I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for the many sweet Birthday wishes I received yesterday. My heart was deeply touched by them. I'm truly blessed to have such wonderful family, friends, and students in my life. Who could ask for anything more?
God bless you on this day and throughout this week! I hope I can be a blessing to each of you! With all my love - and...
In His Love, Cathy
Monday, March 8, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
The Power of Positive Thanksgiving
"Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. " 1 Thessalonians 5:17-19
What is the antidote to a heavy heart? Thankfulness.
It's hard to be thankful when our world seems to be crashing down. As our problems mount, we worry and stress. Our attentions are turned to our circumstances, to our heartache, to our insurmountable problems. We tend to hone in on ourselves, especially in tough times. We assume a fetal position, our difficulties dominating our thoughts and piercing our very souls. From this vantage, we hardly have the strength to do much else. However, it is especially in times like these that our attention should be shifted from ourselves to our magnificent and awe inspiring God. Thankfulness is the key to shifting our attention from 'me' to 'He.'
Paul says we are to be thankful in ALL circumstances - the good, the bad, and the ugly. We don't get to pick and choose when we should be thankful. We are to be thankful ALWAYS. There is power in thankfulness - in recognizing our awesome God and thanking Him for EVERYTHING He has done. In being thankful, we allow the Holy Spirit to do His great work within our hearts. I would even dare to say that when we find it hardest to be thankful, but do so anyway, is when the Holy Spirit does His greatest works in us. Conversely, this passage seems to suggest that when we are not thankful in our circumstances, our lack of thanksgiving actually STIFLES the Holy Spirit within us! Whoa! I certainly never thought of it like this before!
Each day, make time to spend with the Lord in prayer and thanksgiving. Thank Him for all of your blessings and in all of your circumstances. Even if you are at rock bottom, you have a lot more to be thankful for than you know. Examine your heart and your life, making a list of all that God has given. And no matter the circumstance, we all can give thanks for what Jesus did on the cross for us.
So cast off that 'poor me' attitude that flairs up in the midst of troubles. Replace it with positive thanksgiving! We have A LOT to be thankful for - for we who are in Christ are unshakable!
Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. Hebrews 12:28
In His Love, Cathy
Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. " 1 Thessalonians 5:17-19
What is the antidote to a heavy heart? Thankfulness.
It's hard to be thankful when our world seems to be crashing down. As our problems mount, we worry and stress. Our attentions are turned to our circumstances, to our heartache, to our insurmountable problems. We tend to hone in on ourselves, especially in tough times. We assume a fetal position, our difficulties dominating our thoughts and piercing our very souls. From this vantage, we hardly have the strength to do much else. However, it is especially in times like these that our attention should be shifted from ourselves to our magnificent and awe inspiring God. Thankfulness is the key to shifting our attention from 'me' to 'He.'
Paul says we are to be thankful in ALL circumstances - the good, the bad, and the ugly. We don't get to pick and choose when we should be thankful. We are to be thankful ALWAYS. There is power in thankfulness - in recognizing our awesome God and thanking Him for EVERYTHING He has done. In being thankful, we allow the Holy Spirit to do His great work within our hearts. I would even dare to say that when we find it hardest to be thankful, but do so anyway, is when the Holy Spirit does His greatest works in us. Conversely, this passage seems to suggest that when we are not thankful in our circumstances, our lack of thanksgiving actually STIFLES the Holy Spirit within us! Whoa! I certainly never thought of it like this before!
Each day, make time to spend with the Lord in prayer and thanksgiving. Thank Him for all of your blessings and in all of your circumstances. Even if you are at rock bottom, you have a lot more to be thankful for than you know. Examine your heart and your life, making a list of all that God has given. And no matter the circumstance, we all can give thanks for what Jesus did on the cross for us.
So cast off that 'poor me' attitude that flairs up in the midst of troubles. Replace it with positive thanksgiving! We have A LOT to be thankful for - for we who are in Christ are unshakable!
Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. Hebrews 12:28
In His Love, Cathy
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Loving Like Jesus
"Do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!
And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.
"Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate." Luke 6:31-38
We must love like Jesus loves. We must love both the loveable and the unloveable -both the saint and the sinner. Besides, the only difference between a saint and a sinner is forgiveness. If we love only the loveable, then we are no different than sinners. No, we are to love others unconditionally just as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ does. Though others may try to take advantage, we should have a higher perspective on the situation.
I am currently struggling with loving someone who is doing much harm in the lives of many people who are close to me. This person's actions have disrupted a family. There are children involved whose lives have been completely turned upside down due to this person's actions. HRS is now involved. It's a very serious situation. Yet, this person needs Christ more than any other person I know right now. As much as I'd like to write the person off, I can't. This is really tough for me because I'm emotionally tied to those involved. All I really want to do is give the person a piece of my mind and watch them sink in their own sin. However, I know this will accomplish nothing. In addition, there are too many other lives that will suffer if this person suffers. And even more importantly, despite what I think or how I feel about this person, God loves them just as much as He loves me! The only remedy to the situation is for this person to be changed from the inside out. The only person I know who can perform such a miracle is Jesus Christ. I am determined to love this person right into the arms of Christ! So I am choosing to love them and pray for them.
When people come to us for prayer or for help, they may not always be truthful and up front with us, especially non-believers. Their motivation may be rooted in greed, a need for attention, or to get as much out of us as they can. But in other cases, they may have genuine needs. Their lack of honesty may be because they are trying save face or they simply can't deal with the painful truth. As I told a friend today, our purpose is to love them as Jesus did, pray for them, and help without enabling them - taking them at face value at the moment. (Turn the other cheek, right?) That is not to say we should allow people to take advantage, just that they need Christ's love and we are to be the vessel in which His love is displayed.
Loving like Jesus is tough. In some cases, we may just plain out not want to. That's totally understandable. However, God expects us to be more like Christ than the world - and loving others is a big part of it. Otherwise, we are no better off than those who don't know Jesus. Loving the unloveable isn't without it's difficulties. It's no walk in the park. Christ knew this and he indicated how we are to respond - with more love - doing good to them and never expecting anything in return! And sometimes, the love we need to give will be tough love - loving without enabling. That is the position that I and others are having to take in the situation I mentioned earlier.
Just know that when the loving gets tough, the tough get to loving! In Christ, it is possible to love the unloveable.
In His Love, Cathy
And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.
"Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate." Luke 6:31-38
We must love like Jesus loves. We must love both the loveable and the unloveable -both the saint and the sinner. Besides, the only difference between a saint and a sinner is forgiveness. If we love only the loveable, then we are no different than sinners. No, we are to love others unconditionally just as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ does. Though others may try to take advantage, we should have a higher perspective on the situation.
I am currently struggling with loving someone who is doing much harm in the lives of many people who are close to me. This person's actions have disrupted a family. There are children involved whose lives have been completely turned upside down due to this person's actions. HRS is now involved. It's a very serious situation. Yet, this person needs Christ more than any other person I know right now. As much as I'd like to write the person off, I can't. This is really tough for me because I'm emotionally tied to those involved. All I really want to do is give the person a piece of my mind and watch them sink in their own sin. However, I know this will accomplish nothing. In addition, there are too many other lives that will suffer if this person suffers. And even more importantly, despite what I think or how I feel about this person, God loves them just as much as He loves me! The only remedy to the situation is for this person to be changed from the inside out. The only person I know who can perform such a miracle is Jesus Christ. I am determined to love this person right into the arms of Christ! So I am choosing to love them and pray for them.
When people come to us for prayer or for help, they may not always be truthful and up front with us, especially non-believers. Their motivation may be rooted in greed, a need for attention, or to get as much out of us as they can. But in other cases, they may have genuine needs. Their lack of honesty may be because they are trying save face or they simply can't deal with the painful truth. As I told a friend today, our purpose is to love them as Jesus did, pray for them, and help without enabling them - taking them at face value at the moment. (Turn the other cheek, right?) That is not to say we should allow people to take advantage, just that they need Christ's love and we are to be the vessel in which His love is displayed.
Loving like Jesus is tough. In some cases, we may just plain out not want to. That's totally understandable. However, God expects us to be more like Christ than the world - and loving others is a big part of it. Otherwise, we are no better off than those who don't know Jesus. Loving the unloveable isn't without it's difficulties. It's no walk in the park. Christ knew this and he indicated how we are to respond - with more love - doing good to them and never expecting anything in return! And sometimes, the love we need to give will be tough love - loving without enabling. That is the position that I and others are having to take in the situation I mentioned earlier.
Just know that when the loving gets tough, the tough get to loving! In Christ, it is possible to love the unloveable.
In His Love, Cathy
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Freed from Legalism
"So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law." Galatians 5:1
One of the biggest stumbling blocks of my faith has been legalistic ideas and doctrine. In some cases, this legalism was imposed by a particular church I was attending or a group of believers which I was in Sunday School with. I will never forget my experience at one church we attended a long time ago. In my ladies only Sunday School class, I read a passage from my NIV Bible. An awkward silence followed my reading of the passage. It seemed like forever before anyone said a word. To my shock, one lady very nastily pointed out that to read anything but King James Version was blaspheme and that I should never read from the NIV again. I was crushed and hurt. I never volunteered to read ANYTHING again. Nor did I say anything again. In fact, I eventually quit attending this Sunday School class. I didn't really fit in, anyway. I was also the only wife and mother in the group who had a job outside the family. I felt like such an outcast because I didn't fit this church's ideas of what a godly woman should be. Though no where in the church doctrine did they condemn other versions of the Bible nor did their doctrine specifically define the role of women, the legalistic undertones were still very much a part of this church. I even had one older lady tell me that my health issues were judgements from God because I worked outside the home. (Funny thing is, she had 4 children and worked at the church but I guess she didn't think that was the same as me working outside the home.) Feeling like a failure of a Christian wife and mother, I eventually quit attending. Scott continued to attend until we moved because he was employed by the private school ran by this church. This church REQUIRED all of their school staff to attend and serve in THIS church. So he honored his contract until the end of the school year. After this experience, I had such a difficult time committing myself wholly to our next church. I'd been spiritually bullied by this legalistic church and thought deep down that all churches were like this.
Yet I am also guilty of imposing legalistic ideals upong myself - rules of how I thought all good little Christians should behave and act. These standards of Christianity that I had set up in my own mind were so high that they would be impossible for anyone to ever consistently achieve. Yet, I thought others did so I tried as well - and I failed. So I'd beat myself up and chastise myself for my shortcomings. Eventually, I gave up. I was left, yet again, feeling as though I was a failure of a Christian. Now here's the kicker, just this past week I found that I had imposed yet another 'legalistic' standard upon myself. Upon this realization, I immediately gave it to the Lord, asking for His forgiveness and help. As soon as I released this to the LORD, my soul was flooded with such RELIEF and PEACE! I had FINALLY experienced FREEDOM from this binding chain in my life! And, oh, what a difference it has made in my spiritual walk! The burden has been lifted!
Thankfully, as I have matured as a believer (not saying I'm mature - just growing more mature), God has opened my heart and my eyes. I realize now that God doesn't expect me to be perfect. The man-made standards that I thought defined Christianity were nothing more than legalistic hogwash. Legalism can enslave and mislead believers, frustrating their faith and leading them down a path of unfruitfulness - playing right into the hands of the enemy. Please understand, I'm not knocking Biblical doctrine or standards here. I am talking purely man-made legalism. What we fail to realize is that Jesus Christ freed us from legalistic bondage. So if Christ has set us free, why do we put the chains of legalism right back on? A little counter-productive, don't you think? Yet, we do. We are like the Israelites who complained when Moses led them out of Egypt. Once free, they balked at their freedom. They begged to return to Egypt and put the chains of slavery back on. Why? I think it's because they just didn't know any better. It was what they were most familiar with - most comfortable with. That life was predictable and didn't require them to completely rely upon God. Maybe our reasons for returning to the bondage of legalism are simliar.
Paul writes that we who are in Christ no longer live under the law, but under the FREEDOM of GOD's GRACE! (Romans 6:14) He also writes,
"Even that question came up only because of some so-called Christians there—false ones, really —who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations." Galatians 2:4
To live in freedom means that we have responded to the grace of God in our lives. That we yield to His Holy Spirit, who lives within us, guiding us. With Christ's imprint upon our hearts, our natural response should be one of whole-hearted love and obedience. It is this loving obedience that helps us live a life pleasing to God. Because of what Christ did on the cross, we are no longer held to legalistic standards that are humanly impossible to achieve. His BLOOD was the purchase price of our freedom - freedom from sin and death- freedom from the Law that binds. Christ fulfilled the Law. We in no way can ever perfectly fulfill the Law because not a single one of us is perfect. This is the flaw with legalistic doctrine and ideals - they rely on man's ability versus Christ's. But where legalism fails, Christ prevails!
If you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, don't allow anyone to place the chains of legalism upon your faith. Instead, live in spiritual freedom! For where the Spirit of the Lord is, THERE IS FREEDOM!
"But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." 2 Corinthians 3:16-18
Live in His freedom, friends!
In His Love, Cathy
One of the biggest stumbling blocks of my faith has been legalistic ideas and doctrine. In some cases, this legalism was imposed by a particular church I was attending or a group of believers which I was in Sunday School with. I will never forget my experience at one church we attended a long time ago. In my ladies only Sunday School class, I read a passage from my NIV Bible. An awkward silence followed my reading of the passage. It seemed like forever before anyone said a word. To my shock, one lady very nastily pointed out that to read anything but King James Version was blaspheme and that I should never read from the NIV again. I was crushed and hurt. I never volunteered to read ANYTHING again. Nor did I say anything again. In fact, I eventually quit attending this Sunday School class. I didn't really fit in, anyway. I was also the only wife and mother in the group who had a job outside the family. I felt like such an outcast because I didn't fit this church's ideas of what a godly woman should be. Though no where in the church doctrine did they condemn other versions of the Bible nor did their doctrine specifically define the role of women, the legalistic undertones were still very much a part of this church. I even had one older lady tell me that my health issues were judgements from God because I worked outside the home. (Funny thing is, she had 4 children and worked at the church but I guess she didn't think that was the same as me working outside the home.) Feeling like a failure of a Christian wife and mother, I eventually quit attending. Scott continued to attend until we moved because he was employed by the private school ran by this church. This church REQUIRED all of their school staff to attend and serve in THIS church. So he honored his contract until the end of the school year. After this experience, I had such a difficult time committing myself wholly to our next church. I'd been spiritually bullied by this legalistic church and thought deep down that all churches were like this.
Yet I am also guilty of imposing legalistic ideals upong myself - rules of how I thought all good little Christians should behave and act. These standards of Christianity that I had set up in my own mind were so high that they would be impossible for anyone to ever consistently achieve. Yet, I thought others did so I tried as well - and I failed. So I'd beat myself up and chastise myself for my shortcomings. Eventually, I gave up. I was left, yet again, feeling as though I was a failure of a Christian. Now here's the kicker, just this past week I found that I had imposed yet another 'legalistic' standard upon myself. Upon this realization, I immediately gave it to the Lord, asking for His forgiveness and help. As soon as I released this to the LORD, my soul was flooded with such RELIEF and PEACE! I had FINALLY experienced FREEDOM from this binding chain in my life! And, oh, what a difference it has made in my spiritual walk! The burden has been lifted!
Thankfully, as I have matured as a believer (not saying I'm mature - just growing more mature), God has opened my heart and my eyes. I realize now that God doesn't expect me to be perfect. The man-made standards that I thought defined Christianity were nothing more than legalistic hogwash. Legalism can enslave and mislead believers, frustrating their faith and leading them down a path of unfruitfulness - playing right into the hands of the enemy. Please understand, I'm not knocking Biblical doctrine or standards here. I am talking purely man-made legalism. What we fail to realize is that Jesus Christ freed us from legalistic bondage. So if Christ has set us free, why do we put the chains of legalism right back on? A little counter-productive, don't you think? Yet, we do. We are like the Israelites who complained when Moses led them out of Egypt. Once free, they balked at their freedom. They begged to return to Egypt and put the chains of slavery back on. Why? I think it's because they just didn't know any better. It was what they were most familiar with - most comfortable with. That life was predictable and didn't require them to completely rely upon God. Maybe our reasons for returning to the bondage of legalism are simliar.
Paul writes that we who are in Christ no longer live under the law, but under the FREEDOM of GOD's GRACE! (Romans 6:14) He also writes,
"Even that question came up only because of some so-called Christians there—false ones, really —who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations." Galatians 2:4
To live in freedom means that we have responded to the grace of God in our lives. That we yield to His Holy Spirit, who lives within us, guiding us. With Christ's imprint upon our hearts, our natural response should be one of whole-hearted love and obedience. It is this loving obedience that helps us live a life pleasing to God. Because of what Christ did on the cross, we are no longer held to legalistic standards that are humanly impossible to achieve. His BLOOD was the purchase price of our freedom - freedom from sin and death- freedom from the Law that binds. Christ fulfilled the Law. We in no way can ever perfectly fulfill the Law because not a single one of us is perfect. This is the flaw with legalistic doctrine and ideals - they rely on man's ability versus Christ's. But where legalism fails, Christ prevails!
If you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, don't allow anyone to place the chains of legalism upon your faith. Instead, live in spiritual freedom! For where the Spirit of the Lord is, THERE IS FREEDOM!
"But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." 2 Corinthians 3:16-18
Live in His freedom, friends!
In His Love, Cathy
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Are You Contagious?
He told him, "Go back home to your own people, and
report to them how much the Lord has done for you
and how He has had mercy on you." Mark 5:19 (HCSB)
Are you contagious? Let me rephrase that question. Is your faith contagious? Are you infecting others with your faith in Jesus Christ? If not, why not?
This year has been a very strange year for our family healthwise. It seems that we just keep passing the same cold and flu symptoms back and forth to each other. Though we have given our best efforts to minimize the spreading of germs and disease in our home, it still happens. Once one person becomes sick, it's only a matter of time before the rest of us come down with it. We've taken vitamins to ward off colds, we've sterilized our home time and time again. I've tried various herbal remedies that are supposed to speed up recovery or prevent catching a cold altogether. In fact, I believe we've bought so much Clorox and Lysol that we own a small share of these companies! Though we try not to infect each other, we still do. I had such a virulent cold that it developed into pneumonia and bronchitis back in the fall. So Scott quarantined me in our oldest son's room, who was away at college, in order to minimize contaminating others in the family. In fact, at the present, we are all just getting over yet another bad cold. We now have a NEW family motto as a result of this season of sickness - "The family that cares - shares!"
Although being a Christian is not a disease, our faith should be be highly contagious to others! My morning devotion challenged me on this very issue. Bottom line, has your faith in Christ spread to anyone else lately? In other words, has anyone been saved as a result of being infected by your testimony for Jesus Christ? You may have only planted seeds or you may have actually led someone to Christ, but the question remains the same. Or, have you quarantined yourself, restricting contact with others on matters of faith?
Our faith is not really just 'ours.' Our faith is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Once we accept Christ as Lord and Savior, our faith is to spread to others like wildfire! It is not ours to keep to ourselves. C.S. Lewis puts it this way, "Nothing is really ours until we share." Once we are saved, we are members of the family of God. Our motto should then be, "The family that cares - shares!" And this sharing shouldn't be restricted to just those in the family - we need to share our faith with believers and nonbelievers alike. Believers can encourage one another by the sharing of their faith. Nonbelievers can be led to the cross when we share our faith.
Our Christian faith is an active relationship with a loving and saving God. A part of that active relationship is being so 'in love' with our Lord and Savior that we tell others. When I first fell in love with my husband, Scott, I wanted everyone to know of this wonderful man and the love we had for each other. So, I spread the word. Whoever was kind enough to listen to me had to endure my profession of love for Scott. I wanted the world to know that I had found love! In the same way, the natural outflow of our love for Jesus Christ should be to tell others! And in doing so, others might also experience salvation!
We are not to live our faith out conceptually, but contagiously!
I've been challenged today, to live a contagious life for Jesus Christ! Have you?
In His Love, Cathy
Friday, February 26, 2010
Fear
Then He said to them, "Why are you fearful?
Do you still have no faith?" Mark 4:40
What are you fearful of? What is your greatest fear? Is it fear of the future, fear of growing old? Is it fear of failure? Is it a fear of what others think of you? Is it a fear of heights? Is it a fear of the unknown?
Why are you fearful? Did you know, from a psychological standpoint, it is believed that most fears are learned traits and NOT inherited traits? We are taught what to fear. We grow our own fears inside our heads.
Fear of some things can be a good thing, such as fear of the Lord. But that kind of fear is a healthy fear, a sense of respect, love, and awe for a God who is holy and to be honored. Fear for the Lord is like a child who respects, loves, and honors his parents. The child doesn't want to do anything to disappoint his loving parents and so lives in such a way that brings a right relationship between he and them.
The man-made fears, on the other hand, are not healthy. These fears cause unneccessary worry and obsession. They take our focus and mind off of that which truly counts - the Lord, our loved ones, and the blessings in our life. They can paralyze our faith, making us ineffective in our Christian walk.
In the midst of the storm recorded in Mark 4, Jesus and His disciples were on a boat. As Jesus slept, a severe storm arose. The crashing waves tossled their boat. The diciples, seasoned fisherman, became very alarmed and afraid. In their fear, they awoke Jesus and apprised Him of the situation. Jesus' response, "Why are you afraid? Do you not have any faith?" Jesus was saying, "Hey! Don't you know that I got this? Where's your faith, dudes!"
So, I ask you.
What are you afraid of?
Why are you afraid?
Do you not have any faith?
Don't you know that Jesus has got this?
Let go of your fear and worries-trust Christ with them. By hanging on to your fears, your lack of faith in Christ is showing!
What are you afraid of?
Why are you afraid?
Do you not have any faith?
Don't you know that Jesus has got this?
Let go of your fear and worries-trust Christ with them. By hanging on to your fears, your lack of faith in Christ is showing!
Trust God today with every fear and worry that you have. He is your safe place, your shelter, your fortress.
The Lord is my light and my salvation -
whom should I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life -
of whom should I be afraid?
Psalm 27:1
GOD is your LIGHT when you are SCARED of the DARK!
GOD is your eternal SALVATION so there is no need to FEAR the FUTURE! He is always with you!
GOD is your STRONGHOLD so there is no need to FEAR the ATTACKS and TRIALS of this life!
Whom should you be afraid of?
No one... JESUS had GOT THIS!
No one... JESUS had GOT THIS!
In His Love, Cathy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)