Category Archives: Christian Living

Assurance - Promise, Christian Living, Forgiveness, Guests, Repentance

Nailing it Down

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Isaiah 26:(Amplified Bible)
3 You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.
4 So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].
via Isaiah 26:2-4 – Passage Lookup – Amplified Bible – BibleGateway.com.

Charles Spurgeon went to live with JESUS almost 60 years before I was born but his words are often a means that ABBA uses to speak correction and comfort to me. This morning is one of those mornings.  Click HERE if you would like a little more information about Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

In part my reading from Morning and Evening — the Morning selection said this:

“for the very essence of anxious care is the imagining that we are wiser than God, and the thrusting ourselves into His place to do for Him that which He has undertaken to do for us.  We attempt to think of that which we fancy He will forget; we labour to take upon ourselves our weary burden, as if He were unable or unwilling to take it for us.”

Now I don’t know about you but I didn’t like that at first reading. And he got tougher on me with this:

“Now this disobedience to His plain precept, this unbelief in His Word, this presumption in intruding upon His province, is all sinful.”

Who would have thought that our anxious care – our worrying – is arrogance in disguise? When we refuse to take our burdens, our anxious cares, our worries to the LORD and LEAVE them with Him, we have professed ourselves to be wiser than GOD ALMIGHTY. Not only that we are calling into question His Love for us.

So again this morning Charles Spurgeon hit the nail on the head.  But you know what? That slight sting that comes with agreeing with the HOLY SPIRIT that I have sinned is way over shadowed by the comfort and the joy of having a word picture firmly in place to help me trust more surely my DADDY GOD who is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent.

And so I offer this to you this Thursday morning that you may have that same comfort and joy.

ABBA, thank You. You are so AWESOME. So willing and able to take care of us. And I have some cares and concerns. Some people that have huge challenges and I am praying now for help for them, even that You would heal them, take away completely cancers and imbalances in their bodies. In particular I am thinking of Diana this morning.  I don’t like what the doctors found, I don’t like what it means for her and I could cry out with others it’s not fair and it’s not but based on Your Word I am choosing to trust You with this and wait to see your Glory in it. And not just with Diana but others — Kerri, Elaine, Megan, Halli, Gracie, Ken, Dawn, and others — so many. And the death and destruction in Joplin and the continued aftermath here in Alabama and other places – all of it, ABBA, it’s impossible to explain or understand but this I know; for those who will trust You, You will prove You are faithful and kind and worthy of their adoration.  HOLY SPIRIT, help people trust You, the GOD we cannot see but Who we can KNOW more fully and more wonderfully than even the people we can see.  And as we close this time I pray for each one who comes to this screen to read and pray that You will answer the cares and concerns of their hearts and that they will embrace Your love for them. I pray this day will be a red letter day for them in JESUS Name. Amen and amen.

Click HERE for the PFT list.

Love being His Handmaiden,
Kathie

Assurance - Promise, Christian Living, Guests, Salvation

We Got No Business

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It has been a productive Monday as I sit to write for our Tuesday time together. At this writing Larry continues to improve. The 10 days to two weeks on the liver transplant recovery floor as of today is looking like a 5 day stay instead.  The mercy and grace of God is incomprehensible but we are receiving His goodness and rejoicing.  Again thank you for your prayers and your continued ones.

My Journey gave me some good reading this morning.  May I share a portion with you?

“Some of us turn to relationships, hoping the love of another person will determine whether or not we’re lovable. Some of us turn toward careers or other types of achievement to determine who we are and whether or not we’re valuable. Some of us let our past determine our identity–what people have said about us and what the world says about us, whether we’re attractive, or successful, or valuable.  We pretty much let anything and anyone else but God define who we are.

Author Chris Tiegreen has this to say: “Our identity is not made up of the ideas we have formed over the years; it’s made up of whatever God says about us. If He says we are His children then we are, whether we feel like it or not. When He says we are precious to Him, then we are, even if we don’t consider ourselves very precious.

. . . If God says you’re His beloved child, seated with Him in heavenly places, treasured as a specimen of His redemption and glory, cleansed of all sin, and gifted for divine works, you have no business contradicting Him” (indeed, March/April 2006). “

No business contradicting Him.

May I tell you that I am LIKING that a LOT?! I want it to stick with me and make changes in me.  Perhaps you would like the same.  Just a little more from Journey and I’m finished sharing from it for today.

“Ask God to show you what’s true about yourself. Ask Him to let His opinion of you speak louder than the world, louder than your past successes and failures, and louder than what you feel. Read through the New Testament and look for how God’s Word describes the redeemed, and choose to believe what God says is true about you.”

Ephesians 2: (New American Standard Bible)
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
via Ephesians 2:4-7 – Passage Lookup – New American Standard Bible – BibleGateway.com.

I visited briefly tonight with LaJuanna at her Mother’s visitation. Please pray for the Kotis/Hinton family – the funeral is tomorrow (Tuesday.) Simply put, we have been asked to pray for Susan’s family. For more details click HERE. And there are many others. I am still praying for Megan, Kerri and her family, Kathy and Joe, Elaine, Karen, Dori, and others listed at PFT web page. Click HERE to go there. 

ABBA, thank You again for this ministry, all these dear people, I pray for them to be encouraged and to come to know more assuredly who they are in You; for You to be the ONE who defines us. And we come with each of these named here and on the web page, asking for grace and mercy and help of every kind needed in JESUS Name. Amen and amen.

Blessings!
Kathie

Christian Living

Too Much for Sunday

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The TEXT for this Sunday’s Bible Study class that Jerry and I are privileged to lead is Colossians 3:18 – 4:18; but the Lesson Text for discussion is 3:23-25; 4:2-13, 17 which leaves out 3:18-22 and I have a word on those verses too.

SO, y’all get to ‘listen’.  :)

Colossians 3:(Holman Christian Standard Bible)
18 Wives, be submissive to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19 Husbands,  love your wives and don’t become bitter against them.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so they won’t become discouraged.
via Col. 3:18-4:18 – Passage Lookup – Holman Christian Standard Bible – BibleGateway.com.

Before we wade into the deep water of verse 18 let’s look at verses 23 and 24 as I think they bear on verses 18-21.

23 Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically,  as something done for the Lord and not for men,
24 knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord—you serve the Lord Christ.
via Col. 3:18-4:18 – Passage Lookup – Holman Christian Standard Bible – BibleGateway.com.

And here are my notes as they came today.

Oh my goodness! I just read    23 Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men,  24 knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord—you serve the Lord Christ. in context with 18 through 22!

Submission to our husbands is not about THEM, not even about US but about JESUS!

And, And! it says submit ENTHUSIASTICALLY!  Not begrudgingly, not with a sour attitude, but enthusiastically.

Is that a tall order or what? That is an impossible order in the flesh. But with GOD all things are possible and Dear Ones we are without excuse with those fitting in the LORD husbands.

Moving on now.

What would cause a husband to be embittered toward his wife? Obviously, it can happen in a Christian marriage or we would not have been instructed in this verse to NOT be.

And if a Christian husband can become embittered toward his wife, can a Christian wife become embittered toward her husband? Oh, I think I know the answer to that one. Don’t you?  And do we know how to prevent this embitterment from taking hold? And if it has already begun, do we know how to overcome it? Will we?

And, obviously children are expected to read the Bible! Did you see that in verse 20? Why else would verse 20 speak directly to children? So how much do your children read the Bible? How important is it to you that your children read the Scriptures? Is it important enough that you specifically pray for your children to read and know the Word? Even reward them for reading and memorizing Passages? If not, why not?

Fathers, do not exasperate your children. It will discourage them. So what does it take to exasperate your children? Have you done it? Have you repented? Have you asked them to forgive you? If not, why not?

Th verse addresses Fathers but I suspect from personal experience that Mothers exasperate children too. So, have you repented? Have you asked them to forgive you? No? Well, are you going to?

And now I have to ask myself — just because my Babies are married and out of the Nest, am I off the hook as to this portion of Colossians? No, I don’t think I am.  Do you?

And as to praying, I am continuing to pray for you all and for our Praying for These. At this writing I am praying for Larry, he went into surgery about 5:30 tonight (Wednesday) and we so want that to go well and for Claudia and the family to be comforted as they wait. And a new baby came last night and Momma has a few problems, so I am praying for her (Kathy) too. Emory, he gained a few ounces and I am rejoicing and asking for more weight gain for him and peace for his Mom and Dad. And I’m privy to conflicts, praying for holy resolutions – for hearts to soften and surrender to the LORDSHIP of JESUS. And I am thankful for all of you who faithfully come here to share a Word with me and to pray.

ABBA, thank You. Thank You for this ministry. You are so good to me.  Thank You for each prayer warrior that stands in the gap here. And thank You that You are tending all these cares and concerns we have. Thank You for knowing our hearts and, HOLY SPIRIT, thank You for voicing our petitions especially when we don’t know how. And thank You for standing guard over Your Word and sending it forth to carry out Your Will. Comfort with Peace the people of Israel and subdue all their enemies I pray. And, America, have mercy, ABBA. In JESUS Name have mercy and grant to us repentance, revival and renewal. Amen and amen.

Click HERE to go to PFT web page.

Until + + +
Kathie

Assurance - Promise, Christian Living, Guests

NOT

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It’s a lovely Wednesday morning.

Some Scripture reading, some praying, some stretching, and a cup of coffee — not a bad way to start this another Scoot Day. :)

Colossians 2: (New American Standard Bible)
10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 
via Col 2:10 – Passage Lookup – New American Standard Bible – BibleGateway.com.

At first read I found the latter part of the verse most comforting; probably because of where I am going again today — Circuit Court. But Charles Spurgeon addressed the verse with me too.  And in part he said:

“All, all,all are yours, ” saith He, ” be ye satisfied with favor and full of the goodness of the LORD.” Oh! how sweet thus to behold JESUS, and to call upon Him with the certain confidence that in seeking the interposition of His love or power, we are but asking for that which He has already faithfully promised.”

(Morning and Evening ISBN 978-1-59856-569-0 Hendrickson Publishers.)

 Spurgeon had just been saying to his readers that we are complete in JESUS. There is nothing lacking in Him, in us. Not wisdom. Not direction. Not instruction. Not power or protection. Not surety. Not love. Not comfort. Not mercy. Not immutability. Nothing! Nothing is missing. Nothing you or I need today to reflect Him today is missing in us.

You and I are without excuse today. But even more than that we are NOT ALONE!

I have prayed for you all this morning and for our Praying for These list. I ask that you pray too. For me. For each other. For this IDOK community. For our PFT list. Click HERE to be taken to the PFT web page.

Until + + +,
Kathie