New Online Bible Study Series

Hello all! Can you believe we are already almost half way through 2017? I can't! But it is not to late to accomplish those 2017 goals. If one of your goals was to be more involved in Bible study or to boost up your prayer life, then your in luck. Watch the video below to find out more. I sincerely hope you will join us.

Who Should I Love?

With Valentines Day approaching us tomorrow I thought the timing of God showing this to me was impeccable. Since the holiday is to celebrate love, I think it is important to realize we ALL have people to love in our lives- regardless of if we are in a relationship or not. You see, we find it easy to love people who are good to us, are like us, do what we want when we want, etc. but we are commanded to love these other people as well. Who are these people you ask? Keep reading.

NOW I Get It !!!!!!

I just love when you have heard a Bible verse over and over and over again but then one day it speaks to you in a whole new way. It is almost like a huge light bulb goes off and you all but shout "I get it!!" I guess a better word is revelation! Well I had one of those last night. I was laying in bed reading Emotions by Charles Stanley, (This is on my must read list by the way) when I read this:

"....every person and trial the Lord allows into your life- including the one you're struggling with right now- presents an opportunity for Him to demonstrate His love, character, and faithfulness to you and to others through your testimony. If you hate someone because of what the Father is trying to teach you through him, then, in reality, you despise God and the purpose He has for your life."  ( "Emotions" Stanley, Charles F.: Howard Books (New York, NY: 2013) P. 196 )

WOW!!!! Did you just get that??? Perhaps you have heard this verse all of your life, "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." (Matt. 5:44)

Did you have an "ah ha" moment??? I sure did! In case you did not, let me bring another verse to your attention. "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:2-4)

Did you have the "ah ha" moment yet?? Okay, for real- one more verse- just to be sure you did! "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thess. 5:18)

ALL my life I have heard these verse and thought, "Okay, so you want me to be thankful for my enemies and in things- but WHY?"  25 3/4 years of being saved I have wondered these things!!! And there it was.........

"You give thanks Child because I have allowed it because I am growing YOU!"

We don't hate our enemies or situations or circumstances because they are there to teach us! If we hate our enemies, situations or circumstances we are hating God and His will for our life. (Lord forgive me for ever hating enemies, situations or circumstances. The last thing I wanted to do was communicate to you that I hated you or your plan for my life!)

AMEN!!!!! In this case, Praise His HOLY NAME-

Thank you God for all my enemies, failures, difficulties, trials, circumstances, situations and Lord BLESS them all!!! Thank you Lord for loving me enough to allow this person, circumstance, and/ or situation to work on my life!! I pray that I will learn what you want me to learn, stop doing what you want me to stop doing, or start doing what you want me to start doing so I do not have to keep going through this same kind of trial to figure out what you are telling me! I am ready and willing to submit to your plan God, whatever that plan may be!! It is in and through your son, Jesus Christ I pray, Amen!!!!!!

(P.S. I just feel that I should add this for clarification- nothing evil comes from God. That is not how God is: "Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." (James 1:13-14) Rather God will allow us to fall into various situations. Instead of Him keeping us from the situation He allows us to deal with it so we learn. The book of Job in the Old Testament will clarify this more- read it if you have any questions. Or you can comment below and I will get back with you. :)

Weeding out Bitterness

I am currently reading a book by Charles Stanley called "Emotions". I have often thought and even said on occasion, "Why can we not just go through life without feeling anything- that would make things so much easier"? You know what I am talking about. There are times when emotions are not so great- a friend betrays us, someone talks about us behind our backs, we are not invited with all the others out to eat, etc.So being that Charles Stanley is one of my favorite pastors, once I seen this book I HAD to have it. Boy, have I learned so much about myself!

I never thought that I had a problem with bitterness but now I think it would be easy to not recognize. Allow me to quote a portion of Dr. Stanleys book and see what you think. I think that a lot of us deal with bitterness quite frequently but we do not realize it.

"Likewise, you will be tempted to assign responsibility for the hurt you experience. You may fault others because of the way they treated you and the heartache they caused you. You may condemn yourself for poor choices, past mistakes, or because of an inherent sense of unworthiness Or you may think that God is to blame for what's happened to you and question why He has allowed such painful circumstances in your life. Regardless of whom you hold accountable for the hurt in your soul, one thing is sure- if you don't let it go, you will continue to experience bondage." ("Emotions" by Dr. Charles Stanley;Howard Books, New York, NY 2013 p. 177)

OUCH! This description of bitterness really opened my eyes. Holding on to others hurting us, beating ourselves up for making mistakes and even getting upset with God are all signs of bitterness. I know we all hear about forgiveness and we can easily say we forgive someone but if we constantly dwell on the past hurt or outright avoid the person who offended us,  that does not qualify as forgiveness. Furthermore, if we do not forgive ourselves we open the door to bitterness. We have to be careful that bitterness does not set up.

God tells us, "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." (Matthew 5:44)

"For if you forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Matthew 6:14-15

"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." Hebrews 12:15

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Ephesians 4:31-32

It is easy for us to "justify" why we just can't let that one offense go. But we must question, where would we be if God picked and chose which sins He would forgive us for? Praise God, He does not do that to us! Although we deserve nothing but hell, He sacrificed His only Son for us as sinners. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

I do not know about you but this is something that I am going to have to constantly remind myself of and ask God for help with. I thank God that Jesus did not hold bitterness or unforgiveness against all of humanity while He was being betrayed by Judas or while He was being beaten or spit upon.(Matt. 27:30) Praise His Name, He even asked God to forgive man as He hung on the cross- "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

Friend, I can not tell you if you have bitterness in your heart or not but I encourage you to ask God to search your heart and reveal to you if something is there He wants you to weed out. As for me, I am going to be working on "Weeding out Bitterness!"