Spring Chicken

This morning I helped my aunt downstairs to watch Kenneth Copeland.
She has always liked Kenneth Copeland.

The TV in her room is small and I figured we could watch together
on the larger set in our family room.

Kenneth was not on but his wife. The message was about speaking
positive scripture instead of negatives about your life.

Isa 40:31 but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be
weary; they shall walk, and not faint.


So here sits my 83 year old aunt, lung cancer, leukemia, dementia,
beginning stages of alzhimers(sp?).. Praying strength, running,
and mounting up as eagle wings.

When we got back to her room a little later she had forgotten
the message and began to tell me what an old bitty she was.

I looked at her and said..Remember the message this morning.

She said ..Oh yeah..I'm a spring chicken ready to hatch.

We both laughed so hard.. There were tears.

Help

There are a lot of good help issues concerning elderly care on the net.

My aunt is eating well but she mashes all her food to pulp. I am wondering if I should buy her baby food..lol.

Humble

The hospice nurse came yesterday.

I don't believe I have ever met such a humble person as my aunt's hospice nurse (Pat). She got down on her knees and clipped my aunts toenails.

Mat 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Other thoughts- I have much to learn. I have to learn to monitor blood pressure and be timely with medication. Pat told me that she was called as a hospice nurse because of caring for her mother through lung cancer. She said it was the hardest yet most rewarding thing she had ever done.

I understand her comment.

Thank you Lord.

Interesting Week

It has been an interesting week for me.

I have an aging aunt that has been confirmed with cancer and some dementia. She will be living with me for a while.

What was so interesting was the legal processes one needs to consider. One need not spend a large legal fee to set up Power of Attorney for an aging family member. You can go directly to the courthouse and obtain a general form to fill out. Have the aging family member sign the form at the courthouse and record it all at once.

She does need some protection because the dementia has her giving away her assets to anyone that speaks a kind word to her.

It was so funny..She gave her car to my brother-in-law. A couple of days later she gave her car to my sister. Then later she gave her car to me..Telling me.."hon you can have that car and I gave others one just like it."

Thank goodness none of us would harm her in taking the car. It will need to be sold and the money used toward some of her care needs.

Thank the Lord, He never leaves us. I will probably be needing as much care as she, just in different ways. I'm counting on you Lord.

Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

Praise God! Thank you Lord.

Creation and Fall of Man

The next lesson can be found at-

Creation and Fall of Man

Adam was innocent before God giving him laws.

Then God delivered one law-

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

(Gen 2:16-17)

Through Adam's disobedience to this law, sin entered the world.
The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).

Sin means to miss the mark. It means we are not reflecting God's character. We have all missed that mark. God also considers our hearts however so that in reality we could appear to miss but still please God if the miss was done from a proper heart perspective.

1Co 4:5 Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.

If however we do very well but with a wrong heart He could be very displeased.

Isa 14:13 And thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.

(my own notes..not sure about this since the Lord in our heart would never try and make us like the most high? I thought that was describing satan?)

Hiding Self

Isa 28:15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

Very often we try and hide ourselves. Hide our true thoughts..Hide our true agendas.

God knows every inch however.

There is an important biblical issue with not hiding oneself I often refer to.

Joh 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

Why did Jesus see Nathanael as an Israelite?

He saw him that way because Nathanael made no pretence. Nathanael spoke things as he thought them.

Joh 1:46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.

"Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? "

Nathanael was speaking about our Lord here.

"Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? "

He made no pretence to imagine anything but what he thought.

The Lord saw this as honorable. He was a true Israelite.

My thoughts may be raw..But I will tell you they are true.

The Lord would tell you the same.

I won't try and hide myself ever again...Not from myself..Or from the world..

But especially..I will never again try and hide from my Lord.

If it makes me unacceptable to society so be it. I have found it makes me free in Christ.

Under falsehood have we hid ourselves.

On Tempting God

On Tempting God

Mat 4:5 Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set
him on the pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6 and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself
down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning
thee: and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest haply thou
dash thy foot against a stone.

Any time one purposely places himself in a place of danger they are
tempting God. This danger can be physical or mental...it makes
no difference.

Mat 4:7 Jesus said unto him, Again it is written,
Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God.

Much like cults in our area that pick up snakes. Yes, the Lord
told us no serpent or drink would harm us. He did not however
tell us to go out looking for snakes to pick up or deadly toxic
drinks to ingest.

Mar 16:17 And these signs shall accompany them that believe:
in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new
tongues;
Mar 16:18 they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the
sick, and they shall recover.

If that little voice in your head tells you get out of a place..
then you need to get out if possible. The only way staying
in places of danger (mental or physical) is not tempting God, would
be if you are in prison or bondage to that place.

Many people are in bondage to places and situations. This
does not mean that everyone is in bondage to that same place.

Sure...Cast yourself off that cliff! You won't find me following
after.

The Apostle's Curriculum

The next lesson "The Apostle's Curriculum" can be found at -

The Apostle's Curriculum

"Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach."

(Mark 3:14)

The Lord does wish us to witness. His Holy Spirit gives us power to witness.

Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

We must be aquainted with God's Word, His Bible, and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us as we read His Word.

Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

(Luke 24:44-45)

The Lord Himself must open our understanding to scripture.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

(2 Tim 2:15)

Begin to emulate the life of our Lord and the apostles as they sought to not only fill their minds, but to live out what they were learning through trials and faith.

Do not be controlled by your past but learn from it.

The goal is to grow in Christ through edification and love for one another.

We Should All Love To Learn

I love to learn. Because of this longing to learn that the Lord has placed on my heart I have decided to try and follow along with the following Discipleship course posting my thoughts as I go. We will see where it leads. If you would like to do the same you can start at the following link.

Love, Sue

Pulpit of The Last Days

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ."
(1 John 5:20)

I am not sure I agree that Christians have not learned the basics of focus on Christ alone. But I do agree that true hearted Christians are drawn to unity in Christ.

". . . till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . ."

(Eph 4:13)

The Holy Spirit is our teacher and comparing spiritual with spiritual is not the way of the world. We will continue in order as time and the Lord permits.

1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words.

Put Off The Old Man

Col 2:13 And you, being dead through your trespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together
with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses;
Col 2:14 having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was
against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out that
way, nailing it to the cross;
Col 2:15 having despoiled the principalities and the powers, he made
a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in
respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day:
Col 2:17 which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is
Christ's.
Col 2:18 Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility
and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he hath
seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Col 2:19 and not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being
supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increasing
with the increase of God.


All written ordinances are blotted out against us. The principalities
and powers are spoiled and we can no longer be judged according
to respect of days or food or sabbath.

Hold fast the head child. Jesus Christ.

Put off the old man and his deeds child.


Rom 6:5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness
of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection;
Rom 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that
the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be
in bondage to sin;
Rom 6:7 for he that hath died is justified from sin.




He meets our needs child.

Eph 3:16 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his
glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit
in the inward man;
Eph 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the
end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and height and depth,
Eph 3:19 and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge,
that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.
Eph 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Eph 3:21 unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto
all generations for ever and ever. Amen.

Unwaivering

I remain unwaivering in that one need not remain in abusive,
manipulative, cultlike churches.

Women need not even remain in abusive marriages.

1Co 7:10 But unto the married I give charge, yea not I,
but the Lord, That the wife depart not from her husband
1Co 7:11 (but should she depart, let her remain unmarried,
or else be reconciled to her husband); and that the husband
leave not his wife.

Of course she should not divorce and remarry...but the Lord calls us
to peace.

Peace is impossible among abusive, manipulative war mongerers.

Notes

Contrasts in heaven / hell

Joh 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so,
I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again,
and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may
be also.

Luk 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me,
and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water,
and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.

heaven-perfect
hell-torment and anguish

The unsaved and unclean will be shut out of heaven

Rev 21:27 and there shall in no wise enter into it anything
unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie:
but only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Sin is a terrible and ugly thing. God loves men and paid a
ultimate price to reconcile us.

If we were to spend only 5 minutes in hell how would it affect us?
Probably like the following..

Luk 16:27 And he said, I pray thee therefore, father,
that thou wouldest send him to my father's house;
Luk 16:28 for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them,
lest they also come into this place of torment.

We would wish no one to come into the torment of hell.

There is nothing funny about hell. We should have a heart to take
others with us to heaven through Christ and saved from the torment
of hell.

Hell was not designed for man but for devils and demons. Christ came
to draw men unto Him to be saved.

Joh 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince
of this world be cast out.
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto myself.

In the Lord we are blessed.

Rev 14:13 And I heard the voice from heaven saying,
Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth:
yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors;
for their works follow with them.

Truly Grace and Mercy

When we consider how being inheritors of the curse, Our loving Father would choose us in Christ for His good pleasure to be a peculiar people...To be His people.

To be chosen from the ranks of God's enemy, to be loved and called out of darkness.

And not only called out but to be kept by God's power.

Having our minds renewed with the washing of His Word.

That is truly grace and mercy.

I usually hate chain email

I usually hate chain email but a dear friend sent me the following and being for a good cause I thought I would post it here.


The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on "donating a mammogram" for free (pink window in the middle). This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising. Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know. http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Lead With Love

Exo 15:13 Thou in thy lovingkindness hast led the people that thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation.

The Lord leads His people with love. He guides His redeemed and He never changes.