Love - God first loved me

1 John 4:10The Voice (VOICE)

¹⁰ This is the embodiment of true love: not that we have loved God first, but that He loved us and sent His unique Son on a special mission to become an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

This is supposedly the month of Love, February with Valentine’s day and the beautiful flowers and chocolates and promises of love and all the affection of this world.  As I think of all of this it reminds me of something more precious and more spectacular.

Looking down from heaven the angels and God are in conversation about the world that is lost and struggling to survive a difficult and dark time.  God looks at the angels and His son and they discuss the plight of the world.  A saviour is needed to help a people in difficult times.  The first Adam slipped up and now the sin of man is spreading like a virus that can only be stopped by the blood of another Adam.

The maiden Mary has given birth to the Lord Jesus, life on earth will never be the same again.  The child is beautiful and both Mary and Joseph love the Lord Jesus.  As time progresses other children are also born to the carpenter and his wife.  Jesus looks like a normal child but in his 12^th year he starts to stand out from his peers.  The love of the Father God is upon Jesus and He is showing it to all around Him.

 

Love is a natural phenomenon and the Lord Jesus just has this ability and when He is around people they are naturally drawn to Him.  Mary love’s Jesus really and she adores her son and watches Him and listens to what He says.

A sad time befalls the family of Joseph and Mary their Son Jesus Christ is being crucified.  Mary’s heart is broken and she follows Him from the courts to the hill on which He is too die.

They bury Jesus and a huge stone is rolled in front of his tomb.  On their arrival that the tomb they find a young man dressed in white sitting on the right side of the tomb, ‘are you looking for Jesus?’  He asks them.  Nodding they look frightened and worried.  He tells them not to be afraid and to take heart the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead.  His alive!  They run out with fear and anxiety not sure what to make of this new.  He is a live!

The love of our Lord is so great we cannot know how difficult it must have been to watch and see His only begotten son die on a cross for mortal man.

Thank You Abba Father, in Jesus Name.

Coping right now

You don’t know how funny life is, in my own life I find the more stress I experience the better I preform.  It seems all my coping mechanisms fall into gear.  I seem to perform excellent when under a lot of stress.  The problem I find with this is my neck goes into spasm and I feel irritated most of the time.  I am really working hard not to snap but sometimes life gets to me.

In the meantime I have found that the more time I spend in God’s word the better I feel.  So now before I want to snap I turn the pages of my Bible and read.

God is in control over my life and I know it.  I believe that He inspires my thoughts, my desires and my wishes.  My one wish right now is to get a permanent job with all the perks to match.  So in the meantime I am working has best I can, paying attention and listening to instructions.  Doing it right the first time.  I am going to be the best there is in my field, I take a little longer to do something but then I do it once and its done right.

In all of this I want to thank the LORD my GOD for opening the right doors for me.  Amen

He is alive !!!

Mark 16: 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.

I think the most awesome experience for the ladies Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome was when they were going to pay their last respects to the Lord Jesus.  As I read these words I noticed that they went and bought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus’s body.  It was a natural ritual for the people of that time.  

Can you imagine going to the grave and finding the huge rock had been removed from the entrance?  I think if it was me I would have rushed in to see what had happened.  Supposedly they did rush in and to find a man sitting on the right waiting for them.  I would have jump out of my skin if I saw him.  

He looked at them probably smiled and said to them : ‘Don’t be scared, are you looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified?  Jesus has risen, he isn’t here.  Look at the place where they laid him.’

They must have looked at him, knees must have been weak and they probably almost fainted.  If it was me I would have been shocked and dismayed all in one.  They probably were very reactive I would have first reacted and then thought about the situation.  They left and didn’t speak to anybody in fear of being in trouble of some sort.  

How awesome it must be to have spoken to an Angel and the best is they didn’t realise it at the time.  God made it possible for them to see and experience him.  Wow.  Then the best news ever is that the Lord Jesus is alive, the evidence of the body not there.

My interpretation is God is good, He is alive and we have a second change. When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.

Tested faith and the rewards of being faithful

1 Peter 1: 7 The Voice (VOICE)

⁷ Suffering tests your faith which is more valuable than gold (remember that gold, although it is perishable, is tested by fire) so that if it is found genuine, you can receive praise, honor, and glory when Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, is revealed at last.

As I read 1 Peter 1 I realize that we are just traveling through this life, we are on our way towards something greater.  We are preparing ourselves for a better, brighter life in heave.  We don’t realise it but we are not going to live here on earth for ever.

Through suffering our faith is being tested and according to Peter it is more valuable than gold “(remember that gold, although it is perishable, is tested by fire)”.  Now I know when you go through trials and are facing grueling difficulties I don’t think you feel that this is a test of your faith.  As for myself I realize that each time I need to face a difficult situation it is part of my life and the testing’s I need to go through.  

When you are able to look back at your difficult times and come to realize that God has always had a good plan and purpose for your live then you can relax and sit back and see what has happened.  While you are in that circumstances you cannot seem to see past what is happening right there and now.  That I believe is normal as no one of us can always understand our situations.  I also come to realize that many people are constantly going through difficult times, they are being tested and the people around them are part of their testing.  I thought that it was only me and that poor old me, no one understands me and gets what I’m all about.  Fact is who cares, who I am?  No one really, a normal woman, with so many children and grandchildren really, just another person.

I soon realized that God is testing me and I am in the right place and at the right time.  God also knows me and what I am facing.  I want to be found genuine, and I do praise the Lord with honor and glory.

Prayer:

Abba Father, humbly I come into Your presence and I pray Lord for another day.  Thank You for the understanding and wisdom You give each one of us each day.  As I face my own trials and tribulations, help me understand and phantom that I am still Your No. 1 girl.

I love You Father God, I wish I could be a better person but just as I am in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ I declare and say YOU ARE My everything.  Amen

2 Peter 2: 1 Words to live by today ....

As I meditate on the Word of God I have come to a point in my life where I need to make a decision about what it is that I want out of this life.  You don’t know but I have been struggling with my temper and I have to really work at not being angry.

Breaking point I need to end this self-destructive attitude or it will destroy my whole life.  I sat on my bed the other evening and I just said “Lord God help me.”  The next day I read these words and have come to realise that I am at fault, I need to repent and ask the Lord God to heal my broken heart and heal my spirit.  1 Peter 2: 1 So be done with every trace of wickedness (depravity, malignity) and all deceit and insincerity (pretence, hypocrisy) and grudges (envy, jealousy) and slander and evil speaking of every kind.   I realised that I was constantly saying bad things, not considering people’s feelings and being just plain mean.  I didn’t want anything good to go their way.  I was constantly saying how bad they were and I had been totally rude to them all.

To sum it up, I have been going through a really negative stage and had been mean to everybody around me.  I soon came to the point that I realised that I am being self-destructive; with the people I love and deal with each and every day.

I made up my mind to trust the Lord and give this problem over to the Lord.  I needed to repent of my negative state of mind and accept that the Lord died on the cross for all my brokenness and that I can be nice to people and love them.  Isn’t that the command the Lord left behind.  Love your neighbour.

Be blessed as you are my blessing, thank you for your support.

Anger Management - Day 1

If you look at me and my size you probably would not even consider that I suffer with a really bad temper.  

The problem I face is before I realize it I have ‘Lost it’ completely.  People I know who enjoy upsetting me make it even more difficult to watch myself.

Of course you think ha, that’s not difficult ignore them.  The thing is they seem to detect the days when I am not at my best.  Those days I completely ‘fly off the handle’.  Then they have the cheek to get upset and feel hurt when I explode.

So I have no resorted to studying the Bible in more depth, focusing my time and energy on verse to help me cope. 

Proverbs 20: 3 ‘It is honorable to back off from a fight, but fools jump right in.’ The problem is I am not afraid and when challenged I step up and am always ready.  So no to change my thinking, take a deep breath and pick my fights; how to cope with this situation? 

Proverbs 19: 11 ‘Insightful people restrain their anger; their glory is to ignore an offense.’ I need to train myself in taking note of the situation, ignore the person baiting me and shake it off.  In this way I am able to avoid an explosion.  Proverbs 17: 14 ‘The start of a quarrel is like letting out water, so drop the dispute before it breaks out.’ The trick is to identify the baiting and to watch my thinking and only God can help me.  

Some tools I want to use in my daily walk:

1.      When a person is baiting me – back off

2.      When this person is really looking for a fight – ignore them

3.      Remind myself – they don’t have the power – I do and God will help me

This is my first part in working on my anger issues, I am still learning and it sure is making me seem so insignificant.  

Pray for me it is one of the most difficult issues I am facing right now.

Feeling down .....

Giants in my own life are aging, finding a good paying job and being able to look good and feel good about myself.  Facing the fact that I am growing older and that I cannot do the things I used to do and maintaining it, I tell you it freaks me out at time.

I look at people and I think everybody seems to be doing just fine, I doubt they go through any of the things I do.  It seems that each person has wonderful days, wonderful lives, wonderful jobs, wonderful friends and family and not to mention great very great lives.

Today is my day of moaning I feel down, I feel yucky and miserable, I feel lonely and I feel sick, my stomach isn’t right.  The pessimist in me is much stronger than ever today.

I have been praying and fasting for people in my life and today it seems I just cannot lift myself up, I think I might be tired and because of that I feel yucky.

I want to change my point of view but right now, I just cannot stay focused and I feel that I am a disappointment, I don’t do great and wonderful things.  I don’t touch any bodies life and I am just me.  So who cares? 

Sorry its little old me feeling down!