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Song of Solomon 4:7 “You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you.” Being justified by the righteousness of Christ. Having been washed by His blood and sanctified by His Spirit. I am spotless. I have been found and rooted in Christ Jesus. It’s not that I am sinless or never commit sin now, but it’s that Christ is making beauty from those spots in my life, making them full of beauty. I think about my place in this world and how big it really is compared to me, but just how big my God is compared to this world. I have found myself just in awe looking at the way He has placed people here all the way to the plants in the different parts of this world, so that they would be able to live and grow the way that He designed them too. I’ve loved the desert and the agaves plants and the soaring shadows of mountains since as far back as my memory can go. I have looked at a cactus- something that can grow in the driest of conditions- and I have learned from it. I’ve seen the way Jes
Colossians 3:23 “And whatever you do, do good work hardily as for the Lord and not to men.” Christians often talk about working for God, going on a mission’s trip for God, doing the ministry for God. Its good to talk that way. It’s biblical. We are promised that through Christ we will “bear fruit for God” and we are called to “work heartily as for the Lord, and not for men.” So, we should do things for God. But what does that mean? Sometimes when we talk about doing something for someone, we mean that we are going to meet their needs. So, if we talked about doing something for the poor, we mean we are going to meet the needs of the poor. But is that what we mean when we talk about doing things for God? When the Bible calls us to do things for God, is it calling us to meet God’s needs? That’s impossible, because God has no needs. Acts 17:24-25, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served b
John 8:36 “Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.” I have always wanted a tattoo of a swallow and this is how this all came about. Freedom is something I have always struggled with believing I had/ have even in Christ. In Hebrew, a swallow translates literally into “the bird of freedom”. They are known for their love of freedom and inability to be retained in captivity. It has a tireless wing and is recognized for its exhaustless flight. They constantly utter a sweet, low note. they nest in giant colonies, sometimes surrounded by hundreds of birds and they always drink on the wing, flying low to sip water as they go. If this is a bird, how much more can’t the Lord have in store for me? For He can make me free. Free of the things that surround me. The thoughts that I’m not good enough, the idea that I need to please everyone, that I need the world’s approval. Free of depression, anxiety, crippling fear, and old ways. Through Him I can have the strength to not b
Psalm 59:10 “My God, with His loving kindness, will come to meet me…” To some of us, there often comes a time when we get a sense of the vastness of things and of our own insignificance, which can be a shaking thing. It can even shake our faith in whats the truth- that our Father showers with compassion even the fall of a single sparrow. (Matthew 10:29). To me one of the many proofs given to us is right in the Word of God. To me this shows how God’s hand is behind and is with and throughout my life just like He was with the people we read about in the Bible. The Bible can touch the untouchable by the power of the Holy Spirit and the willingness to separate one’s self from the world and set our eyes on the cross. The fear of being so insignificant suddenly becomes forgotten and you start to feel this overwhelming amount of love poring all over you. Unconsciously, His Word meets this fear and answers it- not always by a direct statement, but often by giving a simple, loving little
Hebrews 10:36 “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise…” PATIENCE. A word that I sometimes struggle with telling myself to have. Something many can be stumbled by if not fully enduring it. I can remember time and time again were I have neglected to show the right kind of love or understanding just because I am lacking in patience. One of the ways patience was explained to me was, “patience is the queen of virtues.” Patience meets the most difficult test in personal relationships and this even applies to our relationship with God. A person of great wisdom shows boundless amount of patience by not running too far ahead of his/hers fellow members of Christ. Our Lord sets a perfect example of living out a life full of patience. I can just look at my own life, day in and day out I can find the countless times God has been patient with me, whether its with something that I set myself up for, a trial, or an opportunity to
Jeremiah 29:14 “I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.” This is something that not only has happened once in my life but can sometimes be a daily battle. Being taken away from the straight and narrow path, falling off that potters wheel because of pride or discouragement. But here God promises that He will bring me back from my own captivity, He will only allow me to be tempted by Satan to where I can withstand. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that God does allow us to be tempted and challenged by Satan so that we may fall back onto Him, and become centered on Him alone and not on our own strength. The Lord promises me, He will “gather me from all the nations and from all the places…” I have gone. We leave pieces of ourselves with the p
Psalms 31:7 “I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast known my soul in adversities.”   God had been showing me all that I had been compromising, and how many of those times I had fallen because of it. If your self-will, your rejection of God’s principles of life, your compromises, have driven you into a desperate difficulty, remember that God loves you. Something I sometimes find myself having had forgotten about- how much He really does love us. After reading a book on David’s life, I learned much more about the challenges faced by David, it is from “David’s inner life and his experiences with God that we can draw strength and comfort and nourishment for our souls.” We are not sufficient unless we are engaging in the material in the Word of God to help us. Reading about all the struggles and defeats David went through, but how God did bring glory and sunshine for him was one of the most uplifting parts about reading this book. There is at some points a significant