Missing Out On The Strawberries

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:5

Last Sunday, Chase came home from church with an attitude. Apparently, his daddy had been playing a game with he and Carson and in Chase’s mind, Bobby had given Carson special treatment, and Chase was not happy. And he pouted about it all the way home. Now usually it’s pretty easy to get Chase back to his happy go lucky self, but he had gotten himself so worked up, letting his emotions snowball, nothing was making him happy. When he got home, he ran into his bedroom and slammed the door shut.

I wonder why we slam doors when we are upset? Do we think that will help? I always do it too, so I’m not picking on Chase, just wondering?

I made lunch for everyone, but Chase was being stubborn and he would not come to the table and eat. I had cut up a couple of quarts of fresh strawberries and I thought for sure that would get him out of his room. He loves strawberries! They are his favorite. But no, he let Carson and Bobby eat the whole bowl, he would not even come out for strawberries.

He was pouting and as a result of it, he missed out on something good today.

I wonder how many times I’ve missed out on the blessings that God wanted to give me, because I was off pouting about something that someone else did or said to me? I wasn’t ready to receive what God had for me, because I had my head wrapped around some negative thought that wasn’t even real, or because I was too caught up in feeling sorry for myself. And God was standing there saying, “Hey, I’ve got some great stuff over here for you.” But I missed out on something good, because I was too caught up in me.

Father, forgive me when I let the cares of the world distract me from you. Help me Lord to turn away from the negatives of life and keep my eyes focused on what you would have for me. And Father, thank you for healing Chase’s little heart and putting a smile back on his face.

I Love You Jesus.
In Your Name I Pray,
Amen

God Bless You!

Love,
Joyce

The Choices We Make Today …
Will Affect Our Tomorrow
http://www.alifedecision.org

Walking The Walk

I was just reading in James:

You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
James 2:20-24

Abraham’s faith was made complete by what he did. It takes our faith and our actions working together, for our faith to be made whole.

It cannot be just talking the talk, we must walk the walk as well.

So if I say, “I know I should do _______________”, and than I don’t, then I’m not really walking in faith.

This can be a difficult lesson to actually walk through, because how do I know how it will turn out, or what I’ll have to go through during the process?

What if I have to actually go ___________?
Or what if I have to leave behind my ___________?
Or what if God asks me to _________________?

You feel in the blanks. We all have different things that we fear will happen if we actually do the thing that we’re afraid to do, the thing that God has been asking of us, but we’re just not ready to go there quite yet …

But I have one more question?

What if I trust God?

Father, thank You for revealed truth. Thank You for showing me that it does take belief combined with actions to make my faith complete. Father, please help me to not be afraid to step out in faith. To do the things that You ask me to do. To trust You completely with my life.

I Love You Jesus. I truly do!
In Your Name I Pray,
Amen

God Bless You!

Love,
Joyce

The Choices You Make Today …
Will Affect Your Tomorrow
http://www.alifedecision.org

How to Teach Your Kids Theology… Badly

Does this sound familiar?

How to Teach Your Children Theology… Badly.

Good Soil

Bobby is in the midst of spring planting. The guy loves to putter in the dirt. He should have been a farmer. Funny, I grew up on a farm, I never plant anything, he grew up in the city, he spends all his free time at home planting. A good part of our lanai is covered in plants, he has planters out in the yard now and I heard him discussing with Carson the other day on the merits of a green house and how they could build one.

Bobby buys the dirt he uses to grow plants. The dirt we have in our yard isn’t conducive to producing much of a harvest. It is rocky and sandy and capable of only producing weeds. So Bobby buys good soil, adds fertilizer and water and wala … he has plants everywhere.

I love how this concept relates to our hearts. If our hearts are hard, filled with weeds and rocks, we’re not going to be conducive to producing much of a harvest for God. His word will not penetrate through us, it will bounce off, and no fruit will come forth.

But if our hearts are fertile, good soil, fertilized and watered by God’s Word, we can produce good fruit for Him.

Jesus tells a story in Matthew 13:3-8 (The Message):

“What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”

Producing a harvest beyond my wildest dreams … now that’s cool!

Father, thank you for showing me this concept of needing good soil to produce good fruit. So many times we don’t realize that Your Word can’t penetrate inside, because of the choices we make … not because of anything lacking from you. Help me Lord to keep my heart soft, and fertilized with your Word, so that you will be glorified in all things.

I Love You Jesus.
In Your Name I Pray,
Amen

God Bless You!

Love,
Joyce

The Choices You Make Today …
Will Affect Your Tomorrow!
http://www.alifedecision.org

Never Too Late for God

Genesis 17:1 NKJV When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.”

Did you notice how old Abram was when the Lord appeared to him? Abram was 99 years old! It’s never too late for God to appear in your life and it’s never too late to turn to God either. As I read this verse it was as if God was speaking this to me and a pattern appeared that seemed very familiar to me – the pattern of salvation. Allow me to explain.

God first says “I am Almighty God”. This is the first step in being saved. I must recognize I’m not God – only HE is. He is Almighty, the source of all power. He is more powerful than I can even imagine. Recognizing God is Almighty puts everything in the proper perspective. Realizing He’s God and I’m not, helps me recognize my own sinfulness. When you compare yourself to God, it becomes quite clear how much we miss the mark. Romans 3:23 NKJV “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Romans 6:23 NKJV “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The second step is “walk before Me”. I must submit myself to the authority of the Lord God Almighty. Ever notice how a very young child will behave nicely or do really cute things before their parents or other adults? It’s because they know someone is watching. God is saying “I’m always watching, therefore, walk before me as though you know I’m watching”. If I know God Almighty is watching, I’m more likely to choose things that glorify Him rather than satisfy my selfish desires. Galatians 5:16 NKJV “…Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Before we can walk by the Spirit, we must be born again in Christ Jesus. Once we are born again, we become new creatures in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

The last step is “be blameless”. This is the final step in God’s process and not one you can achieve on your own without completing the first two steps. After you’ve accepted God is Almighty, your perspective is changed, and you accept what Jesus Christ did for you, the result is you are blameless before God. When you give your life to Christ, His righteousness is laid upon you, so you are washed clean and purified from all unrighteousness. 1 Corinthians 6:11 NKJV “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

To recap what we’ve learned from today’s verse. Here’s a quick summary:

1) Recognize God is Almighty and I am sinful.

2) Walk before Him, ask for forgiveness from Christ.

3) Become a new creation in Christ and be blameless.

Are you ready to give your life to Christ? Pray a simple prayer like:

“Jesus forgive me for living my life without you. I know I am a sinner but you are Almighty God. As much as I know how I give myself to you. Please come into my life and make me new. In Jesus’ name Amen.”

©Elizabeth Marks has led small group Bible studies for almost a decade. Author of ThinkOnItBibleDevotions.com and BeingWomenOfInfluence.com websites she has a heart for encouraging others with God’s Word.

Losing Chase

In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
Matthew 18:14

I heard a message recently, the pastor was telling a story about losing his son, and immediately the day we lost Chase came to mind.

Chase had just turned two, it was Labor Day and Bobby and I were both home. I had been working in my office, he downstairs, the boys playing out on the deck, in their little swimming pool, with a water hose going. They hadn’t been wearing any clothes that day, they had been in the pool on and off, and at that point in their life, swimming naked was just easier than dealing with pull-ups and swim diapers.

At one point, I remembered Carson telling me he was going downstairs with his daddy and I had asked him to take his brother with him. I had watched both of them go out the door and down the steps. About an hour or so later, I decided it was time to think about dinner, and I wandered downstairs to see what Bobby wanted to eat. I saw he and Carson busying themselves in his shop, but I didn’t see Chase anywhere.

“Where’s Chase?” was my first question. To which Bobby replied, “I don’t know, he was upstairs with you.” I quickly assured him that Chase was not upstairs with me, I had sent him downstairs with his brother about an hour ago. Well, I ran back up the stairs and Bobby ran out to the yard and we started our search.

And the panic started to envelope me. I knew Chase wasn’t upstairs. I knew he had went down the stairs with Carson earlier, and I had not heard him return. But I did a quick search anyway, and then ran back outside and saw the look of panic on Bobby’s face. I was starting to get upset as I assured Bobby that Chase had come downstairs an hour ago, hadn’t he seen him? And Bobby sadly shook his head, No.

The tears were flowing, and I was running around the yard screaming Chase’s name but he was no where to be found. We ran out to the street and looked each way, wondering where Chase could have gone? We live in a rural area with woods on one side of us and to the back, so the street was probably the place where Chase had headed, since it was the clear route.

As we looked up and down the street, we saw a group of people heading towards us in the distance. We couldn’t make out who it was, but it did appear our dog, Bobo, was with them.

As we rushed towards them, we saw our little Chase being pulled in a wagon, the dog right beside him. There were about four or five people in the group. We grabbed Chase and hugged him tight and thanked the people for bringing him back. They had been sitting on their lanai and this tiny little naked boy had walked down their driveway and right up to their door. They did not speak English, they had no idea where he belonged, but they had started down the street in hope of finding his family. A neighbor had come across them, and told them where Chase belonged, and they were bringing him back to us.

I surely cannot image what they thought … at that point, I really didn’t care. I was just so very thankful to find Chase safe and sound. And I was so thankful that God had protected him while he was gone.

In the message I had listened to, the pastor was comparing people who don’t know Jesus, who have gotten seperated from him, to this concept of losing our children. God created each and every person in His image, He knew us before we were born, He has a plan and a purpose for us, and when we wander away from Him, it breaks His heart. And He will do whatever it takes to get us back into His fold, into His family, and I believe it touches His heart in a special way, when our deepest desire is to help Him gather back His children.

I can assure you, the day I lost Chase, I wasn’t thinking, “Oh, we have Carson, it’s okay that Chase is gone!” No sir’ee … all my thoughts were focused on getting Chase home and I have to tell you, those people that brought him back safely, I will be eternally grateful to.

Father, thank You for protecting Chase that afternoon and for bringing him back safely to us. And Lord Jesus, give me your heart for the people that have wandered away, so that my deepest desire is to help them connect back to you.

I Love You Jesus.
In Your Name I Pray,
Amen

God Bless You!

Love,
Joyce

Submitted by: Joyce Schneider

The Choices You Make Today …
Will Affect Your Tomorrow!
http://www.alifedecision.org

Are You Hungry For God?

I was just listening to a CD by Michael W. Smith. When the song ended, he asked, “Are you hungry for God?” Last night, in our ladies group, we were discussing the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus climbed up on a hillside with his diciples, those who were committed to him, who followed him and he explained to them how to live out this new life that was before them. The beginning of the message talks about being blessed. Matthew 5:6 says,

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Being blessed is such a cool concept. It’s much more than just being happy. Happiness comes and goes with the wind, blessed is a state of contentment inside. That sticks with us, regardless of the situations around us. God stands for righteousness, God is righteousness. So basically, Jesus was telling his followers if you hunger and thirst for God, you are blessed and you will be filled.

We are going to be filled with something. We have a choice. It’s either the things of the world … or the things of God. Whichever we feed on.

I want to fill myself with God.

Father, I do want to hunger and thirst for you. I know, so many times when my spirit is dry, it’s because I’ve let the world fill me up. Lord, help me to make the right choices. To always choose you and your ways.

I Love You Jesus.
In Your Name I Pray,
Amen

God Bless You!

Love,
Joyce

The Choices You Make Today …
Will Affect Your Tomorrow!
http://www.alifedecision.org

She speaks with wisdom…

and faithful instruction is on her tongue Prov 31:26

It’s not always easy to know what the right thing to do or say is.

I manage a forum of over 1,000 people, mainly women, in the Virtual Assistant industry.  The forum is many years old but in recent years I’ve felt the need to bring on board some moderators for a number of reasons – some are on the other side of the world to me and they can moderate messages when I’m in bed asleep.

But there are times when we need to discuss a certain member for not behaving well on the forum or to another member who becomes demanding and insists we do things their way.

Over the past couple of years I’ve had a small number of newer members take exception to an older member and they feel I should be banning her from the list.  I’ve struggled with this particular problem and took it to my moderators for discussion – it wasn’t a decision I wanted to wrestle with on my own.

Thankfully my team of moderators are a group of wise women of varying ages and experiences and each were able to give me their perspective and thoughts on the women involved in this latest conflict. And they were able to help me see things in perspective.

When you’re in the middle of conflict and each side hold what seem to be convincing arguments it’s often hard to see the wood for the trees.  You need to be able to step back and look from both sides, and seek wise counsel.  We can’t always know the answers ourselves.

In the midst of this I had prayed to God for an answer and as if to help put the final part to the answer, this evening a lady I know from another state rang me out of the blue. She manages a network about 12 times the size of mine, but like me, it’s her business, and like me, she has problems with members from time to time. As she says ‘they are human and all have different personalities.  They need to learn to get over it or go without’.

I didn’t know Lyn was going to call me and I had not contacted her about my problem.  I had responded to a newsletter she’d sent out several days ago and it was tonight she chose to ring me and encourage me and just have a chat.  She’d been away interstate and hadn’t seen my email of encouragement to her until this evening.

Isn’t God good? He provided a woman with 12 times the ‘talent’ that I have (see Matthew 25:14-30) to call me on the very day I’d been struggling with a problem, providing just the answer by a woman who could speak wisdom and faithful instruction into my life. Thank you Father!

Play…You Pay

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23

On Saturday, we had six little boys running around the house, yard. Zeke was in heaven. He was everywhere with them, enjoying the company. But when we were sitting around later that evening, watching a movie, Zeke could hardly walk. He went to stand up and it took him quite a while. Bobby and I were laughing, and I said, “Hey buddy, when you play … you pay.” Bobby made some unkind comments about Zeke’s weight, but I won’t repeat them. Yes, Zeke is a little large, but he can’t help it.

About 2:30 am, Chase came into my room, complaining of a stomach ache. I let him lay down with us for a bit, prayed for him and eventually he got up and fell asleep on the couch. I was thinking that the bag of Doritos he ate, while watching the movie didn’t settle so well. I thought … he played, now he’s paying.

There are always consequences to our actions – some positive – some negative. My early years were full of activities that left me with consequences I have to continue to live with. Every January, memories of the little baby that I aborted flood back to me. If I could go back and redo that action, oh how I’d love to NOT have done it.

But we don’t get to redo life.

We can however, know that regardless of the consequences we have to endure, we have a Lord and a Savior who loves us so very much. Jesus died to offer us forgiveness of all our sins, and even though the consequences might still remain, the slate of sin can be wiped clean.

With Jesus walking with you through life, the consequences are bearable.

Father, thank you that you’ve taken my past and turned it into your future. Lord, even though the memories remain, you’ve taken the pain and used it for your gain. Help me to always look for the lesson to grow from.

I Love You Jesus.
In Your Name I Pray,
Amen

God Bless You!

Love,
Joyce

The Choices You Make Today …
Will Affect Your Tomorrow!
http://www.alifedecision.org

God’s Promises to Abram

Read Genesis 15 NKJV

Have you ever noticed how hope appears only after there’s been a period of doubt, trials, despair and self-pity? I know for me, I had to get to the very end of my self-sufficiency in much misery and pain before hope shined his light on me.

In reading Genesis 15, I noticed the same pattern: doubt, worry, despair all came before hope. As I’ve come to learn of God’s generosity, He doesn’t just provide hope. He also follows up the hope with a personal promise, something that speaks to the person specifically and intimately.

Let’s take a look at two examples from Genesis 15 in the NKJV translation. The first example lies within verses 3 through 6:

3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”

5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
6 And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

Notice in verse 3 Abram is whining about having no children to be his heir. He’s actually blaming God for not giving him children. That to me speaks of self-pity, doubt and despair. At this point Abram was unable to see what God was capable of doing.

Look at verse 4 and 5. God spoke to Abram saying “Don’t worry. You will have an heir from your own body. In fact, you will have so many descendants you won’t be able to call them, just as you can’t count the stars.” If that is not a picture of hope, I don’t know what is.

Finally, we see the personal and intimate promise in verse 6. Abram believed God and God accounted it to him for righteousness. Abram was considered righteous in God’s eyes because he finally believed God.

The second example of this repeating pattern is found in Genesis 15 verses 13 through 15 in the NKJV translation:

13Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.

14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.

In verse 13 we see God telling Abram what will become of his descendants and the picture isn’t so bright. God says they will be strangers in a land that’s not theirs, they will serve those who own the land and they will be afflicted four hundreds years. That sounds a lot like despair to me.

Moving on to verse 14 we find the hope. God says “Don’t worry, I will judge the nation whom they serve and afterwards they will leave with great substance.” This is a reminder that when things don’t look like their going well, God is still in control and He will take vengeance on those who persecute His people.

Again we see the personal promise towards Abram in verse 15. God tells him, he will live a long life and die peacefully. Isn’t that nice of God to tell Abram how long he’ll live? I would think that would provide such a boost in productivity and remove a lot of fear. Just think about it. Abram could do anything God wanted him to without worrying about dying in the process, for God gave His word he would live a long life.

What about in your life, do you see the same pattern? I know I did when my marriage was in crisis mode and I thought it would never be good again (despair). God sent an angel to direct me to (hope). Through the pain I found Jesus Christ and believed on Him as my Lord and Savior, who forgave me (personal promise). If you haven’t noticed this pattern yet, keep your eyes open. It’s just a matter of time before you do. When you do recognize the pattern, know that God is teaching you something new either about yourself or about His character or both.

©Elizabeth Marks has led small group Bible studies for almost a decade. Author of ThinkOnItBibleDevotions.com and BeingWomenOfInfluence.com websites she has a heart for encouraging others with God’s Word.