As I was having my quiet time today, God reminded me of the simplicity of His message of salvation and how He wants His children to live. First, I will cover the simplicity of the Gospel.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
~ John 3:16-17

Do you know why Jesus, the Son of God, did not come into the world to condemn it? Let’s read on to the next few verses and see what God says.

“Whoever believes in Him [Jesus Christ] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
~ John 3:18

According to God’s word, it is because we are condemned already. Why are we condemned already?

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.”
~ Romans 3:23-25a

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
~ Ephesians 2:8-9

So then, what is sin?

“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.”
~ 1 John 3:4

What law is the Apostle John talking about?

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
~ Matthew 5:17

Realizing how simple the Gospel message is, we can also see how difficult we have made it to be with all of our “knowledge”. This is why Jesus said we must all come to Him with the faith of a child.

The message of the Gospel is so simple, a little child should be able to understand it and come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. To find out how to biblically, simply and effectively share the Gospel please click HERE or click on any of the links at the bottom of this blog, listed under “For the Evangelist in You!”

Now that I’ve shared with you the simplicity of the Gospel message, I’d like to share with you how I think about salvation, and how we, as God’s children, ought to live…simply, that is. :-)

Here's how simple my thinking is:

1. There are only two kinds of people: saved and unsaved
2. Therefore, nothing is the matter of our ability, but only a matter of God's will and our will (or willingness) working in unison to bring the greatest honor and glory to His name.
   

That's it!

Point #1:
This is how I pretty much think about everything. Either a person's soul is indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God, through repentance and faith in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God or they are dead, empty souls, destined for Hell until they come to the saving knowledge of Jesus.

No matter where I go, or who I speak with (even while I'm driving in my car), my constant thinking is "Is that person saved? Do they know Jesus? If they died today, are they going to Heaven or Hell?" Then I pray and ask God to show me, by the power of His Holy Spirit if I'm supposed to speak to someone, give them a tract, serve them, pray for them, all of the above, or whatever He desires. I am constantly concerned about everyone's eternal destiny as this is what determines how I interact with them. As you can see, this makes my life very simple.

If you are not saved, and the Holy Spirit leads me to, I will share the Gospel with you in whatever form or fashion the Lord reveals to me. And I will do this with much fear and trembling as I am fully aware that my lips are unworthy of speaking such glorious truths...the Words of Life. But the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded me to do this and has qualified me for such a task, therefore, I will do it. I will do this with compassion as, I may not know you, but my heart already breaks for you because you are still in a position of enmity with my Father God, therefore, all I have for you is compassion and the love of Jesus. I will lovingly take your hand and walk you to my Jesus. Then I will leave you there with Him, as I do not consider it my business what happens between you and my Savior, Who Is my God. I do not live for the results, but only to love Christ with all I have and everything I am. The results are left in my Master's Hand, in whom I have complete trust. Should you desire to share anything with me, I will listen, but I refuse to make my business that which does not belong to me.

If you are saved, then I already love you with a deep love that abides only in Christ Jesus and I will pray and ask God how I might be blessing to you, serve you, exhort you, or rebuke you if need be, and anything and any way that God chooses to use me as His tool, His vessel so that I might somehow draw you into deeper intimacy with our Savior, Jesus Christ. He may tell me not to say or do anything, He may tell me to just sit with you...and I will joyfully do it.

Do I truly love those who are complete strangers to me just because they say they know Jesus? My answer to that is simple, YES! Of course I do! Did not my Lord command me to love all those who are in the Family of God? (John 13:34-35 and Galatians 6:10)

Point #2:
When my boys tell me they can’t do something, the first thing I ask them is: “You can’t or you won’t?”

If you think about it, most things we say we can’t do (i.e., love someone who hurt us, do something kind for the ungrateful, etc.) are really things that we are actually capable of doing, we just are not willing to do it. I think if we all kept this at the forethought of our minds we would more easily be conformed into the likeness of Christ.

One thing I do to myself and also teach our boys to do is speak the truth, exactly as it is, and not the way we’d like it to be. I often tell my boys, “If you don’t like the truth spoken about you. Then you ought to change the way you live.” Therefore, instead of saying “I can’t”, I honestly say, “I’m unwilling…..” to do such and such. This, of course, really convicts my heart and often leads me to my knees in repentance and prayer as I ask God to forgive me for the unwillingness of my heart to yield to His Holy Spirit; and to teach me to be more loving, understanding and compassionate like Christ.

I know this is really a simple and small change we can all make, but like I said, I’m but a simple woman.

I thought I should share this with all of you in the hopes that perhaps this small change of speaking truth to ourselves and to others; might help us all do that which we all desire the most – to be made in the likeness of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

So next time you start to tell someone you can’t do something, stop and think if that’s true. Are you truly incapable of doing this thing that has been asked of you, or are you merely unwilling to do it?

Share the Gospel in season and out of season; love the Family of God and never cease to pray, bless, love and share God’s kindness with anyone and everyone!

"Welcome Back Kotter" was a hit TV Show which aired in the 1970's. I didn't watch it too much because of some of the male vulgarities shared on the show, but I did agree with the main theme of the show.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the show: High School teacher returns to his alma mater in order to help some students in a remedial class that had been written off by society, they're parents, the other teachers and even the principal. These students were considered to be born losers and destined to stay that way. But Gabe Kotter (the teacher) who graduated from the same high school, after having attended the same remedial class, had a passion to teach these kids to live above the lowly expectations the world had applied to them. Mr. Kotter, not only taught these students in class, but he also invested in their lives outside of class and truly cared about their welfare.

One of Mr. Kotter’s students, Arnold Horshack was well known for always raising his hand and saying, “Ooo, Ooo, Ooo, Ooo!!” He always wanted Mr. Kotter to pick him. But his motivation wasn’t always pure. Which brings to mind, someone in Scripture who did something similar, but with pure motivations. Who was this man? He was the Prophet Isaiah.

In Isaiah 6:1-8, we are taken to the time when Isaiah had just had a vision of Heaven, where he sees the Lord our God seated on His throne, with seraphim flying around Him, singing His praises and worshiping our glorious God! Isaiah then hears the voice of the Lord, which shakes the foundations of the threshold and fills the temple with smoke. Immediately, Isaiah sees himself as God sees him: filthy, wretched, an unworthy sinner before a holy, pure, good, righteous, omniscient and omnipotent God! Naturally, Isaiah was terrified for he knew that he was a dead man! He clearly saw his guilt, his shame and his uncleanliness and probably thought this was Judgment Day, and was about to be sentenced to eternally damnation in Hell.

As Isaiah realizes his destitute state, he trembles with fear as one of the seraphim flies over to him after picking up a burning coal from the altar! Isaiah braces for the impending horror he is anticipating, but to his surprise, the seraphim does not bring him harm. Instead, the seraphim touches the burning coal to Isaiah’s lips and says:

No longer is Isaiah trembling with fear, but he is filled with joy beyond anything he has ever known. He realizes that he has escaped death, and the punishment he rightly deserves for his sins against God. Isaiah is completely captivated by the glory of the Lord God Almighty and revels in this incomprehensible gift from God – his salvation! As Isaiah stands in awe of God’s mighty gift to him, he hears the Lord of hosts asking:

Out of a heart, overflowing with love and gratitude to the Lord God Who cleansed him from his sins, Isaiah could not help but shout:

The difference between Horshack and Isaiah is that while they were both overtaken with excitement, Horshack was only excited because he wanted attention, he wanted to feel good. He was tired of being overlooked and enjoyed being noticed; feeling like he was important to somebody.

Isaiah on the other hand was grateful for a gift he knew he didn’t deserve, therefore was willing to go through painful trials in order to demonstrate his gratitude to the One who set him free! He had no thought or desire for himself as he was completely captivated and fixed on the One who rightfully should have sentenced him to death, but mercifully and graciously gave him life.

Okay, sisters, let’s take out those mirrors and take a real good look at ourselves…with OUT our makeup on. And let’s be real honest with ourselves, and others.

Who do you resemble most?

Horshack, the one who's tired of being ignored, overlooked or just plain rejected; therefore, secretly desires for someone, some person to notice him so he can feel that he is of some worth?

Or Isaiah, who cares not if anyone considers him to be anything, but is willing to give up everything in order to offer his love to the One he is eternally indebted to?

Lord God in Heaven, thank You for our salvation. Thank You for making us acceptable in Your sight. Please forgive us for forgetting the high cost in which our lives were purchased – the blood of Jesus, the life of Your holy and perfect Son. Please forgive us Father for going on with our days without a thought or care about your Kingdom and the fact that there are many out there who are completely lost and will go to Hell today if they do not repent and call on the name of Jesus Christ. Please forgive us for getting so caught up in the things that we enjoy, trying to feel useful or whatever it is that pulls us away from You, that we forget, we forget all that we have been forgiven of, and saved from. Gracious, forgiving Father God, today, make us daughters who see what you see, love what you love and hate what you hate. May we, as Your daughters, resemble You, our Father. And in everything we do, may we seek to save those that are lost, for the glory of Your name and in honor of Your Gift – eternal life in Jesus Christ.

This is a picture I took of my boys last week.

Michael, my oldest, just got home from Cross Country practice and was tired.

In this picture Michael and his precious little brother (Kevin) who is his best friend, are lying on the floor just sharing with one another all that happened during their day at school.

I wanted to share this picture today because this has been a daily occurrence since the day Kevin was born.

My oldest son, whom I love dearly....well, is quite a handful to say the least. He's the child who put the word "strong" in strong-willed. I didn't know much about having children before I had them and all the people around me at the time, who had kids, only had girls. So I just assumed that only boys were so demanding, time-consuming and just, well...a mighty challenge.

When we found out we were having another son, I literally had a panic attack, right there in the doctors' office. The first thought that ran through my mind was that there was only the two of us (Jim and I) and we were barely enough for Michael. How in the world was I going to have any time, any, anything for another boy?! Also, flashes of typical brotherhood filled my head, as I envisioned, knock-down, drag out fights, throwing little brother in the closet and all the other brotherly horror stories I heard from other parents.

With all this going through my head, I prayed. I prayed that God would make this son different. I prayed that God would make their relationship different. I prayed that their relationship would be something God would use to be bear testimony to Christ and His sacrificial love for us. I prayed their relationship would honor God and also point others straight to the loving, merciful, gracious and righteous arms of our Savior. And I found great comfort when I remembered that God would surely not give me more than I could handle.

So, I got another strong-willed child...and they are both strong in the Lord. And for that, I am eternally grateful! Through all this, God revealed to me something I had not considered about myself....I'm much stronger-willed than the both of them put together! For those of you who read my "At The Well" post regarding the whole hair and bedsheets incident, can surely say an AMEN to that! :-)

Our boys are now in the 10th and 8th grades and still, best friends...who love the Lord...and only by God's grace, get to live in the same house! I mean, who doesn't want their best friend to live with them?!

I am eternally grateful for this miracle of the Lord I get to witness every day!

By the way, the reason why their laughing is because I'm standing right over them saying, "Okay, just do what you're doing and pretend that I'm not here!" Yes, I 'm a silly Mama! But it's only because Christ has given me so much joy!

Happy Word-Filled Wednesday everyone!

Don't forget to head on over to Amydeanne's @ The 160 Acre Woods for my encouragement from the Word of our Lord!

DEEPER 2008

DEEPER 2008 is just around the corner! Registrations have passed 2,000 and climbing fast. We are excited about the preaching, worship and fellowship we will experience together. There is still time to register and if you haven’t signed up your teenager….do that too!

Kirk Cameron will be hosting a “teen track” at DEEPER. Your teenager or college student can get 2 hours of fast paced evangelism training along with hearing all the other DEEPER speakers.

The teen track includes:

Tell your youth pastor about this.
Sign up 5 students @ $59 each and get the 6th free!

Sign up today at: deeperconference.com

Registration closes next week!

The Deeper Conference will be held at:

First Baptist Church
of Woodstock
11905 Highway 92
Woodstock, GA 30188

Happy Word-Filled Wednesday everyone! May the Lord our God bless you as you fervently seek Him, and live only for His pleasure!

Ahhh….falling in love with Jesus, how can I count the ways? I cannot. For Who the Lord Jesus is, and all that He has done for me; there is no number, and no way to measure the splendor of His majesty.

Therefore, how can a person ever choose one moment, one time, one instance, over any other: to recall and share His greatness, His kindness, His faithfulness? I believe this is difficult for any of us. As even the Apostle John felt the same way, for he chose to close his gospel letter with this profound and true statement:

The memory I have chosen to share with you, is not one of extraordinary circumstance. Instead, I wanted to share one occasion that best depicts the epitome of my daily life, with my exceptional Savior, Jesus, the Christ.

Several years ago, as I was driving home one morning from dropping the boys off at school, I lifted my eyes to the sky. I was overwhelmed with the greatness of God, whom I had the privilege of calling my Father. As tears streamed down my face, my vision became blurred to the things of this world, yet clear, to see the awesome beauty of my Savior; and I felt so unworthy of such a gift.

I so desperately wished I could be Home with my Jesus. I hungered even more to draw near to Him that I became grieved with the constant struggle between my flesh and God’s Holy Spirit within me. As I became more and more distressed with this fierce inner battle, my heart remembered my Lord’s words to me when I was as child:

Just as my eyes were lifted to examine the vastness of the sky above me, my heart was also lifted, and it soared with rejoicing and praise for the King of kings, the Lord of lords, my Savior, my Master, my Jesus. From the overflow of my heart, came these words that streamed as gently and effortlessly as the tears upon my face.

Captivated

I am captivated
Completely illuminated
My heart’s elevated
By Your love
Your love

Teach me
Guide me and lead me
Holy Spirit knead me
Show me
The most excellent way

Refine me
Burn away the chaff
Give me Your mercy
And teach me to ask
For Your discipline
Oh LORD

Your Hope in me
Says there won’t always be
This struggle with my flesh
And Your Spirit
Cause one day…

I’ll be recreated
My spirit’ll be elated
My body newly stated
By Your love
Your love

Then I will see
You take my hand and hold me
See You in full glory
And I’ll never part again
From Your side
Your side

Thank You Lord Jesus,
That we'll never part again!

As I was completely enjoying my time with the LORD this morning my heart cried out:

I sat and meditated for a moment on the fact that God is my portion, my inheritance, my Gift (through Jesus Christ) forever. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were given an inheritance – a plot of land (territory) that was given to each tribe for generations to come. But the Levites who were anointed and elected by God to be His priests, were not given any portion of land as their inheritance, instead, the Lord God said to them:

How incredible is THAT?! All the other tribes of Israel were given a “claim” on this earth, but the Levites were not to claim anything on this earth for themselves because the LORD God alone would be their claim; their inheritance; their greatest treasure!

I am sure when Asaph, a Levite wrote Psalm 73, he delighted in God’s great promise and incredible announcement to his tribe alone; that the Levites would not need to claim anything on this earth for themselves because God would provide for them so they could concentrate solely on faithfully serving the LORD as they minister to His people.

And as God's children, through faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we who are called by God: are chosen and predestined to be conformed into the likeness of Christ Jesus (God’s one and only begotten Son), and are now graciously included in this promise and exhorted to live as such:

If the LORD God is my portion, what more shall I want? What greater thing can I desire? Nothing, for there is none like my God! There is not one who is even equal to Him! For the LORD alone is God and I will forever be satisfied that He is mine, and I am His!

Please watch the video above, which includes interviews by:

I'm so excited about this! If you've never watched Way of The Master (WOTM), you're really missing out! When we were introduced to this show several years ago, it just blew us away! We never realized how "easy" it was to evangelize! We didn't need to be a graduate of seminary, we didn't need to memorize a million Scriptures, we just needed to know the Ten Commandments and our personal testimony of God's gift of salvation through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ!

My family found such freedom in this. Does that mean evangelism isn't still a bit scary for us? NO! It still is, but at least we're no longer stifled by all of Satan's reasons and scare tactics of why we are not qualified to fulfill God's Great Commission:

We all often complain about all the "bad" stuff on television these days, well folks, here's some "good" television to watch! We've watched Seasons 1 & 2 and even purchased the Basic Training Course and worked on it together as a family in the evenings (it makes for a great evening family devotional!).

Due to the influence of WOTM, even both our teenage sons evangelize regularly at their public schools! As a matter of fact, God used WOTM as one of the tools to inspire our oldest son (who is now almost 16) to start S.W.A.T. Bible Club in his public school when he was in the seventh grade, and only 13 years old! By the power of the Holy Spirit, God directed Michael to write lesson plans for the students who came to the club as well as a leader's discussion guide for him and his Assistant Team Leader. We were very blessed as a family to see God move in such a young man to save the lost souls in his school; which opened the door for our entire family to share the Gospel with these students' families!

There were many students who thought they were saved just because they went to church, they had been baptized, or were just "good" people. But as Jesus said, "No one who is good, except God alone." So Michael faithfully shared the Gospel the way Jesus commanded us to, the way He did it and how He taught His disciples to do it: Law to proud, grace to the humble. Jesus always gave the Law to those who thought their own "goodness" could get them to Heaven, not to be mean, but out of compassion, He used the perfect Law of God to reveal to them that they were sinners and were in desperate need of a Savior, who alone is Jesus Christ. But to those whose hearts were already repentant and broken, He gave them the Good News, (the Gospel), as they were already convinced they were sinners in desperate need of a Savior.

All these students were so thankful to God for Michael as they realized that they could have been the "many" Christ spoke of when He said:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' "
~ Matthew 7:21-23
(emphasis added)

Because Jesus said this, my heart is burdened and terrified for so many who think they are saved because of their "good works", but never repented of their sins, and fully trusted Jesus with their lives. The Bible says there are two days in which to find out this truth. That day (the day of Judgment) and This day (today). And as you can see, only one day is a good day to find out where you stand with God....and That day is not it.

We are so grateful and humbled that God so graciously gave us the gift of witnessing many come into a saving relationship with God, through repentance and faith in Jesus alone. And continue to thank God as He opened and continues to open many doors at my husband's office, providing him with great opportunities to share the Gospel.

God also continues to open doors for our boys at school, through sports and other activities they're involved in. And as a stay-at-home-mom, where is my portion of the "harvest field" I work? It's whereever I am! I witness to my neighbors, the Target store clerk, any grocery store and department store clerk, any person the Holy Spirit inspires me to speak with that happens to be shopping as well, or at the movie theater, malls, hospitals, (where I've spent a lot of time at for the past four years) doctor's offices....really, just anywhere I happen to be!

In order to help us, since evangelism is still a bit scary, we make sure we are always fully prepared with tracts to help us get started! As a matter of fact, I only purchases purses that are conducive for carrying tracts. My favorites are:

• Million Dollar Bill
• Giant Money
• Curved Illusions (kids and parents LOVE this)
• Smart Card
• How to Live Forever...Without Being Religious
• The Atheist Test
• Test Your Reading Skills
• Why Christianity?
• Ticket to Heaven (un-tear-able)
  
• The World's Ten Most Popular Things
• Hell's Best Kept Secret & True and False Conversion CD
• ¿Fres Una Persona Buena?

....okay, okay, so I have a lot of favorites! Instead of continuing to list them all, visit Living Waters store website and you can get some for yourselves! They also give you some fabulous tips on how to use them.

This a a Biblical, non-offensive and compassionate way to share the Gospel...but of course it is...this is how our Master and Lord Jesus Himself did it!

I could go on and on about all the great things God has done through WOTM, with Michael's S.W.A.T. Bible Club, at school, my husband's office, etc., but I think it's sufficient to leave it where the Apostle John left it:

"Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain all the books that would be written."
~ John 21:25

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(This is an aerial view from the aircraft my husband was traveling in during his tour in Iraq.)

I know the picture I chose to share today is not of a mountain (as the Scripture I chose to share refers to)...or rather, it doesn't look like it from our point of view...down here in the valley. But since we really can't see the mountains from Heaven's view, like God, I thought this aerial photo would suffice, as this is the closest we can get to seeing how very small the mountains must seem to God.

A couple of things struck me today about this passage. The first is that we see what Peter (don't you just love Peter?) suggested to Jesus as he was just in awe of what was happening and obviously didn't want it to end, so he asked Jesus if He approved of them making tents for Him, Moses and Elijah, so they can stay, sit and chat a while. You notice, Jesus didn't answer Peter. Instead, He continued with the business He had with Moses and Elijah. The other thing I found peculiar is, this passage said that Peter asked this question, and he asked this because he didn't know what to say. Don't you find that rather humorous?

The first thing I thought is "Boy, I sure love that Peter! He reminds me of me!" How often do I say, "I don't know what to say." Then I go ahead and say something! Have you ever done this? Oh, how gracious and patient the Lord is with me!

The second thing that struck me in this passage is that our Lord Jesus, after allowing Peter, James and John to witness this awesome work of Heaven, right before their eyes, Jesus took them back down the mountain. And for what? Well, we see right after this, they were casting out a demon from a young boy. Which brings me to what Oswald Chambers so wisely wrote:

"We have all had times on the mount, when we have seen things from God's standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up.....The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time."

~ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest
Mark 9:2 ~ October 1

I am very convicted this morning as I take heed to this warning from my brother, who penned this hundreds of years ago: "but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time." I so often don't want to deal with people (God is so much easier to be with, isn't He?), that I don't want to reach out to anyone. I would much rather have "quiet time" all day, never answer the phone, never leave the house, never share on a blog, or anything that would cause me to open up and love others as God loves me....for fear of being hurt, rejected and humiliated.

This is a sad fact about me, but it is also very true.

I share this in hopes that it will comfort and encourage some of you who may have, are now doing, or will come to this point in your life where you so enjoy your time with God, that you grow spiritually selfish, like I have, and no longer want to share Jesus in you, with anyone. When I behave this way, I apologize to those I've neglected by saying, "I'm sorry I'm not working out my faith and being such a spiritual pig and hoarding Jesus all to myself!" And what foolishness this is anyway! As if any person could contain (limit) Christ at all, in any manner!

I'm just a silly girl, totally in love with my Savior!