It’s not an eyesight issue, it’s a HEART condition

Have you ever thought about the Scripture “walking by faith, and not by sight”? Sure, we hear it and possibly think “yes, indeed I will walk by my faith in “THE ONE and ONLY TRUE GOD”, and not by sight…
We have started the Experiencing God Bible study in our Wednesday evening class at church. This week’s lesson references that the Holy Spirit will be our personal teacher.
The Holy Spirit gives us the assurance and confidence that we need to trust in God by faith. He enhances the knowledge that we have a house in heaven. The Holy Spirit stirs confidence and courage to face the present life. He stirs our faith within us. Knowing that our present home (body) is only temporary– that we are soon to move to our heavenly home– stirs great faith within us. True we do not yet see our heavenly home, but the Holy Spirit stirs within us- faith to walk through all the trials and problems of this life.

2 CORINTHIANS 5: 7, 8
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

How could Paul be so sure that when we leave this body, we will be present with the Lord? Paul says that we walk by faith. We take God at His Word. I would rather take Him at His Word than anyone else’s word.

FRUITFUL OBSERVATION: Walking by faith requires confidence in God’s Word. Real faith doesn’t come with a step by step plan, in which we “see” in order to believe..

Let’s grow our faith and trust in God’s Word every day without having to see the proof of His Promise in advance!! Walk by faith and not by sight:)))

It’s NOT about today…It’s about eternity:)))

After a week of vacation,

and a POWERFUL Easter Sunday, I’d say that I’m a tad behind on blogging and reading others blogs…

I must admit that I feel very blessed that a good number of you have said that you look forward to reading my post for encouragement.
My purpose is exactly for that reason which also glorifies Christ:)))

2 CORINTHIANS 4:16-18
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Today, a good friend and I met to walk and catch up. We discussed our physical limitations, family situations, and had a wonderful time of encouraging each other in the Lord. Oh, how we will continue to face obstacles in this life on earth, but we must keep our commitment to serving Christ.
Rather than giving up when persecution wore him down, Paul concentrated on experiencing the inner strength from the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:16).

FRUITFUL OBSERVATION: Don’t let fatigue, pain, or criticism force you off the job for Christ. Our ultimate hope in terrible illness, persecution, or pain is realizing that this life is not all there is-there is life after death!
Let’s remember that we will live forever with God in a place without sin and suffering! 🙂

Can I get an AMEN?

A HEART CONDITION CAN BE FATAL!!!

How many times have you been having a great day and then allow yourself to lose focus? Scripture tells us that it is important for us to keep our focus on the right things in life.

PROVERBS 4:23-27

23 Keep thy heart with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues of life.
24 Put away from thee a froward mouth,
and perverse lips put far from thee.
25 Let thine eyes look right on,
and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26 Ponder the path of thy feet,
and let all thy ways be established.
27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left:
remove thy foot from evil.

Our heart-our feeling of love and desire dictates to a great extent how we live, because we always find time to do what we enjoy. Solomon tells us to keep our heart with all diligence, making sure we concentrate on those desires that will keep us on the right path.

Make sure your affections push you in the right direction. Put boundaries on your desires: don’t go after everything you see.

Look straight ahead, keep your eyes fixed on your goal and don’t get sidetracked on detours that lead to temptation.

FRUITFUL OBSERVATION: We all know how quickly that we can let our thoughts get to thinking on negative issues, which produces worry. We must be aware and change our view to the positive things of God. What we harbor in our heart comes out of our mouth

Let’s stay focused on what God’s Word says today and every day!

HIS WORD IS THE POWER THAT WE NEED TO DEFEAT THE DOUBT THAT THE devil BRINGS

Scoffers, READERS and HAPPY ROOTS:))))

Do you ever feel challenged or a little-disappointed when trying to share God’s Word with others? It can seem as though they think that you may be too excited about studying a boring history book of days long ago. I want to encourage you not to get discouraged for one moment:))))))) God is working in our heart and mind! I feel a real sadness for people who don’t show any concern or excitement about our God that they profess to ‘believe’ in for their eternal salvation.

PSALMS 1:1-3
1 Blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord;
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

God doesn’t judge people by race, sex, or national origin. He Judges them by their faith in Him and their response to His revealed Will. Those who diligently try to obey God’s Will are like healthy, fruit-bearing trees with strong roots (Jeremiah 17:5-8) And God promises to watch over them. God’s wisdom guides their lives. In contrast, those who don’t obey God have meaningless lives that blow like dust.

FRUITFUL OBSERVATION: As a tree soaks up water and bears luscious fruit, we also are to soak up God’s Word, producing actions and attitudes that honor God. To achieve anything worthwhile, we must have God’s Word in our heart.

Let’s soak up God’s Word today and every day! Man-made sources are temporary…But salvation is FOREVER:)) We NEED the correct WATER SOURCE:)

We shall be like trees planted by a river NOT like an overflowed puddle that leaves our roots compromised

An EMPTY chair, Bagged garbage, and a Rolled up RUSTY fence:)

I get SO EXCITED when I see something that speaks “OH, THIS IS AN excellent PICTURE FOR A BLOG!”

Today is a BEAUTIFUL DAY to SIT QUIETLY and decide if you have a RUSTY FENCE that needs to be rolled up and some GARBAGE that needs to be BAGGED !

PHILIPPIANS 3:7-9
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

After Paul considered everything he had accomplished in his life, he said that it was all worthless when compared with knowing Christ. This is a profound statement about values: a person’s relationship with Christ is more important than anything else. To know, Christ should be our ultimate goal.
Sometimes, we can allow worldly things to accumulate in our lives, and that can lead to placing our security and confidence in the wrong areas. After a while, God will remove the rusty fence of protection that we built around what we thought was OUR INDEPENDENCE.
God demands a TOTAL SURRENDER of our lives to Him
We need to SIT QUIETLY before him and BAG UP THE GARBAGE that keeps us from being one hundred percent usable and ROLL UP THE RUSTY FENCE that we’ve put up around our OWN INDEPENDENCE.

FRUITFUL OBSERVATION: We need to consider our values and not place anything above or around our relationship with Christ. Our independence should be depended  COMPLETLY  UPON HIM!

Let’s DEPEND ONLY UPON CHRIST today and every day:))

Washed, Emptied, and NO RECORDS to file:)))

OH MY!!!!!! You all know me by now that I can’t pass a picture like this up without a blog post:)))))

NO RECORDS OF SIN, ONCE WASHED AND CLEANED

PSALMS 51:1-4
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions:
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
and done this evil in thy sight:
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,
and be clear when thou judgest.

We see that David was truly sorry for his adultery with Bath-sheba and for murdering her husband to cover it up. He knew his actions had hurt many people. But because David repented of those sins, God mercifully forgave him. No sin is too great to be forgiven!
While God forgives us, however, He does not always erase the natural consequences of our sin-David’s life, and family were never the same as a result of his sin (2 Samuel 12:1-23).

We are also told in Scripture that God does not keep a record of our sins.
HEBREWS 10:17
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

The writer concludes his argument with this powerful statement that God will never remember our sins. Christ forgives completely, so there is no need to confess our past sins repeatedly.

We are told in REVELATION 21:27

27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie:but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

FRUITFUL OBSERVATION: As believers, we can be confident that the sins we confess and renounce are forgiven and forgotten.

Let’s live our life today and every day knowing that God keeps NO RECORDS of our past and forgiven sins! STAY CLEAN IN HIS SIGHT:))

TWO MINUTE FRUIT BITE 3/1/16

Smoothing out the ‘thorn’ Misunderstandings:) click view🤔

Today’s 2 minute fruit bite:)

Looking at today’s blog more closely 🙂