Category: Serving

Consistency

Annette Coffey1 Comment

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.“ Hebrews 13:8 NIV

Aren’t you glad we serve a consistent King? He loves us every day and he always cares. His mercies are new every morning. He promises to take care of our needs today. He tells us not to worry about tomorrow because he’s got that taken care of too. He is so good. His biggest concern is that we love. Love him and love others. To let people know he loves them no matter where they are at in their lives. When Jesus was alive on earth he was definitely one to be admired and liked. He never met anyone that he did not care about. It did not matter if they were male or female., rich or poor, black or white, Jew or Gentile. He even knew prostitutes, murderers, and thieves, but he treated everyone with love and respect. He may have put the proud and arrogant in their place but he did it out of love knowing where their lives were heading to death. He only did those things he saw his father doing so we know by seeing him we got a glimpse of God. God and Jesus both care the same. They’ve had a plan in motion from the very beginning to bring us together. There is nothing as good as family spending time together. They are always with us in this world, because this world can be a scary place. But they have made a way for us to be together forever in a perfect place where there will be no more pain. It will be perfect. We will be a family and all know each other. Everyone will be accepted and loved. Murder, hate,and wickedness will be gone. Jesus gave up his life just for us, it wasn’t easy but he saw the end from the beginning and knew it was all worth it. We are not perfect, that is not why he called us. He wanted us to be like our father and they help us to be. On our own we are just filthy rags but with his help we are jewels. He helps us be his hands and feet. Touching lives each day of people who don’t know him.

Do you know this great King?

The Mission

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“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

This is my favorite scripture. Ever since someone taught on it just after I was married. I made it mine. I lived my life with it as my motto. We have a loving, wonderful father who made us and knows everything about us. He made each of us unique, in all the world. No one is just like me. God knows the number of hairs on my head, that mix of colors in my eyes that is different with everything I wear, what makes me laugh, and why I think like I do. Before he ever designed me he had a particular mission for me to accomplish. I had devine appointments with many different people throughout my life and many events brought me this far in my journey. God always sees me as completing the mission , and he has given me everything to accomplish it. He is working everything, (the good, bad, and the ugly) for my best. If I had never had my stroke I would not be where I am with God. It is all worth it. I couldn’t be happier or more at peace than I am right now. God is using me! He always believed in me but now I know that he will work on me till the day I die. He never tires of my procrastination or my doubts. As long as I make time for him he continues to speak to me. Slowly I am hearing him. He speaks in everything I do. I just need to be alert. He has called me to write words of inspiration and encouragement to others. He will never give you a mission you can’t complete, with his help. This is my job and he is my employer and I need to be at his work. I set my time around his needs first. All else will wait. He is the most important to me. He also gives words of encouragement just for me in my life. We can learn so much when we set out to serve others. Some days I just can’t get inspired and that’s ok. When he inspires me I can’t type fast enough. I look back over my journey and see Gods loving, faithful hands. It’s exciting and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What has God called you to do?

Sowing

Annette Coffey1 Comment

“Sow righteousness for yourself, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12 NIV

When serving the Lord we need to always be sowing good seed. Letting God use us to impact others for his kingdom. We need to do things to prepare the soil of our lives also. So we can grow and bear more fruit to share with others. First of all let us look at the parable Jesus taught us about sowing. We are all soil and some of us have good soil that has been prepped and ready for planting, and it will produce a crop. Some soil is not prepped and it is hard and dry. But plants pop up quickly but can not last when the sun beats on them. Some soil grows plants but problems of life like weeds come and choke out the plants. It is important to always work at your soil making it richer by doing things that help like praying, reading your Bible, reading other books about God and devotionals. Listening to praise music, going to.church, and fellowshipping with other Christians. These all will bring God’s blessings to our lives and more fruit for us to share with others. This is God’s will for us. Look to help those who can’t help themselves. Those that are homeless, hungry, and handicapped. Orphaned and widowed. God is looking for people who want to be used to help these people. When you let him use you, even if all you can do is pray for them, he will bless you and your soil will be rich with nutrients. As you step out and meet these needs, God steps in with financial blessings that you never thought about and others lives are affected and their soil is being tilled also and they are growing. God can and will make the world go around but there are so many blessings to be had for us who do their part.

Will you start sowing?

Where You Are

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“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord you are serving.” Colossians 3:23 NIV

How do you know if you are where God wants you? It’s more how you react to where you are than really where you are. I know my brother always says there are no women in his town. “ Maybe I should move.,” he says. Well if you are following the Lord and keeping his commandments then he will bless you right where you are. If God wants you in a relationship then that person will cross your path. I do believe we can position ourselves where good people are. Like a church, a class on something you enjoy, or just getting yourself out where people are. I know myself, I never thought I would be living in a nursing home at 59. A friend of mine overcame a hard past, met God and then his past life got him in prison. It was not where he wanted to be but God still has a plan. I became a writer, yah who knew? I never liked writing as a teen. It was hard and I struggled. Now I know what to say and can’t type fast enough. The words I write are God’s words. They inspire me just as much as others. My friend always liked to encourage people and who needs more encouragement than a prisoner. I’m sure God can use him too. Last night I watched a movie about a teenage boy dying from a bad heart. He was waiting for a donor heart. His church, best friend, and girlfriend were doing everything they could to raise money and awareness of his illness. He got a heart and his body rejected it. Things were bad and his friends wished they could do something, anything because he only had two more days to live. That night there was a terrible car accident and maybe a possible heart. It proved to be a perfect match. The hard thing was that it was his girlfriend who died. God used her in death and God used her life. God only knows how we can make a difference in the world. He can and will use us wherever we are if we will let him. We don’t always necessarily decide where we are but we can always decide to let God use us. Right where we are and just how he chooses. We just need to be willing. The girl that died was in an accident. But with God there are no accidents, he knows the day and hour that you will die and he can use that to greatly affect people in your life. Both families were very close and were blessed to see this young man live even if their daughter got to go to heaven.

Won’t you give God your life to use in his way?

Producing Fruit

Annette Coffey1 Comment

“The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 3:10 NIV

Once we have accepted Christ as our savior we are just beginning. We are no longer powerless and weak. The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our hearts and will be with us always. He is there to help us and to guide us. With his help you can do anything. You should join a good church, start reading the Bible, and pray regularly. These all help us get to know the God we serve. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” We are no longer to live as we used to. We have been set free from the disease of sin. We now need to be like our Lord. There is no excuse because he lives in us to help us change. Do you want to go to heaven to see the Lord one day? This is a matter of life or death. You want to grow your relationship. Any relationship takes work. Spending time getting to know Christ and his characteristics. When you get to know him you will want to keep his commands. While you are keeping his commands you will grow character and you will see fruit in your life. Fruit is: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, and Faithfulness. If we don’t have fruit then we really aren’t changed. We’re still dead sinners. If there is no fruit then are we really saved? So many people say they are Christians but there is no fruit in there lives. Zero. But Christian means follower of Christ. Christ taught us to love and do good or show fruit. So to be a Christian you need to love and bear fruit. No fruit, no Jesus. It’s plain and simple. So do all you can to genuinely love others. Helping them in all their needs and encouraging them to be better people. This kind of fruit keeps growing in us and then in others. It never ends. Don’t be like the Pharisees. They knew the law and even made up some of their own but did not know Christ personally. They were not followers but wanted to be followed for who they were. They did not keep many of the laws themselves. They certainly did not love the less fortunate like Jesus did. He came to serve and they were too good to serve. A real servant serves not just those they like but serves those that can’t give anything in return. That’s true service.

Do you want to have fruit in your life?

How Far Will We Fall

Annette Coffey1 Comment

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place. Revelations 2:4-5 NIV

I just finished reading a great book about the church in the last days. Called ‘Salt and Light’. It showed how biblical prophecies of the last days can be interpreted and how we as Christians should stand strong and look to overcome the deceptions that will come. Satan still works to deceive even Christians. He will use anything he can to put doubt in our minds. His biggest area of attack is with our pride and our desires. So many things the world tells us we gotta have. Things are not necessarily bad but can take up so much of our time. Causing us to neglect our time with God. We really need to spend time every day with God to stay strong. If we do not take time to strengthen our spirits then we too risk being deceived. I have been there and it is a slippery slope. I never want the enemy to pull the wool over my eyes again. So many in the church are living defeated and ineffectual lives. Thinking they are just fine. The road to heaven is very narrow and few will stay strong till the end. The one thing you can use to judge where you are at is by the fruit in your life. They will know we are Christians by our love, but without plentiful fruit we are ineffective. Love, joy, peace, forbearance, goodness, kindness, and faithfulness. If these are not abundant in our lives we have cause for concern. Our church has so many different ministries for helping others. Out of our several satellite churches it takes continuous miracles to keep up with all the many needs of all the locations. We just keep stepping up the work as that day grows nearer. Each location has its own unique needs. The biggest thing we need to remember is to live at peace with all men. Don’t get dragged into conflict and turmoil if at all possible. Our reputations are more important now, more than ever. The world is where we reside but we are to be different. We are residents of Heaven first. Just passing through this world temporarily. The world says spend, spend, spend. We may be one of the richest countries and have more available to us than everyone else but we are also so far in debt that we will never see ourselves out of debt. The average household owes thousands but we live for today and worry how to pay for it tomorrow. We need wisdom so badly from God. We need to learn how to live within our means and learn how to save. Those who have learned how to give are blessed so much in their finances. It is a very good place to be.

What are you doing to stay strong?

God needs us

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As part of my special needs class at church we love to sing. We recently learned a song we sing each week.’ I need you’.By Hezekiah Walker.  It tells us how important we are to God and how much he needs us to be his hands and feet serving people around us.

While we know God is all sufficient and he doesn’t need anything. He is able to do anything himself and does. He has given us the opportunity as his children to act like him on his behalf. To serve and love those around us. We are in essence his hands and feet to a lost and hurting world.

That doesn’t mean just overseas missionary work but to everyone we come in contact with. God accepts everyone, everyone whether black, white, red, yellow, or green matters to him. For all of us are sinners no one is perfect but he loves each and everyone of us. No matter what we have done. In his eyes we are either his children or future children of his.

He wants everyone to know him!

The song goes-

I need you, you need me; we’re all apart of God’s body.

Stand with me, agree with me; we’re all apart of God’s body.

It is his will that every need be supplied, you are important to me; I need you to survive.

He wants everyone’s needs met and to do that he uses us, his imperfect children.

I pray for you, you pray for me, I love you and need you to survive .

I will not hurt you with words from my mouth, I love you and need you to survive.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”   Matthew 25: 35&36 NIV

Each person has needs we can meet. Even if it’s just a kind word and a smile. Nobody is better than anyone else. It doesn’t matter where you live, how much money you have, your religion, your color, your education or lack thereof. We ALL matter.

We need to be willing to care about the well being of others, to put our neighbor first.

Which is the second most important commandment.

What can you do for a neighbor, someone you meet when you are out running errands. Even your own family can be overlooked when you are around them often.

We live in a violent and falling world. People are getting worse all the time. All week I have been hearing about the many pipe bombs sent to high profile figures and right now they are talking about a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. So much bad is happening all around the world.

It’s time people start making the news for doing good humanitarian things to make this a better planet not worse. Even if they don’t make the news they will change the lives of others for the best.

The Cross of Christ

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This week I watched a movie that was so good. I strongly recommend Pure Flix as a provider of great faith based movies and family programming. I have seen so many good movies with a message. The one I watched this week was about how different lives are just threads in the beautiful tapestry God is designing.

You never know when our life will interact with another life that may have a divine purpose with far reaching ramifications. It showed the lives of several individuals going about their everyday lives but how they all were intermeshing to bring His will and ultimately salvation to lost and hurting lives far from him.

The main thing I took from the movie is something a man walking the streets with a large wooden cross asked to a local minister. “Do you believe in the cross of Christ?”

He said well of course, I’m a preacher. But it didn’t end there. It got him thinking and it did me to.

Growing up as a Christian in a Christian home I knew all about Christ. We went to church Sundays and Wednesdays, had Bible studies at my parents house one night a week. My parents worked with the college class so we were always getting together with them to do fun things.

I enjoyed being around my church friends. That was a big part of my life and who I was. But at other times it was business as usual. God didn’t affect much of my life. Oh I always tried to be good and knew God was important but it didn’t really change the way I lived.

As many of you know a severe stroke got my attention when I was only 45. Up till then I did what I wanted and when I wanted in regards to my life. That stroke was a wake up call from God. I almost died. Was I ready to meet God?

It was all different for me and tragedy often brings questions into our lives. What is life all about? What lies ahead? Our we ready? How have we run the race? I had to do a lot of seeking and I came up lacking greatly. I was not who I should be but God who is faithful, knows us, loves us, and gives us a do over.

The question that preacher heard hit him so hard that he asked it to his congregation.

“ Do you believe in the cross of Christ?”

Jesus, God’s son who had been with him since time began made a plan with his father. Thousands of years ago before we were ever born, although God for knew each one of us and loved us. They had to make a way for us to be together apart from sin. Yet we are all sinners, everyone.

Jesus would give up his right to be equal to God and come to earth as a helpless new born baby. He would be 100% man with all the failings we have, yet not sin, not even once. He would live a perfect life, with God’s help. Submitting to all authorities even to being hung on that cross to die as a hated criminal.

His perfect sacrifice, pure and blameless, would be just what we would need to be redeemed. By faith, only, we have been bought with a very high price. We don’t deserve it. We could never earn it. Still he did it for everyone who will believe.

How do I thank him for that gift properly? Everything I have ever done wrong in my life is washed away as if it never happened. I am far from perfect even though I try to do good. Do I really try to do his will for my life? Do I serve him and those around me?

Everyone I come in contact with is loved greatly by God. Who knows if I may divinely impact their lives, whether good or bad. Might I be the last Christian to leave an example of my fathers love in their lives. We are all the hands, feet, finances, and love of God in this world.

Do we draw others to him with our lives? He has promised to help us. To make our lives extra impactful for him. Not just an ordinary life, but one that truly matters to others. I always try to do his will. But do I pay that much attention to my every interaction with others.

I will now. It makes so much difference to those around me. I talk with difficulty, and my words may be few, but they need to be intentional. “God help me to always stay in control with my emotions by trusting that you are in control of what happens to me, good or bad.”