God's Justice and Ours

Certainly evildoers deserve punishment but there is a great difference between God's justice and ours. The problem is that man thinks of justice in a different way than God. We believe that justice has been served when the perpetuators of crime or evil works are punished with a jail sentence or even sentenced to death. Humans tend to focus on the eye for an eye brand of justice for the evil that people do.

Thankfully, God does not view things in the same way and He practices to give us what we need rather than what we deserve and that is also what He requires us to do in our dealings with others.

A JOKE

A lady of a certain age visited a professional photographer to have her portrait made. When she returned to see the proofs she told the photographer that the pictures did not do her justice. The photographer commented, “Ma'am, when it comes to your portraits you don't need justice; you need mercy!”

LOVE AND FORGIVENESS

And mercy is something that we all need! We need for God to be merciful toward us and we need him to love us, forgive us and accept us. We are well aware that even the most devout Christians do not always walk in faith as we should. We are often separated from our beliefs and the way that we live out our lives do not reflect our spirituality.
Please refer to this inspirational Bible verse about love and kindness, Micah 6:8 that tells us, "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

When the Lord asks us to carry out justice he is requiring us to live and walk in our faith in our daily lives. Just going to church on Sunday is not enough. Our faith should lead us to work from justice and to witness to others in the way that we conduct our lives. To be truthful there's no danger in mistaking us for Christ our Savior but He should be seen in us in the way we live. It’s a goal worth having to bring God's Justice and ours closer together and to conduct acts of kindness that remind others of our Lord who is the kindest of all.

Communicating with God through Prayer

Communicating with God through prayer is the very best way to deal with what the world throws at us. In fact, we owe it to ourselves to start each day in fellowship with our Creator to give us the strength and inspiration to accept His will and to acknowledge his wisdom.

When my mother was a child her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. At this time, this more or less was considered a death sentence. Medical treatments were much less advanced in those days and the choices open to her were radiation and radical surgery neither of which offering any real guarantee of survival. In fact the doctor told her to get her spiritual house in order and be prepared for the worst.

Feeling better best chances were with surgery that is the option she chose. After the surgery the doctor told her that even with radiation she would probably live no longer than a year or so. The treatments made her so sick and she realized that for that one short year she was going to have no quality of life and stopped so that she could enjoy her children for the short time she had left to her.

My grandmother and grandfather had only been Christians for a few years but remembered hearing a sermon on how God had the power to heal and referred to this inspirational Bible verse in James: 5:14-15 that tells us, "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he had committed sand, they shall be forgiven him."

So they called the elders as indicated that they should in the Bible verse and asked them to come and pray for my grandmother. The elder said that they had never received such a call and had not prayed over a sick person in this manner before but has asked a prayed a simple prayer asking for this young mother to be healed.

The next day she was released from the hospital to go home and prepare to die. However, I am here and able to tell you this story today because that small group of believers gathered together in her hospital room for the purpose of communicating with God through prayer in her behalf. You see, she was healed and live not only to raise her children but to see her grandchildren.

Our heavenly Father created us to stay in fellowship with Him and to communicate with him through prayer and offers great benefits if we will just call on Him for guidance. Do you have a need that communicating with God through prayer might be filled? We should all work diligently to develop our relationship with Him and to communicate our needs to Him and not look to the opinions and approval of man for fulfillment.

HOW GOD MADE US

When I read the following Bible verse, in those quiet moments when my mind is roaming free, I often wonder how God made us and why.

I Corinthians 12:12-20 tells us, "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, ‘because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?"

While on vacation recently, we were lounging on the beach with all of our children playing around us, when our three-year-old daughter came running from behind my lounge chair to shout at the seagulls telling them, "Go away!" "You're not scaring me!" Her delivery was so convincing that the birds actually scattered for a few moments.

Amused, I turned back to reading my book until I heard my other daughter crying. Nowhere near as brave as her older sister she was afraid of the birds and was standing riveted in the hot sand in distress. Then here comes my three year-old began telling the birds to get away from her sister! Once again they took off and my toddler was able to relax for a moment.

This event reminded me of just how God has made us all so different. Even members of the same family so close in age have completely different personalities. What this tells me is just how each of our personalities fit together as part of God's plan for us.

My younger daughter was easy creating a work of art (toddler style) until she became afraid of the birds. But her big sister was ready, willing and able to help remove the fear so that she could move on with her artwork.

I believe that how God made us was to arrange each of us to play an integral part in the “body” of His family all working with one another in His perfect plan. The Lord puts people in our lives that are capable of assisting and helping us calm our fears and get through difficult times so that we can finish our assigned masterpieces. But it is our choice to accept their help.

The ultimate friend, protect her and helper is our God. He is all knowing and is aware of exactly what we need even before the moment is at hand. He is the ultimate defender that gives us the strength to stand against trouble and resist temptations.

He knows exactly what we need because we are His children and created in His image. As His children all we need to do is listen for His instruction and accept his help.

When we spend time at His feet and allow Him to be the greatest influence in our lives we will have an existence full of favor and benefits of salvation and there are so many inspirational Bible verses that attest to this as fact.

BIBLE VERSE about PAIN and SUFFERING

Of all the Bible verses about pain and suffering my favorite quote are the words of Jesus himself that Matthew 11:28-30
quotes: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest until your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."


How we deal with our pain and suffering is the result of how we perceive it and the reason for it. Jesus is ministry was filled with many setbacks, rejections and painful times, yet at the end of His life here on earth He continued to forgive others of their faults and ignorance. His perception of pain and suffering was that of an easy yoke and a lighter burden. Even in the face of much strife and suffering he continued to make away where there seemed not to be one.

In this Bible verse about pain and suffering he instructs us to learn how He himself managed to shoulder the burdens because he knew better than any other that this world was going to continue to bring challenges to Christians on a daily basis. He also reminds us that while we are in this world we are not OF this world. He does this so that our perception of day-to-day struggles should be looked at through His eyes and with His nature.

We should constantly remind ourselves that we should not allow the obstacles that are thrown in our path to skew our perceptions and well on the problem without taking them to the problem solver, Jesus Christ. His goal was to make our pain and suffering lighter and our yoke in life easier by learning from him, leaning on him and most of all excepting the salvation that he offered us.

GOD'S PLAN FOR ME

Here’s my favorite Bible verse regarding God’s plan for me Jeremiah 29:11 tells me, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."


I should have this inspirational Bible verse pasted on my bathroom mirror, refrigerator,etc. so that I will be reminded that I am not in control and to look for God's guidance before jumping in and pushing forth with my own will.


I’m hard headed and don’t always stop to pray about what God’s plans might be. Whenever I have a goal and I fail to reach it there are times when I have immediately set about trying to figure out a way to fix it and when that doesn't work I might take off on another track that would “work”.

And then I might begin to rack my brain to solicit help from a friend or family member who might be able to help me solve the problem. Never mind that the persons help whom we seek may not have any experience whatsoever in solving the type of problem that I'm having; they are available they are willing and by this time I'm desperate so their help is better than nothing at all. Right?

Recently I was going for just such a situation where I had stored a large number of things in a rented storage facility. Realizing that I had no way to lock the door I went in search of a good padlock at my local hardware store. I had to spend a little more money but the lock that I bought was one of the most secure that they had for sale and it serves the purpose as it kept my belongings safe.

My sister was about to move into her first apartment so I invited her to come for a visit and go through my storage unit to see if there was anything that she could use. After she arrived I went to get the key so that she could unlock the unit. I always kept the key on one particular key ring however I had recently given another friend permission to look through the stuff stored inside and when I went to find the key for my sister it was not where I had thought it would be. Apparently when my friend brought key back I had stuck it in a drawer somewhere. Since my sister was only going to be in town for a limited amount of time I had the brilliant idea of borrowing some cutters and simply cutting the lock off.

Long story short, this plan failed so we started to search for the padlock ski once again and luckily found it. We headed to the storage unit once again with key and hand ready to open the padlock only to find that our great idea of using cutters had damaged the lock and key would only partially open it.

A passerby suggested that he could go and get an electric saw and cut the lock off which seemed like a good idea until the lock ate the blade. The lock was still holding tight although it now had several dent in a couple of scratches that the saw blade had made.

I realize that the only option left to us was a locksmith who would charge a substantial fee. It was around this time that I realized if I had not been so impatient, given up and pushed forward rather than continuing the search for the missing key in the first place we might have opened the storage unit with no problems.

It struck me that I often deal with God’s plan for me in the same manner. When He puts a plan or a project in front of me to guide me with the least amount of suffering pain and frustration often questioned the conditions or the timing and end up second-guessing God and sabotaging things.

I often let individuals and circumstances intrude that are not good for me because I become desperate or impatient. Sure, there are times when I do get the desired results but my impatience can create much unnecessary turmoil. When I jump ahead of God’s plan for me just because I'm too lazy to work through things or because I am in a hurry to make things happen I create chaos.


Jeremiah 29:11 tells us”’ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”


God's plan for me is to show me the way to go and if I manage not to get in such a hurry that I try to outguess God it will save me time, frustration and as illustrated in the example I wrote about in this article, money.

Salvation Bracelet Craft Kits

Vacation Bible School is only a week or two away and I think Salvation Bracelet Craft kits may be something that the girls in my class' age group might enjoy making. It's hard to find a craft with meaning that doesn't require advanced artistic skills.

I found kits that have hemp cords and synthetic leather ones that come with laminated inspirational message cards that are written in both English and Spanish. The girls in my class will love making these and I believe that giving them to their friends who may not actually attend Bible School will help to spread the Word.

The Salvation bracelet craft kits with the inspirational message card that I was considering are advertised at .39 each which is very reasonable, in fact it's very cheap! But I'm on a very tight budget and have even been entering to win free stuff to use as supplies. If you know of a less expensive resource for the bracelet kits, would you please leave a comment telling me where to find them online? I would appreciate the help

BRINGING SOULS TO CHRIST

I often wonder if there is a better way of bringing souls to Christ than to visit, leave pamphlets and invite people to join me at church. I know that many are hungry...no starved...for what our Savior has to give and are just waiting for an invitation.

Many times these lost souls stand silently in the background or worse yet, act in the most sinful ways imaginable in order to either be noticed or in a futile attempt to fill the emptiness in their lives with something even if it's the wrong thing.
However, as miserable and sad as these people can be they often take offense or are insulted and downright rebellious if a Christian shows up at their door bringing them an invitation to join your religious family.

We are told many times in the Bible that witnessing is important but we should be aware that the inspirational message can be delivered in many ways.

Here is one Bible verse about witnessing and bringing souls to Christ that I would like to share:

ACTS 1:8

"But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power to testify about me with great effect to the people in Jerusalem throughout Judea, and in Sumaria, and to the ends of the earth."

HOW TO WITNESS

Perhaps one of the most effective ways for us to witness would be how we live our own lives. Do we live the way Jesus would want us to live? Would He approve of our actions on any given day? Do we make it a practice to only go to places where He would go?

The way that we go about our day to day workaday lives can be a witness bringing souls to Christ. Our very lives can be a witness to the lost and then when we do have the opportunity to witness the lost person will be more receptive to our invitation.

The love of Jesus Christ is a beautiful gift that we can offer every lost person that is waiting for an invitation to receive the gift of salvation. We can be the motivation for the lost to seek salvation. We can show them the joy that comes from being a member of the family of God. Showing them rather than telling them that God's love can take away the pain is perhaps a better way.

Here is a poem that is an invitation to unsaved individuals.

To the tired and thirsty person
Plagued by sin and woe
Christ offers a place of comfort
Where the saved can go

He offers us cool water
And food enough to share
With those who would trade light for darkness
And tormented thoughts for prayer

His gift is wrapped in beauty
And eternal life too
A present of peace and joy so sweet
Waiting for you at Jesus' feet

Bringing lost souls to Christ's love can be a personal blessing, so let's dedicate ourselves to living the live the Jesus intended for us to receive it to the very fullest.

Will God Take Care of Me

During these difficult times, many are asking "Will God Take Care of Me?" because they are facing situations that they never in their wildest dreams thought they would encounter. Virtually every family I know is suffering financial setbacks and worries and the root of this is the outcome of confusing what we WANT with our actual needs. The greed and dishonesty of a few have certainly brought us to a difficult time.

Will God provide for me in the manner to which I've become accustomed? That all depends! God promised to provide for our needs, not our wants. And He is the only one who knows exactly what we need and when we need it and I ask you do you really think that luxury has made people happy?

My faith and many inspirational Bible verses tell me that God will stand by me and supply what I need so long as I'm patient and willing to wait. Waiting on God can be difficult because he doesn't work according to our calendar. However, we can comfort in the knowledge that as we are struggling with a need that He in His wisdom already knows the need as He knows all things.

Knowing the answer to the question, will God take care of me provides comfort to my anxious soul. I know this because scripture assures me that if I wait on God, in faith, that He will provide.

Why would He let us reach the point of desperation? Perhaps this is to lead us to renew our dependence on Him and bring us back to the point of child like faith depending on him for all things.

JOYS OF BEING A CHRISTIAN

I recently had a moment to reflect on the joys of being a Christian and I would like to share my experience with you. On a recent lengthy car trip with my daughter, we had a chance for some mother-daughter conversations as well as moments of comfortable silence. During one of the quiet moments, I found myself having to manuever through a construction zone with uneven pavement that required some effort to keep the car on the road.


The jerking, weaving and pulling of the car was a bit scary and I started to get frustrated with trying to both keep us safe and find a smooth spot on the road. While I was feeling the stress and strain I happened to glance over at my little girl and saw that she was aware of the situation and the expression on her face was so horrified and yet funny that in spite of myself I got tickled!

At first she didn't appreciate the humor of the situation and seemed irritated that I was taking things so lightly. But the more I laughed the more she caught my mood, joined in and started to let go and laugh.

After making it through the rough patch just fine I started thinking of how the lighthearted moment made things better. There are so many moments every day that bring us to the brink of frustration, fear, worry and sometimes anger but what would the outcome be if we stopped, took a breath and reflected on the joys of being a Christian and to draw on those teachings?

Proverbs 17:22 tells us, "A merry heart does good like a medicine."

What if when sadness and heartache comes our way we respond to it with thinking of Luke 6:21 that states, "Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh."?

When financial problems arise, the Bible has an answer for that in Psalms 126:5 telling us, "But he that is of a merry heart has a continual feast."

And perhaps tensions on your job or in the office could be alleviated by referral to Proverbs 15:13 that says, "A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance."

Perhaps if we put these uplifting Bible verses to work every day we will find that the joys of being a Christian are contagious and we would be hard pressed to find better motivational quotes than the ones we find in above scripture.

Dedication to Christ

I learned about dedication to Christ and standing by one's Christian beliefs early in life. You see, my mother and father had very different upbringings. My mom was raised on a country farm and my dad could scarcely claim any one location as his roots because his father was in the military and moved the family frequently. But where they lived early in life was not the most profound of their differences. Mother came from a long line of missionaries who dedicated their lives to spreading the word about Jesus.

It's true that opposites attract and according to both, from the moment they met they couldn't imagine spending life with anyone else. Mother set out to make a Christian home which was fine with my dad although it didn't seem as important to him as it did to her. Kids notice these things and I'm very fortunate that mother's dedication to Christ was as steadfast as it was or I may well have followed a different path.

An example of her devotion took place on a cold Sunday in winter day when we were all getting ready for church. The roads were in danger of becoming slick by afternoon so mother asked dad would he chauffer us to church and he refused saying that we could miss one day of preaching with no harm done.

Mother quietly turned and bundled me and my sister up just a little warmer and tugged on our rain boots and out the door we went, walking several miles to Sunday services. Where did this tiny lady find the strength to carry both of us in the freezing cold on icy roads? You can find the answer in Isaiah 40 that says:

"He gives power to the faint; and to them who have no might He increases strength....But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

A long time later I expressed how amazed I was that she had (what seemed to me) defied my dad and she directed me to read the inspirational Bible verse Romans 8:38-39 which says:

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Her dedication to Christ as shown on that cold day had not only an effect on all of us kids but on my dad as he not only accepted Jesus as his Saviour but went on to become a minister of the gospel himself! To her credit, her devotion and spiritual leadership brought all of my brothers and sisters to serve in some capacity within the church.