Faith

God’s will is abundant life (John 10:10). God’s Word is spirit and life. The presence of God in your life, your marriage, and your family should be obvious. Life, peace, joy, love, and faith are His very nature. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63) As we feed on His Word, we will see His life in our spirits, souls, and bodies. The Spirit of the Word carries the nature and life of God. Faith is an outflow of His life (Gal. 2:20). Letting His Word abide in our hearts is health to our flesh (Prov. 4:20-22) When we value our fellowship with God, there will be signs of His presence in our lives. His joy, peace and love will be seen. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Ps. 16:11) The knowledge of God will give us wisdom and understanding. Confusion indicates that we are independent from Him. God’s will is always life and increase. Our lives should be full, long, and prosperous because the life of God is in us. (Psalm 115:14-15)

It is true that I don't pay attention to many things in life. I guess I'm just too busy to notice everything.

I stepped outside, walking down the length of the porch. Something caught my eye. I had written about an amazing spider web, a few weeks, ago. Now, I was shocked to see that; it was completely demolished. I felt sorry for the spider. Even though, I sincerely dislike spiders. I just hated to see, all of her hard work destroyed.

How you see God is going to determine how you approach life, how you see yourself, and what your possibilities are. As I observe believers who are doing well, and those who are struggling, it is easy to see the reasons for both. Our perception of God and our attitude toward Him is the key to that unlocks blessings or attracts hardships. David, despite his failings, had a foundational approach to God that marked his life. When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me. (Ps. 56:9) David had a conviction that God was for him. Do you? This is the determining factor in your life and future. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, the Lord replied that He would show him His goodness. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth” (Ex. 34:6) Why did the Lord choose to reveal His goodness and not His justice, holiness, or wrath? He was giving Moses a foundation on which to carry out his mission. In the same way, we need a revelation of God’s abounding goodness if we are going to have a chance in this fallen world. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. (Ps. 103:8) Until we can understand God’s abounding goodness and mercy, we will struggle with the religious ideas of works, sacrifice, sins, and guilt. Every day when we awake, we should be able to smile and know that in spite of the challenges of the day, God is for us and His goodness and mercy are abounding to us.

The Gracious Mistress Of The Parsonage asked me a question this past week. 'Well, my dear, have you come up with a new hobby yet?' I've been retired for about four years.

Life has its many ups and downs. There are some weeks when there are more downs than ups.

Today, October first is my husband’s birthday. It is never an easy day, for me. Will I cry? Probably. Will I think about him all day long? Yes. But, I choose to remember all of those good years; we had together.

A little clock in a jeweler's window in a certain midwestern town stopped one day for half an hour, at fifteen minutes till nine. School children, noticing the time, stopped to play; people hurrying to the train, looking at the clock, began to walk leisurely; professional men, after a look at the clock, stopped to talk with each other for a minute. Working men and women noted the time and lingered a little longer in the sunshine, and all were a half an hour late because one small clock stopped. Never had these people known how much they had depended upon that clock till it had led them astray. Many are unconsciously depending upon the influence of Christians; you may think that you have no influence, but you cannot go wrong in one little act without leading others astray.