Shy

There are some of us that think like this:  I am a shy person.  How does Merriam-Webster define the word shy?

Shy:

1.  Easily frightened: TIMID
2. disposed to avoid a person or thing
3. hesitant in committing oneself: CIRCUMSPECT
4.  sensitively diffident or retiring: RESERVED
5.  SECLUDED, HIDDEN
6.  having less than the full or specified amount or number.
7.  DISREPUTABLE

There you have it.  I think that most people are thinking of shy as the definition in number 4 above explains when they tell you that they are shy.  There are some who use shyness as a reason or perhaps an excuse for not doing something that is required of them in any given situation.  Being shy is an outward manifestation of what is deposited in the soul.

The soul is a repository of every experience that a person has ever had, usually complete with pictures, emotions and attitudes.  When the Bible says, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”, I believe it is referring to the soul.  The deposits on the pages of the soul determine the words and actions that we take.

Depending on age, we have little or much that is imprinted on the pages of the soul.  Depending on circumstances what is imprinted there can be good or bad and either encourages or discourages us.  I believe it controls us to some degree.

The soul of a person contains his mental capacity, his will and his emotions and affections.  In essence the soul of a person is what you encounter when you meet them.

There is another way of seeing the soul, and that is defined by personality.  By this I mean, is the person reserved or are they outgoing.? I have a friend who sees other people as friends she hasn’t met yet.  She loves to talk to people and has many “friends”.

There are other people who are more reserved, quieter by nature, they have a harder time speaking with people they don’t know.  They have a few friends with whom they are very close.  They may even appear to be aloof, but in reality it is their personality.

So far I have been speaking from the natural standpoint.  There is one factor that can change all of this and that is the experience of meeting Jesus the Messiah.  This experience is life changing.  Perhaps I should say that it can be life changing.

When a person asks Jesus to come into their life because they see that this is a good thing to do, their experience may be true or it may not be.  Some people have been “scared” into accepting Jesus into their life by someone telling them that they will go to Hell if they don’t.

It is good to receive Jesus into your life; by receiving Jesus you are brought out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of God, which is light and Heaven becomes your destination.  But, many who claim to be Christians (Christ ones) have never had a real experience with the Savior, repented of their sin and turned to Him for salvation.  It can be mental assent and that is not the true conversion experience.

When you truly see that it was your sin that caused Jesus to be crucified, it breaks you, it changes you, there is no other way.  He is the only way.  When you ask Him for forgiveness, you experience being “born-again”.  Your human spirit becomes new, this is defined as a new creature, a new creation, something that never existed before.  If you have not experienced that, if I were you I would question whether what I have is true.

While the spirit of a man is made into something that did not exist before, fashioned for the Kingdom of God, becomes “a son of God”, the soul remains the same as it was.  There is usually no change but some have experienced an instant release from destructible habits.

The Word of God states that it is by hearing the Word preached, by fellowship (hanging around) with the people who are like you now, and reading and studying the Word of God, that your soul will be changed.  This is a process that will go on your whole life.  It is that your soul will become like Jesus when He walked on the earth.  It is to fit you for Heaven as well as to equip you to do the work of ministering for the Kingdom of God on the earth.

I am shy therefore I can’t……..    The Word of God says:  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

If you have been born-again, if you have taken your soul to the Word of God, if you fellowship with other believers on a regular basis, if you have asked God to fill you with His Holy Spirit, if you have done all you know to do promote and strengthen God’s Kingdom on the earth, if you pray earnestly for the things that are on the heart of the Father, then your soul will be transformed and you will no longer be timid, reserved, hidden, but you will choose to do whatever the Holy Spirit leads you to do.  As someone said, “Sometimes I just do it afraid.”

When someone says, “I am shy.”  I think, “They are self-centered not God-centered.”  When we are God-centered we can literally do the exact opposite of our natural temperament, our natural inclinations.  That is why the Apostle Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Jesus wants to live in us, with us and through us.  He wants His Father’s will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.  That is why He taught His disciples to pray that way.  Father sent the Holy Spirit to indwell every believer , He gives us the power we need to live a victorious life here on the earth.

I trust that this message will help you to see that you really can do more for God than you thought you could.  Draw upon the power of the Holy Spirit and you could be another Billy Graham, another Rees Howells or another John Kilpatrick.   All things are possible to those who believe.   Only believe!

In His love,

Happy Thanksgiving!

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An Open Letter to Jameson

My dear son:

I see you wasting your life, I see you giving the wonderful gift of life that God gave you to a spirit that is not of His Kingdom.

Kingdom?  Yes, God is a King and He has a Kingdom.  The world that you live in has two kingdoms.   First of all there is The Kingdom of Light, of which God is the King.  Second is the kingdom of darkness, the fallen angel Lucifer is the king.  You know him as satan or the devil.

Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, came into the earth to be the Savior of mankind.  What are you to be saved from?  Saved from the kingdom of darkness, saved from misery, pain and bondage, saved from your ultimate destination, Hell.

God extended His love to the Gentile world through Israel’s Savior.  But, salvation is not automatic, it must be received.  You are saved out of darkness into light only by a choice that you make.  God has done all that He could do for mankind through Jesus.  Now, the rest is up to you.

What happens to you if you do not receive the gift of life from God?

Hell was created for the devil and his angels, called demons and evil spirits.  It was not created for mankind.  It is a place of eternal torment with no means of escape.  A being is bound there and tormented forever.  There is no light, no love, no laughter, no peace…no God!  There is an overwhelming smell that nauseates a person; it is dark and there is no water there.  Every person who has not chosen to receive God’s provision through Jesus comes there when he or she dies.  There are good people in Hell.

There are only two choices Jameson, Heaven or Hell.  You choose while you live.  When you die the choice you made is where you go.  No choice is a choice, and Hell is the destination.

You are living in Hell now as you live upon the earth.  The lifestyle that you have chosen is Hell on earth.  There is a spirit of the kingdom of darkness that promotes the use of drugs.  The purpose is to numb your mind, to prevent you from having a good life and fulfilling God’s plan for your life and ultimately to send you to Hell.

The Word of God says that the Devil has come into the earth to steal, kill and destroy.  That pretty much describes what is happening to you.  He is stealing your life day by day, killing your relationships with others and destroying any hope you might have of having a normal life with a wife, children. and a good job.

Now, through the lust of your flesh you have conceived a child.  This child will not know the love of a mother and father in a home that is blessed by God through a godly marriage.  You have chosen.  It  is not well.  You will answer to God for this child.

Divorce is a ripping apart, it is spiritual bloodshed.  Your mother and father covenanted before God to love each other for the rest of their lives.  Because they chose not to do so, you children were affected, especially you.  This was not your fault.

At the point in your life when your mother threatened divorce, you reacted fearfully.  The world without God does not have a true answer, a lasting peace.  And now you are trying to numb the pain, the hurt, the wounds you received as a young boy with drugs.  This is not the answer, Jameson, Jesus is the answer.

Jesus taught His disciples that God is “Our Father who is in Heaven”.  You cannot be a father unless you have children.  God had a plan to get back what was given to Lucifer in the Garden of Eden by Adam.  That plan was to send Himself, His Son, to buy back what had been given away.  This purchase could only be made through bloodshed, Jesus blood.

God has made a way where there seems to be no way.  You can get out of the mess you are in through Jesus.  He is the door to the Kingdom of God.  In the Kingdom of God there is deliverance, healing, protection, provision, peace, love and joy, the right way of doing and being.

How do you get into the Kingdom of God?

First of all, you must realize that you have chosen to reject God’s way of doing and being right for your own way.  The Bible calls this sin.

All have sinned and fallen short of the mark God has set.  There are no exceptions.  God is Holy, Pure, without fault or sin.  That is the standard set by Him for any who want to come into the Kingdom of Light.  It should be obvious that no man can meet that high standard.

This is where God’s plan to save mankind comes in.  Enter Jesus on the human scene.

Jesus was called “The Word” before He came to earth as a human being.  He was fully God and fully Man when He lived on the earth.  He never sinned.  He lived a perfect life. He died for you so that you could live for Him.  God accepted Jesus sacrifice.  He became the door into the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Light.

The debt of sin was so great that no man alone could pay it.  So God Himself, in the form of the man Jesus, came to pay a debt He did not owe for a debt we could not pay.  In so doing the door to Heaven was opened through Him.  Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life and no man comes to the Father except through Him.

Now, my dear son, you have been shown the door.  It is up to you to open the door and walk into the Kingdom of God.  It is the love of the Father for you that compels me to send this letter.  But, the choice is yours.

Know this:  I love you and I pray that you will be aware that the path you are on is leading you to Hell.  That would be your destination if you died today.  No choice is a choice.

Choose today to turn from the kingdom of darkness.  Jesus will help you if you turn to Him with all your heart.  Cry out to Him for mercy upon you and ask Him to forgive you for rejecting Him and choosing your own way.  Ask Him to deliver you from drugs and all the things of the kingdom of darkness.  He loves you so much that He gave His life for yours.  He will transfer you from darkness to light, you will begin a new life as a child of God.

I love you Jameson.  I pray that you will come to know my precious Savior.

 

Time

It has been quite a while since I have posted here.  My life is full of God opportunities, which to the best of my ability I take.  In other words I am about my Father’s business.

Having said that, this morning there are so many thoughts upon my heart that I could probably go on here for quite sometime.  But, I want to share with you, dear reader, this thought:  Time is a box and we are all given an allotted portion in it.   We are expected by God to use that allotment wisely.

God is not limited to time.  He is not in a box, any box;  He created time and is therefore the Lord of time.  He created mankind and placed them into a box we call time.  We are born into the earth at a specific time, a time that we celebrate as our birth day.  There is a time we call death or dying, where we leave the earth life and go on into eternity.

Mankind is first of all a spirit and a spirit does not die.  The spirit of a man goes into eternity at the death of the body, and if the person has believed in their heart and confessed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, when it goes into eternity it will go to Heaven

Recently, Isaiah 66:18 stood out to me.  “It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my Glory.”

I believe that God is saying that men shall come to Him and they shall see God’s Glory (His manifest presence) and the result will be that many will come to Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

Many are saying that time is running out, that the second coming of Jesus to the earth is imminent.  God knows.  What I feel certain of is that like harvest time comes to crops planted in fields, harvest time for the earth, for mankind to come to know God as their Father, Jesus as their Savior and Lord and Holy Spirit as the one who comes alongside in this earth realm, has come.

Isaiah the prophet said something like this, my paraphrase:  “My ways are not your ways, nor are my thoughts your thoughts, for as high as Heaven is above the earth so are my thoughts than yours.”  We cannot see the wind, but we can see the result of the wind.  “Awaken, thou that sleepest!”  The signs are everywhere.

God is fulfilling in each of our lives the allotted portion of time given to each of us.  What we do with that time will determine rewards when we stand to give an account for the time we have been given.

When the harvest of the earth takes place, many will come to faith in Jesus and choose to follow Him.  There is great need for those who know Him to be ready to teach and to demonstrate Kingdom of God life to them.

It is written :  “Can two walk together except they be agreed.”

If we look at America at this present time we see a fractured, splintered people, divided. by ideologies. Elijah the prophet spoke to ancient Israel:  “How long do you halt between two opinions, if the Lord is God serve Him, if Baal is god serve him.” There is a standard and God set it.

Joshua gave a challenge to Israel as they came out of Egypt to enter into the land God had promised to Abraham.   “Choose this day whom you will serve, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Choices are being made that will affect eternity for many.  It has become clear and will become more clear, that it is a choice between dark and light, God and Lucifer, also known as the devil (accuser)and satan (adversary).  The new world order will come, the one world religion will come, the perfect man will come, but not now, not yet.  It isn’t time.

God gives everyone 24 hours each day.  Each person has a lifespan, some short and some long.  The choices we make affect how short or long it is.  God knows what each of us will do with the time given.  He does not determine that time.  Man has no excuse for how he spends his time.  Each of us makes choices.  The choices we make are solely our responsibility.  These choices, these decisions, either limit or enhance our lives, and they also determine where we will spend eternity.

Time is a commodity, it can be spent wisely or foolishly.  The fruit of time spent is in your heart and in your mouth.  You will receive the consequences of your choices

People speak of killing time, but time cannot be killed.  People waste time, pass time etc.  Time requires some kind of action on our part.  We will answer for how we spent it.

Let us use the time we are given on this planet wisely.

Do you know the giver of time?  Have you come to know God through Jesus His Son?  If you have not, what better time than now.  Give your heart, your life, your time to Jesus, He died that you might live for God on earth and through all eternity.

Father, in Jesus name, I ask that You will touch each person who reads my message today and from then on;  that You will show them that You love them and have a good plan for their lives.  Bring many to salvation in Jesus, Father, I pray.  Amen.

CHANGES

My heart is somewhat sad right now because of circumstances in my world.  Not me or my husband, beyond that.

I have a friend who is beyond the 80 years mentioned in Scripture that we can have as humans on planet earth, actually I have a few friends that age.  This friend has recently gone through a bit of a hard time.

She developed a physical problem that worsened over the period of a few days and she ended up in the hospital.  Going through several days there, it was recommended that she go to a rehabilitation facility for a week.

She lost something through this experience.  She is not the same and it bothers me.

I know her to be full of zest for life.  Always one to be ready for an adventure, she would be ready to go at the drop of a hat if any of her friends suggested doing something.

She liked to talk about what was going on in the world, both secular and Christian.  And she longed to contribute something to the world, she wanted to do something, to be involved.

When I visited her at the rehab place she was searching why she was there and came to the conclusion that she was there to bring a smile or some joy into an otherwise dark place.  This she did by visiting people in their rooms and saying,  “Hi!” in the halls as she met people, and always with a smile.

She came “home” to a messy place, but together we made short order of picking it up so she would feel comfortable to welcome her family members who were coming the next day for a visit.

She reported being happy with the way the visit went.

So, what is my problem?  A part of the person that she was is gone, I can’t put my finger on exactly what, but I am sad.  I pray that it will come back, but if it doesn’t I need to accept that.

The consolation, and there always is a consolation with God, is that no matter what happens to my friend or any of us for that matter, who we really are in the spirit will never change, never die and if we are believers we will be together as whole persons forever throughout all eternity, and I praise God for that!

One of my children has gone through a divorce this year.  Never easy and always painful, divorce rips apart two people who made a covenant before God and witnesses to be together in sickness and health etc. “until death do us part”.

The relationship died before the people did.  It did not happen overnight.  It died by increments.  Hurts, wounds, expectations not met, offenses taken and more. Like knives being plunged into flesh, blood flowed, life left and death came.  The  covenant was broken, the end came…separation…then divorce.

Loneliness begins to set in like cold on a 20 degree below zero day and it chills the soul.  All one wants is to be warm again, to feel good again, to be loved again.  It is written:  “It is not good for man to be alone.”  Especially, a young man.  Each man is to have his own wife.  Each woman is to have her own husband.  That is what the Bible says.

Something will fill the void.

My child has chosen a “relationship” that will not lead to marriage.  This is very acceptable in today’s world, it is not acceptable in the Kingdom of God.

The worldly person wants to be accepted, as we all do, but they want you to accept what they do as well.  This a believer cannot do when it disagrees with the Word of God.  Jesus never did that, no one He ministered to left His presence untouched.  Only those who were in rebellion against God were not touched or changed by being in His presence.   He is our example.

How then do we walk this out?

Change is not easy for anyone.  Some accept it more readily than others.  But, change comes to all and many times over a lifetime.

My child is my child.  Nothing will ever change that, not what they say or do, nor where they go, whether alive or dead, they are my child.

Some children choose to walk away from their family.  Others choose to stay in relationship but not walk closely.  Others choose to continue on their pathway, expecting their family to accept who or what they have become.

There are some children who respect and honor their parents to the degree that they will ask for and consider the advice the parents give.  That is called honoring your Father and Mother, a command in the Word of God.

As a friend what do I do?  As a parent what do I do?

Love, unconditional love…first and foremost.  Then “watch and pray” as the Bible says we are to do.  Ultimately though, each of us is responsible to God for himself or herself.

If we are committed to Jesus, then we are to be led by His Holy Spirit.  Being led by the Holy Spirit means that we will be led into what we are to do in each and every situation.  He leads, we follow.  Sometimes that is through the written Word, sometimes through circumstances, sometimes through other people etc.  God is not limited by how He speaks to us.

We have an additional advantage as believers and that is that we are all part of the Body of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, we can turn to another believer for counsel when we cannot see the way.   Our Father, is so good to us.

We do not need to ever second guess our actions when they come from a pure heart of love because God will make sure that all things work together for good because we love Him.  He is a good, good Father!

We do not need to ever receive guilt, accusation or condemnation.  God is not in any of that.  It is a work of the kingdom of darkness.  God is love and in Him is no darkness at all.

The Word of God tells us to Submit to God and resist the devil and he will flee from us.

Stand strong on the Word of God, stay in faith that God is involved in everything that pertains to you and your life because He loves you so much.

When it is all over here on planet earth, there is Life, Love and Laughter for all eternity for those who love God, for those who have received what Jesus did at the cross for them…It is personal.

Amen, praying for you today…. God bless you, Joy

 

 

 

The Message

Love:  Greek;  Agapao  “To welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly.”

God so loved the world that He gave…Jesus.   (John 3:16)

Show us the Father and it will be enough! Have I been with you so long and you do not know me. I am in the Father and the Father is in me.  If you have seen me you have seen the Father.    (John 14:9)

The image of Jesus is the image of the Father.   (Hebrews 1:3)

Let us create man in our image and our likeness.   (Genesis 1:26)

From the foundation of the world, I knew you.   (Ephesians 1:4)

All your parts were known to me and planned before the world was made.  In my book every day of your life was written when as yet there were none.  Psalm 139: 1-18)

God IS love.  Jesus is the face of God.   (I John 4: 8-20)  (John 14:9)

Many were offended and left…Will you leave also?  To whom shall we go, you have the words of Life.  (John 6: 66-69)

Eternity….no end.  (Isaiah 57:15)

It is appointed unto men once to die and then comes judgment.   (Hebrews 9:27)

Some men’s sins go before them openly and some follow after to judgment.                 (I Timothy 5:24)

No man comes to the Father except by me.   (John 14:6)

Forgive and you will be forgiven.  If you refuse to forgive then God cannot forgive you.   (Mark 11:24-25)

There are no liars, murderers, idolaters, adulterers, sorcerers, thieves, covetous, drunkards, extortioners…..in God’s Kingdom of Heaven….only those who love God and follow the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world…God had a plan and He executed His plan.  There is no other way to God, to Heaven, except through Jesus.  (Revelation 22:15)  (I Corinthians 6:10)  (Revelation 13:8)  (John 14:6)

When you turn from darkness to light, you are transferred into the Kingdom of Light, the Kingdom of God.   (Colossians 1:13)  (Isaiah 57:15)

Eternity with God in the perfection and completeness of all things.   (Luke 12:37)

Eternity without God.  Complete perfection of darkness and evil.  (Matthew 25:30, 41)

You choose whom you will serve.  No one makes that decision for you.  (Joshua 24:15)

God loved you so much that He made a way for you to be with Him forever.  It is not your way.  It is not the way of any other.  His way is the only way.   (John 14:6)

There is a pouring out.  (Acts 2:17-18)

There is a time for everything.   (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

God gives because God loves.   (John 3:16)

This is not a new message, but it is a message that blinded eyes cannot see and it falls on deaf ears in each generation.  How shall they hear unless someone tells them?  Who will go?  Who will tell?  Who will pray that they may hear? (Romans 10:14)

This is not a message for the mind of natural man.  The message is for the hungering heart, the thirsting soul.  It is for the “whoever will come”.  (Mark 8:34-35)

Broad is the way that leads to destruction, many follow its way.  Narrow is the way the leads to life and few find it.   (Matthew 7:13-14)

Every gate, every door leads to somewhere, something, some way.  A gate may look beautiful, fun, interesting but it may ultimately leads to destruction, death and Hell.  Choices matter for eternity.  (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25)

Jesus said if you are not with Him you are against Him.  (Luke 11:23)

There are many gates, many doors and many choices.  Choices can be made even if you are going the wrong way.  You can turn around and go back.  It is not too late.  As long as there is breath in your body, you can turn around.   (Revelation 3:20)

God calls you to come home, come back to the one who made you, the one who placed your spirit in that little bit of flesh in your mother’s womb, the one who grew and became strong enough to enter into the world of men.  He created you.                  (Genesis 5:1-2)  (Isaiah 43:7; 45;12)

Come home, can’t you hear Him calling?  “I love you my son, I love you my girl, come home.  You are welcome.  It doesn’t matter to me where you have been or what you have done, I love you.  I will clean you up, just trust me, come to me.”          (Revelation 22:17)

Pray:  Father, I come.  Just as I am.  Forgive me.  Thank you for receiving me.  I receive what Jesus did for me.  Thank you for giving me life eternal!                    (Psalm 61:2  62:7)  (I Peter 2:1-10)

If you have prayed to receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord, welcome to the family of God.  It is important for your spiritual growth that you find others who believe as you believe and enter into relationship with them.  It is important that you have a Bible that is written so that you can read and understand it, it is the manufacturers handbook, so to speak, and you need it to know how to live from now on.

The new birth as recorded in John chapter 3, opens the way for God’s Holy Spirit to come to live inside of you.  There is a subsequent (or can be at the same time) infilling called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as recorded in the book of Acts.

The Holy Spirit baptizes you into the “Body of Christ” and Jesus baptizes you into the Holy Spirit.  These two things are a work of the grace of God, independent of your works.  You cannot earn either one, you just receive.   (I Corinthians 12:13)   (Mark 1:8) (Acts 1:5, 8; 2:1-4)

“Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”   (Titus 3:5)

May the Lord complete that good work that He has done in you.  Amen!

Joy

 

All Things Are Possible…

God can do anything, you know…far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams  He does not do it by pushing us around but by working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us.  Ephesians 3:20 MSG

Everything we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power.  For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing Him who has called us by name and invited us to come to Him through a glorious manifestation of His goodness.  II Peter 1:3  PT

It was a warm Summer day, the sun was bright, high in the sky.  The men were home for lunch and a bit of a rest before getting back in the field.

My Grandma, Gram to me, and I were in the kitchen doing the dishes.  Well, I was actually lollygagging, sitting in a chair in the living room polishing a dish when I should have been in the kitchen with her.  I hated doing the dishes and could find ways to get around it, such as going to the bathroom for fifteen minutes until she was finished with them.

I was eight years of age when I came to stay at the farm.  I am the oldest of what would eventually be seven children.  How I came to the farm and my early life there is a story for another time.  Today I want to tell you a little more about what God has done for me.

Every child is born with rebellion in them.  It comes from Adam, the federal head of the race of mankind.  I was no exception.  God brings us into a family with a mother and a father, whose charge it is to “train us up in the way we should go.”  However, we know that His standard is often not the pattern.

My Dad became an alcoholic early in life.  This addiction colored our world.  It not only touched Mom and us children, it touched the extended family as well.

I am a melancholy introverted person by natural temperament.  I am also more choleric than I care to admit.  These two temperaments within me have collided frequently in the past and still do occasionally.

I was born in 1938.  So much was going on in the world during the 30’s and 40’s.  The war had a profound affect on our lives.  Dad had a bad back and so was not able to be in the war effort.  No doubt this affected him, as well as his home situation.

My Dad was a personable, kind person when he was not under the influence of alcohol.  I found this out only when we brought him to live with us many years later.

People have many experiences and along with those experiences are the decisions that they make which color their world for the better or for worse, and in turn affect those around them.

My Dad had a little brother who died suddenly.  When his mother died unexpectedly, his father rebelled against God. When his dad married a former school teacher, the situation became impossible for both Dad and her.  He was told to leave.

I have heard some of the stories of what he did during that time period and I have no doubt it was difficult for his step-mom, a woman who had never been married, to come into a ready-made family of three children.  But, it was a life changer for my Dad and the decisions that he made affected the rest of his life and thus those of us who were in his circle.

I think of and picture a beautiful, sunny day at the lake.  I see the sun shining of the water and a young boy with rocks in his hands skipping them across the water.  Some of the rocks skip, but not all, some just go kerplunk into the water and the waves begin to go out from the point of impact in ever-widening circles.

This picture speaks to me of the effect each decision we make has on our lives and the lives of those in our circle.  How very important it is to consider who we are and whose lives we impact when we make a decision.  Each decision has a far-reaching impact.

In my eighth year I was taken to my maternal grand-parents farm, where I lived until I was eighteen.  Many years later I was shown that the decision where I wanted to live was given to me.   I was only eight.  When I was 19, I questioned who I was and felt as though I did not belong to anyone.  Years later when I married, my Grandma said, “Now you belong to someone.”

I met Jesus when I was fifteen years of age.  I saw that it was my sin that He took on the cross, it became personal that day.  I was raised in church, I knew about Jesus, but I did not know Him.  That day I asked Him to come into my heart and when I did, I became a new creation in Him.

I went from hating my Dad for what he did to me and our family through his use of alcohol to loving him and being concerned for him, and praying that he would come to know Jesus.  It was many years later, but he received Jesus as his savior before he died.

The day I met Jesus, I became a prayer.  After seven years of prayer and trusting God, my Mom, my sisters and my brothers all met the Lord Jesus.  They all love Him today, I am so thankful.  We  will be together for all eternity.

God who knows the end from the beginning, who has made all provision for us, reached out to me and drew me to Himself.  I found my worth, my value in Him.  I am a child of God, that is who I am.  God is my Father, Jesus is my Savior and Lord and the Holy Spirit is my teacher, my counselor and my comforter.

God is in the transformation business.  He takes what is broken and makes it new.  He takes what is stained and dirty and makes it clean.  The blood of Jesus that was shed for all mankind washes us clean, we only need to claim it and take it as our own.  I pray that you have done that.

God bless you today,

Joy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Would You Do?

Everyone of us experiences change.  It is inevitable because we live in a fallen world, a world that is changing, decaying and dying.  Earth groans as it waits for the revealing of the sons of God, as it waits for the Kingdom of God to come on Earth as it is in Heaven.

There are many kinds of changes that we experience here are a few examples.

You are engaged to be married and your intended is killed in a car accident, you are devastated, but you must go on.

When your husband of 55 years dies, your world crumbles and you want to die too.

The company you have worked for twenty-five years hands you a pink slip and says your services are no longer needed and you have just had your fiftieth birthday, you have a family to support and you have no idea what you are going to do now, where do you turn?

When you hate yourself or the way you look or the way others treat you;  you have been battered and bruised in some way and your behavior becomes self-destructive because of it, what or who can save you from self-destruction?

Each of these present a difficult time, a time when you will experience sorrow and grief.  With each of these scenarios there will be a time of facing the truth that change has happened and you will transition whether you like it or not.  What happens in transition?

 

Choices are made.  Fear controls some and they try to flee the new reality.  Some get into self medication and others into a new enlightenment.  Others will fight the change with everything in them.  And some will give up and go head long into depression, ultimately leading to death.

Change is inevitable, a time of transition is inevitable, a choice is inevitable, but ignoring change, refusing change will not keep you from change.

Picture this scenario.

A major shift has taken place in the world.  What was normal life is now abnormal.  An evil force has taken control of government and you no longer have freedom, not in the outside world not even in your home.  There are spies everywhere.  No one can be trusted.

The television stations have been taken over, books, CD’s, DVD’s have been confiscated, especially Bibles and anything Jewish or Christian.  You have no TV, no books, no media and finally, you are rounded up and put into holding camps waiting annihilation.  You have nothing familiar.  Families are separated from each other.  Children are taken away to be indoctrinated.  Your life, the life you knew is over.

Rumors spread through the camp of the beheading of those who refused to bow their knee to the image of their god.  You will submit or you will die.  These are your only choices.  What will you do then?  Worst case scenario has come.  Will you be ready?

Some day, according to the Bible, this scenario or one close to it, will happen.

“Time flies”, people say.  Yes, it is ever-moving forward.  All forward movement is going somewhere.  There is an end, there is a goal.  STOP! will happen.

Life has a beginning and it has an end.  We are eternal spirits.  We live in a body on the earth, we have a soul which contains our mind, our will and our emotions.  God created each us with eternity in our heart.  Because of this we feel like we will live forever in this body on the earth, even though we know intellectually that is not so.

The day will come to each of us when we will leave this body behind and go to the one we loved and served on earth, whether that is the Creator God or God’s adversary, the accuser, also known as the satan or the devil.

While we still can walk in the light, in freedom and liberty, let us make the most of the time we have here.  There are people to love and care for, there are assignments from Heaven that need to be done and most of all there is a God in Heaven, whom Jesus called “Our Father”, who is to be praised and worshiped every day we live.  Let’s do it.  Let’s make the most of our time here,

God bless you, Joy

 

 

 

 

 

 

And God Said…

January 2018 in the Divided States of America….

1:30 A. M. the 31st day of January 2018, I woke up abruptly.  ‘Lord, why am I wide awake now?’  I lay in the bed for another 15 minutes,  I finally got up and came into my prayer room.

God had something to say.  I grabbed my pen and my journal and began to write what I was hearing as fast as I could.

I had heard these words in 2016:

“There will be war, but it will not be what you think.  It will be war between dark and light, good and evil.” 

This day in 2018 I heard this:

“I am going to judge everyone based on their reaction to my plans for America.”

“I have come down to engage personally with Donald John Trump.  He will hear from me as clearly as anyone in that House has heard.”

“I intend to move in ways far greater than any other time in the history of America.”

“I will leave no stone unturned in my dealings with the enemy for my land.”

“I do not take lightly the words and actions taken by those who oppose my agenda.”

“I will not tolerate the kind of activity that I have allowed in the past.  Judgment will be swift and without mercy to those who oppose me.

“Fear not, I will spare my own as a mother spares her child from harm.”

“I do not desire to bring this.  I take no delight in it.  But, I will no longer allow those who come against my plans and my way to continue in their wicked way.  The time has come.”

“Many will say to Me in that hour, in that day, ‘Why is this happening?’  

“Some of those who oppose me are simply ignorant.  But, there are others who know what they do and do so with purpose of vile intent.”

“When the time comes you must guard your heart.  Remember what I have taught you.  Trust me.  Look to the end, look to the end.  I have made the end from the beginning.  It is all in My hand.  Remember, all I do is out of love.”

I sat amazed, stunned.  I have no interpretation for any of this.  God’s ways are higher than ours and I won’t try to figure out what He means or what He is going to do.  This I know, I heard from God.

I began to study Cyrus in the Bible as some have said that President Trump is like Cyrus.  What I found was an amazing similarity between the two in their dealing with God’s people.

One preacher that I heard today likened the President to Jehu in the Bible.  I have not looked into that yet.

I asked the Lord what to do with this, if I should tell someone or pass it on and He told me to put it here.  So here it is.

You judge.

I am Joy

 

 

 

The Lord’s Prayer?

Down through the centuries The Lord’s Prayer, so called, has been said or prayed more times than man can number. It has been prayed from honest, God-loving hearts, and it has been prayed by mindless repetition as well.

I have heard it said that this is really not the Lord’s prayer at all, but rather the prayer He taught His disciples to pray.  That is true in the context in which it is written.  But, I believe that it is also the prayer that Jesus prayed as a man.

Jesus taught His disciples that God is our Father in Heaven.  Up to that time God was not seen as a Father.  He was seen by the masses as a distant being that was only mildly interested in the lives of His people.  The priests and Rabbis were the only ones with access to God as far as the common man was concerned and the religious leaders wanted to keep it that way.

When Jesus came along, He introduced the people to a God who cared deeply about them, who loved them like an earthly father loves his children.  The people flocked to hear Him tell about the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.  He used parables to teach them, examples that they could relate to.

When Jesus had completed what He had come to earth to do, spiritually speaking.  Not long before His crucifixion, He prayed what some call the true Lord’s prayer.  It is found in John chapter 17.  Jesus prays for His disciples and for those who will come to believe in Him through their words that they would all be one so the world would know that He came.

“Hallowed be thy name”, Holy is your name.

The Bible teaches that God gave Jesus a name that is above every other name. His Hebrew name is Yeshua. The name means “Savior”.  He was known as Yeshua ben Yosef, or Jesus the son of Joseph, the carpenter’s son.  Joseph was a carpenter.  His mother’s name was Miriam, Mary in English.

Christ is not His last name, it is His title, it means “sent one”.  Keep His name and His title holy, don’t use it to curse and swear, please.  Those of us who love Him find it painful to hear.  It grieves us and it grieves God because you are bringing curses on yourself by doing this.

Have you noticed that no one swears or curses using the name of any false god?  Ever wonder why?  Jesus is God, He lives.  The others are all dead men. No power, no authority.  He said, “All authority has been given to me in Heaven and on Earth.” He said His Father gave Him authority.  The people said that He spoke “as one having authority, not as the scribes and pharisees.”

Words matter.  You will have what you say.  Cursing brings a curse upon you because what you sow you will reap, furthermore, the Bible tells us not to swear at all.

“May your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”  That is a prayer that will be answered before the end comes.

There are two kingdoms in this world.  One kingdom is filled with selfishness, darkness and moral bankruptcy, it is ruled over by the god of this world system, the one the world calls satan and the devil.

When Lucifer focused upon himself, he contemplated the beauty, the splendor, the wonderful creation that he was.

He ignored the fact that He was a creature, created by God.  In that look, that focusing on himself, pride arose and he decided that he wanted to be God; in this he sinned and it wasn’t long before he decided he would overthrow God and take over the throne and Heaven.  He was so wrong.  He got thrown out of Heaven.  You don’t fight God and win.

If you are a member of the kingdom of darkness, you are in agreement that  “self” is the center of your world.  Your soul rules you.  The power behind the sinful soul is the fallen angel, Lucifer and his minions.  Without repentance, your destination is eternal separation from God, from light, from loved ones  and all that is good.  Eternity in torment.

The other Kingdom is the Kingdom of Light.  The God of the Kingdom of Light is Love.  He loves unconditionally.  Laughter, Peace, Joy and God’s way of doing and being right are part of that Kingdom.

Belonging to the Kingdom of light is to love God above all, He is priority number one and the member is “all in”.  The power behind the spirit of the believer is the Holy Spirit. The destination is Heaven and eternity with God our Father, with Jesus, and our loved ones.

God’s will is going to be done “on earth as it is in Heaven”.  There is no darkness, no evil in Heaven.  God will give the world one last chance to choose Him.  His people will be like a bride prepared to receive her bridegroom.  The Bible speaks of the “Wedding supper of the Lamb” and it says, “His wife has made herself ready.”

Every person ever born will make a choice where they will spend eternity.  It is God’s will that all come to know the truth, that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No man comes to the Father except by Him, through Him.

“It is given unto men once to die and after that the judgment.”  Choose this day whom you will serve.  Will it be God or Lucifer aka satan and the devil?   You will serve one of them.

Two Kingdoms, two destinations.  You will choose.  No choice is a choice.

Choose wisely.  Choose Life.  Choose God!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because He Lives

God sent His son they called Him Jesus

He came to love, heal and forgive

He lived and He died to buy my pardon

An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

 

Then one day I’ll cross that river

I’ll fight life’s final war with pain 

And then as death gives way to victory

I’ll see the lights of Glory and 

I’ll know He lives

 

Because He lives I can face tomorrow

Because He lives all fear is gone

Because I know He holds the future

and life is worth the living just because He lives.

 

Copyright:  Music and lyrics by Bill and Gloria Gaither

 

This is the hope of everyone who believes and receives Jesus as their Savior and Lord:   Because God gave His best gift, the gift of Jesus,  we have forgiveness through the blood of Jesus; we have Heaven as our eternal destination. Not only that, but in our everyday walking around on earth lives, His Holy Spirit is with us to comfort, lead, teach and guide.  We are not alone.

Let us remember that the reason we celebrate this time of year is because He lives.  I pray you will have a Blessed Christmas!