Hello my beautiful sister in the Lord Jesus Christ!

I wanted to remind everyone to vote your faith today. Vote based on your love and devotion for Christ, our Savior and not based on fear, personal comforts or the opinions of man - from the world, or even from well-meaning brothers and sisters in Christ. Search God's word, and seek His counsel as you would do with anything else in your life. Then rest in peace, trusting that God will never forsake His children.

Please do not neglect your Christian duty to vote. It's better to be an absentee voter than to not vote at all. And please remember to keep everyone in your prayers today....you are all in mine! :-)

Now about absentee visitors. Unfortunately, I am not able to visit with you today, as I am compelled to live what I teach. :-) Therefore, I thought it would be good to refer you to some articles that I've already written in order to encourage you through various trials you may be enduring at the moment.

So today, I will be an "absentee visitor". While I may not be blogging today, my heart and prayers are with you all and in a sense I am still "visiting" with you in the best place possible....in Christ! :-)

If you or anyone you know is/are struggling, suffering or wondering how to discern between Satan's guilt and the Holy Spirit's conviction, please read:
The Difference Between Guilt and Conviction

For encouragement to no longer remain a victim of your circumstances or Satan's wicked schemes, please read:
Victors Not Victims


If you're battling with unforgiveness, and you're ready to win the battle in the Name of Jesus, then please read:
When and How to Forgive

Do you want to have Heaven's view of how the attitudes of our hearts ought look like, in our average day-to-day activities? If so, please read this excerpt from Max Lucado:
Each Day....

To understand how God loves us (with agape love) and how to extend this pure and beautiful gift of love from our awesome Father God to anyone around us, please read:
Freedom to Love


If you want to see an example of me oozing with joy and thanksgiving to God during one of my recent surgeries, then please read:
No Greater Joy


Do you ever wonder if Christians ought to be completely sinless? If so, please read:
Christians Sin Less

To read about why God saves us and how He expects us to see ourselves and others, please read:
Not Merely a Better Me

And last, but not least. For those of you who are struggling with and tired of the cycle of mediocre living, please read:
Mediocrity Starts With "Me"


I pray that today, that the LORD our God will direct all our hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness; the perseverance of Christ Jesus, our Master and Savior. (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

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!