WHO STANDS GUARD OVER YOUR PEACE?

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 (KJV)

Can you imagine God's peace? How great it is? He is not moved like the winds.

Sometimes I think we forget how big our God is. He is big. He is bigger than anything we can imagine. Why do we have a hard time with that? Because we can't comprehend it.Perhaps we need to take that on faith.I mean the verse tells us right up front, God's peace passes all understanding. 

The one thing we can know is He says He will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. What that means is, because we belong to Christ Jesus, God's peace will stand guard over all our thoughts and feelings. You see His peace is big enough to do this,  far better than we could.

We need God's peace. You can turn on the news or pick up a paper and see their are things going on all over the world that would block our peace. If we let them,  these things could keep our hearts and minds in turmoil and fear. 

We need to remember, we can have peace even in the middle of these things. Why? Because God is standing guard over our thoughts and feelings. And He is bigger than these problems we see.

"Oh Lord, I lift up the people who are in such turmoil in their minds and who have lost their peace. My desire is that you come into their hearts, souls, and minds so that they too can have peace that passes all understanding." Amen.

debbiemcdaniel.com

WORDS

                                                  
   I saw these words and wondered how many people know how important their words are.
   Our words can pierce a heart in an instant or they can be a soothing balm for someone who is hurting.
   But did you know your words have even more power? I think Jesus said it best in ...Mark 11:23. "For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be though removed , and be thou cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
    Perhaps we would be wise to listen to the words that we speak out of our mouths. What are we saying and how are they affecting us?

DREAM YOUR DREAMS

When I think of dreams, I think of the movie, Field of Dreams. And I hear those words, "If you build it they will come."

God gives us dreams. Some of us don't hear Him so those dreams are never brought into being.

Some of us hear Him but we are afraid to even try, therefore those dreams don't come into reality either. But leaves us sad and empty and sometimes bitter.

Then some of us hear Him and we heed His calling. We go out and begin putting things into motion to bring about the dream He has given us.

When we do that, we need to listen closely every day to hear his leading, nudging us in the direction to go and being confident that He will open the doors that are necessary to bring everything into fruition...after all He gave us the dream. So this gives us the assurance to know we are doing His will.

It takes courage to build the dream you are given, it takes patience, and it re-quires you to be humble and dependent upon Him daily. Each day will have periods of ups and downs. There will be times we are tired, there will be times we will get frustrated and there will even be times we will question when things seem hard or not falling into place.

The days we are tired, perhaps we tried to carry it on our own. The days we are frustrated maybe it was because we tried to make things happen.  Those times we begin to question because things seem hard maybe it's because we tried to run ahead of God instead of being patient for Him to move and open the doors.

Through all of this we will find our path if laid out by God, we just have to take His hand and let Him lead us on this path. He has a plan, and will reveal it to us one step at a time. Trust in Him.

We have to get His words down into our very being. Luke 1:37 says it best.

"For with God nothing shall be impossible." (KJV)

I am also reminded of God's word in Hebrews 6:15. "And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise."

We will do well to remember His words.

FROM HATRED TO LOVE?

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.James 2:1 (KJV)

In other words, do not practice your faith in Jesus Christ with an attitude of prejudice.

There is so much going on with the killings of black people and police officers and it has riled up everyone in not just that city but across the country.

Christ was not prejudiced. How can we justify our being prejudice? 

The anger that is blowing across this land is toxic and is causing deaths that could have been prevented.

How do we as a people fix this? How do we as a people come together, and make things better?

Yes, there are bad things happening, but there are also good things happening. We must find a way to come together to help each other. 

If you hate a man, then you hate yourself. If you hurt a man, then you hurt yourself.

It takes all of us to find a reason to respect each other. Can we lay down our hatred and come together asking God for His guidance to create an atmosphere of respect?

Don't we know, we all have the same color of blood? We all have the desire to be liked, loved, we all feel pain and hurt. The color of our skin is not the real issue, the real issue is the hatred in our hearts. The anger in our souls.

We don't have to agree with each other on issues, but we must respect the right of each to have an opinion. To shove your opinion down someones throat is in reality a sin against yourself. Why? Because you took your God given right to your opinion and forced it on someone else, it strips you of your understanding of being made in the image of God.

Differences of opinion exist, our positions as human beings are to find ways to come together as God intended to live and glorify Him. What can we do today to move toward understanding and peace in our nation?

WHAT DO GRACE, FAITH , GOD AND SANTA CLAUS HAVE IN COMMON

Sometimes we forget that God's grace is given to us freely. We don't have to buy it––even if we wanted to buy it we couldn't. It's a gift. A gift that was given to us by God because He loves us. It's free and unmerited favor of God given to us.

He says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8

Faith is belief. Belief in God, belief in His word. The opposite of doubt. Even our measure of faith is given to us by God. 

www.textword.org

Don't make things complex. Just let go and trust Him. When we were children it was easy for us to believe. We believed in the "tooth fairy, Santa Claus (I still don't want to give up that one), and the Bunny Rabbit" to mention a few. 

You see children aren't complex. We believe our parents. Have you ever taken one of your toys, when you were little, to your parent and ask them to fix it when it broke? If they told you they would, then you believed them. You didn't stand there questioning them, "Now are you sure you will do this for me? Do you think I am worthy of you fixing this for me?"  No, we believed them. 

This is the relationship God wants with us. He has given us the faith, it is up to us to put it into action.

So what do grace, faith, God and Santa Claus have in common for a child?

They believe.

Lord, help my unbelief.Amen

AROUND THE WORLD IN AMERICA

The other night I was looking for a particular verse in Ephesians and happen to see this verse and quite frankly, it stopped me in my tracks.  "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."  Ephesians 2:10 KJV  I mean, since God created every one of us, how could there be so much hatred of other people? Yes, there are many different colors and many nationalities, but all created by one God.  

Look at these children, if we hate their parents, how can they be taught love thy neighbor, love others?

I heard a minister sometime ago say that if you cut down in our skin we all bled the same color. So my thoughts ran in the direction of the question why? Why do people hate other people because of their color and where they came from?

Stop and think, in each one of us, He created talents and skills to help each other, to lift each other up and to share the wonders that He so graciously created.

I thought of a time in our history where we hated other nationalities who came to our shores and we looked down on them, because they weren't like us. Now today those people are generations of Americans.

Since we are all made by the one God, does it make you want to understand where the hatred comes from?

Was that passed down from generation to generation? Think back, did you hear your parents, grandparents, and others in your family put down other people due to color of skin and where they came from?

Growing up, I never heard my parents, grandparents or others in my family utter anything unkind about anyone. In fact, my grandfather taught all of us, "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all".

There are good people and there are not so good people. There skin color has nothing to do with whether they are good or bad. Yet, we seem to have a tendency to lump them all in one pile.

If you stop and think about those words, that we are God's workmanship, does it stand to reason then there should not be this hatred among us for others.

In truth, we do more harm to ourselves than we do to them if hatred is bubbling around in our minds and heart. For with these thoughts and feelings there can't be true joy; some physicians say hatred creates toxins in our bodies that make us sick.

Maybe we should ask God to open our eyes, to see others as He sees them, to love others as He loves them. To give us compassion and understanding, to remove hatred from our very beings.

Wouldn't you rather live in a world of love than hate?

GOD BLESS AMERICA

"God Bless America" was first introduced November 10, 1938 by Kate Smith. Irving Berlin wrote the song in 1910 as an American patriotic song and revised it in 1938 for Kate Smith. This became her signature song.

To remind us of our great country click on the link. This is the original "First Broadcast" of the radio performance of God Bless America. The first time it was heard in our country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1rKQReqJZg

If you read the lyrics, it takes the form of a prayer. The intro lyrics "as we raise our voices, in a solemn prayer..." and then "stand beside her and guide her through the night..." We have sung the song many times, but if you really read the lyrics you will understand asking God to Bless America.

Our flag is a beautiful sight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8h60mNoXYU

We need God to bless our nation. We have allowed our diversities to turn into hatred. America is a great nation, it is a free nation. We can not remain a great nation if we hate people in our own country. The freedom we all enjoy was fought and died for generations ago and it is still being fought for today. Our ancestors passed on to us this free nation, it is our responsibility to keep the nation free and pass it to our children and generations to come.

With freedom comes responsibility. God's word says, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14  Let us take His words to heart. Turn to Him, seek His face and let Him heal our nation.

He promised  if we do this he would bless our nation. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance." Psalm 33:12

This Fourth of July, let's remember what God said, to humble ourselves and pray and seek His face so that our nation will be blessed.

God bless America.