Temptation is temptation…it may have many different faces, and it may be something completely different for you as it is for me. But regardless, Satan uses enticement on everyone, everyday, hoping to cause us to fall. The Lord however, will not allow us to be entangled in sin beyond what we can handle…and in doing so, will also give us an “out”. This may be as simple as saying “No”, or walking away, or just standing there, doing nothing. God is faithful…He will always do His part…so the next time you’re lured in by sin, look for His “out.”
Author: kezha1
A Christian mother, grandmother, and retired nurse living in Illinois. Called into a ministry of encouraging others to find their ultimate plan and purpose in life through Christ.
Isaiah 66: 13 “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you…”
On this Mother’s Day I wish all Mothers a wonderful day. But this day may also hold for you many different and conflicting emotions… if your Mother has passed, it may be a very sad and melancholy time. Please accept my heartfelt sympathy for your loss, and try to focus on the tender memories you have of her. If your Mother wasn’t the best person in the world, and you struggle with her short-comings…forgive and move on. We can be responsible to someone, but not responsible for them. Finally, one of the most remarkable things I discovered in my many years of managing Alzheimer’s facilities, is that as the person spirals down in the disease process, they would start wandering and “looking” for their Mother…even if they themselves were in their 90″s, they’d still be looking for that comfort only found in their Mother…May you also find that comfort today.
Psalm 119: 10-11 ” I seek You with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.”
My Grandma was a real stickler about memorizing Bible verses. From the time we were little girls, she would bribe us with quarters to memorize scripture. I can still remember getting 50 cents for reciting the 23rd Psalm for her. I marvel at people who can quote chapter and verse at the drop of a hat…but I also know that once you read the Word of God, you may not be able to recite it back, but the essence of that Word has been planted and established in your heart. And from that time on, it’s there for the Lord to bring up to your remembrance. He can use it to remind you of the correct path to take when temptation is calling…He can use it to comfort you, when the world has turned it’s back on you…and He can use it to tell you just how much He loves you.
Revelation 3: 15-16 ” I know you deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of My mouth.”
Lukewarm Christianity is like a very limp handshake…it’s there, but not very effective. The Lord has some harsh words about lukewarm Christians…He’d rather have us totally cold towards the Gospel, than to ruin it with our mediocrity. Sometimes it just takes remembering our first love, to reignite that zeal and spiritual fervor we once had to serve Him.
Esther 4:14 ” And who knows but that you have come to Royal position for such a time as this? “
Queen Esther was exactly where God wanted her to be, at exactly the right time, to save the entire Jewish nation. We never know when the Lord will place us in just the right spot to serve Him…even sometimes being totally oblivious to the fact that He is using us at all… until much later. But the point to remember is that God will accomplish His purpose on His terms, not ours…and He will and can use anything, and any person to do it.
Acts 15:11 “No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved just as they are.”
The most wondrous thing about coming to Jesus is that we don’t have to do anything but accept His unearned and unmerited grace. We don’t have to get to a certain point of “goodness” in our lives, or do a certain amount of “good works” before He’ll accept us…No, rather, as the old familiar hymn goes, “Just as I am, I come.” It is truly by grace we have been saved…the only thing we have to do is say…Yes.
I Samuel 15:22 ” But Samuel replied: ‘Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams.’ “
The Old Testament Prophet Samuel had told King Saul that God wanted the Israelites to go to battle against the Amalekites and completely destroy and annihilate them and everything they owned…but Saul and his men disobeyed and brought back the best livestock, which Saul tried to justify, by saying they were going to “sacrifice them to the Lord”. God’s reasoning behind the total destruction of a people group and everything they owned was, first… obedience, and secondly, to remove the lure towards idolatry by decimating the source. What the Lord wants more than anything from us is a relationship with Him…not a religious act.
Hebrews 1:3 ” The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word.”
Another beautiful word for radiance is effulgence…God’s splendor was emitted through Jesus, showing us a perfect expression of God’s Divine essence. In John this is spoken about…Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” And John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Lord came to uphold all things by the strength of His spoken Word. Jesus was fully divine…and fully human, giving us just a glimpse at what our Heavenly Father was like.
Proverbs 21:9 ” Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.”
Elsewhere in Proverbs it’s written, ” The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” Constant angry nagging, strife and conscientiousness will wear anyone down to the point they just need some peace and quiet…and maybe the writer of this Proverb found it on the roof! But it doesn’t say much for the wife left down below to simmer in her wrath. And it surely doesn’t say much about the home-life for children who have to grown up in that type of toxic environment.
Numbers 22:23 ” When the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in His hand , she turned off the road into a field.”
Balaam was a Pagan Prophet, whose name meant devourer or glutton, who God chose to use. As he traveled on donkey-back, three times the Angel of the Lord stood in the middle of the road with a drawn sword, and three times his trusty little donkey turned away from the oncoming danger…and each time Balaam beat her for what he perceived was misbehavior. It wasn’t until she just lay down in the road that Balaam went berserk, beating her with his staff. At that moment, the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth and she spoke, reminding him that she had never behaved like this before…and then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he finally saw what she had been protecting him from all along. The Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “If she had not turned away, I would have certainly killed you by now, but I would have spared her.” It’s hilarious to think that the little donkey was far more righteous than Balaam in God’s eyes!
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