His Grace is Sufficient!

I know that when we think of grace, we automatically think of 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” when Paul pleaded with the Lord about his thorn, and Romans 6:14, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” I know people like to quote Romans about we’re not under the law but under grace, but do we all really know what that mean? What is grace?? By the end of this post, we will have that answer!

Let’s begin with the children of Israel. All through Exodus, the tribes of Israel face Pharaoh to escape captivity with the help of Moses who is led by the one, true, living God. They escape Egypt and are travelling through the wilderness to reach the Promised Land that God has for them. As they go through the wilderness, in chapter 16 of Exodus, the children of Israel complain of being hungry.  They want to return to Egypt because in their minds, they will at least have something to eat. God told Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you.” The next morning, “when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what is was.” (Exodus 16:14-15) The people gathered this bread for six days. The sixth day they were commanded to gather twice as much so that they had plenty to eat on the seventh day, the Sabbath. They then called the bread “manna”. Those that gathered a lot never any leftover and those that gather little never had a lack. There was just enough for everyone’s needs, whether they ate a lot or ate little.

Shortly after, the Ten Commandments were given, along with all of the laws to abide by the takes up the rest of Exodus through Leviticus. These laws say what God’s people should and should not do, how things should be done and how things should be governed. These laws give the consequences for not following each law. This is how we know how to observe the Sabbath, what to eat, what is sexual immorality, how to treat others and tons of other things to follow in order to please God and be a pleasing people. If you want to know how God feels about something, referring to the law will help you understand. For example, Leviticus 18:22 says, “You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.” An abomination means it is an extreme disgust to God. He detests it greatly. The same for lying with animals. It’s perversion, or not normal, not okay. Just before these, we know how God feels about abortion in verse 21: “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.” People would sacrifice their children through passing them through fire in the name of Molech, a false god. That’s all abortion is, sacrificing your child.

So we have the manna and we have the law. What do these have to do with one another? Why bring up the law when we’re not under it anymore? Let’s find out!

Romans 2:13 says, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” Just before that it says, “For all who have sinned without the law will perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.” Keep this in mind. Also, what is sin? 1 John 3:4 simply says, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” And it goes on discussing how sin is not of God. And this is why. It is lawlessness. Going against the law is committing a sin. So, if we are not to follow the law anymore, then there is no more sin. There’s no more right or wrong. So that means I can kill people if I want…it’s no longer a sin because sin is lawlessness but we’re not under the law so…

You get where I’m going with this!

Let’s talk more about this law. The Law (notice the capitalization), or the God-given Instructions, refers to the first 5 books of the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These together make up the Torah, the Instructions. This is where we refer to learn about the do’s and don’ts, the consequences, the blessing for obedience, how to have faith, how to be obedient, how we have dominion, how to properly honor God. We examples from Adam to Joshua on how to please God and what makes Him angry. Our do’s and don’ts are not just in the many laws in Leviticus, but throughout those entire stories from Genesis to Deuteronomy. And they all point to one, Jesus.

How do I know? I’m glad you asked!

First, the stories in the Torah have little nuggets or previews to Jesus. For example, sacrificing the lambs for sins.  We no longer need to use scapegoats rid ourselves of the guilt of sins.  Jesus is the Lamb. The ultimate sacrifice. Do you see where I’m going with this? Let’s keep going!

If you study the feasts, you will notice that they all align with the purposes of Jesus! Refer to my post on the feasts!

Also, if you go to Matthew 5:17, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” The Law is not done away with.  Jesus came to fulfill it. I mentioned Romans 2:13 earlier and to keep it in mind. If you read further, verse 16 says, “on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” Sinning under the law will be judged by the law, will be judged through Christ Jesus.  Jesus is the law! We won’t get stoned as in the law of that land, but we are still to follow the law through Jesus!

This leads to grace. People think that grace is simply not dying right then in your sins. But if you know that law and don’t follow it, you will be judged accordingly through Christ. Grace gives you that time to get it right. That time to repent and go back to living righteously with all your might. Not time to kick back and think, “oh I will ask for forgiveness later, I got time, I’m under grace.” But what IS grace? Let’s go back to Exodus…

Another example of how the Torah points to Jesus is the manna in Exodus. The bread was sent from heaven to fulfill the people’s hunger. Those who gathered had just enough for hunger needs, whether it was a lot or little. If you go to John 6:31, it reads,

“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written (the Torah, the Law), ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”” (verses 31-35)

Jesus is grace! He came down from heaven to fulfill the law, therefore, he is the law. And in fulfilling the law, he died on the cross for our sins, giving us grace. This is why we shouldn’t have any worries or anxieties. He paid for it already. Jesus is our bread. Jesus is our manna. The manna is always enough to get through. His grace is sufficient!!! His power is made perfect in your weakness!!! His suffering, his dying on the cross is enough for anything you can possibly go through!!!

So those thorns (problems) you have in your side, you have enough grace from Jesus to make it through. You have that time to repent and keep going. I mentioned in my last post about God’s peace through storms and this is EXACTLY why we have peace through those tough times! Jesus is our manna. Jesus is our bread. Jesus is grace. His grace is sufficient in those times of bills piling up! His grace is sufficient in those times sickness! His grace is sufficient in those times of lose of loved ones! His grace is sufficient in those times of failures. His grace is sufficient in those times of depression! His grace is sufficient in those times of low self-esteem! You are still alive because his grace is sufficient! HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT!!!

We have enough manna to get through it ALL! THIS is why Jesus is the ONLY way!!! Jesus is the law. Jesus is grace. Jesus is love. Jesus is peace. Jesus is everything God wants us to be! Jesus is God’s living example of the Torah! Our living example of the law! HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT!!!

I am so blessed by this!! In closing, remember our daily bread is our daily relationship with Jesus.

(The Lord’s Prayer-Matthew 6:9-13)

With Peace Comes JOY

We all go through hard times. Many of us pray to God to rid us of our troubles or to get rid of the pain or to make things better. Sometimes we pray for God to help get us through our tough times. But rarely do we pray for His peace through hard times. We want so badly to be rid of the bad situations and be rid of the pain. But rarely do we want the peace to maintain through the bad situations and through the pain.

I recently went through a really hard time where I felt like giving up on being a good person, giving up on hope, and giving up on faith. I’ve always tried my best to be a good person and do things the right way. But when things suddenly didn’t work out the way I had thought they would, despite my faith and good works, I was left in disappointment and honestly, feeling selfish because I felt like the situation wasn’t fair. I felt like since I was working to please God, things should be easy and all smiles. But I had a hard lesson to learn. Having faith means even though you do what you are suppose to do, things will still get hard and that’s when you have to keep your faith in God despite of it all.

I felt like the bad situation was happening for reason. I didn’t want to ask God why because that sounds like “why me?” and that’s pouty. I didn’t want to get angry because I knew some kind of blessing was going to come out of it all. I didn’t want to ask what was the good that was going to come out of the bad situation because that would take away from me being patient. So, while in prayer, I just gave God all of my cares (1 Peter 5:7). I told him I wouldn’t worry anymore, and I handed it all to him. I let him know that I understood that he sent Jesus to die on the cross that I wouldn’t have to suffer. I could hand over my worries, my sadness, my hurt, and my depression to him because he already paid for it ALL. I handed it all over and asked God to give me peace through this storm. I remembered that God did not remove the thorn from Paul’s side because his grace was sufficient. So I knew with God’s grace I could make it through. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

I began to give God the glory and praise for getting me through the bad time, even though I was still in it because I knew it was only by him that I would make it anyway. I asked for his peace so that I may endure to the end. Shortly thereafter, I was blessed with his peace. Even though things around you look awful and may be falling apart, that God-given peace is indescribable. Having a calmness and joy inside despite it all because you know God himself has you at the palm of his hand.

Imagine there is a horrible storm outside. You know how we (especially us in the country) start to turn everything off and everyone is balled up with blankets, nervous, and trembling at every crack of thunder or flash of lightening? That’s how we are through spiritual storms. When we go through things, we’re ready to shut down and we let fear and worry overcome us. We get scared it’s going to be so bad we won’t make it through.

But imagine that same storm is going on outside, but this time you have your worship music playing inside and you’re relaxed on the couch with a book or a warm bowl of soup. You’re aware of the storm outside, but you have PEACE because you know you have God’s protection and He’s holding your hand through it all. John 16:33 says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We will go through trying times, but Jesus has already overcome the world. So be at peace.

I found with peace, there’s a joy that comes with it. When people see you going through, but you’re smiling and just taking everything in stride, they don’t understand. At one of the places I worked, the environment was definitely not ideal. It was stressful, we were mistreated and underpaid. I had one particular co-worker that just could not understand how I was always happy even though we worked at the most awful place under the most awful conditions. It was almost like she was upset with me. She was struggling to keep up on the job and still didn’t know how her bills were going to all get paid and here I am walking around like everything is just so wonderful. And honestly, it was! She couldn’t take it anymore and came to my door and asked me, “How do you stay so happy with all of this going on?” I simply replied, “Jesus”.  I went on the explain how I knew that Jesus was going to take care of me. I knew I was ALREADY taken care of. So, I did my best at that job, and it turned out to be my best year teaching, my bills were paid, AND I bought my first house, and made it through a summer without pay and ALL of my bills STILL got paid! I trusted God COMPLETELY and therefore, I had peace and my happiness came after. I was excited about how God was going to get me through that situation AND use me as an example to others around me of just how good and powerful He is.

I found that in the Bible, peace and joy seems to go together. Romans 15:13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” We have hope because we believe in God’s power and with that peace and joy, our hope is even stronger! Proverbs 12:20 says, “Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but those who plan peace have joy.” With peace, you have joy.

Also, Galatians 5:22 tells us the fruits of the Spirit and what do you think they include? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”.

So, keep in mind that when you are going through, be patient, have hope, trust in God, believe Jesus paid it all, know you are covered and protected, continue to do good and be righteous, give your worries and stresses to Jesus, and you shall have peace, and joy comes in the morning!

(Romans 5:1-11) Peace with God through Faith and Rejoice!

The Feasts of The Lord

For those of you that want to learn more about the feasts of the Lord or you are trying to let yourself go from the pagan feasts we know as Easter, Christmas, Halloween and Valentines, this post is for you! When letting go of something, sometimes it’s easier when you know you have an alternative. Well, as for the pagan festivals and you wanting to let go of that foolishness, God kept you in mind and has feast for you to remember and bring you closer to Him! If you are like me and just want to dig more into the Word of God and get a better understanding of these feasts so you can better please God and live a more righteous life (because you let go of the world already, been there done that!), then this post will work for you, too!

Just to give some background, I was a kid, like most of us, that was brought up on the holidays we know as Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s and Halloween (just to name some). However, I was also the kid that loved Jesus and just couldn’t figure out how this stuff was connected to Him. I was a thinker and unlike other kids, I wanted to please God the right way and not just how people say to please Him. Jesus DIED on a cross for us! That was a big deal to me. I wanted to understand how this stuff really honored Him. I never got a clear explanation.

I also enjoyed the memories and fun traditions, but I still didn’t see the connection to Jesus. The stuff itself was fun, but what does it have to do with Jesus since it is supposedly about Him? My favorite was Halloween all because my birthday is on October 31^st. All of the other stuff wasn’t as big of a deal as it was to others. I just wanted presents, but I would happily take presents any time of the year! What kid wouldn’t??? As I got older, I learned where all of this stuff came from and it wasn’t hard at all for me to let go. All I needed was a reason to let go because I didn’t want it anyway! No one could tell me how it was connected to Christ. And I noticed that people would be super excited about decorations and presents and Christmas trees and I never saw them open the bible…ever. So how could you be celebrating Christ, but don’t learn about Him? You’re more excited about a tree and lights and decorations and presents and music than about the Word itself? It all made me wonder.

So, I wanted to learn about the holy days God actual gave us. These days, we don’t have to wonder what the connection is or focus on worldly things more the Godly things. With these feasts, they’re all God-centered. These feasts are:

                1. Passover

                2. Feast of Unleavened Bread

                3. The Feast of Firstfruits

                4. The Feast of Weeks (Pentacost)

                5. The Feast of Trumpets

                6. The Day of Atonement

                7. The Feast of Booths (Tabernacles)

The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread

Passover began when God struck Egypt with the plagues. The last plague (10^th) was the death of the first born of every man and beast. The children of Israel were instructed by God through Moses to stay indoors and place lamb blood on the doorposts of their houses. As God struck Egypt with the plague, He passed over the houses with the lamb blood as it was a sign. We are to remember Passover and to keep it as a feast. God also stated that for the next seven days, you should observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread where no leaven is to consumed or even in the house. This also represents the sinless life of Jesus. The first day is a Sabbath and the seventh day is a Sabbath. (Exodus 11-12) If you read from Genesis to Exodus, all of this will make lots of sense and even give you more background. The bible begins with Adam and Eve, but it takes us through the journey of Israel and the children of Israel which ultimately leads us to Jesus! This whole bible is about Jesus!

If you look at Passover, they killed a lamb and shed the blood so that they would have grace through that night of the plague and make it out of Egypt. Who was our ultimate lamb whose blood was shed so that we may have grace and make it to Heaven? Jesus. (1 Cortinthians 5:7) Which this also the time He was actually crucified. (Matthew 26-28) Wow, that’s something isn’t it? So, when Israel was instructed to observe Passover that first night, it was preparing them and their following generations for Jesus.

How to Observe Passover: Many of us go to church and have communion services and feet washing services. For those of you that think it’s for Easter, WRONG!! It’s for Passover. Matthew 26: 26-29 explains why we have communion. Jesus was letting His disciples know that it was getting close to Him leaving and it was going to be His last Passover before He eats with us again in God’s kingdom. Doesn’t that make you excited? It makes me excited, that Jesus did all of that (dying on the cross and going to preparing a table) just for me and you if you want it. Think of loving someone so much and so unconditionally that no matter how much wrong they do, if they come back and ask you for your forgiveness and truly give their life over to you and no other lover (gods) anymore that you will still take them in and still have their seat at the table set for them!

Also, there is the unleavened bread. During these days, it is a little difficult to rid our houses from leaven (yeast) because it is in almost everything! My advice is to do the best you can and definitely avoid eating any of it. Use this time to spend even more time with the Lord and He will lead your steps. The Passover meal includes lamb of course, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs (list of bitter herbs: http://herbs.lovetoknow.com/List_of_Bitter_Herbs).

The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a Sabbath and also the last day of Unleavened Bread. On these days, just observe them the same as your weekly Sabbaths, a day of rest and worship. Remember, it’s all about God, not you. Now, many work places are quick to observe these pagan days. We can be closed for Christmas and New Years, but are we off for Passover and Unleavened Bread? No, but off for Good Friday? (which has nothing to do with Christ) So, it may be hard to rest and worship on these days if they fall on workdays. I you are adamant about observing these Sabbaths, there are forms you can fill out and have your employers excuse your days. If not, I would suggest that as soon as you get home from work, REST and get into that Word! Already have your meals prepared and chores around the house already done so all you literally do is rest and worship.

Additionally, Passover is also the first feast of the new year. Passover is the 14^th of the month (month of Nisan) and the first day of the sacred year is on the 1st of Nisan (Exodus 12:1-2). We go by the Gregorian calendar so we celebrate the new year in the middle of winter, but the beginning of Spring makes more sense. The beginning of new life, the new year…the resurrection.

The Feast of Firstfruits

The Feast of Firstfruits is a time to offer the fruits of your labor and harvest to God. It falls on the Sunday during the Feast of Unleavened Bread and gives God thanks for all that He has provided. The Feast of Firstfruits also point to Jesus because Jesus was the ultimate Firstfruit offering. The first begotten son of the Father, the firstborn of creation (Colossians 1:15), the firstborn of the dead (Revelation 1:5), and the Firstfruits of those who are to be resurrected (1 Cortinthians 15:20). Adam brought us death by sin, and Jesus brought us life through resurrection. I don’t know about you all, but I am so blessed by this! So, the Feast of Firstfruits is all about offering thanks to God. This was also the last feast that Jesus fulfilled.

How to observe Firstfruits: Remember to give God thanks. This day has been overshadowed in our oh so worldly world by Easter. Easter is about a pagan god, not our wonderful Jesus! Firstfruits is about Jesus!

The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)

We also know the Feast of Weeks as Pentecost. It is called the Feast of weeks because it is seven weeks after the Feast of Firstfruits, or the 50^th day after the Feast of Firstfruits which is why it is also called Pentecost. This was a day of holy convocation and Sabbath (rest and worship). During the Feast of Weeks in Acts 2:1-4 the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues. Peter then gives a sermon and about 3,000 souls were saved that day.

How to observe the Feast of Weeks: We usually spend this day…yes, in church! We know about Pentecost service. This is a time to rest and worship and to gather and be filled with the Holy Spirit!

The Feast of Trumpets

The Feast of Trumpets is a day of rest and holy convocation. It begins with the blowing of the trumpets. We mostly associate the trumpets with Jesus’ return. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. In Leviticus 23:23, God tells us that the Feast of Trumpets is a day of rest with no usual work on the first day of the seventh month (beginning of civil year on Hebrew calendar). On this day there should be a holy convocation and a memorial through the blowing of trumpets. Also, there is a food offering. Numbers 29 specifies the details of the offerings for the feasts.

How to observe the Feast of Trumpets: The Feast of Trumpets is observed by having a day of rest (holy Sabbath) and the blowing of trumpets, which is usually done during the Feast of Trumpets church service (holy convocation).  The Feast of Trumpets is the civil new calendar year and the beginning of the Fall feasts. Therefore, this is a time of reflection on the past year and your relationship with God. Happy New Year!

The Day of Atonement

The Day of Atonement and the Feast of Trumpets and the days in between (10 days total) are considered the High Holy Days or Days of Awe(days of repentance). The Day of Atonement is on the tenth day of the seventh month. This is a day of rest and absolutely no work. This is also a day of fasting and prayer (Leviticus 23: 26-32).

How to observe the Day of Atonement: The Day of Atonement (humble our soul) is observed by fasting from food, drink, marital relations and leather clothing. “Afflict yourselves” stated in Leviticus 23:27 refers to refraining from food, drink, bathing, sex, and luxury clothing which pleasures the flesh. The purpose of fasting is to suppress physical desires (humble yourself) in order for spiritual desires to surface. Fulfillment of this feast will be when Jesus returns, day of repentance.

The Feast of Booths (Tabernacles)

The Feast of Tabernacles is on the 15^th day of the seventh month. This feast lasts for seven days (season of our joy). The first and eighth day are days of solemn rest. (Leviticus 23:33-43) This is a time for rejoicing (Deuteronomy 16:14). When Jesus returns, he will “tabernacle” with his people. The feast also celebrates how God provided shelter for the children of Israel while in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt.

How to observe the Feast of Tabernacles: A sukkah or “tent” is built and decorated before the feast begins. This is to be the dwelling place for the duration of the feast. This represents the tabernacles, or booths (tents) that Israel dwelt in while in the wilderness and the fellowship with Jesus when he returns to dwell with us (Jeremiah 23:7-8). The sukkah meant to be outdoors. Also, a lulav is made from specific branches (Leviticus 23:40). These branches are meant to be waved during the feast to rejoice.  It is a time to celebrate, praise God and give Him thanks, sing, and do things that make you happy. Also, reading from the Torah (first five books of Bible) is done each day.

The Sabbath

In addition to these feasts, we have the weekly Sabbath. My very first post was on the Sabbath. I began this blog on the Sabbath, the day of rest. Leviticus 23 walks us through the seven feasts and also begins with the Sabbath. The Sabbath began in the beginning. We all know that when God was done with His work with creating the world, He rested on the seventh day. There is a reason this is told to us and a reason God did this. We are made in His image, so we, too, need to rest. We would go non-stop if we let ourselves. We work all through the week and all through the weekend. But God gave us the seventh day to rest. He was the first example. Genesis 2:1-3 tells us that God blessed the seventh day, making it holy.

In Exodus 16:22-30, the children of Israel were instructed on how to conduct themselves for the Sabbath. They were to gather bread and eat for six days. On the sixth day, they were to gather bread for that day and for the next day. This way, there would be no gathering or working on the Sabbath day, but they would already have the food they need for that day and already prepared. Exodus 20:8-11 gives us the commandment to remember and observe the Sabbath and to keep it holy. We are to work for six days and rest on the seventh.

God reminds us in Exodus 31:12-18 the reason for the Sabbath. It is a reminder that God created the heaven and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. Deuteronomy 5:12-15 also reminds us of how keeping the Sabbath reminds us of how the children of Israel were kept in bondage with no rest and God freed them from the bondage of Egypt and should work for six days and take the seventh day to rest and be refreshed.

How to observe the Sabbath: Observing the Sabbath does take some getting used to in our day and time. For my husband and I, as you’ve read in the first Sabbath post, it felt more like a burden than a day of rest. It felt like we were not allowed to do anything and in bondage at home. But after I read Exodus 16, 22-30 it was clearer to me. We needed to get everything done before the Sabbath so that everything was already done and prepared and all we needed to do was rest.

We have a different calendar now from back then, but we still function with seven days per week. Sunday is our first day of the week, but MANY people observe the Sabbath on this day, which is why we have church serves on this day and some businesses are closed on this day. This is where observing the Sabbath became challenging, because the bible says the seventh day. This would make our seventh day on Saturday, which is the day we normally like to do stuff and get stuff done. So how backwards things are when you listen and follow man and not God?

But observing it can be done and it can be refreshing just like God made it to be. I usually cook a big meal on Friday that we can eat from through Saturday evening. Any chores or school work (I’m a teacher) that need to be done, I do through the week or on Friday before sunset. If there is something that can wait until Sunday then it will wait. By sunset, food is prepared, chores are done and I’m ready to get into the Word. From sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, we rest. We relax. We read and study the Word. We pray. We talk. We laugh. We rest. When we get hungry, we just fix a plate of food and eat. No cooking. If we can help it, no going to the store. No shopping, just resting and relaxing. Any shopping that needs to be done, is done on Friday or Sunday and the rest of the week.  When you have kids, emergencies come up, but try to be prepared!

The Sabbath is our day to rest our bodies, rest our minds, be refreshed for the next week and remember that God created the world, He created us so He gets ALL of the glory! It’s our day to chill. Jesus reminded us in Mark 2:27 that, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” because even then they were complaining and acting like the Sabbath was a burden and they couldn’t do anything at all. Jesus told them, “If your sheep fall into a pit on the Sabbath, don’t you get it out?? So how is a man less than an animal??? Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to harm, save life or to kill???” when the Pharisees were wondering if He was going to heal the man with the withering hand on the Sabbath. And He healed the man’s hand. Basically, a lot of the stuff we go through, we put on ourselves.

Keeping the Feasts

Exodus 23:10-19 tells us to keep the feast, in other words continue to observe these feasts throughout the generations. Many people say that we do not have to follow the law, but does that mean we no longer are required to follow the ten commandments??? It is part of the law. And Jesus made it perfectly clear that he came to fulfill the law, not destroy it. Matthew 5:17-20 quotes Jesus saying in his sermon that, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Fore I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus makes it clear to continue to follow the law, which is laid out throughout the Torah. This includes the feasts. We celebrate all of these days of foolishness (Christmas, Easter, etc.) when God has specifically created days of observances that honors Him and helps us grow as His people. I hope you all join me in celebrating and honoring God for all He has done for us!!!

The Problem With Our Traditions

Talking about the truth behind these traditions that we practice every year is a touchy topic seems like, since people are so attached to their worldly things that they become defensive about the topic. For example, if I tell you that Christmas is demonic, how do you feel right now???......... I simply want everyone to understand what it is that you are doing, what it means to God, and you choose for yourself whether or not you continue in it. But at least KNOW what you are doing. Hosea 4:6 says, “My people will perish for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge.” Please don’t reject this knowledge. The reason people share this information is because they don’t want YOU to PERISH, that’s all. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t worry about telling you. I mentioned in my last post about letting things go, that sometimes we don’t let go because we’re scared or it’s uncomfortable. Also, sometimes it’s because we become so engulfed in that thing that we’ve made IT our god and not God himself. How many of you will sing Christmas songs all day, but you have to make time to pray to God? How many of you spend all week decorating your house for Christmas, but don’t have time to open your bible?

As a teacher, our instruction is best when it is student-centered. It takes work to create lessons that involves more student interaction than lessons where the teacher just stands in the front of the classroom and just lectures. Student-centered means the students get more out of it. Student-centered means the student gets more of the learning. God-centered means God gets all of the glory!

These things that we celebrate are not God-centered. We say they are, but we say a lot of things…does that mean it’s all true?....... Look at it this way, if Christ is really the meaning behind all of these traditions, does that mean He’s a god that lies??? Jesus was not born on December 25, there is no Santa Claus, there are no reindeers, there is no Easter bunny, Jesus did not die on the cross on Good Friday and raised on Easter Sunday (that’s not even three full days). My God is not a god that He should lie, so these traditions should not be associated with Him. How do we sit there and take a bunch of lies and demon celebration and put Christ on it???

I will give some background on each of these traditions and then give what The Word says about these things. The background given is just snippets of the large amounts of details and histories that make up these celebrations. I know some of you don’t want to hear some of these things and possibly didn’t even know any of this, but I look at it this way, if I reject the knowledge then I’m rejecting God. I definitely don’t want to do that! So, let’s start at the beginning of the Gregorian calendar, January.

The Traditions

January-New Years

New Years was derived from the Babylonian(pagan) celebration called Akitu. This celebration took place during the first new moon that followed the vernal equinox in March. It involved an 11 day celebration counting down to the new year and celebrated the sky god named Marduk, whom had defeated the evil sea goddess Tiamat. This is also the time that they crowned their new king. Even the new year’s resolutions was Babylonian as they made promises in order to please their gods. The Romans changed the calendar and then it was changed again by Pope Gregory XIII (Catholic) in 1582 where new years ended up on January 1. And eating black-eyed peas for good luck for the new year…it’s pagan, too!

February-Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day, or St. Valentine’s Day, was originally a fertility festival in ancient Rome called Lupercalia (or wolf festival), which honors the god named Lupa which was a she-wolf that suckled the two founders of Rome. This festival also honors the Roman god named Lupercus (Pan in Greek mythology). It took place from February 13 to 15 and included the priests to sacrifice a goat and a dog, touching women with the goat skin to produce fertility in the next year. These women would also get matched with men to be with for the next year using what seems to be a lottery type system. It became Christianized then later outlawed (just renamed). This is when Lupercalia became Valentine’s Day. It still didn’t become about love until centuries later. During Lupercalia festival, februa was included which was an early spring cleaning ritual, hence the name February.

March-St. Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick’s Day is a Roman Catholic festival that honors an Irish patron saint named Patrick. He was kidnapped and brought to Ireland from Roman Britain. He later escaped and returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish people to Christianity (Roman Catholic). He died on March 17, which is celebrated as St. Patrick’s Day today. The green is for the shamrock that Patrick used to teach the people about the holy trinity. He used the Celtic cross to aid in converting pagans and getting them to understand the importance of the cross. The Celtic cross is a combination of a cross and the sun cross, which is a pagan symbol which finds its roots to Tammuz and Nimrod from Babylon.

April-Easter

Easter was also a pagan festival that was later converted into Christianity. Easter, named after the fertility goddess Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Astarte (The same deity but different in names depending on the culture) was a festival honoring Eostre/Ishtar. Ever wondered what the rabbit and eggs had to do with anything? (I never saw the connection because rabbits don’t lay eggs!) Well, rabbits and eggs represented fertility (this is the fertility festival. So, you are letting your kids are partake in fertility festivities.) When it was converted to Christianity, it became one of the major days during the Lent season (Roman Catholic). There’s Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, which is basically get all of your sinning done before the fast day (part of the pagan Saturnalia and Lupercalia celebrations); Spy Wednesday, observing the betrayal; Maundy Thursday, which observes the last supper; Good Friday, which observes the day of the crucifixion; Holy Saturday, which observes the days between the crucifixion and the resurrection; Easter Sunday, which observes the resurrection and begins the days leading to Pentecost.

July-Independence Day

One question, whose freedom are we celebrating here???..... And wasn’t America supposedly founded in Christianity? What happened to that?? (okay, those were three questions)

October-Halloween

Halloween was a pagan festival called Samwain (SAH’ win). It was a day that the people thought that the pagan gods and other spirits could come into our realm more easily (rising dead). The people would dress up as ghosts to disguise themselves and leave food and wine on the front steps in order to keep the spirits from entering. When Christians (Roman Catholic) converted it, it became All Hollow’s Eve, along with All Saints Day (Nov. 1) and All Soul’s Day (Nov. 2). It all eventually merged and became Halloween and now targets children (like the rest of these festivals). Now, my birthday is on October 31, but please don’t call me a Halloween baby or a Spook! You will be dismissed! (LOL) As a kid, I didn’t even care about all of this stuff. I can get candy anytime through the year! What I need to dress up for as a demon?! Also, Halloween or Sahmain is still celebrated by modern pagans, which are now called Wiccans, witches, and wizards (pagan=witchcraft…starting to see it now?). Still want you kids a part of it? That’s who they’re after!

Bonus-Columbus Day

Christopher Columbus didn’t even do any of what they teach us that he did! So why are we even…oh wait…..Christopher Columbus was Italian…..Roman Catholic……moving on!

November-Thanksgiving

The most “traditionally accepted” story about Thanksgiving is where the pilgrams and native Americans had a wonderful first harvest festival from the natives teaching the pilgrams how to grow certain crops. They laughed, ate, and played games. There’s also the story where some years later, the settlers (we call them pilgrims) had a big dinner to give thanks for their victory over the natives. They slaughtered hundreds of native men, women, and children. Many of the women and children were put into slavery. We get the lovey-dovey stories in school because basically, that’s what we want to hear! Nobody wants to hear this. But deep down, some of you knew that this was the true story when they taught us isn’t quite the whole story. Thanksgiving wasn’t a tradition until Lincoln declared it.  

Bonus-Black Friday

Basically, we show up in long lines for Black Friday, but can’t pray. We show up in long lines for Black Friday and can’t even show up at our children’s school. We fight over TVs and game systems, but won’t fight for our kids or fight our flesh when we know we need to live right. This day just shows where our priorities are.

December-Christmas

Christmas! This is the big one! People don’t like you talking about Christmas…well let’s dig in!

Just like Valentine’s Day began a Lupercalia, Christmas actually began as a Babylonian celebration of the rebirth of the sun-god Tammuz( Nimrod/Baal reborn/ the sun of the sun-god really), but later became known as Saturnalia, or Yule. This festival was in honor of the Roman god Saturn and was filled with gift-giving and partying. It began on December 17 because of the winter solstice. This day on the Julian calendar is December 25. December 25 is also the birth of the sun god Sol Invictus (Persian sun-god named Mithra). Notice there is nothing about Jesus. The Roman Catholics later “Christianized” the festival referring to it as the day of Jesus’ birth (more like the day celebrating His birth). But there are no exact records of what specific day Jesus was born. If this isn’t enough, let’s talk about what all Christmas includes:

Christmas tree- Pagans cut down and put evergreens in their houses and temple during the winter solstice (Saturnalia). It too, was “Christianized” and hung apples on the tree to represent the Garden of Eden, along with candles and sweet treats. The decorations later became round, glass ornaments and lights. A pagan tree in your house is not okay just from the fact that it’s pagan, but check out Deuteronomy 16:21 and Jeremiah 10:1-5 (forbidden forms of worship).

Christmas lights- When light bulbs were invented, lights were specially made for and placed on the Christmas tree in place of candles. The candles came from the Saturnalia festival where the people greeted each other holding the candles. The lights represented Saturn’s light. This later became the light of Jesus.

Wreaths- You know those leafy crowns or headbands worn by the Romans and Greeks that we have seen? That’s what we put on our doors. They represented social status and is included usage of Greek and Roman gods. They were made from the branches of the evergreen trees that were also used as worship in the houses.

Mistletoe- This plant was believed to have special powers against evil spirits, along with representing love, friendship, and fertility (from Norse mythology). Wiccans would place love spells on women through the mistletoe to render a woman powerless against seduction. This is where kissing under the mistletoe came from. It was also used as Saturnalia decorations.

Christmas carols- These songs were also a part of the Saturnalia festival. While the people partied, they would travel the streets and sing.

Santa Claus- This guy that we teach our children comes into our homes at night while we are sleeping (breaking and entering) to leave us presents is based on a combination of deities such as hearth gods (coming down the chimney) and a pagan god named Odin. When Christmas was “Christianized”, they renamed this god after a bishop of Myra named Saint Nicholas. He died in December, which is how the celebration of him ended up combining with the pagan god Odin. If that’s not enough, then take the “n” in Santa and place it at the end of Santa and what do you get?.....

Even Though it’s Hard for Some

Now, I know some of you may be thinking, “Ok, so what? I don’t celebrate these things for these reasons! I just like to have fun and spend time with family!” Others of you may be thinking, “Well, I’m hanging up my Christmas decorations, and nobody is going to take that away from me!” Which is true. No one is going to take them away, the choice is yours. Some of you probably wish you never read any of this because you really want to do what’s Godly and it breaks your heart because you’ve become so attached to these customs and you don’t want to let go, but you know you should. And then there’s those of you, a few, that what you’ve read so far is all you needed to know and you’re ready to drop it all and follow God completely without throwing all of this pagan in His face! That was me! I never understood the connections between Jesus and trees and lights and bunnies and eggs! I was always told what the holiday was for, but nobody could explain to me why we have a Christmas tree with presents under it and why does it have to be so big??? Why does it have to be in front of the window? So everyone can see how pretty it is? But is that giving God glory?

Maybe some of you were this way, but I was that kid that asked questions. I wanted to understand. I didn’t want to be told something and just follow along just because I was told to. I wanted to understand what I was doing. That’s why I fell in love with God so young, because I understood His love, His forgiveness, and His protection and through Him, no weapon formed against me would prosper! So, I wanted to understand all of this extra stuff we were doing. What does the mistletoe have to do with Jesus? What do these decorations have to do with Jesus? What does Santa and reindeer have to do with Jesus? (And I never believed in Santa. My parents made it clear to us when we were very little that there was no Santa and our parents gave us the presents and we would leave cookies out for my dad for getting the presents together while we were sleep…but why are we doing the rest of this stuff?)

I know some people also say, “but the look on my kids’ faces Christmas morning is just priceless!” (so we lie to our children, teach them how to lie, and wonder why they won’t worship God when they grow up) Okay, when I was a kid, all I wanted was presents and candy. Guess what, we can get candy and presents ANY time of the year!!! Why does it have to be on pagan festivals just because you want to see your kids smile? (If I told my students, “let’s have a party tomorrow in class” their faces will light up just the same!) Come up with you own days to spend special time with family and give gifts just for the fun of it. Give gifts any random time of the year! Give to the needy ANY time throughout the year! Not just the end of the year. As Christians, why do we have to take part in pagan festivals to have a nice time? Because we were told to?? Because that’s what everyone else is doing? Because our best childhood moments came from those times of year, so we want the same for our own kids??? Just because it is popular doesn’t mean it’s right, and just because it’s right doesn’t mean it’s popular. Stop following the crowd!

I love the idea of originality. Create special times with your family that’s just for your family. Let it be just a family thing. Give thanks to God for your family. Pray together, study the bible together, eat together, play games together, and laugh together! But can we please stop worshipping these other gods and putting Christ’s name on it? If you are going to celebrate this stuff, can you not include Jesus? If you say you would like a sparkly necklace as a gift, but I gave you a bag of garbage, how would you feel? You don’t want it??? But I put your name on the bag……

Any who, let’s talk about what God’s Word say about all of this.

What The Bible Says

God gave us the 10 Commandments along with the other laws to follow (Exodus 20 1-21). These commandments are:

               1. You shall have no other gods before Me.

               2. You shall not make idols.

               3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

               4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

               5. Honor your father and your mother.

               6. You shall not murder.

               7. You shall not commit adultery.

               8. You shall not steal.

               9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

               10. You shall not covet.

The very first one says to not have other gods for the Lord your God! You can take that to mean other gods coming first AND other gods in His presence! Why would God be okay with us worshipping AND other gods??? 1 Corinthians 10:20-22 says, “No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” We cannot serve God AND these demons. It has to be one or the other. If you partake in the pagan’s practices, you are offering up to demons, not God. God never told you to do that stuff. (And why is it that we can accept that Halloween has demons, but cupid and that leprechaun and santa aren’t demons???? I don’t know about you all, but the stuff they do is pretty creepy!)

Ephesians 5:6-7 (please read the entire chapter) says, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them.” Just because someone tells you something that sounds good doesn’t mean it is truth. Seek for yourself in the Word. Remember, the Word is God. To add on to Ephesians, Colossians 2:8 says, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” You can’t be doing stuff just because it’s human tradition, just because it’s been done for so many years, just because you are told some reasons that can’t even be backed up by the Word! If someone is telling me I should put up a Christmas tree in my house, I want them to show me in the bible where it says I need to do that! Where in God’s Word does it even say that tree has anything to do with Christ??? Deuteronomy 16:21 talks about not planting a tree and setting up pillars that the Lord HATES! (Asherah-a Canaanite pagan god) Yes, He didn’t want them beside the altar of the Lord, but for those of you that are married, would you want you want your spouse cheating on you right in your face??? Let alone you don’t want them cheating at all, but in your face??? God is a jealous god!!! He doesn’t want us worshipping or even partaking in any kind of worship to other gods!! Not to mention right there in His altar that is supposed to be just for Him. Ladies, you wouldn’t like it if your husband took you out to dinner (like you wanted), but brought another woman along because he likes how she looks so he want her to come too, but say it’s all for you, but he’s staring at her all evening. You wouldn’t react very pleasantly, which is proof we are made in God’s image. He wouldn’t react very pleasantly either. He wants us to worship Him! He made us!!! That’s like me giving birth to children and do everything for them and protect them and they call someone else mommy, like I’m not the one taking care of them and LOVING them! Do you all realize how many times He wanted to wipe out the children of Israel for this same foolishness? Not to mention the nations He did wipe out!

Matthew 15: 1-9 and Mark 7:3-9 talks about choosing human traditions over God and making His word void. We rather choose Easter over Passover. How do I know? We have easter egg hunts at church, but when someone mentions Passover then it’s, “Oh, we’re not under that anymore! We’re not under the law anymore and the laws for observing the feasts!” Or “that doesn’t apply to us!” What?? But we’re quick to dress our children up for their Easter pictures with the Easter bunny, which has nothing to do with Christ or His Word. It’s not even in the bible to do that, but we do it with no questions, with no hesitation. But disregard what the actual Word says.

Deuteronomy also tells us in chapter 12 verse 32 that, “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” We can’t take Christ’s birth and add all of this paganism to it. We can’t take Christ’s death and add all of this paganism to it. We can follow some commandments and say the others don’t count anymore. We can’t do these things and still call ourselves righteous. We can’t do these things and say we are not sinning. The Word tells us that sin is lawlessness (1 John 3: 4-10) and the law tells us how not to partake in idol worship. He even told us in Jeremiah not to even LEARN these traditions! (Jeremiah 10: 1-4)

We are so quick to celebrate these pagan feasts and God already gave us feasts to observe. We have seven Feasts of the Lord to observe what all the Lord has done for us, but we rather celebrate Saturnalia and offer worship to pagan gods and put Christ’s name on it to “Christianize” it and call it Christmas and New Years. Why go through all of that??? Let go! Let it all go!!! We have feasts that we can make new memories with our families with and still honor God. Teach our children that it’s all about honoring the Lord our God!!! It’s all about remembering what all Christ did for us!!! Teaching our children why Jesus died for them and what it means. We focus on celebrating Christmas because of the looks on our children’s faces, but what about celebrating Passover to remember that Jesus died to save THEM. The Lord had you in mind AND your babies in mind. Jesus died for them, but we rather tell them to be good for the next couple of weeks for Santa???

In my next post, we will look at the feast that were given to us by God Himself. These feasts include:

               1. Passover

               2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread

               3. The Feast of Firstfruits

               4. The Feast of Weeks (Pentacost)

               5. The Feast of Trumpets

               6. The Day of Atonement

               7. The Feast of Booths (Tabernacles)

The true holy days! 

I hope this post has been a blessing to you and an eye opener. I hope you continue the research and continue to seek the Word and learn more in practicing righteousness and what pleases God, not what pleases false gods or what pleases you. Like we tell our children, I brought you in this world, I can take you out. Well, God can do that to all of us, so let’s honor Him and ONLY Him so He won’t have to take us out!

 

Amy M.

Time to Let Go

For those of you that lived a life of sin and became saved, did you find that it was hard to let go of the things that you once loved or once did? Did becoming saved make you feel nervous and scared? Did you feel like if you stopped doing the things you once did that you would have nothing you could do for fun? Did you feel like being saved meant that you would have to be locked in the house reading the bible and fun just isn’t allowed?

Well, part of that is not understanding and the other part is the wrong perception.

How many of you that are not saved want to be saved but you haven’t gotten saved yet because you still want to party and go clubbing?  How many of you that are saved want to live a godly life but some of the stuff you have gotten yourself attached to, you don’t want to stop. For example, you still want to listen to your Beyonce CDs. Y’all (yes, I’m country), it’s time to let go.

Understanding

There is a line between godly and worldly. There is a difference between the two. As saved Christians, we are to be the light of the world. People should just see us and know that there is something different, something holy, something godly. They should see Christ when they look at us. If you truly love Christ, especially for what He did for you, you would choose those godly things over the worldly without a problem. It’s disappointing sometimes, like when I found out about what’s really behind the music we listen to or eating certain things that’s not okay in the dietary laws. I was like, “aww man!” because some of the things included in that stuff were some of my favorite things. But the choice came easy to me by asking myself this question: live ungodly so I can feel good now or live godly so I can feel good for eternity? In other words, this foolishness or my soul? The decision is easy then. Hosea 4:6 says, “My people perish for a lack of knowledge because they have rejected knowledge…” When I learn something that I didn’t know before and it is to help me be closer to God and live a more godly life, I listen and make those adjustments. I don’t want to perish because I didn’t want to listen or didn’t want people to tell me anything or receive what people were telling me because I want to stay in my comfort zone. I rather be uncomfortable now and comfortable for eternity instead of comfortable now and extremely uncomfortable for eternity! As Christians, we should want to do right. We should want to be righteous. We should want to be holy, not trying to look and sound like the world. That’s just bringing glory to ourselves. God doesn’t want your worldly stuff.

How would you like it if someone you loved gave you a gift just because, and it was specially packed for you with your name on it and when you opened it, there was rotting garbage inside? Seriously, how would feel? This is what we do to God when we offer Him up this worldly stuff. We are just humans, so imagine how He feels about you every time you say, “Turn up for Jesus!” WHAT?!?!

Understand why certain things are done the way they are. Understand what stuff REALLY mean! Especially before you offer it to God.

Perception

Okay, so we think being saved means being bored. Really? My husband and I have so much fun all the time. And we don’t have to go to the clubs, get drunk, or sleep around to have fun! There’s movies, there’s restaurants, there’s bowling allies, there’s fun parks, there’s museums, there’s miniature golf, and for my shoppers, there’s malls! This is just to name a few! Grab a GOOD friend and take a trip! Watch your favorite movie, have a movie night with friends. If you have kids, whoop their tails in some Monopoly or The Game of Life! (LOL) Now, your idea of fun may be different from my idea of fun, but if you really want to be saved and live a godly life then you need to look into what fits into that.

Also, I get so much joy from reading the bible. What always worked for me was whenever I was dealing with something, I would refer to the bible. I would find what God said about it and make my choices based on The Word. I wanted to live right, so I needed to know what “right” was. And the bible is the manual for a godly life. For example, as a teenager, I was always so angry at certain people. They would make me soooo mad and just the thought of them made me mad. I got tired of being so angry and wanted to know how to deal with it, so I opened my bible. I found James 1:19-20 “Know this my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God”, and Ecclesiastes 7:9, “Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools” and I stopped being angry right there! It’s all about the choices we make.

Once I learned directly from The Word what was good and was not, I begin to learn more on how others actually dealt with things by starting from the beginning. I began reading the bible from Genesis chapter 1. I am still in the process of that and it is amazing how reading through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers how the people of Israel also could not let go of Egypt. They cried out to God of Abraham, of Isaac, and  Jacob to be free from Egypt, but once they were free, they could let go of the practices of Egypt. Remember the golden calf? They had been set free from Egypt, walked across the Red Sea on dry land and still wanted to worship other gods like in Egypt (Exodus 32). But even when they came up to the Red Sea, the people of Israel was ready to go back to Egypt that fast (Exodus 14: 12). They cried again in the wilderness about being hungry (Exodus 16: 2-3) and how they had food in Egypt. In Exodus 17:3, they cried about being taken from Egypt to die of thirst. Moses had gotten fed up by the time he came back with the tablets that had the Ten Commandments on them and he saw the people had built that golden calf and was worshipping it. He threw the tablets down, breaking them because he was so upset with them. God was angry with the people of Israel so much, He was going to wipe them out several times, but because of Moses praying and interceding on their behalf, he spared them. However, God did wipe out a generation of Israel instead of all of them.

But do you realize the wrong perception here? You know the saying the grass is always greener on the other side? Do you know what that means? It means that no matter where you are in your life, you are the type of person that sees everything else as better. You leave one thing because the grass looks greener on the other side, but once you get to the other side, the side you left now looks greener and you want to go back! The people of Israel saw freedom from Egypt as the greener grass, but when they were free and had to deal with this new stuff, Egypt looked greener. No matter what side, the other side always looks greener. But my advice is, stop looking at the other side!!!

The children of Israel were too busy comparing their life in Egypt with their life of freedom that they didn’t even see what God was doing for them! He got them out of Egypt (which is what they wanted), He got them across the Red Sea by parting the waters until they ALL crossed, He fed them from nothing, He quenched their thirst from a rock! He protected them in the wilderness, He protected them in battles. He did all of that just for them! And they couldn’t see it because they were too busy looking at what they thought was greener grass.

We do the same thing! We get saved and look at the sinners and think they are having so much more fun and don’t even realize the God is protecting YOU from that shooting that’s going to happen at that club that you think you want to go to so bad. Let it go! You think you’re missing out on the latest music, but God is protecting you from the sin that the music makes you want to commit. Let it go!

A lot of times, just like the children of Israel, we are just afraid of what’s to come. Salvation may be unfamiliar territory to you and you are scared. This is where your faith has to kick in. You have to believe that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do and just go for it. If you feel a desire to pull out your bible and read, do it. If you feel a need to distance yourself from certain people in order to work on your righteousness, do it. Don’t worry. God’s  got you! And being saved doesn’t mean everything will be smiles and sunshine. We are taught that becoming saved means that everything will now be alright. Yes, it is, but things are going to be hard. But it can go smoothly if you just let go and let God handle it. Let go of the anger. Let go of the hurt. Let go of the sin. Let go of the world.

I am reminded of a scene in “Finding Nemo” (yes, I like cartoons!) where Marlin doesn’t want to let go of the whale’s tongue out of fear because he’s unsure of the outcome. Dori convinces him to let go. This is how we are sometimes. We rather stay in the whale’s mouth crying to get out but then won’t let go of the whale TO get out!

                                                           (Finding Nemo: “Time To Let Go”)

Why are we confessing God, but living a worldly life? The world didn’t die and wouldn’t die for your sins, so why would you choose it over Jesus?

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” Titus 2: 11-23

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your  bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12: 1-2
 

May God Bless You,

Amy M.

Who's Watching You?

What do people see when they look at you? What are you doing when they’re watching you? What are you saying when they’re hearing you???

One reason why we should be mindful of the things we do or say is because others are watching. Not only should our lives be pleasing to and glorifying God, but we should also be examples of Christ to others. How do you think God feels when you’re talking about professing His name and then turn around and start cussing people out on facebook, in the grocery store or in traffic? When you profess His name and say He is your Savior, everything that comes after should line up. We’re not always going to get things right, but that’s when you need to work to get it right. Knowing you’re not always going to get things right is not an excuse to always do things wrong.

It is just amazing what affect your actions have on others when you do finally get things right. Let me give you an example. I had always had road rage real bad since before I was even driving (lol). By the time I was in college, I was so bad at it I would follow people that cut me off just to scare them. Every turn they made, I made too and was right on their tail! I even did this to cops! Pulling out in front of me was obviously a pet peeve of mine! But I was terrible, too. I would yell and scream at people, give them dirty looks, or cut around them and blowing my horn angrily and slam on breaks when I got back in front of them. It was awful. I had a friend with me one night and this person just pulled out in front of me without looking and I STAYED on their tail! My friend began to get scared and she kept telling me to stop, but my anger was fueled and I was determined to teach this person to be a better driver…but wait, aren’t I acting worst than they are??????? Hmmmmm….

I was so angry and had a point to prove and it wasn’t doing anything but making me worst than the people I was upset with and scaring the people around me. It wasn’t cute nor funny. I had to ask God to help me with my anger. One day, I finally got sick of the music I was listening to. It wasn’t me. Never was. I turned the radio off right then and there. After a few weeks, I noticed my road rage was like…GONE! I became more understanding with the other drivers on the road and although they do crazy things that I can’t figure out why, I continue to thank God for keeping me safe and allowing me to respond quickly to get out of the way or avoid being hit. And that’s the thing…it’s all about giving God ALL the glory! Someone cuts you off and you avoid hitting them, “Lord, I thank you for keeping me safe when that car just pulled out! Lord, keep them safe as they continue down the highways!” Ephesians 5:1-21 talks about being imitators of Christ and describes how to do that! The Word tells us how!!

Another friend rode with me recently and I was not even thinking about my driving. I just wanted to make sure we got where we needed to go safely with the help of the Lord!  But she admired my calm driving even when someone had cut us off. And the thing is, I don’t even remember someone cutting us off! I didn’t even realize she was even paying attention to my reactions! (People are watching when you don’t even know it, that’s why you have to make sure you’re in line with the Word even when you’re not thinking about it! It should be your everyday life!) But that moment helped to exemplify God’s love and how it should be in us. Others should be able to look at the body of Christ and feel that they can improve too and see that living the fruits of the Spirit is awesome! It really is! I say all of this just to say, be mindful of what you let in your spirit (music, tv, movies) because it will come out and instead of being angry and upset, thank God for getting you through, that you survived! Be mindful of these things because others are watching you and sometimes just your actions, reactions and just how you live your life is enough to win some hearts over to Christ! So if you believe in Christ and that He is your Savior and you are professing that, then your everyday life needs to show it. Your life needs to produce those fruits. (Galatians 5:22-23)

I am careful about what plays in my car, how I dress, what I say, and how I say things because I don’t want people to be confused because our God is not a god of confusion. When people see and hear me, I don’t want them wondering “is she saved???” They should be able to tell a child of God without that person having to tell them “I’m a child of God!” Your fruits will do all of the talking. That’s why you can say all you want, but your actions are saying something totally different. And people are going to look at your actions and compare them to what comes out of your mouth. If they don’t match up, you’ve just made a liar out of yourself and you’re putting God’s name on it???

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 It’s all about giving ALL the glory to God!!!

Amy M.