I Know That You Are For Me

Rom 8:28-31 NIV “And we know that IN ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?”

Romans 8:28 is one of my favorite and most quoted scriptures.  So is Romans 8:31. The scriptures in between the two have somehow been skimmed over.  The subjects of foreknowledge and predestination have always been just beyond my understanding. So I did some research and asked the Lord to reveal to me what I needed to understand.  This is what I got!

For those God FOREKNEW: Of course God foreknew us, because He knit us together in our mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13)  All of our days were ordained and written in His book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139-16)

He also PREDESTINED: He created each of us with a hole in our hearts that only Jesus can fill. Most people spend their lifetime looking for something to fill that hole.  They use drugs, alcohol, money, sex, gambling, food…anything they can get their hands on.  But nothing will be able to make them complete except Jesus.  He was the firstborn of God and it is God’s desire that we ALL become sons and daughters through believing in Him. 2 Corinthians 6:18 NIV "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

And those he predestined, he also CALLED: Everyone will have the opportunity to hear God’s call…whether by you and I, or a preacher, a missionary, a gospel television program, or the internet.  Matthew 24:14 NIV “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Those he called, he also JUSTIFIED:  When we listen to the call of God and accept His son to fill that hole in our heart, we ask his forgiveness of our sins.  He washes away all of our past sins and makes us righteous: not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.  Romans 3:21-24 NIV “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Those he justified, he also GLORIFIED:  On this earth, our bodies are decaying every day, but as sons and daughters of God, we will receive glorified bodies when we get to Heaven.  Philippians 3:20 NIV “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” 

From the moment we are formed in our mother’s womb until the day we draw our last breath, God is calling out to us to accept His offer of adoption into His family.  He wants us.  He loves us.  He created us to love Him in return. What then shall we say in response to ALL of this? Lord, I KNOW that you are for me.  And if You are for me, who can be against me?

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!!