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July 29, 2010 12:27:08
Posted By Harolene
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When I was a little girl I thought my daddy was the biggest, strongest man there could ever be, Superman certainly had nothing on him! When I was five we lived in Lockhart, S.C. It was a "Mill Village", which meant that everyone who lived there worked for the mill. I don't remember what they made, may have been sheets, towels, I am not sure. The street we lived on had a dead end and the church my dad pastored was at the end of that street. Little identical houses lined both sides of the street, we lived in one of those small houses. The Superintendant of the Mill took a liking to the "preacher" and when one of the foremans moved, he decided to let us move into that larger house, it was high on the side of a hill. There was no refridgerator in that house so we were to take our old one there. No one was avaliable to help move it so daddy wrapped a big leather belt around it and somehow attached it to his back. I can still see the ladies and young boys standing with wide, unbelieving eyes watching my super dad hoist that big fridge on his back and walk it up that hill, sweat pouring off that big, crooked, Armenian nose. As I have grown older, so has he, so that now I know that his physical body is not invincible, as I had once believed, I offer him a helping arm. Oh he is still very strong, I tease him that he "dead-lifts" 230 pounds every time he stands up, because he has to push himself to his feet using the strength of his massive arms and chest, but still, he is old. Psalm 34:2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. As a child we are convinced of our daddy's greatness and will say "My dad can do anything"; then we realize that he is indeed human. However, for the child of God, the opposite is true, as we grow in understanding of the greatness of our Lord. As growth increases our awareness of His greatness, both in His love for us and in His power toward us, we will become increasingly more dependant on Him to direct us and enable us. That defines "walking in the Spirit". Then we increase in our desire for childlike worship-ready praise that is vocal and visible in our celebration of Him! Psalm 131:1-3 Lord my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Lke a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. ...hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever. In this Psalm David is describing himself as a small child, looking to God for everything in the way a child looks to its mother. True maturity looks less and less to our own wisdom for answers or to our own earthly strength for results and trusts the Father entirely. Then when God moves on our behalf, we will find ourself bragging about Him to anyone who will hear it! It is important to ask ourselves if people know who our "Daddy God" is. My Daddy God has been so good to me, He answers all my prayers, yes ALL, sometimes He has to tell me no, but even when He does say no, I always end up undertanding why...that's how good He is. Sometimes it seems that He looks down the road and "knows before I call" and "answers while I am yet speaking!"
Be blessed, Pray, brag on your Daddy God a little!
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July 28, 2010 10:34:21
Posted By Harolene
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While some are having vacations and BBQ parties, there are others who are steeped in problems and heartache and it seems no one wants to hear about it. It is to that second group that I say: Hello all you Davids'out there, a man often in deep trouble! David was an exceptional young man, a shepherd, a poet, a song writer, a King and a man after God's own heart, who came to a valley of decision, prevailed (withstood) and won! When I compared us in God's armor to David trying to wear Saul's armor it just stayed in my mind, so I am back...with David. Young David went to take food to his brothers, fighting at the front line, and heard a roar going up from a "bragadocius" giant named Goliath. The Philistines and the men of Israel were on standing on hills on opposite sides of a valley. That valley belonged to Judah ,the tribe of Praise, and the Philistines were determined to fight for it and win. This story could be in tomorrow's headlines, couldn't it? It is said that the first thing on your mind in the morning and the last thing on your mind before you go to sleep are the most important things in your life. Goliath made sure that the first thing the Israelites heard in the morning and the last thing before they went to sleep was his brags about tearing them to pieces and feeding their bodies to the birds!Well let's cut out all the details for the sake of space and say that David convinced Saul to let him have a shot at the giant (sling shot that is). David was part of the tribe of Judah and had been raised to praise God, abiding in praise as you can read in his Psalms, and this was HIS valley too! He RAN toward the Giant spinning that slingshot and even though he had chosen 5 smooth stones, it only took ONE! BANG, right in the only unprotected spot on his head, between his eyes, and down he went! When we are facing a giant who is trying to take away our property, our praise, our happiness, we must face him head on and throw that stone of prayer and praise and down him! David then jumped up on his chest and cut off his head (this is rated PG13 for violence). He took that head into his tent and put it on a pole! The head represents authority, we take authority over the giants in our lives when we ask God in the name of Jesus and use stones made from the blood He shed on the Cross! When He died for us He gave us the authority to be-head our giants (problems). John 14:12-14"Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can't believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I'll do. Face it, Jesus healed crippled and blind and lepors and raised the dead...if he left us with the power to do what He did, then can't we at least face our giants knowing that He will be there for us? YES we can! Come on David, sing a Psalm, let's start with a verse from 91:15-16 He shall call on Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him, with long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation! That is God giving us HIS promise to be with us when we face our giants, and He, unlike some of us, KEEPS His promises! Be blessed, Pray and Face your giants with praise!
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July 27, 2010 09:47:57
Posted By Harolene
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For God SO loved the world that He gave His ONLY begotten Son, that WHOSOVER believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent NOT His Son into the world to CONDEMN the world, but that the world THROUGH HIM, might be saved. John 3:16-17 When I had my daughter, Cherita Siroon', I thought that I could never love another human as much as I loved her. I stared at her while she slept and wondered at how long her black eyelashes were, how perfect the nails on her tiny fingers and toes were. Her smile would light our whole room, a whole family of adults adoring this one small baby. I watched her grow and was happy that she was my family...then Ara came...when I was expecting him it was hard to believe that another child could be as wonderful as the first, but YOU know the outcome of that if you have more than one child...I loved him beyond description, my child of prophecy, here in my arms. I remember the day he was born at Northside Hospital, there couldn't have possibly been another child as beautiful as he was. Did you read the scripture at the top of this blog? A friend of mine, who has four children, told me before I had a child, that your heart just grows larger with each child, they all have their own piece of your heart. That being true, think about how large God's heart must be, to include the whole world even the people or nation that does not worship Him as the true and living God, or accept Jesus as Savior of the world. How it must grieve Him when those people turn away from His love. Today I was driving and looked up at the beautiful blue of the sky and the wispy clouds blowing across the expanse of it and my heart just swelled with the greatness of the sight. O Lord, Our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth! When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him? taken from Psalm 8 This is the Creator of our Universe and He loves us each, separately! Yes even that person that you detest (did I say that out loud?). My dad informed me of that fact when I was just a young girl and had been insulted by being called vicious names and left on my back on a gravel play ground...I couldn't believe that God loved her as much as me, well that was my mistake and daddy really told me about it, did he convince me? Well to be honest with you, No, but as I got older and got acquainted with Him for myself, I found that indeed He does love us all...and that is a good thing because I have not always been the stellar example of love myself, are you surprised that I would admit that to you? Well, why not..it only proves my point...He loves me just the way I am...and oh yes...you too..whoever you may be! An old hymn says "Oh love of God, how rich, how pure, how measureless and strong, it shall forever more endure the saints' and angels' song." "His love reaches to the highest mountain, it flows to the lowest valley, oh the blood that gives me strength from day to day, it shall never lose it's power." Yes His love for us was the reason he shed His blood for the remission of our sins!
Be blessed, pray and know that you are loved beyond measure!
Contact me at harolene@att.net
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July 26, 2010 11:21:59
Posted By Harolene
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When you watch strong men contests on TV (don't tell me you never saw one), or you watch a beauty contest (same thing here), you can see strong, lean, muscled, toned bodies! Do you think any of those people just got out of bed one morning and looked like that? Do you think any of the strong men could pick up a bull or pull a truck without ever having gone to the gym and working out? Can you imagine any of the beautiful people ever just eating with abandon without worrying about what they just ate? I can't speak to that personally but just using my vivid imagination here! OK Harolene, get to the point, we're wasting time and space here..Well here it is: People commit their life to the Lord and then suddenly expect to be Super Christians. People that I have known that have been Christians a LONG time STILL can't quote a scripture, with the possible exception of the Lord's Prayer, and yet they consider themselves mature Christians. Let's look at Hebrews 5:12 (NLT) You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God's word. You are like babies who need mild and cannot eat solid food. Christians are growing older without growing up! We make plans for everything in our life from what our next meal will be to saving for our retirements but we forget the most important thing in our life! Spiritual growth is not automatic...just look at that scripture again! If the people had been growing spiritually the writer would not have told them that they had been believers so long that they should be teaching, but were instead still needing to be taught! I watch people who rearrange scripture to fit their particular theology...like making Jesus Christ just "a" way to God and putting other spiritual leaders right there with him...'Scuse me, but Jesus is the ONLY way to the Throne and anyone who has accepted Him should already know that! Do we need to publish "Christianity for Dummies" to explain the basics? Maybe we should. I have found, and my own 92 year old dad said this very thing yesterday, that every time I read, even familiar scriptures, I see something new and different. The Word is living. The book of John opens with "In the beginning was the Word", well my dear reader, that Word was Jesus, Jesus is the Word, either way you say it is right! Pick up your copy of the Bible, if it is hard to understand get a translation that is easier, like the New Living Translation. Whatever you do, make this the year of learning more from the "Word," (both meanings apply here).
If there is a question in your mind about anything in the Word, write to me and tell me what it is. If I don't know the answer I know where to find it! One more thing, I am interested in what you consider to be the best "life lesson" you have ever had, write and tell me about it!
Be blessed, keep praying, pick up the Good Book and read!
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July 25, 2010 03:40:20
Posted By Harolene
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That is the question! A slight misquote, but it fits what I need to say. I was thinking about how hard I try to keep myself disciplined. I diet and exercise, take my vitamins and feel really good, then something happens, I sabatoge myself! I feel so bad, get in a slump and feel I have totally let myself down. I apologize to God for not being a good steward of the Temple that He gave me,and I start all over again. It's one of those cycles like my dad having raisins in his oats, and then saying he never wants them and so on! I am laughing here, laugh with me. Back to the point. I talk to a lot of people and it does seem that we all have the "sabatage" problem, in one way or another. Some swear they will give up (here you name it), or never do (your choice) again. They are going to start going to church faithfully and pray everyday and read the Bible, then before you know it, you don't see them for months and it is because they fractured their routine in some minor way and it gave them the excuse needed to just give up, all over again! So as I walked my sore legs up the stairs, I remember someone, we all feel was very special to God, and who wrote most of the New Testament, had the same problem! Romans 7:14-20 I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. Now, my dear reader, if the Apostle Paul had this problem, then who do we think we are that we have to utterly fail when we break the smallest, or biggest, law of God. What is better, to get up and start over, or give up completely and lose all the ground you have gained spiritually? With a diet, you can go off of it altogether, next thing you know Richard Simmons will be at your house crying and calling the Fire Department to come and cut you out of the wall because you're too big to fit through the door, or you can diet and put your sneakers back on to run, jog, treadmill, spin, what ever your choice of exercise is! We see from this letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul was not discouaged, but was finishing his race in a wonderful way! 2 Timothy 4:6-8 You take over. I'm about to die, my life an offering on God's altar. This is the only race worth running. I've run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All that's left now is the shouting—God's applause! Depend on it, he's an honest judge. He'll do right not only by me, but by everyone eager for his coming. We won't compare ourselves to the Apostle Paul, but it does help to see that some of our fore fathers in the faith had the same struggles that we do! It should encourage you to pick up "the rags of your life, and lay them at the Cross", allowing God to "make something beautiful out of your life!" Be blessed, pray, find your sneakers!
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