Love Begins
izzy's playlists!
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Origami Around
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if i look back, i am lost
Peter Solarz
wallacepolsom
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祝日 / Permanent Vacation
Stranger Things
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
shark vs the universe
Misplaced Lens Cap
$LAYYYTER
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we're not kids anymore.
Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
taylor price
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@mabcstudents-blog
Kony2012 … if you have not checked it out yet watch the 30 minute video on youtube, or at kony2012.com It addresses the issue of the Warlord, crimes against humanity villain, Kony over in Africa. He steals children and turns them into soldiers. The cause is to raise awarness and create enough chatter on Washington hill to do something about putting an end to his reign of terror! Take the time, it's worth it! Michah 6:8 ... act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with your Lord.
There is nothing as important in life as your walk with Christ. There are many things that take a priority after your walk with Christ, but that needs to reign supreme. When that takes priority, the other things fall into line. How you treat your family aligns like it should. How you respond to conflict follows the model of Christ. What you do when faced with a trial suddenly becomes clear. When you are walking with Christ. Don't by any means neglect YOUR walk with Christ, not your religous duty, your living active walk with Christ!
When it comes to following God, there is something we often miss. It actually comes from the way Greek works (which is what the new testament was written in). Greek Verbs carry a lot more meaning than english. One greek verb can contain the subject, verb, type of action, and the way it is received! When scripture talks about following it is what is known as a continuous action. There is a starting point, but it repeats unendlingly. Think of sneezing: it has a specific moment in time; now compare that to breathing. It is something that happened in the past, but is still happening today (I hope!). When scripture communicates this idea of following Christ, it is not a one time decision, it is an ongoing process of life.
The challenge comes from this single command of Jesus, “Follow Me.” It is a command with intended ongoing action. Who? YOU! Do What? Start following and never stop. What are we to follow? Him! It is so simple, yet it changes everything if we truly do it!
-C
As you plan your Valentines activities, please remember that it is God who loves you more than anyone else ever could. After all He is the only one I know who gave up His only son to redeem a bunch of total strangers.
I say this because we do a lot of things to get other's approval and love ... many things which make us cringe when we think about it. This Valentine's Love God with all of your Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength!
Forgiveness is waiting… If you are a follower of Christ, and I mean sold out confessed him as LORD and savior, then forgiveness is close. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and forgive us our sins! that is a Huge promise from 1John 1.9. we cannot hold on to our sin like we still have to make it right or live it down. Christ paid it on the cross, if you are saved, It's paid in full. You may still suffer consequences, but it can be completely forgiven! God does require repentance (turning and abandoning the former to follow God) but he does not require you to have good outweigh your bad. Christ Paid, and it's Through HIM alone that we have forgiveness. Walk free my brothers and sisters!
In Phil 1.13-15, Paul is in prison and says that despite his circumstances, the way he lives his life leads people to the gospel! People in the Elite Roman Pretorian Guard were coming to Christ! Not only that but other believers were fearlessly sharing their faith after seeing Paul do the same. Yes, your circumstances may be tough right now. Yes, your parents may be fighting, or your boyfriend broke your heart, or you teaches may be conspiring against your future. But why isn't your life reflecting the salvation you found in Christ? That is so much bigger than your puny circumstances. So, despite where you are emotionally today, get over it and live the grand life that Christ has saved you to live! John says you have overcome the evil one! stop being defeated by every little circumstance! You are Victorious in Christ, let that explode from how you conduct yourself in the darkest of circumstances and the brightest! -C .us
Isaiah's brokeness before the lord: when I saw God in all his perfection i cried out, "Woe is me! for I am lost; for i am a man of unclean lips, i dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips..." (isa 6) Be broken before the Lord!
i am yours tonight. i am yours if you can break me down; break through these walls i hide behind. come and break me down; won't you break me down?!?
lyrics "tenth avenue north- break me down"
The Super Bowl is this week, and there are athletes who have given several years of their life for a chance at this game. Some have played since they were toddlers, while others fell in love with the game in high school or college. Either way, they didn’t sit idle while others trained. We could benefit greatly by training our faith with the same tenacity as these athletes. Paul wrote,
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
(1Corinthians 9:25-27 NIV)
Self-control is one of the fruits of the spirit in Galatians, part of self-control is disciplining yourself in your walk with Christ. Training yourself in reading the Word, running with prayer, lifting the heavy thoughts of the greatness of God’s mercy. I’m not talking about a workout plan with the things of Christ added on, I’m talking about wholly focusing on growing in your walk with Christ. Don’t find yourself disqualified from something the Lord wanted to use you in, but you are still sipping on milk from a sippy cup. RUN with purpose, FIGHT the fight, Make your Body your slave so that you can achieve the goal!
-C
Be Prepared!
Be prepared. It’s the boyscout motto, or was it cubscouts… Anyways, scripture tells us to be prepared to preach the word any time. Preaching the word is not something that is reserved for “preachers.” The way it is described in 2 Timothy is crucial to our understanding of it.
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. (2Tim 4:2 NIV)
This includes using scripture to correct, rebuke and encourage others. BUT BE CAREFUL!!! Scripture is all too often someone’s weapon to bring someone down, or to put you up on a “holy” pedestal. It is for neither of those. It is to correct a believer who is wandering or toying with sin, for rebuking the believer who is flat out wrong, and encouraging them with the hope that is the gospel.
Preach the Gospel to the lost, correct the wayward believer, and encourage those who follow Christ! Be careful how you do it, “speak the truth in love.” (Eph 4:15 NIV)
Be prepared!
I am a people person. I like people, I like to be around them...most of the time. Sometimes I hit this wall where I just want to distance myself from all people and all things that involve people. That's been happening for me lately and this morning this verse seemed to jump right off the pages of scripture and into my face. Hebrews 10:24-25 (The Message) So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching. It's important that we stay involved in church, show up on Sundays and Wednesdays ...and not just for us. It's important because it helps us keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. It's important because we can spur each other on. Sometimes we get so caught up we forget that life is not all about us. It's about knowing Jesus and making Him known. We can't give up meeting together because it's important! So yeah I know you're busy - I am too - but some things are too important to neglect. So don't give up! I'll see you tonight at 6!! -A
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Michah 7.18-19
A pardon is something we don’t fully understand as normal citizens. This week I heard an interview with a governor about an inmate who has the possibility to be pardoned from the death penalty to live out his life in jail without the possibility of parole. He was not eligible for a full pardon, just pardoned from execution. To him a pardon literally is the difference between life and death.
As believers, God has pardoned ALL of our iniquity and passed over ALL our transgressions. He does not hold a grudge, because he takes great pleasure in love without end. And time after time he will continue to have compassion on us and will walk right over our shortcomings. He will even cast our sin into the deepest reaches of the sea!
We like to hold on to our sin like it’s our precious possession, think Gollum from Lord of the Rings. When really it is no longer ours. God has cast it into the sea. There may be remaining consequences, but the sin itself has been removed. Live in the freedom of true forgiveness and worship the God who has no match; after all, “Who is a God like you?” … there is none like Him!
Judges 21.25 in those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. We live in a day where we act as if we have no king. Our culture demands that it rules as the prime monarch in our lives. Lust runs rampant through the kingdom, our minds polluted by achieving the ideal beauty, wealth, shape. Our king is what we worship above all else, it is our god. The Lord God wants to be out king. He wants us to do as he sees fit. Not because he wants to control us, but because he wants to bring us great benefit. When He is our king it is not about us anymore and everything is about Him.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand. Isaiah 41:10 I have a ridiculous fear of being chased. It's crazy I know. But sometimes if I am walking alone somewhere I have this creepy feeling that someone is chasing me. It's dumb ... trust me, I get that, but it still scares me. Lately something else has been scaring me: wasting my life I don't want to live my life in fear, afraid to do what I know God has called me to because I'm afraid of what people will think, afraid to tell others about His love because I'm afraid of how they'll act. I don't want to live my life out of fear. God promises in this verse that we aren't alone. He is our strength and our help. So regardless of what people say about us or how they treat us - He will uphold us. We don't have to live our life in fear. Step out today and do what He is calling you to do. Besides, what are you scared of anyways?? -A
“But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” Colossians 3:8 (NIV) Our words have power. We have to be careful that we are lifting others up and not tearing them down. When I was younger I had to wear glasses. This was not in the day of cool glasses like they have now, or if they had cool glasses back then I was not cool enough to know about it - because my glasses were awful They were these huge, red, Sally Jesse Raphael glasses (Most of you don't know who that is - Google her ... they were awful!!) There are pictures chronicling my torment of having to wear these awful glasses. A certain someone in my life still likes to make fun of those glasses. Of course they don't do it to hurt me, but there is still this small part of me that remembers the people laughing at me, calling me four eyes and it takes me back to a hurtful place. That's the power of our words. I was in the fifth grade when I got those awful glasses and I can still see faces and remember names of the people who taunted me. God calls us to be holy ... to rid ourselves of things like anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language. What do your words say about you? Because I guarantee you someone will remember what you just said, will it bring life or death to their hearts?
-A
Leaders should lead ...
Paul often said things like "follow me as I follow Christ" or "imitate me as I do Christ." Paul's model of leadership is quite interesting because he lived in such a way that he could merely direct others to follow his example. Do you live your life in such a way that you could simply tell others to do as you do? True leadership begins with you living what you say you believe. It's loving people regardless of social, economic, beauty, race, gender, or smell. Genuine leadership must come first from knowing the one who saved you, then mirroring the life of Christ, giving your all to love God and Love others.
Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Jeremiah 33:3 esv