Sunflower Faith

What I found intriguing about the Bereans is that they just didn’t accept everything they heard, but they searched God’s word thoroughly each day, made it a constant part of their lives and really seek to understand and discern if what they heard daily in their lives, was align with what God’s word had to say.

As you probrably figure by now, reading the Bible is a HUGE thing in my life and not only something that I’m a strong advocate about but something that, toward the end of 2009, I really committed myself to be like the Bereans to make a permanent part of everyday of my life.

It’s exciting to have my husband joining me and a few others in our group in reading through the bible and this in itself is a blessing and part of the conviction our Father laid in our hearts and through a powerful set of sermons that our pastor has been giving since, well really October and all the more stronger with the new year that our lives is about choices.

God does what He is doing, not out of obligation or have it His way, but love.

He LOVES us so much that He wants us to be guided to the right way and not the wrong way, but we can’t assume what that right way is, so it leaves to the importance of really reading His word to understand what He wants for each of us.

The bible study group we are hosting, is taking a new direction as we find ourselves as individuals and as a group, wanting to really be more in His word and in addition to thinking of just challenging ourselves to read through the bible, the majority of us, have been not only committing but have made it a daily habit of working in our Life Journals (you can found out more what that is about at lifejournal.cc) and using what is called the “S.O.A.P.” method.

To print the above image, just click on the image and then either "right click" and "save as" or just print straight to your printer.

To help my fellow brothers and sisters and to share with you as well, I created a very simple bookmark for them and for you to print out and laminate to keep in your bible to help you remember, for yourself, a really great way to read His word and bring it just a deeper level and not just skimming the surface.

From the MHC:

The noble conduct of the Bereans.

The Jews in Berea applied seriously to the study of the word preached unto them.

 They not only heard Paul preach on the sabbath, but daily searched the Scriptures, and compared what they read with the facts related to them. The doctrine of Christ does not fear inquiry; advocates for his cause desire no more than that people will fully and fairly examine whether things are so or not. Those are truly noble, and likely to be more and more so, who make the Scriptures their rule, and consult them accordingly.

Notice what the MHC had to say?

They not only heard Paul preach on the sabbath, but daily searched the Scriptures, and compared what they read with the facts related to them. The doctrine of Christ does not fear inquiry; advocates for his cause desire no more than that people will fully and fairly examine whether things are so or not.

They didn’t just follow what someone else was doing or relied,JUST, on someone else word, but they searched for themselves, God’s word and sought His word daily, on their own and then, compared.

This is why reading the Bible is so important to me.

It’s not just about what someone else has to say, or their opinion, but comparing it always with the firm foundation and truth of our Heavenly Father’s word first and foremost too.

Not just because someone else said, this is the better way-I check to see if they are talking their way, or God’s way.

Not just because someone said this is the only way, because I make sure they are talking that they mean it’s only by God’s way…not theirs.

Reading the bible has become so important and so vital these days that I can’t see or feel anything else can go above that and reading the bible isn’t about a personal marker or achievement, because the truth is that we can never get enough of His word and there is no measurement that works with His measurement.

Though I plan on reading through the bible this year, this is a never-ending desire, not a quest to complete by set time, but  the truth is that I may not complete it in 90 days day, or in one year, because this is not about personal achievement and shouldn’t be, it’s about being like the Bereans and gaining better understanding, no matter what I do, to fully understand and be enriched in and through His word.

As I read Acts 17:10-12 (NKJV), it’s a constant reminder that their first reaction wasn’t of “oh okay, whatever you said”, but immediately turning to His word and going, “Lord, what do YOU have to say?”.

Prayers that we be like the Bereans who seek His word each day and not strive to fast pace all areas of our life including our spiritual growth.

Be it via one reading plan or another, or just picking up the bible, there is no reason not to spend time everyday with His word and use it as first counsel no matter what the circumstances because it is relevant about everything in our life and popular culture and thought will come and go, but never, God’s Word.

I seek Him still through my Life Journal daily bible readings with my church and going over Sunday’s sermons and letting deeper reflection of what our Father has to say, but I want to be like the Bereans where it’s not enough and  keep seeking His word, every single day and my bible gets a little bit more battered looking and more marked up, because as the saying goes, “A worn up bible is a sign of a well fed soul”.

A pastor for Moody Bible Church by the name of Alan Redpah actually is said to advised believers to “wreck” their bible every 10 years.

 I look at mine and it’s barely 2 years old and it’s well worn, pages highlighted, notes written in a majority of the bible and already falling apart. Prayers that is a good thing there! 

I tell those who asked me what happen and I tell them, “I take my bible everywhere and I mean everywhere”. It’s carried in my purse (which is why I look for a compact size that fits in a purse), when we vacation, that’s the first thing I pack, I carry it to church, I’ve spent staying up some nights reading from it, studying from it, with bible studies and even with bible studies that actually don’t call for the bible, I still use it and bring it with me.

That is my first and will be my only reference and source before everything.

So let’s strive to be like the Bereans and keep this quote from J.L. Packer in mind,”If I were the devil, one of my first aims would be to stop folk from digging into the Bible.“.

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Feel like you have dirty laundry in your past that you just don’t want or could deal with it?

Easier to just let it pile up and keep the door close thinking “out of sight out of mind?

Maybe you’re just dealing with things right now in the present: gossip, stress, broken hearts, broken marriages, or it’s just simply a case you really just don’t want to deal with the laundry period.

Well good news and bad news, but let me give you the bad news first.

You really need to get that laundry done. Unfortunately wearing a purple snow coat over the yellow summer dress to church isn’t really trendy…yet.

The good news though is that while we maybe pushing off wanting to face that dirty load of laundry, our Heavenly Father is wanting us to know that there is nothing too big for Him to handle. He’s like Tide only better and really does get the stains out.

The trouble with fear is that it’s more of a tool for the enemy and though it helps us avoid the things we don’t want to deal with, like that checkbook that needs to be balanced, maybe the fact that we didn’t have that not so great childhood and pretending isn’t working anymore or the fact that your husband really can’t go to work with one yellow sock and a purple and pink stripe sock again.

Whatever it is that we are fearing, eventually, we have to allow ourselves to realize that our Father is in control and He isn’t going to lead us anywhere that His love and grace hasn’t already covered (sound familiar?).

I really hate doing the laundry.

There, I said it in a public forum.

I hate laundry.

 Ooooo…laundry is my Darth Vader that taunts me with the fact that if I want to actually be socially acceptable, I’ve got to wear clean clothes (or if I want to be completely anti-social, dirty clothes really isn’t a good way to avoid attention-just draws more attention).

However, eventually, I know I have to get it done. I owe it to my family, to myself and the fact that if I want to ever use the vacumn cleaner again, that I have to also take care of the load(s) of laundry that’s in the laundry room too.

The same with the sins that are in our live, the regrets we just won’t let go of, and the fears, both real and imaginary, that we tend to keep closer to heart than we keep our Heavenly Father’s promises to our heart.

Not a good feeling, just like it’s not a great feeling wearing a pair of socks or jeans, knowing that it’s been (ack), three days since it’s gone through soap counseling in the washing machine.

We can only go so far in our lives, when eventually, we need to go through heart counseling ourselves with our Heavenly Father, and just let go of the things that keep us from moving forward in our lives, and unfortunately, just like a laundry room gone out of hand, a life gone unchecked, is not always an easy process to go through, but a necessary one at that.

By going to Him in prayer and humbliness, and just giving it to Him and letting Him see us through what we need to be seen through to be convicted and refined, we come out much cleaner and refresh in the end and able to truly do what we should do, all the time, and keep not our fears or our regrets close to our hearts, but have room to keep His promises and His word without the unnecessary clutter, getting in the way.

If you haven’t or had been thinking of having a laundry day with your heart, now will be a good time to do so whether than constantly shelving it and thinking not now, not now.

Don’t let fear, regret, whatever it is, keep you from having a closer and cleaner relationship with our Heavenly Father.

As for me.

Sigh. I can hear the washing machine stop. Time to get back to some laundry cleaning myself.

God bless you, Gentle Reader!

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I had actually planned on doing something different for Word Filled Wednesday and as I begun work on the post and what oru Father was laying on my heart, the post took a life on it’s own and I discovered I had to publish the post as something seperate from WFW.

I felt like this for awhile last year.

Asleep.

Tired.

Run-down.

A spiritual valley that I found myself in and no clue how to get out of it; Admidst it all this powerful craving and hunger for our Heavenly Father’s fellowship and word, but feeling miles away from it.

I can’t remember the exact spark, but it happen at the same time that our church challenged all the members to committing just one month to reading our bibles daily, praying and fasting if we choose.

It didn’t matter where in the bible,just that we pick a book and commit to reading.

About that time, I committed myself to really going through with using the Life Journal and S.O.A.P. method and it turned around after that.

I discovered my hunger for His word satisfied and yet still hungering to learn more; I found myself really drawn closer and really desiring a more living and active faith then the faith I felt I really had.

Not just skimming the surface, but really diving into His word and discovering that wonderful and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Being a Christian is more than just showing up at church one day out of the week or only opening our bibles during service (if we even bring our bibles at all; I noticed there is a lot of people who go to church these days that don’t bother to carry their bible).

For me, being a follower of Christ, is having an active and constant relationship that doesn’t begin and end on one day, but on every day that really belongs to God, not to us.

I discovered to truly have that relationship with God, it took time, work,devotion, prayer and just really giving my life to Him and not just paying lip service.

What I did on the outside, doesn’t matter at the end of the day, or when a crisis hits, as it matters where I am with Him, in my heart and if I did or did not have a relationship with Him. I discovered that when I’m not just asleep at the wheel, but really paying attention to where He is taking me and where we are going, how much richer being a Christian has become and it’s not to say I still don’t have my bad days.

There are days when I find myself drinking a cup of coffee to just get my day going and having to remind myself, I need to get that day started as well with reading His Word while other days, it’s an automatic response of immediately spending time in His word.

Saying I wish doesn’t make that much of an active difference as actually going “I did” and I find myself striving more and more to have more days of going “I did” and less and less days of “I wish”.

I find when I make that concerted effort to just completely give myself and give my day to Him, those days of automatically doing that and feeling the effects is becoming more and more noticable that things I thought was difficult before becomes easier now.

“All things are possible” is true when we fully let go of trying to contain and be in control and instead just listen, be active and intentional and learn restraint ourselves as we try not to jump and do His job for Him and just let Him do His work in and through us.

I find that coffee just becomes a treat when I’m already energized through reading His word for that day and getting ready to be “In Service for Him”.

On the days, that I don’t feel or think I do my best, there is that subtle core that reminds me, He’s got it in control. Drink the coffee, if it’s lunch before I read the Word, that’s okay, but no matter what, at some point in my day, as in some point in our lives, I’ve gotta be ready to be up and going.

His Word is forever and a firm foundation and if we’re not careful and just fall asleep at the wheel, it’s easy to miss the awesome things that only our Heavenly Father can do.

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Amazing thought isn’t it?

Yet sometimes, we go about our lives as if He works for us and not the other way around.

A family member use to work as a carpenter and everything was done by hand.

Everything.

He had the skill and even to this day, would make things from scratch rather than just buy a carbon copy of many that are sold at the stores.

What he created, is something that is guarenteed to forever be a family heirloom, because we know of the time and work that was involved in his creations….and the same goes with us.

We aren’t carbon copies of each other and we’re not meant to be carbon copies of each other; Each of us are unique creations by our Heavenly Father and the thing is, He’s not through with us just because we think He is through with us.

Every tear, every laughter, every heartache, every joy, is Him working on us and our lives and refining us and the truth is that in the end, it’s not to reflect us, but Him.

Does that mean His selfish?

NO!

It means that He uses, you, me, all of us to reach out to those who  are walking around, never worked on, who are broken, who are missing pieces in their lives, to show THEM, what HE can do through His examples: us.

Heavy burden of responsibility isn’t it, but one that was already borne by His Son who died for you, for me, so the big work, the big price, has been paid in full and we are offer a no assembly required option.

This option is basically, we submit to His hands and let Him guide us, work on us, we live by Him and His words and allow Him to do the work that He needs to do.

Remember what it’s like trying to get a project done with more than one hands involved. It’s your vision, but if people are not on the same boat, remember the difficulty of getting things done or going?

Same with Him.

We need to take the time to read the bible, to listen to Him, to let Him guide us on what His vision for us and what we need to do to help HIM, reach that vision.

That’s where our faith needs to kick in and just trust Him; God is in control and He is not going to give us anything He hasn’t already seen, to His glory, will work out in the end. For us, we are just getting a preview, but our Father, He is the one with the blueprint. It’s just having faith in letting Him take us where He knows we need to go.

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Planting an anchor with prayer;Image copyright duchess; Modified by Sunflower Faith

I was having a bad week. It was one of those weeks, that you want to just hide under the covers and disappear type of week.

Everyone seemed to be stressed and having the “uglies” and nothing I was saying, seemed to come out right.

I was miserable.

Probrably more miserable than a cat giving a soapy bath miserable and it’s 30 degrees cold outside, miserable and I kept telling myself, this can’t be right, it’s the holidays, I’m supposed to be happy and things are supposed to be cheery.

The youngest pulled a stocking down and broke a stocking holder that we have for several years, hubby was dealing with last minute holiday preparations at work as the year is slowly winding down, we were sick, again, and one of the dachshunds chewed my last pair of good jeans (long story, but to sum it up, there use to be five, now there was none; I’m telling myself, he is just helping, in his own, icky way, to help me get committed to wearing skirts and dresses more often).

That was just the good part and meanwhile there was the tempest called…..”Life”.AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

But then I came across this scripture:

²⁹ Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come. (Acts 27:29, New King James Version)

That really captured how I felt; I felt like a ship out in the storm and fear that I would be dashed against the rocks.

Notice how they reacted?

Not like I would.

Hands above my hand, screaming and running around in circles..oh wait…I only do that when I see snakes and mice…nevermind.

I do, we all do, tend to let life get the better of US rather than allow our Father do what He has always done, will do and always have done, conquered what ails us.

I wrote a post the other day (shame filled plug) about having the “uglies” and the cure was more than just hiding under the covers, but praise.

Yes…Praise.

Not praise that we refrain from hiding in the closet with a box of chocolate, however tempting that is, but praise to and about Him.

And same with prayer.

Notice when you just stop the screaming, and just pray, not only do people stop looking at you strange over the work cubicle, but everything seems to work out better.

Why?

First of all, it’s giving control where control needs to be given: to our Heavenly Father.

It centers us for sure and it reminds all of us,be it just you, be it your pets looking at you with their heads at one angle, our co-workers, kids, spouses,”Fill in whoever is looking at you wondering what is wrong here”, reminder that our Heavenly does and will see us through anything.

What I picked up from the scripture was a reminder that they didn’t try to fight against the storm, themselves. Instead they dropped their anchors to help secure the boat and then prayed……essentially, they gave it over to our Father in Heaven to help see them through the storm.

It’s a great reminder that when life is at our toughest, not to panic or try to fight against it, but trust in our Heavenly Father, firmly plant our feet in and through Him and pray…Give it to Him and trust Him.

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1 Timothy 6:9

“If only….”

“If I bought this…..”

“If we made this much, we would….”

Sound familiar?

It’s tempting to think that we can serve our Heavenly Father and on the other hand, feed our wants and desires, that if we have it all, made it all, we would just be SO COMPLETE.

I have an awful confession to make.

I didn’t join in with the “Black Friday craze”.One of the reason’s was due to we pretty much wrapped up our Christmas shopping and the other reason was we couldn’t really find a justifiable reason to go out and “catch the sales”.

Everything we needed, we pretty much had and we both are really working on the fact that do we really need “Product Y” when we have a “Product X’.

It’s not that we were trying to think we were better than anyone else, but this year, with how things are economically, it really has had us slow down and go,”Are we buying things because this is something they would really want?”, or are we just buying them “because of what we think” and in the process, hurting our pocketbooks more than really needed.

 I know people close to me and see people and live around people who think if they made enough money (when is enough every enough) and look like everyone else and had the same things, man oh man, they would be so happy, but then next month, this comes out or that comes out, and they’ve gotta have it and if they don’t have it, “Yeah sure God understands…but He doesn’t understand that I have to wear this and wear that and….”

Wait!

Who are we really serving in the entire picture?

And what happen to being so happy and complete.

There are people who live in the, if they live here and wore that and their kids did this and their spouse did that and the house looks like this, and they drove that and they had this “x amount” in their bank account, then that is the ONLY time they will ever be happy and who cares about what is going on right now because it doesn’t fit into their image of what perfect is so what does it really matter and oh yeah God, but that’s then, what about…..Now??

Consider this story,”A spouse who is unhappy and it doesn’t matter that the kids are healthy or that they are growing in Christ or that their family is striving to find a strong foundation in Christ, they are still unhappy because the house isn’t big enough, they aren’t making enough money or maybe they are caught up in the lie of the “Perfect Life” that consists of a perfection that doesn’t exist anywhere and yet, they look at other people, and think, I want that, without stopping to think of the costs it took” or maybe “We find ourselves overextending ourselves for the holidays because we feel what we are doing isn’t enough and won’t make people happy that we don’t stop and ask ourselves, “Am I trying to fit my own image  of what I think will be enough or will this really make someone happy?”

They want their cake and eat it too.

    ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24, New King James Version)

This holiday season, we have a lot to be thankful for.

 I think it’s ironic that we have in our homes a representation of a simple manger, of a little babe that is the King of Kings, and determine to share Him on the same level with a display of opulant wealth.

And it’s not to go and say that we should take a vow of poverty, but when we find ourselves feeling….”We aren’t buying enough gifts or spending enough money or have enough money,” we have to stop and remember, when our Heavenly Father’s Son was born, He was not born among wealth.

He was born in a manger.

He wasn’t born in a sterile, hospital room.

There was no room for Him in the Inn and even then, it wasn’t the Ritz.

It was a stable and have you been in a stable before?

We wish for a better home or bigger home, meanwhile there are families out there who are losing their homes or may not have a home.

We wish for the perfect spouse, but there are spouses who have left their families in pursuit of personal wants or maybe, think they can find something better there rather than take the time to build on what they do have, or, they just don’t want to do the work themselves and find it easier to be disillusion.

We really want those pair of shoes we know we can’t afford or that coat or those clothes or maybe the kids want the latest brands and meanwhile there are families who are homeless and all they have is what they can fit in a suitcase.

We want a better job with more money and somewhere out there, as the holidays get closer, someone has just lost their job and maybe they are the sole income for that family.

The grass isn’t always greener on the other side and reading this verse is a reminder, that sometimes, the very thing that can make us actually happy are the very things that are exactly right in front of us, not in the form of silver and gold that may end up not being the real thing.

This year, is a reminder that if we are to truly count what we are really blessed with, our Heavenly Father, rises above all that.

Yes, it hurts to pay the bill and having nothing left after that.

Yes, it hurts to want to buy those pair of shoes but realistically, does that warrant putting Him really in the backseat of priorities?

When we do things, In Service to Him, we find, that in that, our blessings really count more. The key is do we choose to cherish what our Heavenly Father has already blessed us with and with what we have or do we forget what He has given us in pursuit of unreliable emotions and dreams that are often no other basis than our own satisfaction.

John Wesley (1703-1791) leaves us a valuable reminder from his sermon,”The Danger of Riches”,

O ye lovers of money, hear the word of the Lord! Suppose ye that money, though multiplied as the sand of the sea, can give happiness? Then you are “given up to a strong delusion, to believe a lie;” — a palpable lie, confuted daily by a thousand experiments. Open your eyes! Look all around you! Are the richest men the happiest? Have those the largest share of content who have the largest possessions? Is not the very reverse true? Is it not a common observation, that the richest of men are, in general, the most discontented, the most miserable?

Had not the far greater part of them more content when they had less money? Look into your breasts. If you are increased in goods, are you proportionably increased in happiness? You have more substance; but have you more content? You know that in seeking happiness from riches, you are only striving to drink out of empty cups. And let them be painted and gilded ever so finely, they are empty still.

It’s the holiday season and a reminder that, our Heavenly Father’s Son, the King of Kings, was not born in a mansion or castle, but in a manger, surrounded not by a grand court, but by farm animals and people who, by society standards, were the lowest class of society, but in His eyes, were the most worthiest to be at His birth.

Having more isn’t the key to happiness….Having faith and hope in our Heavenly Father is and part of that is not telling Him, wait while I get more, but instead, we wait while He does more for us.

When I saw the image it was just a humble reminder sometimes that “more” isn’t enough….just having what we have through Jesus Christ is more than enough and after that ….everything really does start to fall into place.

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This is just one of those time of the year that it’s exciting.
Food, shopping, getting together with people, but in the midst of it all, it’s also a reminder of the blessings that we have for what we have and the ability to do what we do.

I guess, I’m a bit more of a Pollyanna type around this year and probrably explains the mash potato throwing my way, around this time of year, but I see this too as a reminder that as often as we may complain about the circumstances of our lives, sometimes, we are lucky and blessed, yes that word, blessed, to be able to have the greatest blessing of all….salvation in and through our Heavenly Father.

Now…as much as I’m a Pollyanna around this time of year, I also try to make sure I don’t keep the rose color glasses on all the time, because I have bad times myself.

There are some mornings I wake up and it seems that everything that could go wrong, can go wrong and it’s days like that, I realize, I gotta give it to our Father in Heaven, as hard as it may feel like to do that, and if it means sending off an email to prayer warriors and yelling “Prayer Intervention” to help me remember to, where to walk and what choices to make and get a much needed “reality check” and throw in some “accountabilty”, I’m going to need to that, because no one else will.

Turkey day is around the corner and we have a lot to be thankful and it’s sometimes important that if we can’t find it, seek it and if we still can’t find it, there is one thing that is faithful and consistant and that is God is good even when we aren’t and that He loves us no matter what, even if we have days when even loving ourselves is a chore.

It’s my prayer and hopes, Gentle Readers, that you have a beyond just fantastic, but a wonderful and unbelieveable great Thanksgiving and through it all, and every day, remember, God loves you, will love you and always will love you and that if you need anything to plant your feet in that is a strong foundation, there is no better foundation than in and through our Heavenly Father.

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Ever watch those “Life Lock” commercials?

Is Your Identity Locked in Christ?

It’s suppose to have this guarantee that your identity will never be stolen, and as I watch the commercial, I couldn’t help but think, how about something better?

It’s already been paid for so there is no payment from us.

One hundred percent guarantee for eternity.

He knows your name already.

Wow. Sound too good to be true? The best part, you don’t have to go through anyone, 24/7 service and transcends any and all language.

Who is offering this great deal? God!

I love the devotionals that come through my email; Not only are they “quick bites” between bible readings, but seem to really get my attention to something that is on my mind.

In this case, it was this one:

Luke 13:11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bowed together and was not able to be completely erect.
Luke 13:12 And when Jesus saw her, He called and said to her, Woman, you are delivered from your infirmity.
Luke 13:13 And He laid His hands on her. And instantly she was made erect, and she glorified God.

Our experiences in life when we were young shape us into who we become as adults. Some, like me, may have experienced a major crisis in their youth that cause them to lose their identity, or their safety and security. If this crisis is not dealt with, they carry it on into their adult life causing a bend in their character.

 Their identity has been robbed by the one and only who accomplished his mission to kill, steal, and destroy. This poor lost soul goes through life looking to find what was stolen from them in their youth. Their identity is robbed causing a crisis.

If this describes you, then you can rest knowing that Jesus Christ came to give back what was stolen from us.

When He conquered the enemy at the cross He gave back to us what was rightfully ours; our identity. No longer do we have to remain bent over in bondage seeking for answers.

 Like the woman who was bent over, she was always looking down, never up. Never did she realize until that day she was called out by Jesus, that her identity, her value and worth, came from Him. It is in Him that we live and breathe.

It is in Him that we have our being. Sure life can cause a bend in our character, but God is a bend mender.

From World Harvest Church North

This has been coming up alot lately for me.

It started with a book I read in February and popped up again, recently, in a book I’m reading right now after going through a time of “spiritual famine” and writer’s block.

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately and well, just haven’t had the strength to really, face directly and confront.

Fear.

It knows me and I know it.

However, our Father in Heaven, has been reminding me lately, that He knows me, has known me and will keep knowing me, like “Life Lock” but better, He isn’t going to let go of me.

My identity and who I am and can be is secure in Him.

People can try and knock me, but God knows me. I’m secured in Him; You’re secured in Him; We’re all secured in Him when we call and confess Him name as our Lord and Saviour.

As it is said for WFW, Romans 1:6

  
¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (Romans 1:16, New King James Version)

In and through our Heavenly Father, we have a home and an identity that can not be taken away.

Is your identity locked in Christ?

If not, I invite you to get to know Him and find true hope and security.

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Copyright Heartlight Gallery

“A man’s life is always more forcible than his speech. If his life and doctrine disagree, the mass of onlookers will accept his practice and reject his preaching”

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That’s pretty scary when you think about it.

How often when we go about our daily lives or are in a hurry, we let down our guard and who we really are, manifast instead.

The sad thing, is that people sometimes remember us for our worse than our best and if we are Christians, we might as well be walking around with a microscope forever trained on us.

There are those who, because we are Christians, because of personal experiences (either good or bad), prejudices or bias or plain, just not knowing, who are going to be our harshest critics and like it or not, people are human and apt to judge us, based not on taking the time to know us, but on what they think they know of us.

My pastor often talk of how, after church, he would go to a resturaunt to eat, and see people that are either pretty obvious they are getting out of church (and one of the church crowd) or maybe he has seen them at church, but they haven’t seen him, act their worse versus their “Sunday best”.

He goes, the scary thing is that often, for some, that is the real them and not what they actively present to others.

Maybe we have other things on our mind, or a bad day, or well, maybe that is the real us, and when we think no one is looking, let down our guard and our real selves come out.

Question is, when our real selves come out, is it the Holy Spirit that is working in and through us, or is it us?

We all have bad days.

There is no way around it.

So long as we are still on this earth and in our earthly forms, we are still subject to the hormones and emotions of being human, but it’s no excuse at the same time though, for just well, selectively choosing how and who we are going to act a certain way.

Maybe that person you decide to brush off, is having a bad day and could have really use some “brotherly love” at that time; Maybe someone who is unsaved and had been thinking about coming to Christ, sees you at your worse and decides against being a Christian due to seeing what THEY think is a reason not to become a Christian.

It’s a burden but when we join the familiy of Christ, it is a burden that we all bear.

We are God’s ambassadors to a hurting and grieving world and unfortuantely, sometimes, that first impression, is all we get.

One of the devotionals, I receive is from Dr. Jeremiah and I read this, as I worked on this post,