365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 312

Are you just getting through day to day without really being awake? Being a follower of Jesus is something that is constant. We are not supposed to be Christian-like one day and that evening go out and forget who we are. Paul says as followers of Jesus we are sons/daughters of the light and sons/daughters of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. He calls us to not be like others but to live up to the calling God has given us through Jesus Christ. The word “alert” has been on my mind since reading this scripture from 1 Thessalonians. Being a Christian takes discipline. We have to learn to be in the Word, pray and keep the Lord in the forefronts of our minds daily. Without this daily discipline, we may find ourselves asleep and falling into worldly traps. Be alert and awake as evil is always waiting for an opportunity to prey upon us.

1Thessalonians 5:6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 261

It is rare to find yourself in total absolute darkness without even a tiny spot of light because of all the electronics in our homes. My daughter had a glow-in-the-dark sleep-over party for her 10^th birthday. We had to prepare the basement for the party. Total darkness took some effort. We had to turn off everything that we could, cover up anything we couldn’t turn off and black out the windows. We had to test the darkness a couple of times before we finally achieved absolute darkness. This kind of darkness truly is blinding. You cannot see anything but blackness and the longer you stay in this the more your fears are triggered to the point you just want to get out of it now. Just as we worked to get absolute darkness in our basement for the party, we have to put the effort into keeping the darkness out of our hearts. Forgiveness for others is one of those potential dark spots that can come into our hearts. Any un-forgiveness within us is like mold, it will only grow and cover more and more of our hearts. We have to clean out our hearts of this darkness so the Holy Spirit can be within us and transform us.

1John 2:11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded him.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 257

As children of God, we have been given the Holy Spirit to reside within us. We have the power to make wise choices and overcome all the temptations of this world. If you are not daily feeding your soul with God’s Living Word or praying to the Lord thankfully for all your needs; it is like a light with a faulty switch and a light bulb almost burned out. It will flicker on and off and can eventually if not fixed or the light bulb changed take you into darkness. We have to turn to the light switch (Holy Spirit) daily and turn on the switch through prayer. Those faulty connections and burning out light bulbs (sins and temperament weaknesses) can’t be fixed on their own. It takes you to get in the Word of God and study, learn and grow in your knowledge about Jesus. We won’t get the perfect light staying on without flickers this side of heaven because we are not perfect but we are in the process of being perfected. It takes effort like getting up in the morning but with your effort and commitment comes growth and rewards. You may not see the growth or rewards immediately like when you are trying to lose weight. It is a process that will give you that growth and those rewards over time. Start today and become a light repairman and work on making the connection to the light.  

2Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challege-Day 171

In these beautiful days of spring, it is so easy to see the glory of God all around us. It is really hard to imagine a person not believing in God just based on the wonderful world he created. These people are truly blind and don’t even realize the darkness they are living in. The order and beauty of our world is a living testament to God. The birds singing and the grass growing green in the spring didn’t just happen. The world is an intricately designed work of art that was created by a loving God. Do you know someone who is living in darkness? Pray for them today that they may truly see the proof of God all around us.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 147

I am so proud of my husband. He took action and drove up to Sterling to talk with his brother and mother. Someone needed to see first-hand how things were going in that house. He came home early the next morning because he couldn’t sleep there. The smoke and televisions on all night long were just too much. He was so thankful to be home and for the blessings of his family. It was tough to go into a hard place but it needed to be done. He was encouraged about his brother but did not anticipate how bad off his mother has gotten. She is an alcoholic and is spiraling into a very dark place. We need prayers for her that the Lord will lead her out of this darkness.  Sometimes the only action we can take is prayer. That is the place I am in with this situation so I ask everyone of you who read this to pray for Susan that God will bring her out of the pit she has made for herself. Our kindness for others can be in the form of prayer for someone we don’t even know. It doesn’t matter that we don’t know them. Every human being is loved and valued by God. We have to have that attitude of love in our hearts as well. Take a moment and pray for a human being whom God loves who is hurting and needs help. http://www.christianprayercenter.com/

Hebrews 13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 139

We watched the re-make of the movie Red Dawn. The classic movie with the late Patirick Swazy in which the US is invaded by enemy countries and the stand they take. My husband found out a tidbit about the new movie that was kind of disturbing. The new movie had the invading army as the Chinese but they digitally changed it in post-production to be North Korea. It is no coincidence with all that is going on with North Korea currently. In the movie, a group of youth, escape up into the mountains. They are led by the older brother named Jed and choose to stand up and fight for their home. But not all of them make that choice to fight. It was said well in the movie when they showed an American wearing a black uniform with a red band on it. They were the collaborators.  The main character Jed said it well, “that always happens”. There will always be people who will stand and fight and those who out of fear will choose to take up sides with the enemy. It is the same in our spiritual fight against the forces of darkness in our world. We can choose to fight or we can choose to be apathetic and let the darkness invade “our” world. Unfortunately, for many, they will go the route of apathy or ignorance simply because they do not truly believe in God or in the battle that is being waged for our souls with Satan. But there will be a day when not believing won’t be an option. The evidence of God will be fully revealed when Jesus comes again. In the final battle there will be those who will choose to collaborate with evil. It is part of who we are. God gave us the free will to make our own choices. But those choices for some will be made out of fear. “Do not be afraid” is said so many times throughout the bible. God is for us. He is the good guy. And it is for Him and the love he has shown us through Jesus that we must stand and be firm.

Ephesians 6:14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 134

As I was driving home from my bible study group meeting last evening, I was on a dark two-lane road of hills that go through a dark forest. Everything is dark but the little bit of light from my headlights but as I look out on the dark horizon I see the edges of light shinning upward from an approaching car. It reminded me of a sunrise the way it looked. My thoughts turned to our dark roads that we inevitably get on during our lives. The dark roads are the trials and troubles that come to our lives. That light out at the horizon is Jesus. If we drive straight towards the light, we will get through our trials and troubles with hope in our hearts. Hope brings comfort. That light out on the horizon gave me that same comforting feeling of I am not alone out here. We are never alone when we have Jesus on our side and the Holy Spirit within us. The next time you are feeling alone, feeling like you are on a dark road, look straight ahead and see the light of Jesus leading you forward and through the darkness.

2 Samuel 22:29 You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 117 & 118

The glow-in-the-dark party was a big hit. It reminds me of what Dr Arno said in my video class about how you can be in a dark room and light a candle and that one little candle can shine light throughout the room. Darkness aka evil doesn’t like the light of truth. All of the glow-in-the-dark stuff they created made the room come alive. The scariness of being in the dark was put aside because of the glow-in-the-dark things. The light of truth does the same thing within the darkness of our hearts. We become truly alive with the light within us glowing. My prayer is that the light burns brighter and brighter within which means it will shine all the more on the outside to others.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 27

God's word is amazing! I have SO many times read a passage again and again and every time it is read I see something different. I think a lot of it has to do with the season of life you are in. This is a very good reason to never stop reading the Word of the Lord because He will speak to you wherever you are in your life. I am praising God for His word and how it is eternal. You can go on and on reading it and always come away with something new. In church on Sunday our prastor spoke about Matthew 2:13-23 which in a nutshell is about the escape of Mary, Joseph and Jesus to Egypt and about him coming out of Egypt and ending up in Nazzareth. I have heard this part of the story many times but our pastor brought out a very interesting thought as to why Matthew included it in the story. Jesus is living out the old testament. He is exhiled to Egypt because a certain king wants to see him dead and when that king is dead Jesus comes out of Egypt like Moses leading the Isrealites out of Egypt. We are doing the same thing! We are in exhile because of our sins. We cannot be near the Lord but Jesus like Moses leads us out of exhile into eternal life. My exhile was the sins of my past abortions and my secondary infertility issues I had brought a light onto those sins and made me face them for what they really are. I was led out of the darkness I faced every month when my period would show up again into the light and a relationship with God. I am not happy about where I was but I am very grateful and delighted with where I ended up. What drove you into exhile and how were you led out of it to Jesus?
Matthew 2:19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Isreal, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."