Agree with your adversary quickly or it will not go well.

1Corinthians 6:7 "The very fact you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already.  Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?  8 Instead you yourselves cheat and do wrong and you do this to your brothers."    This reminds me of when I went through divorce.    My worse behavior came out during that time.  I came out with venom against someone I loved.  It’s a point of my life I am ashamed of.    I have been divorced twice, both times I called myself a Christian and acted as a raging fool.  During one divorce I  read a verse that said, “ solve your disputes among yourselves quickly  or you will be taken to the judge and be judged harshly. “ ( something like this; see Matthew 5:25 and Luke 11:58). I remember the verse hitting me like a ton of bricks and then i ignored it and pushed,   with venom, in the court system.    It did not turn out well for me.    That’s what happens when we react with a “get even” spirit.  It is far better not to take offense in the first place and solve our disputes quickly in love.  Two lessons I learned from this; 1.  Don’t take offense in the first place.  Practice constant forgiveness.   2.   If God highlights a Bible verse for you, Don’t ignore it!!    I hope this helps you today live a life in Love, forgiveness, thanksgiving and attention to the word of God.

Matthew 5:25

“Settle matters quickly with your adversarywho is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversarymay hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.

Also Luke 12:58

Thankful, Thanksgiving

1Thessalonians 5:15-18 "Make sure nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and everyone else.  16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Jesus Christ."   Be kind, be joyful, give thanks in all circumstances, this is the will of God for you!! Holidays can be difficult.   We can still choose to have a beautiful day.  We ALL have difficulties, in those times it's easy to grumble and complain.   I have learned that even in the worst of times I can maintain hope and joy if I look for what I can be thankful for.   Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the end of my mother’s life.   I choose to be thankful God gave her to me, in the first place.      I choose to be thankful she is in heaven.    I don’t let this day mark something sad, I choose to let it mark something wonderful that I can give thanks for.   Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us, no matter what the circumstances!  This is my constant thanksgiving.   May you have a blessed, thankful Thanksgiving!!😇🙏🦃🏈💃❤️

Gaze upon what is right!

Psalm 139: 13 " For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  14. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Your works are wonderful I know full well........23 Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  34 See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me to the way of everlasting."    Psalm 139 is a great pick me up chapter!!! It’s all good!! 😇.  Today I needed to be reminded that I’m okay.   That God created me on purpose for His purpose and He is with me and loves me always.    He is with you and loves you always too.   It’s mind blowing to me that each of us are intimately loved and cared for by God.  His thoughts for each of us out number the grains of sand.   Sometimes I’m tempted to feel sorry for myself, especially when I set my gaze on something God is not giving me.   If God wants me to have something I’ll have it.  He has blessed me beyond all measure.   Why I look at what I don't have instead of what I do have is insane!! God, You know my anxious thoughts, please let me humbly and boldly walk in thanksgiving!!!   😇🙏❤️🦃🍁🏈

Clear conscience?

 1Corinthians 4:4 “ My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.  …… 4:12 We work hard with our own hands.  When we are cursed we bless, when we are persecuted,  we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly.  Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.”

My conscience is clear but that does not make me innocent!    Wow.  That is powerful!!! That is the powerful gift of Jesus!!  I used to be condemned with every little thing I did wrong.    I would keep repeating my behaviors over and over again in my head as if somehow I could make the past different by replaying it differently in my head.    What is done is done!    Now when I mess up, (which happens often) I give it to Jesus.    I repent, I ask for the strength to not do it again and I try, try,try  to walk in a manner pleasing to God.  I am not defined by my sins I am defined by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.     He takes all our sins and removes them as far as the east is from the west and He remembers them NO MORE!    Why I beat my self up over the sins Jesus already has forgiven and forgotten is insane.   Insanity is often defined by doing the same thing expecting different results.   Today be inspired to walk in a clear conscience and take that frame of mind into doing your best with your current moment! 😇🙏❤️

Get our hearts right, so we don’t snap!

Matthew 23:24-26 "You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.   25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate but inside they are full of greed and self indulgence.  26 you blind Pharisees!  First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean."   Let’s get our hearts right!! I noticed the other day I was on edge.  When I “feel” this way, I can be easily frustrated and offended. It’s the condition of my heart that shows up in my actions.   Jesus said, He leaves us His peace! For me to have my heart in His peace, I have to continually feed myself with His word, pray and fellowship with other Christians.    Sometimes, I don't fit these things in.  When I don't get "God time" the condition of my heart deteriorates. Listening to Christian radio is easy way to help my "heart condition". Today, let's make sure we are cleaning the inside of our cups.  So when we get squeezed, kindness and love will come out.    When we squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out.    What will come out of you if you get squeezed today?😇🙏❤️. Let's get our hearts right let seek God first!!

What to do , what to do😇

 Galatians 5:22-23 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness,

 faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

Galatians 5:16 "So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”

When I first read 5:17 I miss read it to say “ So you do not know what to do.”   I can spend way too much time on indecision!     5:17 explains; “so you do not do what you want.”  It’s a constant battle we each face; obey our sinful nature or the Holy Spirit.  In order to discern the Holy Spirit, I have to read the Word and pray daily.     If I get way from either of these I am more prone to obey my sinful nature than the Holy Spirit.    Personally when I live in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control my life is much better!! 😇🙏❤️

TRUST & SHINE

Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."   Harsh words stir up fear and anger in me.    Fear is often dominant for me.    When I was a child I had a step father that was over the top on his discipline.    He would say, “I only hurt you because I love you.” My real dad was across the country and I had no other Father figure active in my life.    I internalized abuse with love.   A person suffering under abuse often doesn’t even realize it’s happening. I remember believing the lie, “ if anybody really knew you they wouldn’t love you either.”    I've had an extremely difficult time believing Jesus loves me just the way I am.  Today, my health and wellness is  based on "The Powerful gift of Jesus!”   Jesus knows me, He loves me, He designed me on purpose for His purpose, I am forgiven, I am made new in His righteousness and I have Heaven to look forward to.  Nothing can snatch me out of His loving arms.  This life can be hard when we believe what man says about us we can coward and fear.   Be strong in the Lord today!    Fear not!!! We each have the strength and the beauty of the most high God inside of us.    TRUST & SHINE!!!

Godliness with contentment

 1 Timothy 6:6 "But godliness with contentment is great gain."    Contentment in Godliness seems to be a shunned idea in today's culture.    I can get caught up in being a man pleaser verses a God pleaser.   Being a God pleaser will bring us great gain.    When I am a people pleaser.  I usually get " Stressed out!"    Let's be strong in our  convictions today, it will be for our gain!! 😇🙏❤️Matthews 6:33.  "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added into you."

No place I’d rather be

Isaiah 25:1 "O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago."

Isaiah 26:3-4 "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the rock eternal."    O Lord, you are my God!!!    I hope I can use this phrase all day long.  I can often get caught in playing scenarios over and over again in my head.   I can think about conversations I'd like to have with people, which I never do.   I think about things I have no control over as if somehow my thinking about them can make things differently.   This weekend one of my dear friends and I were talking about this very thing, we came up with; " Everything brings us to right here and right now and there is no place we'd rather be."   We were hanging out in the Sparta, Wisconsin area.   Now it could be argued that there are other places to be that may be better but our minds were set on enjoying our present moments.   Our minds were set on God has us exactly where He wants us.   Sometimes life is truly so difficult I can hardly breathe and sometimes I am riding bike on a mountain top.   God can and will keep us in perfect peace when our minds are set on Him trusting He has planned our paths long ago.  He is taking us through to get us to.    Today, when I am tempted to worry and fret about anything.  I hope to say to myself, “O Lord, you are my God!”

TRUST. The “Son will rise again!”

Jeremiah 17:7-8 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water it does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of draught and never fails to bear fruit."   The “Son”will rise again!!   Is the song I’m thinking of this morning.    Some people say, “I can’t believe in God because if there was a God, why would He let all these bad things happen?”    I can’t begin to understand why things happen and certainly life isn’t fair.  Through it all, for my health and wellness, I TRUST God.  He didn’t promise us a life without trouble He promised He would be with us during our trouble and that we would be blessed if we TRUST in Him.   John 10:10 “The thief comes but to kill steal and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”    These are the words of Jesus.    The best “Son rise” ever will be the one we see in Heaven.   Today be inspired to TRUST the Son, no matter how many clouds or storms are in the way.

Matthew 28:20 “…. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Nursing a grudge?

Mark 6:17 " For Herord himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison.  He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philips's wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herord, "It is not lawful for you to have your brothers wife."   19 So Herodias nursed a grudges against John and wanted to kill him.  But she was not able to."      “Nursed a grudge…… and wanted to kill him”, these are intense feelings    She “nursed” a grudge and it turned into such hate she wanted to kill.   In fact she was the one in the wrong by being with Herod in the first place.   When I was drinking and someone pointed out my issue with alcohol I would get so mad at them.   I protected my sin with everything.    I look back at that now and see how crazy it was.    I nursed a love affair with alcohol even though it destroyed everything that was good in my life.    In this Bible account Heridias daughter could have been given up to half Herods kingdom.  But because of Heridias hate toward John, she had her daughter chose John’s head on a platter over all th possible good things she could have had.    That’s what nursing a grudge gets us.   

Don’t do anything to help your brother stumble

 1Corinthians 8:13 "Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall."   We are not to do things that will cause our brothers or sisters to fall.    As a recovering alcoholic I want to be with people that are not big drinkers.   I have been clean a while now but if I decide to start back up, I will be destroyed.  

When I was drinking it was the most important thing in my life.    At that time,  if you would have asked me, I would have told you my kids and my job was most important to me, but truth is everything I did had something to do with the booze.   I am so thankful the powerful gift of Jesus broke those chains for me!!!   The people in my life that wanted to help me be sober, (especially in early sobriety) didn’t  drink in front of me to help me not be tempted.    My drinking buddies would still offer me alcohol and say something like,”just have one it won’t hurt you, just don’t have ten”.  The people who loved me helped me by not drinking with me.   Don’t do anything that will make your brother stumble.  We can help each other stumble in many ways, we can complain, gossip, cheat lie.    Our behaviors influence each other. Even if alcohol or sugar or……… is not a problem for you, don’t do it if it’ll make your brother stumble.    This is a beautiful way to love our fellow man.    😇🙏❤️.  Many people will want to complain about the election  today.  Our faith is in God not man!!   Try to remind people of this truth, no matter what side of the political spectrum they are on.

Love is a verb …. Just do it!!!

 2 Thessalonians 3:5 "May the Lord direct your hearts into Gods love and Christ's perseverance."   Love is a choice.   Love is a verb.  Love is often associated with a feeling.   Feelings are fickle. You can go to bed feeling one way and wake up feeling an other way, you eat chocolate or drink coffee and you “feel” differently.   Love is a choice!  Sometimes,  I didn’t “feel“ loving toward my mom when I was her main care giver.   I always chose to LOVE her.    This is something I will never regret.  Today don’t let your heart be fickle in Love.  Chose to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength and chose to love your neighbor as yourself even if your neighbor sees the world differently than you do.  2 Thessalonians 3:5 “ 

May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ perseverance.”