Monthly Archives: December 2021

2 Corinthians, 2021, Christian Living, Gospel of John, Romans

A New Want To

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I found this in my draft file. 
It appears to have been there for a while, like sometime between June of 2020 and January of 2021.
I’ve read it and guess what, it’s still true! So I thought I’d add a bit more and press the publish button. 

Sin.
It’s been on my mind heavily, lately.
Mine and yours.
The ‘yours’ meaning what we see every time we turn on a digital media screen or perhaps just walking public streets.
Seriously, have you noticed all the sin (evil) paraded in our world?
I mean people tell lies like it’s the truth.
Womb Babies are killed like they are nothing – a vegetable or less.
People kill. They steal. They destroy lives, families, marriages, property, industry, education . . . on and on goes the destruction.
That reminds me of Scripture. Something YESHUA said when He was speaking of Satan.

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  source  John 10:10

Sin destroys.
But we still do it.
Why?
Why do people sin?
I’ve heard for years that people are not sinners because they sin; they sin because they are sinners.

I have no doubt it is true.
People sin because we are sinners.
And here it gets really ugly. We sin because we like it!
Oh more than like it, we cherish it!  That’s why we keep doing it. 
Only when we see the ugly, awfulness of our sin do we even get the inkling that we might like to stop. The only thing is we can’t. 

We do not have the power to stop sinning even if we had the want to!

Don’t believe me? Try it!

Pick out your favorite sin, oh what the heck, make it easier, pick out your least favorite

and NEVER do it again.

Our flesh is totally depraved it cannot NOT sin. 
BUT when JESUS makes us a NEW CREATION we CAN. 
As we yield to HOLY SPIRIT, we can lay down any sin we want to. 

Now we must ask, how’s our want to? 
And if we don’t have a new want to; it just may be that we are still lost in our sins – no salvation has occurred. 

Does this mean we become sinless on this side of Heaven?
NO.
But it does mean we sin less than we used to.
It means day by day or perhaps year by year, we see ourselves more and more choosing to obey our Father.
We see ourselves conforming more and more to the Image of JESUS. 

Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; source

2021, Colossians, Galatians, Gospel of John, Questions

Dustbuster

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Servant.  

Not a word that is presently liked so much. 
Perhaps because we have lost sight of the intent and the Perfect Example of being a Servant.  John 13. 
Just in my span of years, I have seen the scowl on faces at just the mention of it; and signs of the bitter taste it leaves in the mouths of many. 

Do you?

 

And then the light shines brightly – the act of service – being a servant, is meant to be a healing balm in this cold, hostile world.

 

Serve one another in love. 
How healing would that be in homes all over this world? 

Should I say it? 
I think I shall.
We are more like JESUS when we serve one another in love than just about any other time in our lives. 
And the opposite of that – well, we know, don’t we? 

Love Serves. 
What says get it yourself? 
2021, Just Chatty Today, Psalms

Reminiscing

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Good Morning, Friends and Family,

Yesterday’s post being a repost has spurred me to reminisce a bit. 

My post log here at The White Stone records that we have published 2, 957 posts (not including this one) since March of 2007.
That’s a lot of words — even for me!  

I wrote my first devotion for public consumption in 2003.
I don’t remember the month.
I do remember enjoying an especially enlightening devotional time that morning before going to the law office (paralegal, never made it to law school :) ), so much so I was prompted to share it via email with I think about five (5) girlfriends/sisters of Faith.

From that morning on, on a regular basis, I wrote and emailed them. In time the email list grew. So much so it was necessary for me to divide the email addresses into groups, emailing 4 sets with each devotional writing.

Circa 2007, I discovered Blogspot. With this, the distribution of the devotionals was greatly simplified. 
It was not without cost though — change is often resisted and this venture was no exception as not all the email recipients followed to the blog. It was new. Even so, we persevered and here we are today. 

If memory serves I wrote at Blogspot from about 2007 until circa 2011 when we moved to WordPress.
Many of the logged 2,957 posts were imported from Blogspot to WordPress. 
And to be as transparent as memory allows me to be, 98 are copy and paste posts — so not all are first-run originals. 

Bottom line — it’s been 18 years of devotional writing!  I am grateful! 

A quick check confirmed Blogspot is still live. Not mine, of course, but others are still writing there. 

I do not recall the reasons that brought me to WordPress but I am grateful to be here. 
There have been changes here at WordPress as to how blogs are crafted and how they function. Some changes I have appreciated, some I have accepted. Such is life, isn’t it? 

What are the total numbers on our readership?
I don’t know. But I am grateful for each and every one of you. 

Thank you for reading and thank you for every return visit you make here. 

Over the years, we have added Pages and deleted Pages — there’s a lot to read (and videos to watch) here at The White Stone. 
In it all I hope to help, encourage, enlighten; to be a voice that Holy Spirit can work through to edify sisters and brothers, AND to plant a seed in the hearts of those seeking GOD.  

Again, thanks for reading. You are welcome here. And if you want someone to pray with you — we are here. Just let us know. 

Father GOD, may not always answer the way we want, but He will always answer better than we asked. 

Psalm 5: 2 (1) Give ear to my words, Adonai, consider my inmost thoughts.
3 (2) Listen to my cry for help, my king and my God, for I pray to you.
4 (3) Adonai, in the morning you will hear my voice; in the morning I lay my needs before you and wait expectantly.  source