"THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING"

Good Evening to All!

I must say, I'm finding it a bit ironic that in just a couple of weeks before we celebrate Christ's birth (even though it is not His literal birthday), that every devotional I have read has been about the crucifixion.

This brings to mind about my previous post on the Ultimate Giver. This just brings out the absolute truth that we CANNOT outgive God. He came down to earth for us, served us by feeding the multitudes and healing the sick, lame and blind, brought deceased people back to life, and most important of all taught multitudes of people about God's love.

As if that wouldn't have been enough, He sacrificed His human flesh and blood so that we could get started on the road to salvation and spend eternity with Him. He is such an awesome God! I know, I just felt some eyebrows go up when I mentioned getting on the "road to salvation". The reason I put it like that is because being saved is a journey. Jesus did the hard part and sacrificed Himself for us. Now the rest is up to us. We must develop a relationship with our Father. We do this by reading His Word, talking to Him and living the way He says we should according to his Word.

There is more to it that abiding by the Ten Commandments. God did not ask us to do anything. He told us or commanded us to do it.

He even came right out and said "if you love me you will keep my commandments". He also said to be able to enter the kingdom of God we must be born of Water and of Spirit. Which means we must be baptized and we must also receive the Holy Spirit within us. Those were not requests they were commands.

He took on all of our sins that we may become blameless in the eyes of God. It took me a long time to realize it, but when God looks at me, He doesn't see the "sinner", He sees what I am becoming. All because He has seen the future. With this in mind, we still have the ability to change the future, because of God giving us free will.

God wants us to love Him and have a relationship with Him because it is our choice. This is where we are different from angels. God "created" angels but he "formed us. He breathed His breath into us. His Word says nothing about how the angels got their breath. He did not give them free will. Their express purpose is to carry out God's wishes no questions asked. Our purpose on the other hand is a little more complex. God gave us free will because He wanted someone to love Him just because they want, not because "that's what they were created to do".

The answers to last night's Bible Challenge "God's Enemies" are as follows:

1. Nod (Genesis 4:16)
2. c) He destroyed their god Dagon and smote the Philistines with emerods, or tumors.
(1 Samuel 5)
3. d) dogs ate it (2 Kings 9:30-37)
4. Haman (Esther 7:10)
5. c) the families of Daniel's accusers (Daniel 6:24)
6. a) fox (Luke 13:32)
7. b) babbler (Acts 17:18)
8. d) Bernice (Acts 25:23)
9. c) he was struck down by an angel o the Lord and was devoured by worms ( Acts 12:21-23)
10. d) they will be banished and punished forever (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)

I hate to cut this short, but I'm so sleepy I can't hold my eyes open, so I think it's time to call it quits and head for bed.

Good night to All and May God Bless!

Fifty is Nifty...Or Is It?

Good Evening to All!

Well, here is my tribute to being over the hill. It's funny. When I hit 50, It didn't bother me a bit. For some reason, when I opened my little Inspirational Book and saw this story, it hit me. I'm over half-way through my 50's! Strange, huh? I keep telling myself, life is what I make it. As long as I keep my eyes on the prize and remember where my loyalty and faith belong, I am on the right track, no matter how old I get. I hope that as I do grow older that I continue to increase my faith as the precious elders in my church do. I have to say, I have Never met as many God fearing and truly faithful women as I have met in my church.

Now to continue with the light-hearted inspirational story of becoming 50 (and older).

"Becoming another year older in 16 days."


Inspirational Story from "especially for Moms"

On My fiftieth birthday, my older daughter gave me a pin that said: "50 is Nifty." I wore it to work that day and what fun it was! All day, people kept saying things to like, Anita, you don't look fifty, " or "Why, Anita, you can't be fifty," and We know you can't be Fifty."

It was wonderful. Now, I know they were lying and they knew I knew, but isn't that what friends and co-workers do? To encourage you when you need it, in times of emergency, like divorce, death and turning 50. You know how it is with such flattery, though. You hear it often enough and you begin to think it's true. By the end of the day, I felt fabulous. I fairly floated home from work. In fact, on the way home, I thought: "I might think about dumping my husband...after all, the geezer was fifty-one, way too old for a young-looking gal like me."

Arriving home, I had just shut the front door when the doorbell rang. It was a young girl from the florist shop, bringing birthday flowers from a friend. They were lovely. I stood there holding the flowers and admiring them, and the delivery girl stood there, waiting for a tip.

She noticed the pin on my jacket and said, "Oh, fifty, eh?"

"Yes," I answered, and waited. I could stand one last compliment before my birthday ended.

"Fifty," she repeated. "That's great! Birthday or anniversary?"

Here are some neat little slogans I ran across on line for being 50.

Nifty at 50! Welcome to the fabulous fifties!

50 = Certified Antique

50 is 5 perfect 10s

A Little 50's Humor: ( I can do this ... I'm closing in on 56 in a couple of weeks!)

Life after 50, when your back goes out more than you do.
Life after 50, when your
knees buckle but your belt won't.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm a perfect 50. (substitute any age)
Fifty is 5 perfect 10s.
50 is the age of discovery, you discover you're old!
50 year old: one owner, needs parts, make offer.
Age is like a fine wine...you get better with age.
Age is just a number. Mine is unlisted.
Aged to Perfection Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
Recycled Teenager.
My get up and go has got up and gone.
It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to.
Oh Dear, another year I'm not aging, I'm increasing in value! Getting old is now chic, the rustic look is in.
Don't worry about Senility, when it hits you, you won't know it. After 50, gravity takes over.
Age is a matter of mind, if you don't mind, it doesn't matter. The difficult age: too old to work, too poor to quit.
By the time you get to greener pastures, you can't climb the fence.
Wrinkled is not what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I'm not over the hill, I'm on the back nine. Aging Grays-fully.
Middle age is when you choose a cereal for the fiber and not for the toy.
29 again! Talk about recycling!

I feel the need to clarify the "old saying" you're as old as you feel. I would rather say, You are as old as you feel in your mind.

Good Night to All and May God Bless.

Prayer Changes Everything

"Prayer Changes Everything Ideas and Notations for Inspired Prayer Time"

The above quotation is the title of a little book which was given to me by a precious lady in my church several years ago, I have read it many times. It is full of so many good ways to fit God into your day without even realizing after a while. It becomes a lifestyle just as "eating right" or "exercising." Granted at first it takes planning and thought, because it is not of the ordinary routine things that you might do, but after a while it does become part of your routine and if you forget or don't have time to add Him to your curriculum you will definitely miss Him.

WALK WITH THE SPIRIT

"Since we live by the Spirit let us keep in step with the Spirit." Galatians 5:25

Even in the midst of our busyness, we have opportunities to "keep in step with the Spirit." We can make choices which keep which keep us on that path, in the way we act and react to each situation we encounter. We can choose to handle each situation with those qualities Galatians describes as the fruits of the Spirit:

love, joy,

peace,

patience, gentleness,

goodness,

faith, meekness, and temperance.

Picture yourself walking in the Spirit today. think about how that feels and how it changes your perspective. Feel His arms around you. Admit your struggles to keep walking in the faith. Ask for Help. Ask for reminders of His love. Seek the blessing in all that you have to do. See the good. Believe that the Spirit of God rests within, around and because of you.

Today was a really neat day. We had an excellent Sunday School lesson about Faith Scripture text Luke 18:1-8. He was talking to the Pharisees and He said to them in verse 8, I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Then our Worship Service was also very good. Brother Hardin spoke on How the devil has been stealing, and destroying everything from the time of Adam and Eve. He stole our innocence. We were originally intended to live in the garden with God forever, but the devil stole that away from us by deceiving Eve. He took away our peaceful existence. He caused jealousy to come upon Cain so that he would murder Able, and he is ultimately the cause of the decline of the human race. Anyway, I didn't mean to give a sermon, I just thoroughly enjoyed the message. One last thing and I will change the subject. Just remember, the devil really enjoys it when he can cause strife, disruption, grumbling, complaining and arguing to name just a few things.

Later on this afternoon, we had a birthday party for one of the precious ladies of our congregation. She turned 95 years old and is just as sharp as a tack. Happy Birthday, Grace! Hope you'll be around for many more. I was going to put a picture of her birthday cake on here, but she and another lady were in the picture and I never put up photos of people without asking them first. I checked on the internet just for a picture of a "sheet" birthday cake, but they only had kid's birthday cakes. Besides that my silly computer is extra slooooow tonight because of bad weather. We have Hughesnet satellite, and it's just like the TV. It keeps losing its signal, so it takes for ever to connect to the internet. That is so strange. I do spell checks on all of my posts. I can't for the life of me figure out why TV is supposed to be capitalized. It is a title of anything or name. Go figure.

I think I'll go ahead and close for tonight as I don't think this storm is going to let up and I don't want to be up at 1:00am typing.

Good Night and May God Bless.

PJ