Are you ready?

If you died today, do you know where you will spend eternity? Don't presume there is nothing after death. There is heaven and there is hell. Hell is very real. You may think your life is currently a "living hell," but in death, without God, your torment will be much much greater.

Hebrews 4:7 (NKJ) says, "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts."

For when you refuse to obey the living Lord and live to self, you face eternal damnation. Always seek the Lord's guidance and be obedient to His commands. They are for our own good, not to destroy us.

But our decisions are our own. Know, seek what is right and true, not what you feel or think, but what IS.

Deliveries - and the lack thereof

Just want to vent a little here. I ordered a supplement from a company in Middlesex, New Jersey, on Nov. 29, 2007. It was shipped by DHL Express. It arrived at my door in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on July 29, 2008.

I wonder where this package has been sitting all this time.

DHL Express .... nothing express about this delivery!

Snapshots of time

Today's devotional brought me to Psalm 90. Verse 12 (NKJ version) says, "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" -- meaning, it is not how long we live that counts, but how we live.

We talk about wanting to live a long life, but it may be pointless if our life is meaningless. I'd like to live to be 100, but I sure don't want to be a vegetable ... i.e., an invalid hooked up to machines, bed ridden, no one to love, no one to love me. I suppose that is being selfish. I don't know. I'm sure God will let me know.

I was thinking of how much I ask from the Lord. More than perhaps I have any right to do. Yet, He is my Father, and my physical father was mostly absent from my life. To the Lord I can talk and discuss my life, my feelings. He knows me. ... way more than I know myself. I need to be able to let things out to somebody. He doesn't judge me - He will judge me, but not the way I mean right now. He does not have a preconceived thought that I'm up to no good, that I can't do this or that. The Lord never considers me worthless. He loves me. For that and much more I am most grateful.

Thank you Lord Jesus for being my Savior, my friend, my confidant, my mentor, my all.

The necessity of trials

Yes, I suppose, trials are necessary. They bring us much closer to the Lord, that is assuming we are in a relationship with Him. I am. My husband is. I accepted the Lord as my savior in 1982, but the relationship didn't really start for many years after. Our church went through the Purpose-Driven Life. Many people don't give two hoots what Rick Warren has to say, but we found it brought us to a closerness we seemed to be lacking. I had always kept a journal, but after this study, my husband started keeping one too. His written thoughts are considerably shorter than mine, but that doesn't matter. The Bible studying, whether it be full-fledged into a particular book or word, or devotional studying, ... a beautiful relationship with our Lord was developing. The trials we find ourselves in, small or huge, doesn't matter the size, whatever we go through individually, if we stay focused on Jesus, look to Him for our needs, for our answers, be obedient to His instructions, we will overcome. For with God all things are possible. Without God, life is very hopeless indeed.

Learning

Learning, always learning - about what we say or don't say or do. Most recently I learned I still need to be more aware of what I may be about to say. Think, stay quiet before saying anything that may prove distasteful to another. How can you do that!? Pray that the Lord will enable you to build up another, not tear them down. Ah,... to put that into practice and do it at all times.

The Lord enables you to have this or that. Because of what He has given, because of who He is, don't follow those around you who follow dangerous paths - i.e., human sacrifice, witchcraft, occult, etc.

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 says, "When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. ...who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, ... practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer. ... or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you." (NKJ version)

Our future is determined by our faithfulness to God (the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit), not by our own selfish desires. Disrespect for the Lord, reliance on ourselves, shows a lack of trust in Him who IS.

So ...

So much that I think about in the course of a day, week, month, year. So much and yet so little. It can mean nothing or be rather useful. Very few actually read this blog, so it would seem no matter what I say, it won't matter. Well, so be it. It might matter to me and it always matters to God. So between me and God, that's pretty good.

Today's Scripture reading brought me to Romans 12:3b, which says "not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" Don't think of yourself as too high and mighty, better than another. But then I thought, we shouldn't think too lowly either should we? So low that we become self-centered. Selfishness can be at either end of the spectrum can it not? Romans 12:3c says "God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." Well, if you don't have faith, you don't have God, and without God, you have nothing.

My editor loaned me the book "Obit" by Jim Sheeler ... inspiring stories of ordinary people who led extraordinary lives. It is the most interesting book I've read about news obituaries. I've often though I'd like to try my hand at news obits. I edit obits for the local newspaper. But editing them and writing a story, a short synopsis of one's life, is something else. I question my abilities. I don't know why. Fear factor gets in the way.

"With God I can do all things." "With God on my side, who can be against me." There is no one. With God in my park and me obeying his direction, I can do many things. To his glory. I can write a news obit. Just remember to whom, to what purpose you do this.

Sunday morning, I wrote in my journal, "If I died today, who would remember me?"
I imagine there are many who think that on any day. Is it selfishness or just a sincere desire that someone, anyone, would think well of another, that their life would mean something to another. Something important, not just stupid things, being silly or ridiculous. Perhaps being silly and people remembering that, is meaningful ...to someone somewhere somehow. I wonder.

There is a song included in this book "Obit" that one ordinary man sung ... about smiles. I like what it says. I don't know if these are his words or someone else, but still, I like it and its worth repeating here...

"There are smiles that make us happy,
There are smiles that make us blue,
There are smiles that steal away the teardrops,
As the sunbeams steal away the dew
Here are smiles that have a tender meaning,
That the eyes of love alone may see ...
And the smiles that fill my life with sunshine
Are the smiles that you give to me."

God saved the people

Yes, God saved the people! And that's what counts in the end. Not the stuff we collect, but our very souls. Coyle says it well ... The waters take our buildings, but not our souls. And now we build again.

I finally listed to the powerful words song by Jim Coyle, pastor of Ellis Community Church. If you want to listen to it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Tw9lgAdTw

When Christ returns.... not if

There is no if - and - or but about it. Jesus Christ will return. And when He does, He will conquer the world and defeat all the evil powers. You think not? Stick around, and if you should live so long, you will witness it. And if you are among those who do not follow Christ, your end will be imminent. No matter how bad things get around us, those of us who know the Lord, are assured that Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, will ultimately be victorious.

"And I saw the beast (Antichrist), the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against Him (Jesus Christ) who sat on the (white) horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone." - Rev. 19:19-20 New King James version