Dying To Self

I came across a blog that has truly ministered to me this week. One post that really grasped my heart was this one that I'm sharing to you. Being a woman who wants to build her home in a godly way is never easy but this has so blessed my heart that I cannot help but share it to all of you.

This post was originally found at "A Quiet, Gracious Life"  but it was in Proverbs14verse1 that I came across it the first time. Y'all take care and be blessed always!

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When you are forgotten, or neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any unpunctuality, or any annoyance; when you stand face-to-face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility-and endure it as Jesus endured.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any raiment, any interruption by the will of God.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works, or itch after commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~





Are you dead yet?





In these last days, the Spirit would bring us to the cross.

~Author Unknown~

~oOo~

"That I may know Him,
and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death."
~Philippians 3:10~

Can't Get Rid of Cable TV

Let me share to you this video clip of Tamara Lowe whose message you might need to hear...
Be blessed always!

Spiritual DEMENTIA during Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Almost everyone in the U.S. is now busy with their preparation for Thanksgiving Dinner and all travel plans to be with family are already finalized.

This U.S. (and Canadian) holiday's precise historical origin is primarily disputed. Although Americans usually consider the First Thanksgiving to have happened in 1621, at Plymouth Plantation, in Massachusetts. Traditionally, this holiday was a celebration of thanksgiving to God for a bountiful harvest. However, Encyclopedia Brittanica (and majority of the people today) agree that the holiday moved away from its religious roots to allow immigrants of various background to participate in this tradition. Today, Thanksgiving has become more of a celebration of families getting together, of pre-Christmas shopping frenzy, and of football fans going wild as the games ensue.

It's amazing how easily we have embraced this change in the tradition for Thanksgiving. A holiday that was born because of the early settler's acknowledgement of God's sovereignty is now replaced with the practice of giving importance instead to the gifts and not the giver. This is probably a case of what I want to call a "Spiritual Dementia".

Dementia is primarily a debilitating disease. Google health describes it as a loss of brain function that occurs with certain diseases. It affects memory, thinking, language, judgment, and behavior. It sounds to me, though, like this also best describes the aspects of our spiritual status that most of us have a problem with today.

MEMORY & THINKING 

We have lost the ability to function mentally that we (our spirits) are no longer able to remember and carefully think about God and His marvelous work.

Job 37:14 reminds us of this truth: 

"Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God." 

(KJV, emphasis added)

We probably have allowed our spiritual lives to be apathetic over the past years that led us to lose our thinking skills.  We no longer consider (or think carefully; or take into account) the wondrous works of God. Today, we are more prone to focus our thankfulness on what we HAVE rather than give thanks to God for HIS marvelous deeds in our lives. Moreover, we are thankful only for the things we SEE in our lives. 

LANGUAGE

What do you say when you're asked to mention the things you're thankful for? Don't we usually hear ourselves say "I'm thankful for MY job, MY family, MY good health, MY friends, MY financial stability amidst the economic decline, MY abilities, talents and skills." It's really all about OURSELVES. Families gather together because we want to treasure OUR time together and give thanks for that... Friends enjoy each other's company because we want to celebrate OUR relationships and enjoy EACH OTHER's company and give thanks for that. 

I do agree that it is very much important to give thanks to our God for all these, but these are really only the small stuff that we sweat about. Surely we should understand that there's more to life that we should be thankful for than the things we accumulate in our lives.

JUDGMENT

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 

(1 Thessalonians 5:18, KJV, emphasis added)

Don't you notice that the verse says IN everything and not FOR everything? That's because our gratitude to God should never be based on what WE HAVE but on what HE HAS DONE! 

The original Greek word used for "In" in this verse is "ἐν" (en), which is defined as a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state). It denotes where you are in your life at the moment... it pertains to your circumstances. That is why when we talk about "Thanksgiving", we ought to know that it's not for what we HAVE, but it's an opportunity for us to focus on what GOD has done, is doing and will be doing in our lives! We are thankful to God in all circumstances, even the ones we find difficult to be thankful for. Besides, this is why the Word of God affirms in Romans 8:28 that:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose." (KJV, emphasis added)

BEHAVIOR

Think about this for a moment. The verse does say that "all things work together for good", but it emphasized that it is TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD. Do we say to ourselves that we are one of "THEM?" Are we behaving like one of "THEM"? 

Here's the Diagnostic Testing based on the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ... because, after all, it will always be the only source of our wisdom...

"Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me." (John 8:24, KJV, emphasis added)

"If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15, KJV)

"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." (John 14:23, KJV)

"This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome," 

(1 John 5:3, KJV)

"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." (1 John 2:3, KJV)

Shall we spend the next couple of days checking ourselves and allowing God to reveal our REAL motive for celebrating Thanksgiving? Let's have our spiritual checkup and evaluation for any signs and symptoms of "Spiritual Dementia". Then come Thursday, let us face the question again... 

"What are we thankful for?" 

"Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned." (Revelations 11:17, KJV)

HAVE A TRULY WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!

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Be blessed always!!!

Exfoliating...your Soul.

I cleaned up my blogger dashboard a few weeks ago and deleted some of the blogs that I no longer maintain. I want to share with you one post, though, that I had in one of my now deleted blogs. This was entitled "Exfoliate...Renew". It's an updated version but I hope you will enjoy it. Be blessed always!

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Aaaah... the beauty of exfoliation. This cleansing therapy actually involves the removal of the oldest dead skin cells on the body's outer most surface. It either involves physically scrubbing the skin with an abrasive, like having the micro-beads in our facial cleansers and the loofah in our shower, or using some exfoliants that are chemical in nature. This is a total washing away of whatever impurities we have on the skin!

Let me share to you an exfoliation for the soul this time...

"Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;" (Isaiah 1:16 KJV, emphasis added)

Just as we exfoliate our skin of anything that's dead, let us exfoliate our souls then of that which is dead - evil. As we physically use abrasives on our skin to remove the dead cells, here is a good abrasive to remove whatever is dead IN us...

"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? 

by taking heed thereto according to thy word."  (Psalm 119:9 KJV, emphasis added)

The Word of God is like a physical abrasive that we use on our souls to cleanse it from filthiness. Now, just as chemical exfoliants present a stronger option for cleansing, here is what we have as its counterpart for our souls to cleanse away ALL our unrighteousness...

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7, KJV)

The rewards of physical exfoliation is beyond measure! It benefits you as it promotes beauty, youthful appearance and health. I'd say we badly need this for our souls, as well. After all, it's our souls that live for eternity, so we MUST care for it as much as we do our temporary physical bodies. 

Have you been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ? Are you continually exfoliating your soul with His Word? May we think about this today and take heed... 


Be blessed always!

The Necessity of FEAR

The topic we had during bible study at church tonight was so timely for me as it coincides with the topic I was wanting to write about since last Sunday. Although we delved into a portion of Psalm 119, the topic of fear which I wanted to touch in this post, came about in relation to obedience.

Fear is one of the words we seldom consider as positive. It is defined by dictionaries as a feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger. We usually want to steer clear of it that somehow in the mid-1990's, we've managed to embrace without question the "No Fear" slogan of the lifestyle clothing created by Mark Simo, Brian Simo and Marty Moates.

Although it seems ideal for the human nature to want to overcome Fear, the bible teaches us to value its essence at some point in time. In Proverbs 1:7 we read that...

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge..."

The word "fear" in this verse comes from the Hebrew word "יִרְאָה" yirah, which originated from a primary root word "יָרֵא", yare, meaning affright, or put in fearful reverence. Understand that it talks about a different level of fear. It talks about REVERENCE. If you look up the definition of this word in the dictionary, it would be defined as a feeling of profound awe and respect and often love.

This biblical "fear" of the Lord in Proverbs 1:7 is not about torment caused by the presence or imminence of danger as it has been defined above. It is about respecting and being in awe of a Creator who has power beyond anything else there is in this world. It is in giving this reverence to God that a human being begins to acknowledge God's power, God's precepts (in another word, rule or law), and God's holiness, as well as one's depravity and sinful state. 

No individual comes face to face with the reality of his vile, sinfulness and depravity unless he comes to a point in his life where he gives the real and total reverence to an Almighty Creator. We have been trying to convince ourselves that we are fearless creatures that emerged into this world from a cosmic blast, and we could live this life according to our own whims and strengths. We have been drowned in this idea of being the "Captains of our own ships" and the "Masters of our own souls". 

We all have elevated ourselves on a pedestal as we swallow whole the teachings of Psychology. But Psychology has brought us to a state of stupor where all we see is SELF. We have come to a level of personal pride that consumes us into believing that we can be who we want to be, and do what we want to do without any regard as to what happens after we die. The only tense we have programmed our lives to be in is the present tense and there is no longer a convincing on our part of an eternity that awaits our souls at the end of our time here on earth.

We may "party 'til the break of dawn" in this lifetime, but it will never change the reality of God's truth that is in the bible...

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 

(2 Corinthians 5:10, KJV, emphasis added)

By then, a different kind of fear will consume us if we do not know HIM who sits on that throne. Do not let the pride of self eat you whole and leave you apathetic! Jesus Christ will hold you accountable on that day of judgment.

So now understand that every human being that has walked on earth has one sole longing that will tug and nag over and over again, it is the longing to "KNOW". We all journey through life wanting to really be in the know of what life is all about. We want to understand our circumstances, we want to know why we're here, we search for answers to many of life's questions... we want to gain the right knowledge to all that involves the life we are living. You want to know the answer to your life's purpose? LISTEN TO THE WORD OF GOD... "The FEAR OF THE LORD is the BEGINNING of KNOWLEDGE..."

Are you living without fear? Don't wait for eternity to teach you about fear the hard way. Know that you have been "fearfully and wonderfully made" (psalm 139). You have a Creator whose ways are magnificent. You are NOT your ship's captain, nor are you your soul's master. Change your paradigm and learn to embrace FEAR... it is a necessity, after all, when you consider eternity. 

Be blessed always...

Preparing for Christmas

I personally believe that the essence of Christmas is in giving. After all, the very reason of Christmas was this:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
(John 3:16 KJV, emphasis added) 

God GAVE away His Son to a world that wasn't even thinking about Him. Sadly, though, today at Christmastime we have our eyes fixed on presents and gifts under OUR Christmas trees. Families always start to make a Christmas list that includes the latest gadgets, the coolest toys, the nicest clothes that each family member has always wanted to have.

When we come to think of it, most of the time, we spend Christmas focusing only on ourselves. Our Christmas shopping almost always only involves items we give to OUR family, OUR friends, and OUR selves. Although we tap into the idea of "giving", it usually ends up giving only to the very perimeter of SELF.


The Christmas season is fast approaching and since most of us start to prepare for Christmas early on, I'd like to share a link and I hope it will encourage you to go beyond the circle of Self when it comes to giving this Christmas.


The essence of Christmas is supposed to be focused on Jesus and becoming more like Him. That calls for SELFLESSNESS. Here's something to think about as we all prepare for the Season... Be blessed always!


Click on the link below...

Celebrate Christmas!

Dead Men Walking

Earlier today my hubby and I sat on our couch and sipped some hazelnut flavored coffee as we watched the morning news. One local news report caught my attention as it involves a local veteran who lost his benefits because he was mistaken to have been dead already.

Rogers Mills, Jr. of San Leon, TX, is a disabled veteran who suddenly realized that his benefits on which he depended on to survive was reduced to zip! The Veterans Administration has stopped sending his benefits check for one good reason - in their record, Mr. Mills is already dead. There was a mixup in one funeral home's report that was sent to the VA that sent Rogers Mills, Jr. six feet underground. Unfortunately for the VA, Mr. Mills is still very much alive, kicking and upset that this has happened to him. 

I must admit, people consider being a dead man walking a peculiar state to be in. The bible, however, mentions that this is just the kind of state we all are in. We're all "Dead Men Walking!"

Romans 3:10 says "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" and in Romans 6:23 we are told this:  "For the wages of sin is death;". Now if we allow ourselves to sit down and think about this for a moment, we should come to realize that because the bible says no one is righteous - that we're all sinners, and that the wages of sin is death, then it is pretty clear that we all are dead men walking!


Do you know that there is an end that you and I will come to? My friend, you ought to realize that the bible talks about the dead in the end of time... Listen to the following verses in Revelation 20:12-14:

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (KJV)

The Word of God stands forever and it is the Truth that we all need to settle ourselves with. Now although this picture of "dead men walking" seems a bit depressing, the reality of God's Truth has more beauty and grace in it.


There's another kind of "dead men walking" that we all ought to re-consider becoming. Because there really isn't much of a choice and so much is at stake, we should think about becoming the "right" kind of dead in this life. Let the Word of God show you...

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:11 KJV, emphasis added)

And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness." (Romans 8:10 KJV, emphasis added)

My friend, there is a Hope that we can run to in order for us to become the "right" kind of dead men walking. Let the power of Christ Jesus be in you and transform you into it. Jesus IS the only Way. Search Him with all your heart TODAY for tomorrow never really comes. 


Choose then which kind of a "dead man walking" you want to be in this lifetime. Choose wisely and quickly, though, for time is running out fast and there's always a consequence to the choices we make. Be blessed always!

"For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever." (Micah 4:5, KJV)

Not Just Another Self-Help Book

There's probably millions of self-help books available for one to purchase and read today. Many of us go through so much in life and we tend to resort to turning to others to help us get through the daily grind. Self-help books are probably the most sought after items in a bookstore second to fiction novels, like the Twilight saga and The Diary of the Wimpy Kid series that topped the charts in 2009.

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The human race has managed to come up with a variety of psychological issues with good-sounding names used to describe whatever stressful scenario an individual finds himself in. With all these so-called problems "issues" we have in life, authors of self-help books offer a solution that may alleviate the many different levels of pain we have in this life.

Although I don't discredit any self-help book that's in Amazon or Barnes and Noble, I believe they're really not as beneficial to the reader. Why? Because the "lessons" we may get from them come from a person just like you and me who see life through human eyes. What we read is still within the human realm - the human level of reasoning. What good does it make if we rely on advice that comes from an equally created being who also goes through the same roller coaster of emotions we do and deal with the same issues we have?!

I believe it's better for all of us to rather hear an advice from someone who really knows us. Someone who knows every single detail in our lives, and understands every ounce of our human frailty in the face of a life storm. I'm talking about an Author whose Word is settled beyond the feeble human being's reach.

"For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven." (Psalm 119:89) KJV, italics added

The bible is the all-time bestseller in the entire world, but also the all-time most taken-for-granted self-help book! Most families who have bibles in their home do not really realize that they have the world's best self-help book in their midst. We seldom consider the bible as that, I know. We usually convince ourselves that it's a very holy book that tells of many wonderful stories that we can enjoy reading. But alas, the bible is more than just a story book. In fact, it's not just another self-help book! It is our blueprint for life. It is the manual for human beings to read in order to function well in this life!

We all want to "LIVE" THE life. We all want to have the wisdom to figure out THIS life. But don't you think it's funny when most of the time we pretty much answer with "I'm FINE" when asked how our life has been? It reminds me of a preacher who puts it this way when we say we're FINE: Freaking out, Insecure, Neurotic and Exhausted. I admit, that is true for the most of us. That is why we truly need a self-help book to get by with this life.

Here's one thing to think about...

"Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments." 

(Psalm 119: 4-6) KJV, emphasis added.

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We need to understand that the only book that could really help us deal with life is the one that is authored by our Creator Himself! He knows us like no-one else does. Rely on HIS Word of guidance and instructions and you'll never again be just "FINE"...

Be blessed always!