Happy Birthday - February 29!!! And Others!

“Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been save. And seated with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”  Ephesians 2:4-6; Dig deeper – read Ephesians 1:3-14; Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:1-2.

Hey Gang, anyone reading this have a birthday today?  How many ‘real’ birthdays have you had? Birthdays are special happenings and celebrations for some.

You, too, can celebrate a REAL birthday every year – A Spiritual birthday – if you have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord. (Col 3:1-2). Many people know the day, hour, and circumstance of their decision to follow Christ. I am not of those. 

I was dedicated in the womb and have known, from the time I remember, that God was my heavenly Father (my earthly father represented Him well), Jesus was my Savior and Lord, friend and confident, and that His representative, the Holy Spirit, lives in my heart. Oh, yes, there have been times of re-dedication and consecration, but not a birthday that I celebrate.

In my Hymnbook Devotional, February 29, Kenneth Osbeck introduced today’s hymn – which I have never sung- with this paragraph:

“The Scriptures teach us that as believers we are heavenly people with special privileges, since our citizenship is in heavenlies with Christ.  We are seated with Him in Glory and have access to His store house of riches and possessors of all heavenly blessings.  We have been given a heaven born nature that responds to spiritual nourishment - the Living and written Word.  We are to seek the things above and this heavenly value  enables us to rise above the circumstances and storms that often cross our earthly paths and provides the enablement we need to live life in daily victory while we await the day of our final victory.  In a sense we are already –

In Heavenly Love Abiding.”  Be encouraged by these words of promise!

Author Anna Warning was raises as a Quaker in South Whales. Later, she joined the Anglican Church. She was known for her love and ministering to those in prisons

In Heavenly Love Abiding

In heavenly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear; and safe is us such confiding, for nothing changes here.

The storm may roar without me; my heart may be laid low, but God is all around me, and cannot be dismayed.

Wherever He may guide me, no fear shall turn me back; my Shepherd is beside me, and nothings I shall lack. His wisdom ever waketh; His sight is never dim; He knows the way He taketh, and I will walk with Him.

Green pastures are before me, which yet I have not seen; bright skies will soon be o’er me, where darkest clouds have been.  My hope I cannot measure: my path to life is free: my Savior is my treasure, and He will walk with me.

Sooo, dear readers, live this day as joint heirs with Jesus and share His love and promises.

Growing in Love for God and Others

“They devoted themselves to the Apostles and to the fellowship, truth, breaking of bread and prayer… All believers were together.”  Acts 2:42 (Read Psalm 133:1)

Hey, Gang, I have a couple different devotionals I read in the mornings, as I start my day with Father and Jesus.  The Holy Spirit seems to direct me to what I need to begin my day. 

One of the Devotionals, which I have read several times, is called Amazing Grace by Kenneth Osbeck. It is a collection of 365 Hymns, the story of how the poem came to be written, something about the Author, and a challenge for Christ-followers.  Growing up in church as a Preachers daughter, Hymns were a big part of my life.   One Sunday, one of our grandsons ask if I knew all the verses to all the Hymns.  “No”, I said, “but I know a lot of them.” 

Most of the Hymns were based on Scripture and included Scripture in the poem content.  If I were to be exiled on an Island and could only take one book - and not be a Bible, I would take a hymnbook.

This Devotional has a general theme for each month and February is LOVE! Surprise!  As I read today’s message, I thought, “What a different world this would be if Christ-followers would practice the words of this Hymn or Traditional Spiritual -Let Us Break Bread Together.

In our fast-paced culture filled with electronics, digital, instant gratification culture, many families seldom sit down to a meal together, even weekly. Do you have memories of Sunday Dinners?  At our house we usually had guests and enjoyed friendship and fellowship. Occasionally, we had dinner at someone else’s home.  Now it is hard for us to get someone to join us for dinner at a restaurant!

The Early Believers gathered to together regularly for meals and prayer regardless of color, nationality or status.  it was a times of sharing and developing a bond of love, Unity and fellowship as they had experienced from God Himself.

Unity in Jesus doesn’t mean we can’t disagree about things, but rather listen to others with love, respect and unified Spirit seeking God’s will. God planned, and recorded in Scripture, national feasts to bring people together sharing meals and worship.  Something special when God is the center of conversations!

Growing up, -Let US Break Bread Together – was always sung at Communion, but it certainly applies to daily living. Spending more time on our knees would change hearts.

Osbeck closes with a challenge to Christ Followers:  We should not only value those for whom Christ died, but above all those in whom Christ lives.

            Let us break bread together on our knees. (repeat & add refrain)

            Let us drink the cup together on our knees, (repeat & add refrain)

            Let us praise God together on our knees, (repeat & add refrain)

            refrain: when I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord have mercy on me. 

Sooo, join me in prayer: Lord teach me how to live this in my daily life.

Blessings,

Gma J

Our Culture and Frankenstein

I am not a storyteller, as is Gramps, but as we shared devotions from Jonathan Cahn’s Sapphires, we decided this one, January 7^th, was good for all to read.

“But know this. that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, ….. lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ‘having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” II Timothy 3:1-5 (read 1-9)

This Devotional was tiled: Our Culture and Frankenstein

Most people who know the story of Frankenstein miss the point of the story. “Frankenstein was not primarily a horror or monster story, but a morality tale.  Dr Frankenstein attempts to play God and create life from death.  The result is the creation of a monster that ends up destroying everything he loves, cares about and ultimately the Doctor himself.

The message of the tale is biblical. when man attempts to play God, or to “become as God,” the end is always destruction and death.  We are now witnessing the phenomenon on a global scale – as man, through science, takes it upon himself to redefine right and wrong, or disregard the ways of God – man is, in effect, playing God.  And the end of that road is always destruction.  We live in a Frankenstein civilization. 

Soo, Young and not so young readers, Cahn closed his devotional though with these words, A challenge for each of us: “All the more, as believers, we must lift up the name of God, in everything we do.  For in an end-time civilization – there are only those play God and those who worship Him.”

Blessings,

Gma J and Gramps

The Antidote For Anguish

"Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving kindness, According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions." (Psa. 51:1).

Hey Gang:   As I read, and reread, these words of David I sense the depth of his anguish for I have been there.  Times when I know I have sinned against Abba Father and poured out my heart as David does in this Psalm, only to go out and grieve the Holy Spirit all over again. 

I confess I have struggled with the question, “Does God withdraw from us when we are in sin?”  When I shared this question with a pastor friend of mine, he seemed to be appalled that I would make such a suggestion.  But Psalm 51 happens to be a Psalm I frequently return too, especially when the waters seem to be up around my 'snoz' and creeping higher.  I like to be in good company when going through the wilderness and David  is one I retreat to often.

God did say that David is a man after His heart, didn't He?  Of course my first line of defense is Jesus, the perfect Son of God who knew no sin, but there are times when I need to hear from one of God's anointed saints, who certainly had times of walking in the darkness of this world, to see how they handled those difficult times after choosing to go his own way.

Now back to the question, “Does God withdraw from us when we are walking contrary to His will and His ways?”  The Prophet Nathan rattled the King’s chain when he took him to task for the Bathsheba incident.  A rattling that hit David where he, and we, need to be hit when we are walking contrary to what we know is God's mandate for our lives. 

He cried out to God, "Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions." (v.1).  I confess I have prayed that prayer many times and keep it close at hand for those times when I fail in my walk with the Lord.  He went on and cried out, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me."   (v. 2-3). 

Now, notice the reason for the question.  In verse 10 and 11 we read his plea: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit with me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me".   

Have I resolved this very important issue in my mind and heart?  I believe I have.  Notice the reassurance that we find in John's words in I John 1:6-7: “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and yet walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin". 

Soooo, "Listen, listen up!"  Can you hear it, "Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it.” (Isa. 30:21).   

Blessings,

Gramps 

If I Could Only Forget

Cr­­­­ossing the Jordan Today's picture is of an IDF vehicle crossing the Jordan River during an exerci­se. It reminds us of Genesis 32:9-10; "Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,' I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies" “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things are passed away; behold new things have come” (2Cor. 5:17). Hey Gang:  I have come to the conclusion that one of Satan’s greatest weapons he uses to keep us in bondage is our memories.  Would it not be tremendous if, each day, God wiped away the memory of all of the things we have said and done that does not bring honor and glory to our Lord? But tragically our memory banks tend to hang onto all the things that do not bring honor and glory to God and we forget the victories God has given us.  Does that mean that we give more credence to the things that Satan surfaces in our minds than the things that God surfaces in our minds?  I think we could say 'YES’ to that.  But, is there a way to have victory over Satan’s using our memory banks as a weapon against our walk with the Lord?  Again, I would say 'Yes'. Did you ever have gross thoughts creep into your head when you were in prayer?  Pastor Mumford, an old country preacher, suggested that was God’s way of purging those thoughts from our hearts by giving them to God.  In other words, it was God’s laxative for cleaning out things that do not belong in the hearts of His children. So, what do we do about memories that do not bring honor and glory to God?   James gave us sound advice when he wrote, “Submit therefore to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (4:7)  But, keep in mind, when Jesus was in the wilderness and had defeated Satan at his own game, deception, Luke gave us a clue about the way we can expect Satan to act.  He wrote: “he (Satan) left Him (Jesus) until a more opportune time.” (Luke 4:13). And how do we resist the devil?  By filling our heads with weapons - God's Word - that make him flee from us.  I have often taught the principle that our heads need to be filled with knobs to hang things on.  Unfortunately, most folks have not placed these weapons that will defeat the evil one in our memories on these knobs for use when the enemy shows up. Let me make a suggestion to you this morning by installing a weapon that works very effectively for me.  I have found that Satan does not like praise songs when sung from our heart.  He certainly does not like the little songs that I learned as a child: ‘Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so’; ‘This Little Light of Mine I am going to let it shine’; and ‘Lord, Make me a sanctuary of Your love’. Soooo, my young troopers, What say ye?  Are your knobs  in your heads filled with God’s Word and His songs?  Are you equipped to sing praise to Him when slough-foot comes calling?  I have bad news for you, he will make his rounds today.  As Pastor Wigglesworth said when Satan came calling on him in the middle of the night, “O, its only you” and he went back to sleep.  Paul says, "Rejoice always and again I say rejoice!"  Hey, give it go today and check it out! Blessings, Gramps