Posted in Faith, Fear

No New Thing🤐

I woke up this morning with an attitude of disdain for the day. I told my husband David, I’m hateful as the dickens this morning. Hopefully so that he’d understand, forewarned is forearmed.  In other words “Don’t mess with me right now.” To which he quipped as I’d expect, some smart aleck comment. We both both laughed and went on with our day. After 40 years, there’s not much new here. There’s not much new in the world. As a matter of fact, there’s nothing new in the world…

Ecclesiastes 1:9

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

“Did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurred to God.” I love that quote.  And yet I seem more like the Athenians lately when Luke said of them in Acts 17:21

(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.”)

If truth be told, it’s Glenn Beck’s fault that I’m not in good humor this morning. Prior to going to sleep last night I watched his special “Election Hijacking: How the Left is Ensuring Your Vote Doesn’t Count.” It was the news on the Democrat attempt (and scary success) to derail the election through theft and fraud. Not a good bed time story to say the least. Praise God for Pew Prayer. That’s where I start going through the pews of the church with my minds eye, praying for people to keep my mind from going into the darkness of the night. God is faithful! But it still didn’t stop my mind from thinking about that special last night when I woke up. We really are what we feed ourselves. I’m a Lemon filled Krispy Kreme donut and a hot mess! I had that too while I watched Glenn Beck 😋

Like the Athenians I’m always looking for the next new thing. And believe me! The world has plenty to tell you. But it’s not new. It’s the same old trick of Satan, just on a new generation. And one closer to the return of Jesus Christ, so Satan has upped his game.  But it’s still not new. His goal for the believer is to steal the one thing we all desire. Peace. 

John 14:25-31 KJVS

[25] These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. [26] But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. [27] Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. [28] Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. [29] And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. [30] Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. [31] But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

Jesus was telling His friends that He was going away. No wonder they were worried. They did not have the wisdom we are afforded from this side of the cross. They were fighting religious persecution and political struggles for power and were considered the enemy of the day. Hmmm. Perhaps if you’re a conservative you can identify. … no new thing…🙄

It’s why watching a show like last night upset my heart, because I don’t understand how to share that information with people, and not be called a conspiracy theorist like Glenn Beck. There’s one big problem with that, it’s not a theory. It’s an evidenced fact. News broke yesterday on  another Biden lie about him not having anything to do with his son’s Ukrainian business deals, a story filled with sex, drugs and treason behavior, and yet, the main stream media isn’t going to cover it, and the world knows it and isn’t going to care, because they hate President Trump more than a lie. …no new thing…

But upon reading the words of our Lord, I discovered not a new thing, but something I needed reminded of yet again, which is why Jesus said in verse 26, He sent the Comforter to bring all things to remembrance that we might have Peace! Glory to God that’s just what I need. I’m not supposed to be troubled or afraid because the prince of this world (Satan) has nothing in Christ. No Thing.  No sin, no hold, no power! Nothing! And guess what… I’m in Christ!

In Christ there is only good things. 

Philemon 1:8

That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. 

This world is for certain filled with a lot of bad things. They’re driving me to the brink of 🤪 crazy. But God has given me this platform of communication for the purpose of sharing, not the bad news, but the reality of the good things we have in Christ Jesus. We have peace that the world cannot feel. We have hope that the world cannot see. And we have a future that many in the world will not experience unless they profess Christ as Lord, and leave this world behind. 

I need to be less like the Athenians; “looking for a new tale to tell”. But rather tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. No New Thing.

Posted in Bible Journaling, Christian Service, Evangelism, Faith, Leadership, Life Inspiration, Word of God

My Jesus Agenda

When I tell people that it’s a struggle to stay focused, I’m not sure they understand the depth of the struggle. I can start out with the greatest of intentions of writing a blog, 3 minutes later I’m writing a song, but before it’s done I’ve thought of a media banner, or an instagram post, or perhaps there’s a load of laundry calling my name. Or like now… the beds unmade and it’s bothering me. I kid you not. And that’s not a random occurrence of a thought pattern. That’s every day, all day. I struggle. When I wasn’t working (in the secular world), I laminated a list of daily chores to keep me on track. But now my chore list just has to get done the best it can because my at home hours are less. Which has been another burden on my soul. The ministry work has suffered so I can pay bills. Bills I created… ugh. Well, that’s depressing. So this blog thought has been a few days in the making. In the midst of all that hoopla that I just mentioned I’ve lost five of the ten chickens we just bought to a dumb racoon, and had to coon proof my coop. Which took two days of serious labor, but its done and the coon was live trapped last night. The same coon I was ready to knock in the head myself, but this morning when I looked at it’s cute little face in the trap, I made David take it to work with him and let it loose by the river bank. I’m too tender hearted. 

Wow…. that’s a lot of info. Welcome to my world.

Now, for My Jesus Agenda. It’s a three point agenda as mentioned in the artwork above. The first of which is to:

Speak Jesus with Clarity

It’s seems to be an issue the world has a problem with right now. We have to speak Jesus in a round about way that won’t offend their poor little souls. The same souls that are headed down the path to Hell on a wide road. But nobody’s worried about that. Well except me. And thousands of other ministry people who try their best to speak the word of God clearly and correctly. But the trouble is.  There are far more in the ministry catering to this world and not speaking speaking the Word of God with enough truth so that they can understand salvation. Which is sad, because the plan of Salvation isn’t complex! Neither is knowing how to live after salvation if you read and study the word of God. But we’re not raising Christians to feel the need to study on their own. They want someone to spoon feed them the gospel one day a week, (if that)  and then when they are fed, to make sure it’s not any rougher consistency than mashed potatoes so they don’t struggle to swallow. 

Wow, I feel like I may have just unloaded my wagon on you. 

Clarity is my goal, so I guess I’m not mincing words or mashing potatoes today. Rather than getting caught up in any theological debate, I just want to tell you about Jesus. From Genesis to Revelation, I want to help the world (and myself) know the God of all Creation, and the God Who is coming to take us home, better. 

Agenda point number 2:

Stand Firm in His Authority

Another struggle I have is remembering that it’s not my words I’m speaking. It’s the Word of God. And if people don’t like it, that’s their problem. 

I was listening (again) to the Glenn Beck program on BlazeTV and he spoke to Dennis Prager, the founder of Prager University, an online information source. prageru.com. Lots of great content on it. But during the interview, Mr. Prager said of the 10  commandments, regarding the 3rd of which is “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,” that it means in Hebrew “to carry the name of the Lord.” In your life, how do you represent God? That gave me a serious think time on the law, and a deeper gratitude for grace. But in the process of his defining of the deeper meaning, there was a point when I, who’s think tank is much more shallow than Mr. Pragers, was grateful for the lesser amount of knowledge that I have. Mr. Prager said that there are those who in religion teach the commandments, they teach the third commandment as meaning saying OMG is the unpardonable sin. Well, of course it’s not. The unpardonable sin is not accepting Jesus Christ as Savior. And while I’m grateful for the wisdom he imparted to me about “carrying” the name of the Lord, nothing ever justifies speaking irreverently the Lord’s name. When people cuss, they’re not always taking the Lord’s name in vain, I don’t necessarily think they’re headed to Hell, but it sure doesn’t make me think of Heaven.  That’s why I started the “stop the cussing campaign, that I need to get back at. But for now there’s a far greater evil in the world than a few cuss words I’m not comfortable hearing. 

Our people are going to Hell. And partly because God’s people don’t take our job of being “Christian” serious. 

Mr. Prager is Jewish. He is well versed on countless religions, but knowing religion doesn’t mean you know Jesus. I know Jesus. And that makes me a lot smarter than a lot of really intelligent people. It also makes me a lot more powerful than a lot of people. You too. But are we walking in the wisdom that the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ is upon us? Good question right?

Agenda point number 3:

Serve the Lord with Gladness

Psalm 100:2

Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 

King David was not the apple of God’s eye without reason. He loved the Lord, He communed with the Lord, He sought the wisdom of the Lord and He worshipped the Lord. Serving God was not a part of His life, it was His life. He was human, he made mistakes, but when He was in tune with God, He was a happy man. 

That’s the secret, although it’s not really a secret, to the success of a child of God, be it in the secular world or the spiritual world. Be in tune with God. My happiest days are days that His word encourages my soul and His Spirit fills me up to overflowing. My saddest days are the days when I let the world consume my thoughts and turn the Spirit off like a water faucet. Remember my focus issues. Yep. How many happy days and how many sad days do you think I have. If I’m honest, I have way more sad days than I should. Because this world and all it’s chaos has gotten my mind off the Jesus Agenda. 

Time to make a new list of daily priorities. 

How about you? What’s on your Agenda?