Ignoring The Warnings

February 26, 2020 Gracie

Ignoring the Warnings

heeding the warnings

Have you ever seen those anti-smoking commercials on television?

I think we can all agree that they’re hard to watch.

The ones that I’ve seen feature a lung cancer patient whose throat has been ravaged by years of smoking. It’s hard to look and listen as the patient reveals his or her regret over not quitting the habit sooner.

Whether you’re able to watch those commercials all the way through or not…the message is clear right at the beginning. These people are physically suffering and will continue to suffer for the rest of their lives.

Their fate is assured.

Do you ever wonder why they didn’t heed the warnings?

I believe there’s an analogy here to pay attention to.

The Spiritual Battle for Hearts and Minds

It saddens me that many people are ignoring the warnings and rejecting an even more important message.

Why don’t lost people care about their eternity?

Don’t they realize how serious this matter is?

For their sake, I wish they would realize the spiritual and eternal danger in store for those who don’t believe.

Those ignoring the warnings will face God’s Judgement.

Do you know of any lost people in your life? They need your prayers.

Life After Death

Life after death

How amazing is God’s grace?

As sinners, we don’t even deserve salvation, but through His grace, eternal life is assured to those who trust in Jesus Christ and His righteousness alone.

God’s promised salvation finally and fully came in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is Christ alone who is righteous. It is Christ alone who has lived a life free from sin. And it is He alone who willingly took the sinner’s place on the cross of Calvary, bearing the guilt and punishment we deserve. Trusting in Him alone is what saves sinners, not self-help programs, nor human striving after righteousness and God’s approval. – Robert L. Deffinbaugh, Pastor and Bible teacher, Bible.org contributor.

A Humble Mindset

Do any of these excuses sound familiar?

I have all the time in the world

No mythological creature in the sky tells me what to do

Your God is a bully

The Bible is full of errors

Not much gratitude or humility in those statements, is there?

Our sins are ugly and offensive to God.

True Christians recognize this.

Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us. – John Stott, Christian pastor (1921-2011.)

Who’s on First?

With all the distractions in this world, it becomes even easier for us to put the Creator of the heavens and earth in second place when He should be first.

ignoring the warnings

We make idols out of things like self-image, celebrities, jobs, media “influencers”, material possessions, relationships, and our own versions of what we think God should be.

As desperately lost people, we deserve His wrath.

But, as true Christians, we recognize what sin is.

We repent by transforming our inherent wicked hearts, trusting that God is sovereign, and that we are pardoned through the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Robert Deffinbaugh quote

Eternal life through Jesus Christ is a free gift from God and it can be yours!

If you haven’t yet done so, I urge you to contact a Christian friend or loved one or visit with the pastor at a local bible-believing church.

Tell them you want to learn about Jesus.

You need someone you can talk to who esteems the sovereignty of our Holy God and also believes that the Bible is divinely inspired and sufficient for us.

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¹John Stott quotation, as quoted from Christian quotes.info

² Robert L. Deffinbaugh quotations, courtesy of bible.org, from the series “The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges – A Study of the Book of Judges – – Israel’s Sodom and Gomorrah (Judges 19-21). 12-13-09. Web. Accessed 20 February, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.icr.org/article/mankind-pinnacle-gods-creation/

Does God Seem Silent?

February 19, 2020 Gracie

Waiting On God

Does God seem silent

Does it ever feel like when you need God the most, He appears silent?

Perhaps your heart is breaking over something going on in your life. Your mind is wrestling with conflicting emotions.

Where is God?

Doesn’t He hear me?

Has He forgotten about me?

No, dear one, God will never forget about you.

Remember The Two P’s

waiting on God

When you’re in a dark place, you might not even feel like praying.

Resist that temptation!

The Lord hears your prayers.

Every single one.

He knows we have doubts and fears at times.

Pray for His strength and comfort and keep on praying!

Remember the two P’s – Prayers and Perseverance.

That goes for me as well 🙂

These are two essential foundations for a strong faith.

There is purpose in the waiting, even if we don’t always understand God’s timing.

I think fellow Christian Writer, Jennifer Woodley, describes this insight especially well in her article below.

My favorite point that she makes is this: “Allow God to hold us a little longer.”

That is so encouraging.

Thank you, Jennifer!

When God Seems Silent
by Jennifer Woodley
01/07/20

‘Then they sat on the ground with Job for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.’ Job 2:13 (NIV)

There are times when we experience deep grief. The death of a loved one. The loss of our home. A betrayal by our partner. An unexpected chronic illness. Our world becomes dark. No words bring relief. And God seems silent.

Actually it is not words of comfort that we crave. It is a comforting presence. For now, that is all we need. Like Job’s friends who sat with their grieving friend, Jesus sits wordless with us in our pain. Just to know He is there is enough. Initially our grief and pain is too deep to be healed with words. We need empathetic silence and loving companionship. When God seems silent, He offers us this instead.

We have so many questions. Yet as we sit quietly with God for long enough, slowly the answers come. It’s the patient act of waiting in the darkness with our Heavenly Father that eventually unravels the answers. The promise is that when we seek long enough, we shall find. First is His comforting silent presence that holds us, then in time comes the words of life we are waiting for.

Do we find ourselves waiting in a dark place full of pain and grief right now? Does God seem silent to our pain and questions? Don’t attempt to rush past this place. Stay here. Allow God to hold us a little longer. Don’t lose hope. Light will break through darkness. God knows. God sees. And in time, He will speak to our grief.

He Will Hold You

There’s an uplifting song by Selah that comes to mind. It’s called, amazingly enough, “He’ll Hold You.”

The song is from several years ago, but the lyrics and beautiful harmonies? Timeless.

I hope you enjoy.

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*Article shared, courtesy of Jennifer Woodley, from FaithWriters url: https://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=185177.

Our Exceptional God

When God Made You

February 12, 2020 Gracie

A Little Cut Here, A Little Cut There

One of my favorite Christmas presents ever is my Cricut Explore Air 2.

Oh, I love that machine!

It took some trial and error, but now that I’ve gotten the hang of it, I’m always thinking about my next creative project.

Here’s one of my first attempts mixing a couple of different free patterns in the Cricut library.

design beginnings

Not bad for a first-timer!

It amazes me how you can design your own patterns too.

Simply adjust the measurements and plug in the extra elements, and the machine blades know exactly what to do.

The cuts are sharp and intricate, even around the most delicate designs.

That’s a smart machine!

But there’s something missing.

This machine can’t just operate on its own. It needs an operator.

God Doesn’t Need Instructions

How devaluing that the world wants us to think we derived from ape ancestors.

You were created by God.

He didn’t need instructions, special blades, a smart machine, measurements or a theorist/geologist telling Him how we should evolve.

The King of Kings created you and me from the beginning.

Do you realize yet how magnificent God is?

The beauty of our anatomy and how everything works together as He planned reflects His glory. We had nothing to do with it.

When God made you

In this oft-quoted verse from the Davidic Psalm 139, the psalmist praises God’s providential design of the human body.

¹⁴I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well. – Psalm 139:14, (NASB).¹

When God Made You

Just how amazing is the human body?

Check this out…

God's design

Only God can do this!

He is Sovereign and worthy of all our praise.

Do we approach Him with the reverence He deserves?

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² Jerry Bergman, PH.D. quotation, courtesy of the Institute For Creation Research. “Mankind – – The Pinnacle of God’s Creation.” 7-1-84, para. 7. Web. Accessed 6 February, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.icr.org/article/mankind-pinnacle-gods-creation/

Our Exceptional God

Strength From Within

February 5, 2020 Gracie

No Muscles Required

Got a six-pack?

Yeah, me neither.

Well, maybe some of you do. 🙂

Every time I go to the gym, I see beautiful people working out.

I’m talking about men and women with painstakingly acquired sculpted bodies possessing the kind of physical strength and confidence that I could only hope for.

When we ask God to give us strength, is this what we’re talking about?

Strength from Within

Possibly the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my life is a close friend of mine whom I hold dear to my heart.

When I say she is “beautiful,” I mean both inside and out.

If you met her, you’d know exactly what I mean.

What tears into my heart is that she continues to suffer from a painful autoimmune disease.

Please Lord, heal her. Ease her pain.

Throughout all of her suffering, there is something very different about her than other sufferers with this disease – the ones who have no hope.

It is unmistakable.

Her poor body continues to rage with new and horrific symptoms, and yet I see a strength shine through her that can only be described as God-given.

I treasure a card she sent me a while ago. I keep it in my office where I can see it every day.

She told me she doesn’t concentrate on the “whys.”

In her words,

“Jesus is the blessed controller of ALL things.

Knowing Him is all I need to comprehend – not why He chose

or chooses to use instruments to draw me closer to Himself.

No, all of the ‘whys’ will one day be answered.

Until that day – please hold me accountable to a childlike faith.”

You can see why she is precious to me.

Heroic Strength

Childlike faith – having the untarnished humility of a child bolstered by unshakable love, complete trust, and dependence on our Heavenly Father knowing that He will always be there to comfort us.

Courage is keeping our focus on Christ when everything in life is trying to pull us down.

It’s the “right stuff” that enables us to go on despite our circumstances.

I’ve got wonderful news: there is hope beyond your circumstances. You can live above them.

If a man named Paul could live above his unbelievably trying circumstances, so can you. But Christ must become your central focus.

He, alone, can empower you and teach you to live above the duress of adversity. Your external circumstances may not change, but deep within, you will. As Christ is allowed first place in your thoughts, changes will occur. Those changes will be evident to your mate, your children, your friends, and your coworkers. Instead of seeing yourself as a victim, you will begin to realize a strength that is not your own.

The result? You will make a difference because of the way you respond to the circumstances that once defeated you. To the people closest to you, your contentment despite your circumstances will be nothing short of heroic. – Chuck Swindoll, Christian pastor, author and educator. ¹

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¹ Chuck Swindoll quotation, courtesy of Insight For Living, “Despite your Cirumstances,” n.d. para. 4. Web. Copyright © 2005 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Accessed 29 January, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/insight-for-living/read/articles/despite-your-circumstances-10196.html

Our Exceptional God

Asking For Trouble

January 29, 2020 Gracie

Asking For Trouble

Have you ever regretted something you did as a child?

I have.

When I was in 5^th grade, I remember going to a slumber party with a bunch of friends from my junior girl scout troop.

Besides staying up late until the wee hours of the morning, part of our “fun” included one of the girls pulling out a ouija board.

You’ve probably heard of them.

Each person asks the board questions and, supposedly, you’ll get answers from an unseen force.

At that young age, we didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.

I’d call that inviting the devil in.

Talk about asking for trouble.

dark shadows

Now, as a Christian adult, I know better.

We were just stupid kids then, influenced by what we saw in the world around us, and doing what we’d seen other kids do.

I’ve already asked, and God has forgiven me.

Someone might think it’s silly for me to apologize to God for something I took part in as a child.

And, that’s okay.

I’m more interested in what God thinks.

Invoking the Spirit Realm

Fast forward to modern times.

Did you ever think you’d see a demonic tribute displayed for all to see, like the giant ouija board that was in Salem last year?

It makes my heart sad.

Did you know there are still people out there who don’t believe there’s a devil, or that evil actually exists?

Much, much worse, they don’t believe God exists, AND that He is a righteous judge.

They’ll find out someday.

A Wonderful Trip With One Exception

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went on an amazing vacation in the mountains.

Absolutely everything was perfect about our trip, except for one thing – a so-called “immersive experience” that came highly recommended on one of the travel sites.

My husband and I read nothing in the reviews that tripped our radars. We had no idea that this place would be so disturbing.

The outside of the building for the “experience” looked a little weird, but we decided to go in anyway.

We started walking through the dark rooms full of lights and bizarre artwork. There were strange writings everywhere – on the tables, on the walls, etc. The whole place was noisy with unintelligible sounds coming from who knows where, and it smelled bad.

What in the world?

We looked closer at the written letters on the tables and the drawings and paintings on the walls – clearly demonic.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know what demonic symbols look like.

And they were everywhere.

This “experience” was not a haunted house…it was described as a popular “attraction” with, God forbid, plans to expand to other states.

It wasn’t amusing, or tongue-in-cheek.

Here’s another thing that was really unsettling.

There were young kids running around.

It made me sick watching young people in there taking selfies, laughing, and soaking it all in. I watched one teenager close his eyes, breath in a deep breath, and say out loud, “Freedom.”

Huh?

I just shook my head.

Young people are encouraged to play here and “immerse” themselves in this very dark place.

What Do We Stand For?

I’ve heard some Christians talk excitedly about TV shows and movies, like “Twilight” and “Game of Thrones.”

Anything goes now in the entertainment world, ever-increasing numbers of shows glorifying violence, or satanic acts and meaningless se xual encounters.

Why aren’t more Christians speaking up and out against this kind of thing?

I do more often than not, and it gets me into trouble sometimes.

But, I have a right to my opinion just like the next person.

Who are we trying to please? God or man?

“Were Satan to strike the children of God with great force at one time, they would know exactly how to resist the enemy since they would immediately recognize his work. He uses the method of gradualism to wear down the people of God.” – Watchman Nee – Christian minister, Bible teacher. (1903 – 1972).¹

I’ve never felt so out of place than at the attraction we went to. I walked right up to one of the posted demonic symbols and started singing the Doxology silently in my head.

I can’t believe people pay money to see this kind of thing except, maybe like us, other Christians entered the building simply going off of misleading reviews.

This is garbage. Let’s leave.

And so, we walked out. We got inside our rental car, stunned at what we’d just witnessed, and prayed about it and against it.

Art? Really?

People can call that kind of thing “art” all they want.

If it’s celebrating the devil, the illuminati, or globalism – no thanks.

I don’t care what the Hollywood machine wants to promote – I’d rather see, or hear, or read something uplifting – especially if it glorifies God.

You?

Philippians 4:8

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¹Watchman Nee quotation, courtesy of https://www.christianquotes.info/. Accessed 26 January, 2020.
² Scripture quotation is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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