Invited

 Happy Sunday!

"God, who gets invited to dinner at your place? How do we get on your guest list?" "Walk straight, act right, tell the truth. Don’t hurt your friend, don’t blame your neighbor; despise the despicable.  Keep your word even when it costs you, make an honest living, never take a bribe. You’ll never get blacklisted if you live like this.”(Psalm 15 Message).

Jesus often spoke about being invited to banquets.  His first recorded miracle happened at a wedding.  It's exciting to be invited to special occasions, and it's good to know how to conduct ourselves when we attend events.  Luke 14:7-11 says, "Then Jesus noticed that some of the guests were choosing the best places to sit. So he told this story:  “When someone invites you to a wedding, don’t sit in the most important seat. They may have invited someone more important than you.  And if you are sitting in the most important seat, they will come to you and say, ‘Give this man your seat!’ Then you will have to move down to the last place and be embarrassed. “So when someone invites you, go sit in the seat that is not important. Then they will come to you and say, ‘Friend, MOVE UP here to this better place!’ What an honor this will be for you in front of all the other guests. Everyone who makes themselves important will be made humble. But everyone who makes themselves humble will be made important.”(Easy-to-Read Version).

Jesus is the ultimate example.  Acts 10:38 says, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing GOOD, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."(KJV).  Then the Apostle Paul encouraged the  Philippians, "If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his LOVE has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand."(Philippians 2:1-4 Message).

Love and prayers, Cynthia

HELP!

 Happy Sunday!

"If you will only let me HELP you, if you will only obey, then I will make you rich! But if you keep on turning your backs and refusing to listen to me, you will be killed by your enemies; I, the Lord, have spoken."(Isaiah 1:19-20 Living Bible).

Do you need help?  Wait a minute!  Don't just blurt out a quick answer. Think it over. We are often so quick to say we don't need anything from anyone. And all the while the real ONE is ready and willing to help us!  The Apostle James wrote, "If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to HELP. You’ll get his HELP, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it."(James 1:5 Message).  Don't miss this!  We have our pride(that's sin you know).  We don't want anyone talking down to us(that's trust issues). That's why Google is a blessing and a curse.  We don't personally have to interact with others, we can just Google our question.  The laptop won't judge us. Our cell phone won't snicker when we look up a word.

God is our Heavenly Father.  A good father wants the best for his children.  God wants the best for us.  So why don't I have the Best?  Great question!  I'm so glad you asked.  A wise man once sang, "It's so good loving somebody and somebody loves you back."  God doesn't force us to love Him, or trust Him.  He allows us to choose.  Deuteronomy 30:19 says, "Today I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So choose life! Then you and your children will live."(Easy-to-Read Version).  We can choose the life we want. 

Over and over again in the Bible there are examples of humans and their choices.  There are good people and bad people making choices.  We can follow their good godly examples, but many times we do the opposite.  Jesus told the parable of a man with two sons. The younger son didn't want to wait for his father to pass away, he wanted his inheritance now!  The father didn't argue with him, and wasn't critical of his decision.  He gave both sons their inheritance.  Luke 15:13-16 says, “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there wasted all his money on parties and prostitutes. About the time his money was gone a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the swine looked good to him. And no one gave him anything."(Living Bible).

"So he had this moment of self-reflection: “What am I doing here? Back home, my father’s hired servants have plenty of food. Why am I here starving to death? I’ll get up and return to my father, and I’ll say, ‘Father, I have done wrong—wrong against God and against you.  I have forfeited any right to be treated like your son, but I’m wondering if you’d treat me as one of your hired servants?’ So he got up and returned to his father."(Luke 15:17-20 Voice).  The Dake Annotated Reference Bible says of these scriptures, "This is true repentance - confession of sin, genuine sorrow, and humility because of sin. Making a decision to repent is not enough.  One must truly repent - being genuine in acts, words, and deeds - to be honored of God or man."

He humbled himself, returned home and was welcomed lavishly by his father.  James 4:6 says, "God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it)."

Love and prayers, Cynthia

To Tell the Truth

Happy Sunday!

"Am I now your enemy, just because I told you the truth?"(Galatians 4:16 CEV).

There's a GEICO insurance commercial that portrays President Abraham Lincoln and his wife in conversation.  She asks, "Does this dress make my backside look big?  He has always been known for honesty.  He struggles to answer but does gesture that it may be making her look bigger.  She appears to quickly walk off. 

In the scripture above, the Apostle Paul is writing to the Galatians.  Deceivers have crept in to the church with false doctrines.  At one point in the letter he even says, "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the TRUTH, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?"(Galatians 3:1 KJV).  Pretty strong isn't it?  He urges them with truth and his testimony.  He loves them and only wants the best for them.  When we truly love others we will tell them the truth.  If we don't love them or if we hate them, we don't care what may become of them.  Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have LOVE one to another."(John 13:35 KJV).

Many in our society are full of lies.  This is nothing new.  As Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is NO NEW THING under the sun."(KJV).  Jesus dealt with liars during His earthly ministry, "You don’t understand the things I say, because you cannot accept my teaching. Your father is the devil. You belong to him. You want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning. He was always against the truth. There is no truth in him. He is like the lies he tells. Yes, the devil is a liar. He is the father of lies. I am telling you the truth, and that’s why you don’t believe me."(John 8:43-45 Easy-to-Read Version).

How can I know the Truth?  Great question!  I'm so glad you asked.  Jesus prayed, "Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; Your WORD is consecrating truth."(John 17:17 Message).  We can know the truth by knowing the Word of God.  Don't miss this.  The word "know" is often the word used for intimacy.  In Genesis 4:1 it says, "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain"(KJV). We must spend time in the Word, get to know it better, and store up what we learn for the future.  Along with the Word we have help!  Jesus said, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall TEACH you all things, and BRING all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."(John 14:26 KJV).  That's GOOD News!

Love and prayers, Cynthia

Work it Out

Happy Sunday!

Happy Labor Day in the USA!

"These aren’t just my own thoughts. God’s law says the same thing.  Yes, it is written in the Law of Moses: “When a work animal is being used to separate grain, don’t keep it from eating the grain.”  When God said this, was he thinking only about work animals? No. He was really talking about us. Yes, that was written for us. The one who plows and the one who separates the grain should both expect to get some of the grain for their work."(1 Corinthians 9:8-10 Easy-to-Read Version).

The Bible has a lot to say about work!  God even gave Adam and Eve work to do in the Garden of Eden.  Genesis 1:28 says, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and REPLENISH the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."(KJV).  Work is a good thing!  Especially, when you are living out your God Given Purpose.

What does the Bible say about work?  Great question.  I'm so glad you asked.  In 2 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul wrote, "We also gave you this rule: If you don't work, you don't eat."(CEV).  Proverbs 6:11 and Proverbs 24:34 both say this about laziness, "Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down and sleep—So will your POVERTY come like a robber or one who travels [with slowly but surely approaching steps] and your want like an armed man [making you helpless]." OUCH!

Ephesians 4:28 says, "If you have been stealing, stop. Thieves must go to WORK like everyone else and work honestly with their hands so that they can SHARE with anyone who has a need."(Voice).  Don't miss this!  One of the primary reasons to work is to have enough to share with others.  2 Corinthians 9:8 says, "God is ready to overwhelm you with more blessings than you could ever imagine so that you’ll always be taken care of in every way and you’ll have more than enough to SHARE."(Voice).

Don't worry about being cheated at work.  James 5:4 reveals that your Avenger has heard your cries.  It says, "You refused to pay the people who worked in your fields, and now their unpaid wages are shouting out against you. The Lord All-Powerful has surely heard the cries of the workers who harvested your crops."(CEV).  Above all this the greatest work we can do it to believe in Jesus.  "The people asked Jesus, “What does God want us to do?” Jesus answered, “The WORK God wants you to do is this: to believe in the one he sent.”(John 6:28-29 Easy-to-Read Version).

Love and prayers, Cynthia