Tag: 1 John 1

Posted in Christian Service, Evangelism, Faith, Uncategorized

The Measure & the Mockers of God

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on The Measure & the Mockers of God

 John, the writer of the little Johns, was one of the original 12 Disciples,  having witnessed, walked and withstood the trials of faith in ways I cannot imagine and because of that his words bear weight with me. As does every other word in the scripture being divinely inspired by God Himself and surviving all these centuries with the evil that would have loved to have snuffed it out. While I have felt the Holy Spirit rise up within me, I have never physically touched the Lord, yet I know I am “one who Jesus loves.” I did not sit with Him at the last supper and lay my head on His chest, nor see Him perform miracles in person, but I’ve witnessed it through the Holy Spirit in the lives of people I’ve seen Him work in and through, including myself being a first hand witness of that fact. 

This morning I begin a study for myself of the little Johns. I need focus, so here it is I’ve decided. 

This letter was written between 85-90 A.D., before John was exiled to the island of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation. Jerusalem had been destroyed and Christians were scattered with a declining commitment according to commentary. John’s goal was to encourage the believers to stand strong and true even in the face of extreme persecution and the inability to gather publicly. Hmmm…  sounds vaguely familiar to our modern day issues. Although I won’t say that persecution is the reason for the churches decline. More aptly the reason would be non committed saints, or people who call themselves saints, but they ain’t. 

The Manifestation of God

1 John 1:1-10 KJV

[1] That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; [2] (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 

How absolutely awesome is it to know God?! He Who was “from the beginning.” I don’t think the church as a whole, or most of us individually have any concept of how great that is. I talk a good game, and yet, I forget. Until I read a text like this and then I am reminded, “Oh yeah, God spoke the world outside my window into existence. What! I’m pleased as punch when I create art that remotely looks like it’s supposed to, but God created the originals from nothing. 

Woah…

And then He created mankind to live in this world, and among us He placed

The Ministers of God

Folks like John. And folks like me (unworthy as I am) to share the gospel and remind us all that in this wicked, sin filled world, God has given us joy!

[3] That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. [4] And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 

John is reminding us that God created us for each other and that in that fellowship with God and each other, it is there that our joy would be full! 

Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings and Wednesday nights can’t come soon enough for me. I need my people. Those who are absent because of the virus have no idea how very much they are missed. I’m always running around like a chicken 🐓 with my head cut off, and I fail to let them know. My heart aches as I go down the list of people missing from their normal seat in the church. I’m still there, left side, front row, center isle chair. That’s my spot and it has been for 24 years. But the friends behind me are not. And the friends to the right of me across the isle are not. And so today I write to my friends who read this blog and are not in their seats to say, “I miss you. I love you.” I’m hoping that they’re joy may be full in that wisdom. 

The Measure and the Mockers of God

[5] This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. [6] If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. [8] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

The friends that I speak of know the measure of God. I’ve witnessed the light in their lives. They too have been ministers of the gospel, but for now they’re sidelined and it’s breaking their hearts and mine. The measure of child of God is how brightly the Light of Christ shines in their life. It’s not that they’re perfect; as John said if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. But there is evidence that the cracked vessel for which their soul resides has the Light of God beaming out of it. I’ve witnessed it, they’ve encouraged my soul many times!

And then there are the mockers. Those who walk in darkness pretending to have the Light, but their light is a dim bulb of deception. What’s so very sad about it is they not only deceive themselves into thinking they’re saved, but they deceive the lost into thinking that’s what salvation is. We will all stand accountable before God for what we’ve done in His name. And there will be those who hear “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

So the question for us all today is “What is the Measure of God in us?” If someone were to pour out of us all the God that is evidenced through our lives would it fill a thimble? A cup? A book? Would to God that when I get to Heaven He will show me the pages that the testimony of my faith has been written on. I pray the same is true for you. War on Christian Soldiers! I love you, but more importantly God loves you and He see you where you are.

Posted in Bible Journaling, Life Inspiration

Don’t let the Enemy do a Victory Dance

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on Don’t let the Enemy do a Victory Dance

Below are my notes for Not another Manic Monday published live on Facebook, Monday, October 29th. The video is below the written version. I pray you’ll join me on Mondays at 10 a.m. each week as I share in music and word what the Lord has laid on my heart.  – Shari

Our scripture for today’s devotion is 1 Corinthians 15:57 “But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory though our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I get so tired of hearing the battles that Satan wins in the lives of our people. Not the people who are lost, but those that are saved. He defeats us through deception, discouragement and darkness.

Let’s talk about

The Power of Deception

One of my favorite pieces of journal art is the roaring lion I journaled in 1 Peter 5:8 where the verse reads Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.

You need to underline that in your bible “as a roaring lion. The devil is a faker! Jesus is known as the Lion of Judah. Satan wants to be lion, but he’s not. He walks around making noise, but he can do nothing that the Lord does not ordain. But we often hear the roar, and it stops our dance.

If Satan can incite fear or doubt in you by roaring in your ear that something bad is going to happen, or something good isn’t going to happen, he’ll do it, and we’ll buy it. Why? Because we give him a mane, when he truly doesn’t have anything more than a deceptive Halloween costume.

John 8:44 says that Satan is the father of lies, and yet we listen to him like he’s speaking truth.

He is the great deceiver and every time he makes us believe a lie he does a victory dance that should have been ours.

So what’s he been roaring in your ears. For me, he tells me every day that I’m forever going to be in the position that I’m in financially and physically. That’s my roaring lion.

If when we hear that roar, we’d imagine Satan in a cheap plastic lion mask, the roar would turn into a meow. Because that’s all the power he truly has.

The Power of Discouragement

It looks a lot like the power of deception, but discouragement is in the heart, deception is in the head because we try to reason with logic.  Discouragement, at least for me, is a heart matter. Satan uses the things that I’m passionate about to tear me down.

He’ll do it through other people who will make comments that just cut me to the core. Maybe it’s about my appearance, or my family, or a project that I’m working on and it immediately causes me to want to throw my hands up in defeat.

One of the ways he’s been tearing at me lately is through my grandchildren. Reminding me every day that they are exposed to some of the wicked things that my mind would never have imagined through a nightmare at their age. And their literally seeing it through television, Youtube, friends at school and other means of the media.

I feel powerless and discouraged. This is not a plastic mask demon, this is a real live demon messing in the lives of people I love. So how do I take back the dance that Satan has been dancing with discouragement?

I give them to God believing that He has sent the power of angels to shield and protect my grandchildren.

Hebrews 1:13-14 says “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent for to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

No angel sits on the right hand of God. Jesus Christ sits in that position. But, God, Creator of all has assigned ministering spirits to those who are heirs of salvation. Ha! That’s us!  It only took one angels in 2 Kings 19:35 to kill 185,000 people. I’m pretty sure, my grandchildren’s guardian angel can take care of a few middle schoolers wanting to harm, or infest my grandchildren’s minds with garbage.

I can’t be with them every day, but I can trust that God will provide the protection they need. I have to, else Satan will do a dance every time I worry.

The Power of Darkness

1 John 1:5-7 reads This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.

I witness it every day and would be a liar just like the scripture said if I didn’t acknowledge that good Christian people are exposing themselves to the darkness and pretend that it doesn’t affect them.

I was telling my teen class the other day about a time when the television was called “booger john” because people believed it to be evil. And that was in the days of Leave it to Beaver! Look what our minds are exposed to now. We truly deceive ourselves if we don’t think that everything we allow into our minds doesn’t affect us in either a negative or a positive way.

The news media has filled our minds with fear and deception and we’ve bought it hook line and sinker. We watch shows with sex and violence and those images are seared into our brains to be drawn upon when Satan wants to get our minds off godly things. I was sitting in church yesterday and a television show that I had watched (that’s geared toward children by the way) a marvel hero who, came into my mind, an ungodly scene that I should have never allowed into my mind, and Satan brought it up in church, or I did. I don’t want to give him full credit.

Who ever said the eyes are the windows to the soul, knew what they were talking about.

We have to fill our souls with more light than darkness.

Another quote says that knowledge is power. Well, yes but it needs to be godly knowledge, not all knowledge is good power.

We have to stay in the word of God and to weigh everything we’re told by scripture. Not just the parts we want to believe.

We cannot possibly make it through this life unscathed with just a Sunday service. Not to mention those people who don’t even attend on Sunday’s or they hit and miss. Satan has you in his cross hairs first thing Sunday morning and he’ll be dancing on your head by Tuesday afternoon like a chorus line if you don’t get some more word into you.

I’m glad you joined me today, but don’t let it stop here!

Devour the word this week and keep Satan from devouring you!

Posted in Bible Journaling, Christian Service, Evangelism, Life Inspiration, Life's Failures, Uncategorized

How Crazy is it?

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on How Crazy is it?

The closer I get to Easter, the more my mind reflects on the cross. And the more I reflect on what God did that day the more I have to say that it’s got to be a crazy love that would be willing to do what Jesus did that day. When I look at the world we live in I think to myself “Why on earth would you have saved this wicked and rebellious generation?” For which I am one. I know my heart and how I can turn on a dime toward something sinful and ignore the Holy Spirit within in me that gives me more than enough support not to fall into it. And yet I do. And yet He still loves me. That’s crazy! But what’s crazier than His love is those who fail to accept it.

The Love of Jesus is Without Condemnation

While sin is not ever acceptable it is no less inevitable. 1 John 1:8 says “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” There is a difference between condemnation and conviction. Jesus will not condemn the child of God for the sins they’ve committed. That crazy day on the cross He died to cover every sin ever committed by His children. Is not that a worthy payment? Of course it is. Does that mean we can sin and not understand there should have been a penalty and yet may still be repercussions? Of course not.

If a store is robbed there is an earthly expectation of the penalty that freedom should be lost. If I hurt a friend without regard for them or our friendship I may lose that friend. But when I sin, regardless of the depth of the sin the penalty is paid in the eyes of God, and the relationship is restored the very second I turn to Him. That’s crazy love, but it’s how He works.

Sin is without condemnation but it is not without conviction. The Holy Spirit reveals to the child of God when sin is in the house, we know better. We may still fail but He has given us the power within us not to. If we fall into sin it is our choice.

The Love of Jesus Cannot be without Declaration

Matthew 10:33

But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Professing Christ is more than just saying that you know Him. Satan knows Him. The demons of Hell know Him, but they are not children of God. I knew Him in my head from the time I was a child until 1996. But not until I declared Him as Lord of my life and trusted in Him to save me did I know Him in my heart. It was then that I truly felt the Holy Spirit guiding me and putting that conviction upon me when I wasn’t going in the right direction. It was also when I began to declare my love for Him. Even when the world thought I was crazy.

My friend Doyle Ballengee said it best when he said “Go ahead and call me a fanatic, when you or someone you love gets a bad doctor’s report, you’ll be looking for a fanatic.”

That’s how I feel about my declaration of love for Jesus. Go ahead and say I’m crazy when all I want to do is talk about my Lord and all that He’s done in my life. Because when your life gets turned upside down but this old world, someone as crazy as me can help you set it up aright by showing you how Jesus did that for me.

I know it sounds crazy to the world when I say that Jesus died for me. Because the world wouldn’t give you the time of day if it cost them anything of any magnitude. But Jesus will give you more than you could ever imagine in return for your declaration, acknowledgement of Who He is. God.

The Love of Jesus is Not without Expectation

I can hear the naysayers now, “Oh, there it is. I knew you had to do something.” No, you can sit on your toosh and do absolutely nothing and still make it to Heaven. Jesus paid the price once and for all at the cross. All who accept, believe and declare Him as Lord, that He died on the cross, rose again the third day, and ascended to Heaven to make intercession for you will be saved. But if you want to be all you can be for Christ, and have the reward of His glory, on earth and in Heaven, there is an expectation.

I sat at a table with three friends this past Wednesday, each with their own story of coming to the knowledge of Christ in their lives; four very different people with one common bond…Christ.

  • One came to Christ because she grew tired of being with people, and yet alone.
  • One came to Christ because the religion she had grown up with let her down when she needed it most.
  • One came to Christ when He realized the law wouldn’t save anyone.
  • And this one, me, came to Christ when I realized there was no peace in this world without the Prince of Peace. And “religion” wasn’t the same as a “relationship.”

Each one of us now serve Christ and desire to serve Him greater because He did that crazy thing on the cross.

How crazy was it? He was beat until His body was unrecognizable and said to have looked like hamburger, He was spit upon, and ridiculed, at the height of His pain had a crown of thorns rammed on His head and was mocked as King of the Jews. His earthly mother sat at His feet with her friends and wept for the Son God had allowed her to give birth to. Some of His final words were “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34 in part) That’s crazy because it’s true.

He did that for you. Have you experienced His love? Declare it and share it! He is worthy.

Posted in Christian Service, Evangelism, Life Inspiration

Zero Tolerance Christianity

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on Zero Tolerance Christianity

zero tolerance1

While I will agree there have been behaviors by self-proclaimed Christians that should not be tolerated, I would not tout them as Christian behaviors. Therein lies the difference and a misconception of the world that all Christians are alike. But in all honesty I don’t think the world cares that we’re not alike, it serves their purpose to collectively lump Christians into a group of extremists trying to take over society. And yet we ignore a real group of extremists who have set their minds to violently take over the world and call them a religion of peace… seriously? “Oh but there’s just a few ‘extremist’ in the bunch that give the religion a bad name,” they say, and then those same “theys” will complain because a Christian organization wrote scripture on a cup and gave away hot chocolate on a college campus. Is this a Sunday morning rant? I sure hope not. It’s not my intent to rant, it’s my intent to give you something to ponder about your own toleration.

We have only ourselves to blame for the intolerance in the world, because we (collectively, as they like to judge us) have been tolerate of their intolerance of us. They say we cannot pray in school, and we say “okay.” They say gay marriage is acceptable in the sight of God, and we say “okay.” They say killing babies is not killing because the baby has yet to be born, but a drunk hits a pregnant woman and kills the child and is charged with murder, and we say that that   hypocritical thinking is “okay.” A Muslim religious ritual can be conducted in a public school and it’s “okay,” but we dare not bring a Bible into a classroom. We have a President who has 10 more months to finish his anti-God agenda  and the liberal’s hiss like a snake at conservatives who dare object.

Is it any wonder we’ve become tolerate of our own sin? We’ve certainly accepted everyone else’s. God is viewed by socialistic society as an angry God of judgement because He doesn’t tolerate what destroys society. Sin destroys us from within. America is proof of it. They have not had to fire the first shot on our soil to have us cowering to their way of belief. That same notion that has been accepted nationally now knocks on the door of every home and most open the door and offer it cake and coffee, followed by cake and ice cream for the kids because we want them to grow up being tolerate of intolerance.

All the while there are sects in the Church who are removing the blood from the gospel because it seems harsh and intolerant and the God of the New Testament doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings because he loves everyone and accepts them as they are, even Muslim. Yeah… that’s how far we’ve come.

For the record, Christians are not all the same. There’s still a few of us left who believe the inspired Word of God as it was written and without apology.  The Old and New Testaments explain that God does not change. Old Testament scripture says in Malachi 3:6

For I am the Lord, I change not

New Testament Scripture says in Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

It’s not God who wavers on His word, it’s man. And before we, who have not changed, get on our high horse and shout to the top of our lungs, “preach that!” Because we’ve stood firm on our foundation… have we also stood firm on our foundation personally?

  • What words crossed our lips (or minds) this week?
  • What attitude did we share with friends, coworkers and family?
  • Did we have God’s stamp of approval on every decision?
  • Did we turn away from ungodly images or thoughts?
  • Did we love others as ourselves?
  • Did we tell someone about Jesus?

At what point does God tolerate sin? On our minimal sins or the world’s maximum sin?

Neither. God has no tolerance for tolerance.

Will we sin, yes, we’re human, 1 John 1:8 says “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

But the difference in Christians should be that it’s never tolerated nor accepted. If every Christian in America would get back to that basic belief-ism and stop allowing the double standards that liberalism has placed our country in II Chronicles 7:14 would come to pass. I’m not ready to give up on America…

  • Search yourself and ask God to shine the light on darkness.
  • Never accept sin as an acceptable standard.
  • Pray that Christian Americans will stand up for God’s word.
  • Never stop talking about Jesus.
  • Pray with purpose

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