Laced with Grace....Dare to Believe

Today I shared a devotion over at the Laced with Grace site entitled “Dare to Believe”. 

I’m sure every one of you ladies have tied an apron around your waist and grabbed all the ingredients that you need to bake a cake. 

You grab the shortening, sugar, vanilla, flour, baking powder, salt, water, eggs, etc… 

Stir it all together…

Pour into the cake pan and bake…

After 30 mins or so, you have a cake!

Gathering the ingredients to make a cake is a lot like believing and having the faith about something that hasn’t happened yet.

Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” NLT

You need all the ingredients in order to make that cake, without them, there will be no cake.  Your faith is like all the ingredients that it takes to…..

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Laced With Grace….”You can’t hide what’s inside”

Today I shared a devotion over at the Laced with Grace site entitled “You can’t hide what’s inside”.

It’s easy to claim to be a Christian because all you have to do is simply that – claim it.  Simply claiming to be something doesn’t make you what you are claiming to be.  I can claim to be the tooth fairy, but it doesn’t make me the tooth fairy….right?  I hope you would agree with me on this.  If you believe everything you hear, then you are thinking that I have a ton of teeth stashed somewhere.  Ha!  Humor me for a moment…..

If I don’t have wings, can’t fly, and don’t have a magical wand then I’m not the tooth fairy.  I can claim to be….but the fact remains that I just can’t prove it; therefore I’m NOT.

We should prove that we are Christians by the way we live our life. 

It boggles my mind that so many people say they are a Christian, but they are the meanest and ugliest people around, who murder others with their tongue and say and do whatever suites their fancy and not thinking twice about what spills from their mouth.  Their hearts are filthy and full of wickedness and nothing but darkness. 

Do they actually think that we can’t see the condition of their hearts? 

Do they really think they’ve got us fooled?

Your actions and words will reflect what’s inside your heart just like the moon reflects the light from the sun.  No matter how hard you try, you can’t hide what’s inside your heart.

Matthew 15:18 says “But the words you speak come from your heart – that’s what defiles you.” NLT

If the condition of your heart is “clean” and you are “Spirit-filled” then others will………

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Thankful Thursday – Gifts from above

I am thankful for many things this Thankful Thursday.  I am so thankful to know the Lord and have the privilege to walk and talk with Him daily.  Years ago when I gave my life to Him, He transformed my heart into a new heart with new desires and gave me a new nature.  I haven’t been the same since. 

“Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away’; behold, all things are become new.”  - 2 Cor. 5:17

I’m so thankful for the experience of regeneration (being born again).  I’ve learned that life is no life at all if you’re not living your life for Jesus Christ!  I’m thankful that lovingly and gently lead my heart to His.

I’m also thankful for the most precious gift from above, my wonderful husband Jordan.  He is not what I imagined….he’s MUCH MORE!!!! J 

I’m thankful for my family.  There is nothing else like family - that closeness that you have with your family is priceless.

Today, I am linking up over at Thankful Thursday.  Iris is our host the month

of June; visit Grace Alone for more Thankful Thursday posts!

To Know Him

Do you ever get overwhelmed when you think of the people all over the world that don’t know Christ Jesus? 

Sometimes when I think about the millions or billions of people that know of Him, but don’t really know Him (close relationship) it scares me.  I start thinking things like…”I wonder if they will have a chance to know Him like I know Him?  What if they don’t?  What if they never get a chance and spend their lives without knowing the one that changes everything?” 

I get myself all worked up and before I know it, I’m feeling the weight of the world resting on my shoulders…Ha, like it’s my problem to take care of or something!  What am I thinking?  It’s great and all that I care about the people around me, but it’s not my problem to solve…so why am I all upset over these people that don’t know Christ Jesus? 

Then it hit me, I’m not trusting in the Lord.  I have to trust Him that He knows the needs of those who are not yet living their lives for Him.  When I realized that it’s all in His hands, I was able to relax and feel relief, the weight lifted off my shoulders. 

Deuteronomy 32:4 “He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.  Everything he does is just and fair.  He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!”

He’s on it!!  He is so amazingly powerful and all knowing!!  He’s working in our lives, each and every one of us, gently guiding us towards a place close to Him.  Even though there are so many that haven’t reached that point yet, we must patiently wait for the Lord.  He’s working in their lives.  He knows the hearts that will accept Him and the ones that will not, but the Word of God says that He will give ALL a change to receive His free gift….the gift of salvation. 

Laced With Grace...."Jehovah"

Today I shared a devotion over at the Laced with Grace site entitled “Jehovah”. 

Some claim that Jesus Christ was fabricated by the human mind; simply produced by the imagination and nothing more.  If, in fact He was invented by man then why has man not been able to improve on Christ over the years?  Improvements have been made continuously over the years on everything that man has made.  No one can deny that we don’t continuously improve on everything that we can get our hands on.  

It’s nothing out of the ordinary to see improvement at every turn.

On television we see commercials advertising the newest improved gadget that is better, faster, smoother, lighter, and more convenient than ever before.   

“The Gillette Fusion ProGlide Power Razor is Gillette’s most advanced blade ever.  Thinner, finer blades with a low-resistance coating glide effortlessly through hair for less tug and pull, providing incredible comfort, even if you shave every day.”

Gillette’s website advertisement clearly makes my point; this product is one of the many products that are continually being improved and I doubt the production of ideas will stop flowing.  In the 18^th century the first razor invented was a “straight razor”, years later you can see substantial improvement.

Years ago…

Now…

Compare the automobiles produced in the 20^th century to the 21^st century; you are bound to see a major improvement.  The progress that man has made on the appearance, assembly, versatility and the wide ranges of makes, models and color options are vast improvements from where automobiles first began.

Years ago…

Now…

Architectural structures began to mature and flourish hundreds of years before Christ was born.  Buildings were sturdier and more permanent than before.   Structures in the 21^st century have dramatically improved with endurance, stability, beauty, design and manufacture.

Years ago…



Now…

Jesus Christ claimed deity; He applied to Himself the
statement of Jehovah, “I am”.  

John 8:24 “That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.”

John 8:24 “That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.”

John 8:12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said “I am the light of the world.  If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

John 10:9 “Yes, I am the gate.  Those who come in through me will be saved.  They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”

John 11:25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.”

John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No on e can come to the Father except through me.”

This truth of the revelation of Jesus Christ is revealed in Scripture and proves that Jesus Christ is deity and not man-made. 

We are merely humans and are unable to…..

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Prayer

Have you been doing all the talking?

The Artist At Work

Today I want to share my heart with you, something that the Lord has been tugging on my heart to change.  The past few months I have been convicted of something that I have never been convicted of before and it all started when I opened up my mouth and uttered a phrase that I haven’t forgotten since. 

Like any other morning, I was driving to work and turned into the parking lot to park my car and noticed this person who wasn’t very attractive and like most people’s reaction I said to myself “ugh, that person is so ugly.”  As the words left my lips Jesus spoke into my heart and said, “That is my creation you are talking about; my work of art”, and I felt so terrible that I had said something so awful and basically criticized God’s creativity and capabilities.

From that moment on I decided to never speak of God’s creation in a negative way ever again.  That person shouldn’t be judged or criticized by us; all that matters is that God thinks they are beautiful because He created them.  We are all uniquely made inside and out, and we are His pride and joy…His work of art.

Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of His hands.”

This scripture says the heavens are proudly announcing and showing their appreciation of His marvelous art work (His creation) and the skies are giving their approval and making it known.  He is our Artist and we are all His work of art.  He loves us.  He’s proud of what He has created and we should be too.

God is our Creator; He is The Artist!!! 

We should have an appreciation of His art and beauty; not just the mountains, waterfalls, sunsets, stars in the night sky, Grand Canyon, but the people He created too.  We are His work of art!!

Laced with Grace....I Don’t Buy That Lie

Today I shared a devotion over at Laced with Grace entitled “I Don’t Buy That Lie”.

Satan doesn’t just temp us on the obvious things like to tell a lie, smoke cigarettes, talk bad about someone, or cheat on a test.  He tempts us with less obvious things like when you are facing difficulty in life and everything seems to be falling apart.  He comes along and whispers lies into your ear to lure you out onto his slippery pathways with one objective in mind…..for you to fall.  Yes, he plays dirty.  He kicks you while you’re down. 

In those moments in life, that is when Satan runs as fast as he can to get to your ear and fill it with lies and deception.  He tries to convince you that God has abandon you and no longer loves you.  He tries to convince you that your situation is hopeless and will never change and never get better.  He tries to discourage you when you need encouragement the most.  He pushes you down, right at that moment you need a helping hand.  He tries his best to drag you down as low as he can drag you so you are discouraged and hopeless of your situation. 

Satan will drag you as far as you let him!

Yes trials are hard, no doubt, but the Lord has shown me something different in this scripture today.  I’ve never thought about it like this before, but the reason we feel so weak, hopeless, fearful, discouraged and faithless........

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