The Preciousness of Life

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My thoughts as a friend’s family is called to her hospital bedside. She suffered a heart attack about twelve hours ago.This means she will be leaving her family her church family and entering heaven very soon. This fact brings several thoughts to my mind.

Her name is Loretta. She encouraged me many times over the 30+ years we have known each other. She prayed for my family on many occasions. Her husband was my Sunday school teacher for several years.

1.)           She will see Jesus. Also, she will see her mother, her husband’s mother, several of the ladies who went our old church, and our friend Greg, who spent most of his earthly life wheelchair bound. (I always said that when he got there, he would dance with all the women.) I believe they will all be waiting to greet her on the other side of those pearly gates.

2.)           How precious life is, God decides the number of days we have before our first one. Sometimes, humans do things shorten that number. Other times we see people who live out those 70 or 80 years allotted to us. Then, there are those who are blessed by receiving more.

3.)           Because God loves us, we are to love one another. This is a command given by Jesus Christ Himself.

4.)           We are not to hold grudges against others. We are to forgive them as God forgave us.

5.)           We are to stop and enjoy what God has given us. When a neighbor or a friend receives something new, we are to be happy for them.

6.)           We should tell our families that we love them. They might know it, but it is nice to hear. It may be the last thing we say to them.

7.)           If we have issues with someone, we should give them to God and let Him handle them for us as He chooses.

8.)           If there is something we don’t understand about another person, we should tell God about it. If He wants us to know the details, He will arrange things so we learn what we need to know.

She went to heaven a little over 12 hours after her family was called in. All of her family and her church family will miss her but we all know that God called this dear lady home.

Her funeral is late this morning, January 12, 2018.

God Creates New

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For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. Isaiah 65:17 (ESV)

God tells us that we need to realize that He has made something new for His children. Could He be speaking of when we arrive in heaven? Can He be speaking of the new heaven and new earth that we read about in Revelation?

I recently had a friend enter heaven. One of the thoughts I had about her being there was “She won’t remember the terrible things that happened to her when she was a child.”

While we live on earth we might have a memory or memories of which we cannot let go. We read where we can give them to God, but we take them back. However, When we enter His domain, heaven, he takes all our anxiety-causing moments and tosses them away. Those who enter heaven truly do not have a care in the world.

As a senior citizen, I find I have times when I remember and envision a circumstance from my childhood and, sometimes, even my young adult years. I believe God is trying to show me something about these memories. None of these things I have remembered were necessarily bad things. I have felt God was teaching me through them. 

New Name

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The nations shall see your righteousness. And all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. Isaiah 62:2 (ESV)

God speaks of His plan of giving His people a new identity when Jerusalem and Zion begin to display righteousness and glory they have received from Him. Other nations will see these qualities.

Just think! God gives each of His people new names. Known only to Him. In the context (verse 4), He tells the people He will not think of them as “Forsaken” or “Desolate” but as “My Delight is in Her.” I love this latter term. God’s delight is in those who follow Him.

The LORD looks at those who submit their lives to Him with different eyes, eyes of tenderness and love. Because that is His nature. When we accept Jesus as Lord of our lives, should we also those around us with different eyes—His eyes? Our LORD teaches us how to respond to unsettling circumstance. When we hear things that bother us, He tells us to take those issues to Him, first. Our hearts would be so much lighter and our lives easier if we would remember to take this one simple step.

New Covenant

https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/covenants/the-new-covenant/

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke though I was their husband, declares the LORD. I will put the law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins no more. Jeremiah 31: 31-32, 33b, 34c (ESV)

God never gave up on the people of Israel or the people of Judah. He speaks through the prophet Jeremiah. God speaks of the events in the future.  What does He say?

The LORD speaks of the people of Israel and Judah’s unfaithfulness. God looked on His relationship with them as a marriage. (my covenant that they broke though I was their husband.)

He reveals His plan to present the law to them. His plan is to engrave His law on their hearts. What the people had could be described as ‘head knowledge.’ God wanted His people to have ‘heart knowledge.’ In today’s world, people know what the right thing to do is but choose not to act on it, doing what they want over what God wants.(Head Knowledge) God wants us to believe and live out his commandments. (Heart Knowledge.)

God tells Jeremiah His part of the outcome. All the people will know Him. He will forgive their wickedness and will erase their sin from His memory.

One of my Sunday school teachers told us that prophetic statements are either fulfilled in the Bible or will be fulfilled in the future. As I understand this one, I believe part of this one will be fulfilled in the future.

New Beings

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From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (ESV)

Paul writes these words to the believers at Corinth. These words speak to me of his experience with the LORD. Before Paul met Christ, his passion was to destroy anyone and anything that spoke of the risen Savior. After his experience on the Damascus Road, Paul spent the rest of his life spreading the message of Jesus Christ.

Several years ago, there was a businessman who owned a tavern in our city. It seemed to be successful and well-known. One day, I drove past the building and noticed that there was a new business there, a beauty shop.

 Sometime later, a friend and I were talking, she told me what happened. The owner found the LORD and decided that his establishment was not one that Jesus Christ would be proud of. His wife was a hairstylist. He closed the tavern and made the building into a beauty shop.

What could happen if we all took this ‘new creation’ thought seriously? Interpersonal issues would be more easily resolved. People who find the LORD would be able to live their lives as God has planned. People would no longer have doubts about plans for their lives.

Dear Father God; Thank You that You created us into new beings when we gave our hearts over to You. Please help us to live our lives as those new creations You have created us to do Your will for our lives. Guide us as we live for you. In the Name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.      

New Heart

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And I will give them one heart and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people and I will be their God. Ezekiel 11:19-20 (ESV)

Happy New Year to each of you. We seem to always look forward to something new, be it a new outfit, a new piece of furniture, or a new vehicle. God plans to do new things for us if we are willing to let Him be in control. Our focus passage will help us understand more.

                                                                 

“And I will give them one heart,” God tells Ezekiel He will give to the people of Israel His heart. He will do this for us, His people, in today’s world when we allow Him to guide.

“and a new spirit I will put within them” Along with that new heart, God spoke of giving the Israelite people a new spirit.  In our world, we receive a new spirit when we submit our lives entirely to Him.

“I will remove the heart of stone” God recognized the Israelite’s stubbornness and planned to remove their pride from them. Each time they chose to revere Him, it only lasted for a short time. In today’s world, each of us has to daily submit our lives, hearts, and emotions to our heavenly Father.

“and give them a heart of flesh,” Each time the Israelites worshipped God as He intended to be worshipped, events went well for them. In our present world, we see things happen because we live in a fallen world. All we have to do to see things turn around is to honor and worship God in a manner that befits Him.

“that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.” God tells Ezekiel what the children of Israel have to do for their part. In our world today, we still have His statutes and his rules to guide us through our days and our times of trial.

“And they shall be my people and I will be their God.” God wanted to have a relationship with His chosen people, the Israelites. In our present times, He wants to have a relationship with each of us, His children.               

WITH

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Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.” Matthew 1:23 Isaiah 7:14 (NRSV)

Do we understand the significance of the angel’s message? This message refers to a prophecy of Isaiah some 4oo years earlier. God is with us!

Even today, we see evidence of God’s presence in our world. The end of last month, I received a prayer request from a very dear friend. Her husband’s nephew had called and asked her to pray for his new-born granddaughter. The baby was born with three heart abnormalities.

The medical team waited for almost a week before performing surgery. In the meantime, several of us were praying. I requested prayer from one of my social media friends and from an online social media prayer group. This family needed to see God’s working in this circumstance. On the day I prepared this. My friend texted me a picture of the baby being held by her 3-year-old sister. She seems to have no tubes for breathing or feeding or heart monitor leads. We believe that this baby will go home very soon. God was with them.

In the early part of our nation, there were people who believed that God created the world and chose to stand back and see what we would do. Those of us who have witnessed His workings know that God chooses to stand beside us in the good times and in the not-so-good times.

As we continue in our observance of Advent, let us learn to seek God in our lives and let Him lead us through the difficult times of our lives.

May this thought continue as we approach the upcoming New Year.

I will take a blog break so I can enjoy my family-time with my Hubby and our son. I will be back on January 2, 2018.