Abundance and not Abandonment

Good morning to all on this wonderful fall day. Waine and I are in Thomaston and have had a nice relaxing weekend. We watched the LSU/Alabama football game last night; Waine rooted for Alabama and I for LSU. Of course LSU won--but the defense on both teams were tough and awesome!!  I had the blessing to visit retired Senior citizens last week. What an eye opener!!! If you are over 55 and have your health, then praise God each day you wake up. If you are over 55 and have an active relationship with your spouse, your children and grandchildren then you are BLESSED!!! There are some very lonely people out there who just stay in their homes; they crave company and a simple conversation with someone who cares. Take some time this week to visit a home bound senior citizen and give of yourself. God will bless you richly. Also a GREAT book to read is the "Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks". You won't be able to put the book down and your life will be richer for it. Mackenzie, our oldest grandchild, wants to be a researcher/physician so I recommended it to her to read.

I am continuing my JOURNEY in Jeremiah chapter 14 verses 1- 10, "This is the Word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: “Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem. The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns but find no water. They return with their jars unfilled; dismayed and despairing, they cover their heads. The ground is cracked because there is no rain in the land; the farmers are dismayed and cover their heads. Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass. Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights and pant like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of food. Although our sins testify against us, do something, LORD, for the sake of Your name. For we have often rebelled; we have sinned against You. You Who are the hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only a night? Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? You are among us, LORD, and we bear your name; do not forsake us! This is what the LORD says about this people: “They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; He will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins."  May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

Thank God that the Blood of Jesus that covers us so that God will not SEE and therefore not REMEMBER our wickedness! For 13 chapters we have witnessed God asking these Israelites to turn their face to Him and not to the idols and false gods that they were worshipping. That is the one thing as humans we are charged not to do! There is only One God and His name is Jehovah!  For 13 chapters we witnessed God, through Jeremiah, plead with these folk to turn from their sin of worshipping false gods so that disaster could be avoided. We have witnesses Jeremiah's intervention on behalf of the Israelites with God and Now, Now, Now the drought is upon them. Their land is drying up. Nothing is growing; they go hungry and even the wild animals are starving and yet they do not turn from their sin of idol worship. Can Satan's deception really be that great? That even in the face of this destruction can human beings still rationalize that there is more than one true God? Amazing!

As Christians, we are immune to this type of alienation from God. He never turns His face from us nor does He give us droughts. So why do Christians experience "droughts"?? I have Christian friends who are going through some tough times and they think its because of some sin they committed. John 10:10 states "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. THIS IS A PROMISE!!!!!!! If their is confusion and despair in the life of a Christian then that Christian needs to evaluate why he or she is allowing satan to deceive them. Christians, have as a birth right ABUNDANCE!! We only need to claim it. So many of us have PAWNED our abundant life in the Pawn Shop called DOUBT. We only need to realize and REJOICE daily that God has a Plan of Abundance for us. Even if you are experiencing what you consider to be hard times, REJOICE and keep on rejoicing until you see clearly the abundance that is yours today. Joel Olstein's ministry is criticized by some as a "Cotton Candy" ministry--always emphasizing the Joy and abundance of Christianity. Why shouldn't we emphasize the JOY of Christianity?? No death can claim us; no destruction can claim us; no calamity can be fall us; no disease can destroy us; no financial ruin can befall us. God will turn time backwards for us IF ONLY YOU BELIEVE. Something so simple and YET SO HARD FOR MANY OF US. Why you ask? Because Satan will confuse you into thinking that God has abandoned you. Roman 8:38-39 says (and this is Paul speaking) "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Hallelujah!!

Don't get stuck on the street of Doubt. Praise God today for your abundance even if you can't see it. Really praise Him and be happy right in this moment. Don't worry for anything especially not tomorrow for all of us KNOW that tomorrow is not promised so don't act like it is. Now may the  LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace! Amen and amen.

Stephanie

ABUNDANCE POWERED BY FAITH

Good morning to all on this Friday morning. The cool weather has come to Georgia and feels great! You can sleep with your windows open and be lulled to sleep by the crickets or awakened by the chirping of the birds. Waine is returning from Jamaica today so please pray for God's traveling mercies for him. Please continue to pray for ET and his family and a speedy recovery for Violet. She was discharged to a Skilled Nursing Facility yesterday and looks good.

I am continuing my journey in Romans today, verses 1-12, "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised." Amen.

Paul in now really getting to the heart of the matter. Abraham was the FIRST "Jew" and was chosen by God because of his FAITH and not because he kept the  Mosaic law! As flawed as Abraham was, he still had the kind of faith in God that God could use to demonstrate His grace and mercy. At the time Abraham was chosen, he was known as Abram. He was uncircumcised and his wife Sari was barren. They were approaching their 100th year as a BARREN couple. This is the man that God approached and gave the PROMISE that he (Abram) would become the father of many nations. When Abram shared this news with Sari, she laughed and called him a fool. Let's think about this. God a approaches a 100 year old man whose wife is 90 and has been barren all their married life and tells this man that he would father many nations. If you were Abram what would you do? What if you had 1 penny in the bank and God told you that you would have billions of dollars so that you could further His Kingdom? What would you do if you had a life limiting illness and God told you that you would build a ministry that would touch  millions of people? What would you do if your only child was in jail and God told you that your child would be President of the United States? What would you do if your business was failing and payroll was 3 days away and you didn't have enough  money to make payroll? Would you believe God for His PROMISE or would you laugh like Sari? This is where the Faith of a mustard seed takes over. When you BELIEVE in God's PROMISE, you are in the FAITH ZONE and should stay there. Most of us are not content to "do" nothing and JUST TRUST. We think we have to help God with His Promise. A friend of mine stays in the FAITH ZONE by constantly reminding herself that "GOD SAID", which is her way of reminding herself that although she is flawed God is perfect and has PROMISED HIS ABUNDANCE to us not because we deserve it but because the God we serve is generous and is the place where grace and mercy abound!

I don't know what challenge I will face today or what challenge you are facing. I do know the God that has conquered all challenges and desires that we through Faith trust Him for the outcome. This exercise is not for Him but for us to learn the skill sets necessary to commune with God through Faith. Faith is the language of God; Faith is what provides the portal for our salvation. Not our works. Don't be like Sari and Abram and decide what God must have meant is that Abram sleep with someone other than Sari to have a baby. To this day this one act has caused thousands of years of strife between the descendants of Ismael and Issac. You see Abraham seed did flourish through both Ismael and Issac however the PROMISE was only given to the product of the union of Sari and Abram. The conflict bewteen the Arabs (Ismael descendants) and the Jews (Issacs descendants) is not the outcome of the PROMISE God gave to Abram; this is the outcome of Abram's meddling. Confusion is the work of the Devil. Remember that today. If you are in a situation in which strife and confusion exists, walk away from it because this is not of God. God's promise is never confusing or filled with strife; God's PROMISE is only filled with abundance. Whatever you are believing God for take heart HELP IS ON THE WAY!

Stephanie