Just Follow the Word

Last week was a short verse with a ton of meaning.   We ALL need a Savior!   This week’s verse is Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. So who is saved? How are they saved? Does he look at our abilities and save us because we have something he can use to bring himself glory? What things do we have faith in? What is something that you have faith in that never fails? Seriously think and look at the fact that the only thing that saves you and me from eternal life in Hell is the grace of Jesus, and then ask yourself, “How do I respond to this grace in my every day life?” Day 2 Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. Romans 5:1-2  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. If you are a child of God how are you ju...

Romans 3:23 - How was it?  Where did God bring you this week in showing you Romans 3:23?  What did he show you this week?   Did you fall short at all this week?  Did you succeed at all this week? As I looked at these last two questions in light of Romans 3:23 I thought to myself, "Can God glory in my failures and my successes?"  What do you think? I looked back this morning at the verses we traveled to this week and remembered my prayer is for a contrite heart, for a heart of rest and repentance, to remember he holds me by His righteous right hand and says do not be afraid, and the last one...He calls me precious and says I love you!   Once again as I typed the word "precious"  I traveled back to October of 2009 and recalled hearing these words from someone very special who is now in heaven where I will see Him again, and then to think my HEAVENLY Father says them to me everyday...That is a reason to smile EVERYDA...

Good Morning!  We did an overview on Saturday and today we know three things God created the world and said it is very good We know Satan is crafty and made sin look good and still does today We understand that our sinful nature is from Adam and sin continues to crouch at our door BUT we have one who mastered it on the cross. This weeks memory verse is Romans 3:23  "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" It is a short one but with so much meaning that we need to grasp before we can move on to a deeper relationship with Christ.  I think this verse is one I skipped for several years.  I wrote a testimony called "Good Enough" that really does show that this verse was not for me.  I am pretty sure my version of this verse was "You all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."  What about you?  Have you come to an understanding of how far you have fallen short?  We do not like to go here to quick BUT...If we never look ...

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth God saw that all that He had made and said it was very good Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made, he said,  "Did God really say you must not eat  from any the tree in the garden?" If you do what is right will you not be accepted. But if you do not do what is right sin is crouching at your door and it desires to have you but you must master it.  There they are 3 weeks of memory verses.  I can honestly say I have been replaying (trying to) them in my head as I go throughout my days.  I can also honestly say I don't have them to memory yet.  I can also honestly say it does help to try to keep repeated them and maybe I am not getting them 100% right but I can get the meaning of them as I think of them.  How about you?  Has it helped having questions throughout the week to cement the meaning and get them in your heart? This is wha...

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;  it desires to have you, but you must master it. What do you think sin desires to have you means? This morning I woke up and "felt" crabby.  I was recalling some things that happened yesterday and then I began to replay them in my head and then I began this conversation with myself beginning to add fuel to my fire,and then, and then,...I became angry and bothered. It wasn't until I sat down with this verse and read the question did I realize the sin of anger was desiring to have me. If I can just simply realize that when I give into my sinful nature and let it run wild the enemy wins.  Check out Proverbs 1:10-11 today, it encourages us to not let sinners entice you and not to give into them.  Sometimes our attitudes want to entice us sometimes it is others that want to entice us into sin but...we don't have ...

Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;  it desires to have you, but you must master it. This is a hard memory verse or I should say unpopular, and that makes it hard to post and think about for me.  I would rather start right off with all the promises of God and the love of God but the reality is the good news of the saving work of Jesus wouldn't be so good if we didn't begin with the bad news of  our sin... ...I just heard yesterday that salvation is the "beginning" of the good news. God begins a work in us and HE (not us) becomes the ruler of our hearts The question for the day is, "What does sin do in our lives?" "What does repentance do in our lives?"Isaiah 59:2,20    Once again, many of you will have other verses that come into mind as you read this blog.  Some of you will wonder where or what that verse means o...

Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. This verse on its own sound like WE must simply say no to sin and master it and go about our day.  It reminds me why it is soooo important to look at the whole Bible.  We know that Adam and Eve chose the apple and by that action we too are born with a sinful nature.  We also will travel in the Bible to the work of Jesus on the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  But this verse today reminds us that sin is something we will continue to struggle with until Jesus comes again or God takes us home. I have to say that if I would have read this verse 20 years ago I would have heaped a boat load of guilt on myself because "I" do not all the time choose right, and "I" do not master it enough according to my standards...

Day 2 Memory verse – Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made, he said, “Did God really say You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” Take a moment to read Genesis 3:17-24   17 And to the man he said,    “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree       whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,    the ground is cursed because of you.       All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.   18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you,       though you will eat of its grains.   19 By the sweat of your brow       will you have food to eat    until you return to the ground       from which you were made.    For you were made from dust,       and t...

I can honestly say. I start the week with good intentions and ....  I repeat a memory verse on Monday as I go about my day and think about printing it out so it is visible in my bathroom and my kitchen.  The key word is "think" about printing it out.  I am so glad God created EVERYTHING and he called it good.  It was a good reminder how he sees his children through the blood of Jesus making his own white as snow and that IS GOOD!   This week we are going one step further into the good news of Salvation...  I think I will print the verse now verses later (later never seems to come). Day 1 Memory verse – Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made, he said, “Did God really say You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” Take a moment and read what God had told Adam in Genesis 2:15-17   15 The L ord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 B...