Sanctify Yourself

 

Sanctify Yourself

I Thessalonians 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus.”

Sanctify = to make free from sin, to purify (Webster Dictionary)

In the day of Moses, no one could enter the temple if they had any scars, disease, or deformity. When Jesus came, He healed most of the people who had these issues and were sanctified to go into the temple. Today, God focus’ more on the heart than our outward appearances. Here is a litmus test to go by: 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you?”

1.     Do you believe in the Word of God, in Jesus Christ who died for you?

2.     Do you have a heart of obedience?

3.     Do you have a heart of compassion and love for others?

4.     Do you have a heart of trust and faith in giving all your cares over to Jesus?

5.     Do you have a heart of prayer daily, of gratitude and thankfulness to Him who has given you all that you have?

I Samuel 16:5 “I am come to sacrifice to the Lord, sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” When we come to the Lord to worship Him, no matter where we are, we must strive to come to Him purified. God be with you while you work with God to purify your mind, body, soul and spirit.

For more posts like this, go to: https://sherrysouthard.blogspot.com.Please read the scriptures listed, study them, apply them to your life and grow in the saving relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior.

Priorities

 

Priorities

Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

In today’s world priorities don’t seem to matter. People tend to live in haphazard ways. Some may put their jobs first and neglect their family and faith. This will only cause chaos in their life. Spouses complain that they are not home enough, or they are neglecting the children. Others put their family first and say they work their job to support the family for food and clothing. If the family is first they may tend to spend most of their time in sports or traveling together. That is wonderful, but who gave us this family? Who really does the supporting? Shouldn’t we show our appreciation to the one that makes it all happen? God gives us 24 hours in a day, how much of it do we spend praising Him and giving thanks to Him. If our top priority is not God who provides our every need and gives us our families, then everything will suffer because of our lack of appreciation to God. Let us put God first, family second and job next, all else after that. “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

For more posts like this, go to: https://sherrysouthard.blogspot.com.Please read the scriptures listed, study them, apply them to your life and grow in the saving relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior.

 

The Blame Game

 

The Blame Game

“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave of the tree, and I ate.” Genesis 3:15. Everyone who has read the Bible knows about that dreaded first sin where Adam ate of the fruit of the tree and blamed his wife. Then Eve turns around and blames the serpent. Did the blame stop there? No, we have been blaming each other from the beginning of time. How many times do struggles come our way and instead of looking to our self we look around for someone to blame? There are so many things that can go awry in our lives and unless we seek to know the cause of it, within our own sphere of being, we will become miserable and make everyone around us miserable. Have we not figured out that what problems arise in our lives are usually brought about by our own doings? Blaming others does not solve our problems, it only escalates into more problems. In 2 Corinthians 13:5 it says to: “Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves. We must look deep into our life on a daily basis. We must recognize our faults, admit our faults and carry them to God. Only He can help us overcome our faults. Blaming others does not ease our pain, cover our sins, or give us rest. Look to God for guidance and direction, forgive those around you and ask for forgiveness for those whom you have blamed. Then read I Corinthians 13:4-8 “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; love bears all things, endures all things, Love never fails.”

For more posts like this, go to: https://sherrysouthard.blogspot.com.Please read the scriptures listed, study them, apply them to your life and grow in the saving relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior.

The Lies We Believe continued

 

The Lies We Believe continued

Lie # 5 “It is my Christian duty to meet all the needs of others.” Sometimes we work so hard to please God and other people that we may suffer from an emotional burnout. We try so hard that we cannot carry on the Ministry God called us to do. We are not called to do it all, only our part.

Lie # 6 “A good Christian doesn’t feel, angry, Anxious or depressed.” Even Jesus Himself felt these emotions. They are not a sign of weak faith. Many times, we stuff these emotions deep within us until finally they spew forth in abundance. It is better to experience the emotion intended for the experience than to hold it all in just to explode later.

Lie #7 “God can’t use me unless I’m spiritually strong.” God can use us at anytime and anyplace whenever He wants. It helps if we are honest about our weaknesses and struggles and share our experiences with those who can benefit from them. God always takes the bad and turns it into good. He can use us!

How to defeat the Lies we believe. Dr. Chris Thurman tells us: to openly rebuke lies. He calls them thought stoppers. Secondly, he suggests memorizing scripture and meditating on them. Thirdly, he suggests not thinking about doing this but doing it!

For more posts like this, go to: https://sherrysouthard.blogspot.com.

The Lies We Believe

 

The Lies We Believe

By Dr. Chris Thurman

Lie #1. “God’s Love must be earned.” Not true, God loves us unconditionally. When we fail, He lifts us up. When we fail, we don't need to run and hide, we only need to ask God for forgiveness, and He forgives. God's love is unchanging. It's always there.

Lie #2 “God hates the sin and the Sinner.” When a person believes this, they tend to hate their self. They feel God is punishing them. therefore, they punish themselves. God doesn't work that way. Like the woman at the well, he merely says, “go and sin no more.” He wants us to move on with our life, He forgot our past and so should we.

Lie #3 “because I am a Christian, God will protect me from pain and suffering.” Have you not heard that it rains on the just and the unjust? To believe this lie only leads to confusion and mistrust in our God when things do go bad in our life. God gave us free will, he gave us choices and sometimes, we make the wrong ones and things turn sour. Other times we are faced with difficulties merely strengthening our character. We are not exempt from pain and suffering just because we are Christians. God knows too well that we need continuous learning experiences.

Lie #4 “all my problems are caused by my sins.” Remember the story about the blind man. When others questioned who sinned to make him blind. Jesus answered, neither, but this happened so that the work should be revealed in him. If we indeed have sinned which brought on a problem, then we need to deal with it but if the problem is a result of someone's sin or no sin at all then we need to let ourselves off the hook and solve the problems as best we can.

There are four more lies I will address in my next post. For more posts like this, go to: https://sherrysouthard.blogspot.com.Please read the scriptures listed, study them, apply them to your life and grow in the saving relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior.

Trust in the Lord

 

Trust in The Lord

One of the biggest struggles with the children of God is trust. Mark 12:30 says, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. He isn’t telling us to love Him only on Sundays or while reading the Bible. He’s telling us to love Him every minute, every second of the day. He’s not telling us that we should only give Him the part that feels good inside, but He wants us to love Him in our weaknesses and strengths. He doesn’t want to be excluded from any part of our life. He doesn’t want us to invite Him into our homes and tell Him the bedroom and closets are off limits. God doesn’t want us to limit Him in any way. He wants us totally.

So, how do we trust Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength? Do we dare show Him our bad habits, our weaknesses and failure while knowing He already knows? Do we trust Him only when we are happy and healthy? What about our illnesses, can we trust Him to be our great Physician? Mark 10:27b “with God all things are possible.” Mark 8:34-35 “whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. Forever whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

The cross we bear could be an addiction, a bad attitude, a terminal illness, a bad relationship. Each of us has a cross to bear and Jesus tells us to take it up and follow Him. We must take our burdens to Him and lay them at His feet. No man or woman can do for us as Jesus can. Psalm 118:9 “it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in man.” It is hard to trust God and totally love Him when there is so much suffering surrounding us, but God doesn’t expect us to understand the “why’s of things, He just tells us in Proverbs 3:5 to trust Him and not lean upon our own understanding. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity.”

For more posts like this, go to: https://sherrysouthard.blogspot.com.Please read the scriptures listed, study them, apply them to your life and grow in the saving relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior.

Handling Change

 

Handling Change

In this day there are so many changes taking place. How do we handle these changes? The following post is copied from the “In Touch” magazine by Dr. Charles Stanley:

None of us like having our plans changed by others, especially if the alteration is not what we want. But how should we react when the Lord directs our lives down a path we didn’t anticipate? Knowing God’s character and purposes helps us trust His wisdom- even when we don’t understand or like what He is doing. Our response is extremely important. While we can’t thwart His work by refusing to cooperate, any stubborn resistance or negative attitude will hinder our fruitfulness, usefulness, and spiritual growth.

Who is the Lord? God is sovereign, and He does whatever He pleases in heaven and on earth. Psalm 135:5-6 He knows the future and will accomplish His good pleasure. Isaiah 46:9-10. The Lord is gracious, compassionate, and patient. Exodus 34:6 God is for us, not against us. ?  Romans 8:31 What are His purposes The Lord’s plans were formed long ago in perfect faithfulness. Isaiah 25:1 He may nullify human strategies, but His own purposes will be accomplished. Psalm 39:10-11 God’s plans give hope and are for our welfare – not calamity. Jeremiah 29:11 He alone knows when trials are necessary to produce faith in us. I Peter 1:6-7 When He allows suffering, His goal for us is “an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 How should we handle change? Hold your plans loosely and leave room for God to adjust them. James 4:13-16 Commit to the Lord everything you do.  Proverbs 16:1-3 When God closes a door of opportunity, remain watchful for another to open somewhere else. Acts 16:6-11 Always keep an eternal perspective. 2 Corinthians 4:18

For more posts like this, go to: https://sherrysouthard.blogspot.com.Please read the scriptures listed, study them, apply them to your life and grow in the saving relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior.