Our Sunday service was similiar in message, as was the evening service. Now this, among other blogs I've drifted to today, as well as my devotional time.
God is just so subtle sometimes. Like a big loud bang right behind your shoulder waiting on you to pay attention finally.
No, His Message...nor His Chosen Messengers...has been lost on my deaf and dumb ears.
Firstly, I need to make an apology to my Anonymous Commenter...for, among other things, playing instigator and enticing you further with a rebuttal to your comment. You shared your view and whether or not we are in any sort of agreement, your view is your own and we do still have a few precious freedoms in this country, speech is one of them. I do not need to agree with everyone I visit, nor do they need agree with me to visit here. What a seriously dull life that would make.
There are basics we most often can agree upon and that is where the common ground must be found.
I was wrong to defend (though that is really not the most fitting term for what I was doing) what I viewed at the time as an attack of disagreement with my own attack in return. It was certainly not playing the role of Christ on any level and I apologize for the attack.
I made mention before about not being a censorship Czar on my blog, and I do not generally say things that I later ignore. I am an honest, sincere and open-book kind of person. What I share is all too often hastily filled with the emotions of the time, but that is not an excuse for ill behavior at all. Very often -- ask anyone who truly knows me as they will be nodding like crazy right now -- all that hasty emotion comes out with an incredible amount of NO TACT.
Our stand on raising our children has not changed. There are many layers to parenting and the choices one makes. My blog can only reflect the choices we personally have made. Agree or disagree, they are our choices based on the understanding of Scripture we have seen up to this point in time.
We do not serve a dead and buried God as so many religions do. That Living God has Graciously and beyond Mercy afforded us a share in His Knowledge and in His Understanding...and He takes the time everyday to show us even more if we listen closely enough. He is Living so I can continue to grow and be refined and perfected daily toward His Expectations.
Because He Lives, I have the chance to do things differently according to His Grace and Mercy. And I have the chance to daily begin again as the ladies at YCLF shared in this posting:
Young Ladies Christian Fellowship
by Alice W.
The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
-Lamentations 3:22, 23
Every day is a new day. Each sunrise is a fresh start and a renewed opportunity to begin again. It is a time to learn from the mistakes of yesterday and with Christ's help move on from them as we take a step closer to being transformed into His likeness.
Sadly, however, so many of us are too caught up in the regrets and happenings of yesterday, or the worries and fears for tomorrow. We allow our pasts to torment us and our looming futures to scare us. As a result, we often miss out on our gift of the present.
Jesus does not want us to be bound up or afraid. He came to set us free from captivity. Every wrong that we have committed, or will commit, He died so that it can be forgiven and forgotten by His blood shed at the cross. When we give our lives to Jesus, He forgives us and takes our wrongs away and carries them upon Himself.
He made a way for us to be set free from sin, so we would not have to be tormented anymore, because we could be forgiven.
Psalm 103:12 states, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He put our sins from us."
Another thing that prevents us from enjoying today is the prospect of tomorrow.
In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus tells us not to be afraid. He is all-knowing. He knows the future; it is in His hands. What will it gain us to worry about days that have not yet come to be, and things that may or may not happen?
We need to live in today. In the midst of it all, past, present and future, there is a timeless God, Who holds it all together. Brother Yun says in his book, The Heavenly Man, "I do not know what the future holds but I do know Who holds my future." We need to let go and surrender our yesterdays and tomorrows to the Lord and focus on living for Jesus and serving Him today.
Today is a new day. Let's take advantage of it and live it for the Lord.
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