Tag Archives: love

Every knee shall bow…

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Psalms 66:3-4 Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah

It is hard for me to think of the Lord or His works as terrible. But to the enemies of God that is exactly what He is. To be Gods enemy, is the ultimate deception. To make the decision to hate something that you neither know nor understand, baffles me. Because if you truly know God, you know that He is good. This life is not always good, but no matter, He is good. To have that knowledge in the midst of this life, I have no problem worshipping Him. Worship is an intense feeling. You cannot truly worship half heartedly. That is why it says in Revelation 3:16, So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

When I think about the scripture that says, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, I have thought of it in the way that, almost begrudgingly, they will admit the sovereignty of God. But reading this passage in the Psalms, that is not the posture of their heart. Those that have made God their enemy, will 100% completely, recognize Him as Lord. Their souls will know with the most intense passion they have ever felt, that He is God, He is good, and He is worthy to be worshipped. And they will worship Him. They will praise Him with song and with complete understanding. Their hearts will simultaneously worship and weep, because at that time they will fully understand who He is. They will fully understand the depth of Satans deception. I cannot imagine the pain and grief that they will feel. The word regret does not even begin to express it. And with that knowledge, my own heart weeps. As an empath, I truly hurt to think of people that I know, that have no concern for God at all, and their reality on that day. It will indeed be a great and terrible day!

As I write this, my intention is not condemnation.I pray that you would consider the one you call Lord, or the enemy that you have made Him out to be, and search your heart for what it is exactly, that He has done to cause your rejection of Him. If you call Him Lord, but do not love Him, and worship him, then by default you reject Him. God will not send you to hell. You will send yourself. And He will allow it. This does not make Him bad or unfair. It will be the result of your own choice.

16 For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.

Is He talking about me?

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I don’t know about you, but I have this tendency to put a face/name to things I hear. For instance, when I am listening to a sermon, I will often think of who I wish was sitting next to me in the pew, because I know that they would really benefit from that particular message. Lately I have been reading Proverbs because I am needing an extra measure of wisdom for some things I am going through. But as I have read the Proverbs, I think each one applies to many different people that I know. So in so is proud, and so in so doesn’t listen to good counsel, and you know who complains all the time. The funny thing is that, I will tell others how important it is to read their Bible because it is God’s word to them personally.  Hmmmm…. guess that doesn’t apply to me.  Does it? Because it seems to be God’s word to everyone but me. I love this verse from Psalm 19:12 But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. The funny thing is that I just read this verse a week or so ago, and it literally jumped off the page to me.  I read it and reread it, and it is one of those verses that will go into my memory bank to be used frequently…. as it pertains to others.

I am a very visual person, and I am convinced that when God is watching me, He shakes His head frequently. He very possibly lets out a long sigh, and looks up to ….. heaven?…. well maybe He just looks up. But anyway, I digress (I love that word…digress).

So today as I was reading Gods word to me… about everyone else… I realized that I need God to speak to me.  I can trust Him to speak to so in so and you know who about all the Proverbs that pertain to them. But the only one that will stand accountable to God for me, is me. Another thought that occurred to me is that when I am doing this, I elevate myself in my mind because I don’t act like that. Really? Hmmmmm…. I think a ton of introspection may be needed on my part.

My prayer for today is… God speak to me. When I read your word, show me things I need to change. Reveal my hidden faults and errors. And when someone does cross my mind in reference to your word, or through a sermon, help me to show them the same mercy that I desire from you. Help me to take a moment to pray for that person in love, and then to reread or rethink what I have heard, and see how it applies to me.  What I realize is that trying to change myself is a huge undertaking. It takes all my efforts and tons of help from God to see the most minuscule changes in myself. With that in mind, I truly don’t have time to try to change others or worry about things that I think they need to change.

Maybe, just maybe…. when people see changes in me…. it will help them reflect on things in their own  lives. Not really because of the greatness that is Marcie…. but because hopefully it is a change that reflects Christ. After all, that is ultimately my goal.

A New Commandment

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John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35″By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

One of my favorite phrases is Ignorance is Bliss. In Genesis 3:5, Satan says to Eve, “For God knows that when you eat from it (the Tree) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” As I look at that scripture, I am thinking, Who wants to know evil? Not me! I try to know as little as possible about all the evil that is going on around me. I have always wished that there was a good news network, perhaps it could have a catchy name, like….The Happy Channel. Its station symbol would be a big smiling emoji .  Not necessarily a Christian station, but a station where they find hometown heros, healings, and happy ending and run those 24/7. I don’t watch much TV, but I think I would watch that!

I have been in church most of my adult life, and for many of those years, I really believed all the people that sat and worshipped next to me were nice people. Aren’t all Christians? They all seemed really nice. They dressed nice. They smiled and hugged a lot.  Some of the problem with thinking that, was that I always felt a bit inferior spiritually. I knew how not nice I could be. No one heard me when I was acting like a crazy person as I dealt with the overwhelming task of raising two very busy, loud, active boys. I would look around at the other women in church, and they all looked like the Proverbs 31 woman. I bore a resemblance more like the demoniac of the Gadarenes. You laugh…I am serious!  I spent a LOT of time in prayer and God’s Word trying to get myself under control and be a better mother. I cannot tell you how many times I read through Proverbs. I begged God for wisdom because I needed it desperately. My greatest desire was (and still is) to be a good mother, wife and Christian.

Like many other things in life, the idea of ministry is usually much more glamorous than the reality. C.S. Lewis put it perfectly in his book, The Screwtape Letters when he said, “in every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing.” Being a Christian is hard work. I always thought the work of being a Christian was to tell others about the love of Christ. What I have learned, and continue to learn, is that the true work of being a Christian is much more about showing others the love of Christ.  I am not saying that we are not supposed to share with others the hope that we have in Christ, but what I am saying is that people should know what we believe even if they never hear us say it.

The church is not perfect. God’s people today are not much different than those portrayed in the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, they are portrayed realistically, warts and all. But even knowing and accepting that, there is something that I find horribly frustrating.  It is watching Christians devour one another. And I am not talking about just the people in the pews…I am talking about turning on those that work along side of us in ministry. The constant sounds of grumbling, finding fault, tattling, and back biting. He said this, she said that. We show little or NO grace for one another. (If you could hear my voice here, it is getting higher, and a bit louder)….HOW can we effectively be the hands and feet of Christ to a lost world when we can’t even show the most basic grace to those that we minister beside? 1 John 4:20 goes even further. It says Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. Of course, I know that you are thinking, I don’t HATE anyone. All I can say is that when we are acting that way, it certainly isn’t love!

As Christians in ministry, we are all on the same side. Our desire is to see the lost saved. It is to reach out to those without hope, and offer them the hope we have. And it is to effectively battle THE ENEMY! Romans 12:2 says We do not battle flesh and blood… If you find yourself in a battle with someone wearing flesh and blood, you are literally cutting off your own arm. We are the body of Christ! Our enemy is spiritual and purpose driven. His goal is to divide and destroy unity! Are you in conflict with someone? Do you have a complaint against someone that is in the spiritual trenches with you? Have you truly shown your brother or sister in Christ the grace that Christ has shown you? Have you forgiven them 7 times? Have you forgiven them 7 X 70?? Another sobering scripture is from the 23rd Psalm…. forgive us our sin, AS WE FORGIVE OTHERS (emphasis mine).   

Dear Lord, please help me to operate in a greater attitude of grace . The kind of grace you have shown me. Help me to neither offend, nor be offended. And above all… Help me to love! Draw your church together, because in this battle that we are in, we will only be successful if we have a common goal and recognize our enemy.  1 Peter 5:8 tells us who that is… a roaring lion roaming around seeking whom he may devour.