Tag: Gods Word

Habits

“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22‬:‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In this one short and sweet proverb there is so much. I have heard this often in my life and honestly there was a time that I wondered can that really be true? I mean I have watched kids who it seemed were brought up right ( that is at least what I thought ) they were “taken to church”, bible classes, looked great outwardly, from my perspective they knew the way that they should go, and then…they departed from it!

So how can this proverb really be true? I recently read a book called Habits By: Charolette Mason that made me think a little more about the idea of training up a child. Let us consider some thoughts and think about the wording used in the scripture, as well as consider other scriptures, to help us better understand what this means.

You must TRAIN UP the child! And that is not a simple task. Though things like involvement in the church, bible classes, even discipline to a certain extent can have a great influence on your child, if these things are not done right, they can have little effect on the whole being of your child and before you know it the outside influence of the world is greater than yours and children depart from the way that you “told” them they should go.

Now why did I put quotations around that word told, I believe something important must be understood, and that is that getting our children to understand The Way is so much more than just telling them, the way, or even showing them the way, but it requires training them in the way that they should go.

I really love this analogy of habits, they are like ruts in the road, you drive that same path over and over creating ruts in the road, so after long enough you have created ruts so deep that you start to slip out of it, and it takes much more effort to go out, we usually end up falling right back in. This is as the habits we lay down in our minds and daily actions. Our thought patterns, and lifestyles are like well worn paths as we get older that we naturally just travel on.

“The constant direction of the thoughts produces a certain set in the tissues of the brain, this set is the first trace of the rut or path, a line of least resistance, along which the same impression, made another time, will find it easier to travel than to take another path. So arises a right-of way for any given habit or thought” -Habits page 21

Now this can be good or bad obviously, this book was very eye opening to me to see within myself many habits, that I unknowingly have been just in the rut of the path that I have been going on most my of my life, it’s clear to me that I need to repave some roads, and create some new ruts with persistence. This won’t be an easy task but I know it will be worth it not only for myself but for my children. And it starts within…

Before the outward work I must do the inward work, or it would be in vain! And what a shame it would be to put all of the effort into something like good habits just for the sake of how others will perceive me. Train a child up in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. This fails us when it is done in vain.

“But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭23‬:‭5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭23‬:‭28‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The Pharisees and scribes whom Jesus was speaking to in the verses above, received some of the harshest words from Jesus and rightfully so they had it all backwards they were outward focused, and hypocritical. We must start this habit training with genuine consideration of ourselves and our motives, to take care as we train up our children, with a love for the Lord and the truth, and a prayerful attitude.

“Mothers thoughts show on her children like painters in their paintings.” -Habits page 19

Our children observe so much of us, you know this quote from the book really got me thinking, I try my best outwardly to be the best example to my children but I do forget inwardly I also must be that example, now I know they dont know all of my innermost thoughts, but some of them I’m sure unknowingly come out on to my children. After all we do read these verses and they are sobering reminders to keep our thoughts clean and pure.

“And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭7‬:‭20‬-‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭27‬:‭19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Understanding our thoughts as habits is so important we can be habitual negative thinkers, doubters, or judgmental, to the point where we don’t even realize that we are thinking this way, and so many thoughts just naturally transform into our actions. Which is why it is important to be intentional, in considering our thoughts.

“A mothers duty, is to cultivate good habits within herself, with great tact, watchfulness, and persistence.” -Habits

I often find myself in a never ending cycle, of picking up a new habit, it working great for a few weeks and then a slight change in our schedule and we are back at square one as if we had never implemented anything new. This is where I found it important to consider persistence. Persistence is key!! Well worn paths don’t happen overnight, or over a week, maybe in a month they may start to become a little more obvious but definitely not the deep rut that we are talking about, those take years to create.

So what must I do when the changes hit, the lulls, or the times where I want to give myself or my children a break? It is in these times that it is of the utmost importance that I consider, my goals, those good habits that I am trying to form within myself and my children, the making of these well worn paths that will set us up for success in life. For example when running a marathon, and you start to get worn out with the run, you don’t keep yourself going by thinking of how difficult it is to run, or how bad your body hurts, most people who think that way would probably not finish the run, but you keep yourself going by thinking of your goals. Your immediate goal might be to complete the race, but you may also have some long term goals that you are also thinking of as you are trying to keep yourself going, like becoming a stronger athlete, or whatever it may be. We should apply this to our mentality of habit building understanding that we must be persistent and especially watchful of our behaviors and thought patterns.

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us

exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (Goals)

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” (Consequences)
‭‭II Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭9‬ ‭NKJV‬

I boldened some spots in the verse above not because those are the only important parts, the whole verse itself is one of my favorites, but to show that is is important to remember the great promises that are told to us just as we would goals in running a race there are spiritual goals that are the promises we are given when overcoming this world! They are great to remind ourselves of when things in life feels too difficult. Then as the verse goes on, we read some qualities that follow an add to, so it begins with faith and then we add to it. As you read the verse above we see where perseverance comes in, because God knows us so well, that He (through this letter written by Peter) reminds us that there will be difficult times in your life that you must persevere through. As you persevere and continue on in adding to your faith the other qualities that we find in the verse above we begin to form this path in ourselves and in our children that becomes automatic to who we are through our habits. Which is the training that we should want not only for our children but also ourselves. Because as we also read above when we lack those qualities we become short sighted, even to blindness.

Being short sighted or blind would make life very difficult, as a parent. This is obviously spiritually, so think about that for a second, short sightedness is being unable to see things clearly unless they are relatively close, or in lacking foresight. Foresight as a parent helps you to make decisions that provide a better outcome for your future, and that goes for children as well, but children don’t often have this ability which is why they need parents to TRAIN them.

“A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, But the simple pass on and are punished.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22‬:‭3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Which brings this post full circle…

“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22‬:‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

My ultimate goal as a mother is teach my children to be obedient to the gospel of Christ. How do I teach them this if I am not living the example myself?

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.”
‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭12‬:‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

What kind of habits are you training your children in? What kind of habits do you have? are they bettering your family or are they hurting your family?

I know for myself, there are many habits that I need to remove, some improve, and some that I need to bring in altogether. I highly recommend this book for reading yourself in it there is a list of habits in the back, that are helpful to consider for bettering your life. But more importantly I would recommend having a healthy understanding of Gods word the Bible and starting there if there is anything I can help with please do comment. We are living in a world that is lacking truth in so many ways!

Thanks for reading!

Habits: The Mother’s Secret to Success (Charlotte Mason Topics) https://a.co/d/4cpeybU

The CURE.

I know right now there is so much information about the corona virus, or COVID 19, this is not an informative post about that. But seeing as we as humanity, are facing this epidemic together, I think about how we can overcome something that each one of us whether infected or not is dealing with in some way or another and that is stress, anxiety, worry, and fears and at the end of this post my goal is for this to encourage, to offer hope, light, truth, something to trust in, something to grasp on to, but also a reminder of the seriousness of our souls.

Things have been changing and they have been changing SO FAST! For many of us too fast for our liking….

With everyone of us, dealing with this differently, in our own way, each one of our lives have been impacted in some way or another, 

So if you are reading this, I understand compared to some people, my life has really not been impacted much by this… our home life hasn’t faced too much change, because I’m a stay at home mom, homeschool to a certain degree, 1 kid in public school, and for the last 11 years every 2 weeks our routine gets changed up… but that is a routine in itself at this point.

Now I won’t say I have it all figured out by any means, because I would be lying if I didn’t say this hasn’t shaken me a little bit, I have read news articles, I have heard of the deaths, seen the numbers, the closures, and the stores, it all feels kind of eerie at times… watching life shut down so quickly. Feels crazy. 

I couldn’t imagine being a person who has lost a loved one over this time, in my life I have never lost someone so close to me yet, I have never felt full blown grief before, so to think that we could face that in a time like this, feels kind of scary, the uncertainty of it all…

So what do we do with this feeling, these fears? 

One winter a few years back I was driving home in a snow storm it was dark outside, white our conditions, pretty much all I could see was the road directly in front of me, if I stopped moving I would not make it home, but moving forward was so scary because I could not see far ahead…I traveled this road many times before, but in white our conditions it doesn’t matter, the road is still scary you don’t know where your going….all you can do is DRIVE SLOW…

I feel like that is life right now, we can’t see far ahead, but we also can’t stop moving forward! 

Driving slowly, being cautious, understanding the conditions of this life are not always going to be certain, they feel pretty stormy right about now. But humanity is doing it together, and you know there are some sure things that we can grasp on to in times like this.

Our steering wheels still work, but we can choose whether or not to grab them, we choose to push on the gas peddle, and we choose the speed we still want to go. 

God is our refuge! 

We have One God who can help us get through this storm.  I have noticed that who you follow has a lot of affect on how you will handle this storm, 

One little comment of panic, really can escalate my fears,

But one re assurance of hope, light, and truth,

Reminds me of my faith.

I have tried to limit my exposure to the panic at this time just as much as I limit my exposure, to germs.

You know this also got me thinking though, we can see that this virus is clearly doing something but the scariest thing about it, is that you don’t know where it is, all you can see are it’s effects, the lives it touches.

We’re making big changes in account of this virus, out of fear for our lives or the lives of the ones we love, and humanity.

We are desperately waiting for the antidote, the cure… an ease to our worries, but what if it is already out there.  God is our antidote even though we can’t see Him doesn’t mean we can’t be saved through Him.  I tell you, stop thinking about the fact that you can’t see Him, learn a lesson from this virus, we have learned that it has effected  people, and we are willing to make changes on account of that… 

God also has done the same, but so much more, we will read all the news articles about the corona virus, but will we read the Good news of the gospel, you can even do your research and find out that those events actually happened, you can find out that Jesus really came to this earth, you can find out that he died, but he rose again, so that those who rest assured in His truth, have nothing to fear not even death, not even a virus (now this is not saying we should not be cautious)! And if that is not enough there is story after story offering hope to Gods people, the people who make the choice, that is the key! To follow Him! 

But we the people, struggle to believe, struggle to surrender, we are so quick to hand ourselves over to “other gods” 

Other comforts in times of trouble, we have no faith…we are afraid but we will not surrender because we can be so stubborn

We might say or think things like this.

My family and friends aren’t doing it neither will I…

They always did things this way…So I’m going to follow in their footsteps, and trust what they trust do, or what they did…

I just don’t get how a God so loving can allow sickness in the world I just don’t believe in it…

Well okay, 

But you will makes changes for your life on account of a virus that you can not see, but what happens if it infects you, 

What happens if you are faced with death, I don’t want to make this a negative blog post but I want it to be real, 

We have confidence in the preserved Word of God! 

We can have confidence in His power! Especially His saving power!!

And because of that confidence we can make changes in our life,  which especially in times like this allow God into our lives to give us strength to overcome the panic and the fears….

So I’m going to give you some scriptures to read to offer hope, encouragement, and most importantly TRUTH during these troubling times, my friends God is in control, as always I pray that you would desire the truth, yes these times can be troubling, but Gods promises are so much greater than the troubles of this life.  If you don’t seek them in times of trouble I pray that you would. And I’m here if you need anything please let me know! 

❤️ 

First things first let’s remember the words of this verse, in order to keep your mind strong, this is how you grasp on during a storm….

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” Philippians 4:8 NKJV

Gods word, His lovingkindness, His Mercy, Grace, and the eternal Salvation that was given to us through Jesus Christ!  

It is pure, 

it is lovely,

But if you were to imagine death in the absolute worse possible way, (Jesus’s death on the cross) 

We today are sitting in our homes because of a virus that is killing people, I know we are calling our nurses and doctors hero’s because they are risking their own lives for the sake of saving the sick….

Think on a larger scale here, not to downplay their heroism by any means but let’s not forget who the real hero is here, the one who actually took on the most gruesome death for saving our souls, for giving us freedom and don’t for a second doubt that he felt every last bit of that pain, suffering, and burden for you,

We are told that he was so stressed he was actually sweating blood… 

Jesus

saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke 22:42-44 NKJV

His heroism is to be glorified most of all

Because he took this on willingly, but not without pain, suffering, agony, sorrow, hunger, he felt every one of our deepest fears to the core, he understands what we’re going through right now as we face some of these fears ourselves in life,

He may have died, but he died to prove something to us, eternal life, death, is just a crossing over to a far better place, a place without fears, pain, sorrow…. 

if you are not confident in this please make every effort you can to gain that, it is attainable, but it takes Your effort! It’s not something you wish upon yourself it’s something learned through, study, prayer, faith trust, 

And obedience to the Word of God,

Please ask yourself honestly this question: 

where do I run to find comfort when things feel uneasy? 

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.” Luke 21:34 NKJV

These things are DISTRACTIONS from,

Knowing Him,

And letting Him know you,

Let Him into your fears, 

Surrender your struggles turn away from any vice that replaces God, 

Because we are in some troubling times now, but they could be a lot worse,

There is still time to find hope to cling on to, 

There are still means to be saved eternally, 

It’s not a forced decision, it’s a choice. 

But if you never choose it, you never receive it… if you don’t care to know about Him, 

He will never know you.  

“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7:22-27 NKJV

Don’t fall because you decided to never hear the Word of God. And you never let God hear you….

“Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah”. Psalms 61:1-4 NKJV

And for one last read I won’t post it on here because it is lengthy, but the power lies in GODS WORD and in your willingness to learn and know this for yourself and act upon it>>> not just read across a verse here or there but you open it up yourself and read it for yourself, Romans chapter 8, all of my verses have come from the New King James BIBLE (NKJV)

Please reach out if you need encouragement or help durning these challenging times I would absolutely love to help if I can, but more than me reach out to God because He is so Good! 

🙏❤️

Beverly

Living Hope

From time to time I may share on here thoughts from my husband, but before I do I want to share little bit about him. Joe is his name, we have been married for 11 years this coming March, it has been a blessing to grow with him. We have learned so much together getting us to this point in our lives.

Our marriage is something I really cherish, having someone beside you to love and support, and share good times and bad with is truly what I believe God designed marriage to be for (helpers) Genesis 2:18. Someone, who, not only is there for the love that we all long to have in our lives, but also someone, who knows you, who is committed to you, and who wants to help you grow to be the best that you can be.

Who is honest with you about your flaws, but gives you grace, forgiveness and support when you do make mistakes.

Who is patient that you are growing, and understands that they are growing to.

Someone who can help you by praying for you. Seeing how they can better themselves and motivates you also to do better.

That is this man for me. My husband ❤️😍

Im very blessed, but I don’t say this to boast because I believe we all have something special, God really has blessed us all, I don’t believe the Bible would be so universal if I didn’t really believe in that.

It is so important that we dont get focused on others, but we look to our lives and what God has given us and work with that, because each of us has something that is very special, whether it is something about you, your spouse, your family, friends, life….anything… we can not focus on what we dont have but rather what we do.

so as I count my blessings I’m very thankful for my husband, who I can as his wife honestly say that, he doesn’t do this stuff part time, he truly does practice what he preaches, and that is evident in our home and I am so grateful, but on the same token we are still human and we are like I said before

growing,

trying each day and may make mistakes along the way.

Our prayer is this, that we…

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18

So here is something from my best friend, partner in life, my husband and Im sure you will see more from him in my future posts as well.

LIVING HOPE

BY: JOE MURDOCK

It has been said that the Gospel writer John is the apostle of love and Paul is the apostle of faith and Peter is the apostle of hope. Peter specifically talks about a living hope. I find this to be an interesting idea since hope only seems to be a word that means waiting for something. But is that all that this hope means? Let us examine this living hope that Peter mentions in 1 Peter.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5

So my initial thought is, how does one live out hope? I think it is important to first understand how hope is defined scripturally. Biblical hope means much more than what man has mindlessly limited it down to or has over zealously used it. In some instances hope today is used as no more than wishing and in other cases has be made to seem so far beyond our comprehension that it is impossible to understand. Yet Peter tells the first century Christians and us to have a living hope! Hope according to the Strong’s concordance is to anticipate usually with pleasure, expectation or confidence-faith hope. Isn’t that interesting a faithful hope. Just like everything in Scripture, faith is always going to be connected to the words that are pleasing to God.

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:4-6

Since we now understand what hope is biblically and Peter mentions a living hope, a question I have is with a living hope is there a dead hope? Guy N Woods in his commentary on 1 Peter writes when He (Christ) allowed himself to fall into the hands of the Romans and to die on the cross, the hope of the disciples was blasted and their faith failed. Peter with his faith gone, returned to his nets John 21:3. Sadly for too many when things start to get tough, they will give up. This attitude or mindset must be defeated. But without a proper understanding of what we hope in, our hope can easily die and we go back to doing what we did before we had hope in Christ. Friends that only leads to empty promises and a life full of sadness. Remember what Paul said in Ephesians

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:6-10

Empty words come from those who have a dead hope which is no hope at all! We must continue to press onward towards the goal that is set before us and not allow the snares of this world to trip us up.

Finally as we have defined hope the way God would have us to understand it, let us now live it out. That is what God would have us to do and what Peter means when he says to have a living hope. A hope that is not dead but one that is thriving and producing fruit in ourselves and in others. What an encouragement it is, to be able to share in a living hope with our church family.

“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” Romans 8:24-25

Are we willing to eagerly wait for the coming of Christ? Not idly but full of faithful anticipation and excitement for the time when we are redeemed!

“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.” 1 Peter 4:12-14

Waiting…

Tomorrow I will….

You fill in the blank….

What are you struggling with right now that you have put off until tomorrow?

It doesn’t even need to be tomorrow, maybe it’s just “later”

say for instance it is the ever popular in need to….Read my Bible…

“I need to read my Bible”

“I need to be better about praying”

What about committing to Christ, going to church, being a better steward of your time….

I want to talk about waiting, something that I have been and at times still can be guilty of…

This type of waiting is not “patiently” waiting as in

“I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.”  Psalms 130:5-6

this is the “procrastination” waiting.

From verywellmind.com I found an article Tips for overcoming procrastination, that said this about procrastinating…



As I read this I definitely see so much truth in these statements, there was a time in my life that I would actually call myself a procrastinator, I would prefer not to label myself that way anymore because I used to admit to it not seeing any problem with it, because somehow, someway, I would seem to get things done…. (but I “sold” so much time for this lifestyle, and no to mention, health and sanity as well)

sticky notes on rustic wood background concept for time management procrastination
sticky notes on rustic wood background concept for time management procrastination

Gods word has helped me overcome so many of my old, harmful habits, and still continues to do so, I take steps forward each day that I choose to, follow, seek, and depend upon it and Jesus.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew‬ ‭5:6‬

Let’s just take a second and break down what this is telling us….

Blessed: happy, joyful, and truly thankful.

Are those: those who do what this says👇

Who hunger and thirst: what do we do when we are hungry and or thirsty, we start thinking of what we want to eat, drink, and we eat and drink.

It’s rare to say that we would call ourselves hungry and sit in front of food or water, and let ourselves starve, or thirst.

We don’t say I’m hungry, and thirsty, tomorrow I will eat, unless we are trying to fast, or don’t have the means to do it.

“And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.” Revelation 21:6

God will satisfy the needs of the hungry and thirsty but we must choose to:

1. understand our need for it

2. choose to take it, just as much as we choose to eat or drink, to fulfill our physical needs, we also have spiritual needs.

For righteousness: to be morally right, or justified, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, seek to be morally right, not just right, as in have the right answers but right as in their actions proves them right, and not right to ourselves, or the world but to the One God who created us, and that makes a fruitful Christian.

For they shall be satisfied: seeking to do the right thing, the answers can be found in Gods Word, the living waters…is not just a “good read” but when applied to our moral character and actions it is truly satisfying to the soul….

So….

What are you waiting for,

What harm is waiting doing to you?

Why do we wait until we are spiritually deprived and starving before we will spiritually feed on the bread of life! Waiting to make positive changes until it is a convenient time, is most likely only going to pull you further away making the time that would be convenient, less, and less convenient.

Don’t get fixated on tomorrow, tomorrow you will most likely regret something you didn’t do today,

Don’t wait to be perfect before you try to make a change, we only kid ourselves when we think this way…circumstances will probably look ugly when you realize you need to change. Right now if you see an area in your life that you should be better in it, my advise would be start, no matter how difficult, scary, or impossible it may seem.

One important detail about change that we must understand is that it isn’t always easy, the process can be hard, changing habits, and lifestyles that were hard on us can be just as grueling as the pain we faced because of this issue, if not even more…

My last post I wrote was on honesty, and this is a very important quality that we must have as we make changes.  Its so important to surround ourselves with honest people, be an honest person, and have an honest heart when reading or hearing the word of God, as much as we possibly can, because there will be times where we will want to give up, or look back, remember the good and not the bad that comes with damaging habits, and we will lie to ourselves and say again, it’s not so bad, to give in, give up, or set some important things aside to indulge ourselves in harmful habits again….

I think this is a major reason why we may procrastinate certain things in our lives because we know that some things, some changes that we know we need to make are just plain difficult.

So how do we do all of this? How do we stop procrastinating, or waiting for the perfect moments to be and do better, and how do we push through, when it gets difficult?

And just so you know there are many, many stories in the Bible of these very patterns of human behaviors that you can look too and see what happens you give in to yourself and of give up on God rather than push through…

Let me just say there will be times that It gets worse before it gets better, but the better is worth the worse, we must see the end goal, we must have hope, faith… and understand the greatest act of love that taught us how to start fresh….

Jesus

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized—” John 3:1-23

Baptism into Christ places you in the the kingdom of God, there are so many benifits to being in His kingdom it would take me blogs and blogs to tell you all about it which Im sure you will continue to hear about it from me… but for now let’s just say one of the greatest benefits of that is the hope of  heaven, eternal peace, surrounded by the purest LOVE…

I think we all have some sort of grasp on Love, in some way or another, we either have it, have known it, want to know about it, or we long to grow in it…

What’s stopping us from reaching that love and it’s full potential is ourselves…the thought of tomorrow I will take care of that, or I’m going to wait until I feel better, I’m not good enough for any sort of Love, I fear what I might need to do, change or give up, to be in a better place.

let me ask you…

What are some important changes that you will put off?

What are things you often give up on when they get difficult?

I ask myself…

why do I fear difficult circumstances, so I wait, or avoid change.

I tend to fear uncomfortable, vulnerability, and the lack of my own self sufficiency, I don’t want anyone else to know that this life is hard,  and I need help at times, every single one of us needs help actually.

And that is why God had given us, Jesus, each other i.e. the Church and His word to guide us into all understanding of the truth, that is why it was so important to Jesus that He teach his disciples of this.

Teach each other, help each other, and Love each other, are some of His core teachings.

“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

If we wait too long on trusting God, we will become self reliant (to the extent that we can) and not now how to be reliant on God when we really need Him, it is best to make that change right now, rely on Gods help…Just face the fears, whatever they may be,  YOU CAN TRUST that God will be right there by your side even through the difficult stages, that are bound to show up.

When you make a commitment to start working out, are the days always easy? no, are there set backs? yes, and are there going to be times where you have to push through? absolutely, but with and end goal in mind, we can start.

Don’t wait to start, with an end goal like heaven,

it’s so worth the process, for, that hope makes every challenge we face worth it.  But even so the change of life style here on this earth and being a part of the spiritual kingdom of the Church of Christ, has many benefits too (you can read about this unity and love, and christian walk in Ephesians 4) …. waiting just gives us more time to doubt and delay… and I’m afraid waiting only makes it harder to commit in the future.

Proverbs chapter 24 is where the thought of this Post came from, I hope it encourages you as much as it did me, to stop waiting, to be strong, push through when it gets tough, to get back up when you fall, not giving up but always trying and be better.  Thank you so much for reading, Please as always let me know if you have any questions.  May God Bless you, and may you desire to know and seek His word, His Truth.

“A wise man is strong, And a man of knowledge increases power. For by wise guidance you will wage war, And in abundance of counselors there is victory. Wisdom is too exalted for a fool, He does not open his mouth in the gate. One who plans to do evil, Men will call a schemer. The devising of folly is sin, And the scoffer is an abomination to men. If you are slack in the day of distress, Your strength is limited. Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back. If you say, “See, we did not know this,” Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work? My son, eat honey, for it is good, Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste; Know that wisdom is thus for your soul; If you find it, then there will be a future, And your hope will not be cut off.”  Proverbs 24:5-14

“Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; Do not plunder his resting place; For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Lest the LORD see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him. Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the wicked; For there will be no prospect for the evil man; The lamp of the wicked will be put out. My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not associate with those given to change; For their calamity will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin those two can bring?” Proverbs 24:15-22

I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction:

A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man. Proverbs 24:30-34

Irritated young woman putting her alarm clock off in the morning with soft morning light. Relaxing concept.