Your Ancestry

Working through genealogy with one of my cousins, my family tree is full of ancestors. Some I met, some I heard of and some I had no idea were family members. One of the things I wanted to know was who were people of faith in Christ? I knew that my grandparents never took their children to church as a family. But I knew that my mother went to church at times and took younger siblings with her. In fact, she told me about gathering up the siblings and going to a tent revival near their home.

What I have found out is there is a group of ancestors who were serious about their faith. I just knew there had to be somewhere. Praying people. That’s what I was hoping to find more about.

Oh beloved, regardless of what your ancestry looks like, you have a cloud of witnesses somewhere in your life. You have a call of God on you that comes from somewhere besides yourself. The desire to pray is birthed beyond your mind. It’s birthed in the heavenlies. The desire to live for God and walk in righteousness through faith in Christ has been imparted to you from Him.

Each of us are responsible to find true faith. And each of us can say without doubt – God has come to include you in His genealogy. There is no father like the Lord. There is no brother like Jesus. There is no true faith apart from the Only Living God.

The Good News is you don’t have to live trying to make yourself better or please anyone. It’s your faith through Jesus that takes you out of darkness into Light. And once you are in the family of God – you have an amazing group of brothers and sisters to connect with. Find the ones who are living righteously and pursuing the Lord with their whole hearts. Be the one who is doing the same. Not a single thing you have encountered so far can wreck your True faith. Freedom is your call and faith is your hope!

God loves you and He is for you. He removes all prison bars and chains. He woke you up this morning to give you freedom forever. So reach out to Him, ask Him for your needs to be met and live the powerhouse life of a chosen one who is sold out for Jesus today!

Ephesians 2:19-20 Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

Ephesians 3:16 I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.

Romans 1:17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith”.

I Corinthians 4:20 For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.

Don’t Complicate The Gospel

Don’t complicate it.

The first computer we had at home didn’t do much, but it was huge. The computers we use now are quite small but they do huge things. Even our phones are basically small computers. The old computers didn’t have much need for security measures. But now we have to have pins and passwords and two step authentications. The more streamlined things are, the more complicated the use gets.

Oh beloved, not everything that’s modernized is better. While I wouldn’t want to go back to dial up internet or old computers, modern life has lost much to the ways of the world.

God speaks to our hearts and He says to return to the God of our childhood. He says to ask for the way of the ancient paths. We modern people have forsaken the old ways and yet are no better off for it. Regardless of modern times, we must have the Lord and we must have Him by His standards and measures and way.

What does the Instruction Book say? There is only One Way. There is only One Savior. There is only One life to live for Jesus. And even better for you – find God’s way; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. Who doesn’t need more rest rather than more passwords? Even in Christianity there is much teaching on the difficulty of finding God. Yet He is who finds us. He is the One who sought us, bought us, redeemed us and gave us free passage into His Word! You are most highly favored to be able to know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! Don’t complicate your walk with the Lord. It is so simple a child can understand it. That’s why it’s called the Good News and the Glad Tidings!

God loves you and He is for you. Return to the simple faith of loving God with all your heart and soul and mind. These last days will require much of you, but don’t let it complicate the Truth for you. Rise up and give God the glory as you walk about in freedom and live for the Glory of the Only One who is worthy of your life!

Jeremiah 6:16 Thus says the LORD: “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Matthew 22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

I Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

Monday Is Not To Dread

I cannot remember ever dreading a Monday as a youngster. And I never remember hearing my parents complain about Monday either. Dread is something that evidently comes with age and that’s too bad. Now at our age, both hubby and I are kind of thankful to have another Monday roll around.

Oh beloved, God brings to mind the song Leaning On The Everlasting Arms. The lyrics especially – “What have I to fear? What have I to dread? Leaning On the Everlasting Arms.”

And He speaks to our hearts. Dread is not a word for a believer. And Monday is nothing to dread. It’s another gift of God’s marvelous grace plan to give you a new week and a new day. Sure there may be hardships in the week, but He goes with us every hour of each day. Dread will give you an excuse to complain. And complaining will take away the pure joy and faith of life. You can’t pray dread. But you can pray joy. You can’t walk in dread and live in joy. But you can walk in joy and boot the dread to the curb.

Oh how God longs to give His people a reason to live beyond the rigors of earthly life! He wants His children to live from the heavenly places where they are seated in Christ! Just think, Sunday comes right before Monday. And if you can worship, and smile and sing and enjoy Sunday, then just take Sunday with you to Monday! And every day of the week. Worship the Lord in Spirit and Truth – make it your aim to live above the dread. Give God your problems and He will give you His purpose for Monday!

God loves you and He is for you. If you are dreading today, give God a shout of hallelujah and watch the dread scurry out like a varmint. And see what joy will come forth for you to live in the Light of Jesus and His restoring, joyous, hallelujah blessings for you!
Isaiah 33:2 O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in time of trouble.

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. In-deed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again.

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we live by faith, not by sight.

Isaiah 55:12 For you will go out with joy and be led in peace; The mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Ephesians 3:17 Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

Adopted And Rescued!

We enjoy watching YouTube videos and movies. One of our favorite youtubers is a guy named Rocky Kanaka. He sits with dogs in shelters. He chooses the most reticent and reclusive pups to go in and sit with them to help them come out of their “shell”, so that they will become more adoptable. Dogs who have been night dropped or surrendered by their owners for one reason or another have an especially hard time in shelters. He uses treats and positive affirmations and “the scoop” – getting a dog to sit in his lap.

It’s amazing what these small gestures can do for a dog. Sometimes I just get weepy to think what these dogs have been through. Can you imagine? How about the stray found with a zip tie around its neck? Or the one with barbed wire around its haunches? No kidding! This guy Rocky, who gets caught wiping tears on video often – can love the life back into the most unresponsive pup. There is no shame on the person who has had to take their dog to a shelter for one reason or another. These things do happen.

Oh beloved. I can’t help but think about us and the Lord. Aren’t we glad that God doesn’t treat us like some pups get treated – as disposable when inconvenient or mistreated through no fault of their own?

Whatever you’ve been through, God is full of positive affirmations for you. He doesn’t use treats but He Jesus is the greatest gift you will ever receive – salvation and more. He delivers each of us from the domain of darkness. We get to walk in full recovery from any shameful act we have done or worse – what has been done to us. We were all sinners with barbed wire around our haunches – preventing us from living and walking in freedom. We literally had a zip tie like noose around our necks – choking us off from real life.
Yet God. In His infinite mercy called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. No longer slaves to sin, we are given “the scoop” into the Kingdom of Abba Father. Washed clean and redeemed!

Whatever you are dealing with, Jesus made the way for full adoption and restoration. Give that problem to Him today and watch Him change you even more from the inside out.

God loves you and He is for you. He is not permissive, but He is incredibly merciful just for you. He says to you “worthy, lovely, beloved, holy, and chosen” this very day.

Colossians 1:13 He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son.

2 Timothy 4:18 Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.

Luke 1:74 We have been rescued from our enemies so we can serve God without fear

I Peter 2:9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

When You Get That Call…

Well, I got one of those calls yesterday that You don’t want to get . One of my most precious sisters in the Lord called me to tell me that another one of our sisters slipped off to heaven in her home. Jesus just went to her house and said let’s go home and she went without even giving it a backward glance. We are heartbroken for ourselves. We are not heartbroken for her. But oh she will be missed.

It also reminds us that time is short and life is fleeting.

Oh beloved, God is reminding us today . This is the day to say how much you love someone. This is the day to give a call and have a good laugh over the phone. This is the day to invite friends. This is the day to go on the trip. This is the day to forgive lavishly. This is the day to share the gospel.

God wants you to know that he alone knows the time of your departure to heaven. He makes no promises to keep you here beyond your date of home going. He also makes no promises to tell you ahead of time. But He does make the promise that if you live for Him, you follow His precepts and you do His will – you will have no regrets.

God loves you and He is for you. Today is your day to make sure that you are truly in Christ. Then it’s the day to make sure that you live in a way that’s pleasing to God and leaves you holding your breath for heaven, but laughing through the joy of the day. Reach out to him this morning and have a talk with Him about heaven and everything else.

Ephesians 4:32
Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Psalm 145:9
The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Matthew 18:20 – For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.