If you doubt His love for you...

If you doubt His love for you...listen to what he did for YOU!



We are ALL unworthy, undeserving, and wretched, but God sees us as His children. 

If you have children, think about each one of them. 

Are they perfect? 

Do the do naughty things, I mean really naughty things? 

Do they make you angry?

Are they unloving, ungrateful, selfish? 

Have they rejected your authority, your love for them? 
Yet,
 wouldn't you do anything, even be willing to lay down your life for them?

Well, we are God's children and He loves each of us and desires to have a relationship with us again.  He loves us so much, that He sent His ONLY Son (who was the only perfect sacrifice) to die in our place.

Now look at Jesus

He was perfect!

He did nothing wrong!

He loved us so much He stood in for us and took the punishment and died in our place!

He was never selfish!

He was rejected even unto death!

It is an indescribable gift, that we have been given, and we are not worthy of it.
The gift has been given, receive it! 
If you have received the gift, take care of it, remember how much it meant to you when you first received it and how grateful you are that you have it.

Don't doubt His love for you!

Ephesians 2:11-18 

¹¹ Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— ¹² that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

 
¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, ¹⁵ having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. ¹⁷ And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.



The Cross to me

The Cross..means everything to me!
It is painful...knowing my sin is why Jesus had to die.
It is incredible...knowing how much Jesus loved me to die in my place.
It is LIFE...knowing that Jesus being raised from the dead gives  me ETERNAL LIFE WITH HIM!
What happened long ago on Calvary is why I can live on this earth without despair.
I am a visitor here and my home is with Him in Heaven...Praise the Lord.

In John 17 Jesus prayed for all believers:

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them (the disciples) alone. I pray also for those (me/us) who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
   ²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
   ²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you^[a] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

A childs prayer

My son had a party in his pre-school class to celebrate the Resurrection.  As they prayed for the wonderful food put before them, the teacher led them in a sweet prayer.  (She is truly the best teacher my kids have ever had, because she truly exudes the love of Christ to the children) As they were praying, my little 5 year old prayed loud and boldly repeating the words of his teacher. 

What a "delight" this was to my heart to hear this child of mine speaking boldly in prayer.  For this is the child who barely spoke for the first 3 years of his life, it was unclear if he understood what was going on around him, and when he did speak, it wasn't easy to understand what he was trying to say.  So you can see why this was so special to me.

The icing on the cake was when the little boy sitting across from him said out loud to the teacher as he glanced at me " Teacher, he said Amen twice". 

I looked at him and said "Yes, he did".

My son was grinning from ear to ear and very proud that he was praying to "Jesus".

Children are never to young to truly understand who Jesus is and to come before Him in prayer and worship. 

But Jesus said,

“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 19:14

 

God is near..

God is always near no matter how big or how small our need...

Today was the first day of standardized testing that we must do to fulfill a requirement by the homeschooling group we are apart of.  This is not one of my favorite parts of the year, in fact I didn't like taking them as a child either. However, to my delight, today went rather smoothly.  I had been nervous after last year when my son stressed out so much about the "time", that he froze and couldn't function.  So, we were able to do testing this year without a timer, and it worked beautifully.  God was near and heard my prayer!

Then this evening I received a message from a person who "happened" upon this blog. She received tragic news today, and the Lord met her where she was and comforted her in her grief.  God was near and heard her prayers!

The Lord is truly awesome and hears all our prayers.  What a blessing when we see His Hand on our ordinary lives!

"The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth."

Psalm 145:18

Heart of the matter

Well, I wasn't able to finish the  "Heart and Home Clean Sweep challenge" that Esther at "Our Simple Country Life" hosted this week, but I intend to finish day 3-6 while we are on our break at the end of the month.  If you haven't had a chance to check out Esther's blog, I want to encourage you to browse her site, it is full of wonderful stuff!  She has insight into God's word that is so precious and has impacted me over the last two weeks since I found her blog.  Here is her link http://oursimplecountrylife.blogspot.com

I was encouraged by her "Heart Scrub" for the last two days, but especially on day 5.  She references the scripture in 1 Samuel 16:7b where it says:

"...the Lord does not see as a man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance,

but the Lord looks at the heart". 

Basically, the Lord isn't overly concerned about what our physical home looks like, but what the heart of our home looks like.  I have been meditating on this and looking at our home to find "areas" that may need to be cleaned up so that the heart of our home sparkles. How is the "heart" of your home?

"Heart and Home Clean Sweep"- Day 2

This is my second day participating in the "Heart and Home Clean Sweep" that Esther at Our Simple Country Life is putting on this week.  She is so encouraging and has sweet words of wisdom from the Word to share.  If you haven't had a chance to visit her blog, you really need to, I know you will be blessed!

http://oursimplecountrylife.blogspot.com/2011/04/living-room-dirty-clean.html#comment-form

"But the end of all things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. 

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without  grumbling.  As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

1Peter 4:7-10

The Heart:

When I went to Our Simple Country Life  this morning, I was so blessed and encouraged by the words and the scripture in 1 Peter 4:7-10.  Hospitality is not a gift that I have.  My house is never ready for company unless I know way in advance that they are coming.  I have always desired a neat and tidy home like my Mother-n-law has, but I haven't made the effort to keep it that way.  The words in Esthers message this morning resonated with me and listed many of the reasons why I don't have people over.  

When I proceeded to read the passage in 1 Peter more closely I realized it isn't a gift given to some, it is a word for all of us.  I don't have a choice, I need to be hospitable to others. Wait, there is more...I need to do it without grumbling.  How often have I complained that I always have to pick up after my kids or, I have too much to do, or my house is too messy to have anyone over, or my house isn't big enough, and I have many more I could list.

After today, I desire to make an effort to have people over and extend hospitality to others.  I don't know when or how, but I know that I want to obey my heavenly father and extend hospitality to others.

The Home: Living Room
After waking up with a head ache and then having a webinar that I attended all afternoon, I wasn't able to participate at the level that I had hoped.  In fact, I wasn't going to do it at all.  Then I saw that Esther had posted her pictures and shared how she was able to continue the challenge even with a busy schedule today.  That was just the encouragement I needed to get me going.

I decided that I didn't have to deep clean, but just pick things up a bit.  So I put things away, vacuumed the rug, threw things away and even dusted.  It didn't take me very long, and now I have 2 rooms in my home that are clean and presentable.  It was so wonderful  this morning to get up and see a clean kitchen, even my husband commented on how nice it was. It gives you a head start in the morning and makes you feel happy and less burdened.

Before

After

"Heart and Home Clean Sweep"-Day 1

This week, I am participating in the "Heart and Home Clean Sweep" put together by Esther at "Our Simple Country Home" Blog.

http://www.oursimplecountrylife.blogspot.com/

The Home: Kitchen/Dining Area:

This is my clean sweep of my kitchen.  I wasn't able to get to the pantry, because I started late in the day and continued into the evening.  However, I am pleased with the change that was made in my kitchen.  I hope to be able to keep my kitchen neat and clean like it is, at this very moment.

Before Pictures

After

This is how I want my kitchen to look everyday.

The Heart:

I love the message in Esther's blog at "Our Simple Country Home". As she mentioned the passage in Galatians, I kept thinking about the fruit of the spirit again (note:yesterdays post was on that same passage..hmm thinkk the Lord is telling me something?...I think so).  It is such a key to our lives, and how much happier we would be if we lived that way instead of in the sinfulness of our flesh. 

As I thought about the first fruit that is listed in Galatians which is "Love", I remembered that phrase people say "an apple a day keeps the Dr. away".  I thought of an alternate phrase for the believer, "Loving each day keeps satan away".  If we are living and walking in Christ we will be exhibiting the fruit of the spirit, it is just the by product of our life in Christ. 

The enemy of our souls can not destroy us, because we are in the hands of the Living God.  Satan can try and slip us up, cause tragedy in our lives and make our circumstances seem impossible, but if we are truly "in Christ", we will be able to stand against his schemes and continue on in Love no matter what. Oh, how I desire this in my life!