Posted in Church attendance, Life Inspiration

Are You at His Feet Today?

at His feet

Matthew 19:14

But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Early on in my salvation the Holy Spirit may have gone to bed a few nights saying “Wow! that was quite the workout!” It seemed that minute by minute He was guiding and instructing me in a better way to live and removing 34 years of bad ideas or misnomers of what was acceptable for a Christian to do and not to do. I remember sitting in a revival service one evening when Dr. Norris Belcher preached at our church, feeling as though every thought and sin in my life had been revealed. His sermon hit on everything the Holy Spirit had been dealing with me that day. I ask him when I shook his hand that night “Who opened my heart and allowed you to see in?” I don’t think he understood the magnitude of what had happened to me that night as he preached, but I certainly did. I discovered that sermons were supernatural events where, if you allowed, you could be ushered into the Lord’s presence and the light that shined during that time would illuminate every speck of dirt in your soul, and I loved it.

I wanted Him to show me what was wrong and I wanted to get it right. But not always. Many times I would flick the switch back to the flesh and say I’m not ready. It began during that time of my life that I couldn’t get enough preaching. I listened to preaching like many other Christians listened to music, it stirred my soul in a way it had never known and I couldn’t get enough. Not much has changed, I’m still a preaching fanatic. There’s an old time image of Christ with children all round His feet looking at Him adoringly, that’s how I envision myself during those early years, I sat in awe.

But just as we do in the physical realm, I grew up. I’m not just sitting at the feet of the Savior I’m also teaching as I had been taught; I teach Sunday School, I write and speak at ladies events when given the opportunity. Sometimes I get so busy doing life that I forget to spend time at His feet. I go to church, I take notes, I ponder the Pastor’s thoughts but I don’t always prepare my heart to hear the message as God would like.

As I prepare to go to church today, that is my heart’s desire… I pray the same for you.

Posted in Christian Service, Church attendance, Leadership, Life Inspiration

Parents: Here’s your sword and shield

cross-sword-and-shield-md

Judges 5

The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord.

This post will be so not politically correct, but that’s okay… because it’s biblically correct. My frustration mounts in my community and country daily. I watch as person after person jumps on the bandwagon of politically correct nonsense and even in my little country home, the big city ways have made their way here. What once would have been unfathomable is now happening on the courthouse steps. I’m not a hater… I’m a God fearing woman who reads her bible and knows what the word of God says about homosexuality. It’s a sin. That’s it in a nutshell. So is lying, stealing, coveting, etc., etc., etc.! One is not greater or less than the other. 1 John 1:8 clearly says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” I won’t point my finger at a homosexual population and get on a religious high horse about their sin because I too am a sinner. I will however get on a platform and declare what God says, because He is not a sinner. He is a righteous and just God who will judge all men’s sins for what they are.

I want to arise a mother in West Virginia. (insert your State here)

That’s what Deborah did in her community, she took the reins. Should it have been a man? Yes. But where were they? And I ask in sincerity today, where are the men in our communities. I’m blessed to attend a church that has several men, but there are many absent husbands and fathers there too. There are many men absent in the homes as well. Often it is because of work, especially in our area where there are so many pipelining families and there is little choice for employment. So what then? What about those Dads?

As a mother in West Virginia I suggest you make the most of those few days you have at home and make church a priority without excuse. My own daughters have husbands who are gone much of the time, so I get the reality of trying to make a family work… I too raised my girls with an absentee husband much of the time because of his time in the fire department and EMS in addition to a regular job that consumed 40-60 hours a week. I really do get it. But there must be biblical foundation in your family if you want to be a greater influence than the world. Because right here in our little country community the influence of evil abounds and what we don’t want our children to see as the “norm” has become so.

Our schools spend far more time dealing with the corrupt than rewarding the good. So what has your child’s attention? In verse 8 of Judges 5 it asks the question “was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?” There wasn’t and there’s not a shield or sword in many of the homes in West Virginia, biblically speaking. Parents want good children,  and some do have them go to a christian school, as they are mindful of the education they receive. Then there’s others that argue they don’t have “time” to take their children to church on Sunday. Their influence is what they see happening in the school, on the courthouse steps, in the news and on the television shows that they’re permitted to watch. And then they ask, “Why can’t I get my child to behave.”

Because nobody else that they view is behaving either.

Please, share this with a young parent. And young parent… get that shield and sword out and protect your home.

Posted in Uncategorized

It started with a kiss

kissed hand

Betrayal. A hard pill to swallow, but when its family, Satan seems to find his way into that pool and will splash the water until there’s nothing left. It’s true in family related by blood or family under the blood. Division is his goal and usually begins with a kiss.

II Samuel 15: 5-6

And it was so, that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him.

And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

Absalom wanted his father’s throne but he knew King David’s followers were loyal and an immediate hostile takeover wouldn’t settle well. So he positioned himself between judgment and the King. The church has allowed much the same to happen; the son of disobedience has positioned himself between judgment and the King, and as churches get more and more liberal, desiring to please men, Satan gathers more into his way of thinking and we now have a breach in loyalty.

The Word is Watered

We want a social gospel. One that looks pretty but is without consequence.

2 Timothy 4:3 [Full Chapter]

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

We long to have our egos stroked and leave church feeling as though we can fight hell with a water gun but we don’t want the power of the gospel turned on us. Absalom looked pretty, he had chariots of horses that ran before him and he would stand in the gates and tell men what they wanted to hear, they would exchange pleasantries and before long business acquaintances became his allies and David’s enemies.

America continues to align itself with the world rather than with the Word. We want judgment for everyone else, but we want to judge ourselves. We don’t want preachers telling us how to raise our children, we’d rather give that power to the DHHR because obviously their way works. We don’t want to hear that we need to be in church when the doors are open because the doors to the world are open wider, and the end result is miserable homes and marriages across the country.

Morality is Marred

We’ve allowed government to skew the Word of God. Adolf Hitler said “What luck for the rulers that men do not think.” We’re allowing government to do our thinking for us. If they say their ideas are best for our country, so it is. And yet we’d never tolerate their ideologies in our home…. Yet. Little by little they’re getting a strong hold into the homes of America and adultery, lying and thievery are not “so bad.” Absalom started out with 50 horsemen and for a little while he ended up with a nation. David regained the throne but he lost a son.

It all started with a kiss.

We need to stop kissing up to the world and start getting our homes back on the right track. Hope to see you in church Sunday morning!

Posted in Uncategorized

And you’re upset about noodles… really?

A recent scroll on Facebook had me following a line of comments from “concerned” mothers. If it wasn’t so ridiculous I’d get upset. A posted picture of pasta dyed in food coloring sent parents on a tirade of comments about poor parental food choices, high risk eating and a pleather of insults toward a few moms who just wanted to make lunch a little more fun for their children. And yet…

We’ll let Planned Parenthood into our schools and call it a “choice” that children are old enough and mature enough to make, and yet noodles are worthy of a nationwide uprising. Really?

We’ll let government waste billions of dollars on funding like (If you can believe it!) $175,587 “to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior”. Really? True story!

We’ll allow terrorist into our country and pay them welfare benefits and give them housing, and yet a family is now homeless because they’re unemployment benefits are now exhausted after having paid taxes in America for 30 years. And you’re worried about noodles?

We’ll allow educated people to tell our children that premarital sex is okay, that their opinions matter (so long as it’s not biased by religion) and call porn “artistic expression” and then wonder why marriages fail when it doesn’t live up to the lies Hollyweird has convinced America is truth with their “new normal.”

Oh, I know… I’m on a rant this morning. By the way, God thinks it’s just as ridiculous…

Matthew 23:24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.