Chosen

In life we operate on a competitive basis. We compete to be recognized as the best so that we might be chosen. Chosen to be the "best". We even have a contest in our local newspaper for the "Best of South Georgia". People are asked to vote/choose the best place to buy coffee, best florist, nail salon, doctor, travel agency, etc. The results were printed in the paper. Does that mean the rest were not good? It might be interpreted that way but the newspaper tactfully advertised the results as the "best of the best".

When I read Romans 11, I might if I am not careful interpret the scripture to read that God only chooses or calls certain ones for salvation. I praise God that branches from "the wild olive tree" have been grafted in to the root of His special olive tree. I don't have to compete to be chosen. It is not about anything that I might do to be chosen.

All are chosen. Called. Not all accept. The ball is in my court.

I am chosen. I am called. I accept.

"P.S. I shared this post on Heart to Heart with Holley."

Games People Play

I bet everyone reading this has played some kind of game whether it has been a sports game, a board game, video game, cards, or shooting pool. I bet while you were playing your main objective was to win. Nobody likes to be a loser. Right? You had to know the rules of the game to win. I hope that part of your reason for playing games was to have fellowship with friends. Have you ever played a game and were so concerned with winning that you missed the fellowship of those with whom you were playing?

Think with me here a minute: working so hard to pay bills, put food on the table, clothes on their backs that you missed playing with your children. That's the way it is with God sometimes. I am so busy trying to follow the rules so I can win I don't fellowship with Him. I've got it backwards. If I will first fellowship with Him, following the rules would come naturally. DUH!

The most precious scripture - God's Perfect Game Plan
Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

In other words - I WIN!

And you know what? Knowing that, I want everybody to be on the winning team. I am out to recruit. "How beautiful are the feet of the messenger who bring good news!"  Never thought I had pretty feet but I do now!

A Few More Cards

Adoption

Adoption is special. It is special because a choice is made. A decision. A decision to make someone a part of your life.

I am a child of the promise. I am adopted.

Romans 9:8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children but it is the children of the promise who are considered to be Abraham's offspring."

It's not my lineage that makes me a child of God. It's not going to church that makes me a child of God. It's not doing all the right things, saying all the right things. It's the relationship. It is those who trust in God and what Jesus has done. It is not about following the rules. It is about never being good enough without depending on Jesus.

Praise God that He made a choice to accept me, not because of my race or nationality, but just because of who I am.

Not Guilty

I shared the other day about judging others and how dare I do that because I am not perfect either. I was reminded today as I read Romans 8 that as a child of God that I have been declared "Not guilty". It is because of Jesus that I have been offered freedom from sin and because the Holy Spirit leads me to do God's will. His thoughts are my thoughts. His words are my words. His actions are my actions. And when I do that, guess what I get? Peace! Blessed peace! It's what I want. I think it is what we all want. There is no war raging in my mind or heart. Peace.

When I allow His Holy Spirit to lead me, He can do all kinds of things in my weakness. He can even pray for me when I don't know what God wants me to pray for. Ever been there?

I am called. I am chosen. I am justified. I am NOT GUILTY.

Here's His promise: Romans 8:38 NLT
"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love."

My Hobby

Just sharing a couple of cards I have done the last few days.

Just Do Right

I worked under a principal who saw things so simple. When there was trouble and he wanted to discipline or remind the students of how to behave he would say "It's real simple. Just do right."'

So how do we know what that is? By dying to the power of the law and living in the power (spirit) of Christ. Living in the spirit frees us to serve God and not man. God has set laws before us so that we might know right from wrong. Why is it so hard to live in the spirit? I really want to do right and I can't. I want so much to be good and I really try. Paul wrote about this in Romans 7. I have to recognize it for what it is. There is a war raging in me - in my mind.

I recently finished reading Battlefield of the mind by Joyce Meyer. I strongly recommend it. It is easy reading and there are so many encouraging thoughts on how to handle this. She suggests a list of things to do to live in the mind of Christ and explains how we can do each of these.

1. Think positive thoughts
2. Be God-minded (What Would Jesus Do? my interpretation)
3. Be "God-Loves-Me" minded
4. Have an exhortative mind
5. Develop a thankful mind
6. Be Word-minded

If I want to do right I have to change my thinking. I must have the mind of Christ.

These are my thoughts after reading Romans 7.

Blessings to you today and "Just Do Right"!

Freedom

What does it mean to be free? Does freedom have any accountability?

When I think of being free, my thoughts first go to the idea of doing what I want to do without having to ask someone else if I can do it. Yet, there is accountability for my actions if it involves someone else because I may be infringing on their freedom. When I think of being free, I also think of the sacrifices that have been made for my freedom. There has been a debt paid by others for me to live this way.

What about being free from sin?

What controls my life, my thoughts, my habits? My actions are generally a result of what I am thinking. It is a constant battle of my mind. I have to be careful of my thoughts because my thoughts may become my actions. My thoughts affect my attitude and moods. They are not always pure.

Romans 6:12 Do not let sin control the way you live, do not give in to sinful desires.

My concern is when those negative thoughts "nest" in my mind and I act on them. I become a slave to those thoughts. That is when I need to change my thinking - recognize it for what it is - sin. It takes faith to go through a difficult situation or temptation. It takes faith to get to the other side. I must not give up!

What is even more scary is that I would not even realize that what I am doing is wrong, that doing wrong becomes my life style and my heart becomes hard and my ears deaf.

So what can I do to break free? Live constantly under the grace of God. Recognize and know my limitations so that I may not be tempted. Focus my thoughts on the positive.

My freedom from sin was paid with a price too.

Romans 6:22-23 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

These were my thoughts as I read Romans 6 today.

Just the Right time

Know anybody who is on time - all the time - not early - not late. That's the way God is. He is an on-time God! That really frustrates me sometimes. I kinda figure it wouldn't hurt Him to be early and of course never late. But His timing is perfect.

Romans 5:6 "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners."

Jesus has made us friends with God. Romans 5:11 "So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship wiht God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." WOW! How about that? A friend of God. Now I know for some that might seem to downgrade the relationship because we think of our relationship with God as so much more. But when you think of a true friendship it goes much deeper than being "friendly". I think I have shared earlier that a friend is someone who you can count on no matter what - they are always there. You might not see them every day or talk every day but you know they are there. That's the way God is - a friend - a friend who has laid His life down for us through Jesus. John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." 

"Friend of God" I love this song. Here is the link where you can listen on YouTube if you haven't listened lately. :-)
Friend of God

I am so glad I serve an On Time God who calls me Friend.

It's All About Faith

Faith - well, I guess we have all thrown that word around quite a bit. Like - "Come on now, you gotta have faith." What is faith? I would describe faith as trusting, believing in that which you cannot see or understand. What does it mean to trust or believe someone? Not doubting them. Believing in them. Not questioning their actions or if there is some motive to what they say or do. They are who they are. No pretending.

Hebrews 11:1 describes faith this way: "Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it." NCV

What is the strength of my faith? If it is Charlie, a family member or a dear friend, then my faith is in man and not in God and I am on shaky ground. I am reminded of Abraham and his faith. He did not question God. He accepted it as it was presented. He heard it. He believed it. How much easier that can make my life when I don't question why things happen or when they are going to happen but have faith in God for the answers knowing that they may not be here and now. Abraham waited a long time to become a father. It was a promise from God. If I had been him, I would have been wondering if it was ever going to happen. But Abraham believed God.

Our faith will influence others when we don't even know it. Standing tall in our faith during trials in our lives will make a difference in someone that we may not know is watching. Charlie had someone tell him once, "I've been watching you." Wow! We just never know. It's not what we say but how we live.

Life is certainly not always easy. There have been times when I know that I have let doubt, condemnation from others, and negative thoughts keep me from being and doing what I knew I was suppose to be doing and wondering if God knew where I was and what was going on with me. It doesn't usually take me long to realize the source of those thoughts and come against it with God's word. It is then that I am reminded to not to give up, keep believing. I pick myself up, dust myself off and keep on keeping on with God.

How about you? Got Faith?

A Priceless Gift

I know that most of us have received gifts that were special - some more so than others. I would venture to say that some of the most special gifts we received may not have actually cost anything monetarily. What was so special about those gifts? Most of mine have been gifts that involved time spent with someone. I guess one thing that makes time so precious is that we only have so many hours in a day and we take it for granted that we will have another one tomorrow.

In this day and age where all we hear on TV is how bad the economy is and how our government cannot seem to work together for the good of the people, we could easily be discouraged and give up. Our morals and standards seem to be diminishing on a daily basis. We fall short every day. We make mistakes. If I were God I think I would have given up on mankind a long time ago. But then I think of my own children and I would never give up on them. And neither does God.

Romans 3:23-24 "All have sinned and are not good enough for God's glory, and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ."

Salvation is a free gift - a priceless gift. We don't earn it. Some would believe: There has to be a "catch" to this. Nothing is free. It must not be worth much since it is free.

Salvation is a treasure. And it can be yours.

If you already have this treasure, share it with someone else. Sometimes that is hard and it doesn't always happen overnight. In order to share this priceless gift, I must stay in a close relationship with Him myself. Sharing this gift often comes through relationships you have with others and they see something special that you have and they can't quite put their finger on it and it opens the door to sharing.

I strongly believe in those relationships. I believe that you must make a friend, BE a friend, and bring a friend to Christ. I might not bring thousands to Christ but I will love them one by one into the kingdom.

God Bless You!

How dare you

I shared yesterday that I am committing time to God and I would share what He says to me. Sometimes that might not be as much fun to read or write. Last week I had read Romans 1 where we are called to righteousness which comes through our faith and a right relationship with Him. Towards the end of the chapter we read where God turned his people over to their wicked ways because they were doing all sorts of bad things and thought nothing of it. They knew the consequences of their actions but did them anyway. What was worse is that they encouraged others to do the same.

So that brings me to today - Romans 2. We judge others for their actions but what about what I am doing. I am no better. Knowing what God wants and not doing it is just as bad as not knowing and not doing. I encourage others to read or study His word but how often do I read and study. I encourage others to get out of their comfort zone but do I. I want others to be sold out to Christ but am I.

I believe it makes a difference based on my relationship with God. I know that it is way too easy to become busy in the world. I don't want to be labeled as someone who has religion but no relationship. I don't want to be "religious" and miss having the heart of Christ. I can be religious about a lot of things but more than anything I desire to know Him deeply.

Forgive me for comparing my relationship with Christ to yours. How dare ME.

Yes, but . . .

Our pastor reminded us tonight during our Ash Wednesday service that we want to serve God and we really believe that we are serving God until we are either asked by someone to serve or God speaks to us about serving and then our answer is often "Yes, but . . . ". What I will I give up during Lent? In the past I have given up various kinds of food that I enjoy - like chocolate or bread - and I am telling you I do LOVE my sweets.

I have been thinking about how much time I waste. This was brought to my attention by a couple of ladies who have decided to not "do" Facebook for the next six weeks. Wow! I was so impressed with that. It really got me to thinking.  How much unproductive time do I spend on my computer?  I get online to check my email, check FB, check a couple of blogs that I follow and before I know it I have been online for at least an hour.

So, I am not going to give up anything. I am going to give. I am going to give time to God. And what is sad is that it will probably be harder for me to do that than to give up any of my sweets.

Would love to hear what you are going to do.

I will keep you posted on what God shares with me during the time we have together. :-)