I find myself on a busy day sending a quick note or quick question for needed information to those that I know.
I have never considered how often I ask a question. Being a fairly practical person I want to get an answer and bring any subject to completion when dealing with business. But relationships don't happen that way. And that is the difficult part! There are so many nuances and reasons why people do what they do. And usually they do not give a second thought to any of this! Well, I believe we need too! Have you ever tried to work on a puzzle where one of the pieces is missing or there is a piece that almost fits, but, not quite? Ugh! This will send me to my knees. Literally. Where is that piece? That's the way I feel at times dealing with people who make me look for the missing piece in a relationship and look and look and look.
This train of thought was brought about by mulling over some personal issues. Well, like I said...I like completion. So my thoughts were twirling around in my brain sphere with WHY don't they just tell me...why don't they listen? And then......it happened. I found the piece I was missing in this puzzle as I lay quietly pondering my WHY"S. I didn't need to keep asking Him questions. My answer was in His question to me!
If God asked you a question, what would it be?
Ask Him. God what do you want to ask me? I bet the question has something to do with what you are experiencing. I did and His question got right to the heart of the matter! My heart.....my center.
You see...you can't ask for me and I can't ask for you. But if you ask Him......you might be amazed at His question and your answer. I asked Him.....Lord what would you ask me? Go ahead....Ask Him. He loves to tell us His heart.
Debbie
Mark 11:29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
The most important thing we will ever do is respond to God's offer of eternal life with Him. This life is a passing moment that will decide an eternity. ABC's of Salvation
Admit your need-"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
Believe in Christ-"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31).
Commit yourself to Christ-"Yet to all who received Him … He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12)
Think about the three scriptures and say them in your own way back to God. I do not remember the exact way that I said this prayer for salvation but the following prayer is my example of what I said.
God, I realize I am a sinner, I have followed my own way. With my understanding I have realized that Jesus Christ is indeed your only begotten Son and that His shed blood has made a way for me to appear before you sinless. I accept His sacrifice, Jesus shed blood at Calvary as final payment for my sins, and I ask that you fill me with your Holy Spirit and enable me to live my life for you. In Jesus name, Amen.
I have found that the easy part was giving my heart to God. From that point on I knew that the responsibility lay with me and no one else as to how fast I learned and grew in the knowledge of God and His blessings for me. He provided His Spirit to live in me, His written word, the Bible to study and do, and His Living Word Jesus Christ to die for my sins. I have been equipped for the task at hand--my life. God never forces His will on someone else but always tells us to choose. I can choose who I will serve, who I will believe in and what I will do with that knowledge. Part of what I chose through saying the sinners prayer is I chose to have a relationship with Father God and His son Jesus Christ. Asking Him to fill me with His Holy Spirit gave me the ability to live this life that I have been given. I make mistakes and even choose to do the wrong thing at times, this is called rebellion. But I am in an eternal relationship with God who will allow me to choose and accept the consequences of my choice. Every relationship has this dynamic, your choices decide the failure or success of that relationship. Every relationship you enter into requires diligence on your part if it is to be successful.
Read God's word...it is your instruction manual. I have found over the years that even it I did not understand what I was reading in the Bible that if I applied myself to the discipline of getting to know Him, I would eventually have understanding. Don't give up, keep pressing forward. God will not give up on you. He is stable. I have fallen many times and each time when I looked up it was always His hand that reached out and picked me up.
It will not be easy, but it is worth it.
To become established in the training of a disciple of Jesus Christ you need to now study the word of God contained in the Bible. I like to read and study the King James version of the bible.
It is God's Holy Spirit that has given you the desire to ask God for your salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As you learn and commit to doing God's instructions contained in His word to you, you will begin to change.
Some things will come quite easily and others you will have to apply your will and be obedient to His will. Determine to follow Him always. This is a decision that only you can make.
Religion is evidenced as men's traditions versus the reality of the Living Word of God effecting a real verifiable change in you. Salvation should bring about a change in you and your behaviour. Salvation is not just a few words said to please others or our self.
Christ accomplished our salvation on the cross through His shed blood and His obedience to God.
Jesus submitted to His Father's will. Our acceptance of the shed blood of Jesus Christ should bring about our own obedience to God's word as well.
The seed of our new birth has been planted in us and manifests itself in the light of God's word working in and through us.
How can we know that the love of God is at work within us, unless there is the manifested fruit of a changed heart by word as well as deed?
We have need to be hearers of His word as well as doers of His word. I am addressing the day in day out change that should be evidenced in our over all daily behaviour.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Our walk with Christ should be evidenced by fruit, the evidence of a changed heart followed by our actions.
An example in nature.
As a seed grows, it expands out of its shell. In first grade my teacher had the class perform a science experiment to view a growth cycle. We brought a seed from home, a bean seed. The seed was cocooned in a moist napkin until the shell was softened. Then we removed the seed and planted it in a small milk carton containing soil. Before it was planted we could see evidence of the new growth. There was a small green shoot emerging from the seed. Without moisture, no growth will happen. The Holy Spirit of God supplies the moisture needed for our growth through our application of God's word in our everyday life. The water of His word begins to soften our spiritual shell and prepares us for growth. As we apply ourselves to doing His word, we become rooted and grounded in our faith.
Do not allow the cares of this life to uproot you. As a new creation in Christ Jesus you need to receive the needed moisture and the life giving warmth from the Son through the study and application of God's written Word, the bible.
~Debbie
Galatians 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Deuteronomy 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
All of John 5 and Galatians 5 for your consideration.
Galatians 5: 19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
As this painting was given to me after praying for a bit I was reminded of the woman who asked Jesus to help her.
She had a problem that she could not fix.
She worshipped and asked Jesus to help her. She fell at his feet. She worshipped.
When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, we too are letting him know that we also need his help.
God’s written Word is multifaceted to me. Every way I consider it, it is revealed in a new beauty that is light filled and life changing.
I challenge you to come to the LORD and ask Him to reveal all that He is and ask Him to give you all that you Can receive from Him.
~ Debbie
Prayer: Father God, help me. Help me to honor you and receive all that your Son died to give me. In Jesus name. Amen
If you have never asked Jesus to be your Savior, ask Him. God loves you so very much.
Matthew 15:21-28
Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.
And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Mark 7:24-30
And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.
For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.
June 3, 2024 as I fell asleep I saw a quick image that startled me awake.
I saw a line of fire and two feet made of metal and clay with legs attached descending from the sky. I immediately thought “ That looks like the statue’s feet from the book of Daniel! (chapter 2 verses 40-45)
The line of fire appeared first, then I saw the lower legs and feet descending above it.
I quickly looked up the scriptures about the statue. I was not reading or studying the book of Daniel at that time. Yet I believe the vision was to turn my attention to these particular scriptures.
The kingdoms of this world will end.
Be ready.
Have your lamps full of oil and trimmed, no man knows the time of the Lord’s return, yet He shall return for his own.
As it states in Daniel 2:45 “and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof is sure.
The fourth kingdom shall happen, possibly on the horizon.
Times and seasons are established by the Lord. His kingdom shall break in pieces and consume all kingdoms and it shall stand for ever. In Jesus name. Amen.
~ Debbie Turner Chavers
Daniel 2:19-23
19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.
Daniel 2:27-45
27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king,and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;
28 But there is a God in heaven that revealed secrets, and markets known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what shall come to pass hereafter: and he that revealed secrets markets known to thee what shall come to pass.
30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightiest know the thoughts of thy heart.
31 Thou, O king,sawest,and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terriable.
32 This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out withouthands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all.Thou art this head of gold.
39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,and it shall stand for ever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
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