Category: Uncategorized

I’ve been recently pondering about those times when we lack faith. Sometimes it is in the big things in life but often it is in the smaller, day-to-day events.

When we are faced with tough times, we often raise our voices, prayers and cries to God. We ask him for help. We ask him to save us.

However, when it comes to things we need to do each day, we most often don’t look to our Creator. We think that what we are doing is too small to bother him with. Or worse, what we have to do is something that we can do without him.

After all, we are fully capable of getting our jobs done on our own, right? We don’t need help and we certainly don’t need to pray about what we can and do do on a daily basis.

I thought the same way once. I’ve found, in the last two years or so, that the things I once took for granted have become huge tasks. Daily living isn’t easy for me. I have problems getting much of anything done on my own.

It has certainly opened my eyes up and I now understand that I have been wrong for most of my life. It wasn’t that I could do things on my own. I just didn’t realize that God was giving me assistance with every facet of my life.

While being ill has not been what I would call huge fun, it has been a time of gaining knowledge and insight into God and his plan for my life.

I was faced with what seemed impossible tasks. I had problems laying down. I had problems getting up. I had even more problems sitting still or standing. At the time, it seemed like too much to handle, so just as I would have done with huge events in the past, I turned to God for his help.

He has given me strength to battle each day. I wake up in pain and go to sleep in even more pain. Each day, though, is a day that I spend studying his Word. Each day, I gain more insight into my relationship with my Lord and my Savior. Each day is one more day that He has granted me to spend time with my family.

I say this to let you know that God isn’t just the God of big things. He is the one who wants to help you with whatever you are going through. It may be huge or it may be small, it doesn’t matter. Just turn your problems over to him and let him give you the answers you seek.

Now, you may not like the answers. He will do what is right for you. Sometimes lessons are hard and events are long-lasting. There is something in it that we are to learn and, sadly, there are repercussions for things that we have done.

Would that we could understand everything and not have anything hidden. However, I’ve thought about that. I don’t think we are capable of understanding everything. No matter the answer, if we don’t like it, we would keep asking why?

God has the entirety of everything in his eyes. He sees our pasts and he sees the infinite future. He is working things out in our lives and we need to trust him.

Trust him with big things and with the small ones. Pray constantly. Prayer is talking with God, it doesn’t have to be a full-blown, King James style thee and thou type of prayer. It just has to be the words and feelings of our heart as we reach out to the One who created the universe. He is loving, faithful, honest and true. He will not turn us away no matter how many times we have turned away from him.

Psalms 143:8-10

Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning;
For I trust in You;
Teach me the way in which I should walk;
For to You I lift up my soul.

Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies;
I take refuge in You.

Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

Things seem to be getting crazier every single day. There is so much evil, it is hard to see the good that exists out there in the world.

I’ve been reading about another time when evil was covering the entire earth. It was so bad, that every thought of man was evil. When God looked at his creation, he was sorry he had ever created mankind.

There was, at that time, only one man who found favor with God. The man was Noah. Because he walked with God and had not turned to evil ways, he and his family were saved.

God gave Noah directions to build an ark which would house him, his family, and a host of animals. Some of the animals were in single pairs, just one male and one female. Others, which were considered clean, were saved with seven pairs, seven male and seven female.

Noah obeyed and built the ark even though, at that time, there had never been rain on the earth. The idea of so much water pouring from the sky would have beyond anything that a man could imagine. Still, Noah did as God asked, just as he had done throughout his life.

Because of his faithfulness to the word of God and doing as he was told, he was saved and mankind was given a second chance.

It’s taken thousands of years, but sometimes it feels like we are heading right back to the same situation. It seems like so many people have given in to the darkness that is at the root of man’s fallen spirit.

There are still many people who follow God, though we all stumble and fall, because we are sinners. God sees us and keeps us from falling too far when we stray.

Still, it must grieve God’s spirit to see so much evil. What seems to becoming worse is that people are accepting evil as normal.

The way that people treat each others, talk about one another and lie and cheat and steal is not seen as evil. If you agree with a person’s evil thoughts, then it is normal. One never likes to think of themselves as evil, right?

I know, from reading the Bible, that Jesus talked about a time when mankind would be as in the days of Noah. At that time, people would lose the ability to see that their actions were wrong-headed. They would care more about themselves than anyone else. Paul gave us a further insight, in 2 Timothy 3, what type of evil individuals we should look for and avoid.

While, to a degree, self-caring is not unusual, it is unusual that it is now turning into an accepted way of hurting others. Not just hurting them but wishing people, who are on the other side of what you think, would just go away. Now, it isn’t just wishing, there are many who are willing to take action.

It seems like respect for human life is getting lower and lower. There is not just abortion, there is also euthanasia and outright murder.

When society stops respecting life, the thought of murder as something to be punished, becomes a thing of the past. When individuals are allowed to create their own moral code and if their code says they can kill, they can do so with impunity. Society, for the most part, will either turn a blind eye or worse, applaud those who are willing to kill for their social cause.

There have been things happening recently that have caught me blind-sided. The idea that one can self-identify as something other than what they were born as, is unthinkable to many of us. It is like slapping the face of God.

God made us all and he does not make mistakes. Mankind is broken and if there are any mistakes made, it is all because of man. It seems like we are busy trying to break every single thing that exists.

Sadly, that means we are breaking our children. We are breaking them physically, emotionally and spiritually. I can’t imagine how much this both grieves and angers God. Abusing innocent children to either make money or to get attention is unthinkable and yet, it is happening and it is getting worse every day.

The thing that Jesus talked about, when mankind gets back to the evilness of the days of Noah, was that would be the time when God would bring judgement upon the earth.

It feels like those days are approaching ever more rapidly.

For Noah, salvation was in the form of an ark. Today, salvation is available through Jesus Christ.

He died to get you a pardon and to give you a way to be saved. The judgements that will be meted out to those who don’t accept Jesus are things you do not want to experience. However, they are just and right for those who harden their hearts and stiffen their necks and deny the sacrifice that Jesus made for them.

If you want to be saved, call out to Jesus and ask him to make himself known to you. If you are sincere, he is there and waiting with your gift of salvation in hand. He’s been waiting for you since before the entire creation was made. Please don’t miss this opportunity. Life is frail and fleeting and you may never have an opportunity ever again.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

I’ve been reading recently that 2020 will be considered, by many, to be the year of the Bible. Honestly, every year is the year of the Bible; however, the idea is to focus on reading the Bible.

Many Christians seem to read self-help books written by other Christians or even explanations about the books of the Bible rather than reading and studying the Book itself. While reading those other books may be beneficial, the word of God is in the actual Holy Bible.

It behooves us to spend some part of every day, if possible, reading a portion of it. It could be a chapter or simply a verse. It could be whatever works with your life.

About two years ago, my husband and I found a plan for reading the Bible in 52 weeks. It didn’t necessarily start with the first week of January (though it did have that listed), it started with Week 1. Our thought was to finish it in 52 weeks, then shingles took its toll on me.

I could barely sit up, let alone hold a Bible or bend forward to look at one on a table. For nine months that put reading the Bible beyond me. During that time, I was becoming more and more filled with sorrow for what I could not do anymore.

My husband found the same translation of the Bible on the iPhone store and purchased it for me to read. I could kind of hold a phone but it was difficult. I found a holder on a hand-crafting site and purchased it. It holds my phone upright and I can read it from a sitting position.

I was back to reading and six months later, we both finished reading the Bible. It took two years because of the delay but we were very glad that we had done it.

This time around, we will be reading it in the same order but will take our time and plan to finish it in two years as well. This time, we will access all of the information that is part of this translation (Amplified Study Bible) because of the wealth of information it has and how much it provides clarity to obscure references.

It is almost as good as a good, old-fashioned Bible Study. Those seem to have gone by the wayside in deference to life groups, which are small groups that meet in homes.

I’ve now finished the first day of reading (taking two days to do it) and have read Genesis 1-2, Psalms 19 and Mark 1. I was filled with awe over the beauty and lyrical words of the first two chapters of creation. I was swept up in the praise of God in Psalms 19. The first chapter of Mark gives a view of the beginning of Jesus Christ’s ministry.

If nothing else, I highly suggest reading these chapters. If you can convince someone else to read them, that would be wonderful. I would especially challenge those who aren’t really sure that God exists to spend time and to read these chapters. It explains much of God in just a few words.

The other thing that is part of the year of the Bible is that individuals and groups are working to translate the entire Bible into the last 1,800 or so languages which don’t currently have full Bible translations. That is a wonderful project and one that I pray is successful in the course of the next few years.

The word of God will be preached throughout the world before Jesus comes back for his church. It is written in the Bible and it is true. Those who work at this task deserve respect and help from the rest of us.

Whenever you feel like you can’t do something or things that need to be done are beyond you, remember there is something that you can always do to help others.

You can pray.

Praying with power comes with knowledge. True knowledge only comes from God. One of the most powerful ways that God speaks his wisdom to us is through his Word. Find a Bible that you can read and then, read it. You will find blessings from God are within the Book. He is there waiting for you to discover what he has in store for you.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

New Year’s Day is coming up soon. As the end of the last year is upon us and the dawn of a new one is filled with promises, many people will put together a list of New Year’s resolutions. It may be one or it may be more but it will list those things that an individual would like to accomplish in the next twelve months.

I don’t do such a list. I may have tried once or twice, when I was younger, but today I find that creating such a list is an invitation for defeat. There’s something about making these types of goals or promises that causes us to break down and not do the work that is needed to get them done.

Sometimes, that is a shame, because the things we want to do are things that we should do. Many times, though, this type of list is a listing of things that we want regardless of whether they are things that God wants for us.

I’ve found that just making shorter term plans of things that I will actually do is a much better thing for me. As I go along, I ask for God’s guidance. At least, I do so these days. Before, I would just keep going until I accomplished what I set out to do.

If I ran into hurdles, I’d just double my efforts and power my way through. I wasn’t going to let problems stop or hinder me. Most often, the hurdles were God’s way of trying to change the path that I was on. It’s only in recent years that I have come to understand this. Before, I never thought to ask God if what I was doing was good or right for me.

God will allow us to make mistakes. Small mistakes or even huge ones. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t love us. He does but, at the same time, he has given us free will. Free will means that we are made to make our own decisions. Whether those decisions are right or wrong, good or evil, or simply things that are a waste of one of the most precious resources we have. That is our time.

Our time on this Earth is limited. Sometimes, it feels as if life is dragging and a day takes forever. Other times, it feels like time is flying by and as each year passes by, it feels like it is going faster and faster.

With the time we have been given, we should be doing things that really matter. Things that will help others and, at the same time, help build up our own faith. Finding out what those things are is more difficult.

We have to put aside the thoughts that we have and, instead, look to God and ask him to give us the task he wants us to do.

It’s very easy to justify what we want by bending the messages of the Bible to support what we do. It doesn’t mean that it is true, though. It means that we can be very creative when it comes to doing what we want.

We might be fooling ourselves but we will never fool God. He knows what we are doing and it brings him sorrow to see us working so hard against his wishes.

We need to think and then think some more. After that, think again. Question the resolutions, goals, or plans that you are considering before you commit to them. Pray continually and God will let you know what he feels about them.

However, do not think that hearing nothing means a green light. Often, we will say, we have not heard from God. When, in reality, we have but we haven’t heard what we wanted to hear.

God has plans for us. He created us for a special purpose. He put us at this time and at this place to do something that no one else can do. It put us here to tell our unique story. If you are not looking to find his will, you may miss your opportunity. If that happens, then there is something missing from this world that could have been so very special.

Look to God when it comes to making your plans for the future. Check with him daily to see if you are still on track with what he wants for you. He is waiting and wants to hear from each of us. He will never turn aside or ignore you. Just be sure to listen to his answer even if it is not what you want to hear.

Isaiah 55:8-9

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Within less than a week, we will be celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He came to this earth as a helpless infant. He lived among us and suffered with us. He also celebrated along with us and experienced the same joys and sorrows that all of us do.

Isn’t it amazing that the Son of God, who was also God himself, would choose to be just like us for a lifetime that was cut short because of the evilness of mankind?

He could have come, as he will in due time, as a conquering God. But he didn’t.

If he had, mankind would have been doomed to eternal separation from God. You see, not one of us was good enough, holy enough, whatever enough to look upon the face of God and live.

Our sin made us unacceptable to a righteous and holy God. He could not have sin in his presence, so man would never again, as Adam and Eve had, have God the Father, living among us.

So Jesus, who was the sacrificial Lamb of God, came to rescue us from sin. He took our sins and exchanged them for his sinlessness. Again, what kind of God would be willing to live and die for his own creation?

There is only one and his name is Jesus.

One day, as a born-again Christian, I will see Jesus face to face. As with all others who will be there, I will thank him and call him my Lord and Savior.

I didn’t do anything extraordinary to be one of the group who will be in heaven one day. All I did was accept that Jesus lived and died, as God and man at the same time, to bring his salvation to the Earth. I asked him to exchange my sins for his pardon and I asked him to guide me for the rest of my life.

The pardon is available for everyone. That means you, too. Jesus is there and waiting so patiently for you, with love and forgiveness. The choice is yours. You can choose to live eternally or to die eternally. No one else can make this choice for you.

Luke 2:1-20

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.

So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.

Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

I have recently heard several Christians whom I know talking about television programs and movies they enjoy watching. I was very surprised. Almost every single one that they talked about they prefaced by saving, “there’s a lot of sex, nudity and/or profanity” but on the other hand, they said that the content more than made up for that.

Really? You think you can ignore seeing things and hearing things that God has expressly told his followers to indulge in? I don’t think it really works that way.

It seems to me, from my own experience, though mostly from reading books, the more that you see, hear or read that falls into those forbidden areas, the less likely you are to feel that there is anything wrong with it all.

The entertainment industry has sure changed a lot since I was a child. Even as a young adult, it would have been shocking to have seen a sex scene, to have characters expressly indulge in sexual immorality or to swear constantly. There were some movies like that, but they were simply not socially acceptable.

Today, those types of programs are pretty much what is available to watch. There are some exceptions but, for the most part, the things that people consider entertainment is actually a slow dissolution of whatever moral code they may have.

Even shows for children are not exempt from a change for the worse. Many show parents as bumbling idiots if not down right evil. For that matter, parents are so far gone in understanding what is right or wrong, they think nothing of letting young children watch graphic shows or play graphic video games.

While parents are the first group I thought of, another group that comes under fire on almost every front, is that of Christians. They are generally the bad guys or considered stupid and unintelligent. It is almost cliché how evil Christianity is portrayed. On the other hand, atheism is alive and well and is applauded.

That certainly not would have been the case when I was young. At that time, when prayer had been removed from schools, most people still went to church on the Sabbath. Stores were closed. There was a respect for the church.

Is any of that still true today? I don’t think so.

I think that a good part of that attitude is because of the indoctrination we receive in school and, more importantly, the indoctrination we receive from entertainment.

Respect for authority as suffered as well. I remember when the troops came home from Viet Nam. They were greeted with horrific names and people spat in their faces. I remember thinking how awful it was for the soldiers. They had done what they were asked to do to defend our way of life.

If it wasn’t a just war, it wasn’t the fault of the soldiers. The news, music and media of the day sure portrayed it as such.

For me, the way they were treated was the beginning of the decline of the goodness of our country.

Today, most people have been so sated by what they watch, see, hear and even discuss, that they don’t know that, just by doing so, they are actually breaking the ten commandments of God.

Jesus told us just thinking about such things is the same as actually doing them. How can someone watching two other people having sex not think about it? How can someone listening to curses profaning God not be a party to the curse?

I haven’t really watched television in years. When I did, I was fairly careful about what I did watch. However, when I had stopped watching for about a year, I went back to watch some of my old favorite shows.

Even though I had thought I was so careful in what I was watching, I was shocked at how truly disgusting they were. For the same reasons I mentioned above. Keep in mind, those shows were mild. They weren’t at all like the ones that I had heard references to recently.

Recall, at the beginning of this post, I mentioned that it was fellow Christians, who were discussing what were fairly raunchy televisions shows and movies, that opened my eyes. Somehow, I had thought that most Christians didn’t indulge in these.

I guess the idea of missing the next best show or movie is too much for even a good number of Christians to stand. I also wonder how many of those same Christians feel like God isn’t listening to them or answering their prayers. Sin stands in between us and God and it will have a huge impact on our relationship with him.

Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

We’re heading into the season that celebrates the gift of God’s love to the human race. It was around 2,000 years ago, that the Son of God stepped out of eternity and came to the earth in the helpless body of an infant.

The story of God’s love continued and ultimately provided us with the willing sacrifice that Jesus made by giving up his life to pay for the sins of all of mankind.

The sad thing that I have seen, throughout my life, is that during the weeks leading up to the celebration of Jesus’ birth, people show less love, less patience and are sometimes downright evil to one another.

So many bad things happen during this time of year. One might think that bad things only happen to those who don’t know Christ or who are mired in sin but that is not true. Bad things happen to and are caused to happen by those who would be considered good people and those who have accepted Jesus as their savior.

I’ve had the experience of people being so mean and awful to me at this time of year that it was hard to keep my spirits up. I remember being accosted in a grocery store and threatened with losing my life because I dared to keep my place in line to buy dinner for my family.

It didn’t matter to the individual that I had been waiting patiently for close to an hour and she had just arrived. What mattered was that I was in her way and she was going to do whatever she wanted to get in front of me.

Well, that didn’t happen. I have been abused for too much of my life to let it continue. I stood my ground and, eventually, the manager of the grocery store had to call the police to get the young woman removed before she made good on her promises. I had to have a security guard walk me to my car so that she would not follow me.

More recently, an individual who had been making demeaning and hurtful comments to and about me under the guise of being humorous, come right out and told me in front of others that I was the source of her problems and anxiety.

It wasn’t true, of course, I only see this person once a week for about one and a half hours. In fact, I had not seen her for about a month when she decided to hold me responsible for her troubles.

I could have responded back but I didn’t, I decided that rather than step down to that level, it would be better to leave my Christian small group than to become her stumbling block in her walk of faith.

It won’t change her life. She has multiple physical, emotional and personal issues in her life but somehow, she has focused on me.

I know why. Once again, I took the point of standing my ground. You see, she’s a more than a bit of a bully and when our group started, as most bullies do, she looked for the weakest individual to pick on. She choose me. Maybe because of my illness or my age, I’m not sure why. Maybe because I had talked about the awful things that had happened to me in my childhood and I appeared to be a good target.

I have been abused by others in my life but decades ago, I learned that allowing yourself to be abused is not what God expects. He tells us that we will be abused for his sake and to accept that it will happen. But when someone is simply mean and abusive because that is who they are, we are not expected to allow them to continue to abuse us over and over again.

So, I started answering her back and calling her out when she would make untrue and mean comments about me. I don’t know if she had ever had that experience before and it made her unhappy. On the other hand, it also made me unhappy. I’m not the type of person who wants to inflict pain on others.

That is why I choose to leave. My husband is also happy with the decision. We are still very happy with our church but the thought of being in a small group again is not something we will rush into.

By the measure of the horrible things that will occur during the next month, my recent experience is pretty low. I know that and I am thankful that God is taking such good care of me. I have health issues and I am in chronic pain but when I measure that against the good that God has given me and what he has in store for me, the problems of life are a mere breath, a simple vapor, in the timeline of eternity.

I am hoping that the coming weeks, months and years will bring a better promise and that none of us with suffer. However, if we do, know that God is in control and he has a purpose and a plan for everything in our lives.

He takes good care of his children. Sometimes, though, bad things happen to those who love God. It isn’t because God doesn’t love us, it is because we live in a fallen world.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

In the United States, we have just celebrated a day of thankfulness for all the good things we have enjoyed over the past year. The theme of Thanksgiving has changed just a mite. At one time, the thankfulness was directed towards God.

For many people, it remains a day of worship. However, for others, it is merely a day in which to get together with family, eat a lot, and finish up by watching football. It is also the day the proceeds Black Friday.

Black Friday is the day in the year when retail stores cut prices in order to entice customers to spend all of their Christmas gift budget in their store. It was named thus because it was the day when the stores profits went from being in the red to being in the black.

Black Friday. I haven’t participated in Black Friday shopping in many years. When I was in my twenties and had little money, I would wait in line at one store in order to spread my small budget over three children.

As time went on, the crowds at Black Friday sales became rougher, with fights breaking out and, sometimes, much worse. I stopped shopping on that day decades ago. It simply wasn’t worth the risk of being trampled as people battled over bits and pieces of merchandise.

Isn’t it sad that we are willing to fight one another over a few dollars or, in some cases, a few cents?

It seems like we have put possessions above people. I see something, I want it, and I will fight pretty much to the death to get it. What in the world could be worth this kind of behavior? It appears that it is more about the battle to get the item than it is about the item itself. A kind of I’ve got it and you don’t mentality.

Some of the people, at these sales, are individuals who go to church on Sunday morning, sing worship songs and say “Praise the Lord!” However, in their hearts, they are truly worshiping the things of the world.

Maybe it is a large screen TV, or a nifty new vacuum cleaner. Maybe it is a washcloth. Maybe it is simply the need to accumulate more and more.

It’s gotten so far out of hand, it has almost become a spectator sport as well. Those who don’t go Black Friday shopping watch with glee as the news reports the battles in detail. It’s even better if there is video of people fighting over what is mostly junk that will break shortly thereafter. From God’s standpoint, those who watch with enjoyment are as guilty as those who are actually part of the battles.

We have so much and yet we want more. When asked, though, most would say that they have a lot and have no need of more. They will boast of what they have, saying that they are great! They have the means and the ability to get what they want and to get whatever they want done.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The rampant consumerism of this country and all of the other first world countries has spawned generations of people who think they have no need of God’s help.

They say things like “God helps those who help themselves.” That isn’t from the Bible, it is from ancient mythology. We all of us need help from God.

Still, those Bible people who are out swinging fists and shoving baskets on Black Friday, must think that they have what it takes. They will do what they have to do.

God has a special word to say for those in his church who think they are rich and self-sufficient. He literally tells them that their behavior makes him sick enough to vomit them out of his mouth.

Even if you don’t shop on Black Friday, you may still be part of the church which sickens God. If you are feeling pretty full of yourself and feel like you have got your own back and don’t need God’s help, you just maybe are part of this same church that God has spoken to millennia ago.

So many in our generation fall into this category. I know because, in the past, I have been part of that number.

God has been good and gracious to me. He has used events in my life to shock me out of complacency and to realize that I can only rely on him. Relying on myself has led me to the brink of disaster, over and over again.

Each time that I have started thinking that I had my own answers, I now realize, it really meant that I was looking more at myself and no longer looking to God. It is a sinful cycle that repeats over and over again.

Thankfully, the cycles seem to be slowing down and I am learning, more and more, to rely only on God. I sometimes laugh at how I used to be. More often, I am sorrowful and wish I had learned my lesson earlier and with less tragic consequences.

Still, with my sorrow comes repentance and a determination to change my ways. This is only possible with God’s help, so I ask him to help me to stay focused on the tasks that he has set before me.

I ask him to give me the strength in my spirit to do his will. I ask him to help me look beyond myself and keep my eyes on him. These are the types of requests that God wants from his children and they are the kind of prayers that he will always answer.

Revelation 3:14-21

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

There always seems something better to do than just about anything that God has called us to. At least, in our minds, the things that we want to do seem more special and more rewarding. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

I know that I have had a problem with this in the past and that it is a problem that keeps cropping up today. There are so many things to do that I could spin and spin around in circles trying to decide what I want to do with my time.

I’m sure that others have similar issues, though it doesn’t seem as if it is an issue at all. That is, until you look at those things through the words of God.

God has asked us to do what he wants done. What he wants is for us to help others and to be willing to sacrifice in order to do so. Yes, money is a part of it but the even bigger sacrifice for most of us, is that of our time.

We are all so busy and what little free time we have, we want to use in a way that relaxes us and gives us satisfaction. Maybe even some pride in what we have created with our two hands or our mind.

That sounds like a great way to spend your time. Especially when compared to those who spend their time playing video games, trolling through social media or even reading or watching the news as it unfolds around us.

Just one problem with that, none of that is going to help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is only when you sacrifice the things you want to do in order to spend that precious time and money on something that God wants done, that you really begin to understand the satisfaction of walking the path that God has created for you.

There really isn’t anything wrong with having a hobby. It is when you let that hobby consume you or take precedence over God that you start ending into trouble. A hobby seems so simple and easy but if you are not careful, you can start creating an idol.

In the Old Testament, over and over again, the prophets spoke to the people of Israel and condemned them for worshiping the idols of wood and metal that they had made with their own two hands.

That isn’t so unlike what we have today. While we are not necessarily creating actual idols that we bow down and worship, in effect, we are doing much the same with whatever it is that we put above God.

It could be a hobby, it could be a job, it could be a relationship, it could be money. It could actually be an idol. Yes, there are still many who would rather worship a god they made than to come face to face with the God of the universe.

I suspect that is because the god of their hands will never condemn them for what they have done and continue to do. The true God is perfect and anything less than perfect rightfully deserves his condemnation.

What they don’t know is that while God has every right to condemn us and to cast us away, he actually loves us and wants us to draw near to him. He gave us a way, through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus, to have our sins covered for eternity. When we accept Jesus as our savior and accept his free gift of salvation, we become the children of God.

Still, for those who know Jesus and have walked with him for days, weeks or years, it is still easy to start creating idols in our lives. Every time you put that “thing” in your life above God, you are crafting that man-made god.

At this time of the year, we all start thinking about giving. Some of us will even start thinking about giving in a sacrificial manner. We may deny ourselves one more thing in our life in order to give to others.

That’s a good thing. Still, what God wants is for us to have that same spirit of sacrificial giving all year long. We should be actively looking for ways to help other people. It may be in big ways or in small ways. It doesn’t matter how large or small it is, what matters is the spirit with which we do these things and that we acknowledge, if only to ourselves, that we are doing it for God.

On that note, keep in mind that tooting your own horn is not a good thing when it comes to giving. What we do in private is known by God and he will reward. When we start giving and doing for the sake of the adulation of others (or even for thumbs ups or likes on social media), we will have received our reward here and now and God will not consider what we have done to have merit in his kingdom.

We should start looking at how much we are accumulating and what we do with our time and ask ourselves, is this really what we want with our lives? Or do we want to give to others and help them and have a little bit less of our own.

I know that this something that I need to consider over and over again. I hope you do the same and start looking for ways to provide help and assistant to others who are struggling and who are in need.

Matthew 6:1-4

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

A lot of what is called humor today is really not funny at all. It seems like we have begun to consider cutting comments, nasty comebacks and words that are designed to hurt and tear down as humorous.

I have watched a few of the America’s funny videos and I am almost always appalled that people would watch others being hurt. It isn’t funny, it is painful to see the pain of others put out there in a way to make us laugh at them. Not with them, but at them.

How would any of us like it if we were to slip and fall, hurt ourselves and then find out that someone filmed it and put it out for the world to laugh at us. I don’t think many of us would appreciate it. There might be a few who are okay with it, Usually it is one of those things where you are happy to laugh at others but don’t want those same others to laugh at you.

Before I became quite ill two years ago, my husband and I watched a number of sitcoms. One of them, we had followed for years and it was in its last season.

After I was able to sit up again and watch television, we tried to watch our favorite shows which we had recorded. We both found that what we had thought was funny before was, in reality quite mean-spirited. We deleted the shows and have never had a desire to watch a sitcom again. We could not stand watching people be mean to one another for a laugh.

Being mean-spirited or simply mean to other people is quickly becoming our way of life. It is a socially acceptable way to deal with people who don’t look, think, act, or believe what you do. After all, if they are so absolutely wrong, why not mock them, tear them down. Why not crush them and destroy them while we are at it?

After all, since they are wrong, they don’t deserve to live.

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? However, that seems to be the way the vast majority of people feel these days. In theory, it sounds ridiculous; in practice, it is dangerous.

When did we become to sure that our way is the right way? As far as I know, there is only one right way. That is the way of God.

Even though I am a Christian, I don’t believe for a moment that I have everything right. I don’t always do, think or act right. When I act out of the true nature of God, I am following the ways of Satan.

Yes, even Christians can be influenced by Satan. We are all, at heart, sinners. We are born with a sin nature and it is hard for us to break away from what seems to be an okay way of acting.

Actually, that is the point. The world is sinful so when we act in sin, we are just one of the crowd. We are joyfully accepted by those around us because darkness loves other darkness. What darkness can’t stand is light. Darkness flees in the presence of light.

Jesus is the Light of the World. No darkness of this world or of the spiritual world can stand against him. Just like the legion of demons, who possessed a man, recognized Jesus as God and begged to be sent into a herd of pigs rather than be destroyed, sin will always flee from the light of Christ.

Christians are called to walk in the Light. We are told we are to follow the teachings of Jesus and to live our lives the way he lived his. And while our sins have been forgiven when we accepted Jesus as our savior, we still continue to fall into sin.

That isn’t something that surprises God. He knew this would happen. That is why it took God himself, in his son Jesus, to be an acceptable and perpetual sin offering for the sins of the world. He knew that we were born in sin and that, throughout our lives, we would continue to sin.

One big difference between a Christian and a non-Christian who sins is that the Christian will know that they are sinning. It will lodge in their heart and come into their mind over and over again. It will continue to torment them until they take it to our Father and ask for him to, once again, forgive us and to teach us to act in accordance with his holy way.

When we do so, God is good and just to his word and will forgive us forever. It doesn’t mean we won’t suffer because of those sins but our suffering will be limited to the short amount of time we spend on this earth. That amount of time pales in comparison to the eternity that we will spend in the glory of heaven which is God the Father, Jesus the son and the Holy Spirit.

So, being mean to one another is another way of hating one another. That is not what Jesus called us to do. He wants us to love and help one another just as he loved and helped us.

We need to start paying attention to what we watch and read and understand that those things have great influences upon us. It is much easier to start changing how you talk and feel when you are no longer being constantly exposed to these types of shows and books.

Once you have cleared out the things that tempt you to hurt others, you can start reading the Bible to see how we should love. Since Jesus is Love and he showed us that love on the cross by giving himself up in our place, we can start by reading the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in which we see his words and his actions and what he asked us to do.

1 John 4:7-11

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.