New Creation

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

We are called to be new creations not just saved from the flames of hell. Our lives are to look different. People are watching us, what kind of example are we showing the world? We as followers of Christ are to look more like him every day. What would Jesus do? He spent a lot of time talking to his Father. He spoke only what the Father told him to. No unwholesome words should come out of our mouths. Are we showing love to everyone. Even when we don’t agree with someone we should love them and treat them with respect because they are dearly loved by the Father. As one he created on purpose with a plan for their lives. What are you spending your time doing that will bring you closer to his ways. Life needs to be lived intentionally, if one day you wish to hear, “well done good and faithful servant.” Are we finishing are race strong for the kingdom? There is so much work to do and not many who are doing it. Are we caring for widows and orphans and the marginalized that need our help. Are we encouraging others. Rejoicing with them when they are glad and mourning with them when things are tough. Are we sharing the great things of Jesus that they may never know because they really need to know how great it can be.

Seeing God

“Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” John 29:29

In the time Jesus walked on earth it was easy for those watching all he did and so many miracles to believe he was not just a man. Although many still didn’t believe because they knew his family. So he couldn’t be someone special, right? In the year 2025 we haven’t actually seen him but with eyes of faith you can see him everywhere. From the stars at night to the sunrise in the morning. His creations scream his praises. This planet keeps revolving and everything keeps working just the way God intended them to. To a new born baby that grew from nothing to something so delicate and tiny but strong enough to grow to be an adult. And yes when we see real miracles, and if you pray a lot you see them all the time. But look at the human body- The skeletal system, the nervous system, blood that clots so we don’t bleed to death. Mankind has accomplished some pretty amazing things with God’s help. God is so amazing, the more you get to know him through prayer and reading his word, the more you see. He knows everything about everyone and he still loves us so very much. Face it we are all messed up and imperfect. But he chose to make us in his image, on purpose, to fulfill the plans he has for our lives and to change the world. He has more faith in us than we do. Then to let us have free will to do it our way. That seems crazy but he makes it work. Of course Satan keeps throwing a wrench in his plans around every corner but God keeps working it his way. God has proven over and over to be so trustworthy and he never will give up. If we just ask him he will give us all the help and strength we need. Every time we screw up he forgives us when we ask and gives us a do over. Not once or twice but over and over. He also loves everyone and even those that don’t love him or even believe in him. He gives wisdom to me all the time and I can tell it wasn’t me thinking up these things because I’ll struggle with how to do something and a thought will pop into my head out of nowhere. Isn’t God awesome.

Nothing

“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:2

That pretty much says it all. Nothing but black nothingness. It doesn’t matter which came first the chicken or the egg because neither existed. Not a single cell or organism. We couldn’t have evolved from nothing. Now I have faith to believe a lot of things but not that something so technically intricate as life just happened. Scientists came up with this scenario and it’s really stretching what’s possible. Just a delicate and beautiful flower is alive. And I’ve seen amazing flowers that can even do strange things like only bloom every thousand years or something. Each animal is so specifically made for their lifestyle and for the climate they live in. Mankind can think and reason and invent amazing technology. Like micro computers. People didn’t want to believe that there was a God that would make them live a certain way so they tried to explain life without a creator. But there is a God and we have sinned against him and are worthy of death this sin is a cancer in our life and just like cancer if you don’t know you have it. That doesn’t mean you won’t die from it. You can say you are not sick all you want but you’re still sick. When my daughter had her third child she got really sick and around 2015 they found out she has EDS and Pots which is manageable when you know it and most of my family has many symptoms. I believe it came from my father and I passed it down. It explains a lot of things. Just because I didn’t know that I had this (because they only discovered it around 2015) doesn’t mean I didn’t have it. Just because you don’t believe in God doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist. You really are missing so much when you don’t know all he has done and keeps doing some amazing things in and through us. I lived my life oblivious to God and his power. I knew of him but didn’t really know him. I was 50+ when I began learning so much about him. Since 2013 I have packed my life full of all I can get of him and it is so rich with him. You know there is a valiant King coming on his mighty stallion one day and I can’t wait. But right now I just want all he has to offer right here and now, don’t you?

Faith

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1

To trust in someone or something. It takes faith just to live life because if life is just meaningless where we have no control and then we die. That sounds futile but if you don’t have faith that is what it’s like. Pretty much everything requires faith. Will that chair you’re about to sit in hold you or if you go outside will you just float away? Many people think Christian’s are just weak and gullible. But Christian’s by faith have come to believe that historically what happened thousands of years ago just proves that there is a God who went through so much to prove his love and he is trustworthy. He also has all wisdom, strength and power to do everything he says and he does. By faith we get life. Without faith it is impossible to please God but with faith we get all his promises. We get to know God intimately and learn more about him. After you spend many years watching him you realize that he won’t let you down. His ways are better and he can be trusted. You can’t pray without faith that there is a God and that he is listening. Just one prayer can move mountains and it you just believe he can do anything. It may not make complete sense but when you know that you know that you know in your heart that’s faith. It is a wonderful thing that can’t really be described but you can almost see those promises being fulfilled in your minds eye and it’s so exciting. You can feel joy, peace, comfort and strength when you put your trust in him. If he raised Christ from the dead I can’t wait to die and get to go home to be with him forever. Now that’s exciting.

God Of Comfort

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our trouble, so that we can comfort those in trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

In this world we will have troubles, we were told this by Jesus himself. He was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. People either loved him or hated him and would do anything to get rid of him. He definitely could relate. He said, “ If they hated me they will surely hate those who follow me.” He was born poor and looked down on because he was born out of wedlock. He came to show us the ways of his Father but also to understand what it meant to be human and walk among men. He saw hurting people and had compassion for them because he knew everything about what they were going through. If someone couldn’t fend for themselves or have the money to have someone take care of them they were overlooked. He came here to do the will of his Father but his Father watched all he suffered through at the hands of evil men. Their love for mankind was so great that they just wanted to make it better. That is why Jesus healed so many lives. When I had my stroke 20 years ago I thought I was no longer useful to God because I couldn’t do much after the stroke. But I began to see a new strength arise. People who were hurting could relate to someone else who was hurting and going through difficulties. God had been working in my life helping me grow towards him and learning to trust him more. The closer I grew to him the more joy I had in my life and they could see that in me and that gave me a platform to reach hurting people. Someone hurting and dealing with difficulties doesn’t want to approach someone who has it all together because they can’t understand. When someone can relate and God has been comforting them they can share that comfort with others. God began using me to encourage other Christian’s with wisdom and strength. I wrote books and this blog to encourage. Trials and tribulations are all allowed by God for a purpose whether we like them or not. God will not allow needless suffering because he is a good God and he will always be just and with us through it all and giving us the strength and wisdom to deal with them.

God’s Love

“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be kept safe.” Proverbs 29:25

Do you care more about what other people think or what God thinks? We all want people to like us and to have favor with men. But sometimes we can care so much about what others might think of us that it causes us to shy away from doing the things God wants of us. “They will think I’m crazy.” We tell ourselves when God wants us to share the gospel message. Let me tell you what God thinks about you. First off there wouldn’t be an earth if God didn’t want people to love. He made everything with you in mind and you were his crowning achievement. Made in his image. No other creation can say that not even the angels. He made the Milky Way galaxy for you and the beautiful sunrise every morning just for you. You know he wants you to get to know him personally. Oh, he knows each person by name and everything about them. Before you were ever conceived he knew everything about you, male or female, black or white, tall or short, rich or poor, he planned your life perfectly and he never makes mistakes. He knew how many hours you would be alive and what you would become. An astronaut, a ballerina, a chef. He has great plans for you. He loves you so much. Just like all parents love their children, but he is going to adopt you and give you everything he has and he owns the cattle on a thousand hills and he is also the most powerful King there ever was. Nothing you could ever do could make him love you more than he already does. Even when you mess up and aren’t perfect he loves you. If nobody existed but you he would have still had his son die for you to be reconciled to himself. What other people think doesn’t really matter much, but they do need to know how much he loves them also and if nobody tells them how will they know? He loves them just as much as you. He only had one son but he has a huge mansion and he wants a huge family all adopted just like you. Anyone can join this family by just asking him to be their King too.

Joy

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

You have two choices, to be happy or to be sad. That doesn’t sound hard to choose but you would be surprised how many people enjoy misery and suffering. When they are depressed and upset they want everyone around them to be miserable also. But when you don’t know the Lord, or choose to be your own lord, then you really don’t have control of anything and you feel like life is out of control. When you know the Lord you know who is in control and you know he loves you greatly and wants you to have a good life. Life doesn’t seem hopeless and you can enjoy the little things. From the moment you wake up until you are ready to drift off to sleep at night you see so many good things. I have been studying in Job lately and he definitely had reasons to be depressed. Life really seemed out of control for him. He lost everything in one day and nobody seemed to understand. He had spent his whole life trying to be perfect and serve God. So he didn’t understand because he didn’t know the whole story but of course God doesn’t have to tell us everything. We also have thousands of years history of his faithfulness to learn to trust him, plus his good words to assure us. God is sovereign and he has the best intentions and his purposes are just and loving all the time because he is perfect. But when you don’t know that it does seem hopeless and futile. God says so many times to rejoice because he knows how important it is. When you love God you know how much you have that you don’t deserve and you can be so very grateful. But when you don’t love God it does seem like he doesn’t care but people have to think there is a God if he doesn’t care about them. So why shouldn’t we want them to know the truth if they’re just bringing trouble to themselves. But that means accepting that they are wrong and nobody wants to admit they are wrong. Even if that could make their life better. You really have something very important to share out of great love and compassion because they weren’t raised the way you were. If they just knew all they are missing out on and all the help and love they could have.d. Shouldn’t we try to help them see.

God Our Provider

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” Matthew 6:25

When you trust God you realize that he knows more of what you need than you do. We can be concerned with so many unnecessary details. Things that one day really don’t matter at all to eternity. Food and clothing don’t really matter when you think about forever with Jesus. We are told just to love others and God more than anything. He already loves us more than anyone and has promised to take care of us and he is very faithful. It is more about relationships and integrity than about us. Sure we need to try to look nice but it is our heart that is more important. People may not care what you wear but they care how you treat them. God wants to be the one we rely on. That’s not our job. We need to work to take care of our needs and we shouldn’t be lazy. God knows. He says those who won’t work won’t eat. But he understands everyone’s reasons. Maybe you have small children to take care of or an injury that keeps you from working or other responsibilities. Our society is very good at saying you deserve it. Just go for it. You need that new gadget. You are worth it. More and more stuff. People end up hoarding because they believe the lie. Things can’t make you happy. I’ve known people with money who have everything but are miserable and lonely. People can make you happy but God is why they make you happy. In poor countries people can be so much happier with nothing if their needs are met. They are also more generous than wealthy countries. They share everything they have with all those around them. They know God provided it and they are grateful. If someone stops by it is an occasion to celebrate and invite friends and neighbors to join and fellowship with all the food they have.

Money Back Guarantee

“I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth will I make your faithfulness known through all generations.” Psalms 89:1

I play games on my iPad so I’m forced to watch many ads to play and everyone has something you just got to try. You just don’t know how much you need this till you try it. It may be awesome for them, in their life, but it may not be something I want. Not everyone wants the same things. But you can get your money back if you don’t like it. I have never known someone who tried Christianity with any effort and didn’t get hooked. I know I did but not till I went all in. I had dabbled with it growing up but didn’t spend a lot of time and was happy with the little I knew, but it didn’t change my life. Oh I knew about Jesus and believed in him, but I didn’t know him personally. Something I recently read said that if the apostles had not gone all in and hadn’t zealously shared the gospel to everyone they could there wouldn’t be a Christian church today or Christian’s. They knew of something that could change a life and had to tell everyone. They were even willing to risk their lives on it. It doesn’t cost money so you can’t give it back but people have to give up something to go all in. Someone I knew was so madly in love with Jesus and could not stop bragging about it. She was so passionate that I was intrigued. They say the best person to reach you is a friend or family member because you know when they are sincere. You know them and their life shows living proof of what they are telling you. The worst person to reach you is someone who can talk the talk but doesn’t live by example. If they have the passion, joy, strength and wisdom in their lives. But if they don’t live it out every day through the good and bad times then you probably won’t be drawn in.

Heavens Glory

“The heavens declare that glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalms 19:1

If you really think about all that is around us it is difficult to deny God’s amazing glory. Most people just don’t think about it. They just take one day at a time, struggling through. If they just pondered for a moment nature’s faithfulness. The world starts brand new every morning and it is a brand new day not like any day before. The sun comes up at the same time every morning. The weather is always different, whether it is sunny, raining, snowing and hot or cold there is something new all the time. But the plants thrive and animals have water to drink or just play in. He not only takes care of people but every organism. Tides go in and go out. Moon is full or dark. But the sun and moon do Gods bidding and sustain life. Summer turns to fall and then winter to spring. Variety so we have it all. The world has been spinning around for thousands of years. Clocks tick perfectly the same all the time. Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July. So much to enjoy. Nobody wants to go through life on their own. We all need companionship and family. God thought of everything. The best friend we could ever have is Jesus Christ, and he will never leave us or forsake us. He is daddy to his children and never minds sitting and listening to us. When you need a hug or wisdom, or the fires of life are getting close he is there. I can look back at all the mountains you have moved and miracles you have done. I know there is nothing you can’t and won’t do, if I ask. Your power is amazing but you care so much about each one of us. You even care about a sparrow and you know when it falls to the ground. They never worry about what comes next. You have it covered. One day we will breathe our last breath and you will bring your children home to your mansion to live with you forever as one big happy family.