meandean

i think he is telling us this is where the rubber meets the road. as we learn about christ, his life must manifest itself through us for others around us. its not necessarily for us but we benifit from this as well. in a way, it does save us from sinning. as we walk this life we want to represent christ the best we can, so yep we sin less as we walk in righteousness more.

what does this matter to us? if we are simply submitting just to get something, we are off the mark. the lord said i will never leave you nor forsake you. paul said i know what its like to have and not to have. and the only thing that mattered was knowing god and making him known. impatience is saying i know better than god.

1 john 1:1: that which was from the beginning,WHICH WE HAVE HEARD,WHICH WE HAVE SEEN WITH OUR EYES, WHICH WE HAVE LOOKED UPON,AND OUR HANDS HAVE HANDLED,OF THE WORD OF LIFE, yes i believe he was fully man. from his birth, where the wisemen from the east bought the 3 gifts and worshipped him, to when he was found in the temple astonishing some of the rabbi's, to waking with fisherman and eating and drinking with sinners, to bleeding and and giving up his last breath on the cross. HEBREWS 2:16-18: FOR VERILY HE TOOK NOT ON HIM THE NATURE OF ANGELS, BUT TOOK ON HIM THE SEED OF ABRAHAM. WHEREFORE IN ALL THINGS IT BEHOOVED HIM TO BE MADE LIKE UNTO HIS BRETHREN,THAT HE MIGHT BE A MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST IN THE THINGS PERTAINING TO GOD,TO MAKE RECONCILIATION FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE.FOR IN THAT HE HIMSELF HATH SUFFERED BEING TEMPTED,HE IS ABLE TO SUCCOUR THEM THAT ARE TEMPTED. HEBREWS 4:14-16: SEEING THEN THAT WE HAVE A GREAT HIGH PRIEST,THAT IS PAST INTO THE HEAVENS, JESUS THE SON OF GOD,LET US HOLD FAST TO OUR PROFESSION. FOR WE HAVE NOT AN HIGH PRIEST WHICH CANNOT BE TOUCHED WITH THE FEELING OF OUR INFIRMITIES. BUT WAS IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED LIKE AS WE ARE,YET WITHOUT SIN. LET US THEREFORE COME BOLDLY UNTO THE THRONE OF GRACE, THAT WE MAY OBTAIN MERCY, AND FIND GRACE TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED.

it tells me that christ jesus gave me hope in being a man that can totally depend on the fathers love. it means i too can live as he lived. i don't have to go my own way and figure this out. it says although jesus was god, he set aside his glory to show us the way to love ,to live, and enjoy the father.

pride goes before a fall. paul told us to strive for unity in ephesians. this isn't as simple as it sounds.we must be careful as to what we call unity and not let it be uniformity. people do try to manipulate their way over you ,doesn't matter what high position to the lowest position, they want to lord over you. lack of humility causes divisions, we see this in corinth when one said he followed paul, another apollos, yet another jesus. awhile back, one guy was upset that i took my wife to another church. she needed the basic instruction in the lord and was not getting it at this church. he wanted to know where my loyalty was for the pastor. i'm one for doctrine first, as a picture of the word being over the pastor, not the pastor over the word.anything else we can work through.

we are with the lord so quick that we never lose a step or breath or could even bat an eye. it is very reassuring of his love for us.

we all face fear in some way or another. somedays i fear for my kids and my mind gets locked up on them. there are times i would rather have the floor swallow me up than to get up in front of a crowd and talk. and i dont like to think about flying 3500 feet off the ground nor swimming with fish that have big teeth, or anything else that would try and eat you alive. but one thing i know, is that when my thoughts are set on the lord, no matter what comes around me, nor how bad i mumble out my testimony, i have strength and peace and assurance from him.

you know surrender and trust is not an easy thing to do. even though we may verbalize it, we just might still be holding on to our lives somewhere. but god does let us go until we finally commit all our difficulty to him. he knows we still try do it ourselves. but we know when he does take over, it is so much easier now isn't it?

people want to see if your actually living out this incredible life we profess. why say things against the world if we are still living in the world system and all of its ways? pauls words lined up with his life. no matter what circumstance good or bad, he was in the spirit.my struggle is for control. all i can do is humble myself and resist and wait. god knows what he is doing so i will trust him.

faithfulness is tough in this world, there are so many distractions for us all. we all need our eyes to be opened cause that devil won't rest at all. you know he tries to get us to ponder" are you really satisfied" and then its off to the races again.

to complete them in christ jesus. god wants to grow us up in christian character. you know this is not easy. we are like seeds,that must be shoved in the ground and covered. and though it might be cold and dark, our shell must break and life must shoot up through the dirt.this new life still needs alot of attention, being fed and watered right, and trimmed as well. this is what god does as we hand over our self centeredness and self interests. christianity is advanced citizenship so we must guard it continually.

we share as though we were the ones doing the actual work. we could also offer our time and talents along with our prayers and tithes.

a slave is one who chose to give all of himself to his master and holds nothing back. he understands he was bought at a price and he is not his own anymore. a saint however was gods choice to set apart for himself a holy people that does his will. i think they go hand in hand like salvation and sanctification. we made a choice to believe in christ and he saved us and cleansed us, and is cleansing us each day

the nation or country that owns it.(2) the ambassador represents a foreign government, all their desires ideas and so forth.(3) to keep the peace and learn how to live with one another, how to communicate and enrich each other.(4)well we were bought at a price and we are to represent christ in a fallen world. we are to tell, teach, and educate the world about christ in a peaceful, loving manner.

its not easy wearing the lords colors in the devils territory.we can be so easily discouraged and want to give up.you know hebrews talks about this in chapter 2. it seems people would want to float down a river than to swim against it. boldness is a strong determination with no regard to self, it is courage under fire.

like any wartime area, if you cut off the supply, the army will soon surrender. we are called to be watchmen, even jesus said to watch and pray.but we are so easily lulled to sleep. so we must stand gaurd at all times not just a few times. you never know when the enemy will attack.

apart from god we can do nothing. if we look in the old testament of the failures of israel we will find they didn't go to god, they didn't seek him.praying in the spirit..hmmm... god don't want to hear half hearted prayers. he wants sincerity and intensity. i mean whats it worth to you and those around you?

the shield extinguishes the fiery darts of the evil one. he doesn't take time off for good behavior nor does he ever take a vacation, though i wish he would. he is eternal as well.as we are under attack, we must remember who is our salvation. we must love god with all our mind.the sword is both offensive and defensive. we must ready ourselves in the word of god each day, remember pick up your cross and follow me daily. i 'm trying to exercise daily and i can tell you this,my body screams at me sometimes and other times it wants to lie down and skip the workout. so i must discipline my body and over time it will get smoother even if it is tougher. so goes the same for the spiritual.

ahh... to run...makes me think about david running toward goliath and not waiting for goliath to come to him. i think one on the characteristics is a wandering mind. it is divided, placed somewhere else or on someone else. david was known to have a heart after gods.now he might not of made all the right choices, but he did want what god wanted. this is a trustworthy saying if we desire what god desires our hearts will be set on the right thing and those around us will be blessed no matter what. so lets give those around us love and hope, a living hope.

we want to be liked and loved by all people in the crowd , and we desire to fit in like we belong here. but we don't belong here.we must keep our eyes on jesus and remember no eye has seen nor ear has heard nor mind has conceived what god has prepared for those who love him.yes even when it comes to death, we must be more than peter was before the rooster crowed three times, we must go beyond our limits and securities and trust god.

same reason its hard to believe in god. we are not sure that they are real, we act as we are all from missouri and say show me and i will believe. we must grow spiritually to understand who they are and what they are trying to do with us. the only power they have over us is what we give them.and thats a choice we make so no one can say the devil made me do it.

the same way. god doesn't pick sides,for he is righteous.there is no favoritism in him.leaders are in a place where the lord must come first no matter what-james 3:1-and matthew 6 tells us to seek the kingdom of god and his rightousness first and all things shall be added unto you. so god will work out what you need, when you need it,

the key here is wholeheartedness. you know if we look at things from an eternal life view, we will be able to work unto god and please him with our deeds. but if we look at them from a temporal view, we will soon get sucked into worry, fear and tiredness. faith always looks up. no matter what someone or something will try to steal our peace. i believe that god allows this to strengthen us and purge us from ourselves.

i suppose the quickest way to describe this is to grab a hammer and smash your thumb then go off on everything around you. then we'll see improper behavior.but theres a whole lot more then dealing out the wrath,how about ignoring the kids or isolating them. they really need more than just providing a home or clothes on their back. they need to be built up in confidence and assurance. they need to know they are not alone ever.they need to know they are loved beyond measure.and if jesus has shown us these, than so should we pass them on to our kids.