Undeserved Forgiveness.

Give undeserved forgiveness… even to yourself. We hold fast to our pasts, our sins, the horrors of things we've done contrary to the will of God, things we believe make us completely and utterly unfit to ever step foot into God's kingdom. We condemn ourselves when in truth we need to give undeserved forgiveness even to ourselves- accepting God's forgiveness.

Undeserved forgiveness.

When our logical thinking process tells us that we need to behave in a certain way- for OUR own wellbeing and yet we ignore that logic, and instead we hurt ourselves, do we know why? What drives us to do things contrary to our own wellbeing? What stimulates our brains into agreeing to hurt ourselves by our own actions? If we know something is not good for us, but we feel compelled towards that something, we are self-harming and there has to be a reason for it.

We do know that pleasure plays a hand in this.

Heb_11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season

Choosing to suffer rather than ENJOY the PLEASURES of sin for a season.

The PLEASURES OF SIN.

Choosing instant gratification, choosing to feel good over the knowledge of doing what is good for us overall, choosing temporary pleasures over eventual pleasures- these are the things we do. We hold pleasing ourselves in high esteem. We teach that our being happy is something to be desired above all else. We frown upon having lives that do not induce happiness on some level. We tell ourselves we aren't happy- as if that is a very bad thing. We equate happiness with things- possessions, activities, people, and largely with the pleasures we can get from our lives.

The PLEASURES OF SIN- there are many, many pleasures of sin that entice us. The number one pleasure sin being- seeking to please ourselves first and foremost while disregarding God altogether, and disregarding others before ourselves. The two are in direct opposition to the summation of the great moral law, the ten commandments given to us by God.

To love God first, and to love others second.

We sin against ourselves all the time great and small when we break these laws. We do not have to murder someone, or steal, or bow down to an idol to break these laws, to sin large. We just have to put self before God and others, to break the laws. We are self-seekers and it is never more apparent than when we are inconvenienced. 

Inconvenience -'something that causes difficulties or annoyance', 'the quality or fact of being inconvenient or causing discomfort', 'difficulty, or annoyance, to cause somebody difficulties, especially relatively minor or unnecessary ones, or ones involving unwanted extra effort, work, or trouble'- (Dictionary Def.)

The annoyance we feel when inconvenienced this will tell us the truth of things, this will give us a measurement of our serving self. Just how loud is that internal groan when you are placed in a situation of inconvenience by another? Just how external is that look of annoyance, and how noisy the groan of displeasure that escapes you? What words are you mumbling under your breath as you react to the inconvenience? SELF SERVER is what our conscience should be screaming at us. SINNER is what we should be calling ourselves. FORGIVE ME is the cry we need to utter upon every single realization of self-serving.

We need to LIVE this-

Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 

Mat 25:35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 

Mat 25:36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 

Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 

Mat 25:38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 

Mat 25:39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 

We need to live our lives serving OTHERS knowing that as we serve them we are serving our LORD.

2Co 4:5  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 

1Jn 3:11  For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 

1Jn 3:12  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 

1Jn 3:13  Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 

1Jn 3:14  WE KNOW that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 

1Jn 3:16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 

1Jn 3:17  But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 

1Jn 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 

1Jn 3:19  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 

1Jn 3:20  For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 

1Jn 3:21  Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 

1Jn 3:22  And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 

1Jn 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 

1Jn 3:24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. 

Serving others first.

We harm ourselves when we put ourselves before others.

Our seeking the pleasures of sin for a season are wrapped up in putting ourselves before others. Our harming our ETERNITY is because of self-serving. We sin and self-sabotage ourselves, we harm ourselves on a deeply spiritual level over and over again, and we need to stop. We need to stop serving ourselves, focusing on ourselves, making ourselves the center of our existence when it should be God, outside of ourselves allowing Him to live in us.

Yes, we need to forgive ourselves for ALL the self-serving sins we've ever committed, because God forgives us for them. We forgive others, we must forgive ourselves as God forgive us, believing in His forgiveness towards us as a reality. We have to believe God forgives us in order for us to forgive others. Forgive us God…as we forgive others- undeservedly, always, over and over again.  For if forgiveness must be earned, we are all lost, and there is no forgiveness. The nature of forgiveness is the comprehension it can't be earned. Once you have to work to earn forgiveness it is no longer forgiveness, but restitution. You are earning the restoration of favor from another, you are paying for that restoration of being in their good graces, and that is not forgiveness.

We can't let Satan hold up our sinful past (a sin from a moment ago or one fifty years ago). We can't let Satan tell us we are unforgiveable, that we do not deserve forgiveness- because we know we don't and never will deserve it, but that doesn't mean we can't have it! We have to accept our undeserved forgiveness, believe in our undeserved forgiveness, live life forgiven! Clinging to the forgiveness we are given, holding it tightly believing in our Savior's love!

God help us!

All through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, now and forever!!!!!!!

Live the Kingdom of God- Give Undeserved Forgiveness.

Luk_9:11  And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.

Jesus talked about the kingdom of God. 

Do we talk about the kingdom of God?

If in our lives we truly believe the kingdom of God is to be more desired than any other thing at all whatsoever that exists in our lives, are we talking about it to others?  When something is important to us, we talk about it, right? Sure, there will be those who say no, they are closed-mouth and keep things inside, to themselves and are loathed to share anything with anyone, and this might be true. If the kingdom of God is important to these close-mouthed individuals, then their lives will reveal God's kingdom in other ways, ways their mouths cannot do. Their actions will be those pointing to the kingdom, their way of living will point to the kingdom, they will live what is important to them beyond being able to speak it. In fact, some people deliberately choose to humble themselves and let their lives speak for them for fear of self-grandiose coming into play. They don't want to fall into the sin of pride, of holding themselves up to be idolized. Still, their lives will point to God and His kingdom.

Jesus, is the way to the kingdom. Jesus came to earth in flesh experiencing temptations to the depths we cannot begin to imagine. Jesus overcame every single temptation by not yielding to it, but turning to His Father for the strength He needed to overcome. Jesus preached the kingdom of God to all, and the ones who heard Him were the ones who were least caught up in putting on a show of religion. Those whose lives were changed completely- as they realized heaven could be theirs should they choose. Those who were most condemned by the seemingly pious and upstanding in society, were those most affected by the realization they were not forever branded at lost to God, but as children waiting to be found and loved in a way that they never knew before.

Jesus preached the kingdom because this is where our hearts should be.

As the world of chaos spins around our lives jabbing us constantly with spears tipped with the poison of angst inducing situations -all geared to keep our minds off of the kingdom of God, off of heaven as our reward, off of Jesus as our Savior, we must hold fast! One thrust in the side today, another thrust in the leg tomorrow, two thrusts to our heads and the poison threatens to fill us disrupting our relationship with Jesus, keeping us from growing in grace and knowledge of the very one who can save us.

Some poison is slow acting as it works its way through our bodies heading for the heart to destroy us. We might feel the initial prick into our flesh, and the poison seeps in and we don't even realize until the bitterness of it starts to act, corrupting our lives. We hold fast to poisonous grudges cherishing them, building on them, justifying our righteousness to ourselves, patting ourselves on the back for standing fast to our prideful belief that we must be acknowledged as being the injured party. We were wounded by another and we will nurse the wound with filth rather than let it be healed. We want the wound to remain open, fresh, raw until we are vindicated rather than let it be healed and closed through forgiveness completely undeserved by the party who wounded us. We imagine that if we withhold our forgiveness that we keep our personal integrity intact, we don't allow ourselves to see that we are letting the wounds destroy us. The poison is working day after day doing what it was intended to do, keep us from forgiving when forgiveness is completely and utterly undeserved. Forgiving as Jesus forgives us! Forgiving if we have the least hope of being forgiven for all our trespasses against our God. Forgiving with the heart God gives to us, forgiving with His forgiveness.

Forgiveness heals us, it doesn't absolve the one who sinned against us- they must find forgiveness through their own ability to forgive.

The kingdom of God, we are forgiven as we forgive. We forgive as we hope to be forgiven. We recognize our need, and in turn we recognize our need towards others. Christ in us acts in us.

All by the grace, the mercy, the will of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, now and forever!!!!!!!

Amen.

Mercy Has An Expiration Date.

Four hundred years in captivity had taken its toll on the Israelites. They knew their history, from generation to generation, the tales were passed down in a special way that they no longer are today. When owning books (scrolls) was reserved for only the elite, you got by on the tales told and set to memory. I don't have such tales in my family. I can pass on things about my own experiences and a very few that were owned by my mother and father passed to me of their parents. I have no stories in my recall of my great grandparents told to me by them, in fact my memory only holds a single great grandparent living. I do have a few tales told to me by my parents, more specifically my mother about her parents, and grandparents but no memories from my father about his grandparents. I have pictures of them, but no real memories at all in any form. The tale of my ancestors making their way to America was not given to me, but I do know my blood contains at least a bit of native American so part of me actually comes from here and wasn't brought from overseas. At most a few memories from the early 1900's belong to me now and I've passed them on to my children but do they remember them enough to carry them onwards? 100 years ago, 120 years ago… not even 400 years ago.

When Joseph brought his family to Egypt it was a good thing, a life-saving thing. But as time passed and those who knew Joseph died off and the memory of his life saving, dream interpreting, famine predicting all faded into the past- known by tale and history but not personally felt, it became easy for things to change. The Egyptian rulers worried that the Hebrews would take over their country and ruin their way of life so they began to alter the relationship to one of subservience and slavery.

Time passed until that's all the Israelites knew- slavery- except through the stories told of their history.

Among them was the body of Joseph, mummified and kept against the day they would leave Egypt for their own land promised to them by God. Joseph knew that their stay in Egypt was temporary, just as we know today that our stay here on earth is temporary. Whether it's four hundred years or four thousand years…it is still temporary.

Released from captivity a new chapter in their history began and the Israelites began to write down and record all that had befallen them, the stories passed down from generation to generation, and more importantly, the Holy Spirit led and inspired, guided and touched the lives of the scribes giving them the words that the Author needed them to write down. The history of the Israelites tells of their stopping on their journey from Egypt to their own land, at a mountain, Mount Sinai. There they were spoken to by God, Himself. They held that mountain in reverence because of God's walking upon it and talking to them from that mountain. Yet even with that great importance attributed to that mountain it still was NOT as important as the Son of God walking among them, living among them, taking on the flesh they had.

Yet many refused to move away from their history, wanting their story to end there until it could unfold in such a way as they expected- with great fanfare and freedom from their captivity to the Romans.

Today they still wait for the great fanfare of redemption, even though as a people they are free from the captivity of all. There are no rulers over the Israelites right now. They have their own government, in their own country, the land given to them by God. Yet, they still refuse to believe in the Son of God.

Paul, inspired of God, guided by the Holy Spirit wrote to the Israelites telling them that their history had expanded, yet the people as a whole race refused to believe, clinging to their past tightly.

Jesus came preaching the kingdom of heaven, not the kingdom upon the earth. Jesus came and revealed the future which involved the sacred temple the Israelites worshiped in being destroyed. Jesus told those who would listen that their kingdom wasn't here upon the earth but in heaven. Jesus told them to put their treasures- the things they cherished most- in heaven, not here upon the earth. Jesus pointed heavenward to a place ruled by God, not Satan. Jesus explained the meaning of all their sacrificial rituals culminating in the greatest sacrifice of all- the sacrifice of a God for them, yet they preferred over that sacrifice their own offerings, not His.

God spoke to their ancestors and they feared and knew they were to keep the sayings that God spoke to them. God spoke to them revealing Himself more fully beyond all the tradition clouded beliefs they'd taken on, and extended mercy.

The mercy was temporary though, it had an expiration date upon it. This is truth. Some like to believe mercy will go on forever and ever and ever, but that's not true.

Jesus foretold of a time when He would leave the world and then later return to the world. When He returned to the world it would be for those who belong to Him, those who choose Him, and those who died having chosen Him, but it would NOT be for everyone.  The timer will have gone off, the final bell rung, the show will be over, the race ended, go on- insert your own metaphor here. When that timer stops- mercy stops and all those that will have chosen to receive the mercy will have been sealed as belonging to Jesus. Then soon after that, Jesus will return for His chosen people and the rest, all of those who refused to avail themselves of the mercy of God when it was offered to them, will be found wanting. They might want mercy now, but there will be no mercy left. And when they realize their mistake it will be too late.

Our God is the same God that spoke from the mountain, our God is the same God that consumed with fire the many who rebelled against Him after they promised they would not. Our God will return. Our God's promises are truth. We must serve Him with the reverence due to Him, with Godly fear- comprehending that He is an exacting God, not a God of endless mercy, but a God who is a consuming fire!

Do not forget this!

Heb 12:18  For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 

Heb 12:19  And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 

Heb 12:20  (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 

Heb 12:21  And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 

Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 

Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 

Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 

Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 

Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire

Final Rejection.

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled

Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 

Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. 

These words--

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 

Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 

What is happening in both instances?

Final rejection.

Esau could care less about his birth right, it was something to be given away in the face of hunger. His birth right held absolutely no honor to him, it wasn't a precious gift at all. Esau used his birth right to indulge in a personal gain, to get instant gratification. He was very hungry, he saw something his brother had made to eat and he wanted that food. He would not be denied that food. His brother didn't want to give him the food he'd made, most likely he'd made it because he was hungry as well.

Imagine, you go to your fridge and pull out the ingredients to make yourself a sandwich, why? Because you're hungry and want to eat. You take the time to make a really nice sandwich, thick with all the things you are feeling hungry for. Then a family member walks into the kitchen and seeing your sandwich right there already made and ready to be eaten and they want it. You made the sandwich because you wanted to eat it, you wanted to assuage your own hunger. Your family member begs you for it telling you they're starving and will die without it. Obvious exaggeration on their part. You ponder for a moment and then tell your family member that sure, they can have it but only if they give you their birthright. The birthright being their place as first in the inheritance of their father. Well, the family member can't even begin to imagine how long it will be until their father dies and the birthright really matters, so sure, he tells you that you can have it. Instantly you've become the inheritor of your father's fortune whatever that may be. Amazing! Something you couldn't imagine your family member agreeing to! It was only a sandwich! The family member could have taken the time and made their own sandwich, or even gone to someone else for a sandwich, but they wanted yours right then and there in their exaggerated state of hunger. I'm not saying they weren't really hungry, but not on death's door to be certain or they wouldn't have been bargaining with their birthright. It was convenient and it would satisfy a desire acutely felt, and any benefit from a birthright seemed too far off to even worry about.

You gained something amazing by denying yourself that well-made, delicious looking sandwich, crafted by your own hands.

Truly, Esau gave away something he could not get back when he traded his birthright for food. It revealed just where Esau's heart was at, and it wasn't on the important things in life, the spiritual.

We too are in danger of giving away the important spiritual things all for the physical, instantly gratifying, things in life. We will risk final rejection for the pleasures and lust fulfillments of here and now. Final rejection. When people come face to face with the realization of final rejection, they will know instantly that the rejection was based upon their own choices. There will be a wailing, an overwhelming despair because they'll know they had a choice and the choice they made was not one for God.  Even if they pretended to be God's the truth will be revealed. All their pretenses will be gone.

Lord, we would be Yours! Heavenly Father, we would be Yours! We need the Holy Spirit in our lives revealing ANYTHING that would keep us from being wholly Yours in all truth! Please keep us from the evil of self-gratification, help us to recognize the ease we seek now, the pleasure we seek now is not worth giving up our spiritual walk with You. Help our choices be for You over our own desires. Help our desire be for YOUR WILL. Help us to comprehend the truth of final rejection as a reality should we live our lives contrary to Your Love. Help us, Lord, save us from ourselves!

All through Jesus Christ our Lord, now and forever, through our Savior's love!

Peace, Holiness, Christ In Us, Always.

Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord

Peace with all men. .. imagine that, peace with all. We live  in a world filled with so much angst. Around every turn we have another upset  another flash of anger ignited by the simplest of things. A wrong expression can cause a fight even if that wrong expression is the result of an internal thought and nothing actually done to upset someone. An innocent, not dangerous, harmless mistake while driving can  cause another person to become furious. We jump to conclusions that lean more to condemnation towards each other than forgiveness. Thinking the worst quickly- this is the common go to. If we are truly seeking to follow peace with all how can we be so quick to judge? We convict and condemn in a moment of time. Where is our compassion?  We don't know the real struggles that occur with others, we assume people are a certain way and do not let our understanding go further than that. We mock them silently for their behavior and call it lazy, selfish, ungodly- when we do not walk in their shoes, or live within the limits of their brain- their emotions, their mental capabilities. We do not let peace reign in us for all others, but rather condemn them in our hearts where God alone can see.

Follow peace with all men…and holiness.

We need to seek peace, to seek holiness in every single one of our dealings with other people. You read that right. There is not even one situation where we should deal with others without the peace and holiness of our Savior living in us, working in us, being revealed in us.

When we try to separate ourselves from our Christian walk at any moment we are in danger of denying Christ and if we deny Christ then He will not have any part of us, He will NOT know us.

Christ in us…

Col_1:27  … Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Col 3:11  … Christ is all, and in all. 

Joh 14:17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 

Christ is a PART of us who choose to let Him be.

Christ is not a piece of clothing that we can put on and take off at will. We can push Christ away, He'll never force Himself on us. When we choose Christ He lives in us as a constant companion. We don't separate ourselves from Him, we allow Him to live in us and He guides us in all we do. We must let Him be a part of our entire life in all our interactions. It is HIS peace and HIS holiness that we have to interact with others…all others, at all times.

All by His grace!

I'm So Vain.

Please, Lord, help me to not be filled with the vanity that is threatening to disrupt my life. Help me to not be consumed with how I look, not at all.

Psa_119:37  Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.

Pro_30:8  Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me

Ecc_1:2  Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Pro_31:30  Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

Your word tells me all is vanity and yes, all is vanity because we are so caught up in ourselves. We are indoctrinated from a very young age to care about our appearance. We are called names by others who want us to know we don't meet the standards of acceptable appearance. We are told we have nice smiles in order to keep us from being called homely, plain, ugly. We grow up and this never changes. We just get to see the beauty in the younger ones around us as age takes its toll on our flesh- regardless of our attempts to use the touted products to slow down the wrinkling, crinkling, crepe-like, mole appearing, skin deteriorating flesh we possess. We console ourselves with words like- my genetic makeup predisposes me to aging badly- we're a family of early wrinkling. There is just so much that is TOTALLY out of our ability to control. I can't stop a single wrinkle from appearing, I can't stop a single mole from showing up. I can't keep arthritis from disfiguring my hands. I cannot take my flappy, loose flesh and make it taut.  I can't do any of that without becoming rich enough to afford a lot of plastic type surgery. VANITY!  I'm so vain! Satan wants me to want to hide away, to become bitter about my lot in the appearance pool of life. Satan would have this depress me, to turn my outlook on my life completely inward and let this keep me from walking in the path Christ wants me to walk.

Should I care if people whisper behind my back saying how old I look, how I look so much older than my years? How I look older than they are when in fact they are much older than me? Should I care if it is TRUE? Should I feel shame that I can't look better for my spouse? Should I feel apologetic for aging badly and now he has to be seen with the ugly old lady looking me? Should I care? Should I care if when he looks at me he sees his great grandmother looking back at him? Should I care?

If people are judging me in this way- or consoling themselves by saying they're not judging - just observing facts-  should I care? If people are making themselves feel better about their own aging and their own appearance by holding up mine as something to make them happier because they look better, should I care?!  Doesn't it just make me awful, because I in turn must be hoping I look better than they do, that I'm aging better than they are if it bothers me they are wanting the same thing?!

Why am I caught up in this nightmare? I care because Satan wants me to get caught up in the CARES OF THIS LIFE! Satan wants to trap me any way he can and he's trying so hard to rip me away from Christ. All stops are being pulled out - one plug after the other is coming undone because Satan knows how incredibly short his time is.

My SAVIOR is stronger than Satan! My Savior WILL save me and keep me from all these awful traps being thrown up all around me to trip me up! My Savior has told me that this LIFE is temporary, it is ETERNITY WITH HIM that is the most important thing ever! My Savior tells me to put my TREASURES in heaven!  I can't have my treasures here on earth or they are not in eternity with Him!  The treasure of my appearance must be the treasure of transformation when I'm finally with Christ, not the treasure of earthly beauty fading quickly away.  If I become the most physically ugliest of all here and now it shouldn't matter one bit! If I'm despised for the horrors of my aged, weight abused flesh it shouldn't matter not in the slightest! NONE of it should matter except living for CHRIST and eternity with HIM.

We are to count ALL things as loss but CHRIST. Meaning nothing but CHRIST and living for HIM, with HIM in us directing our way of life so we can reveal HIS love to others, should matter. What good would all the beauty in the world do me if I don't have Christ?! Just as riches are the root of all evil, people believing having riches would solve so many of life's problems, beauty is a close second- people thinking if only they were better in appearance then a lot of life's problems would be swept away- LIES.

LORD, please help me to live YOUR TRUTH, protect me from Satan's many evil traps! Help me to truly have my TREASURES in heaven. Help me to care first and foremost for YOU!

Php_3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ

This includes my looks, my youth, any comeliness I may have ever possessed at all. Help me count it all but loss so I may live in the knowledge of YOU, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Help me to ONLY care about what YOU think of me and no other!

Let my beauty be YOU in me, and nothing else. Please, Lord, please.

Help me! Help my head know and live what my heart knows and desires to live- all for YOU. Help my heart and head, Lord as only You can do!  Thank you, Lord! Thank you!

Make Straight Paths.

We grow weary…yet we must not faint.

Heb_12:3 …lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Heb 12:12  Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 

Heb 12:13  And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. 

We must look to Jesus and when we look to Jesus find His strength for our spiritual existence. Satan would trap us in so many ways trying to keep us from ever looking to our Savior- as truly being our Savior. Satan wants us to stare at our lives and dwell on the places our feet have taken us- down paths of unrighteousness, through fields of sin, over hills of despair. Satan doesn't want us to make straight paths for our feet- the path that leads to Christ, the path that we follow as the world reveals millions of other paths tempting us towards the crooked ways.

We must make straight paths for our feet… when we make straight paths for our feet any lameness we incurred as we were on the crooked paths can be healed! Our feet which can barely move will gain new strength in Christ! We don't have to be stuck in the thick muddy paths Satan entices us with. Every single path Satan puts in our way will look amazing, fun, fulfilling, satisfying… his paths do NOT present as haunted horror trails meant to terrify you. The paths that Satan dresses up are more like the candy laden lanes that lead unsuspecting children into witch houses. You might not be tempted by a candy lane, but put your besetting sin, your most tempting of all temptations in the place of that candy and you will find yourself wanting almost desperately to head down that path- it's HOW Satan works. And barring entrapping you with pleasure inducing paths, Satan will construct paths that will call to our despairing, depressive, self-depreciating, self-sabotaging sides. Do not think all people are enticed by the feel good- some are enticed by the self-pity, self-centered sides that give them an opportunity to bemoan their existence. They'll enter the path of pain and pity secretly (sometimes even to themselves a secret) just so they can be caught up in the cares of this life so much so they can't even imagine the straight path that leads to salvation in Christ. 

Tricks and traps surround us on every side making their snaking, sneaking ways off the path of righteousness, but truth will shine out as a brilliant beacon of hope guiding us through it all. We must make a straight path towards that Light so we can be healed from all that would cause us to go spiritually immobile, sinking us into whatever evil Satan can use to entrap us.

We must…

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled

More on this tomorrow by the grace, the mercy, the will of our Lord, Jesus Christ, now and forever!