Paul did not understand the war being waged in his heart after his dramatic experience on the road to Damascus. He wrote: “For we know the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want., I agree with the law it is good. So it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For …
IF – And It Is So!
When we said our vows so many years ago none of them included the word if. When we birthed three babies we never included in our adoration of those babies the word if. Those words have never come up in all these years of conversation. My husband is my soul mate – it’s just so. Our kids are our kids – it’s just so. Yet IF is in Scripture! Was God giving a caveat to His Word? Was He holding back? Oh beloved, God speaks volumes in a two-letter word this morning! He speaks to you! He wants to stop …
You Can Fly
When I was a little girl I thought I could fly. Seriously. I’d stand on the couch and jump and in my youthful imagination I’d sweep around the living room through the air and back to the couch. It was pretty exhilarating and gave me a sense of oh so much freedom. Eventually I quit “flying”. I got older and attributed that ability to fly to my imagination. Oh beloved, God reminds me of youthful flying this morning because He wants you to know your abilities in Christ including flying! Soaring in the Spirit is your birthright as a born …
Making History?
This time a year ago my hubby wasn’t working and we were facing two future surgeries we knew nothing about yet. He came through both of those with flying colors and today he works, both at home and in his former job. We made it. I say we because we were in it together. While ahead of time our history is a mystery, once we go through whatever we go through, we are changed. We can allow the changes to make us or break us. We can focus on what happened or we can focus on Who got us through …
Freedom from Condemnation
The Holy Spirit Frees Believers from Condemnation Imagine yourself in prison for committing some crime and awaiting the day of your execution. Your final meal has been served and soon you will be placed on the stretcher and brought into the gas chamber. But as the final strap is being buckled, a man appears and announces he has just received a letter from the governor of the state to drop the charge against you; that you’re not to die but be freed of the charge. While living in sin and condemned to die, Christ died for you and me. Now …
Thinking on Spiritual Things
There is an old saying that the mind is the devil’s playhouse. And he not only wants us to think about evil things but I believe he is the author of discouraging and negative thoughts. When God places on our mind some deed He wants us to perform, Satan will tell us we can’t do what God has told us to perform, and give us all kinds of excuses. Among those excuses might be: I’m not capable; I’m too young, or I’m too old. In Romans 7: 22-24 “I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my …
A Life of Righteousness
In the third chapter of Romans, Paul describes the lost condition of all, Jew and Gentile alike, who are outside of Jesus. Romans 3: 10-18 “none is righteous, no, not one, no one understands, no one seeks God…Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongue to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” This is a vivid description of every …
No Longer Debtors
No Longer Debtors “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6: 23 Therefore, believers are no longer slaves to sin. Now they can consider themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Though believers will continue to struggle with sin, now we have the Holy Spirit to help in this struggle. We will lose some battle, but win the war against sin. Heavenly Father, I remember the terrible struggle that I endured many years after making a public confession of my faith in Jesus as my personal …
Assurance of Salvation
After a sinner accepts Jesus as her personal Savior, Satan knows he can not reclaim that life, so he will do all within his evil, deceptive mind to hinder the Spiritual development of a new Christian. One of his schemes is to try and convince the new convert her profession was not made in sincerity, And if he can do that, he has won a real battle. Therefore, don’t listen to Satan, but listen to the Holy Spirit. This scripture should be helpful: “But if by the Spirit you put to death deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the spirit of …
Help During Weakness
The Holy Spirit helps Christians during Weakness Romans 8: 26-28 ” Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches the hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those called according to His purpose.” Have there been times in your life when all you could do …
Don’t Be Alarmed
I woke up this morning to the phone alarm and a loud truck driving by. The alarm is mine and the truck is a neighbor’s. In fact, that neighbor heading to work was a little boy who came to play with my older grandkids a few years back. Amazing how time rolls on. Waking up to alarms and roaring trucks is okay but I can think of more peaceful ways to enter into a new day. Oh beloved, what kind of alarms are you waking up to? Is your mind repeating the lies of yesterday? When you get up do …
Deep Roots
Psalm 1: 1-3: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. When you sink your roots down deep into God’s Word, you will find the fruits of the Holy Spirit, love, joy, …
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