Archive | December 2014

Remember And Hope

Dec31

Psalm 33 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

33 Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming to the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.
3 Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
And all His work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And by the breath of His mouth all their host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap;
He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9 For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.
10 The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations;
He frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

13 The Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men;
14 From His dwelling place He looks out
On all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 He who fashions the hearts of them all,
He who understands all their works.
16 The king is not saved by a mighty army;
A warrior is not delivered by great strength.
17 A horse is a false hope for victory;
Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.

18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
19 To deliver their soul from death
And to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name.
22 Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,
According as we have hoped in You.

As we leave behind 2014, remember the great things God has done, the greatest of which was Jesus. We just celebrated the birth of our Lord six days ago and now we look forward to 2015 with hope for what lies ahead. What greater hope can we possibly have than the hope we have in Jesus. May your New Year be filled with the hope found only in Jesus Christ.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Blessed Be

Dec30

Thus says the Lord,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the Lord.
“For he will be like a bush in the desert
And will not see when prosperity comes,
But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
A land of salt without inhabitant.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
And whose trust is the Lord.
“For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit. — Jeremiah 17:5-8

Where will you place your trust in the coming year? What will your harvest be this time next year? The choice is yours. Cursing or blessing.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Hope And Justice

Dec29

So there is no justice among us,
    and we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find only darkness.
    We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
We grope like the blind along a wall,
    feeling our way like people without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime,
    we stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living,
    we are like the dead.
We growl like hungry bears;
    we moan like mournful doves.
We look for justice, but it never comes.
    We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
For our sins are piled up before God
    and testify against us.
    Yes, we know what sinners we are.
We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord.
    We have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and oppressive we have been,
    carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14 Our courts oppose the righteous,
    and justice is nowhere to be found.
Truth stumbles in the streets,
    and honesty has been outlawed.
15 Yes, truth is gone,
    and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.

The Lord looked and was displeased
    to find there was no justice.
He was amazed to see that no one intervened
    to help the oppressed.
So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm,
    and his justice sustained him.
He put on righteousness as his body armor
    and placed the helmet of salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance
    and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
18 He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds.
    His fury will fall on his foes.
    He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
In the west, people will respect the name of the Lord;
    in the east, they will glorify him.
For he will come like a raging flood tide
    driven by the breath of the Lord.

“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem
    to buy back those in Israel
who have turned from their sins,”
    says the Lord. — Isaiah 59:9-20 NLT

Things really have not changed since this was written in the book of Isaiah. God sent His Son. Seek Him and repent (confess and turn from your sin). Our only hope is Jesus Christ.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

New Year Resolutions, Part 2

Dec28

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; — Hebrews 10:23

Yesterday’s post offered a resolution for 2015. Today we see why we can keep that resolution. Because He, Jesus, is faithful.

So hold fast to the hope of Christ. He will be faithful to lead you, teach you, and guide you as you read His Word, draw near to Him and confess Him. The fruit of your hope in Christ is that you will find confessing Him before others becomes easy because your heart is so full of Jesus it can’t help but overflow, out of your mouth, for others to hear.

May God bless your New Year by His faithfulness.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Draw Near To God

Dec28

A wonderful message for the New Year.

Redbird's Roost

“Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.” Hebrews 10:22 (NASB)
We are to draw near “with a sincere heart” — that is, with a dedicated heart, willing to be obedient to God in every respect; a heart ready to hear the Word and anxious to obey it — not in outward rituals and programs of the service, but in true worship in the spirit.
God desires worship and praise from a sincere heart. To the Samaritan woman Jesus said, “God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). We are invited to draw near with a sincere heart — and thus we can come to God “in full assurance of faith.”
It is true that we have weaknesses and we know our own unworthiness; but the confidence of the believer is in the worthiness of Christ…

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New Year’s Resolution

Dec27

The fear of the Lord prolongs life,
But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
The hope of the righteous is gladness,
But the expectation of the wicked perishes.
The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright,
But ruin to the workers of iniquity. — Proverbs 10:27-29

Time to make those New Year resolutions.

Don’t we go into a new year with expectations of how things will be different from the year we are finishing? What happened to last year’s resolutions? How long did they last?

Well here is a resolution that will change your new year forever. Fear the Lord and hope in Him. As New Year expectations crumble for some, your hope will turn to gladness. Choosing the way of the Lord will be your stronghold so your New Year’s resolution will be one that, at this time next year, as you look back over the past year you will see the handiwork of God all over it.

Let your New Year’s resolution be to choose Jesus and follow Him. Dust off your Bible and read it. Talk to God everyday. I truly believe a heart that resolves to seek God will not be disappointed.

Jesus is a hopeful resolution.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

 

Birth Announcement

Dec26

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” — Matthew 1:23

He’s arrived!!! Have you met Him? He is with us!!!! Don’t enter a another year without Him. Come meet the Savior. He’s waiting to enter your heart.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Mary Christmas

Dec24

Hope you have a Mary Christmas — no that is not a typo. It is easy to see how you can have a Merry Christmas with all the joyous music and holiday parties. But even with all that so many find this time to be a downer.  Why? Because they are not having a Mary Christmas.

In Luke 10:38 – 42 Mary sat at the feet of Jesus focusing on Him (the reason for the season) while Martha was hustling and bustling about. So my hope is that you will have a Mary Christmas which will bring to you peace for the season.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” — Luke 10:38-42

Holiday Attitudes

Dec23

A wonderful reminder, especially at Christmas time, when that attitude is highly tested. Working retail, in the midst of increased traffic and the corner store you frequent all year is now wall to wall people rushing, I needed a reminder, really an attitude adjustment, to be Christ-like. Especially in forgiveness. Merry Christmas and may your attitude be that of CHRISTmas.

Life Project Blog

1114 075

 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Colossians 3:12-14

It’s only a few days until Christmas now and the Christmas spirit is abroad in the land…

When I was 10 years old, I knew what that was, but as I get older and older, I’m not so sure.  I used to think it was a kind of joy, mixed with anticipation and general excitement, but as an adult all of that faded.  Oh, I look forward to the day simply because it involves being with loved ones and having a “fancy” meal, not because it was Christmas.  If anything, for my adult self…

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