Lynnely

God's original plan for man was that he fellowship with and praise God. Wouldn't that be an awesome day...to walk with God, to hear his voice as He spoke to us, to feel His presence? Why did SOMEone have to mess that up??? It's too bad God had to send man out of His physical presence...but it's still our purpose to worship and praise Him and give Him the glory that is due Him. We do this by living the life Christ taught us and by loving our neighbors as ourselves. If we love our neighbor who doesn't know Christ, it's glory to God when we share His Son with them. The Matthew passage encourages us to stand out as something different, something set apart for God's work, something available at all times to make a difference in someone else's life! Salt and light...two things we can't live without.

God's mystery....once unknown to the people is now known....that the Gentiles are to be included in the family of God! Praise the Lord! And it was through Christ's sacrifice that this "mystery" came to fruition. He died for every human being dead or alive or will be alive....but if there had not been more people...He would have died just for me...or you! Because God purposed to reveal this mystery through Christ, it is fitting He is the head of the Family. All things happen by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. He IS the Head! Since Christ was with God at Creation...He is also the Creator. 1 Cor 15:24-28....When the end comes...the second coming of Jesus Christ...He will reign with his saints for 1000 years. This is the time when Satan is bound, but he has to be loosed for a short time to decieve the nations again. Then the final battle occurs, Hades and death and Satan are thrown into the lake of fire along with the unbelievers...where the anti-christ and false prophet already are. This is for keeps! Then Christ will hand over the reins to God, not that He isn't as important as God...they are the same, as is the Holy Spirit. The three are God with different jobs, so to speak. The dominion, authority and power had belonged for that short time to Satan. But now God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is the Head...and we believers (both Jews and Gentiles) are enjoying our life eternal with Him in the new Jerusalem.

I have been in church since I was a small child...maybe 3-4 yrs old. I knew the story of Jesus, Moses, Daniel in the lion's den, etc. I accepted the Lord as My Savior when I was 9 years old...but no one ever told me exactly what that step involved. Although I was a believer, a Christian, who went to church every Sunday, played the organ/piano for services, sang in the choir, taught our children about God and Jesus as well as other children in Sunday School...my life was one still in slavery to the world. I didn't do bad things...drink, smoke, lie, cheat, kill, rob, etc...but I didn't share the Gospel either...and that's our job here on earth! By watching my husband become a strong believer in Christ's principles and the way he conducted his life, I became free from that slavery to the world...I was redeemed, really redeemed, by the blood of Christ. Without that redemption my life would have been a humdrum sort of thing, going along in life as a quasi Christian, like most of us do. Yes, I had the assurance of salvation from the time I was 9, but that's not all of the story! Now I look forward to Wednesday mornings when I teach a Bible study to 30 plus people about the grace and love of God. I share the Gospel whenever I can. My life is counting for something. Some of the people I meet may never accept Christ, but it isn't my job to make them do that...only to plant the seed and let God do the rest. My future? When I take my last breath here on earth, I will take the next in the arms of Jesus Christ. I'll be able to stand before the throne and hear God say...a job well done, my faithful daughter and friend!

Adoption is a uniquely precious word to me. Being reared from childhood closely with a "son by adoption" I see first hand what it means to be "chosen" into a family. Jon was taken from a very unfit mother, father is yet unknown, destined for a life of sadness, misfortune and failure. Adoption brought him into a family who wanted a child first of all, who were strong Christians, given a mother who loved him at first signt with a love that only a mother could give; and a father's strong sense of love and duty to his God first, then his family, then his country. This adopted child was given every opportunity a boy/man could want. Before we were in our mother's womb, we belonged to God...we were His child. He sent us to be born into a specific family...only to use our will and mind to become what we wanted. His goal for us was to live a life of goodness and mercy, to become acquainted with His Son and to accept the precious gift He gave us....salvation through Jesus Christ. Some of us stray from that goal and never reach it...some of us see the goal and take different paths to attain it...and some of us head straight for it without geeing or hawing! But however we come to know Jesus...and believe in His divine power to save us...we become once again into the family of God...adopted if need be! Adoption gives us the same legal rights a natural child has...but more importantly it gives us the knowledge that our parents had to "work" to bring us into the family...they many times had to sacrifice and give up precious things. Jesus Christ gave up this throne in heaven for a while, so we could know more about him here on earth. He went as far as He could go...He gave up his life for us...and would have just for ME...because He loves us so much! Adoption is encouraging to me because no matter what a former life started as...adoption changes everything, wipes the slate clean and gives us a brand new start. No one can be so bad, or so lost, that they can't be adopted back into God's family!

To be "holy" is to be set apart, different from the rest, to be used for a specific purpose. To the believer it means to be called out from the midst of an unbelieving society...to join the family of God. God's one desire is for us to be one of his children, to love and obey Him because we love Him. God is holy...actually He is the only HOLY One, but we are to emulate Him as closely as we can. Jesus was sent to show us the way. He lived a holy life, sinless without fault, but because of the hardness of our hearts and the veil often before our eyes, we are reluctant to give up that 'old' self completely and walk as He did. He gave up Himself, his position, and even the love of His Father for a short time because of our sinful natures. He suffered trials, torments, pain, anger and finally death in order that we could receive the life He gave up for a short time. In and of myself, I could never stand "blameless" before God, but because of what Jesus did for me, Iam blameless and will stand before God one day with my head held high as the daughter of the King that I am. Am I proud to be a Christian...you bet I am, but not in the way that most people define "proud". I'm proud to be a child of God because I've made the right decision to be like Him as best I can...and to share my knowledge of Him with whomever He brings to me.

I don't know why anyone who understands predestination would be afraid. God has destined believers for salvation...to live eternally with Him after our years on earth are finished. We can do this b/c of the sacrifice our Lord and Savior made in our behalf...accepting our sins upon His sinless body and nailing them to the cross in our place...for the penalty of sin is death. God, in His infinite wisdom, knew this plan would be necessary from the beginning of time..He knew some would believe in who His Son is and some wouldn't...for those who wouldn't there had to be a consequence...eternal damnation. It's our choice to believe or not believe. But one of my favorite sayings is "God knew the ending from the beginning."

If you don't understand "predestination" the word would certainly be questionable to some. "If I'm predestined to be saved (as some believe) why do I have to do all these things the Bible tells us we need to do? If I'm predestined to go to hell (as others might believe)...why should I even try?" To not know that you are definitely a childl of God would be scary to me. The assurance I have of spending eternity with God, inheriting everything Jesus has inherited, being a joint heir with Him and being seated before the throne is such a joyous comfort. I think maybe Paul brought the subject up in the hearing of the Ephesians so they could have the reassurance of their eternal life in God's presence. Probably not one believer alive has not once wondered if they were one of the group who would be left behind. But a quick urging of the Holy Spirit, telling them to remember "whose" they are should quickly dispell any doubts...or fears.

This is a toughie! If one were to take the two phrases separately, they would mean 2 different things, I believe. But written together is a bit more complicated to me. In my mind, the Father, Son and Spirit are one...but each separately with distinct actions to perform. Since accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord AND Savior, He is just that...He came for the purpose of teaching me the things the Father wants me to know and do, living a perfect life, and finally dying in my place because of my sinful live before salvation. But then he left to go back to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell my body, instead of Him. Now it's the Holy Spirit who directs my pathway, who urges me to do the right thing when the wrong thing seems easier and maybe more attractive at the time. But it is Christ who "lives" in my heart because of the things He taught me through the Holy Word...it's the Spirit who gives me the power to remember those teachings and to do them. Is it the same thing...or two separate ideas....yes, and yes! This is a toughie! If one were to take the two phrases separately, they would mean 2 different things, I believe. But written together is a bit more complicated to me. In my mind, the Father, Son and Spirit are one...but each separately with distinct actions to perform. Since accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord AND Savior, He is just that...He came for the purpose of teaching me the things the Father wants me to know and do, living a perfect life, and finally dying in my place because of my sinful live before salvation. But then he left to go back to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell my body, instead of Him. Now it's the Holy Spirit who directs my pathway, who urges me to do the right thing when the wrong thing seems easier and maybe more attractive at the time. But it is Christ who "lives" in my heart because of the things He taught me through the Holy Word...it's the Spirit who gives me the power to remember those teachings and to do them. Is it the same thing...or two separate ideas....yes, and yes!