Thursday, April 27, 2017

A Clean And Wrinkle-Free Robe

A Clean And Wrinkle-Free Robe


As I was doing my daily housework GOD dropped a thought into my mind. How many times have you cleaned the floors, changed the sheets, dusted, washed clothes and all the other chores you do to maintain your home?

Don't get me wrong, I really like keeping our house clean and in order, but it made me think, how much time do I spend on keeping my temple clean for GOD?

One job I really like to do is ironing and laundry.  Taking a dirty, stained item and making it wearable again is one challenge I like.  Sometimes, I win and sometimes the stain is too stubborn to let loose.

With ironing, it is a quiet time for me.  I play music and before I know it I have something to show for my effort.  No wrinkles and the item is presentable again.

I know in everyday life, we have times when we are stained and wrinkled from worries, actions and just being in the world, but I need to work on cleaning, stain removal and living a wrinkle-free life before GOD.  Staying as close to him as I can, reading the Bible and praying is the way.  GOD is the ultimate cleaner upper, stain remover and ironer of our soul.  Someday I plan on wearing a robe prepared by GOD that is white as snow and no wrinkles as said in Ephesians 5:27.

-Written By Linda Tatman

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Yeah, You

Yeah, You

So some 30+ dude who was “God in flesh” died and came back to life before you even existed. What does that have to do with you?
Well, He did it for you. Yeah. YOU.
That’s what it has to do with you.
God loves you and died and rose again for you.
I know you’ve heard it said a million times. The commonality of the phrase has been to its detriment because even though it is so absolutely true, it wears thin after a while. We become so accustomed to hearing it that eventually, the phrase begins to bounce off the walls of our hearts.
But remember that first time you had the realization of His mighty love for you? It didn’t bounce off, it pierced so deeply that it stole away your breath.
Easter is upon us, and with it, another reminder of His love. It’s not a surprise that Christians focus on this. I mean, Scripture spends a lot of time talking about it:
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. -1 John 3:16
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” -John 3:16
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:38-39
Those are just three of the dozens of verses referring to His love for man.
So yeah, we get it. The Guy who died loves people.
But it’s more than that, He loves us.
It’s easy to think about God’s love from a detached perspective, to convince ourselves that God wasn’t thinking of everyone 2,000 years from when He died on that cross. But here is how I know that He was:
2,000+ years later, He chose to create us.

Let’s talk about this for a second: GOD created YOU and ME. The same God that Scripture calls “all-knowing” and “all-seeing” and let’s not forget the part about “beginning and end.” He transcends time which mean He saw you before you were born.
This also means that He knew every single time you would do something bad, something malicious, something wicked.  Then, knowing all of that, He not only died for you, He created you.
This all-knowing, time-transcending God could see every single time you would hurt Him or the people He loves, but He still loved you enough to create you.
He could have chosen to leave me an imagination in His mind. He could have left me a “more bad than good, definitely not worthy of My sacrifice” passing thought.
Instead, He examined the imagination of me and thought: “I died and rose again so that the people I love could one day join me in Heaven. I love Rachel enough to endure all the pain she will cause me in her life. I love her enough to give her life, a life which she will use to stab me in the back, to hurt her family and friends with harsh words, to commit acts I find abhorring in what she considers ‘secret.’ I love her enough that, knowing every single terrible thought she will ever have, I still want to give her the chance to live.”
And He thought the same of you, too.
So the next time you hear about His love, let it sink in just how deep that love is. He created you. He didn’t have to, He wanted to.  And He wanted to so that He could have the joy of loving you.
His death and resurrection weren’t just some random acts 2,000 years ago.
They were for you.

-Written By Rachel Carpenter

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Broken Things

Broken Things


The saying goes, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it”, but what if it is broken? Some things cost more to fix than they do to replace, however; there are things that can and should be fixed. A car that has a broken part should be fixed rather than getting rid of the car. A piece of siding on the house that has been damaged may need to be repaired, but if all the other siding is good you wouldn’t spend the thousands of dollars it would take to replace a whole house of siding. 

Life is similar. God does not replace our heart, personality, or character. He chooses to deal with us through his Word, his ministers, and His Spirit to change us, fix us, and repair the damaged parts of our being.  David requested of the Lord to create in him a clean heart and renew within him a right spirit. David had some damaged and broken parts of his being but God did not cut them out and replace them with a new heart or a new spirit, but rather He used the man of God, Nathan the prophet, to point out to him his sin, wrong doings, and lack of understanding about the condition of his heart.

Once David recognized his sin, he allowed God to take the pieces of his broken heart and mend them. When it was all said and done David was known in scripture as a man after God’s own heart! When a woman’s heart has been broken she is vulnerable to stop trusting anyone and she is at risk of becoming so guarded that she not only shuts people out of her life but maybe God as well.

A broken heart, marriage, or relationship can all be fixed by the miraculous healing power of the Holy Ghost working in our life! We must trust God with all the broken pieces, trust the Word to speak healing into our life, and be willing to allow God’s presence to move, breath and mend the broken pieces that only He can mend.

When God mends the broken things we can look back and see how He healed, mended, and fixed. Because women are great at remembering the details of what we experienced we can be great at helping that younger sister who is facing a similar challenge by reassuring her that God will heal and repair what has been broken if we trust him through the dark night.

-Written By Patty Holloway