Monthly Archives: August 2011

Copy Paste Chew Again

A Nutshell

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Happy Wednesday, my Friends!  Click HERE to read today’s CPC at its original post or read a portion of it below.

A Nutshell

          Let me give you the Bible in a nutshell – IF you are IN Christ, everything will be okay.
          The Body of Christ has awaken this morning (perhaps some did not sleep much) to challenges, adversities, fears and troubles.  As long as we live here, we are going to have troubles BUT.
          John 16:(Amplified Bible)  
33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]
          Believe this and live; don’t believe it and struggle this life to death.  The choice is ours.  Troubles so deep, wide and heavy that we can’t get our minds around this Scripture?  Then don’t be too proud to ask for help! Pray and seek godly counsel! Jesus did not lie when He spoke these words. We either believe Him or we don’t.

            Holy Spirit, minister this Word this morning. You know it is not my heart to be harsh or naïve.  I just know there comes a time that for us to do this life right and well we have to get serious with You.  We have to believe what You say; we have to take Your Word seriously and do it so we can live. The alternative is a defeated life. I don’t want that for me or any of us.   I know life here is hard.  You know that. But I also know You are good and life here is meant to be good even when it is hard and You are the ONLY way that is going to happen.  It ain’t good here without You.  So I am asking You to encourage the discouraged, strengthen the weak, and send help with ‘skin on their face’ to those who really got to see help beside them.
. . .       And encouragement, right decisions, repentance, restoration, forgiveness, surrender, a will to believe, hope, trust – all this and more I am praying for families and people in need this morning.  Folks are in need here, horrible illnesses – just living through the ‘remedy’ is consuming, it takes over time, resources, it just swallows up living – don’t let it, LORD, give them a better way.  . . .   If we did not KNOW that You are good and that this is not all there is we would all despair.  But You are good and in You life is abundant and joy is ours in You.  Thank You, ABBA.  Thank You.  We pray for peace and comfort and safety for our IDOK Troops and their families.  We pray for the peace and prosperity and salvation of Israel. We pray for repentance and revival in America and around the world.  We ask this and more in Jesus Name.  Amen and amen.

*****
Revelation 2:17 — His Ministry to you,
Kathie

Please click HERE and pray for those who have trusted us to pray.

Copy Paste Chew Again

Go On (Again)

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GO ON
click HERE to read at original post

This was last night’s Bedtime quote by Charles Swindoll:
“Grace means that God, in forgiving you, gives you the strength to endure the consequences. Grace frees us so that we can obey our Lord. It does not mean sin’s consequences are automatically removed. If I sin and in the process of sinning break my arm, when I find forgiveness from sin, I still have to deal with a broken bone.”
Romans 6:17 NIV — But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

As I read the words: ‘Grace means that God, in forgiving you, gives you the strength to endure the consequences’, I stopped before even going on to the next sentence to read it again just to hear those words again. By the very act of forgiving us Father is telling us to GO ON; to continue on with living a life that honors Him and yes the consequences of the sin may not be easy to deal with BUT God is there giving us the STRENGTH to do it!
This reminds me of a Scriptural Account, the account of the Woman who was snatched out of her house in the very act of adultery, the text says, and brought to Jesus by the Scribes and Pharisees. I don’t know if they cared so much about actually stoning the woman. What they really wanted was to ‘test’ Jesus. As it happened they were the ones who were tested – by the way they failed! But back to our point this morning. The penalty due the woman was death (by stoning). The Scribes and Pharisees knew that quite well. So did Jesus. But the stoning she did not get. What she got was forgiveness. She was forgiven of the PENALTY of adultery and in verses 11 and 12 she said and Jesus said:
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
With this link you can read all of John chapter 8.

I see here that Jesus gave her the strength to get up off that ground and GO ON. The PENALTY for her sin was paid but she would still have to face ‘the world’ and I believe she did! I believe she drew upon the STRENGTH of the Lord Jesus Christ and she did GO ON. One of these days when we all get to Heaven, maybe she will tell us about it!
So whatever has gone on in your life this week; if you messed up and you have some consequences, get up off the ground, the PENALTY is paid, receive His Forgiveness AND the strength only He can give you AND GO ON!

Thank You Father Lord that You have paid our penalty and You have given us forgiveness and strength to GO ON. Please help us receive this from You.  . . .  We also pray for these listed here. We don’t know all the needs of each, we don’t even know the faces of each but You do and that is enough for us to KNOW that You are working in their lives. We pray Holy Spirit that You will give each of them strength to go on and to receive from You all that You desire to give them in whatever lot and circumstance they are today. . . . Thank You for our IDOK Troops, for their families and friends and for all we pray today for strength and courage and specifically for our Troops we ask protection. We ask You to protect them in mind and body and spirit and Holy Spirit help them and encourage them to Love even in a world of hate. Keep them safe and sound and bring them home to us. . . .  And we pray for America that You will enable Her to repent and be revived for Jesus sake. Amen and amen.
*****
Revelation 2:17– His Ministry to you,
Kathie
Click HERE and pray for today’s needs.
Copy Paste Chew Again

Dennis, Joey and the Umbrella

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Myrtle Day – a beautiful woman. I can see her smile but only with my mind’s eye, for now.  She went to Heaven yesterday. Please remember her sons and families and many, many dear friends in your prayers.

Dennis, Joey and the Umbrella
Click HERE to read at original post

Friday, Dennis was right on target. Some days there is a lot of wisdom in the ‘Funny Papers’.
Picture this: Mom is standing at the door; Dennis and Joey are stepping off the stoop into the peppering rain and she hears Dennis say to Joey: “C’mon, Joey, If you wanna see a rainbow, you gotta put up with a little rain.”

How insightful is that! As we live and breathe here on planet earth unpleasant and down right hard stuff comes our way but we can be sure if we keep looking up the rainbow will appear. However, there is one more thing I need to mention about Dennis and Joey and the rain … Dennis had the umbrella. I think the umbrella gave Dennis a leg up on his upbeat attitude, don’t you?

I think you and I have an umbrella against the enviable rain that falls upon each and every soul … His Name is Jesus. Question is though — do we have Dennis’ attitude about our rainfall?

Matthew 5: (NKJV)
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?
48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

At first I thought this passage fit perfectly for our illustration, but now I think the ‘fit’ needs some consideration. Obviously Dennis and Joey’s rain was one of those ‘hard’ things that come to us in life since they were looking for a rainbow. Bad stuff is inevitable upon the JUST (that’s us who are saved) and the UNJUST (that’s those who have not said yes to Jesus for Salvation). Before writing this IDOK devotion, I think I may have overlooked that in this passage it is Father who is doing the SENDING which gives me a whole new light on this. Father only sends GOOD STUFF, so the sun and rain in this passage is good and beneficial and pleasant, not bad; not something that we have to wade through and hope to find the rainbow. But rather the kind of rain that you stand out in with your head back, your mouth open, arms stretched out, twirling around laughing. And on top of all that glorious fun you see the rainbow! It’s that kind of stuff He sends and we the JUST benefit from it. The UNJUST do too; but just maybe they don’t know from Whom it comes. We do! We need to tell them!
Think about it this way: lost folks benefit from just walking around this planet with us but they still need to come under our UMBRELLA for Eternal Protection and we still need to offer our UMBRELLA to folks getting rained on — be it pleasant rain or unpleasant rain. I sure hope I get to share my UMBRELLA with someone who doesn’t have ONE today. How about you?

Father, thank you for the weekend; for sermons heard, for family and friends, for good food, for little boy birthdays, for mercy and grace.  . . .  We pray for strength and practical helps for parents taking care of parents and we pray for repentance for wayward children who are diseased and ill because of sin and unholy choices. And we pray for healing of those whose minds are tortured – somehow Lord reach them even as You did the man in the tombs. Again we bring America and pray for her repentance and revival and again we pray for IDOK that we be willing and useful vessels to help this Country return to holiness. As we do daily we remember our IDOK Troops and we pray for their safety in mind and body and spirit and we ask You to bring them home to us safe and sound and more in love with You than when they deployed. Thank You for the UMBRELLA picture and as we see umbrellas and as we use them, help us praise You each time for the protection from hell and sin that You have given us in Christ Jesus and it is in His name we offer this prayer. Amen and amen.
*****
Revelation 2:17 — His Ministry to you,
Kathie