Monday’s Life In Him–Hope

Happy Monday Everyone! Who wants to join in “Monday's Life In Him”? It’s easy… Just grab this button below & post it somewhere either on your blog post or on your main page. Then… Write a post about HIM (Jesus) Sometimes I just post a verse, sometimes I share a short story or sometimes I write a short study.Either way… Let’s spread His Word and His Love! <a border="0" href="http://wedonthaveitalltogether.blogspot.com/search/label/Life%20In%20%27Him%27" target="_blank"><img src="http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab13/jacquiblogger/danielle/buttonlifeinhim1.jpg" width="125" height="125" /> </a>

^{Here is what I have for today:}

^{More random thoughts…}

^{If you are a reader here, you know that I have been standing some trials lately… and I thank GOD for my friends that have kept me going. I sometimes feel at the very end of my rope until I open my email and get an encouraging message from you readers.}

^{I thank you all for that.}

^{Today I am going to share a few of these encouraging messages from the last few days that have really helped me.}

^{This morning I read from Katie @ On The Banks of Squaw Creek said,}

“Things don't always turn out the way WE think they are supposed to, but God has a plan for us, right?”

RIGHT. And I keep telling myself this. Maybe the house that ***WE*** really wanted was not as perfect as ***WE*** thought it would be. I don’t know how that is possible, but God does. I will trust that God has a better plan for us.

Jazmin from Happily Ever After told me to rebuke the devil from my home… WHY didn’t I think of this?!? Most of the time I am aware of this, but I have been so overwhelmed lately – it just slipped my mind. Thanks for the reminder that,

“greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world”

And then there is my bloggy friend Janet from Homeward Bound… I can’t say enough good things about Janet. She has really helped me lately. She is full of wisdom that I hope to have one day. Her emails I have kept in my inbox and I open her emails numerous times throughout the day to read the verses she has sent me. She even wrote about me here and titled it “Hope”. She used Romans 5:3,

“Rejoice in your suffering, suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character hope”

Here are some other verses Janet has sent me over the past week:

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Psalm 35:27-28
Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication;
And let them say continually, "The LORD be magnified,
Who delights in the prosperity of His servant."
And my tongue shall declare Your righteousness
And Your praise all day long.

Psalm 5:12
For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

Psalm 84:8-12

⁸O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
         Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.
⁹Behold our shield, O God,
         And look upon the face of Your anointed.
¹⁰For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.
         I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God
         Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
¹¹For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
         The LORD gives grace and glory;
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
¹²O LORD of hosts,
         How blessed is the man who trusts in You!

And probably more of what I need to hear:

1 Tim 6:17
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

 
3 John 2
Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

These are important for me to realize that as long as I have my family, our health, a roof over our head and food on the table… we are beyond blessed!

Thank you Janet. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. You have helped me more than you know this past week.

And thanks to all others who have sent me encouragement this past week. You know who you are and I appreciate you all!

Much Love,

Jehovah-Jireh = The Lord Will Provide

I turned this post into “Glimpses of  God” Go check it out  & link up :)

I think everyone in the world recognizes Psalm 23. Maybe not by title – but by the words, “The Lord Is My Sheppard, I Shall Not Want.”

This morning I heard something that really touched me, so I want to share. I hope it touches you.

There is a lot of struggling going on lately. Too much struggling. It seems too much for one person to bear. Financial struggles, relationship struggles, health struggles and struggles with battles within our own personal walk with God. People I know have lost loved ones recently. So much seems to be going on.

I heard a description this morning that I really want to share. I hope it is comforting to someone who needs to hear this right now.

 First of all, read:

Psalm 23

¹ The Lord is my shepherd;
       I have everything I need.
² He lets me rest in green pastures.
       He leads me to calm water.
³ He gives me new strength.
    He leads me on paths that are right
       for the good of his name.
⁴ Even if I walk through a very dark valley,
       I will not be afraid,
    because you are with me.
       Your rod and your shepherd's staff comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a meal for me
       in front of my enemies.
    You pour oil of blessing on my head;^[a]
       you fill my cup to overflowing.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will be with me
       all my life,
    and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

Now lets look at vs.. 3 that says, “He leads me on paths that are right for the good of his name”

“He leads me on paths” – the shepherd leads his lamb on this path that is ‘right’. 

We have all probably seen pictures of Jesus with a staff like this:

{Notice the lamb on his shoulder?}

Here is a Jewish illustration:

The shepherd leads his lamb on this path that is ‘right’. 

At times the lamb will wander away from the appointed path. Sometimes he becomes tangled in the briars of the rocky byway. Being unable to free himself, he calls out for his shepherd and begins to bleat (baahh, baahh). Very soon the shepherd comes and retrieves the lamb from the midst of the thorns, briars, and rocky defiles. The shepherd extends his staff and uses the crook to pull the little lamb back onto the path of safety. If the little lamb were to remain there, he would be devoured by a wolf of other wild animal.

Too often, the same lamb again leaves the appointed path and finds himself in an area that will lock him in. Every time when he cries out, the shepherd comes and retrieves the little one with his shepherds staff. If the lamb refuses to stay on the appointed path, the final alternative is the following: 

The lamb again leaves the appointed path, and as usual,  finds himself in difficult straits.  As before, he begins to cry out for the shepherd to come; however at this stage, the shepherd must teach the little lamb a lesson. So the good shepherd does not come immediately when the lamb begins to to call. Finally, the little voice grows hoarse from bleating and it is forced to stop crying out  altogether. At long last, the shepherd does finally come. As before the shepherd removes the wayward lamb, but now he does something different….

The shepherd takes the same staff, by which he reached down into the rocky crevice and retrieved the wayward one. He pulls out one of the lambs forelegs and cracks it sharply with the staff,  which instantly breaks the leg. Then the shepherd carefully sets the leg, and lays the lamb on  his shoulder, close to his heart. He carries it until the wound is healed. Then when he puts the lamb back down on the paths  of righteousness it no longer desires to go astray.

This is called chastising the one he loves.

Hebrews 12:5-11 (New Century Version)

⁵ You have forgotten the encouraging words that call you his children:
    "My child, don't think the Lord's discipline is worth nothing,
       and don't stop trying when he corrects you.
⁶ The Lord disciplines those he loves,
       and he punishes everyone he accepts as his child." — Proverbs 3:11–12

⁷ So hold on through your sufferings, because they are like a father's discipline. God is treating you as children. All children are disciplined by their fathers. ⁸ If you are never disciplined (and every child must be disciplined), you are not true children.⁹ We have all had fathers here on earth who disciplined us, and we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from the Father of our spirits so we will have life.¹⁰ Our fathers on earth disciplined us for a short time in the way they thought was best. But God disciplines us to help us, so we can become holy as he is. ¹¹ We do not enjoy being disciplined. It is painful at the time, but later, after we have learned from it, we have peace, because we start living in the right way.

This is how much He loves us! One thing we need to understand is Jesus is our shepherd. All we have to do is follow Him. He will never leave you. You can leave Him… but He will never leave you!

Hebrews 13:20 (New Century Version)

^20-21 I pray that the God of peace will give you every good thing you need so you can do what he wants. God raised from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, because of the blood of his death. His blood began the eternal agreement that God made with his people. I pray that God will do in us what pleases him, through Jesus Christ, and to him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Sometimes God has no choice to let us fall down to our lowest level. So low that we have no possible hope left… and the ONLY thing left to do is finally call out on Jesus! How many times have we hit rock bottom?

How many times have we hit rock bottom… and finally given up & said, “Ok Lord. I have tried everything I know to do. Now I need your help. I give up!”

Now  read Psalm 23 over again:

¹ The Lord is my shepherd;
       I have everything I need.
² He lets me rest in green pastures.
       He leads me to calm water.
³ He gives me new strength.
    He leads me on paths that are right
       for the good of his name.
⁴ Even if I walk through a very dark valley,
       I will not be afraid,
    because you are with me.
       Your rod and your shepherd's staff comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a meal for me
       in front of my enemies.
    You pour oil of blessing on my head;^[a]
       you fill my cup to overflowing.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will be with me
       all my life,
    and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

This is comforting to know, isn’t it?!? 

We have everything we need if we are ‘In Christ’. He gives us strength.

We do not have to fear when we are walking through dark times because He is with us!

When we are struggling with things in our life, look up to Him and know that He is right along side of you waiting for you to call upon His name! 

His staff is outstretched and all we have to do is grab on to it.

Take that first step of faith & reach out to Him. He is waiting for you.

Jehovah-Roi = The Lord is my shepherd

Jehovah-Jireh = The Lord will provide

Jehovah-Shalom = The Lord our peace

Do you have peace today, knowing that Jesus will provide for you, because He is your shepherd and you are His lamb?

Read more on Battles, Trials and Faith… or what it means to be "In Christ"

{in}courage

I recently started reading a ‘blog’ (more like a ‘site’) called "(in)courage". I have not read much of the site since I am new - but what I have read,  I do like. It is ‘encouraging’. I signed up to have new posts come directly to my email. This morning I received my first post. It was called "Putting a Bullet Through His Phone". (Don’t read just yet…finish reading THIS first!) It was basically about struggles in life & ‘how bad’ do you really want to ‘give it up’?  I do really agree with what is said –however- they left out one ingredient.

One.Very.Important.Ingredient: Jesus. Actually the MAIN ingredient is Jesus… He is not just one of the ingredients. He is like the flour in bread. Without it you don’t have bread. Without Jesus you have no relief from your struggles, no freedom & no peace. Without Jesus you can never really be free. You may have times, even a very long period of time where you think you are winning over your battle. However, you will never really be free from it without HIM. 

There is nothing WE can DO to make this happen. It happens by FAITH in His work on the cross. Keep that in mind when reading this post from “(in)courage”. Our ‘works’ will not give us the true victory over our battles. FAITH in JESUS WILL give us victory over these battles! The Holy Spirit will not work properly if we are functioning by works and not by faith. The Holy Spirit works by faith alone.

Without Jesus and what He did for us on His cross – we can never have true victory from our struggles & we will never be fully FREE. We need to place our faith in His finished work on the cross. He died not just for our eternal life.  His death on the cross broke that ‘sin nature’ we were born with.

The ‘sin nature’ is still IN us…

~BUT~

Once we get saved, the ‘sin nature’ is no longer controlling us! We are dead to it!

It is like a lamp plugged into the wall socket. The electricity lighting the lamp gets TURNED OFF when the plug is unplugged! There is still electricity in the wall socket – but it can not reach the lamp to light it unless the lamp is plugged in. We are unplugged from the  ‘sin nature’ when we get saved!

How awesome is HE! He did this for us!

God’s Holy Spirit will work great wonders in our life as long as we have our faith placed in the correct object. The Cross of Christ. No not just the wooden beam… but what He did on the cross! He broke the power of the ‘sin nature’! Have faith in this finished work & the Holy Spirit will work in your life to give you a helping hand!

So now. Go read the post from (in)courage called, "Putting a Bullet Through His Phone".

It is an encouraging read. And it makes sense.

Just don’t forget the most important ingredient: JESUS and His finished work on the cross!

Ok. Now go read!

Battles/struggles & the "sin nature"

When Adam and Eve 'fell' they fell from the level of total God-consciousness ... down to the lower level of sin-consciousness. They were then controlled by the "sin nature". And then the entire human race became one of sin. Every single unredeemed person is controlled by the sin nature. No matter how you want to argue this fact - it is a FACT that the unsaved are ruled by the sin nature. US before we got saved were also ruled by the sin nature. The sin nature has POWER OVER us if we are unsaved. Our own WILL POWER is not strong enough to fight the sin nature. We may win at times. But ultimatly the sin nature has complete dominion over us. From the minute a baby is born the sin nature is in control. Do you need to teach a child how to lie? No. If you put two infants in a crib together along with one bottle... what happens? They fight over it. THIS is the SIN NATURE. (Eph. 2:1-3) Born in original sin, mankind is controlled by the sin nature, which is the cause of all war, strife, and man's inhumanity to man.

So how does a Christian STOP SINNING? If you take a poll and ask, "How do you stop sinning?" (I will use some big examples here: alcohol, drugs, sex, cheating, gossiping) - The answer you get will probably be the WRONG ANSWER! This saddens me. It is sad and depressing to battle something in your Christian life. It is sad and difficult to see someone else battle something in their Christian life when you don't know how to help.  If you have ever battled something in your walk that is similar to an addiction - then you have probably wondered the same thing: "HOW DO I STOP DOING THIS THING THAT I REALLY DON'T WANT TO DO...but I can't help but DO?" This answer can be found in Romans chpt. 6 & 7.  However the answer you will get from most ministers, teachers, fellow brothers & sisters in Christ... "DO" something. Read your bible more. Pray more. Stay away from the things that may lead you to be tempted to sin. Go to the preacher and have him lay hands on you. Stand in the prayer line. All these things are wonderful things to do in your Christian life, but they are not the answer to your struggles. My personal favorite...GIVE IT TO GOD! My answer to that one...HOW?!?!? Have you ever had a battle and sat there and talked to God and said, "Ok God - take this battle from me. I am giving it to you." How has that worked for ya? You have probably slipped to the battle not long after you asked God to take it from you, right? The reason that will not work is this: The believer who talks to God and says, "Take this from me"...is NOT putting his faith in the right area.

Unfortunatly this stuggle with the sin nature happens more to the believers who are the most consecrated. They love the Lord and to fail the Lord is a burden almost too heaye to bear. This make a Christian - a MISERABLE Christian. Not understanding how and where to get the victory, they are constantly failing the Lord. These people are lead to believe that the Christian experience is a daily struggle. IF a Christian is struggling with sin then he is fighting a battle which he can not win. Christians are to "Fight the good fight of faith" (1Tim. 6:12) but that should be the extent of our stuggle. Scripture says: "But this Man (Jesus), after He had offered one sacrafice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from hence forth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering, He has perfected forever them who are sanctified" (Heb. 13:20) In other words: Our Lord totally and completely defeated sin at the Cross of Calvary. His sacrifice of Himself was so perfect, so total, so complete, and so finla that it will never have to be repeated. Paul refers to this at "The everlasting convenant" in Heb. 13:20.

THE  ANSWER...
When a believing sinner comes to Christ, the sin nature is then made absolutely dormant. The sin nature has NO HOLD on the person anymore. The sin nature has NO CONTROL over the person anymore. The chains of sin fall off. The only way for this to happen is for the believer to register his faith totally and completely in Christ and the cross - and then MAINTAIN that faith. FAITH that when Jesus died on the cross and rose 3 days later... HE BROKE THE DOMINION that the sin nature HAD on us!! THIS IS WHERE OUR FAITH MUST BE!!! JESUS and the CROSS!!!! Jesus did so much more than just die on the cross!!! HE BROKE the POWER of the sin nature when He died!!! So the only answer to our sin 'battle' = Jesus and Him crucified!!!! FAITH in what HE DID on the cross!!! "FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH" (1Tim 6:12) We don't have to fight the sin nature - JESUS ALREADY DID!!!! That is exciting!! !!! There is NOTHING we can 'DO' except have FAITH in Jesus and His FINISHED WORK on THE CROSS

Here is a little formula regarding the sin nature and victory:
FOCUS:  The Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 14:6)
OBJECT OF FAITH:  The Cross Of Christ (Rom. 6:3-5)
POWER SOURCE:  The Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:1-2, 11)
RESULTS:  VICTORY!! (Rom. 6:14; Gal. 2:20)

Now - this is the formula that most Christians will tell you to use:
FOCUS: Works (Rom. 4:2)
OBJECT OF FAITH: Performance - try harder (Gal. 2:21)
POWER SOURCE: Self (Gal. 5:2)
RESULTS:  FAILURE! (Gal. 5:4)

WANT HELP FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT?
 IF a believer continues to place his faith in Jesus & His finished work at the cross, then the Holy Spirit will work mightily in the heart and life of such a believer, bringing about righteousness, holiness, Christlikeness, and the Fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit can not work any other way. The Holy Spirit is the 'dispenser' of the GRACE of GOD. Paul said, "For the LAW of THE SPIRIT of LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS has made me FREE from the LAW of SIN and DEATH" (8:2) The Holy Spirit works ONLY within the parameters of the Atonement.  It is the CROSS which makes it possible for HIM to live permanently within our hearts and lives, and to carry out HIS ministry as The Dispenser of GRACE on our behalf. HE ONLY REQUIRES FROM US FAITH IN CHRISTAND WHAT HE DID AT THE CROSS!!!!  However if the believer places his faith in anything other than the finished work on the cross... (for example: pray more. read more...) the Holy Spirit can not function. The Holy Spirit will not help that believer function under works & law. The Holy Spirit only functions under GRACE & FAITH in what Jesus did at the cross.

To sum it all up:  ALL the believer has to do is to understand that everything that comes to us from God has all been made possible through Christ and what He did at the CROSS. This is why Jesus said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself (deny his own ability & strength), and take up his cross daily, and follow ME.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it" (Lk. 9:23-24) The "Cross" is so important that Jesus said we must take it up ON A DAILY BASIS. This is the only sucessfull way to follow Christ. When we do this, the Holy Spirit then works within our hearts and lives... to be sure the sin nature will then REMAIN DORMANT causing the believer no problems whatsoever.

It's all a matter of faith.

To read more about the sin nature I recommend this study guide:
"The Sin Nature"