"THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE"

Good Evening to All!

I had started out in one direction tonight, but when I was looking up one scripture, another jumped out at me, and I felt in my spirit that I should go with the latter one instead.

Matthew 5:16 says, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Now the NKJV reference for this verse says: The believer does not have inherent light; rather we have reflective light. As we behold the glory of the Lord, we reflect it. Therefore, we need to make sure that nothing comes between us and the Lord's light (see 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil.2:14-16).

And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)

(14) Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [against God] and questioning and doubting [among yourselves], (15) That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guiltless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation [spiritually perverted and perverse], among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world, (16) Holding out [to it] and offering [to all men] the Word of Life, so that in the day of Christ I may have something of which exultantly to rejoice and glory in that I did not run my race in vain or spend my labor to no purpose. (Phil. 2:14-16)

Now first of all, I'm sure there are a lot of you out there that are a lot smarter than I am, but I had to look up the word "inherent". My thesaurus gave me synonyms such as: natural, native, congenital, inborn, inbred and real.

Therefore, we do not have natural light in us. The Bible tells us we were born in sin. We as humans have a sinful nature. Therefore the light which we have in us is God's light reflected in us.

It is possible to be "good people" and not be a "Child of God". A person can have a sense of right and wrong. He can be a good person, do nice things for people, volunteer, not steal, lie or things of that nature, and still not have God in his life. The sad thing is, if he doesn't have God in his life, then he is bound for a bleak eternity.

We need to get God in our life and keep Him there. We need to do what is required of us to be Children of God. This means fulfilling what I fondly call the "prerequisites" of salvation, which doing what Peter said and abiding by Acts 2:38. Then start your life over by living for God. Yes, it is a journey. Part of that journey is letting God's "reflective light shine through you to others, so that they too will want to know how wonderful it is to live for God and have the expectation of an eternity in Heaven with our Savior.

The reason I am saying this is because we need to make sure that when we take steps to change our lives (or I should say let God change our lives) then we need to make sure that NOTHING comes between us and the Lord's light.

If we aren't careful, we can let the worries of this world, the day to day battles get hold of us, and wear us down until it gets between us and the light. If we get tired of fighting what this "world" is shoving in our face constantly, it is possible if we don't keep God's light in the forefront of our lives that we could "fall away". The Bible even talks about that happening in the last days, and the last days are definitely here. I'm not saying that the end is coming tomorrow, next week or even 2 years from now, but it will be soon. All we have to do is look at the signs, and feel the spirits in the air. The immorality, the unbelief, children against their parents, parents against their children and on and on.

Let God's light shine bright in your life. Do it for yourself and for others. When you do, it makes you feel good deep down in your soul, and it also helps others to see this and maybe even bring them to Christ. It is time for the harvest. God needs "laborers out in His field. If we let His light shine through us, that alone can bring people to Him.

I feel like the "reference verses" are pretty self-explanatory. That we as Christians, as Children of the Most High God, are His ambassadors to the World. We are to be examples to the "world". We are God's hands, feet and mouth. The Bible says God made us in His image. I truly don't believe it was talking in the physical sense. When He first made us, we were perfect in every way. It was His intention that we would live forever with Him until Satan showed up and Eve allowed him to deceive her.

Therefore, I contend that when God says He made us in His image He was referring to His attributes, or having the "Fruit of the Spirit" in our lives. When we have the Fruit of the Spirit, we are kind, loving, patient, we have peace, joy, faithfulness, gentleness, practice self control, we show compassion, charity, and love. When these attributes are active in our lives, then God's light shines through us and others know there is something different about us from the "world", and they will want to be part of it also.

In case you are wondering about my choices of pictures, I liken the lighthouse to Jesus, because He is the light of the world. His light is so bright that He can shine it through us and we can allow others to see it if we don't let "junk get in the way". I liken us to a candle shining in the darkness. we are but a little flame, but as long as there is light coming from it, it cuts through the darkness of the world.

We must not let the world get between us and God's light. If it does, it will not only harm us, and make us into hypocrites, (I say this because I have seen people from churches I have been to in the past, turn toward the "world" after being in a relationship with Christ, and start doing things that it's obvious that God would not approve of, yet still call themselves Christians. Those are who I call hypocrites.

If a person is going to affiliate themselves with Christ our Savior, and call themself a Christian, then they need to talk the talk AND WALK THE WALK. This means letting God's light shine through them to others in full view.

If you have to, get that little song in your brain until it makes you want to start doing what it says: This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Another one is : You can't be a beacon if your light don't shine (the author's grammar not mine), you can't be a beacon if your light don't shine, shine a little light in all the world by God's design, you can't be a beacon if you light don't shine.

I learned these songs when I was a child, but the words still ring in my heart.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

"A CONFESSION"

Now that I have your attention, (LOL), I just want to say that due to the length AND importance of yesterday's post, I am going to leave it up for another day. I didn't come to this decision lightly because I really like doing a post everyday, but I feel that we really need to soak this in. God Would Not have put this on my heart so strongly if He didn't want it to be said.

I know most writing teachers say to break long articles, stories and even posts down so that people won't tune out before they finish reading. It's obvious that I didn't do that. I didn't for a couple of reasons. For one, when the Holy Ghost starts speaking to my heart and telling me what to say, I feel like He doesn't want it broke into chapters. If I were to do that, then by the time the next post rolled around you will have forgotten about the previous post. This way you will at least remember some of the points.

My other reason is because I would not know where to divide the post in half. It is all important, and is connected, so it shouldn't be divided. I hope you will understand, be patient and read the whole post. You may just get some good points and maybe even a "revelation or two" from the Holy Spirit as He tugs at your heart.

It is my hope that you will either re-read this post, or pick up where you got tired of reading yesterday and finish.

I will be posting a new one tomorrow.

LOVING GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH

Good Morning to All!

Yes! That's right, I am actually typing this post in the A.M.! Very unusual for me. For about the 3rd time, I have tried to start this WONDERFUL Bible Study Book which I won a while back from Tammy Melton called "Loving God With All Five Senses". For some reason I kept getting side tracked and starting new projects, but I am determined to get it going this time.

The thing is, I think the reason I get side tracked is because I get so engrossed when I start really delving into God's Word reading the scriptures which she gives and answering the questions that she poses.

For example (I hope she doesn't mind me doing this), the first few questions for me were open and shut like ; Matthew 26:41 "What do we need to do so that we do not fall into temptation?" Well, I read the scripture and boom knew that we need to "watch and pray that we enter not into temptation". Well, that's a given.

Then she asks, " What part of us is willing?" "What part of us is weak?" , and so on. I was doing great until I hit a wall (which was a good thing). It made me stop and start looking into other versions of the Bible, my concordance, and finally (I wish I had thought about this first, my new birthday present from Lynette at "Crazed Mind", a book called "Nelson's Biblical Cyclopedic Index". It is great!

OK, back on track. I got stumped of all things on the word "law". I have heard that word a million times in the Biblical sense since I was a child, but never really thought about what it was. I started searching for the definition so that I would know exactly what she was saying, and I wouldn't misrepresent it.

Galatians 5:16-17 says "This I say then,Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil
the lust of the flesh. (17) For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (18) But if e be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

I did some research on this and according to Galatians 3:24 25 ; Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith.. (25) But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

This tells me that once Jesus came on the scene, He transcended the "law". His death and resurrection made it possible for us not to have to abide by old testament
law such as animal sacrifice and other things. Once we repent of our sins and are baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, we shall receive the Holy Spirit within us and put on Christ (His nature) such as the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) . Then we can be led by the Holy Spirit into all truths, and it will guide us and teach us to be "like Christ" in nature, to have His traits.

At this point let me say, many people have the misconception that just because they get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost or (Spirit) that they automatically change. No, we still have free will. The Holy Ghost will guide us IF WE LET HIM. He will nudge our spirits if we start to do something against God's will. He will convict our spirits and make us realize that this is not the way Christ would act or something He wouldn't do, but in the end WE are the 0nes who will have to stop ourselves and say no, I'm not going to do this. I am a "true" Christian and I want to act like one.

I have been talking a lot about the difference of the works of the flesh and the spirit, so let me elaborate about what each one is. The works of the flesh according to Galatians 5:19 (NIV) are sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery (lewdness-going beyond the proper bounds), (20) idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions (or strong disagreements), factions (21) and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you are I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, to live according to the Spirit which is the way God instructs us to live (with the Holy Spirit's help) is in verse (22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is not law. (24) Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (25) Since we live by the Spirit, (26) Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Remember according to God, we cannot live by both, because they war against each other. To be in God's Will, we are to live by the Spirit (with the Holy Spirit leading us). Let me also say, if you haven't repented for your sins, (decided you want to live for God and turned away from the things you know are not of Him) been baptized in Jesus' name (Acts 2:38) and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, this is something that is imperative you do. For we know not the day or the hour when the trumpet shall and Christ shall come to take His bride up into heaven with him (paraphrased). Anyway, it's very important that this is done.

I know this was a lot to take in, but it is so important. We are steadily falling away from our true relationships with God. The Bible states that this will happen in the last days, and I can see it happening all around me. Things and practices which we are seeing now as "socially acceptable" that is direct contradiction to God's Word. Falling away from God, that's what the Bible calls it. If we are going to fall, we need to fall forward. Fall toward God, realize this isn't His way and ask for forgiveness and get back on track toward His love.

We go to church, we pray sometimes (when we have time and think about it) and we're even good people. We may give to charities, or help the homeless sometimes. Let me ask you, looking at the above fruits of the Spirit, how many traits do you project outwardly all the time? I know we fall short, that's human nature, but we must as Christians get up and continue on track. People are watching us. We are suppose to "let God's love and His light shine through us as examples to others at all times". I can't count the times I have heard someone say "look how that person is dressed ! You could use that skirt (or top) for a blindfold it's so skimpy and she calls herself a Christian! Did you hear the language that man was using? I wonder if he talks that way in church! We are being dissected by the world every time we walk out the door. Yes, they are being judgmental by saying these things, but we must also remember they may not know who the true God is, let alone have a relationship with Him. This is why we are suppose to be examples. To help the world see what being a true "down to the core, inside and out"Christian really is. Not just someone who takes on the "title" of being a Christian, but someone who walks the walk and talks the talk. Someone who lives and breathes our Savior.

We are All going to stand in front of our LORD on judgment day, I am longing to hear the words "WELL DONE, THY GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT"come from my LORD. The only way this will happen is if I live by His Word and do my part for the Kingdom of Heaven in helping the World know what He is all about and what they need to know to be able to enter into eternity with Him.

I know I got off track of my original idea of what I was going to post, but the more I typed the more I felt God's presence and His words just came flooding into my heart and my mind, right down to my fingertips. I saw this picture and couldn't resist it. Jesus will not come into our hearts without an invitation. I send this heart out to all of you as we get closer to Valentine's day to let you know I love and care what happens to the people of this world. Whether I know you or not, I want to see you when we reach heaven, but to do that we must all unlock and open the door of our hearts so that the Holy Spirit may come in and lead us on the path to an Eternity with God.

God Bless You All,

LOVE = THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY

Good Evening to All!

I started a devotional tonight that had one particular verse. 1 Corinthians 12:31. The problem with that is for some reason, the verse seems incomplete. It need the verses above and below it to show its importance. For example: at the beginning of Chapter 12 it is talking about the Spiritual Gifts. It explains how they are diverse. We all have different gifts, none of which are more important than the other. ALL of them are needed. We are all members of the body of Christ, and we each have the gifts which the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon us. As we get further into the reading, His Word goes from speaking of the gifts and the members of the body of Christ to positions in His body. (1 Corinthians 12:28) God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings helps governments, diversities of tongues. (29) Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? (30) Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? (31) But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. THEN Chapter 13 comes in and says All gifts, however excellent, are noting without charity: (4) the praises thereof. A more excellent way, meaning LOVE.

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The beginning of Chapter 13 clearly tells us that no matter how many or which of the gifts which the Holy Ghost has bestowed upon us, and we may operate in, they are not good unless we are also operating in love.

Some people which God has honored with these gifts misuse them. Rather than focusing on the love involved in using their gift, they think about putting the attention on themselves. This counteracts the gifts and makes them useless. If people would just realize. When the man who was let down through the roof to be healed, Jesus told him that his friends' faith had made him whole. So really while God is the true healer, it isn't when we lay hands on people, or speak in tongues, that make the difference, its the faith and love for God which we show. The faith and love which we have in God and His abilities, definitely not our own.

In 1 Corinthians 12 there are nine gifts of the Spirit listed and several others in Romans 12. The Gifts of the Spirit are extremely important and we should ALL desire them, and there are nine fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5. These fruits are extremely important also. They are the attributes which we need to achieve being Christ-like, which is what God's Word asks us to strive for. These are word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues.

He knows we aren't perfect. After all, He made us. He says to strive for perfection. The way I look at it is if there was a chance for us to be perfect before we are caught up in the air with Christ, He would not have had to sacrifice Himself for our sins. He could have found a man who was perfect to be the sacrifice.

OK back on track. The Fruits of the Spirit are what we strive for when we have been baptised in the name of Jesus, had our sins washed away, the old man was "taken off" and the new man put on. According to Acts 2;38, we SHALL receive the Holy Ghost. When this happens He will guide us into all truths and teach us. He will help us to achieve the nine Fruits of the Spirit.

If we achieve these nine Fruits of the Spirit, then we will undoubtedly have love, and operate with love in our hearts. Now let me say, you can have love without all of the Fruits but there must be some. Which ones do you have?

Love , Joy, Peace, long-suffering (patience), gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance (self control).


Good Night and May God Bless!

The Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit

Good Evening to All!

I read something the other day that really got me to thinking. I began to wonder how many of us "limit God's power because we don't think or "realize" that everything the disciples and people had in Biblical times we still have today. To say that something doesn't apply to us "today" is just like saying God could do it back then, but not now. What He did back then doesn't happen to us. Well, sorry, but I tend to disagree. Tonight, I would like to delve into the "Fruits of the Spirit" and the Gifts of the Spirit.

I don't think there is any disagreement that the "Fruits of the Spirit still exist. According to Galatians 5:22-24, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is the work which His presence within us accomplishes. These consist of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such there is no law. Those who are in Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. These attributes are what we as "Christians should strive for.

Now for the more controversial subject. The Gifts of the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:4 says There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of
activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit , to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another "discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

I have heard many times people say "these aren't for us today". That was just in Biblical times. According to the Word, John 14:12, Jesus said, Most assuredly, I say to you he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he shall do also ; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name , I will do it.

In other words WE as Christians have these gifts as long as we believe and have
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

These were brought about by baptism of the Holy Ghost according to Acts 2:38-39.

In Acts 2:36, it said Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (37) Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles men and brethren, what shall we do? (38) the Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remissions of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

According to Acts 2:17 for example, says, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

I also believe in revelations from God. Before I start my post, I pray for God to let me know what He wishes for me to tell you. No, He has never been audible like He was to Paul on the road to Damascus, presented Himself as a burning bush and told me to take off my shoes, but I do get a strong feeling in my spirit of what He wants. I will not say He doesn't do that, just that He has not manifested Himself physically or audibly to me personally.

We have all experienced them. How do you explain when you leave your house in the morning, and forget something, just to have to go back home, thereby avoiding an accident or something bad happening to you. What about when you're thinking about something, and a little while later someone brings something up in affirmation to what you were thinking without you saying anything? These to me are all revelations from God. The word revelation simply means to reveal something, which we get on a daily basis from God if we just think about it and look around us.

I hope this has shed a little light on the subject of Fruit of the Spirit, Gifts of the Spirit, and Revelations from God.

Good Night 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