Secure

How do you know that YOU KNOW?  Security in our salvation….it is a much debated belief.  As a Baptist, but an open minded person, I have studied the security of the believer many times…especially when I was 28 and still feeling unsure of my salvation and wondering how to have peace within.  I had walked the aisle at age 8 and been baptized, but continued to struggle with doubt for 20 years. As I searched for answers, I realized that I never truly had the Holy Spirit living within me.  I want to speak to all of those that are struggling like I was.  If you find yourself living a life of sin, and you are not being convicted from within, you may need to go back and examine your salvation experience.  If you have TRULY surrendered and have given your life to Christ, the Holy Spirit living within you will not let you continue to live a sinful life.  Ephesians 1:13–14 ”And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. “  If you are saved, you are God’s possession, and it’s not like Wal-Mart….he doesn’t have a return policy.  Salvation is not something you have earned, we did nothing to earn salvation (salvation is a free gift of God’s grace), so how can we ever lose salvation? Conditional security in salvation is acceptable only to those who also believe that they somehow contributed to their salvation in the first place. This is the opposite of what the bible teaches in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast,” which clearly states that we contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation; even the faith necessary to receive the gift of grace, is itself a gift of God.

The most popular objections to the belief that a Christian cannot lose salvation are 1) What about those who are Christians and continually live an immoral lifestyle? 2) What about those who are Christians but later reject the faith and deny Christ? The problem with these two objections is the phrase “who are Christians.” The Bible declares that a true Christian will not live a continually immoral lifestyle. The Bible declares that anyone who departs the faith is demonstrating that he never truly was a Christian.  1John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” Therefore, neither objection is valid. True Christians do not continually live immoral lifestyles, nor do they reject the faith and deny Christ. Such actions are proof that they were never redeemed.

Here are two more scriptures to hold on to:  Romans 8:38–39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 10:28–29 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

If you have surrendered your life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit was deposited into you, and you have security that NOTHING can take that away from you.   We all will continue to have sin in our lives- because we are still human.  But the Spirit within us will whisper to us that we need to confess and turn away from that sin.  He will search our hearts and minds and we will not rest until we are right with God.  And as we grow closer to the Lord each day,  we will find it harder and harder to do anything that would not please God. 

Written with help from "Gotquestions.org"

Cody and Rebekah’s Wedding Day 9/10/11

What an amazing day we had on Wedding Day! Everything was so beautiful and things went so smoothly.   That morning I had prayed for God’s grace to make it through and to enjoy every second of the day.  I know that others were praying for me, too, and I am so thankful.  He answered our prayers so amazingly…I never cried, not even once!

In keeping with tradition, the bride and groom did not see each other all day on Saturday.   As the wedding party stood waiting to go down the aisle, Rebekah appeared behind us and we told Cody “don’t look, she is behind you!” 
 

 After all of the attendants had made it to the front, we all stood as the wedding march began.  As soon as Cody spotted his beautiful bride coming down the aisle, he could not hold back the tears.  His lip started quivering and he was wiping his eyes.  I was watching him watch her and it was so precious.    

Rebekah, my new daughter, had requested that I write them a song for their special day.  The Lord helped me to do that and gave me the voice to sing it to them during the Unity Candle lighting.  It was such a precious moment.  Rebekah was looking at me trying to listen to the words (they had not heard the song until that day) but Cody couldn’t take his eyes off of his bride.  She was breathtaking, that is for sure.    

At the reception, as we all watched them dance their first dance, everyone could see that they only had eyes for each other.  It was so sweet and heart warming to see the incredible love in their eyes.  You just cannot describe the you that is felt knowing that your child is so very happy and so very loved.  

I’m so thankful for God’s grace, His wonderful unmerited favor shown to us every day.  I know that we have not done anything special for God to have blessed us with our two gorgeous, amazing children, but now to show favor on us by adding Rebekah to our family is just beyond words.  Sometimes I forget how truly blessed we are. 

This World is NOT My Home!

Read Luke 12:16-32  

“This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.” Don’t you just love that song?  Those words are so profound, especially now, in this world, where things are so shaky and uncertain.  People are worried about the government, Social Security, jobs, crops, the drought, fires, the prices of everything…I could keep going.  But Jesus said in Luke 12:24 “Look at the ravens. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds!”  God loves us and He takes care of His children.

The key to being content among the uncertainty of this life is to “seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.” (Verse 31)  I encourage you to draw near to God and stand firm on His word now and always. 

This world is NOT all there is.  We really aren’t supposed to feel at home here, anyway!  I think when we start getting too comfortable in our “guest houses” here, God heats things up a bit (literally and figuratively) to remind us to seek His face and look toward going home where we belong…with Him- in Paradise…where it is beautiful and the weather is PERFECT!      

“The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.” 

The Heart of a Servant

Mark 9:35 NIV Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."

In our society, it’s all about being first. It’s all about who makes the most money, who wins the most trophies/medals, who has the “title”…but our society doesn’t understand our Jesus. As Christians or “little Christs” we are supposed to be striving to be more like Him each and every day…and He had the heart of a servant.

When Jesus came to this earth to live as a man, He never wanted to be first. Even though the disciples tried to shield Him and place Him on a pedestal, He still broke away and was drawn to those that no one else wanted to be around. He touched the unclean, He talked to an adulteress, He let the little children crawl into His lap…and even though He was the SON OF GOD…all powerful and perfect in every way…He did manual labor as a carpenter until he was 30 years old.

In an extreme act of servant hood Jesus even washed His disciples’ feet. He really wanted to get the point across to them- and to us- that we should serve one another. We should never think of ourselves as “too good” to help another person. We should consider it a great honor to help someone less fortunate than we are…because that is exactly what Jesus would have done.

Do you have the heart of a servant, or do you sit back and wait to be served? If you are looking to be more like Jesus, you must become a servant.

Thinkin' Problem

Do you have a “thinkin’ problem”?  Isn’t that a depressing country song??     I saw a quote from a Facebook friend one morning that said “misery is almost always the result of thinking.”   And on another friend’s page I saw them refer to “thinking too much”, then sounding really depressed after that! 

It is so easy to get caught up in our own thoughts and start dwelling on negative things.  I’m really bad about doing that when I can’t sleep at night.  One little thought can just grow and expand until you have worried yourself into a tizzy over something that you can’t even control.  It's like one of those little toy animals that is really tiny when you put it in water and then it swells up to like 50 times it's original size!

So what is the cure to our “thinkin’ problems”??  The bible tells us “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.” Phil 4:4-8

Just try it!  Focus on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy!!   If your life doesn’t seem to have any of those things, read your bible!!  Psalm 91 is a great place to start.  I guarantee that you can chase those negative thoughts away with positive ones, the bible tells us so!! 

The Rod and the Staff

Most of us have memorized Psalm 23 or at least have read it numerous times.  Sometimes I just like to recite it to myself when I need comfort.   This morning, as I was praying it over myself, something really stood out to me that never had before. (thank you Holy Spirit!)  I imagine that I have read/recited that scripture at least 100 times in my life…and have never thought about this statement…“Thy rod and thy staff, they COMFORT me.” (verse 4)
  
It really raised some questions for me, so I read some commentaries about the purpose of a rod and a staff to a shepherd.  This was taken from William Barclay in Jesus As They Saw Him:  “He [the shepherd] had his rod and his staff. The staff was a long crooked stick. Always the shepherd walked with it in his hand, and, when a sheep showed signs of straying, he would stretch out and pull it back with the crook. He carried the rod at his belt. It was a stout piece of wood, perhaps three feet long, with a lump of wood the size of an orange at one end of it. With this the shepherd fought the battles of the flock, using it to drive off wild beasts and to defend the flock against the robbers who would steal the sheep.”

Now it is so clear to me!  Jesus protects us with His ROD.  He fights off our enemies and the “robber” that tries to steal us away…satan.  He fights our battles for us.  Can’t you just picture Him with that heavy, wooden rod beating back our enemies for us, His helpless sheep?

With the STAFF He pulls us back in when we attempt to go astray.  Think of all the times in your life when you wanted to stray and something would happen to “pull” you back…closer to Him.  He watches over each of His flock and sometimes has to put that crook around our neck to get us back in line. (I'm thinking mothers should carry one of these!) 

I don’t know about you, but this brings me so much comfort.  I am His cherished sheep and He will do anything to protect me and keep me close to HIM!  Thank you Lord for fighting my battles and "crooking" my neck when I need it!!

The Meditation of my Heart

What do you meditate on in YOUR heart?   To meditate means: to contemplate things, to think them over, or to reflect.  When you are alone with your thoughts, what is running through your mind?  Are you dwelling on things from the past that you cannot change?  Are you worrying about money, your job, school, your health or your children?  Do you think about unholy and impure things?  Do you have lustful thoughts?  Where does your heart and mind go when you slow down and think? 

In David’s down time we know where his mind went.  He lusted, contemplated murder, worried…you name it, he did it.   (read about David in 1 & 2 Samuel)  But the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to convict David of his wrongdoing…and David was known as “man after God’s own heart”.  In  Psalm 19:14 David wrote “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

This should be our prayer…that every word and every thought be pleasing to God.  Where is your mind taking you…down the path to destruction or down the path to God’s heart.