God Is With You

 

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10.

When we face the unknown, it is only natural that we have some fear.  But God promises us that He is with us to encourage us and strengthen us.  God holds on to us.  

Be brave, God is with you.

Not Guity, Forgiven

 

As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Just as a father has compassion on his children,

So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

Psalm 103:12-13

We are a guilty people.  From the day we are old enough to understand, guilt is heaped upon us.  We are guilty of being selfish for not sharing.  We are guilty of talking out of turn.  We are guilty of running when we should walk.  We are guilty of calling in sick when we are not ill.  Even if we apologize and try to make things right, in the eyes of the many people, we are still guilty.

 

And, probably the worst guilt is the guilt we heap on ourselves because of our shortcomings of which we are all too aware. 

But when we come to God, He looks at us and says, “Not guilty, forgiven.”  God forgives our sins and He forgets them.  Our sins are gone forever, because God is compassionate. 

What we cannot get from man, God freely gives us through His Son, Jesus.  When we ask Jesus to forgive us and be our Lord, Master and Savior, God washes us clean of our sin and we are forgiven. 

Say Thank You

 

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

Hebrews 13:15

One of the first things we teach children is to say “Thank-you.” Yet, as we grow up the words escape us and we take things more and more for granted.

We sometimes get on this same bent with our worship. We pray for the world, our family, more money, and our problems, but we forget to take time to thank God for all our blessings.

Take a little time and raise your hands toward heaven and thank God for His mercy, His love, and all you have been blessed with. And, even thank God for your problems because problems give us an opportunity to watch God work in surprising ways.

Praise the Lord!

Get Over It

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:25

Can you picture a world where there is no road rage, no yelling at store cashiers, and no arguing about tooth paste tube lids?  Every day we are faced with petty annoyances, and every day we pop off at people because we think it will make things better.  And, what is the result?  We are angry, they are angry, feelings are hurt, and in the end all we have done is make stuff worse. 

 

We need to get over it and stop letting petty annoyances dictate how we react. 

The fruits of the Holy Spirit seem simplistic but they are packed full of life changing, life improving characteristics.  When we have the fruits of the Spirit we are less belligerent and more in control of our actions which translates into healthier personal relationships with others.    

Seek the fruits of the Spirit.

Be Kind, Be A Nonconformist

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

Romans 12:1-2

Christians are the ultimate nonconformist. Our transformation allows us to be kind to those who are mean to us, to defend those who are unfairly attacked, to speak out when lies are told. to be merciful to those who are poor and those who least deserve it, and to show the love of God to the world in hundreds of ways. 

It is this unconventional, unexpected response by us that makes nonconformist.    

Shake things up, be kind. 

The Real Reality

 

Restore us to You, O Lord, that we may be restored….  

 

Lamentations 5:21

Reality television is full of stories of extreme makeovers.  Old dilapidated houses are restored to contemporary dwellings.  Old cars are primed, painted, rebuilt and rolling down the road looking like the day they rolled off the assembly line.  People get haircuts, shaves, waxes, weaves, hairdos, made up, dressed up or down and transformed before our eyes.  It is all done in the name of entertainment, and in the end that is what it is nothing real just Hollywood entertaining us. 

The most extreme makeover we can make is to turn our lives around by asking Jesus to be our Lord, Master and Savior.  He alone can remove the stain of sin from our lives and restore us to the spiritual beings we are designed to be.   We are new inside and out and that is not reality television that is real reality.

 

Bear With One Another

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;  one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 

Ephesians4:1-4

The Apostle Paul was often arrested and put in prison for preaching the Gospel, but this did not deter him from ministering to others which he did by writing letters.

Paul urges us to to live life worthy of the calling we received and to treat one another with respect and dignity.  He is not injecting a lot of rules for us to follow only urging that we get along with each other in a bond of peace.  

This peace is possible because we share the common faith and baptism and worship one God and Father who is over us all.