(Ephesians 5:1-2) Then become imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell. (Literal Translation)
Yesterday, I put up a post that talked about imitating God and walking the path He has for you to walk. The next verse (above) says that we need to walk in love. That can be extremely difficult at times but isn’t it an interesting statement for God to make? First, we are to imitate God and then we are to walk in love but He does not stop there. Remember the rest of it? We are to imitate God like we are children AND walk in love.
This verse is particularly necessary in these days that are becoming more and more evil. The love of others is steadily growing colder and leaving and hatred is becoming the norm. If you do not believe that, just try to be nice to someone who has a bad attitude. They will not thank you many times. They might even attack you for it. Between that and seeing out and out wrong as right are fast being the normal everywhere.
Recently, I was watching videos on a popular free video site. In searching out Christian preachers, I came across one that was getting a large number of comments, mostly bad, so I took a look. Others who profess to be preachers and believers (meaning born again Christians) were criticizing, bashing and otherwise slamming a couple of quite popular television preachers. I have watched both myself and while I did not always agree with everything they said, I was not about to be critical of them. Why? Because they could be anointed preachers of God. He is quite clear about not touching His anointed.
So many that were commenting and professing to be Christian and preachers were making extremely vicious remarks. They were ugly, sometimes filthy comments about how these preachers were acting. I chose to say something about now knowing all of the story since this particular video was about a one minute slice of a much longer video, not seeing all of the video. The target was now me! Vicious, nasty, filthy comments and statements were made to and about me.
What’s the problem here? Cold hearts. A lack of love. With this type of attack, there simply is no love of the Lord. We are told by God specifically, as Christians, to walk in love, AS CHILDREN, being imitators of God. If those who made those statements are Christians, they need to seek God and evaluate their lives because love is not included. I do not evaluate my life every single day, which I certainly should, but I do talk to God about that so that I do not walk off the path. I still find myself going in the wrong directions quite often. We must be diligent to do this and walk in love as well.
We do not have to take everything dished out to us but God does require us to walk in His love. I know that when the love of God is working in my heart, my day is brighter, my attitude is nicer and I care about people. At other times, I can be definitely disgusted with people as a group. Why not try walking in love today, like a child imitating God’s love for us all?
(Ephesians 5:1) Then become imitators of God, as beloved children (Literal Translation)
God specifically says to imitate Him as little children. This means that He wants us to do the things He does and do them just like He does but do it as if you were a child. As a parent, you are quite aware of how a child will imitate a parent. One day, you will notice that one of the kids is acting just like Daddy or Mommy. That’s not always a good thing, I might add, but most of the time it simply means that they have watched the parent enough to imitate them. Most little girls want to put on makeup just like Mommy. Boys want to shave as soon as they possibly can because Daddy does that. Didn’t you do that when you were growing up? I did.
When you imitate God, He is pleased and you are walking in the path He has for you. It isn’t so hard to imitate God because He gave you us the example of Jesus to go by. The first four books of the New Testament in the Bible show exactly how Jesus handled many situations. In all of those things, He did not sin at all. He did nothing wrong. He shows us that we can live a sin-free life when we take the time to get closer to God. That’s what He did. People who followed Him knew of His habit of going off to pray by Himself often.
Just like when you get to know people well enough to be best friends, God wants you to get to know Him well enough to imitate Him. We cannot imitate if we have not studied the person we choose to imitate. (Isn’t that a tad scary? The kids are imitating the actions of the parent. If you do not like what the kid is doing, make sure it isn’t because they saw you do it.) How do you get to know God better? By taking the time to pray, to study what the Bible (God’s Word) says about Him, to take the time to simply talk to Him as if you were friends.
People will say that you cannot talk to God in that sort of familiar attitude, that it’s not respectful. Why not? If you have a friend, you can certainly be respectful of them but still talk to them in a friendly, familiar manner, can’t you? God wants you to be that friendly and familiar with Him. When you come to the point that you talk everything over with God before you do anything, you are beginning to get the right idea. God wants this type of relationship with you. Why not try it out today. Give God your time and attention. My day is always brighter because of it.
When I was a kid, I learned that I had to have good grooming, clean my room to the best of my abilities, do my homework, do the chores around the house that were mine and to be telling the truth in everything I did. Naturally, I did not do all these things when my parents weren’t looking. If my homework got left at school, I couldn’t do it, could I? If my hair didn’t look as good as it should, I was just having a bad hair day (though we certainly didn’t say that then).
What’s the problem here? The one thing that sticks out for me is that I really wasn’t doing what I was supposed to as long as no one watched me. The homework quite often did not get done because I “left it at school” or I “did it at school”. My parents really did not see why my grades were so bad when I had done everything I said I did. But I didn’t. What’s wrong with doing or saying one thing in front of people and doing or saying something else when no one is watching? In God’s terms, this is a lack of honor. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Shouldn’t we try to be the same?
Is it right to not do as good a job at work simply because no one is monitoring you? Have you been hired to do mediocre work just because you do not like the boss or the company is not giving you the bonus or benefits you think you deserve?
This country, and world for that matter, have little honor. Most parents have no idea what that word means so they do not teach it to their children. This is an honorless generation. Sad, isn’t it. We do not even know what the word means.
This quote is not from the Bible but certainly says exactly what honor is defined as being:
The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be. (Socrates)
So the question is….are you who you appear to be? Is your work ethic as good as the boss thinks? Are you what you seem to be? Honest? Trustworthy? Hard working? Or are you thinking and doing things in secret that you would be ashamed of in public?
Jesus, our Savior, is the same yesterday, today and all the tomorrows there are. That is so comforting to me. Regardless of how the world changes, the Lord is the same. It means that my home, my fortress, my refuge will not be different than it is right now. He does not do things in secret that He is ashamed for us, His children, to see Him do.
We need to strive to come as close as we possibly can to that example that Jesus has set. He knows that we are flawed and will not obtain perfection here. That’s why He died for us. But we can look at our example, Jesus, and try as hard as we can to be honest, honorable just as He is…..even when no one is watching.
Over the years, it seems that the American Thanksgiving day has evolved into something that simply marks so much time before Christmas, which is also just another day. For a lot of reasons, this particular day’s meaning has been lost. Now, I do realize that when the original celebration occurred here in the U.S., it had little to do with having a “turkey day” and much to do with the giving of thanks that the pilgrims had made a hazardous trip and had made it to a safe place to live.
God wants us to give thanks for all things that are good in our lives. He even has wanted us to give thanks for adversities because in those, we are able to grow in our spirits. So today, let us think on those things that are good
(1Th 5:18) In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
(Php 4:6-8) Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
And now, please give thanks for your loved ones…wherever they may be. Give thanks for all things that are good in your life.
This video is the song: “Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart”
Happy Thanksgiving from Topshelf!! May your day be rich with blessings and love!
When I was in high school, we had homerooms..meaning, we had a school room to go to every morning to start the day. We were there, generally, about 5 minutes getting the announcements for the day and any other business that had to be conducted. If we had an assembly that morning, we would travel to it from homeroom. It was our beginning.
Now on the top of the door, in our homeroom, there was a plaque that read P.A.L.S. At the beginning of each year (we kept the homeroom for the duration of our time at the high school), the particular teacher for that classroom would tell us what those letters meant. It was our homeroom motto. The one mystery in all these years is…why on earth it had to be a secret? I have no idea but there ya go.
The point here is that I remember the motto from all those years ago. We are talking over 40 years since I have been in that classroom and I still recall the motto. Why? Because it made an impact on me. The motto was “Perseverance Always Leads to Success”. Does it? I don’t really know for certain but I do believe that the reason I remember that when I have forgotten so many other things about high school is that God wanted me to keep that in mind when I want to start something.
Today, I am putting in this devotion because 1) I have not put one up in a long time and 2) because I believe that we need to remember my classroom motto. Paul did. Well, of course, he did not know my classroom motto but he lived his life with perseverance in mind. Here, let me show you:
(Phillipians 3:13-14) My brothers, I do not count myself to have taken possession, but one thing I do, forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the things before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul says that he forgets the things in the past and presses toward the mark of the prize. What prize is that? The high calling of God in Christ Jesus. When I began preaching, I knew that was what I was supposed to do because it was my calling. I want to be the best at what I do because I do not want to disappoint my Lord Jesus Who died for me on that cross. It was a knowing that God wanted me to do my job of preaching. I got ordained in a church by a pastor who took his calling very seriously so he would not have ordained me without God’s approval. He pressed toward the mark. I have pressed toward the mark..not as much as I should have..but I press toward the mark because I want to do the best job for Jesus that I can.
So today, we can all be like Paul. Perseverance always leads to success. If we will stick to our task, we can come out on top. Isn’t that what the scripture is saying too? Paul pressed toward the mark. What mark are you faced with today? Is it your job or school work? Your family? A sport you participate in? Do you feel that you cannot go on one more minute? Press toward the mark. Go that extra mile. Push one step farther than you ever have before. Be the winner that God has instilled in your heart. We can make a difference if we all press toward the mark, persevere and attain the goal. YEAH!!
Did you ever wonder if the suffering you have to do will end? I have thought of that many, many times. Usually, when our family is going through something that’s a health issue, it feels like it will never end. Ditto for the financial problems. Sometimes those are worse than the health problems. Health and money are the hot topics in our extended family almost every time we start talking.
Isn’t it sad that we have to talk about those negative things so much? I hate it but I still find myself doing it anyway. Of course, it does not help when the usual and customary question asked by literally everyone is “Hi, how ya doin’?”, does it? If we are not truthful, we tend to say things like “Good, and you?” or the ever popular “fine”. Sigh. But if we were actually truthful, those folks do not really want to know the real deal. They don’t want you to tell them every little ache and pain you have or what Bessie did to Tommy last night. Uh uh. They only ask that because it’s a habit, not real concern.
Now, God tells us that suffering does happen but it will end. He also makes some really great promises with that. I love those promises because He KEEPS His promises unlike most of the people in our lives. Do you know anyone who has always kept their promises? I try very hard to keep all promises I make..but it does happen when something unavoidable happens and a promise is broken. Rare but it does happen. Only God has the reputation for keeping ALL of His promises. So, isn’t it great that He gives us so many!!!
(1Peter 5:10) But the God of all grace, He calling us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, He will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
You know, most people read this and say “Yeah..and??” but I read it this morning and got a huge zing out of it. First, God says that He has all grace. Wow! Grace means that He gives us a free gift, a grace period to straighten out sort of like an insurance policy. Many policies offer a grace period when you haven’t paid yet but you still have the policy. They do not owe you the coverage but they give it to you whether you have paid them or not. God does not expect payment for your sins. Jesus already paid that price for you on the cross. He only asks that you believe that and receive Jesus into your heart.
In the next phrase of the verse, God says that He is calling us to eternal glory! Awesome. Can you feel the pull of your heart to Jesus? I do. He love us so much that He is continually calling us. Then the verse says “after you have suffered a little”. My translation says “suffered a while”. In either case, there is going to be a certain amount of suffering. It’s how you handle that suffering that tells the tale of your faith. Ouch!! That one can hurt a bit. But take heart. God is there with you during the suffering. You can see your faith grow in such times.
But, God has us on this earth to learn. We are in school and it’s not even kindergarten yet. Sigh. At least for most of us, it isn’t. Some folks have risen to the level of kindergarten and first grade but I’m guessing that would be those faith giants that are walking in the Lord so closely that you almost can no longer see them for the shine of the Lord. I strive to be in that place myself. Do not despair. You can get to that point. It is not just for preachers and pastors. God did not write this scripture just for those who are on the front lines of ministry. God wrote that for everyone!! EVERYONE! Yes, you also.
These promises are a blessing of God. It means that He is constantly watching over us. He is vitally interested in all parts of your life, little things and huge things. Have you ever asked Him which beans to buy at the store? I have. He wants to be in ALL of your life, to guide and to protect. Doesn’t it make sense to allow Him to do that? After all, He is your Creator and the One Who knows the end from the beginning. I would say that those credentials are good enough, wouldn’t you?
There are always questions on the Rapture, aren’t there. We all envision the event differently, I am guessing. Perhaps it will be like the portrayal in Left Behind with the people simply vanishing with clothes in a pile. Maybe it will be like another such movie that had the clothes neatly folded. However, it happens, it will happen.
Now, the thing is that I am not going to tell you WHEN the rapture is coming. Even Jesus did not know that fact. Only God knows this so I will not insult you by telling you times and dates. But, we are told in the scriptures that you can recognize the times and seasons. This we can do and should do as Christians. Guess what? The time is now. We are in the season of the Lord.
Too many things that are happening in the world point to the soon return of Jesus. Okay, is this going to happen like it’s been portrayed? People vanish and accidents happen? Shock takes over the world, then the bad guys? Is it going to be suddenly happening or quietly done? I can guess but that’s all it would be, based on what I have read in the Word of God. Perhaps it would be wise to read the books of Ezekiel, Daniel and the book of Revelation. “Oh, but I can’t understand the book of Revelation. Nothing seems to be real there.” Really.
Well, I can give you a way to deal with that. Please read the other books of God’s Word. By the time you get back to the book of Revelation (NOT revelations with an “s”), you will have a better understanding of how God speaks and it will become somewhat clearer. I say “somewhat” because it is unlikely that we will receive the full picture simply by reading. It will also take prayer and some time visiting with God each day. He is the owner of the Book and can tell you exactly what it says, word for word.
Spending time with the Lord will give you such insight that it will not worry you again about the times and seasons. You will have a need to get excited about His soon return. I used to pray that He not show up too soon because I had not been doing all that I should be for Him. Uh uh. That prayer does not work. We are expected to do our jobs for the Lord. However much you do is based on your faith and how excited you are to help witness. (My level of excitement had not been too high then.)
Anyway, I did promise you a video in the title of this post. So, here is a little something that says The Rapture as the title. Now, I can tell you here that I do not endorse this as THE way the rapture will happen, just a possibility. Check it out and then give me your thoughts and comments. (Comments are currently moderated because of spammers and people with nasty thoughts)
As Christians, we are aware that we need to be forgiven to have Jesus come into our hearts. It’s a simple process. You ask Jesus to forgive your sins and ask Him into your heart. That’s it. Simple. Well, not that simple but it is not a complicated process by any means. God made it simple so that we can understand the whole plan. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He took our place. We ask Him to forgive us and we are then forgiven. Step by step, we are able to go from sin to clean.
But what about something that we are holding against someone else? What happens then? The process needs to be just as simple. Someone hurts us and we must forgive them. Again, a simple thing. But is it? Not really. There are some things that are easy to forgive. Others are not that easy. Some things are just blown off. Others, I have agonized over for days or weeks at a time. But there is a bottom line.
(Mark 11:2526) And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive it so that also your Father in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses.
Did you catch that? If you WILL NOT forgive someone, then God WILL NOT forgive you. That’s a huge problem. I want to hold something against someone but I do not want to live in unforgiveness. Therefore, I must let go of the unforgiveness toward that other person so that I can live in the freedom of forgiveness myself. Sometimes, that’s a problem, I admit.
Don’t you just want to hang onto that unforgiveness just a little longer? Sort of let them hang there in the breeze for everyone to see their sins? Yes, that sounds like a good idea…until God gets a hold of that idea. Then it isn’t so hot since God says that only HE has the right to repay with vengeance.
(Romans 12:1819) If it is possible, as far as is in you, being in peace with all men, not avenging yourselves, beloved, but giving place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Oh oh. This is a problem. I am not going to be forgiven if I keep wanting to hold something against someone else. Not only that but it’s God’s job to deal with vengeance, not mine. The answer is that I have to forgive that person who did something to me or my loved one. I do have a choice but that choice will lead to my walk with the Lord being damaged. I will not risk that!!!
I do have one question here. If you hold onto the unforgiveness, does that hurt that other person or you? Actually, it does nothing to that other person spiritually at all. You cannot control their standing with the Lord Jesus. That is between them and Jesus and has nothing at all to do with you regardless of your feelings about it.
What does hurt is your unforgiveness. It hurts YOU! Your standing with God is damaged until you deal with it for yourself. Is that thing they did SO UNFORGIVABLE that you cannot let go of it? Then God cannot forgive you until you deal with it. Now, is your spiritual wholeness or lack of it worth that to you? Because if you can live in the lack of forgiveness, fine. If you cannot, then you must change how you think about it and deal with it quickly.
So, if you have anything against anyone, please consider that it is actually damaging your time with the Lord, not the other person’s standing with Him. All it takes is going to Jesus and tell Him what you have done. He already knows but it is vital that you confess this sin to Him and ask forgiveness that He will be glad to give. That was the reason for Him dying on the cross..for You!! See, Jesus would have died there just for you even if you were the only sinner on the planet. Now, I find that to be awesome!!! Seek God today. Oh yes, go to the one you have something against and forgive them. Is forgiveness an option? Absolutely NOT!
Silly question, right? No, not at all. I have had that question run through my mind at times. The reason that particular one keeps coming back to me is that there were times when I thought that God is too busy to answer such trivial questions…like how many packages of beans do I buy this time? I always thought that God did not need to answer things like that. He did not have to be in that part of my life because it was so trivial. Just a tiny little thing.
Our God is an awesome God. Thing is, He wants to be in ALL parts of our lives, even the tiny things that we do not think twice about. But is it important that He be part of my grocery buying? Yes! Why? Because if He is not in the little parts of your life, you will not trust Him for the big things in your life. Do you see this?
(James 1:5-6) But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and with no reproach, and it shall be given to him. But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
God is not that Sugar Daddy person who is only there when you snap your fingers. He is not on vacation until you need some catastrophe to be fixed. And then, He is not just there for the small things either. His interest is in virtually all areas of your life, not to take over but to be invited to teach you how to live for Him. If your eyes are on the Lord, they are not on the problems. But you will never completely trust Him if you will not allow Him into the small things in your life.
(1Peter 5:6-7) Therefore be humbled under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your anxiety onto Him, for He cares for you.
I discovered that it was an amazing thing to bring the Lord to the grocery store. Now that sounds goofy and crazy but it is absolutely true. There was a time when each penny was needed. I had no wiggle room with the grocery list and budget. It was totally necessary to watch every penny and dime going out because I never knew when the prices might go up and I would have to put something else back. Too many times, I ended up at the checkout having the cashier take off items until it registered only the amount of money I had after taxes, of course. It was embarrassing, to say the least.
Then God stepped into the small things in my life. What a difference that made. I actually got guidance on how to shop, when and for how much. My grocery bills never went past the amount of money I had. I got more for the money I had on me. And I wasn’t embarrassed anymore. What happened? God. I asked questions. I wanted to trust Him for the guidance to buy sensibly and responsibly. It did work. It worked because I trusted Him.
How about you? Do you trust God for the big things, the little things or only those things that you just have to have Him in? Is He part of those small things? If not, please consider allowing Him into that part of your life. I have to admit that, at first, I felt a tad foolish asking God for help in a decision about canned soup. And it was really bad when someone caught me talking “to myself” in the store. But after a while, I no longer cared about appearances and worked on getting the help I needed. What a blessing. Try it and see what happens.
I have been battling weight and food problems for most of my adult years. At times, I gave in to the temptations because it just seemed to be too much of a struggle. You know how. I ate that piece of cake or the snacks that I knew were bad for me but…”just this once won’t hurt.” For years, I lived by that standard. Just once won’t hurt. Do you have any idea how many “just onces” there are in the world? Too many.
Of course, there were those times that I was totally into the battle and won victories. The problem was much like a war though. The armies gather in their places. They plot to find the way to victory by working on strategies for the battles. Sometimes they met on the battlefield and the good army won! They pushed back the bad guys with victory after victory taking hills and towns back.
At other times, while the good guys rested, the bad guys would take over places that weren’t watched. The difficulty is that battles can be won and still lose the war. The war isn’t over for those with weight and food problems until they have died. So, the battles continue to rage. You cannot afford, nor can I, to allow the bad guys the advantage. I do allow that and that’s not good.
God gives us the promise that if we endure the temptations, we will be rewarded. That reward can seem pretty far away sometimes but it is worth the effort.
(James 1:12) Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because having been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
So today, I am going to push the temptations aside and deal with my weight, food and temptation problems through my Lord Who strengthens me!!! With God in front of me, behind me, beside me and, more importantly, inside me, I can do this one day at a time!
