Oh How He Loves Us

Part 2.

Isaiah 53:8-12

"By oppression and judgment He was taken away. Yet who of His generation protested? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the LORD makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand. After He has suffered, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their inequities. Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressions. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."



It was by His amazing grace that He loved us so much that He went through all that pain and sorrow without even opening His mouth!!

Verse 7
"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did NOT open His mouth.."

Oh How He Loves Us

Part 1.

John 15:16
"You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit-fruit that will last-and so that whatever you ask in My name the Father will give to you."

As Long As...

As long as the wind blows,
You will have joy and hope.
As long as the birds in the trees chirp,
You will never thirst.
As long as the bees buz from flower to flower,
You will know that you have a loving Savior that watches over you ever hour.
And when the world give way,
And Jesus descends from heaven,
You will still have a Savior who loves you now and even then.


I wrote this poem in anxiousness. I needed a reminder that Jesus still loves me and that He is watching over me. Jesus loves us all the time; even when we fail Him day after day.

Isaiah 53:1-7
"Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before Him like tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering , and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him low in esteem. Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all are like sheep that have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth."

Return To Me

Luke 11:28

"Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." 

We are blessed when we are walking with the Lord. 

John 8:12

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." 

If we follow the Lord, we will never walk in darkness. 

I have been drifting from following the Lord lately. My prayer life is slacking off, my daily Bible reading is more like,"Well, I have to read my Bible again." when it should be,"What a blessing it is to be able to read God's word without fear of being killed." We take that privilege lightly sometimes. 

And I feel horrible for that. 

But we can confess that sin to the Lord and He will forgive us.

We should  NOT let that be a weapon because we should be reading our Bible everyday!!!

Our Roles as Christians

My dad sent me this and I thought it was really good. It tells us what our roles are as Christians.


2 Corinthians 5:20
"We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."


The Christian should remember that every day she/he lives, she/he has . . .
   a God to glorify,
   a soul to save,
   repentance to perform,
   a Savior to believe and imitate,
   a body to mortify through the Spirit,
   graces and virtues to nurture by earnest prayer,
   sins to weep over and forsake,
   mercies and deliverance to be thankful for,
   a Hell to avoid,
   a Paradise to gain,
   an eternity to meditate upon,
   time to redeem,
   a neighbor to edify,
   works of charity to perform,
   a world to fear, and yet to conquer,
   demons to combat,
   passions to subdue, and
   perhaps, death to suffer, and judgment to undergo!
And all these must be met and performed in the grace of Christ, and not in your own strength, which is perfect weakness. 

"Hold me up, and I shall be safe!" Psalm 119:117

Something Quite Amazing

I wanted to share something with everyone today. I have been struggling with keeping my prayer life constant, so I have been praying about it and asking God to help me somehow to keep it constant. Well, last night I went to a Christmas party with my friend, and there was a white elephant gift exchange. It was my turn to pick a present. So I picked a smaller one and opened it. Guess what was in it? A PRAYER JOURNAL!!! It was filled with things to pray about, how to pray, and when and where to pray! It was an answer to my prayers! I was so excited I hide it, that no one would steal it. God DOES answer prayers!

Obey

This morning in my devotional (which I must confess, I have not done it everyday) I learned about the importance of obedience. God mentions it tons of times in the Bible, so it must be something we need to do. 

Matthew 5:41 

"If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." 

I loved this verse when I read it.  What I got from it: I should be obedient without grumbling or complaining and that I should go the extra mile; be considerate of others and actually try to obey with joyfulness. I struggle with not obeying the first time. But, God tells me that I must honor my authorities and obey them. 

This doesn't mean that if we disobey sometimes, and grumble when have to obey, that we don't love the LORD. But we are sinful people, so of course we will disobey. But God will forgive us and we must be sincere in our confession of disobedience. 

            

If You Doubt

God Has A Plan

Ever feel like your life is being wasted? Or that there is no purpose for you? I feel like that. I feel like I have no life because my daily routine is this: Wake up, eat breakfast, do school, eat lunch, dinner time, and back to bed again. Exciting life, right? Yes, it is actually. It is because it is where God wants me to be right now. He is preparing me for the future. He has plans in store for me and for everyone. As small as this plan seems to me right now, it is great to God. 

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 

That sounds like a plan to me! 

Verse 12 goes on to say, "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."

If we call on the name of the LORD, He will listen. 

Philippians 1:5

"Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." 

We can be confident that God will carry out His amazing plan for our lives! 

Give Me Jesus

Live For God

(Romans 12:2)

We must stand strong in Jesus Christ so that we will not be shaken by this world and the sin that is in it. Lately my life has been going well. "That's good," you may think. It is good except for one thing: When my life is going pretty smooth, I tend to think that I don't need God anymore and that I can take care of myself, do whatever I want, and just live to please myself. But NO! That's where I go wrong! I ALWAYS need God, I can NOT do whatever I want because I am a sinful person, I most definitely can NOT take care of myself (I'm just a teen), and living to please myself is the worst! I must live to please God! That is why He created me, and when I get in this state of mind/being, I can tell you it is NOT pleasing God in anyway, shape or form. Once again we must NOT be conformed to the pattern of this world. The world says, "Live for yourselves! Make yourself happy! It's all about you!". That is just wrong. Life is NOT about us; it is about God and only God. Living to please God, living to glorify God, living to honor God, living to make disciples of men for God, and so much more about God! 

We must present our bodies as living sacrifices (for God) because that is why we were created.  

1 John 2:15-17

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the father is not in them. For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever." 

I will not be posting on the weekends anymore so that everyone can have a chance to catch up.

Faith

1 Corinthians 2:5

"So that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power."

We must put our faith in God, not man. Man doesn't last forever, but God does; so put your faith in something that is eternal. 

Luke 18:27

"What is impossible with man is possible with God."

Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." 

Why would we not want to put our faith in a God who knows the stars by their names? 

Mark 5:36

"..Do not fear, only believe." 

If we are to believe in something, let us believe in God! 

I Can, and I Will

Philippians 4:13

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP.

Today in school, I felt like giving up. My brain wouldn't focus, and I was so tired. But I pushed through it, even thought I didn't have much to do. We all have those times when we feel like just giving up. Giving up on life, giving up on God because He doesn't seem near at the time, giving up on a job; it could be anything. But one thing we MUST remember, 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.'

Jesus could have given up and called 10,000 angels to take Him home, but He stayed nailed to that cross for us. What an example of never giving up! 

'Good, Better, Best. 

Never let it rest

Until your good is better, 

And better, best!'

We Must Become Humble

Romans 12:1

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship."

As Christians, we must humble ourselves before the Lord. We need to put God, and others ahead of ourselves. We need to be made low, so that God can shine through us. 

Proverbs 11:2

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility come wisdom."

James 4:6

"..God opposes the proud but shows grace to the humble."

If we are proud, God will oppose us. 

Pride gets in the way of things. God hates pride, so we must be humble. If we are not humble before the Lord, and if we think we can handle things without Him, we are badly mistaken. God wants us to get down on our knees and be as low as dirt before Him. God is a jealous God, and when we take the glory away from Him, He hates that. If we are to boast about anything, let it be about God.

2 Corinthians 11:30

"If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness."

Let us boast of our weakness, and of God's strength getting us through that weakness.

Isaiah 66:2
"These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word."

Philippians 2:5-8
"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death-even death on a cross!"

Jesus humbled Himself before God, so we must humble ourselves before God. Jesus took a form of a servant, and humbled Himself to the point of death! Jesus is a great example of how we must become humble.

Resist the devil

James 4:7
"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

When the devil comes on the scene of our daily lives, he likes to mess things up. We must not give in to the lies, sins, temptations, and other evil acts.  If we resist him, and turn to God, he will flee from us.

Hebrews 2:14-15
"Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might break the power of him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."


Jesus overcame sin for us on the cross, so that now we are no longer slaves to sin. We do not have to fear death, because if we put our trust in Jesus, we have an eternal life awaiting us. Jesus broke that chain of sin and death for us.

Matthew 7:13-14
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

We, as believers of Christ Jesus, have entered the narrow road. We must never turn from it, because as nice as the wide road may seem, it leads to destruction. Always remain in Jesus. Never turn from Him.







Jesus sees our sins perfectly, but His love for us NEVER FAILS!
Even though we fail Him day after day, He still loves us beyond comprehension.

The Lord is My Light and Salvation

Psalm 27:1-14

"The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. One thing that I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at His sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord. Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you,"Seek His face!" Your face Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." 

This whole passage tells us that the Lord will fight for us, and that He is our protector.  No army, hard times, no war, and no people who forsake us can stop God from protecting us. He will keep us safe in His dwellings, and He will set us high upon a rock so that our enemies cannot harm us. Even though people will spout maliciousness at us, God will not turn from us. He will be with us every step of the way. 

 We will make it because God will carry us through life. Life is good, but life gets hard. We must remain confident in knowing that God will keep us strong and secure. Many times I have doubted the strength and protection of our Savior because my faith was weak, and I was going through a really hard time in life. But as I read in my Bible that God is our strength, and if we lean on Him, we can make it just fine. My faith was renewed through His wonderful word. 

True Joy

James 1:2-3

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

Did you notice that it says, "Trials of many kinds"? We will have trials of many kinds, but we can get through them because we know that God will give us joy. 

John 16:22

"So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy."

Nobody can take away our joy in the Lord. We will grieve now, but we can get through that grief with God's joy. 

I have felt pain, and the joy for me is that when I die, I will go where there is no more pain, no more fears, and no more tears! The joy that I have in Jesus conquers all that pain. Our pain can not even compare to that joy in the Lord!

Hebrews 12:2

"Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith, who for the joy that was set before

Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

The same joy that was set before Jesus on the cross, knowing that He would save many people from hell, is set before us. We have the same joy Jesus does!!!

Trust, Do Not Fear

Isaiah 41:10

"So do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." 

What a great promise the Lord gives us when we are fearful. He will uphold us in His righteous right hand! God commands us not to fear, but to be honest; we all have disobeyed that command many times. Fear is my biggest struggle. People say fear keeps us alive, but that's not really living. Fear keeps you from living and takes away the joy we have in Jesus. I don't want that joy taken away from me at all! And fear will do that to you if you do not trust God.

Isaiah 35:4

"Say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come with vengeance; with divine tribulation, He will come to save you."

When fear smacks us right in the face, we can always remember that our God is greater than fear and that He will come with vengeance and divine tribulation to take that fear and throw it away.
I have been struggling with my anxiety lately, and for me to know that my God will come and drive that fear out of me is amazing!!! 

Matthew 7:25

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life..."

Our lives are in God's hands, and I wouldn't want it to be any other way. 

God Is There, Really, He Is

Joshua 1:9 

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." 

=

Many times in my life I have wondered if God was really there. Was He really listening to me when I cried out to Him? This verse brought me comfort in knowing that God is here, there, and everywhere. 

Psalm 46:2-3; 11 

"Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." Sounds like a very troubled time.

"The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."  But God is right there. 

Even though is seems like God isn't there sometimes, He is. He is always watching over us, always listening to our cries and pleas, and He is guiding us through life! 

We all have those moments, hours, days, weeks, and months when we feel separated from God and His loving care. I have had plenty of them. But we have an Anchor, which cannot be moved. And that Anchor is God! 

Psalm 91:2

"I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I can trust." 

We are so blessed with a God who is always with us, and one who will never leave us, nor forsake us.

More Than Conquerors

  

Romans 8:31-39

"What, then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, then who could be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died, more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:  For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angles nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

What a great thing that is! Nothing in ALL CREATION can separate us from God! 

The Christian life isn't all rainbows and unicorns. It is actually harder than a non-believer's life. But we have something they don't have, and that is an eternal hope which awaits us. We know we have a God who cares, loves, nurtures, watches over us, and guides us along the path of righteousness. Even though life gets hard, and out of whack sometimes, we can always look above to the One who gave it to us, and remember the hope which we have in Jesus Christ our Lord. We must stand strong in the grace that is given in Christ Jesus, and we must walk in faith. Trouble and hardships will come, but God is enough. We can be more than conquerors, we can keep fighting the good fight, we can overcome our trials and tribulations through the power that rose Christ from the dead, because as Christians, GOD LIVES IN US!!!!!

What more could we ask? If we have Christ living in us, we have it all! 

Stop and take a minute to realize this: "He does not treat us as our sins deserve." 

We are treated by Him like kings and queens. Really, we are. We are living the good life. We have it all. As hard as life seems at times, we are being treated a million times better than what we deserve. We deserve hell, but Jesus took our place on the cross for us!!!!! How awesome is that? Because of God's unfailing love, we are no longer condemned to death, but now we are set free from sin because Jesus Christ took our punishment for us!! 

His Strength

Prayer, Glorifying God Through Our Sufferings, and His Amazing Grace

Luke 18:1

"Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up." 

Prayer is something that should be constant in our lives and should be taken seriously.  My prayer life always needs work. I sometimes end up in a habit of saying a prayer like,"Lord, please help me and my family, Amen." That's not something the Lord wants to hear. He wants us to pray earnestly and from our heart. He wants us to unload our burdens and worries when we pray. And DO NOT GIVE UP ON GOD! He tells us not to. 

We are only defeated when we give up on God. 

God doesn't give up on us, so why should we give up on Him?

Corrie ten Boom wrote this,

"As a camel kneels before his master to have him remove his burden, so kneel before the Master to take your burden."

Concerning our burdens, this is a great reminder of God's grace. 

Matthew 11:28-30

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." 

Another quote, but I am not sure who wrote this. (it is from my Bible study book)

"But this you must know,

This one thing you must know..

I cannot take your burdens,

Until you let them go." 

If we hold on to our burdens, God's is not going to lighten them. We must humble ourselves before the Lord, because sometimes we think we can handle the burdens and trials ourselves but no,we can't. Trust me, I've tried and it got me deeper into a mess. We must give ALL our burdens to the Lord. Great or small, give them all! 

The Old Thorn in the Flesh

Now sometimes the Lord chooses to leave us our trials, because He is preparing something great through them. He allows us to have that thorn in the flesh like Paul. Even when He allows trials, He is being glorified through our suffering. It is so hard for me to comprehend how God is glorified through my hard times and struggles, especially with anxiety. I wonder how my anxiety (which is not fully trusting in GOD and that He will deliver me from it) glorifies Him! How can distrust and fear (which is a sin) bring glory to God? 

Well, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says,

This is a promise that the Lord gives us:   "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I (disciples of Christ) will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." We can delight in all our circumstances! YAY!

Grace is Sufficient

How can we be strong when we are weak? Tuff question. I will answer it best I can. 

Well, when we are weak, God seems the strongest. So, we can be strong when we are weak because of God's grace. Like it says,"My grace is sufficient for you.." God's grace is enough. It doesn't matter how bad we feel, or how deep is our struggle. God's grace is enough, and we can be strong in our sufferings because of that. 

A quote from my pastor this morning.

"God looks at our circumstances in our life and gives us an eternal hope which cannot be taken away."

I found it very encouraging. Sometimes we feel like our circumstances in life are way bigger than God and that He can't handle them. But that's not true. He is way bigger than our circumstances and gives us a great hope.

Our Struggle Is Not Against Flesh and Blood

This is my first post. I hope you enjoy it!

Ephesians 6:10-17 

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. (11) Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take the stand against the devil’s schemes. (12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (13) Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, I/you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (14) Stand firm, then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, (15) and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. (16) In addition to this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (17) Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood….”

What does that mean exactly? Well this passage brings me comfort in knowing that my struggles do not exist. “What does she mean by that?” You may ask. I mean that my struggles are things placed in my head by the devil. Things that are not true, things that are not right, noble, just, pure, lovely, excellent, praiseworthy. They are lies. The devil tries to steal my comfort, joy, trust, hope, love, satisfaction, patience in the LORD my Savior. Many times I am knocked unconscious by those trials and lies from the devil. My mind is blurred by the enemy’s fog. I get inpatient, depressed, have no trust, and many other things. It’s not a good state to be in. But that is why I love this part of the verse. “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” It reminds me day after day that what I am struggling with has no comparison with the future glory that awaits me. God’s armor will help me fight against the forces of evil. Against the struggles I have daily. “Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled to your waist..” The truth will set you free from the lies of satan. I am very thankful for the truth so that I may believe it and not fall into the enemy’s trap of lies. “With the breastplate of righteousness in place..” I can stand strong against sin, because I have righteousness from God. “And with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” I pray for peace daily, and here it is saying that as a believer, I have God’s peace that surpasses all understanding. I can have peace knowing that God is in control of my life, not the enemy. “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” AMEN! “Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” Sometimes my faith shakes and wobbles a little. Especially when the going gets tough. But no need to worry, because faith in God is the best faith anyone can have. And it won’t be shaken, try as the devil might, it won’t be shaken. Thank the LORD for that.

“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” On my head is placed that helmet. That helmet will never fall off. It is not possible for it to, and that is something I am extremely grateful for. Without my salvation, I am nothing. And since I have that salvation, I am something. And that something is a child of the KING!  The sword, ah the sword. The living, active, and piercing sword which is the word of God. The place to find answers, comfort, the truth, and many more. It helps me to grow stronger as a child of the KING!

November 27^th, 2015.