Tag Archive | God

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

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

Christmas Day!!!

Dec25

At the end of your Christmas day will you be able to say:

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. — Luke 1:47

The real reason for our celebration.

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

Tell, Praise, Worship

Dec22

Tell everyone of every nation,

“Praise the glorious power
    of the Lord.
He is wonderful! Praise him
and bring an offering
    into his temple.
Worship the Lord,
    majestic and holy.
1 Chronicles 16:28-29

Go tell it on the mountain, Jesus Christ is born. Come let us adore Him. Worthy of worship. Worthy of praise. Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God. Majesty, worship His majesty.

Hope your Christmas is filled with Jesus. May His name be spoken in your homes. May He be proclaimed in your neighborhood, church and workplace. May your one small voice make a difference to a dying world this Christmas. Christmas is Jesus, the Christ (Messiah) who came to save. Celebrate His marvelous gift!

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Scriptures. Daily?

Dec21

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men. — Acts 17:11-12

The power of the Word of God. Want to see God more clearly, love Him more dearly? Receive the Word eagerly and study it DAILY to see that God is true.

Do you desire for others to believe in God? Give the Word of God. Read the Word of God to others — especially your children, grandchildren, etc. God’s Word is powerful enough to span multiple generations, multiple ethnic groups, multiple social classes and multiple whatever. God’s Word is powerful and stands on its own. We are privileged to be a part of God’s plan to share His Word. To God be the glory!!!

I hope the Word of God is part of your Christmas and a very important part of your daily life.

God bless your day.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Jesus Is Coming

Dec20

Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” — Acts 17:30-31

Are you ready to receive the King of kings? He came once to bring salvation and redemption. The time is now to repent. When Jesus returns it will be for judgment. Do you know Jesus? He is the righteousness by which you will judged. Know Him and be saved from eternal condemnation.

Christians can truly rejoice at Christmas time knowing Jesus is the Christ. Christians can continue to rejoice because of the righteousness poured out on them by the blood of Jesus. Christians rejoice knowing that Jesus is coming again. O glorious day!

Are you ready?

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Fire

Dec19

To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” — Isaiah 61:3

December 19, 2000. A day like any other day. Rising up getting ready for work, kids out the door to the sitter, drive to work. Well not exactly a day like any other because of extenuating circumstances I did have to make arrangements for my children to be picked up after their half day of school.

My oldest son, the extenuating circumstance, stayed home that day from school. Around noon he called me saying he had a headache. I told him to take some headache medication and call me back in a little bit if it didn’t go away.

No further phone call until 330 in the afternoon from my neighbor down the street. She happened to have my phone number from when she used to babysit my two little ones before they were even in school. This was very unusual for her to be calling me especially at work. The information she would share with me would catapult our family into a series of events that would change our lives forever.

Sharon, your house is on fire. There are fire trucks out in front of your house. My response was “Where is my son”? No one had seen him. . .

Of course I immediately headed home . I left a message at my husband’s job because he was not yet there to tell him that our house was on fire and I was headed home. He tells the story that when he got there he thought the guys were just playing a joke on him. They had to get really serious with him to convince him that that was the truth. (Understand, this was also before everyone owned cell phones).

The drive home which lasted about 30 minutes was the longest 30 minutes of my life. All the way home I just kept praying about my son and hoping that he was not in the house fire. I arrived in our cul-de-sac to find almost every neighbor out in front of the house. The one thing that I really focused on the most was the face of my son standing out there also. The Lord truly blessed me at that one moment. It was the best Christmas present I could receive, seeing the eyes and face of my son standing before me knowing he was not in the house.

Losing everything really puts into perspective what’s important in life. God showed me that day that material things are fleeting but the love of family and the help of friends and church family are far beyond any material treasure. A good insurance company is always a good thing too.

Let me point out some of the things that showed me that God was in complete control of all that happened. Remember, that my son called me at 12 o’clock. The clock on the stove stopped at 12:30. I truly believe that my son’s headache was probably from smoke inhalation. In my sons disobedient stage he left the house soon after he called me. The fire was not even reported until 3:00 PM when my neighbor came home and noticed the flames coming out of the roof. The fire had been smoldering for awhile (remember the clock stopped at 1230).

God bless my neighbor who called the fire department and tried to get in the house knowing that my children are usually home from school at that hour. Another God intervention. My children, the two youngest were at my Pastor’s house.

My husband arrived and so did our insurance agent with a check for 2000 dollars. They made arrangements for a hotel for us for that night and then arranged the hotel that we stayed at until the arrangements for our apartment were made.

Having lost everything our church family and some neighbors pulled together and gave us a Christmas we will never forget. I told my kids that Christmas presents were going to be a little slim but God saw it differently.

He took care of us, blessed us tremendously and we will never look at life the same. He taught us that tragedy may come but we are never alone in it. He is still in the midst of every detail. And I saw that the things of this earth cannot compare to having Jesus. He is worth it all.

Trust me when I say God turned our ashes into beauty.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon