Christian Living, Prayer Requests, Prayers for We the People

Messing!

Gallery 6 Feb 2017 Kathie Whitestone Thompson Leave a comment

I heard myself say, “What good would it do?”

A question was asked on my Facebook feed and many chimed in. I wanted to. I typed in 3 or 4 different comments and erased them before I let out my “What good would it do?” And then I came here. Perhaps I think here I will do some good. Oh somewhere please let me do some good!

Here’s the problem. We can read our Bibles until we wear the print off the pages but until we are CHANGED from the inside out to conform to those Words we have read, we have not believed what we read. Case in point: when we consider ourselves entertained by and find ourselves extolling the carnal exhibitions of the un-redeemed as awesome – we are messed up!

And speaking of messed up, some stuff I read today has really messed with me!

Americans of all ages are growing more skeptical about the Bible, according to the study. More than 1 in 5 (22%) said they were skeptical of the Bible’s claims in 2016, more than double the 10 percent who were skeptical in 2011. source

And the article went on to say this:

While three-quarters of Americans believe that Jesus literally rose from the dead (a finding ABS and Barna call “remarkable”), fewer believe that a historical Daniel survived the lions’ den (65%), that Moses actually parted the Red Sea (64%), or that David literally killed Goliath with his slingshot (63%). same source

And I said let me get this straight. Three-quarters of Americans believe JESUS rose from the dead. Really?! Three-quarters of Americans believe that JESUS CHRIST the very Son of GOD was graveyard dead, heart stopped beating, brain stopped functioning, no pulse, stone cold dead and then in three days His heart is beating again and His is out of that grave alive and well, walking, talking, laughing and eating with His disciplines. Three-quarters of all Americans believe that?!
Then how come this place is in such a hellish mess if so many of us believe this?

And. And. Get this! They purportedly believe that JESUS arose from the dead but they don’t believe that same GOD stopped the mouths of lions from eating Daniel! Are you kidding me?!

And they don’t believe that same GOD empowered David to sling a stone smack dab into the forehead of a godless giant, sending him to the ground. Seriously?!

He can raise His Son from the dead but He can’t do the rest that is recorded in Scripture? I’m still scratching my head over this!

One more current event and I will bring this rant to a close.

Protesters.

Obviously the media outlets are going to continue giving them coverage and they are going to continue marching. We can’t stop them from marching, we can’t stop them from carrying those vulgar signs but there is something we can do. We can pray. We can pray for GOD to be merciful. We can pray for Him to break into their darkness with the LIGHT of His Gospel. And we can BELIEVE the Bibles we read, obey the GOD we love and be available to serve in JESUS name.

^{John 20: 26}And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” ²⁷Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

²⁸And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

³⁰And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.   source

Pursuing Him ΑΩ
Kathie

Christian Living

This

Gallery 3 Feb 2017 Kathie Whitestone Thompson Leave a comment

I’ve been listening and reading and a topic has been reoccurring. It has been plainly stated to me that GOD is not as interested in my doing as He is in my being.

So I asked myself today, Who do I want to be?

So far I’ve gotten one answer. And as I have dug into that one word, I am convinced if I were to be this, all else needed would be present in my being as well.

It’s a short word.

No. It’s not love.
To be sure if I were to be this, I would be a loving person. I have said if people could say only one thing about me after I depart this life I wanted them to be able to say: “She loved JESUS and she loved me.” I still want that. I started praying last month that DADDY GOD will make it evident to me who it is in my life that would not be inclined to say that of me and for Him to please make the necessary changes. I thinking He is working.

No the word is not honest. Or truthful. Or genuine. Or caring. Or compassionate. Or responsible. Or gentle.

This one word does encompass all these virtues and more. This word appears 215 times in the King James Version of the Bible; albeit, not every reference applies to this application of this word. And if you key this word into a google window, you get about this many results: 2,000,000,000. And I have strict filters. Naturally, all these don’t apply either.

The transliterated Greek word for this word is chrestos.

Many Biblical scholars have researched, expounded and preached about this English word for chrestos. Our recent and present society has watered down and even distorted this word.
Today it is defined this way: Having or showing a friendly, generous, sympathetic, or warm-hearted nature. 2. Agreeable or beneficial

What is this word I should BE?

We have an example. We have a model to follow. A perfect one. GOD.
He is always this. My life verse says He is. I have clung to it for years. But it is not enough for me to cling to it so I can survive this mean world but it is for me to submit to Him so He can be THIS through me in this very mean world.

Taken together chrestos, Psalm 145:17, and Romans 2:4, (actually the Whole of Scripture) and we get a better understanding of THIS I want to BE.

You see EVERY action, EVERY word, EVERY thought that GOD has is FIT, USEFUL, PURPOSED, DESIGNED to bring us to repentance, to bring us to HIMSELF.

. . . and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. ³⁶Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. source  Luke 6 

Psalm 145:17-18  (NASB) ¹⁷The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.   source

Romans 2:4  (NASB) ⁴Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?  source

I NEED to BE this. I WANT to BE this. I want to be a woman who purposes, thinks about, speaks to, responds to (and on behalf of) people in such a way as to encourage, lead, help, and in all my doings point them to JESUS. For then I will be truly KIND.

Pursuing Him ΑΩ
Kathie