For some reason, when I read this verse in the past, my eyes always went to “Resist the devil,” bypassing the first and most important part.  I’m thinking, resisting is futile if at first we don’t submit to God.  The devil doesn’t listen to us, he is only answerable to God, which makes the first part of this scripture very important.

The enemy of our souls is getting bolder and more vicious because his time is so short. He will look for any crack in our armor so we must be vigilant. We need not live in fear but we must be on guard. Remember, greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.

This chapter in James goes on to say, draw near to God and He will draw near to you. How comforting this is to me.

God has taken care of everything and tells us all about it in His precious Word.

Don’t we have an amazing God? Submit and draw near to Him and see what He can do for you. You will find out just how amazing He really is!

James 4:7-8 and   1John 4:4

Jesus, on the other hand, was God, and became man, giving His body as a living sacrifice. He asks us to do the same.

The Dalai gives nothing but accepts praise and worship as if it were due him.

If Jesus came today, would He get the same VIP treatment? I very much doubt it.  Crowds would not gather for this meek and gentle Man. If they did they would shout obscenities  at Him and call Him radical and unloving.

As His followers we can expect the same treatment. Be prepared.

THOU SHALT WORSHIP THE LORD THY GOD AND  HIM ONLY SHALT THOU SERVE. Luke 4:8

Who’s there?

Its me Lord. I’ve been away for a very long time. I’ve been out playing in the dirt and lost track of time. I had gotten so filthy I was afraid to come.  You did say however, to come as you are.  You did say that, didn’t You? Well, here I am. I need a really good scrubbing. And You know something Lord? I even ate dirt. At the time it tasted so good, but now I need cleansing from within as well.

Is it ok Lord, for me to come in? I will drag in mud and filth and mar the beauty of Your Throne Room.

Child, you are always welcome here. I know you are filthy, but come here, and climb up on My lap. I will surround you with my loving arms. I will hold you and never let you go. I knew this would happen before I chose you for my very own. I chose you anyway. I love you with an everlasting love. I died for you and the blood that I shed will cleans you from all this filthiness.

You must spend much time with me. No more playing in the dirt. Drink often of My Living Water and your heart will overflow. You will be white as snow!

Oh Jesus, thank You. I was so afraid, but now I am at peace. I think I’ll just rest here awhile on Your lap. Is that Ok?

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost: Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior…Titus 3:3-6

How often I have said this. Maybe not in this way, but I have said it none the less. As His children, we are called to a life of prayer and the study of His Word. So much of the time though, we let other things get in the way. We are just too tired, or the cares of life get us down and we can’t concentrate on prayer, let alone getting into the Word, so we just skip it. Sometimes its the pursuit of spiritual things that get in the way. Sometimes, we just don’t feel good and really do have a headache, or its just plain laziness or lack of commitment. Perhaps we just assume that God will understand and that as long as we are leading a pretty good life, it really doesn’t matter. We send up a prayer now and then, and we do get bible study on Sunday.

What if Jesus had this attitude.  ”Not today Father, I’m just too tired. I’ve just fed over 5 thousand people, and healed quite a few of them. And, I’ve preached to them until my throat is raw.Think I’ll take the night off and get some sleep. I’m too tired to pray right now. Oh, and the cross, that will have to wait.  Don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet. Things I want to do first. You understand, don’t You Father?”

Maybe this sounds silly to you, but obedience is important to God. I’m so thankful that Jesus was obedient, even unto death. Jesus spent a better part of His time down here in prayer, often when He was tired. He never had any Me time, He had more important things to accomplish and prayer was His life line to the Father. We also know that He was well versed in the Holy Scriptures.

Jesus is calling us, “Come away my beloved, spend some time with Me. I love you more than anybody else does and I’ve done more for you than anybody else has. I shed my blood for you. Won’t you spend a little time with me? It can be the night watch, the grave yard shift or the morning watch. It makes no difference to Me, just come away my beloved and spend some time with Me.”

Not all people are morning people. Some work the night shift and sleep all day. There evening becomes their morning.

I think what is meant here, is when your day begins, wether it be morning, evening or mid day, start it off with God.

Each new day is such a precious gift from our Creator. A day for new beginnings. As born sinners, we always mess up and we can get pretty depressed by the end of the day. Cheer up, His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.

I’m an early riser. Haven’t always been however. I guess with age some good things happen. At least I call it a good thing. Its so quiet and peaceful early in the morning. There is nothing to distract me from hearing His voice.  The enemy will try however, so we must always be on guard.

I forgot to shut my window last night, so when I came into my sitting room this morning, I heard His birds singing and making their requests. They know Who feeds them and cares for them.

He gave me this scripture and the bird song as part of His gift of a brand new day.

Let us give thanks to God our maker. Let us praise His glorious name. Let us make our request known to Him and joyfully wait in expectation.

Pride is an ugly thing, but its there in each of our hearts. Lucifer was the most beautiful angel ever created, but he had pride in his heart and because of it he was cast out of heaven. From there he moved to the garden and we all know the results of that.

The word pride is very much a part of our vocabulary and is used often. As Americans, we are proud of our flag, our country, our military might and our freedom. None of which we would have except for the grace of a loving God.

The word doesn’t seem to be part of God’s vocabulary however. Have you ever noticed that? When He spoke from heaven on different occasions, He didn’t use the word proud. He said, “This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” I like that, it warms my heart. I want Him to say that of me.

Quite often as I go my merry way, pride sticks out its ugly head and takes me by surprise. It shouldn’t really,  because its always there, and we need to be on our guard against it all the time.

God wants us to be humble as Jesus was. Humility is hard and when we are working on being humble, guess what? It can so easily turn into pride. The enemy of our souls is ever lurking, ready to pounce.

Have you ever tried praying for humility? I’m sure you have, and I’m sure things got worse. Its a hard prayer to pray, but we need to pray it and often.

Everything we have in this world, our loved ones, our possessions, our spiritual gifts, our talents, have been given to us by God the Father. They can also be taken away. “The Lord giveth, The Lord taketh away, Blessed be the Name of The Lord.”

Lord forgive me for the pride that has leaked out of late. Its only through Your strength and grace that I can be humble without it turning to pride.

You are such an awesome God. How blessed we are to have such a loving and gracious God as You. Let us never forget that.

It seems that our lives are full of Apps. Most people now days have a smart phone or a tablet of some kind, and they are full of Apps. The word, if you can call it that, is now a part of our vocabulary.

There are two Apps in my life. One has a big S on it, the other a Cross.

Which one will I open today?

A lot of people have had bad experiences growing up and blame all their problems and bad behavior on them.  They keep looking back, trying to figure things out, making  up all kinds of excuses for their behavior.

I did it for years. Very unhappy years I might add. It just doesn’t work. We are responsible for our own actions.  Life might be harder to deal with because of our past, but thats where God and His grace comes in.

God was there during my unhappy childhood. He allowed it to happen. I don’t need to know why. His ways are perfect and He sees the whole picture. All I can do is accept it. Once I did, my life changed drastically. My past is now in His capable hands and I’m leaving it there. Sufficient for today is His grace, and His mercies are new every morning. What a wonderful God we have!

Remember….. we (His children) know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Rom 8:28

This morning, as I was thinking about this, I asked myself, is the fruit in my bowl real or fake? Does it say come, partake and be filled, or at closer inspection, is it a sad imitation of the real thing.

Galatians 5:22-23… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…Some of these will be more evident than others, but each should be in my bowl.

Lord, fill my bowl to the brim. It is You that does the work not me. No matter how hard I try, I mess up. Thank You for Your faithfulness.

Right next to these fields, my husband has worked a strip for our garden. The contrast is striking.

Life and Death. The gash of upturned soil is filled with clods and dead debris.

Like our life before Jesus. This strip of ground will have to be worked again and possibly again before it is ready for seeds to be planted.  We have good soil here on our farm and things grow well, but it takes a lot of hard work.

Our lives can be barren or they can be filled with new life. The choice is ours to make. We have One who does the hard work for us. We just need to be willing for the plough of God’s hand to cut through the dead and decaying debris that clutters our lives. We need living seeds from God’s word to be planted in our hearts. We need the living water from His Spirit to saturate our hearts once those seeds have been planted. The farm gets planted once a year. Our hearts need it every day.

Lord, I pray my heart is ready for planting. If not, make it so. Its ready for the plough. Its been barren too long. Give me, a gnawing hunger for Your word, a hunger only You can satisfy.

Psalm 119: With my whole heart I have sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin