choose to live this year covered in the blood of the Cross.
Be blessed today my friends.
***Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. – Isaiah 11:5
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