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A Good Workout

January 25, 2021

Heavy on my heart this morning is the thought of Jesus coming back and some people not being ready. Not that I am perfect and ready, but definitely working out my salvation each day “with fear and trembling.” I like this phrase that Paul used when talking to the Philippians, because too often it seems like we think of God as our buddy and friend who smiles down on us and just wants us to be happy and do well in life. He is our friend and He wants us to be happy but…He is way more and He expects more.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13

Paul says to WORK OUT our salvation. I do not remember any verse in the Bible saying to sit out our salvation. For many years, that’s what I did. I sat in church, soaked up inspiration for the coming week, read my Bible because I was supposed to and I was nice to everyone. I loved Jesus because He saved me. But, as a teen, I can honestly say I did not work on my salvation very well when it came to getting rid of worldly values.

I was a bit selfish and self-righteous. I was one of those “good girls” and was proud of it. Am I being TOO honest here? I have since learned that following rules is good but God expects more of me, of us. He wants to use us, instead of us just using Him. He even sent His Holy Spirit to help us work out our salvation and to help us work for Him. That still amazes me, because I cannot understand why He would trust us with His holiness in a carnal world. But He does:)

We never have to go it alone! We just have to be willing to work hard and to obey Him when He urges us in a certain direction. That pull or urge to go His direction reminds me of the pull of an orbit. It humbles me to see it like this…if we are the center of our own world, we expect God to revolve around us, to move according to our pull. But…God is the center and we(tiny, tiny little people) revolve around Him, to His pull, His will and His ways. That’s how He meant it to be.

Dear Lord, Thank You for all You do for us and have already done for us. Your blessings are appreciated. Each day is appreciated. We want to work out our salvation as Paul said and we want to make that a normal sort of orbit for us, with You being the center of our lives. we know we cannot do this work alone and we are so glad we do not have to! Thank You for trusting us with Your Holy Spirit in us to work with us, and on us. You thought of everything! We love You! Amen

Love and prayers to all. Have a great Monday:)

Just me. Just His.

Tina

The Overcomer

January 24, 2021

“Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the Earth.” -Jesus. Revelation 3:10 NKJV

Have you been a bit discouraged about current events in the world today? I have too, but Jesus keeps encouraging me! He encourages all of us in His Revelation to John, by challenging us to be an overcomer of our trials. Over and over in the Book of Revelation, Jesus uses this phrase: “to him who overcomes.” We must persevere!

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. Revelation 3:21” NKJV

He compares our trials to His trials? Wow. He must have done that so we will mimic what He did on the cross, persevere to do God’s will. Our trials do not and never will go unnoticed by Jesus. He is not surprised when things occur. He is encouraging us that we have a reward for being “he who overcomes.”

Glory goal for today- Read Jude 1:24-25 but say it in first person as an oath to the Lord. Praise Him!

Now to Him who is able to keep you(me) from stumbling,And to present you(me)faultless
Before the presence of His (Your) glory with exceeding joy, To God our(my) Savior,Who alone is wise,Be glory and majesty,Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Have a great Son-day! Love and prayers to all you overcomers!

Just me. Just His!

The Cup-Filler

January 23, 2021

Sometimes,like this morning, I feel so full of joy over what God has done, what Jesus purposely suffered for us, that I feel my heart can’t contain the whole of it. All I can do is praise God over and over, because His love and grace keep coming over and over. It is everlasting. He is my power source, my cup-filler and spiller of all that He gives abundantly. I just had to try and express what is in my heart, God’s cup.

My Lord, cup filler and King, Humbly to you I will plead. Please fill the cup in my heart. With all that you know I need. Make me overflow Your Love. Like a River full of rain. Spill me so others will know. I spill what I can’t contain.

May all that’s good, from the Lord, be poured into your heart today:) Love and prayers to all,

Just His:)

Choosing a Buddy

January 22, 2021

You know how, in grade school, teachers ask students to pick a buddy for a project? Or how about when kids pick classmates to be on their teams? I never thought about it like this before today, but when we choose God, we team up with our buddy, our partner, a co-missionary of sorts, to accomplish something together.

When God told Moses to go back to Egypt and to see the Pharaoh and bring God’s people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, he was scared. He told God he wasn’t a good speaker and was a bit slow of speech and tongue.

Gods response to Him made me laugh this morning. Here is how God replied to Moses’ excuse:

“Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” Exodus 4:11-12 NKJV

He reminded Moses of his Creator! Prior to this, God had already told Moses every detail about the mission to rescue the Israelites. God told him where to go, who to go see, who to gather together to go with him to Pharoh, what to say to God’s people and what to say to Pharoh. He even gave Moses a few miracles to do, so people would believe he brought a message straight from God!

God is the best buddy we will ever have! Just as He prepared Moses to accomplish His will, He will prepare us also. And… He will not only prepare us but He will go with us! We never go alone.

God will make us prepared partners with Him to do His will. Wow:)

Dear Lord,

How little our faith seems when you ask us to do certain things. But You made us, so You already know what we can do! You see what we do not. Please guide our minds to remember Your goodness and faithfulness over the years, and give us the courage to follow You, wherever, whenever.We love You so much and give You all the glory! Amen

Jesus Prays Too

January 21, 2021

” Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” Matthew 11:25-26 ESV

After Jesus said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” John 17: 1 NIV

I am reading my Bible this morning and I am fascinated with Jesus’ prayers to God. In the two prayers of Jesus above, He is thanking God and submitting to God. Doing these things and having a vital prayer life with God is not only important for us, but for Jesus too. When we pray we can accomplish amazing things. We can align ourselves with God in the same way Jesus did. He aligned Himself with God through prayer.

Jesus prays to Him, praises Him and acknowledges God’s will. He thanks God in Matthew 11 above, for His will, which places Him in total submission to God. The same happens for us. When we raise up God, we put ourselves in line to do His will. Not on a horizontal, same-plane kind of alignment, but a vertical alignment, beneath Him. Alignment is best accomplished when, in prayer, we talk to our Father as our authority of our lives. We lower ourselves to accept and also seek His plans.

We cannot lift ourselves up, nor are we meant to. It is God’s job to exalt us as He sees fit, IF He sees fit.

Dear Father: We thank You for sending Your Son to be the example for us to follow. We know that all He did was on Your authority. We, also,want to do everything under Your authority. Lead us further and further with You, into a close but vertical position. You are God and we are not. Forgive us when we do things or make decisions without praying about them first with You. We glorify You as King, Father and Lord of all that is in the universe, including us. We love You so much! May You be glorified in all we do today with the day You have given us. Amen

A Much Travelled Highway

January 20, 2021

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11: 28-30

Imagine the requests from us to God, then imagine how many issues have travelled back and forth from you and Him. It is not unlike tractor trailers that crowd the road to deliver cargo and then return home with the heavy load gone from the truck. Often, a truck returns to home base with something different than it started with, a new load to bring home.

We are kind of like trucks:) With today’s chaos and changes, we need Jesus more than ever. Current events and trials weigh us down, like trucks with heavy cargo. Prayer carries our cargo to Jesus. We send up all of our fears, disappointments, joys, questions, confessions, pleading and all other matters in prayers to Him. The highway between us and Jesus is well traveled. Jesus takes our load then sends back what we need, answers, instruction, guidance, light, discipline and His love, to name a few. We always come away with loads more than we gave. He is a giver.

Jesus lives to give us what we need. He died to give us what we need!

Dear Jesus, Please empty us of our burdens, or give us Your strength to bear them. We know that sometimes You might not take them away because it will help us to grow spiritually. If that is Your will, then we will glorify You in it. Thank you for being the giver that You are and the fact that you will be there whenever we need you, which is forever. We love you so much! Amen

But for the Grace of God

January 19, 2021

My Momma used to say, when she came across the poor or those in desperate circumstances, “But for the grace of God, there go I.” I didn’t understand as a young girl until she explained to me that it is by God’s grace that any of us have what we have. Without God’s grace to be healthy enough to work and God’s grace to bless our effort, we would attain nothing. Everything we have is an expression of God’s grace. He gives us His grace, not because we deserve it, but because He cares and understands.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16 ESV

The greatest gift we received, due to God’s grace, is salvation. Out of His love and grace, He sent His sinless Son so we could attain forgiveness of sins. There is no law of man that could ever produce a sin-free heart. It makes sense! Our actions in following laws or being good, for example, do not abolish our sin. Jesus’ actions do! Paul says that if we could attain our own righteousness through the law, then grace would not have had a purpose.

I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Galatians 2: -21

Giving glory where glory is due… Dear Jesus, Thank You for showing us that the only way to live righteously is to have YOU, the Righteous One, living and working through us. We cannot save ourselves by just being good or following laws. Your grace forgives and changes us! It is our desire to always and fully appreciate what You did on the cross. With Your righteousness in us, help us to give grace to others and love and forgive them. We love You so much! Amen

Love and prayers to all of you,

Just me. Just His

Tina

Who Do We Look Like?

January 18, 2021

Have you ever played dress-up as a child or have you seen children do so? It is so cute! With too-big shoes, glasses or clothes, they walk around trying to act like a parent. They mimic the actions that they have seen their parents do. As children of our heavenly Father, we can look like Him too! Our actions can show others what a loving Father our Lord is. It is our honor and responsibility to imitate parts of His character, like humility, gentleness and patience. Paul gives us this verse:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:1-2

There is a saying, “You may be the only Bible some ever read.” What this means is…whether we realize it or not, people watch what we do and can learn much about Jesus by the way we behave when we humbly and unselfishly love others, even if they never read a Bible. When we suffer, for one example, it is the way in which we do it that others will notice. Paul suffered with a great attitude. Just as His example helps us. we can set an example for others. Jesus set the best, though most difficult example! Others need to see our heart, His heart. Let’s copy Him!

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV

Glory Goal: Do others see Jesus in you? Would they say you look like your Father in heaven? May He receive all the glory of our actions and may we copy Him better every day.

A Servant’s Praise

January 17, 2021

Good morning and Happy Lord’s Day. Let’s praise Him for this day and all others! He is not just worthy; He is more than worthy!

Everyday I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom Psalm 145:2-3 NIV

Living with a constant devotion to praising God, pleases Him. Can you imagine how happy He is to hear our voices praise Him? We can talk, pray or sing praises, giving our all, knowing He is listening! We win God’s approval when we praise Him! The world around us sings a different tune, one that seeks approval from man, but we are GOD’S servants and servants praise their masters.

“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10 NIV

He makes things simple doesnt he? Servants seek the approval of their Master, not other people. I am thankful for this guiding verse.

Have a great day of praise! May the Lord bless you and make you feel safe and calm and loved in His arms.

Just me. Just His.

Tina

Got Questions?

January 16, 2021

Yesterday’s devotion leads us into today’s devotion. Recall how the Pharisees sought to accuse Jesus’ disciples of wrongly picking grain to eat on a Sunday? And how He set them straight because He is Lord of the Sabbath? On that same Sabbath, the Pharisees, again, try to discredit Him, but this time in the temple. Anyone else feel like they are breaking a law themselves by accusing Jesus on any day?

Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Matthew 12:9-10

The Pharisees seriously think they can trap Jesus with a question. There was a man with a withered hand in the temple, so the Pharisees asked Jesus if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Their intent is to accuse Him of breaking the law if He does so. You think Jesus knew what they were planning in their hearts? Of course! Once again, He set them straight by using an example they could relate to. He answers them with a question first.

He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:10-11 NIV

I find it interesting that the Pharisees’ response is not recorded. They really couldn’t answer because if they did they may look foolish. For example, if they were to answer truthfully and say, “Yes, I would save one of my sheep on a Sunday.” then they would prove Jesus’ point. Men are more valuable than sheep, so if you would save a sheep on Sunday, you certainly can save a person. On the other hand, if they told Him, “No, I wouldn’t save my sheep.”, He would know they are lying. They were literally caught between a rock(Jesus) and a hard place!

So, what did Jesus do next? He healed the man and made the withered hand look whole, like his other hand. Yay, Jesus! Do you think this made the Pharisees gave up their crusade against Him? No. They may have gotten even more determined to accuse Him of wrong. They left, but were now plotting to kill Jesus! Again…do you think Jesus knew their secret plans? Absolutely. Did it keep Him from continuing His Father’s work? No, He stuck to His Father’s plan:)

But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. Matthew 12:15 NIV

What we can learn from this?

1. Jesus knows our thoughts and words before we speak. He knows those we speak but also those in our hearts. He knew what the Pharisees were up to and He could have been angry or irritated, but He showed His and God’s character by simply answering with wisdom and patience and going on His way, away from the place they were at.

2. It is not wrong to question Jesus. Jesus wants us to come to Him, knowing He has all the right answers. Coming to Him knowing He is the Messiah, God and Holy Spirit in One is the opposite of what the Pharisees did. They came to Him to find something wrong, whereas we come to Jesus to find what is right! They did not want to recognize Him for who He was, so they constantly tried to find something to prove He wasn’t who He said He was. An impossible task!

3. We will be challenged in our obedience to God. Jesus was challenged but stayed the course! Resistance to do God’s will may come from within our own heart or from others. Pride or selfishness will challenge or determine our choices in our Christian walk. So what do we do? Turn to the Bible, prayer and God every time. As in Bible times, some Christians in the world today are persecuted for their beliefs. Officials try to accuse them of fault, which reminds me of the Pharisees’ goal. Here in our country, some groups of people are quick to judge Christians. That’s why what they see from us is so important. We can answer the challenge of adversity or controversy by doing our best not to respond, or when appropriate to respond, doing so with the Lord’s wisdom and patience. We must represent Who we follow. Humility and a desire to please our Father and become more like Christ, is more like what the world needs to see from us.

One for the Journal – For what reasons do you question Jesus? To gain strength , for example? I do! List some things you have asked Jesus for and how He answered. Circle all of His answers. Sometimes He acts in a way we don’t expect, but He always answers. Write Him a thank-You note and keep it in the journal or on a bulletin board.

Dear Jesus:

We are reading how You handled evil intent from the hearts of the Pharisees. Lord, help us be more like You. As tempers flare and the world is arguing, help us to be peacemakers with our words, our restraint and love actions, showing the world there is a better way. Urge our hearts to love deeply with mercy as You do. If we have obstacles in our way to being what You want us to be, show us. Then, give us opportunities each day to honor You. We ask all of these things in Your precious name, knowing that You are able to do more than we can ask or think. We thank You for Your abundant mercy and grace towards us. We love You so very much! Amen

Love and prayers to you all,

Just me. Just His.

Tina