All the Children of God

                                                                                                        Galatians 3:26-28

3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ

3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

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For those who have been called by God and have properly responded, social distinctions—whether national/racial, conditional/financial, or gender—recede, even disappear. The unifying element is the righteousness of Christ, which the Christian puts on and begins to emulate. Romans 10:12 points out that after justification, we have the same Lord and Master, and He is rich in His gifts (grace, mercy, talents, blessings, etc.) to all.


A unity comes with God's calling and justification. We are united in our need for a Savior. We are united in our acceptance of His blood for the remission of our sins. We are united through common experience: We all recognize that the only reason we have physical or spiritual life is because of God's grace and mercy. We are united in our receipt of God's gifts, when all we have earned is death.


When we recognize that the playing field has been completely leveled, and that we all had/have a debt impossible to pay, there is no room for boasting. There are different roles and responsibilities, because God gives His gifts as He sees fit and some people receive more talents than others. But no Christian is inherently better than another.


God bless you ...submitted by AMA

OUR HERITAGE IN CHRIST

Last weekend my family and I attended San Jose's Italian American Heritage Festival at the Guadalupe River Park. What a joy! The parking was easy, considering our massive metro area, the weather was sunny yet pleasantly cool, and the crowds were relatively thin. The grassy area beneath our feet was verdant and clean.

The food was authentic, fresh, and delectable. The live band was heartwarming playing Italian favorites. Bocce ball lessons and tournaments lent excitement to the day. Craft booths displayed everything from Italian logo t-shirts to beautiful paintings of the Amalfi Coast. Accordian players strolled among us adding to the charm of the ambience.

" Bellissimo" sights, sounds and smells filled the air and I was transported to a fantasy of the "old country" where my father was born. My father was from Reggio di Calabria Italy which is at the southern most tip of the boot of Italy. Daddy went to be with the Lord when I was only three years old and my mother was German, not Italian. I am left with recollections of only my earliest childhood years of an Italian lifestyle. However, I must be the product of some sort of genetic memory and predisposition toward all things Italian because at the festival I was in my glory. Hearing the Italian language being spoken, tasting the eggplant, pasta and cannolis, hearing the laughter of "my people" sent me into a state of bliss, as it always does when I am immersed in the Italian culture.

The Italians are a warm, welcoming, fun loving people. I feel such a bond with them and truly believe it is because of my natural heritage. However, the Lord reminded me this weekend, that although my natural cultural affiliation is a blessing, my true spiritual foundation is in Jesus Christ. He is the God of my spiritual forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Sarah, the mighty woman of faith in the Bible is my spiritual mentor. These heros of the faith have paved the way for me as I journey here on earth "pressing on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ." Philippians 3:14 (NIV) It is fun and refreshing to experience human joys which God affords, be it our culture, friends, travels or other earthly blessings. However, the Holy Spirit reminded me further of a beautiful song which states: "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." And as a final note, it comforts me to know that in this present day culture when we are surrounded by threats and intimidations of those who worship false and strange gods, the uncompromised truth is: "Therefore God has also exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father." Philippians 2: 9-11 (KJV)

Ciao

Written by CF

EXHAUSTION

I live in the desert in Arizona. It can get quite hot here in the summer, often topping 110 degrees, but if you go out early in the morning, it can be quite pleasant. This is horse country, in spite of the hot, arid climate, and I am blessed to be able to ride. I take English/Dressage lessons, and it is quite a workout, applying pressure to different areas on the horse's body with my legs, rising up and down in the stirrups to the trot, keeping the proper posture of my whole trunk and arms and legs, constantly communicating through my body position and energy as I put the horse through it's many different paces in an arena. It is much more work for me than riding on an easy trail ride.

Yesterday, even in the lesser heat of the morning, I was absolutely exhausted after an hour of constant working on my lesson horse, and I hadn't taken enough water breaks... but I didn't realize it until I dismounted. Then it hit me – I could hardly raise my arms, and my legs felt as if they would collapse. I couldn't even reach up to begin loosening the girth of my saddle which was only just above my waist, and I thought I would never catch my breath. I had become dehydrated and felt faint, almost to the point of heat exhaustion. So, I sprawled on a bench nearby, downed lots of water and poured it on my head and on my bandana, swabbing my face over and over until I gradually regained my strength. I was appreciative of the place to rest and ever so grateful that I only had a very light English saddle to lift from the horse's back after my break. Even then, that was a bit of a chore for my exhausted arms, and I took several more breaks before I was done untacking the horse, cooling her down, and returning her to her stall.

Life is sometimes like that. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in working on something, so focused on the task at hand, trying to solve our own problems, that we don't stop often enough to be refreshed. We don't remember to rely on God and his Word. We become weary with the burdens of life. We can become so exhausted that we feel faint at heart. But there is relief waiting for us when we turn back to God:

“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” Jeremiah 31:25

God provides rest for our souls. Gently, he gives us support and comfort. He supplies us with that bench to rest upon, and water to quench our thirst and cool our faces. He refreshes us when we gather with fellow believers and study his Word. He gives us the strength to go on. And he lightens our load, supplying everything needed for life and salvation.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Thank you Lord, Jesus, for providing rest for my weary soul, easing my load, supplying all my needs, and refreshing me with your life-giving gift. Help me to always turn to you for help. Amen.

Written by Jan A

REFLECTIONS OF THE SON

Saturday, September 4, 2010

The moon has gotten a pretty bad rep spiritually over the years. In ancient times, it was misunderstood right along with the other heavenly bodies as something to be worshipped. In fact, even today in remote areas of the world, the sun, moon, stars and planets are still worshipped. For years and years and years, a full moon was thought to have brought out all the “crazies”; namely those fur covered creatures with super strength, lethal claws and who resemble wild dogs. And religiously, that crescent moon icon is a frightening reminder of an ideology inspired by hate and violence. But I think that the moon is an excellent reminder of something very special to God. I think it’s a perfect analogy of…well…us.


Let’s just say for a moment that the sun represents God Himself. It’s not difficult, after all God is called Light. The light of the sun is the source of biological energy for life, whereas God is the ultimate source, the creator and sustainer of all life. Also, it’s quite obvious that the sun exists. You would have to be a madman to deny the existence of the sun. Likewise, contrary to what atheists believe, the average person regardless of their belief system cannot deny that deep down inside they know there is without a doubt a higher being who is the creator of all things. It’s actually no wonder that people thought of the sun as a god, but that’s beside the point. We’re just using the sun as an analogy of God. But what does that analogy have to do with us being the moon? Simply this…the moon reflects the light of the sun.


Picture this, at any given time, a large portion of the earth is in darkness as they are separated from the light of the sun which is blocked from their view. That’s very similar to how sinners are separated from the light of God’s presence. And until they’re brought into the light, the truth is blocked from their view. But here we have a lesser light, the moon. A being that testifies to the existence of the sun by reflecting it’s light. Well? Isn’t that what we as Christians are supposed to be? A reflection of God’s light? A testimony to His existence? In a world of poor souls living in darkness, we point to the truth…the truth that is otherwise blocked from their view.

But wait…there’s more…in fact, there’s much more to this analogy than I first thought. You see, we are to be light and salt to the world. Hey! Doesn’t the moon have something to do with the oceans…oceans that are full of salt? Why yes, it does. The lunar tides dominate the ocean’s currents by a force of two thousand trillion tons. There sure seems to be a lot of salt being mixed around due to the moon. Not only that, but without the moon, the ocean would become stagnant and so unhealthy that sea life would perish including marine plant life which provides up to 50% of the oxygen in our air. The truth is, without the moon, no one would have enough air to breathe. Hmmm…wouldn’t you say that we as Christians with our knowledge of the Good News of redemption can provide a breath of fresh air to a world suffocating from sin? I would.


Now, most of us who know the story of creation in Genesis are fully aware that God states He created the heavenly bodies for signs and seasons. With the moon falling into that category, it makes perfect sense, with the way the moon revolves around the earth, that one of its purposes is to mark the passage of time. Now, I’m not saying that Christians live and move in a way that marks the passage of time any differently than anyone else does. However, being a believer in Christ makes us part of the church proving that we are evidence of a specific time and season called the church age. It’s a period of time set aside to bring the world into the knowledge of the saving grace of God. It’s a season that will eventually come to an end, and so “yes” we do mark a specific passage of time.


In fact, this passage of time can be and has been prolonged by the prayers of the saints. God wishes for no one to perish and since we reflect the light of God’s love, we too are to have a godly love for all people wishing for no one should perish. As we spiral toward the end of this era, we in essence slow down the passage of time by praying for the Lord to tarry in His return so that we have more days left to spread the news of salvation. Did you know that the gravitational pull of the moon on the earth’s rotation slows that very rotation down? Without the moon, time would speed up. Our days and nights would be much shorter…reduced by 60% to 70%. The moon slows down the passage of time.


But the greatest tidbit of information I discovered while pondering this analogy and researching the facts was this. The sun is 400 times greater in size compared to the moon. Likewise, the sun is 400 times farther away from the earth than the moon is. This ratio makes the two heavenly bodies appear to us to be the same size. This is what makes a total solar eclipse possible. And the earth is the only planet for which this is the case. Now think about our analogy. Since Jesus is God, He is infinitely greater in every aspect than we are. But Jesus Himself came to us as one of us. God appeared as the same shape and size as man. The sun appearing to be same as the moon…during a solar eclipse it sure appears that the two have become one.


I will never again study, think or speak of a solar eclipse without thinking of Jesus as God and man. And I will no longer simply admire the moon for being a “lesser light”, or something romantic to stroll under. I will think of myself as a reflection of God’s light aiding in making it possible for the world to breath Him in, set in just the right position to mix some salt around, and representing a season, a time that can be prolonged by my prayers so that many more can become saved from an eternity of darkness.


Amie Spruiell 9/2/2010

I am God of the moment

“I am not just God of the outcome… I am God of the moment.”

These are the words that I heard the Lord speak to me very clearly in the early part of December last year. I was at a Prayer Meeting with some of my friends and we were all sitting around the Breakfast Table talking, sharing and laughing. One of my friends received a phone call on her cell phone and answered it. It wasn’t good news. In only a moment, everything had changed.

This is when I heard God speak these words, “I am not just God of the outcome… I am God of the Moment”. I shared this with the other women who were there, but I continued to feel this message stirring inside of me. “What exactly does that mean?” I asked the Lord. Over the next month and a half I would begin to hear His answer.

I felt as if the Lord was showing me that I spend a lot of my prayer time praying towards the outcome of certain situations. I felt as if He was showing me that in praying that way, that I was focused not on the present, but on “somewhere” down the road and off into the future.

As I began to ponder this, I felt some thoughts began to come together and take order. These are what I’d like to share.

First off, I began to think upon all that Jesus had invested in us. I love that word… invest. Jesus gave up all that He had (His heavenly home and position) and invested all that He is (His life’s blood) into us.

This made me think of us, and that we are to follow Jesus’ example in our own lives. This means investing all that we have… and all that we are. This means investing our time, our money, our energy, our love, our talents, our abilities, our strengths, etc.

The next thought that comes up is who do we invest these things in? We invest them into our families… our spouses, our children, our grandchildren and also into one another. We invest them into the next generation… and more specifically, to whomever it is that the Lord puts on our minds or hearts.

In a moment things in our lives can change. A relationship can end… a marriage, a friendship, a relationship with one of our own children who makes a wrong choice.

A loved one can be taken away… there can be a death, or someone we love can be called off to war, or perhaps even “leave” us by way of dementia or Alzheimer’s.

A job can be terminated. Your health can be threatened. You could receive a diagnosis that you weren’t expecting… or someone close to you might go through something that you aren’t able to help them with, etc.

However… there is a flip side to all of this.

 

In a moment, God can restore hope into a broken heart. In a moment He can restore vision and purpose into our lives. In a moment He can restore strength. In a moment He can restore joy. In a moment He can restore faith and hope. In a moment He can restore dignity. In a moment He can restore broken relationships. In a moment He can restore life and courage.

It is here that I would like to focus our hearts. Let us concentrate and focus on what it is that God is doing…and let us follow in His lead… moment by moment.

The verses that I’d like to concentrate on this morning are as follows:

II Corinthians 4:15 thru 18 (Amplified version):

“For all (these) things are (taking place) for your sake, so that the more grace (divine favor and spiritual blessing) extends to more and more people and multiplies through the many, the more thanksgiving may increase (and redound) to the glory of God.

Therefore, we do not become discouraged, (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is (progressively) decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being (progressively) renewed day after day.

For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory (beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!).

Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.”

So… there we have it. It is here, in the truth written to us in the above verses, that I would like us to direct our focus. I would like to ask the Lord to help us to take our focus off of all that surrounds us… and to help us put it onto Him. We must look to Him in our distress and see the road that He has mapped out for us. He has promised to never leave nor forsake us… not now and not ever. His ways are much higher than ours, and we must not allow our gaze to drop into our circumstances, lest we lose the direction that He is giving us. Our God is utterly trustworthy and forever faithful. He will not allow us to go through more than we can handle. He is always ready to love us, to lead us and to strengthen us through every difficulty and challenge that we face.

It is a series of moments that make up a lifetime. Let’s take this moment and really purpose in our hearts to make it count… not only for ourselves, but also for all of those whom the Lord has placed around us. One day we will look back at all of the moments that have become our lifetime…I wonder if we will like what we see. Will we see the beauty and design of a life fully lived and committed to the Lord and to the call that He has placed upon our lives… or will we wish that we had done it all differently.

I love the fact that Jesus gave us a choice. It is so powerful and wonderful a gift that we have been blessed with. We have been given the opportunity to partner with Him, to kneel down right alongside Him in intercession and to cry out with Him to His Father about the things of our hearts and then to realign them with the things of His heart. I believe there is no greater privilege.

I pray that you will choose with me today, that which will not leave us disappointed tomorrow.

Written by Beverley A Napier

Can I be Judicious?

I never know exactly…
…what the person in front of me
…across from me
…or next to me….has been through.

Each of our lives is filled with all sorts of experiences. There is much good and much bad in this world. Everyone has had challenging and difficult times. Some of these struggles are obvious if I am close to the situation, but other issues and factors are invisible to even the most observant. How many times have I smiled on the outside when there was no smile on the inside?

To make a judgment is to make a ruling or conclusion. But to be judicious is to possess wisdom and use caution in a common sense way.

I am quick to think that a pretty, healthy woman has had an easy life. Why is that? Do I think if cares have not worn her down physically that her troubles must not have been that difficult? How ironic that I roll my eyes when a woman starts to tell me how horrible her life has been intending to expose my own life as easier. How little she knows. How little I know!

God told Samuel, when Samuel was getting ready to anoint the next king of Israel (David), in 1 Samuel 16:7:

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

If only God knows a man’s heart, then I need God’s wisdom to be judicious. If I am willing to listen and learn I can avoid the trap of being judgmental. Each person I know, each person I will meet has a complexity and depth that is out of reach of my human mind. God sees into each heart and knows each person and desires to call them His friend (John 15:15). Help me Lord, to be a judicious friend.

Written by Mary M. Wilkins

It Is A Good Thing To Give Thanks

It is a good thing to give thanks onto the Lord. He has given us so much to be thankful for. It is because of HIM, we live and move and have our being.

I find that when I am not thankful, I get in a critical mood. I can easily become a grumbler and a murmurer. When I am not thankful, it is so much easier to see the negative side of everything. That is certainly not a good place to be. On the other hand, when my heart is thankful there is no room for grumbling and murmuring. I am constantly looking for the best in everything and how I can be a blessing to others.

Being thankful is a choice every day of our life. I want to choose to be thankful even when I don't feel like it.

I encourage each of you as the scripture says in Psalm 100:4 "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." I can assure you if you choose to do what God's word tells us to do, you will not be disappointed.

Blessings,

Written by Sandy Billingham