Bruised

       Most of the time I can find at least five to ten bruises on my body, typically on my legs.  Don’t know how I get them, probably carelessness (I rush around a lot)- or I’m just forgetting what I hit- but they are usually small.  For me, the colouring of my bruises go from yellowish green to purple in a couple days then back to yellowish green.

       A few days after the car accident in which I hit my head on the left eyebrow, my left top eyelid was bruised and puffy, not too horribly though.  It kind of reminded me of an old picture I have of me with two black eyes (bruised) from jumping out of my crib.  Oops!  Bruises are interesting things.  Some kind of trauma (contusion) happens to the body and it responds by breaking blood vessels under the skin. 

       There are very few people on this planet that haven’t been through some kind of trauma, and those personal traumas leave marks in our lives that don’t always go away as fast as a bruise.  Sometimes the bruising of our souls is so profound that it leaves a huge mark that everyone around us can see.  What do we do with our bruised and life battered lives?  We need to bring them to Jesus!

(about Jesus: Mt. 3:17; 12:18) A bruised reed He shall not break, and a smoking wick He shall not quench; He shall bring out judgment to truth. Is. 42:3 (also Mt. 12:20)

But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised* for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed. Is. 53:5

       There is hope for our bruised and battered lives, and that hope is found in Jesus.  Hope in man is futile for man is bound to disappoint us (as we do others).  Hope in this life/ world will let us down almost every time.  But Jesus is always here for us (Mt. 28:20) even when times get tough (Is. 43:2).  Jesus will not fail us (Dt. 31;8) and every word will come to pass (Is. 55:11).  He has already paid the ultimate price for our healing- death on the cross.  He came for us, He lived for us, He died for us, He rose again that we might have new life.  In His words:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 

because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; 

he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, 

to preach deliverance to the captives, 

and recovering of sight to the blind, 

to set at liberty them that are bruised, 

                     Lk. 4:18 KJV

Praise You Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords!!!

 *bruised: crushed, shattered, beat/ broken to pieces, destroyed, humbled, oppressed, smitten

Couple days

Hi Everyone,

Due to health reasons I need a couple days off, and will return on Saturday with a post.
Thank you for understanding and continuing to come back for more.

Vicky

Who Is God?

       It’s always good to learn new things.  Learning to tie my shoes made me feel like a big girl, learning to ride a bike gave me a sense of freedom, learning to drive taught me responsibility, and book learning taught me all kinds of interesting things- whether or not they were true.  Though I have read the Bible for many years and done studies on many parts, tonight I learned that after reading a passage you should ask yourself one basic first question.  Who is God? (from that passage)

       I’m not going to copy the entire first chapter of Genesis, but most of us know enough by heart to answer this question based on that passage.  “In the beginning God...” (v.1) speaks to God’s eternal nature.  God and the Spirit were there thus it seems there is more than one that make God (v.2 also “us” v.26).  God created much out of nothing- by speaking, therefore He is powerful.  God knew what needed to come before what so He is wise and logical.  God created many different things therefore He is creative and imaginative.  God provided what man needed so He is our provider (food, light, water) and practical.

       God loves pleasant, beautiful and good things (v.4,10,12,18,21,25,31).  God made the sun, moon and stars to govern our days (v.16) so we could have a semblance of order so He is not a chaotic but structured God.  God has a sense of humour- just think of all the funny creatures He made!  (Okay, that one's implied!)  He is a God of blessing (v.22,28).  Since all life comes from Him, He is dynamic.  There was a lot entailed in the 6 days of work so He is hard working and productive.  There are many things that can be learned about God, but it helps to take a verse by verse look and eek out every morsel.

Let’s consider that partial list again:

            -eternal

            -more than one make God

            -powerful

            -wise

            -logical

            -creative

            -imaginative

            -provider

            -practical

            -enjoys pleasant, beautiful, good

            -structured

            -funny

            -God of blessing

            -dynamic

            -hardworking and productive

       What a lot to learn- and not even a complete list…  From now on, I’m going to pay attention to what every passage I read is telling me about My God, My Love.  He wants us to know Him, and I want to know Him as well as possible (Php. 3:10; Jh. 17:3; 2Pt. 3:18).  “…do not let the rich glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me…” (Jr. 9:23,24)

And He has made all nations of men of one blood to dwell on all the face of the earth, ordaining fore-appointed seasons and boundaries of their dwelling, to seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him, though indeed He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also certain of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring. Ac. 17:26-28

The Way of Adam

       Eve (with Adam) walked in the garden and having been lured by the devil

into the idea she could be as wise as God, Eve took of the fruit of the tree of good and evil and gave to Adam who then ate (Gn. 3:6).  And thus sin entered into the world.  Now, before we go all judgmental on Adam and Eve, we need to realize we would have done the same thing for all have sinned (Rm. 3:23) and none are righteous (Rm. 3:10).  Unfortunately there were grave repercussions to their choice that day…

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses… Rm. 5:12,14 (all ESV)

For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Rm. 5:19

so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rm. 5:21

       Adam was the first human created (Eve was created from him Gn. 2:21,22) thus (imo) he was held responsible by God for the fall.  He was there when she took the fruit but the Bible never records him trying to stop her- only receiving and eating the fruit (Gn. 3:6).  So sin came into the world through one man- Adam, and death entered through sin, so it was spread to all humankind as Adam was our progenitor, and death continued to reign over us.

       Just as one man’s disobedience caused us all to be sinners, so Jesus’ obedience (Jh. 5:19; Jh. 4:34; Lk. 22:42) can make us righteous-  and so though sin reigns in death, grace reigns in righteousness which leads to eternal life through Jesus Christ.  That means death might take our bodies, but it no longer has dominion over us.  We have available eternal life, pure, perfect, peaceful eternal life with our Creator in harmony and joy unending (Ps. 16:11).  Our bodies will not fail, we will feel no pain or sorrow, we will not become sick or diseased, there will be no missing body parts, no shaking hands, and no memory loss (1Pt. 1:4; Rv. 21:4; Rv. 22:3).

And no more death!  (Rv. 20:14; Lk. 20:36; Rv. 21:4)

We all have a choice before us:  the way of Adam or the way of Jesus.

To choose the way of Adam is to choose hell for eternity.

To choose the way of Jesus is to choose life eternal with Him.

It’s our choice.

I choose Jesus!

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Jh. 5:24

I Want to Run

       Lately it feels like I’m a baby again, having to take little baby steps of faith.  I do not really like it because what I really want to do is run- far and fast.  Get ‘er done.  Instead, I am learning how to walk by faith in a different way then I’m used to.  Of course, I know it’s the right thing to do as my actions still expose my spiritual immaturity to me.  If I were to run, I’d be falling all over, unable to see clearly the direction to go, wasting time, not discerning God’s will properly…  In other words, I’d make a big mess of things because I’m too impatient to wait.

       And God is right to make me wait.  Rather than do what I knew I should today, I wasted a few hours on a computer game that in the end got me nowhere in the kingdom of God.  It wasn’t what He wanted, and it really wasn’t what I wanted, but I was acting all spoiled at the lack of downtime I’ve had lately, so like a petulant child I ignored what I should and even wanted to do.  Now I just feel cranky.  Why do I do this to myself?

       My behaviour makes me think God chose the wrong person, but then I remember He doesn’t make mistakes.  I’m trying to keep in mind this is all training ground- me learning to walk in a new way of faith a little at a time, like I’ve never walked before.  It’s kind of scary ‘cause I don’t want to fall down and hurt myself, physically, mentally or embarrassingly.  And it’s also a little scary when you don’t see everything ahead of you.  It’s probably because I’d run if I did.

       I mean, if I had seen the horrible trials I would endure ahead of time, I would have run hard and fast the opposite way, yet in the end I am extremely grateful the Lord allowed me to go through them because they changed me, strengthened me, helped my understand the Lord, myself and the world more.  So here I am in this wonderful place with the Creator of the Universe, amazed everyday at how life has become so exciting.  Each day I wake up wondering what great things He has in store for me today.

       It is late and I need to go to bed. Here's the rest of my thoughts.

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. 1Pt. 5:10

And not only this, but we glory in afflictions also, knowing that afflictions work out patience, and patience works out experience, and experience works out hope. Rm. 5:3,4

Thank You Lord for each and every experience You gave me in the past and the ones I am in now.

 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 2Cr. 5:7 –faith in God and His Word, not by what we see.

Help me to trust You more completely so that I may do Your will as often as humanly possible without running ahead of You.  Thank You for continuing to work with me and for Your great patience with me.  Keep teaching me the things I need to know to do the work You have called me to do.

You are AWESOME God!