Created in His image

Good Morning Friends!  Totally HIS Thursday!!!!  Recently, a good friend of mine has been in a real funk.  Now, this isn’t real unusual for her, but this time the funk seems to be lingering and leading her to places, in her mind, that are not good for her.  She is important to me, so this really upsets me, I just want her to feel good from the inside out.  I pray for her all the time and try to encourage and uplift her, but she is just stuck in a bad place….yesterday she told me, “I am bad.”  Wow, that hit me hard….criticizing herself to the point of saying she is bad.  I immediately told her…”NO, you are not bad, you are good!”  She replied, “I am not good.”  As I stopped to send up another prayer for her, the thought came to me……She is God’s child, a child of our Heavenly Father, HE made her…..”For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  Psalm 139: 13-14.  Wow friends, when we pick on ourselves we are criticizing our Heavenly Father….That really hurts to think that when I moan about my big nose, short legs, flabby belly I am telling our Father, He messed up…..Let’s look at it from Genesis 1:27…”So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.”  How about that…..we, you and me, were created by God in His image….Shame on us for criticizing not only ourselves, but others too….shame on us….Our Father wants us to Praise HIM….HE made us because HE loves us and HE wants us to love others like we love ourselves!  So, before we start picking others or ourselves apart, let’s stop and remember where we came from and then offer up a big thank you and Praise HIM for our fantastic bodies!  Now, when I say fantastic I don’t meant that we are all in perfect shape….nope we still have a responsibility there to try and eat right and get plenty of exercise….because….”do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?....therefore honor God with our body.”  1 Corinthians 6:19.  We honor God by taking good of ourselves and helping out our friends in a funk!  Father, forgive us when we want to criticize, helps us to remember we are Yours.  Enable us to take good care of what You give us and to honor you by reaching out to others when they need a lift!

Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.  Psalm 42:11.  Do to others as you would have them do to you.  Luke 6:31.  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13. 

Love you all!

"Dressing for Jesus": I Peter 3:3-5

Good Morning Friends!  Thankfully His, Tuesday!!  I have had so much fun the last few days going through 2 big bags of awesome hand-me-downs!!!!  I am so blessed to have a special friend that shares with me and there’s always plenty for me to share too!  Well anyway, back to the point….what fun going through all the clothes, trying them on, figuring out what I have to go with them, picking the right accessories, checking out the final product in the mirror and heading out proudly to show them off….Ugh…did I just say, “show them off?”  Well, you know the feeling don’t you…looking in the mirror with your new duds on and thinking….Hmmm, don’t look half bad.  Well wouldn’t you know as I sat down to spend some time with our Father in word and prayer, He directed me to 1 Peter 3:3-5, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. (ouch).”  Gosh that kind of hit me where it hurts as I thought of the outfit I had laid out to wear to work…all excited about sporting my new duds…..Of course, God wants us to look nice…He always wants us to do our very best at everything….but He really doesn’t care what we look like on the outside….1 Peter continues, “Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. “  Now, of course God loves the giving/gift of hand-me-downs….the giver is blessed by our Heavenly Father for her sharing spirit and the receiver blessed with new clothes and both blessed with the joy of a loving friendship.  However, our Heavenly Father does not want us to spend more time dressing our outside bodies than our inside, our hearts, our spirits….God says to us in Galatians 3:26-29, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”  If we are clothed in Christ….it doesn’t matter what we wear!  We are all the same in God’s eyes…..and Paul has the best advice for us in Romans 13 when he says, “…clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”  Just think how warm we will be from the inside out, clothed in Jesus’ love.  Father, forgive us when our priorities get out of whack.  Help us to dress our hearts and minds with the love of Christ, to Your glory!  And Father, thank you for the blessing of loving friends that share in so many ways….and thank you for hand-me-downs. 

 

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.  1 Samuel 16:7.  Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  Proverbs 31:30.

Love you all!

December 20, 2012

Good Afternoon (I was in class this morning) Friends! Thankfully His, Thursday! This morning, not far into my commute I saw….well smelled first, a skunk that had been run over…..Once I got over the smell, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the skunk was….shiny black coat with the bright white stripe….so very pretty to look at….but the smell, oh my goodness. As I drove by him, I had a silly thought…..I look like a skunk today…..all dressed in black and white…sure hope I don’t smell as bad as he does…..Well, my mind didn’t stop there….skunks are so pretty to look at, but they smell so bad and they will eat my chicken’s eggs and even kill the chickens…..so pretty to look at, but……not so pretty in so many ways…..Hmm….didn’t I just say I look like a skunk today…..Do we look prettier on the outside than what’s inside of us, inside our hearts and minds? Do we put off an offensive odor of arrogance, greed, or unconcern? Are we more concerned about putting up the biggest tree, elaborate decorations, and buying the fanciest presents, so that we “look pretty” rather than sharing simple acts of love…..Christmas is the greatest LOVE….God gave us HIS Son…..He does not care about how pretty we look on the outside…..He cares about what’s inside….inside our hearts and minds…..He wants us to ooze with the sweet fragrance of His love penetrating the hearts and minds of everyone around us, especially those that might be sad or lonely, hurting….in need of a sweet little Christmas miracle….a touch of love from our Heavenly Father from the inside! Heavenly Father fill us with Your love and faithfulness so that we are pretty for You on the inside.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that our your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gently and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. 1 Peter 3:3-5. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7. A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones. Proverbs 15:30. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun....Psalm 37:4-6

 

Love you all!