“Patience People”

"Don’t Stand so close to me"

Do you love music?  Especially songs during Christmas you see the stress of the holiday’s triggers sadness and depression for many people. This time of year, is especially difficult because there’s an expectation of feeling merry and generous, then there’s the foe or enemy of covid. People compare their emotions to what they assume others are experiencing or what they’re supposed to feel. Then they think that they alone fall short. They judge themselves and feel like an outsider.

Christmas carols can really deepen our appreciation and help us connect with the Christians who passed down their faith to us in song as they battle those enemy sparks. Can you count the number of times that you have thanked God for this wonderful gift? and how it can uplift and encourage when you are at your lowest. Scripture often depicts music as having a soothing and calming power. You can see an example of that in 1 Samuel 16:14-23; a distressing spirit of the Lord tormented Saul, and it was only when David played the harp that Saul found peace. 

 

A faith that is tested is a faith that can be trusted. My first experience with the song “Patience People” was at a young age while attending church with one of my mom’s sister’s. My thoughts were struck by the message of that song. The lyrics of this song were based off of James 5:7-9, 11; Be patient, therefore brothers, until the coming of the lord. See how the farmers waits for precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and late rains. 

 

Not knowing it but the music was dying hollow that day in my heart and I was wondering if God wanted me to hear something that I needed to obey. The problem was that even when I still consided myself a person of God, my worship was fruitless; a worship that had become nothing more than an irritating sound to God:  

 

“Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps, I will not listen.” (Amos 5:23) Worship means so much more than sharing a kind word for a job well done. It means actively bending your knee in submission, praise, and sacrifice to something or someone worthy of your utmost devotion.  Are you devoting yourselves to less than the best that we were created for?   

 

I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” John 8:24

 

Have you ever been convinced that without a shadow of a doubt that you have trials that have become your enemies; from your negative experiences, your hurts and maybe your addictions? Deriving hardships that most believers have faced. The challenge then is to truly learn how to consider each trial joy. Joy is often presented as “true” contentment based on faith. Happiness, in contrast, is often thought of as “false” or “superficial” emotion dependent on circumstances. 

 

Of course, there are different types of joy and happiness. There is a joy that comes from the world, such as “the fleeting pleasures of sin” spoken of in Hebrews 11:25. There is a joy that is part of the fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22. There is a temporary happiness and an eternal happiness, but we can call both “happiness. Do you ever split hairs between the meaning of joy and happiness? Sometimes we just need to decide where our joy comes from. Are we happy in the Lord, or are we content with the enemy of happiness the world affords? So, who are your enemies?

 

Pondering all of this as I read Matthew 5. I thought what enemies were there to love when I had so many. Here I am God standing knee-deep in the deepest valley of my life. Breathing my last ounce of faith, wondering how do I finish this race. You see we muster up the courage to stand but yet in the mist of things we are hit with another building of musical notes without a rest. Can you relate to being out of control, and needing that rest, thinking how can we change the narrative,” perceived back to a reality of contentment”?

 

What does our faith in Jesus Christ mean? Come to me and I will give you rest. What is that rest, “it’s the promise that still stands the promise of salvation through God’s provision—Jesus Christ”. Though we desist in our self-efforts to earn salvation and the promised eternal rest, we also “make every effort to enter that rest” by choosing to depend solely on God, to trust Him implicitly, to yield totally to the promises of God through the free grace of His salvation. Why? So “that no one will fall by following their [the Israelites’] example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11). We either trust ourselves to save ourselves, or we trust God to do that for us through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. 

 

I said to my enemy, “Don’t Stand so close to me original sin”, meaning that we cannot please God on our own. No matter how many “good deeds” we do, we still commit sin, and we still have the problem of a corrupt nature within. We must have Christ; we must be born again (John 3:3). God deals with the effects of original sin in our hearts through the process of sanctification and turn from sin and turn to him who is the forgiver of sins, take a breath/rest to the giver of new life, and the giver of the Holy Spirit. Bend your knee to Jesus and confess him as the true Lord and Savior that he really is.  Make Jesus the object of your worship as you listen to the song, “Patience People”, and you will never run out of power to worship our good God. 

 

However, almost immediately, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the voice of the Lord speaks to our heart that moment, saying “every time you hear those echoes from your enemies that offend or hurt, I will give you rest. We enter into God’s rest by first understanding our total inability to enter God’s rest on our own. Next, we enter God’s rest by our total faith in the sacrifice of Christ and complete obedience to God and His will. We are to enter God’s rest by faith in Him, faith which is a gift from Him by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

 

God Bless You and This Ministry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Are You Hungry?”

 

 

Is any negative interaction between black and white a distinctiveness of intolerance? If so, who is the victim? How can we as Christians end a one-sided opinion of race? What can you do to change the narrative? Throughout history, when people have engaged with each other, there have been negative encounters. I remember as a kid years ago, it was obvious who was a racist.  Once you’ve seen it or heard it you never forgot it. Sadly, one group shows favoritism over another by being fitted for and spend money on a white gown and don a pointy hat that greets you like a disembodied menace. You celebrated racism by getting some burlap, wrapping it around a cross, setting it ablaze and dancing around it carrying torches. 

 

Some showed their narrowness, by memorizing poems for whenever a black student showed up for admission to their high school or college. For example, "Two, four, six, eight, we don't want to integrate!" In earlier times, you didn't have to be sophisticated, but it took a bit of work, to be a racist. Today, all that has changed. To be a racist today takes little effort, because racism has become an opinion. 

 

"So how must we heal this?" First, we must understand and identify the problem, There is only one race, and that is the human race. God does not show partiality or favoritism Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9, and neither should we. Second, we mustunderstand “The Why of our Purpose” and third, “Do we want to be healed”?

 

"How should we live our lives in light of our identity in Christ?"

 

According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” I am a Christian first. 

 

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul has written that Christ’s death for sin has changed the way he regards people. Instead of looking at each person as a mere human being, he must view those who are in Christ as something entirely different. those who are “in Christ” are those who have faith in Him, credited with Christ’s righteous life, and their sin forgiven by Christ’s death in their place. Such people are new creatures. Those “in Christ” have become something they were not before. Their identity has changed from being the fallen version of themselves, to being associated with the righteousness of Christ. 

 

Isaiah 53:5, which is then quoted in 1 Peter 2:24, is a key verse on healing, but it is often misunderstood and misapplied. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” The verse (1 Peter 2:24), is talking about sin and righteousness, not sickness and disease. Therefore, being “healed” in both these verses is speaking of being forgiven and saved, not physically healed.

 

As I study the above scripture, I can't help but ask the following questions.  If Jesus can cure diseases can he cure racism? You see racism is Sin? You see the way Jesus cures is a physical cure, but is that any different from trying to claim racism is a disease in the physical sense of the word? But it doesn't mean we as Christians don't have anything to say when given an opportunity to talk about racism as we listen with the goal of understanding each other’s perspectives. 

What can you do as a Christian differently to make it better?

 

A friend recently asked me for guidance as to what the Bible says about racism, He seemed surprised when I suggested that perhaps he was asking the wrong question. Plus, the weight of this issue requires full engagement not a single “drive-by” conversation and are you ready to be exposed? When we think about things like economics and government, we don’t ask the Bible to tell us how to manage things directly. Instead, we ask and pray how the Bible may inform our vision of a just society. Most of the Bible’s instructions concerning race address things like a man’s obligations to love your neighbor as yourself.  We are not loving our neighbor at all when we boldly without reservation, when we say sin is sin, racism is sin and Jesus Christ forgives all your sin. We don't indoctrinate it we preach with our Christ voice of Forgiveness and be known as a person of prayer who has adoration for all! 

 

What we are seeing now is a function of our bondage to sin. What that means is bondage to ourselves, “we try to see who is the best in applying the Law”. What makes me happy, egocentric myself and I bondage to sin. I’m Mickie, so to speak as the commercial suggested, " I want it my way", this is our sin. That to me is certainly, part of what we are seeing played out.

 

Jesus calls the Israelite the lost sheep of the house of Israel and that is part of that bondage to sin, was then and is now our compulsion to think our identity is in the Law. To think our identity is anything other than except Jesus Christ.  Are you hungry for the old life to be gone and a new life to begin!” 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:24 Have you looked outward to say to your neighbors, "I love you" and mean it? Because, in Christ we are loved, forgiven, and secure.

 

Our new identity in Christ means we have the same relationship with God that Christ has—we are His children. God has adopted us as sons.In broad strokes, Scripture places obligations on Christians to push back against racism. The Bible promotes impartiality James 2:1, the equality of all people Genesis 1:27 and to spur Christians to action, James 4:17. Most of all, we respond to each other in love—not the feeling, but a selfless, conscious act of sacrifice, which is reflective of the agape love of the God who loved us and gave Himself for us Galatians 2:20. 

All of this is the ideal of the “Why”—the character of a mature follower of Christ. Our identity in Christ is the grace we’re given in order to grow into the spiritual maturity that truly reflects our new identity Philippians 1:6. Our lives in light of our identity in Christ are filled with a heavenly Father, a large, loving family, and the understanding that we are citizens of another kingdom and not of this earth. It is this experiencing of God’s love that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. Why does God love us? It is because of who He is: "God is love. “Are you ready to be what God wants you to be”? “A role model, To Love”!

 

God Bless You And This Ministry!

“Why Care”

 

“God is strong and can help you not to fail” Jude 24a

 

How many of you can ride a bike? Riding a bike is a lot of fun and great exercise for kids. Most of us learn with training wheels between the ages of three and eight. I hate to admit this but I didn’t learn to ride a bike until my freshman year in College. I had those grown up-fears and nerves that my peers would find out my secret. However, so in the dead of night, learned how to ride a bike. I was undaunted by those failures because I possessed the child like faith that pointed to the training wheels needed that does not question whether God will show up and aid me. You see God’s help is like training wheels. When we think something bad will happen, God will be there to help us. When we get older, we still need God. God always acts like a pair of training wheels. He’s there to hold us up when we think we’re going to fall.

 

“I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, “Proverbs 8:20

 

The above scripture says, Jesus leads in the way of righteousness--

An eager leader, “Lady Wisdom”, will take you through life. This trailblazer

 never fails. Every follower has had a successful life. How expensive is she? Free! Hear her offer (Pr 1:20-23; 9:1-5) The only cost is to trade in your foolish notions and apply a little effort to find and accept 

If you follow, you will find the way of righteousness – doing what is right in God’s sight. You will learn the paths of judgment – discerning things prudently and responding correctly and fairly.

 

Lately I’ve pressed my inner self to really examine my motivations of thinking of that causes me/us to act in a certain way and ponder out loud,” Why Care”. Discussions of spiritual and faith have always been exciting and stimulating for me but at times I wonder, Is following god a risk? Is going with the crowd, safe? How is your conformity and rewards for rebellion? You see our mixed-up world sometimes can lead, dictate us toward playing it safe, what we view, read or how to fit in. What’s the point of faith based, “Training Wheels”?

 

Obeying god can often feel risky. Do you ever think giving up what this world holds dear appears to be too much and costly? Are you hungry? Not physically hungry, but do you have a hunger for something more in life? At some point we must be willing and bold enough to proclaim the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to the world. Do you ever feel like you are locked out of life? Have you tried so many doors, only to find that what is behind them is empty and meaningless? Are you looking for an entrance into a fulfilling life? If so, Jesus is the way of salvation! Jesus declared, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture” John 10:9. 

 

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29

 

As we begin growing in faith, God often gives us training wheels. We lean into community with other Christians, we study the Bible, and we learn to pray. In time, we learn to hear God’s voice and listen for his direction. As we learn to go to God for everything, we learn to rely on following where he leads. At some point, though, he wants us to take off the training wheels and learn to use what we’ve learned.

Jesus is the way! Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” John 6:35. 
god offers one way of salvation.

Well, sometimes we forget and do you wonder why we stopped riding? Are you tired of living your life for things that only rot or rust? Do you sometimes doubt whether life has any meaning? Do you want to live after you die? If so, Jesus is the way of salvation! Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” John 11:25-26.

What is the way? What is the truth? What is the life? Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6.

The hunger that you feel is a spiritual hunger, and can only be filled by Jesus. Jesus is the only one who can lift the darkness. Jesus is the door to a satisfying life. Jesus is the friend and shepherd that you have been looking for. Jesus is the life—in this world and the next. Jesus is the way of salvation!

How can this problem be solved? I remember the day a moment God helped me with that kind of faith training wheels, more clearly than I remember learning to ride a bike. I’d just come through a very dark season in my life. One where I’d had to rely on God to illuminate each next step in my path. A season where the path forward was so shrouded in uncertainty I didn’t know where to step, except to pray and listen intently for his response. 

 

That night, before I could even form the question in my prayer, I heard God whisper, “You already know the answer.” With that my mentor/tutor invited me to join him in reading daily scripture. This invitation became a lifelong course; one I knew would require a significant investment of my time. I was torn about signing up and asked him, Why do You Care! His reply was, “I Love You and those who have faith are blessed” Galatians 3:9. Wow, that is when we turned to 2 Corinthians 5:21

 

Why Care? Jesus answered that question Himself: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” John 15:13. God will show up for you in your trials and in your triumphs, you are strengthened for the next time you face adversity because you are His and you are precious to Him. So, let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything

 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16. 

 

God Bless You And This Ministry!

 

“Smooth Jazz, like a Poem”

Wide open words, like a “Poem”. Why? Because poetry requires careful focus on individual word as well with mindful analyses of competing actions. A clue, focus on the moment, be mindful, loving authentic and honest with the question, So, what is the breath of God?

 

‘What are you doing for others?’ This question makes me think of the means by which we live today are so out distanced to the spiritual ends for which we should live.  Finding ourselves caught up in a messed-up world for a cast your vote battle, centered on a narrative of “self-love” helping to disguise hate, and that is the basis of the problem. 

 

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, Luke 6:27

 

Despite what we might feel, the political and cultural chaos that engulfs us, in my opinion, gives us an opportunity to champion the Kingdom of God in this time and in this place. Instead of ‘Through’ our particular “man talent bias speech” we’ve made of the world, a neighborhood at odds.

 

 Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: Isaiah 6:5 saw his sinfulness, and the sinfulness of his people, mainly in terms of sinful speech. Is it through our moral and spiritual genius we’ve failed to make of it a spiritual brotherhood? Is that You? Jesus said He would send the Spirit to us to be our Helper, Comforter, and Guide. Lord, I pray, “How we do need to receive the Holy Spirit”? 

 

We receive the Holy Spirit by simply receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior! The seal of salvation for all those who believe: “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”

 

Of all the gifts given to mankind by God, there is none greater than the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has many functions, roles, and activities. First, He does a work in the hearts of all people everywhere. The Spirit applies the truths of God to minds of men to convince them by fair and sufficient arguments that they are sinners. Responding to that conviction brings men to salvation. Ephesians 2:10 

Genuine salvation is entirely of God and it inevitably results in a life of good works.

You've seen them out there. They stand on the corner across from the football stadium on Saturday nights or Sunday afternoon. Almost like a guardian they plunk down on the sidewalk with their sign labeled with John 3:16, “perhaps the most famous bible verse, but also perhaps one of the least understood” yelling out to those who parade the street at night. But what are they doing there? Step forward and talk to them and you'll realize they aren't protesting anything - in fact it's the opposite. These men are just trying to tell everyone about the love of Jesus Christ. If you observe long enough the soulfully concealed chaperon indwelling Spirit will give evidence of new life by producing the fruit of the Spirit in the believer’s life Galatian 5:22-23. What is your journey of “Purpose” with the help of our Lord? 

 “A call for unity among God’s people”. This is my cry, “How will God communicate those provisions"? 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. Ephesians 4:2-3

 

The above scripture signifies a humble, forgiving attitude towards each other naturally which helps to fulfill this gift of the unity of the spirit. God never commands us to create unity among believers. He has created it by His Spirit, our duty is to recognize it and keep it. It is evident in the quick fellowship possible among Christians of different races, nationalities, languages, and economic classes. Human beings are fallible. No one gets it right 100 percent of the time. The wisest and most godly among us are still subject to human error. We set ourselves up for disappointment and often disaster when we build our lives or ministries based upon the counsel of just one person or the worldly bias media. It is good to submerge ourselves with the trusted adviser, the holy spirit. 

 

 What you will find starting to happen to you is that words or revelations coming from the Holy Spirit will “jump” at you, I use to call this my play “invisible ball”. My mature mind, today, says it’s the Holy Spirit “quickening” these words to you in order to help give you His knowledge, wisdom based on truth in-which you have been searching for action.

 

“without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.” Proverbs 15:22

 

The Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity made of God the father and his son Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is difficult enough to teach to adults, teaching about his nature and work to children is that much more difficult. Sometimes games can help illustrate a truth that hours of teaching cannot. 

 

As a former Sunday School teacher, I would play the pretend, invisible ball game. I would convince them to look into the clear blue sky and imagine; that I was holding an invisible ball in one hand and a big bag in the other hand. I would Hold out my empty hand, slightly cupped in their view. It’s beautiful? What? You have some doubt that I have an invisible ball! Well, how can I show you? I know, I’ll throw the ball into the air and catch it in the bag. As I throw the ball into the air.  I Follow it with my eyes. As the ball lands in the bag, I would snap my fingers with the bag held between my thumb and fingers. It sounds like something is falling into the bag. Did you hear it? It’s a heavy, invisible ball. Let’s do it again. After doing this several times, each time tossing the ball higher in the air, following it with my eyes until it falls into the bag. Even bouncing the ball off of a wall with so much enthusiasm and imagination. Giving the ball to one of the children to throw at me, they quickly get into the game. That’s an amazing ball, isn’t it? You can’t see it, but you know it’s there by what it does. Wow, “The Power of God-Given time and imagination”!!

 

When you accept Christ as your Savior Romans 10:9-13 the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart, bringing with Him an entirely new life of love, relationship, and service to the Lord, that’s what the Holy Spirit is like. We can’t see the Holy Spirit, yet we know what the Holy Spirit does. The Spirit causes faith to grow in us. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the Spirit gives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Even though we can’t see the Holy Spirit, we know the Holy Spirit works among us by what we see, hear and know in our hearts.

 

God Bless You And This Ministry!

 

 

  

My dialogue, “Love”?

 “I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you”. John 13:34

 So today, during this political divide can we define what is love? When Christians love political power more than people, division is created instead of unity. We refuse to see everyone as made in God’s image and divinely loved, and categorize them based upon their race, religion, and creed.  I say, tis the season to celebrate love for all. Every year when Valentine's Day comes around, most of us focus on romantic love.   But when you stop to think about it, there are many levels and types of love: We love our spouse, families, friends, pets, career or even love warm nights. 

How many of you remember a song, poems, novel or movie in which starry-eyed love becomes one of the most enduring focus that touches your heart for an illustrative life time. It is a complex mixture of emotions, behaviors that’s based on something seen. Maybe, what we can’t touch? My first thought is, it’s a willingness to trust in, to rely on and to cling to… “self-love, loving self”? whereas the world’s love is characterized by selfishness. 

 

I use to cling to the game of,” Mother may I”. I loved that simple game. The person who plays the part of the mother tells you to do something. Then you have to do it. It sounds simple? But if you don’t say, “Mother, may I?” you’re out of the game. Image giving a series of commands such as “jump up”, “sit down,” “sit down”, “scratch your blank” and shake hands with four people during this slowly at first then faster and faster. If you forget to say, “mother may I” you’re out of the game. That’s a hard game, isn’t it? We get going so fast we forget to ask, “Mother, may I?”

 

It’s was the same for me as a Christian that coexisted as a football coach. At the time, I didn’t know the formal way to express my "philia" which is friendship, and divine love which is known as "agape" to my football players. Love can be a challenge to define at the level of how a person experience it. Love can involve personal affection, sexual attraction, platonic admiration, brotherly loyalty, benevolent concern, or worshipful adoration. To accurately answer the question “what is love?” we need to go to the beginning of love. The Bible tells us that love originates in God. 

 

“Love is patient, love is kind. 

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

 

How could I to put into action, “Mother may I” and lead my team with biblical love without being viewed as a strange oddity. My decision to employ a Christian biblical life as a football coach with God’s leading at the time challenged me to be more actively engage in helping others along the way. The first day of meetings with my players, with no gimmicks or coaching quotes, I asked them simply, like the game, “Mother may I” What is my role as your Coach? 

 

Some of their response:

 

·      Coaching Games.

• Coaching Training Sessions.
• Leading the team to state.
• Leading the Team to win.
• Managing a Performance Environment to get a scholarship.

·      Leadership and attain their individual goals.

·      Inspire

 

I said to them, “all are great attributes of a Coach's responsibilities” But my role is to Love you! "It's not about me." It’s about You! Some of the kids used, “weird”,” strange”,” creepy “and even your odd coach. But the more I said it every day at the end of practice it started to sink in like, “mother may I”, To love You! I even added, what is your role? Immediately they said to love each other! 

 

I've been telling my players, coworkers, friends, people who I advised, trained, or counseled that attitude of love ever since, “my purpose of life is to serve and love you”! 

 

When Jesus talked to his disciples, he gave a simple command. Jesus said, “Love each other.” Period. You don’t have to jump up or sit down or scratch you know what or shake hands with people. All you do is love each other.

 

That sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t. In fact, sometimes that commandment is hard because some people are hard to love. And because we’re sinners, we aren’t able to love the way Jesus loves. But, when Jesus says “love,” and you ask, “Jesus may I?” Jesus will give you the power of the Holy Spirit to love just as he loves. So, this week and beyond, love others just as Jesus wants us to. And ask him to help you do it. Now I say, “as we join Jesus on his mission”. You will ask, “Mother, may I?” Yes, you may! Go in Jesus love!

 

No matter the choice, it is important to remember that "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" Philippians 1:6. Jesus said we are to love as He loved us, so how did He love? “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8. Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 

 

Remember, God receive glory when we serve? The transforming power of Jesus Christ is on display in the lives of those who have traded selfishness for selflessness. We love others based on God’s abiding love for us in Christ. In response to this love, we share it with all whom we come in contact with—our “neighbors.” Someone who is worried that he doesn’t love himself enough has the wrong focus. His concern, biblically, should be his love for God and his love for his neighbor. “Self” is something we want out of the way so that we can love outwardly as we ought. And that difference in our lives causes people to examine the life-changing nature of a relationship with Jesus Christ. It validates our faith in front of others.

 

“Love God more than anything, and love others sincerely”. Mark 12:30-31. At the judgment seat of Christ, those who are faithful to the Lord who saved them will hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” No true servant of the Lord could ask for more.

 

God Bless You and This Ministry!

 

 

“Carol Character”

  

“Let’s come to him with thanksgiving. Let’s sing songs to him” Psalm 95:2

 Let us sing to the LORD Psalm 95:2 says.  It first mentions honoring God with song and doing so in community. Singing is not the only way to give honor and worship to God, but it is a chief and important way. Also, importantly, the exhortation is let us sing – that it should be done with the community of God’s people.

 

Today I’m in a dandelion notion as a sinful child of God. There are times in my “I” searching in vain to find my being as a human, some of the compassion our creator has, believing that we are just and that our indignation is righteous. I simply refuse to forgive “self”, as I response, overlooking enough to wrong the dandelion in my life. Ah as I ponder, What is a good heart? Is it essential as a part of our Christian life? Denying yourself before seeking the good of others before looking out for yourself. 1Corinthians 10:24

When I lived in Colorado I looked forward to walking past different neighbor’s houses. One particular neighbor kept his lawn perfectly mowed, with blooming flowers and healthy, shady trees. It was obvious that the neighbor worked hard to have a beautiful lawn. But one day as I was walking past my neighbor’s house, I noticed in the middle of this beautiful lawn one enormous yellow dandelion. It looked so out of place that it surprised me. Why didn’t his neighbor pull it out? Couldn’t he see it? Of course, it’s just one dandelion. And some people think dandelions are weeds. They pull them up from their lawns and throw them away. Dandelions are everywhere. And since we get used to them, we forget how reasonably unattractive they are. Dandelions remind us that conclusion is over and start is here. 

 But this dandelion bothered me so much that I wanted to do something about it out of blind metaphoric obliviousness. Should I go back and spray it with weed killer? Perhaps if I went at night, I could remove it secretly. The dandelion was on my mind as I approached my home. Walking into my house without even glancing at my own front yard—which was covered with hundreds of yellow dandelions! Is my ignorance, an adequate excuse for sin or misdeeds?" Are we, teachable, are we ready to learn?

 

“The prudent person sees trouble ahead and hides, but the naïve continue on and suffer the consequences” Proverbs 22:3

 

If by “excuse” we mean that because of our ignorance God will overlook our wrongs, then there are no adequate excuses for wrongdoing.

God commands us to repent of our ignorance and seek Him with all our hearts Acts 17:30; Jeremiah 29:13. The opposite of spiritual ignorance is wisdom, and we are told to seek wisdom above all things Proverbs 3:13-18. Fortunately, wisdom is readily accessible; the book of Proverbs personifies wisdom as a noble lady who is calling out to all publicly: “To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, set your hearts on it” Proverbs 8:4-5. Every time the Bible commands us to “listen” or to “hear,” God is giving us a chance to trade ignorance for His wisdom.

 

 

 When Adam and Eve were first created, they did nothing that was contrary to the perfection of God Genesis 1:27-31. They were created in a perfect state and remained flawless until they gave in to temptation Genesis 3:6-7. It could be argued that, having never seen death, they were somewhat ignorant about the severity of sin’s consequences. But that did not excuse their sin.

 

I’m not sure why we are able to tell people how to fix their problems so well, while we often have difficulty seeing our own. But we need to see ourselves clearly. We must approach our Heavenly Father with teachable minds. We must be willing to learn and change. As we do so, God will lead us by the hand. God gives us so many good things. But since these good things are around us all the time, we sometimes forget about them especially during times of trial. I know I do and sometimes the toughest and most discouraging trials are when we are called to obey God’s will when the fulfillment of His promise seems so far away. This is why we need endurance. Often, we forget to thank God for things like this the food on the table, the clothes we wear and the home we live in with the weeds. We expect these things to be there-just like the dandelions-and we forget to sing songs to him. Faithfulness during the time when the promise seems unfulfilled is the measure of your obedience and spiritual maturity.

 

It’s  good to give thanks to God he is our Father, and He loves His children Romans 8:15. He does not delight in punishing us but in conforming us into the image of His Son Romans 8:29. He does not tolerate excuses, including the excuse of ignorance; rather, He gives us opportunities to learn from our consequences so that we make better choices. He knows what each of us has been given and holds us responsible for what we do with it Matthew 13:11-12; Acts 17:30. We’ve all committed sins in ignorance, but God does not leave us ignorant 1 Peter 1:14. He has given us His Word to show us how to live, and He expects us to apply it to our lives and seek holiness, “without which no one will see the Lord”. Hebrews 12:14

 

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” If ignorance does not excuse fault, then feigned ignorance is even worse.

 

God Bless You And This Ministry!