Category Archives: Romans

2018, Romans

His Story, My Story

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I posted the following to my Facebook page yesterday; during my prayer walk today I expressed I wanted more people to read my story; not because I am anything but because HE IS EVERYTHING! 

So if you will humor me and if you have not read my story, please take a few moments and hear my heart. 

Our Pastor has been encouraging us to tell our stories. That is the story of how and when we were introduced to JESUS and has He made a difference. So, I thought I’d start with my Facebook Friends since you all are the ones I see often. 
Some People have salvation encounters with Him that are much quieter and easier than mine but I was a hard one. 
It was November 18th, 1975 right at 9:00 P.M. The Minister had been sharing Scripture with me for about two hours. You see I made an appointment to see him because he told me I could KNOW if I was saved or not. I had been existing in insecurity about that since I was a child. Being the daughter of a deacon who happened to also be the Sunday School Superintendent and a Momma who was a Sunday School teacher who had taken me to church since inception, I knew a lot about GOD. I had been practicing the Biblical principle of tithing since primary school and I had made two previous or were that three professions of faith – neither of them did anything but get me wet in the baptistery. 
But on that November evening, I went to see the Preacher with the idea I was telling him nothing. Well, I confessed more than any of you need to know.😊And he told me the best news ever! 
You see for years, I ran to and fro between knowing I was not good enough to go to heaven but thinking I was not bad enough to go to hell.
And often I would take even another detour that said I was too bad for even GOD to save me. That I was just beyond saving because I had no real faith to believe the Gospel. I knew it well! I just had not personally met the GOD of the Story. 
Now for the Good News. The Best News! Faith is a gift! And He will give it to you if you are willing to receive it!
But there are conditions. Gut-level Honesty. We have to be honest with ourselves and with GOD. And so, I was. For the first time in my life, I came face to face with my human condition: I WAS A HELL-DESERVING SINNER. 
But the Scripture clearly stated and the HOLY SPIRIT convinced me that the BLOOD OF JESUS was enough and that He did not want me to go to hell. He had done enough to save even me and all I had to do was exchange my sins for His Righteousness which He was offering me right then.
That old hymn taken from Scripture is right. I owed a debt I could not pay (For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through JESUS CHRIST our LORD. (Romans 6:23) and I didn’t have to pay it because JESUS HAD ALREADY PAID IT ALL. 
So, I said, Thank You (I accept). And He said You’re Welcome. (Not audibly, of course.) 
What’s it been like these nearly 43 years? Well, I’ve messed up more times than I can remember and He has kept me saved. He has loved me, corrected me, and He continues. He is Life to me. He has kept me in perfect peace every time I have yielded to His Lordship. And every time I have yielded He has rewarded me with assurance and joy, more than I could have imagined. Simply, I don’t do this life without Him.

Thanks for reading. So, how about you, do you have a story to tell too?

2018, Hebrews, Romans

Since We Have

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Hebrews 4:14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. source

Selah ~ ~ ~
1 John, 2018, Ephesians, Ezekiel, Genesis, Gospel of John, Jeremiah, Romans

Hearts & Minds

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Approximate reading time: 3 minutes 

Follow your heart. 

It’s often advised, especially in Hallmark movies. Now, don’t get me wrong I have watched and enjoyed more than my share of Hallmark movies. They are relatively clean entertainment, albeit predictable. I digress. 

However, reading today I was counseled that following my heart is not the ticket to successful living.  No. No. following my heart will devastate not only my life but others.  

Jeremiah 17:9 (CSB)9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it? source

Now what? If I cannot, and obviously I should not, follow my own heart, what? 

How about my intellect? That’s it. I can trust my mind and follow my thinking. Right? 

Genesis 6:5  (CSB)5 When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, source

Well, scratch that idea! 

Now what? What hope do I have to live a good life? What hope do you have?

Romans 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;  10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. source 

That’s us!  Hell deserving sinners. Every. One. Of. Us.
Now what? 

This is what!

1 John 4:10  (TLV) 10 This is love—not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atonement for our sins.  source

Ephesians 2:8  (YLT) 8 for by grace ye are having been saved, through faith, and this not of you — of God the gift,  source

1 John 1:9 (TLV) 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. source

And now.

Ezekiel 36:26 (YLT) 26 And I have given to you a new heart, And a new spirit I give in your midst, And I have turned aside the heart of stone out of your flesh, And I have given to you a heart of flesh.  source

1 John 5:20 (YLT)  20 and we have known that the Son of God is come, and hath given us a mind, that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ; this one is the true God and the life age-during! source

This heart. This mind. We can. We must learn and follow. 

John 10:10(NLT) 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. source

Selah ~ ~ ~
2018, Christian Living, Ephesians, Forgiveness, Gospel of Matthew, Guests, Romans

In A Word

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Reading time: Approximately  3 minutes.

One word for the year.
One word to guide the year.
One word to direct my focus for 365 days.
Could one word do all that?
In a word.
Yes! 
But how do you pick that one word? In two words. You Don’t. You receive that word from The GOD who loves you. Okay. That was more than a word. :)

I like my friend, Leah Adams‘ word for 2018. Here’s a link. Check it out! 

I believe my guiding word for 2018 is forgiveness. It’s my word to receive, to give, to pray for, to live. Forgiveness heals. Forgiveness revives. Forgiveness restores. Forgiveness gives life to body, soul and spirit. Forgiveness sets a soul on the path to wholeness. And wholeness is my plea; for myself, for family, for friends, for strangers near and far.

A year of forgiveness, what will that be? I would say not easy but naturally speaking it is more than not easy. It. Is. Impossible!  Unless! 

Matthew 19:26  (YLT) 26 And Jesus having earnestly beheld, said to them, `With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.‘  source

This year when I forgive will I be saying the offense is any less offensive? Will I be saying it’s okay? Will I be saying it didn’t hurt? Will I be denying the awfulness of it? Nope! Not at all. Will I be saying they deserve forgiveness? Do any of us?

I just know this, when I give forgiveness it sets me free. Free to love again. Free to trust GOD again. Free to live again. Forgiveness lets me take my rightful place. Forgiveness takes ME off the throne of my life and gives that place to He who deserves it. The One and Only JESUS.

Forgiveness takes my hands off the control button and with trust, faith and love yields justice to GOD’s Perfection alone.
Forgiveness says I love JESUS too much to hate you (the offender).
Forgiveness says, GOD, I trust You to do what’s right by me with this one who has offended me. It’s, I give way to You, My Heavenly Papa, to treat me right in the way You treat my offender.

In a word, forgiveness is me (and you) trusting GOD. Trusting that He has done right and He will always do right.  This is forgiveness whether we are receiving it or giving it. 

Again I say, it’s impossible for natural people! But we who have said yes to JESUS in salvation are no longer just natural people. We have the SPIRIT of the LIVING GOD residing within and we can forgive – all year-long!  (Romans 8:9)

How many times this year must I exercise this gift of forgiveness? 

Matthew 18: 21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Master, how often shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”  22 Yeshua said to him, “No, not up to seven times, I tell you, but seventy times seven!  source. 

If we find ourselves doing the math, I think we’ve missed His point. 

Ephesians 4:32(KJV)  32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. source

Forgiveness.
In a word, it will make me whole and a whole lot more Christ-like. 

Selah ~ ~ ~ Kathie