Tag Archives: grace

CHRISTIANS? 021815

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How can you tell if people are Christians?  There are several things:

1]   They love one another.  2]   They trust God and surrender to Him daily. 3]   They seek God’s will, and His Power, and His direction in their lives. 4]   They bear fruit –     a] Fruits of the Spirit b] Fruits of more disciples 5]   They read, study and memorize the Bible. 6]   They pray for themselves and others, they meditate on God’s Word and they listen for God. 7]   They tell what they’ve seen and heard about what God is doing in their lives and in the lives of others. (They just can’t help it.) 8]   They are ready to give a reason for the hope that is in them. 9]   They know, be, make and teach others to make, disciples (followers) of Jesus. 10] They gather themselves together regularly to worship God and encourage each other.

Might be a good idea to compare ourselves to this list periodically, to see how we’re doing.   None of us are doing all the right things all the time, but it’s God’s will that we continually grow and develop as Christians by the power and the grace of His Holy Spirit.  (Sometimes you run into someone who exhibits the love and peace of Jesus in their personal demeanor, and even though they don’t say it in so many words, you just know they have to be followers of the King.)

Two things to remember: 1] This is not a comprehensive list of things Christians do (LOL); it’s just a good place to start; and 2] What this is really all about is having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ our Lord, and being more like Him every day.

COPING WITH LIFE.021615

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Stress Burdens Sticky Notes Reminders for Stressful LifeYou know, every day with Jesus really IS sweeter than the day before; but sometimes the cares of this world just get you down.  There is too much to do and not enough time to do it all in. The bills are more than the income and lots of people standing in line waiting for their part.  You’re tired, exhausted, and you get depressed from all the toxins in your system caused by the fatigue.  There’s nothing you’d like better than to have one whole day just to sleep, and maybe another day to get organized, but all this stuff is still there demanding attention.  What do we do? Continue reading →

GOD IS GOING TO LIFT YOU UP! 011715

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“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ . . [So] Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”  James 4: 6, 10

What does it mean when it says, “Lift you up”?  I used to think it meant “Lift you up in the eyes of the world, before other people.”  Make you look good, maybe even better than other people.  I must’ve missed the whole point.  Sometime back God told me that it means “Lift you up to Me.”  Since I came to my senses, that’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted anyway; to be close to God.  To get to spend every day with God.  To get to be there when God moves; in my life and in the lives of other people; to see God touch peoples’ hearts and see them changed forever.  Wow!

So the simple version of this verse is: if I will only recognize reality;  the reality of how little I am, and how big God is; the reality of how smart God is and how stupid I am; the reality of how weak I am and how strong God is; then God will give me grace, even MORE grace than he’s already given me; and He will lift me up to Himself, starting right now; not later; not when we all get to heaven; but RIGHT NOW!

 

Undeserved Favor (Grace).011615

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James 4: 6 and 10; “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘ God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’

Somebody said that grace is “undeserved favor”.  Sometime when I was pretty young, I figured out that “undeserved favor” means this: When you’re going through your life, and you do something that is really bad, something you know you weren’t supposed to do, something your momma has lectured you about over and over, something you are really ashamed of because you knew going in that it was wrong, and that you were going to have to pay if anybody found out; and you did it anyway. (On purpose, not accidentally)  And when you got caught, you were really sorry, and you were ready to admit it, and confess it, and accept the punishment, and pay the penalty.      And even though you’re willing to pay, and prepared to pay, God says, “This is your lucky day!  You don’t have to pay.  Even though you deserve all the punishment I could give you, You Don’t Have to Pay!”

Of course I guess you can’t tell your children this, for fear they’ll run off and do a bunch of very stupid stuff, and you’ll lose all control.  Question is, “Did you ever have any real control anyway, beyond trusting God?”  And wait!  What happened to the rule that (sooner or later) we all have to take responsibility for our own actions?  We can’t run around thinking God is going to save us every time we do something stupid.  And even though God DOES forgive us for our sins, the consequences of our actions are something we have to deal with every time, because that’s the way God designed the universe, to run according to rules, just like gravity.  Well that’s not what this verse says.  It sayS if we’ll humble ourselves, God will give us MORE grace, (undeserved favor).  And throughout the Bible it says, in a hundred different ways, that if we’ll just trust Him, He’ll take care of us.  (Seems to me like through Jesus, that’s the central theme of the Bible, and it is certainly the central theme of this message.)  So even though this is against all the rules, I still believe that God is God, and He can do whatever He wants, even help us when we don’t deserve it.  The God I serve is a God who really does deliver me from evil, even when I’ve done something really stupid.  That’s grace.  I like grace.

Mercy  092114

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A Word about Mercy: In modern versions of the Bible, there are a lot of times when the word mercy in the King James Version is translated ‘love’, or ‘great love’ (or compassion) in the other versions.  And I guess mercy really is a facet of God’s love, but it is such a special facet of God’s love that it deserves some special attention.  In the dictionary, the word ‘mercy’ is defined as follows: 1 kind or compassionate treatment of an offender, adversary, prisoner, etc, in one’s power; compassion where severity is expected or deserved. 2 A disposition to be kind, forgiving, or helpful. 3 The power to show mercy or compassion: ‘to throw myself on his mercy’.  Antonyms of mercy are: harshness, severity, implacability, punishment, chastisement, vengeance.                                                            So you might say ‘mercy’ is love, or just like love,  but it has a depth of meaning that we don’t usually associate with love, certainly not what we humans usually think about when we say love.  Something about, ‘even though we’re worthless and don’t deserve anything but punishment, don’t deserve a thing except judgment and condemnation’, God says, “I don’t care.  Because I love them and I want them to love me, I’m going to be nice to them. It’s more than just regular, human love; it’s MERCY.   Psalms 100:6 (KJV) says, “For the Lord is good,  His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”  His mercy is everlasting.  To obtain mercy all you’ve got to do is accept it.  He’ll never quit giving it to you.  He likes being merciful because He loves us and He wants us to have a relationship with Him.  Right now, no matter what you’ve done; He’s standing there with His hand out, waiting for you to come and take His hand.  That’s mercy.                                             There’s a soliloquy from ‘The Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare. (Public domain). It says,  “The quality of mercy is not strain’d,                                                                                                               It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven                                                                                                  Upon the place  beneath: it is twice bless’d;                                                                                                It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:                                                                                              ‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes                                                                                                     The throned monarch better than his crown;                                                                                               His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,                                                                                           The attribute to awe and majesty,                                                                                                                 Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;                                                                                               But mercy is above this sceptred sway,                                                                                                       It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,                                                                                                           It is an attribute to God himself,                                                                                                                   And earthly power doth then show likest God’s                                                                                           When mercy seasons justice.”                                                                                                                     That’s mercy.                                                                                                                                            While we’re talking about mercy, we need to talk also about grace.  Grace is the way we act when we’re brought up right; when our mommas actually taught us, actually showed us how people are supposed to act when they act graciously; when they let you see what true manners are all about.  Not so much about which fork to use as it is about how to make people feel comfortable and at ease in your home.  Grace is a sign of how you really are down in your heart, when the Spirit of God is residing there.   Someone said that Grace is ‘unmerited favor’; God being nice to you, even though you didn’t do anything to deserve it; and mercy is God being nice to you, even when you deserve to be punished.  Grace and mercy are just two faces of the same coin, and the coin is God’s love.  Oh, you’ve heard that expression haven’t you?  God is love.  .  (and mercy  .  .  .  and grace).                                                                                                       What do you think . . .What do you do?                                                                                              1] What is mercy to you?                                                                                                                          2] What is it about mercy that makes it so special?                                                                                3] What is the definition of grace?                                                                                                            4] What is it to you?