Faith- does it really matter?

June 5, 2020 nofearlinda1 Comment

As we all struggle with the racism that has surfaced yet again in America, we need to seriously ask ourselves if faith matters. People are carrying signs that say “Black Lives Matter” which is so true- as all people matter. We are all precious and made in God’s image. The question I am pondering is does ‘faith matter’? If it indeed does, how is it manifesting itself in your life?

As Christians we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and God is working within us. That should make a difference in the way we see our world and the people, animals and the creation that make up our world. We should be concerned about our life and the lives of others. Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; make and female he created them.” He created all of us and our faith brings God into us. Our faith in God allows us to work and live for Him. Many of God’s attributes are for Him alone- only He is Incomprehensible, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Sovereign and Almighty. However, many of God’s attributes are characteristics that He desires us to emulate.

ephesians-3-17 If we want to be more and more like Jesus, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to develop those characteristics within us. He desires that we are kind, loving faithful, thankful, show goodness, gentleness, joy and experience His peace. If we are to mature in faith, the actual term is sanctification, the we need to work our our faith and live it. It does matter – it matters to God and it matters to me. Jeremiah 9:24 tell us what pleases God, “But let him who boast boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” Through faith we can know God, and w can act in ways that bring Him glory and us good.

Just like ‘black lives matter’, so faith matters. It matters to you and to me. We need to humble ourselves and be open to God’s leading in our lives. When Solomon was dedicating the temple in Jerusalem, God promised a way to return to Him and save their land should they veer off course. “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” 2 Chronicles 7:14

Let us pray for our nation and humble ourselves seeking to do as Jesus would when dealing with others… Faith in God and Love are the ways to peace. Faith matters, let the light of Christ shine in and through you today.

Linda

#6 Practicing Your Devotion to God-by Repentance

February 10, 2020 nofearlinda1 Comment

Sin is something we all have to deal with in our lives. We were born sinners, with a sin nature. You only need to look at the willfulness of a small child to see they came that way with a rebellious, willful nature built inside. It was not something they learned. However, as we grow we learn to sin even more by fulfilling our own desires. Adam and Eve fulfilled their own desires in the garden of Eden when they willfully sinned against God by eating of the forbidden tree, the tree of good and evil.

Each of us needs to come to the realization that we are sinners and approach God with a repentant heart asking Him to forgive us through faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith in Jesus allows us to be cleansed and made whole. However, we still have that sin nature within us and we need to grow and learn about Jesus, depend upon Him and stay repentant to walk with Him by faith. Our heart’s desire is to walk with Jesus and grow more and more like him. Sanctification describes this process in our lives and it is the work of the Holy Spirit within us that enables us to grow stronger in Christ and sin less.

David knew the key to a clean and whole existence with God was to be repentant and humble, confessing his sins to God. Psalm 32 describes David’s thoughts about this:

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, Repentance brings blessing.
whose sin is covered.
²Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away   Being unrepentant can cause
    through my groaning all day long. you physical illness.
⁴For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
    my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

⁵I acknowledged my sin to you, David resolves to repent with
and I did not cover my iniquity; an openness to God.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Psalm 51:1-2, 10 David knew that God alone was able to forgive sin and lays his sins before Him. He knew he was unworthy of forgiveness but trusted God in his infinite mercy to forgive him.

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.
²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!

He knew God alone could create a new heart within him.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.

What about you? Do you know the truth and reality of 1 John 1:9 ? “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is a promise we can claim and depend upon. God is faithful and will keep His promise to forgive all our sins. All we need to do is confess and have a repentant heart before Him.

Practice repentance daily for a closer walk with Jesus.

Linda

1st Sunday of Lent

March 10, 2019 nofearlindaLeave a comment

Lenten Sunday’s are a time apart to get recharged and worship our Savior. These last weeks I have been studying King David’s life and was brought to my knees by Psalm 51. David wrote this psalm after his great sin with Bathsheba and the ordering of the death of Uriah, her husband. David’s confession is real, heartfelt and gives us hope that God can indeed forgive all our sins and restore us. Be restored and seek God’s forgiveness as you meditate. Psalm 51: 1-4, 10-12, 17

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
²Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
⁴Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.

psalm 51 10 David acknowledges his sin and knows God can forgive and wash him clean.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

David knows God can restore, renew and bring joy where there was sorrow over sin.

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

David’s humbly offers God is his broken and sorrowful heart.

Prayer: May it be so with me too. Forgive my sins and create in me a new restored, resolved and committed heart to serve you. Amen.

Linda

Suggestion: attend a worship service really focusing on the praise and worship of God, so that you can soak in His restoring power.

Lent- let it begin with my heart, mind and soul

March 6, 2019 nofearlinda2 Comments

Lent is a time of reflection, fasting, praise, worship and thanksgiving as we walk daily towards the cross. The number 40 is used in the Bible to signify a time of testing and trial. During your Lenten journey which is from today, Ash Wednesday, to Good Friday when Jesus died on the cross, we are to think about the price Jesus paid for our sins through His own death. How we do that can take many forms. Daily devotions with prayer and scripture, fasting for a meal or even a whole day can bring your focus on Jesus to a greater height. Or you can choose to let go of something you really like to do, say or eat as a form of penance or identification with Christ’s suffering for you and your Pope Lent sin. Last year, I found this quote from Pope Francis and it brought a new perspective to fasting during Lent. It isn’t just denying myself chocolate or alcohol, it is denying myself in other ways. I love his suggestions to fast from stress and pressure by being intentionally more prayerful, or letting go of bitterness and focusing on love.

Today as you think about Christ and His suffering and the price He paid for your sins- think about ways you can honor Him in the next 40 days. Each day at the end of my devotion I will have a suggestion of what you might do that day to honor Christ by doing for others in love as Christ did for you at the cross. My daily blogs will focus on what we have in Christ because Jesus died on the cross and rose again. I pray that my blogs and suggestions will help you to gain greater love and appreciation for your Lord and Savior and be prepared in your heart, mind and soul when Good Friday and Easter arrive.

Let the journey begin today in your heart as you set your mind towards the cross.

Linda

Suggestion: attend an Ash Wednesday service or spend some time reflecting on your own sins. Take a piece of paper and write them down. Then take that paper place it before you as you pray and ask God to take those sins away and fill you anew with His love and devotion. Symbolically placing your sins on the cross of Christ helps us to see that He died for me and my sins. Romans 5:8 “But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Prepare the Way for the LORD!

December 1, 2018December 1, 2018 nofearlindaLeave a comment

Isaiah 40:1,3,4 opens the Messiah and that is where our Advent story begins.

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.
⁴Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.

It had been 400 years since the prophet Malachi had spoken and the people were hungry and eager to hear from God. Hundreds of years before Isaiah had prophesied that the people would be comforted by the voice of one crying in the wilderness who will proclaim the arrival of the Messiah. The one spoken of here is John the Baptist. His mother Elizabeth was Mary’s Aunt and their babies were due months apart. Zachariah, John’s father, had received visit from the angel Gabriel foretelling the birth of this forerunner of Jesus. Luke 1:13-17 “But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Just as Isaiah had prophesied, John came and proclaimed a message of repentance and prepared the people for the Lord’s coming.

Isaiah also spoke of leveling the ground in Isaiah 26:7 “The path of the righteous is level;
you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.” Jesus, Messiah, would come and make way for the righteous. Jesus indeed smoothed the way for mankind to be made righteous through His coming, His death and His resurrection. All the mountains of sin that stood between God and man were made low through His sacrifice. Jesus made “every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain” for those of faith to come to God. He removed the barrier of sin between us and holy God. Jesus made the way for us to be saved.

John, the herald of Jesus, came to call Israel to repentance and faith. Let us answer his call today as we meditate on the beauty, exactness and completeness of God’s Word and the hope we have in Jesus.

Let our Advent journey begin with repentance,

Linda