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Archive for the ‘Family Faith’ Category

God Works With Joy

Posted in Family Faith, tagged , on July 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

 
 
            Don’t pray or meditate as a duty. Realize that prayer is a visit with God and should be joyous.
 
Neither must you pursue your secular activities as necessary duties to be gotten over, that you may return to your prayer. In the light of Truth, there are no secular activities.
 
You must have regular recreation or you will become stale. Recreation, also, is to be enjoyed – as an expression of God – and not as a task to prepare yourself to pray better. An understanding joy in living is the highest prayer of all.
 
…in thy presence is fullness of joy… (Psalm 16:11).
 
If our relationship with God is not joyful, its not God’s fault. If our relationships in life are not joyful, it is not someone else’s fault. We chose to live with joy or not. Its just that simple.
 
If we want more joy in our lives, then we must chose joy, live with joy and spread joy to others. That all starts with a thought. Think joy and live in the garden God created for us.
 
Thinking joy,
Z gardener
 

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GOD’S TRUTH, YOUR LIFE

Posted in Family Faith, tagged , on August 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people…that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

I have found that people who say, “You can’t trust what the Bible says” often have never actually read it for themselves. Instead, they are only using this as an excuse to avoid God.

The real issue for them isn’t the trustworthiness of the Bible but their determination to keep God away. Down inside, they sense that if they took God seriously and gave their life to Christ, they would have to change their way of living–and they don’t want to do that.

So don’t be afraid to challenge your non-believing friends to read the Gospels and learn about Jesus for themselves. God can use it to break down their barriers and bring them to Himself.

Also pray for them. You can’t change their heart and mind–but God can. Ask Him to awaken your friends to their need for Christ.

Finally, be a good witness by the way you live. Let these friends know you really care; let them see Jesus’ love and peace and joy in your life. The way we live is often more convincing than the words we say.

Beloved ones,

The best way for us to share our faith with others is through our actions. If we shine the light of God’s love on others, they will seek that light without our needing to preach to them. When we demonstrate peace, love, joy and hope in our lives, all those we touch will be drawn to seek it in theirs. That is not to say that we should fail to share a serious concerns or misgivings with a loved one regarding dangerous or harmful behavior. It does mean that we are to do so in a loving and caring way and without condemnation and judgement.

And if the one we love refuses to allow God into their lives, then we must continue to love and respect them. We will have a greater impact through love and responsible support than through preaching, screeching and criticizing. Then when the opportunity presents itself, as it usually will, we can share with those we love the secret of our hope, faith, joy and confidence. When those we love see God working miracles in our lives that produce harmony, peace and joy, they will know that our faith works in the real world. That proof can convince even the most hardened skeptic, when our words will not.

Living the truth,
Dad

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An Easter Prayer

Posted in Family Faith, tagged , on April 2, 2010| 2 Comments »

It is this writer’s prayer today that the hope, peace and joy of the risen Christ will lift each of us into the new personhood that arises in us as we embrace the forgiveness and justification before God that Jesus’ death purchased for us through all eternity.

He is risen, indeed!
Z gardener

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Ever-Present Help

Posted in Family Faith, Good Morning, tagged , on November 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Resignation in defeat is really a sin.

If an old problem continues to stick—pray for inspiration and intelligence. Stop struggling and thank God constantly for setting you free.

If nervous or frightened—throw the responsibility on God, and tell Him that you know you are safe in His hands.

If someone is being troublesome—see only the Presence of God where the troublesome person seems to be.

If you want to make faster progress—claim understanding and affirm that divine Love is working through you.

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you (1 Peter 5:7).

It is so easy to let the world weigh us down. Sometimes we just want to pull the covers over our heads and refuse to get out of bed. In such times, we have a sure source of help that never leaves us and never fails us. But to lean on God when we face hardship requires faith.

Like a person working high up on towers who has faith that his harness will keep him from falling, we too have a safety line that will save us every time. So, even when problems reoccur, or we are frightened, or we are dealing with a troublesome person, or we simply want to advance faster spiritually, we must put on our harness and safety line that God provides.

And lastly, we must never quit trusting God and turning to God for our comfort and support. God is an ever present help if we just call on him and follow God’s will. When we do this, we will be free, safe from fear and unburdened by those who would trouble us. Then we can live in our gardens each day in joy and gladness.

Casting upon Christ,
Z gardener

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Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Posted in Family Faith, tagged , on June 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13).

Many earnest people feel that God could not lead anyone into temptation in any circumstances, and that Jesus could not have said what he is represented to have said, and so some other phrasing is sought more in accordance with the general tone of his teaching. All this, however, is unnecessary.

The facts are these—the more you pray, the more sensitive you become, and the more powerful are your prayers. But you also become susceptible to forms of temptation that simply do not beset those at an earlier stage. Subtle and powerful temptations await; temptations to work for self-glory, for personal distinction; temptation to personal preferences other than perfect impartiality. Beyond all other temptations the deadly sin of spiritual pride. Many who have surmounted all other testings have lapsed into self-righteousness that has fallen like a curtain of steel between them and God.

Some old writers were so vividly sensible of these dangers that they spoke of the soul as being challenged by various tests as its traversed the upward road. The traveler was halted at various turnpike bars, and tested by some ordeal to determine whether he were ready to advance any further. If he succeeded in passing the test he was allowed to continue upon his way with the blessing of the challenger.

Now, some less experienced souls, eager for rapid advancement, have rashly desired to be subjected immediately to all kinds of tests, and have even looked about, seeking for difficulties to overcome. Forgetting our Lord’s injunction Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God (Matthew 4:7), they have virtually challenged him to give them difficulties. And so Jesus has inserted this clause, in which we pray that we may not have to meet anything that is too much for us at the present level of our understanding.

The author finds that this phrase of the Lord’s Prayer is best understood when said with a pause. “Lead us…not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Once we begin to follow God’s will, we are sometimes blinded to spiritual vanity, pride and self-righteousness. This is like the athlete who thinks too highly of them self because God gave them physical ability. We are not to be proud or give ourselves any glory when God begins to work through us. Another danger is that spiritual pride and self-righteousness blinds us to our own weaknesses and faults so that we can not admit our wrongness and ask for forgiveness. In other words we can not be delivered from evil because we don’t recognize it in ourselves. The best way to escape this trap is to avoid it altogether by asking God to “lead us”.

Being led
Z gardener

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