The Word of God is Sharper than any Double Edged Sword

           Tonight I can't seem to sleep. I keep thinking the same thought, "The word of God is sharper than any double edged sword..." *1 . {fyi: The references for the verses are at the bottom of the page.) The Word of God is our weapon, and we are in a spiritual battle to the death. Put down your sword, and you're a goner.  When we want to get mad at someone, we need to remember that our anger doesn't produce righteousness.*2 Or when you want to indulge yourself with something that your conscience is saying 'no' to, remember that we are to live our lives in service to one another instead.*4 And that the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.*3 Without the word of God, these things cannot be brought to mind, they cannot bear the fruit needed to live a life that pleases the Lord. And if we aren't pleasing the Lord, then how are we to do His work that so desperately needs done? I would encourage every person who reads this to get out your bible, and pray a prayer similar to this one: 
            Lord, teach me, and make me usable for your kingdom, because I know that the harvest is great and the workers are few. In the power of your name Jesus, help me to let go of those things in my life that I've been clinging to, and won't yield to you. Help me to give all to you, take up my cross daily and follow you, speaking your word as it is given to me, and not being ashamed of you in this ungodly society. In Your Holy Name Jesus, and by your blood you shed for me, Amen. 
            The great commission is what we are called to fulfill.  
Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
            It doesn't say go into all of the world and feed them, or clothe them, or make sure that they have health care. All of that is good, but we as Christians need to get a handle on the fact that presenting Christ to people, and making disciples needs to be our number one priority. Because he will make changes in their lives to help them, through us sometimes, or otherwise. I am a fanatic of taking care of people in true need, but I myself have gotten off track with presenting the word of God to people in love because of peoples need. I ask forgiveness of the Lord, and pray that He will help me, and my family{in Christ} to also be helped in this way.  
            We are all in a battle, and there are actually people dying every day around the world without Jesus. Heaven is real, and so is hell. Lord help us to be serious in our love, and professional in our witness of you and your Word!
Matthew 28:19-20

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

*1  Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

*2  James 1:20

because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

*3  Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

*4  Galatians 5:13

 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your

 freedom

 to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly 

in love. 

These verses were copied from biblegateway.com which is a wonderful 

website where you can type in a phrase and get the reference and full

verse you're looking for. 

                                

                                             

(This is my family who I love so much, my husband, 3 girls, and my son. 

They were standing on a balcony hanging over a steep cliff. It was a little nerve

wracking. I am 

so blessed by them. )

A Wonderful 4th of July

It's my 11th week running now, and I feel like if I ever quit, it would be the worst thing ever! Rascal the rabbit didn't make it. I called the wildlife center, and they said he was doing very badly, so they humanely euthenized him later that day. I think the rabbit did better than if I'd left him there because he was afraid until I got him. Compassion is something that I want to engrain in my children for animals and people. Even though it was just a rabbit, it really affected me. God bless it's little rabbit soul! Anyone who reads this, please pray for my brother who is serving our country overseas. I thank the Lord for him. Even though we're both busy and really don't talk much, I love him very much, and know that the Lord is using him, and with him through it all. My kids are watching Balto right now, so I only have a small window of "thinking time" before it's done. God bless you all, and make sure that the joy of the Lord is your strength today. God bless America, and draw us back to you Lord!!!!!!!!! Amen:)

Please pray for Rascal the rabbit

Good morning! I've been running every morning for 10 weeks now, and this morning I ran into my first crisis. I believe that that Lord puts us into situations where we can do something for him. It helps us, and can help someone else. This morning I was over the half-way mark when I looked to the side of the road and saw a 'teenage' bunny flopping around. About the size of the palm of your hand was missing from its skin on its back with only muscle showing. We're taking him to Brunker's Wildlife Center in a minute. Pray for his recovery!!! God loves his animals too:):)

Good morning, so I just woke up and had an interesting dream. I have a friend at church who will be getting married soon, and my dream was an impromptu wedding where the dress needed to be put together very quickly before she could walk down the aisle. I wound up helping put it together because I sew some, it was very pretty, but I wasn't dressed for the occasion , so I didn't wind up going to the reception or anything. Instead, I went outside and waited with a friend outside of a park, which had tennis courts. I man appeared to me, telling me about a zoo in the clouds that only certain special people were allowed to go to. I was special, and he said that the Lord had sent him. He looked like the kind of guy that had it all together, and very trustworthy. I thought that it was all pretty cool, and asked my friend if she would want to go with me to this zoo. She declined that she really did not want to go. I was shocked at why anyone would not want to go. So I called my mom, and told her about this man, and this offer. She sensed immediately that it wasn't right. She did her usual freak out that she does when she knows that something isn't r right, and being the stubborn daughter I hung up and said I could figure it out myself. I was already to go with the guy, and I told him that I had one last thing to do before we left on our journey. I said, you need to repeat after me. " Jesus is the way, the truth, and the Life. It is by him that we are saved because he is the son of God. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son...." The man began repeating with me, but by the time we got halfway through what I wanted to say, he began to get smaller, and smaller, and eventually disappeared completely. I realized then that the Lord had obviously not sent the guy, and that he was sent as a distraction. Nothing in this world is worth risking getting off the path that God has set for you, because through the work that the Lord gives you to do, lives will be rescued and people will be set free.  Set on the right path, and the Lord will be glorified.  Don't let the cares of the world stop you from being as fruitful as the Lord has for you to be. Look to him in all things.
I thank the Lord for Godly friends, and my mom who are there to speak truth into situations. May the Lord help me to be a light to the truth in all situations.

Beware!

My little pound puppy "Fillie"

Isn't she cute?

   Last night I was reading a little bit in Proverbs before I went to bed. There's always one verse that jumps out at me more than the others. Last night it was this: Proverbs 8:13 "¹³ To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech."
   As Christians (Christ followers) we need to abhor these things. Evil behavior and perverse speech should be obvious no-no's, however our society prods us on to be proud of ourselves, take care of ourselves because we deserve it for all of our hard work. Now I'm not into self loathing, but it's our Lord who takes care of us, and he deserves the praise and honor for all of HIS hard work. The work that we do really doesn't seem as hard when you put it into the Lord's hands before you do it.  I believe that our first priority is giving the Lord honor in every area of our lives, and this is when the deceiver will have no place with us. The deceiver would want to tell you, " Your work is too hard, you can't do it. But if you actually DO complete it then you need to look at yourself in the mirror and pat yourself on the back because you are wonderful and worthy of the praise!!!" See how deceptive? On it's own, it seems so true, and is in a way. But how empty! But if you look at those couple of sentences and replace them with, "Your work is too hard, unless the Lord is in it. And if He's helping you do the work then you thank the Lord and praise Him because he's made you wonderfully out of His goodness, and He is worthy of praise!" We need to inject the praise of our Father into society, and let the Holy Spirit do His work in the midst. Let God be the one to pat you on the back:)

A busy day

     Good morning! Today I have a full day of conquering mount laundry and teaching abc's to my 4 year old who will be taking her kindergarten placement test next week (oh the stress!), and other cleaning and motherly tasks. Before I started my list, I wanted to write this. So I opened my bible, and took some time seeing what the Lord would say to me. I opened to the beginning of Mark, and read for a while. Mark is the action gospel. It's written in a way that the Romans, or gentiles would be interested.  Romans were interested in action, thus the emphasis. I didn't really think much of what I read, as I've read it a lot in my life... I know the stories. But as I started doing the dishes I was thinking about everything that Jesus did. It was all so important. Though the way it is written in Mark, it almost seems boring: he was baptized, he was tempted, he called the disciples, he drove out an evil spirit.... To me it's a little boring this way, but so is my life when I think of it that way!!! She woke up, she made breakfast, she did the dishes, she gave a bath, she fed the dog, she made an appointment. But everything is very important, and you have to see the spirit in it, the love, the importance. 


²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
     
       And so, I pray that today everything that I do would be following Jesus in being "slave" to all(so hard to do). God bless you today in the same way! 

My first blog

Hello, my name is Joan, and I love Jesus:) I have a wonderful husband, 3 girls, and a boy, and a Beagle named Fillie. My mom does a blog ^every day^, so I thought I might do one too, because the Lord gives me insights on things sometimes that could be useful to others, and maybe to you. I don't write a whole lot, but here goes!

I was thinking what I would write if I were to do one today, so I opened my bible to the end of Mark, which was where it was open because we'd read the crucifixion and resurrection with the kids in bible study this week. I read Mark 16: 15-18, which is Jesus talking *(here it is for a refresher for you)

Mark 16:15-18

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

When I got to the part about drinking the deadly poison and not being hurt, I looked to the bottom of the page where they give notes on the verse, and it said that there was no occurrence of drinking deadly poison found in the New Testament. This jumped off the page at me and I really saw the Holy Spirit in it, because this is scriptural proof that the Holy Spirit is not done working in people now. Though I know this for myself through personal experience, maybe to someone this scripture could open a light on the subject.
I'll try to write on here as often as I can. May the Lord use me:) Also, I pray that the Lord blesses you with peace, and a joyful heart in Him.