Immanuel.

Jesus wasn't loaned to us. He was given to us forever. He is still what he called himself so many times, "The Son of Man," yet he sits on the throne with his father. They have united with their created beings. What did Jesus give up to become a man? What did God the Father give up when he gave his only son? We don't know now, but perhaps someday.

"For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this."

Isaiah 9:6,7

"All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means 'God is with us')."

Isaiah 7:14

"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

God is Always With Us.

Who is God?

Someone who is always with us.

Jesus said, "What is the price of five sparrows--two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows."  Luke 12:6

"Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."  Isaiah 41:10

"Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  Matt. 28:20

"When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."  John 14:20

 "For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you."  Hebrews 13:5

Who am I?

My daughter lives an hour and a half away from us. She came to town to do some Christmas shopping for a couple of days and had to leave this afternoon. It had started snowing and she was nervous about the drive home.

I said, "Don't worry. God will be with you." She smiled and said, "I know, Mom."

But I had to add, "That doesn't mean nothing bad will happen, but he will be with you if you crash and as you lay in the snow looking up at the stars." Then we really laughed.

I have no trouble saying that. God has never promised nothing bad will ever happen to us. Although, when you read the Psalms it does seem like David thought that. I believe God is with us every moment, but I trust him to decide what is going to happen to me. He will be with me through it all.

Looking for Love in the Right Place.

Who is God?

God created us with the drive to love and be loved. I think that is the strongest drive we have next to food and shelter. God created us that way because he is love personified, as the Bible says. He created us in his own image and therefore we love to love, we love to create, we love to enjoy life.

Who am I?

Someone who looked for love in all the wrong places. It is something we all do, I think. First, I looked at home, to my parents, brother and sister. They loved me, but not perfectly. Love felt conditional. It felt they would love me if I was good and did what they asked.

At school, I looked for love in friends. But friends betrayed me and I betrayed friends. There was no unconditional love there either.

I looked for love in boyfriends. But boyfriends would come and go, mostly go. My heart was broken a few times and I broke a few hearts.

I looked for love in my husbands. But it wasn't perfect, unconditional love. There were things about me they didn't like. There were things about them I didn't like. There was conflict, anger, divorce, threats of divorce.

I looked for love in my children and got perfect love, until they were teenagers.

I looked for love in my grandchildren and got perfect love. Then they grew up and moved on.

I looked for perfect, unconditional love when I turned 65. I looked to God and I found it. Finally.

I have been with God since I was nineteen. At first, I couldn't believe he loved me. Then I started to believe it. Then I got mad at him and almost hated him because of the suffering of myself and my family. Then I came back to him. I sort of believed he loved me. Then I had no one to turn to but him. No one at all. So, I spent lots of time with him every day and heard the sermons of Ty Gibson. Now I know he loves me. He loves me so much I'm excited and happy in his love. I love him like crazy. I can't wait to see him, to hold him, to speak with him, to touch him, to kiss him, to  walk with him.

Yep, I finally found perfect, unconditional love in God. I hope all of you, whoever you are, find it too.

Emotions and God.

Photo by Proimos

http://www.flickr.com/people/34120957@N04

Who is God?

He is someone who cares about how we are feeling each day.

"When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. "Don't cry!" he said."  Luke 7:13

"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."  Matthew 6:34

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  Phil. 4:6

Do not fret because of those who are evil

or be envious of those who do wrong;

for like the grass they will soon wither,

like green plants they will soon die away.

Trust in the Lord and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,

your vindication like the noonday sun.

Be still before the Lord

and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when people succeed in their ways,

when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

do not fret—it leads only to evil.

For those who are evil will be destroyed,

but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

A little while, and the wicked will be no more;

though you look for them, they will not be found.

But the meek will inherit the land

and enjoy peace and prosperity.

Psalm 37:1-11

Who am I?

Someone who let her feelings run amok day by day. Someone who took years to learn to give her feelings to God. Someone who now knows what a dangerous trap feelings can be.

The Mark of Cain, The Mark of the Beast, & Other Fun Stuff.

Tonight, I was decorating my house for Christmas, so naturally I started thinking about Cain's mark and the Mark of the Beast.  Ha! No, I didn't think of that until I was in bed reading. I was thinking how both marks were kind of connected. I don't know if I have heard or read about this before, but I felt compelled to write about it, so here goes.

After sin entered the world, God had told Adam and Eve how a lamb must be sacrificed. This was to point forward to the death of God himself for the human family. God's (Jesus, who is also God) blood would be shed, and as Adam laid his hand on the head of the sheep, confessing his sins, he would then kill it. It was to show the horrible result of sin and how it leads to death and how we are saved by the blood of Jesus.

Adam and Eve had many children; their first son was named Cain, the second named Abel. When it was time to sacrifice, Abel brought a lamb but Cain brought fruit. The Bible says God was not pleased with Cain's sacrifice because it was not according to God's plan. God came down to explain to Cain. "So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”  Genesis 4:5-7

The next sentence is a shocker, "Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field. While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."

One step away from the Garden of Eden and here was the first murder. And why? Why was Cain so angry? 

The apostle John wrote, "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous."  1John 3:12

"By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead."  Hebrews 11:4

So Abel had faith and obeyed God's directions in the way to worship. Cain did not have faith and worshiped God in a wrong way. Then when God tried to correct Cain, he grew so angry he killed his brother. So, like a teenager who has to come home by 11:00pm, he felt thwarted and dictated to and he wasn't going to put up with that. He rebelled against God.

Cain told God that now someone would probably kill him in revenge. God said, "Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

Okay, now to the Mark of the Beast.  "And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain."  

In the last days of earth's history, a power will come on the earth that will try to force its kind of worship on everyone possible. First this power will not allow anyone to buy food who does not obey the new laws. Eventually, they will enact the death penalty for those who refuse to worship in their way. 

"It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name."  Revelation 13:15-18  

It is going to be very easy to keep track of what people buy these days. Everyone will probably have a card in order to buy anything. No big deal in this computer age.

It used to seem incredible that in the modern age this could happen in the West. It seems less incredible now when you see the mixture of religion and politics. Christians are getting more and more involved in politics; the world has become an increasingly dangerous place; the stage is being set for this religious, persecuting power.

All through history religious institutions have persecuted and killed those who disagree with their way of worshiping God. It is going on today all over the world. It will come to a head in the last days of earth. It began with murderous Cain, it continued with religious people who murdered Jesus, and it will end with worshipers of God who will murder those who disagree with them. 

In contrast to the mark, God will set a seal in the foreheads of his people. The seal is the Holy Spirit, who lives in the hearts and minds of those who love God. 

"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."  2 Corinthians 1:22

So, Who is God?  

Someone who has warned us about what will happen at the end of the world. Jesus said, "“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time.  Matthew 24

Read all of Matthew 24, because all this was important to Jesus.

Who am I?  Someone who feels sad for the people of this world. I feel sad about those people who misrepresent God to the world. I feel sad about death, persecution and the lack of love in this world. But I feel happy about God, because he is doing all he can to reach every heart. I see it all around me and so does my husband. And I feel happy that God is my friend, my brother, my husband and my God.

Get Me Outta Here!

Who Is God?

Someone who cares about where we are in life and what we are doing.

“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’

“ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

Acts 22:17-21

We don't all get a dream of where God wants us to go, but there are other ways to find out his  will. If you are desperately unhappy with your lot in life - reach out to God. He will show you the way.

Who am I?

I just finished reading, "The Wrong Shade of Yellow," by Margaret Eleanor Leigh. I love the way she writes and I loved her story. The book begins when she has a government job she hates; she calls her workplace "The Ministry of Human Misery."  She writes, "Please get me out of here," I said to God, but God didn't seem to be listening. And then I woke in the surgical ward of Wellington Hospital." She said this wasn't what she'd had in mind, but it was effective. She never returned to her old job. Instead she traveled Europe on a bicycle.

One of my sisters said the same prayer to God. She hated living where she was; but it seemed to her she was stuck. "Get me outta here! she cried. After she prayed, she had to leave that place - there was no choice. She threw away most of her stuff, took off in her van and lived homeless. Her van had a bed already, she just bought a heater, a little stove and toilet. She said to me later, "This is the happiest I've been in my life."

Sometimes I wonder why we stay in situations that make us so unhappy. I guess the answer is fear, plain and simple fear. We fear having no money, starting out all over again at an older age, what the future will hold, etc. So many fears, so we stay in the same job, same house, same life.

God is certainly wonderful to force us to move our butts when we feel immobile. He doesn't say, "Hey, Stupid. Can't you figure this our yourself?"  Nope, he takes the bull by the horns and says, "She/He asked for my help and I'm going to give it. They may not like my methods, but in the end, they will thank me."  And he is right; we thank him. What an amazing God!

God Wants Your Attention.

Jill Clardy

Who is God?

Someone who wants to live inside you.

Jesus said, "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned."  John 15:4,5

Who am I?

Someone who knows what it is like to live without God and is glad she is now living in God.

I've started to read books by, Charles R. Swindoll. I enjoy them very much. The one I am reading now is called, "So, You Want to Be Like Christ?"  His first chapter is on having intimacy with God.

"God will never adjust His agenda to fit ours. He will not speed his pace to catch up with ours; we need to slow our pace in order to recover our walk with him. God will not scream and shout over noisy clamor; he expects us to seek quietness, where his still, small voice can be heard. "

Swindoll says to create room in our life for God; Christ-likeness is a journey not a destination, 

He writes, "Our responsibility is to pursue time away from television noise, radio chatter, endless and silly commercials and the din of mercenary traffic around us."

One time, I listened to a sermon online and the preacher said, "Ask God what he wants you to do."  So, when the program was over, I went on my balcony and asked God, "Is there anything you want me to do?"  Instantly, I heard him say in my mind, "I want you to stop watching those violent TV shows you watch with your sister."  Then, silence.  Well, it didn't take him long to find something! Lol

My sister was living with us then, she has since moved to Washington State. We were watching Walking Dead, and some other violent shows. We spent each evening watching TV in her room while my husband slept. He has to go to bed at 7am.

I thought to myself, "Well, I don't mind giving up those shows myself, but Liz will be disappointed because we have a lot of fun doing that."  But, I was thankful God had even deigned to speak to me about something he thought was important, so I said, "Okay, God."

I never missed those shows. I spent time with God instead and learned so much and had a great time with him and still do. I searched for lots of Christian sites online and found many. I signed up for newsletters and joined some blogs. I found some new preachers to listen to, which led me to a deeper understanding of God's love for me. 

My sister took it all in stride. She is a Christian too and understood. We sometimes watched some innocent shows (not that there are many).

I think I blogged about this before; you will have to excuse me as I'm 65 and don't remember everything. Anyway, I'm glad I did what God asked me to do. He was right, as usual; I am happier and don't have nightmares as much! And of course, I think the main reason he asked me to do this was to spend more quality time with him. It has been wonderful, top-quality time for me.