What About The Bad Places In My Life?

Sometimes as Christians we worry about the things that we can't seem to get right. We are frustrated over bad things that continue to crop up in our thoughts, our behaviors, and our lives. We lament that our failures and challenges are putting us behind. We feel anger that the influence or seeming control of another/others is causing unwanted effects to grow as we work to grow in the Lord.

Matthew 13:24-30 talks about the good seed and the tares. A man planted good seeds in his soil, and while he rested, an enemy came by and sowed some tares, or unwanted seeds, in among his good seeds. 

When his servants saw the sprouting of the bad seed among the good, they were aghast. They did not understand how this could have happened when they knew he would not have sown other than good seeds. They wanted to go to work ripping up the tares seedlings. No doubt, they thought it would be better to do this now, than wait for the wheat-resembling weeds to grow larger and stronger. They were concerned that these unwanted plants would take over, and even kill the good plants.

Their master, the owner who sowed the good seed, explained to them that it would be better to let the tares grow along with his good plants. If they ripped them out now, they would also dislodge and destroy many of the good seedlings in the process. He told them to wait until harvest time, when it would be easier to separate the weed plants from the good grain, and throw out the bad and keep the good. The owner knew that the tares would not take over.

This parable relates to what God will do when it's time for this world to end. It is okay that people who don't want to accept Jesus and love God are living, growing, advancing, prospering and even sometimes winning over Christians. In the end, when God's harvest is ripe, he will discard and destroy the remaining tares, those who refused Jesus Christ as Savior, and bring into his bosom those who love Him through the Shed Blood of His Son. 

Practically, we should practice the same confidence in ourselves and our lives. We don't have to worry about our faults, mistakes, failures, challenges, setbacks, relapses, struggles and rebellions. In the soil of our lives and in this world, there will always be tares, planted by any number of people, circumstances and unavoidable influences. Our focus and job is to keep planting and filling our fields with good seed. Don't worry about the bad seeds in our lives, why they are there, or how they got there. Many of them will die off along the way, as our good seeds grow. Those that are stubborn weeds that persist in surviving and even growing along with our good growth? Well, they will be destroyed in the end. In the end, it will be easy for the bad to be completely obliterated, and the good to be preserved.

Don't worry. Continue to focus on planting good seed into your thoughts, your mind, your heart, your being, your life. In the end, anything that is not done for Christ, by Christ, through Christ will be ripped out, separated and destroyed, never to grow, influence and affect again. In the end, everything that is done for Christ will last.

Tares Definition: TheFreeDictionary
Image:  Pixabay Free Images

The Trial Will End In Good Time

When we are enduring a trial or tribulation, and we feel that we can endure no longer, we usually ask God to deliver us. We ask him to end the suffering, because we know that if we ask him he will answer. We know that when we ask according to his will, we have the petition that we desire of him.

The interesting thing, though, is that we can sometimes feel that it is not really time for us to be delivered. Deep in our spirits, we can feel that the training or lesson is not quite done. It is almost completed, nearly finished, but not just yet.  

So what do we do about that? Well, we dig in and prepare for a little more enduring. We know that we do want to be delivered ASAP, but if in our hearts we feel that it is not yet time, then we will not receive a favorable answer to our prayer to be delivered now. 

In order to receive favorable answers to appropriate prayers, we have to believe deeply and realistically in what we are asking. We have to be able to receive that for which we are asking. If we don't believe that it is time, then that much desired answer will not manifest today. So while ASAP may mean today for us, God knows, and our spirit knows, that for today ASAP means all in good time. 

So prepare for a little bit more endurance while you are looking to be delivered ASAP. The time will surely come when you pray that prayer of deliverance and your inner man will know and agree wholeheartedly that it is finally, time.

God bless you and keep you safe!

 

The Kingdom Of God Is Like...?

The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Like...

The kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field...

The kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field...

The kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal...

The kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hid in a field...

The kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls...

The kingdom of Heaven is like a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind... 

The kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things... 

Matthew 13:24-52 

Have you read and studied to learn just what the Kingdom of Heaven is, and how it pertains to your life here, and in the hereafter?

It's not just a place that we go to when we leave this earth.

It is behaviors, experiences, occurrences and principles, as well as a place where we will be honored to spend Eternity, which is just forever and forever.

But, as many profess today, Eternity is now, the moment when you accepted Jesus Christ as the only Savior of mankind, as your Savior.

So, if you haven't read these illuminating scriptures, or if you've only read them once, read them again, over and over until you feel God's Spirit revealing to you just what your should be experiencing as a member in His Kingdom. Afterall, you do want all that is yours.

 

The Difference That Being Rooted & Grounded Makes

I can tell that I'm much more rooted and grounded in God's kingdom. One way in which this is evident to me is because I can listen to or watch anything about The Lord at any time of day or night. This is versus when I was un-saved, or a babe in Christ and felt comfortable and happy doing that at certain times of the day, or on certain days.

I'm just simply always ready to hear a good word about God, or listen to some good worship and praising. I always feel open to it, ready for it. I don't have to get ready, or get prepared, or get in the right frame of mind. I'm always ready to receive. 

I believe this is because I am on the inside of God's Kingdom, not on the outside looking in. Even new Christians are somewhat on the outside looking in, because they are not versed nor experienced in the things of God. They don't understand a lot about who they are, or what it is that they have. 

When I was on the outside, the things of God had the tendency to infringe upon my life, though I wanted to learn more about God. I was seeking growth, but that separation between my moods and desires were conflicting with being mentally and emotionally immersed in God things. 

Some may call it being in The Spirit. Others may refer to is as being consumed with the things of God. Whatever it is, I call it being rooted and grounded in all things God, to the extent that you are always joyfully willing to hear about Him.

As I ponder on this circumstance, I ask myself how has it come about? I believe it is because:

1. I have been reading The Bible everyday for years now. Whether it is one paragraph or one chapter, I rarely miss.
2. I have turned prayer into talking to God. As a result I spend time with Him throughout the day, talking to Him about my joys and sorrows. This allows me to share with Him when things happen, not later at a prayer time when I will have forgotten much of how I felt.
3.  I pray for a hunger and thirst for righteousness, for God to make my crooked places straight, for Him to order my steps in His Word, for Him to establish my thoughts, and for Him to create in me a clean heart. I pray what The Word says I should have. These requests mean that I have to be continuously submitted to God.

I'm happy and content to be open to teaching, preaching, reading, worship and praise at all times. It's wonderful to welcome the things of God, rather than to be afraid or ambivalent about them. It's wonderful to be drawn to God at all times, rathern than to be repelled by Him at certain times.

To be rooted and grounded in God means that we can never get away from Him, and we never want to.

 

Poetry ~ Lord How Sweet Is Your Word

Lord How Sweet Is Your Word

How sweet is your Word in suffering,
Though oft' the burden is great.
It feels unbearably frequent,
Such difficulty of late.

Your Word is a precious ointment,
Oft' applied in much duress.
Your Word is a pathway lamplight.
With your Word I make progress.

I read and feel much freedom.
A breath of joy I breathe.
I lose myself in scriptures.
Where found is sweet relief.

Your Word I'll never shun it,
Though hurting hinders me.
That two-edged sword of sweetness,
Is what I need from thee. 

---

If you are not delving into the Word daily, preferably in the morning, you are missing a treat. It is the necessary nourishment for us to learn more about God, and the gospel of His Son, and to be able to successfully walk in His ways. Many Christians practice what they know of the Bible, but without spiritual power.

It is the daily ingesting of His Word that spiritually transforms us over time, giving us the power to not be conformed to this word, to resist the devil, to take no thought for tomorrow, to fear not, to give thanks in everything, to bear fruit from the inside out, to not turn to the right hand or to the left, to pray for those who despitefully use us, and to increase in faith. It is this very Word that many try to do in the flesh, that when eaten and drunk every day, will give us the power to walk in the freedom where with Christ has made us free, and to not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Lord How Sweet Is Your Word (c)2016 sjhollandwriting

Image: Pixabay.com Free Images

Sister Betty Jo On Receiving & Giving Blessings

"So the blessings that you receive, let me tell you they are all from God, and with no strings attached."

 Receive Your Blessings, And Give Them As Well

Praise the Lord everyone!! You are a blessing whether you know it are not. There are many who do not know that they are blessings to people. They didn’t even think they could be. This title came to me in a positive way, Receive Your Blessings, And Give Them As Well. I don’t know about you, but I’m thankful and grateful for (all) my blessings; and knowing that the blessings that I have received during my journey, have been a teaching given from Jesus Christ Himself.

When I sit and think about John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life, I realize that I have read that scripture just as I have read many others, over and over again. This time, I went so deep into it that I said to myself, This God has done something that no other would have done for me.

He gave me a blessing, and I didn’t even know that was what it was. I asked myself why would He do such? Did He not know that I didn’t love Him, or how I was living, and how I cared only to please others? The answers to these questions that I was asking were a mystery. He came back with the answer in John 3:17, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

He wanted me to know that I was blessed by a gift called Salvation. And He wanted me to take this Word of blessing, and give it to others. Whether they accepted the blessing or rejected it was not to concern me. You still keep sharing it, is what He said.

So the blessings that you receive, let me tell you they are all from God, and with no strings attached.

He does what he does because He Loves us (all). You may hate Him…He still Loves you…You may use His name in vain…He still Loves you…You may be ashamed to speak of Him to your friends…He still Loves you. You may try to stop Him, but you can’t…He still Loves You.

His blessings are still spreading, and spreading. And those who are receiving them, are spreading and spreading them to people who do not know that they are to become blessings also. That man, that woman, that boy and girl do not yet know that they are to become blessings in return. Praise the LORD!!

So, receive your blessings, and give them as well. Those of you who have testimonies of what Jesus Christ has done in your life, tell It! Keep it real! Don’t allow the devil to stop you…his a liar, deceitful, and a hater. There is no love in him.

Jesus Christ Is Agape, A Blessing!

Sister Betty Jo is a strong woman of God who loves sharing her relationship with The Father, and what Christ has done for her. She lives in TX, and enjoys spending time with her daughter and granddaughters. She is a crafter and folk art painter, and likes cooking, especially trying new recipes.

This is what she has to say about her relationship with the Lord,

" My Life Has Not Been The Same since I Was Diagnosed With Lupus Some Years Ago. My Life Has Changed Quite A Bit, But Lupus Does Not Define Who I Am. I'm Blessed To Have Jesus Christ as my Savior. Also Loved One's & Friends Are My Blessings.

I Am A Bible Believing Christian. I don't like religion. I'm in love with Jesus Christ, whom I have a relationship with. I will Follow Jesus Christ, and not man. He will direct my feet into the right path. It isn't about how good I think I am, or what I think I can do for Him. I cannot work my way to Heaven, nor pay Him to take me. I'm blessed through SURRENDERING my all to Him. He has forgiven me of my nasty Sins.  

I am in a Intimate Relationship with a man who gave His life for me. He loved me that much that He laid His life on a cross that was put together by man. My life has not been the same after I gave Him my heart, and my life. That is True and Honest Love.

No matter what I looked like, or the life-style that I was living that wasn't pleasing to Him, He still accepted me with open arms. He said to me at that moment..."your sins have been forgiven." That was a Promise that He has kept ever since. Halleujah!! My first and Only Love!! His name by the way is Jesus Christ. Amen!! Don't Give Up! Push On! Amen!! "

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Draw Nigh To  Hope