“Let’s #start at the very #beginning, a very #good place to start!” quoting from one of my favorite musicals – Sound of Music. These words were referring to learning music by learning the basics. As I observe our current society, I see people who think they know it all without instruction or study. They certainly are not interested in the past. Most have no clue of history and could care less about those who have gone before them. I am here to proclaim that GOD WAS.. What does that mean? The Bible’s first words in Genesis l:l “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (a very good place to start) Now if we actually read His Word, we see He was before all. It is too magnificent for my finite mind to fathom. Yet God reiterates this from Genesis to Revelations 1:8 “I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, which is and WHICH WAS, and which is to come, the ALMIGHTY. 17.FEAR NOT; I AM the FIRST and the LAST; I AM HE THAT LIVES, and was dead; behold, I AM ALIVE FOREVERMORE.” My prayer for you today is that you will start at the very beginning – a very good place to start – reverently accepting GOD ALMIGHTY.
Author: Barbara Jones
The LIVING GOD #INDIGNATION
Do you read the #Bible or is your #information limited to #internet #headers? #Fear and #terror are #satan’s way of robbing God’s message of His sacrificial #Love for each one of us. Breaking News… God is Greater and He Wins!!! GOD’S INDIGNATION will be seen. Webster defines INDIGNATION as ANGER excited by that which is unworthy, base, or disgraceful; RIGHTEOUS WRATH. You say, ‘where do you find that it the Bible?’ I read it in Isaiah 66:13-15 “LORD said…As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward His servants, and HIS INDIGNATION toward his enemies. LORD will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. 18. For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My Glory.” “Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites… but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15
The LIVING GOD #FINISHER
Are you a #football #fan? Having been raised in #Texas, I was taken as a child to football #games with my #father no matter the weather while he explained the plays and players to me as only an former quarterback could. (You see way back then there was no television) He emphasized the importance of skill, but the ability to persevere through set backs by overcoming determination to finish the game a winner! I see many football games on TV today that start out good, but they cannot endure the rigors to finish the way they started. Those football insights my father gave me long ago actually applied to my outlook on life in school, work, relationships, and with the Lord. As I read God’s Word, I see that GOD IS THE FINISHER. “Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto JESUS the author and FINISHER of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of GOD.”
WHAT KIND OF A GAME ARE YOU PLAYING WITH GOD?
The LIVING GOD #PLEADS
When my precocious five year old granddaughter, Rebecca, heard #Woe, Woe, Woe from her grandfather’s sermon, she wanted to hear that again. That was many moons ago, so this is for you babe! God’s Word straight from Isaiah speaks to us today as well as yesteryear.
“THE LORD STANDS UP TO PLEAD AND TO JUDGE THE PEOPLE” Is.3:13
“WOE to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Is.5:20
“WOE to them that decree unrighteous decrees and write grievousness which they have prescribed” Is.10:1
“WOE unto them which declare innocent the wicked for bribes, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him:” Is.5:23
“WOE to the rebellious children, said the LORD, that take cousel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin.” Is.30:1
“The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, said my GOD, to the wicked.” Is.57:20,21
With each passing day, I see these words come alive with every newscast, but do not despair – God made a way for us, if we choose Him over our prideful ways.
“GOD is my SALVATION, I WILL TRUST, and NOT BE AFRAID; for the LORD JEHOVAH is MY STRENGTH and MY SONG; He also is MY SALVATION.” Is.12:2
The LIVING GOD #LOVES
“The #good, the #bad, the #ugly, the #lovely” – all are His children – created in His Image! How can I ever understand the depth of God’s love for us that He would lay down His own life to pay for our sinful acts of defiance toward Him; in other words, taking our punishment to set us free..What love..1John3 “Behold, what manner of LOVE the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of GOD:” 7.”Let no man deceive you; one that does righteousness is righteous, even as Christ is. He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1John4 ” Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God..GOD IS LOVE; and he who dwells in love dwells in God and God in him. Our love is made perfect in Him, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; for perfect LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR.”. . 3. “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:….. he that knows God hears and knows the spirit of truth from the spirit of error…let us LOVE ONE ANOTHER; FOR LOVE IS OF GOD...He that does not love does not know God; for GOD IS LOVE”
The LIVING GOD #CLEANSES
#House #cleaning is a necessity for #healthy living. With all the sneezing happening this fall season, I just used rubbing alcohol to clean every door handle, switch plate, keyboard, and remote in my house. (Lasts for a short time -then do it all over again) My husband always said, “There she goes again ‘germs and Jesus’. Some people try to blot out their stainful sins with alcohol – drugs – tattoos, high thrills, but there is only one permanent solution. While reading 1 John 1, the Word of God became so clear about His Powerful Cleansing Blood that is Everlasting! “If we say that we have (no stain) not sinned, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to CLEANSE US from all unrighteousness….the BLOOD of JESUS CHRIST GOD’S SON CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN.” There is eternal cleansing power through the sacrificial blood of God’s Son Jesus Christ who died to remove our sins so He can present us before His Perfect Father, and we cannot cleanse ourselves. However, we have to ask HIM to cleanse us for our loving Father leaves the choice to each one of us. I recommend the permanent cleanser, the BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST.
The LIVING GOD #CHASTENS
How does God’s #LOVE correspond to His CHASTENING? Chasten is defined by Webster as correcting by punishment; discipline – to purify or refine by freeing from faults. Psalm 94:12 “Blessed is the man whom Thou dost CHASTEN, O LORD, and teaches him out of Thy law” I think Hebrews 12 gives us additional understanding on perfect love. “do not regard lightly the discipline of the LORD nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE CHASTENS, AND SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES. We had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they chasten us for a short as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good that we may share His holiness. Now no CHASTENING for the present seems to be joyous, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, will it yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” Isaiah 53 tells us of the Father’s chastisement of our sins covered by His son, Jesus’s perfect love. “He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we ourselves esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the CHASTISEMENT for our well being fell upon Him and by His scourging we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” What does Revelation 3 say to us? “As many as I LOVE, I REBUKE AND CHASTEN; be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me. To him that overcomes will I grant to him to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne.”
The LIVING GOD #HOUSE
House of #Horrors seems to be the thrill for the young and old this October. What do you experience within it’s walls? – #Fright -#Fear -#Death -#Mutilation -#Screams! You pay money for that? What a contrast between the house of horrors and the HOUSE OF GOD…. -Peace -Joy -Life -Love -Singing – Any place where GOD manifests His presence is the HOUSE OF GOD . Gen.28:16,17 From a lonely dark night with a stone for a pillow, “Jacob said, surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not… How awesome, this is none other but the HOUSE OF GOD, and the gate of heaven.” Where are you today? Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE are many dwelling places: if it were not so, I would have told you: for I go to prepare a place for YOU. . .I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am there you may be also…..I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” John 14:1-6 Are you living in a house of horrors? Turn away and choose the House of God. “”For the time is come that judgment must begin at the HOUSE OF GOD: and if it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of GOD?”” 1Peter 4:17