TODAY'S PROMISE

“Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God,

and keep the vows you made to the

Most High.

Then call on me when you are in trouble,

and I will rescue you,

and you will give me glory.”

(Psalms 50:14,15 NLT) 

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"The word 'joy' is found 164 times in a concordance

of the Bible, and the word 'rejoice' is repeated 191

times.  Truly the Bible is a book of joy and gladness,

because it is a record of God's relationships with

man and of man's continuous search for communion

and fellowship."

- Kirby Page

TODAY'S PROMISE

"My dear children, I am writing this to you

so that you will not sin.  But if anyone does

sin, we have a advocate who pleads our case

before the Father.  He is Jesus Christ, the one

who is truly righteous.  He himself is the sari-

fice that atones for our sins - and not only our

sins but the sins of all the world."

(1 John 2:1,2 NLT)

HOW TO LAY DOWN LIFE'S LOADS

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I have noticed an interesting phenomenon in my life a

few times that did not make sense to me at the 

time.  That of course is because I am not as smart

as you are.

However reading in my Bible a few days ago

I read one of the Psalms that stood out differently

this time and to myself explained why things 

worked the way they do.

You see I am not perfect like you are.  Sometimes

I plain old every day mess up.  And by that I mean

I do not always live the way God wants me to.  And

generally then things begin to drag or the luster of

life disappears and sometimes even my body just

don't feel as good as it should. 

But I have noted that when I went to God in a

really honest serious way and intended to do 

differently things changed.  Simply a "sorry"

God in passing does not do it.

Here is the portion of Scripture that helped 

me get a better grasp on the situation.  

"When I refused to confess my sin,

my body wasted away,

and I groaned all day long.

Day and night your hand of discipline

was heavy on me.

My strength evaporated like water

in the summer heat.

Finally I confessed all my sins to you

and stopped trying to hide my guilt.

I said to myself, 'I will confess my rebellion

to the LORD.'

And you forgave me!  All my guilt is gone." 

(Psalms 32:3 - 5 NLT)

I know from the Scriptures that there are some

"sins" that will actually effect our bodies.

So, there was not only the guilt of displeasing 

God by my actions, but it actually was "dragging"

my body down.

But when I took it to God in a really

serious honest way seeking his forgiveness

usually by the next day I was back on the 

top of life enjoying the goodness of God.

Is your life weighted down in one way or

another?  Is the luster and joy of life gone?

Then go to God and honestly turn it all over

to Him as it were, taking Him by the hand

with the full intent of walking and living 

with and for Him.

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"He who loveth God with all his heart

feareth not death, nor punishment, 

nor judgment, nor hell, because perfect

love giveth sure access to God.  But he

who still delighteth in sin, no marvel if

he is afraid of death and judgment."  

-Thomas A. Kempis

TODAY'S PROMISE

"Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself

and God our Father, who loved us and by

his grace gave us eternal comfort and a 

wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen

you in every good thing you do and say."

(2 Thessalonians 2:16,17 NLT)

THE END

Years ago I left the confusion of California and moved

back into the hills for a more sensible life style.  Yes,

into true "red neck" country.  I have been grateful ever

since.

My daughters live in several different states.  Yes, they

have fled from California too.  But they come to visit 

their old "dad" once in a while.  Now one of these 

daughters is a writer and when she comes to visit dad

she often wants me to take her to some of these old 

cemeteries back in the hills.  It has something to do 

with her writing.

That of course is the reason for the photo above.   It

is a cemetery in a small community that is not even

incorporated.  And, my daughter wanted to look around

in the "old" part of the cemetery.  This part of the cemetery

is from back in the 1800 hundreds.

One of the things I noticed was that some of the head

stones were simply a rock.  Some of those people were

so poor they could not even afford a real head stone 

for their burial.  So that rock you see in the foreground

is the headstone or tombstone or whatever you want. 

 But, only a rock without a name or date, just a dead

 body in under it.

But notice the tombstone about ten feet behind it.

Wow!  It probably cost a ton of money.

My point is, whether you live in a mansion or are

homeless, we all are going to end up dead.

God himself through the Apostle Paul said:

"For we have brought nothing into the 

world, so we cannot take anything out of

it either."  

(1 Timothy 6:7 NASB)

But even beyond that God tells us;

"And inasmuch as it is appointed for men

to die once and after this comes judgment,"

(Hebrews 9:27 NASB)

Our concern in life should not be how much money

we can make, or how much fun we can have - But

are we ready for that moment we come to the end

of this life and will have to stand before God, whether

we like it or not.