How marvelous that God would give his son to save us

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:25)

I think I have talked about this scripture before, because I remember that the name Jesus in Greek means God is help or our savior. As I read this again I think about the people in Moses day when Moses went up into the mountain to speak to the Lord and was given the ten commandments when he came down from the mountain the people said, “Speak thou with us, and we will hear you, but let not God speak with us less we die.” (Exodus 20:19)

I think those people wanted God to stay in his heaven and leave them alone here on this earth He built for us. They would hear the words of men or prophets and heed them or ignore them, but they feared God getting too close. Such was true of the Pharisees at the time of Jesus birth, but for those that believed, what a blessing. How marvelous to think that God loved us enough to descend from his throne in heaven and come down and live among us.  Okay, so I stole some words from one of my favorite songs, but is so wonderful that he should do this for us that we can return and live again with him.        

For God so Loved the world

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beliveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3 :16)

Happy Valentine Day

Hope maketh not ashamed, because the Love of God...

“Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulations worketh patience; and patience, experiences, and experience, hope.  And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Romans 5: 1-5)

Here is the path.

Faith > peace > Jesus Christ > faith, grace, & hope of glory of God  

Tribulations > patience > experiences >  hope

Hope > Love > removes shame > Holy Ghost

By this shall men know

“By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John13:35) This is probably the largest stumbling block in the Lord’s work.

Just because an individual has a firm testimony of Jesus Christ does not mean that any two of you will get along. It is a good thing to have different personality types in presidency, in missionary companionships, even in marriage as well as in the Lord’s church. If we were all the same there would be no growth, no challenge. Many books and classes deals with this subject of relationships, but here is my thoughts on the situation.

What does not work

1.      Placing blame

2.      Getting angry

What does work

1. Accept the individual as they are, and understand that you can only change yourself

2.  Give it to the Lord.

That is the loving thing to do. Try to see the individual as a child of God. Pray and fast saying “Lord, help me to change that I can, see the good in this person, understand the situation, and  accept them as you do.”

 Especially if it is another church member say, “Lord this individual is your servant and it is your church I give the problem to you.”

I have never known this to fail. Saying, “but we have always done things this way just causes problems.” It is the Lords church not yours. Let him handle it.  

Christ said, Without me ye can do nothing

“I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abitheth in me, and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Heavenly Father then would be the root, Christ is the vine, his apostles are the branches and I am just a little twig on one of the branches, but I’m growing. Sometimes we get stunted in our growth for one reason or the other. The problem with most analogies is that they are not true comparisons and this is no exception. If a branch or a twig gets stunted, broken off, too much shade, or so on the twig has no recourse. We on the other hand can choose to accept the gospel or to wander in unclean places.It reminds me of the twelve step program that says we are powerless over our addictions and that only a higher power can help us overcome them.

I think of a recent talk I heard that asked the question, are we acting on or being acted upon. It went into a lot of human nature things that affect marketing. Why we buy the things we do and why we do the things we do (our self defeating behavior.)   Our speaker Joseph Grenny who has written a motivational book called “You Can Change Anything” says we can only control our behavior by “taking control of the things that control us.”  Which goes back to which power are we looking to for help?

I will love them freely

“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away…” (Hosea 14:4) 

Ahh how sweet is forgiveness and healing. Why do we put it off so long and yet it must come when we are ready to change and let go. Why are we so slow to return and be healed?