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A Lot Can Happen

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

Mark 10:27 – “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

If the miraculous ways and promises of God haven’t appeared in your life yet, it doesn’t mean they never will.

If in three days the son of man died a prolonged death on a cross; the world went dark in the middle of the day; he descended to hell and back; a stone was rolled to seal his grave and rolled back again to find it empty; angels appeared there to proclaim “Jesus is alive!”; and he was in fact alive on earth again, conversing with two followers as they walked together on the road to Emmaus …

Imagine what can happen for you in just three days.

It only takes a minute to meet someone who changes your life forever; to open an acceptance letter or a…

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Let Your Heart Take Courage

God designed us to have free will. We are not meant to be puppets or pawns, not even of God who we have abandoned ourselves to. We are free to think and believe as we decide. Faith is ours to choose and ours to maintain.

Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. Genesis 15:6.

Believe or not believe. Keep faith alive or allow it to slowly drift away or be suddenly destroyed by explosive life circumstances. Soar above crises through confidence in the God who saves you, or be dragged to death through them.

God’s design is to implement his will on Earth through our faith. If we don’t remember that and stay diligent to determine to do it, we risk surrendering our lives to despair and evil.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6.

If we fail to do the thing that is our responsibility to do in this partnership with God, which is to choose to believe as God is and says no matter the circumstances, we opt out of lives called to overcome evil with good.

For we walk by faith and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7.

We must settle on belief in our God, who declared, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11. 

We must make the choice to believe in his character, will, ways, words, directions, and intentions for us, hour after hour, day after day, year after year, for the remainder of our lives. We must do that in order to enforce and maintain the victory that Christ already won for us at Calvary.

We must not give up, as our acquiescence to despair could be mere moments before our victories. Let’s do all we know to do to not be destroyed for lack of knowledge. Together, let’s choose faith in our good God again and again and again, for as long as we take our breaths in the land of the living.

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13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living. 

14 Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.  

Psalm 27:13-14 (NASB)

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Try, Try Again

Who could ever resist something grown by God?

Not that we can’t fail to be fertile soil for God’s seed. Sadly that’s common. We can disallow a seed to be planted, or after receiving it, we can later discard it. Many people do that when a promise no longer elicits the pleasant emotions it did at first. Once it becomes a challenge, the promise is thrown out.

Matthew 13:3-8 – And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. “Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.”Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.”And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

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Matthew 13:18-23 – “Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

Is it too late to retrieve rejected seeds or partially developed promises from God?

I doubt it is too late. I’m not referring to those people who will never, ever choose what God wants for their lives; I’m thinking of those who couldn’t hang in there as a field for God’s seed, promise, or word due to personal weaknesses. Would God give them another opportunity?

God is merciful, forgiving and understanding. Surely he wouldn’t reject a person aspiring to please him. Regardless his past. Regardless his timing. He need only try, try again to get it right, to be good soil from now forward.

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No, Just No

I opened my mailbox to a letter the other day. Personal, handwritten snail mail, the best kind.

It took a moment to place the name on the return address: a man I know only casually over the counter of a business outside my community. I was there last week. I remembered him: about my age, very nice, soft spoken, genteel.

Two sentences in, I learned his letter was a solicitation to “get to know him better”. I’ll give him this, he was forthright: He knew my name from my purchase; he found my address on the internet; he is married; his wife travels a lot; he would like a close female “friend” on the days she is gone; he will never change his marital status; he had noticed me; he felt comfortable talking with me; would I be interested in dinner and drinks when his wife is out of town? Blah, blah, blah … He was seeking an affair.

The sentences blurred as my reaction surfaced: I hate this. What the %&*@ ? What’s wrong with people?!” I called close friends and a son, “Help! This just happened. How do I respond? He was so nice, I didn’t see this coming. If you met him, you’d never guess he would do this.” My confidants were angry on my behalf, which helped, and they offered ideas on how to respond.

For two days I walked around with a face like one makes after eating a lemon, ruminating:

No, I don’t want to meet you alone … because … because … YOU ARE MARRIED! It is irrelevant what the state of your marriage is — as long as it IS a marriage, I’m FOR IT, not a pawn to be used against it.

Must I stop being nice to every married man because infidelity may lurk under his facade?

No, I won’t betray yours or anyone else’s wife. I AM her — I can easily put myself in her shoes — I am single because of an action like you are proposing. Worse, my young sons were forced to grow up in a broken home. Too late, he woke from his tunnel-visioned obsession to realize a domino effect of toppled lives, and actually said, “I didn’t think it would affect anyone.”

That’s all kinds of blinded and all kinds of foolish. Hidden attitudes turned into secret actions turned into irreparable destruction of a marriage, a family — innocent lives impacted forever without consideration, without say, without choice.

If only “the other woman” had stopped him in his state of blindness, with, “No, just no”.

And I’ll do that. But why have you put me in the position to have to? You are a grown man, a business-owner, a husband, a father … you should never have crossed that boundary.

Finally, today lemonade emerged from the lemons. Somehow I managed to respond, withholding my initial reaction and instead explaining that I would only root for his marriage, never jeopardize it. So no, just no, but not as sour as that — with added sugar:  a choice of words that “saved face” for him, assumed the best of his character, and hoped the best for his marriage.

In a separate glass of lemonade, I have a new appreciation for my good male friends who are married — they have always helped me keep us in friend zone, where we belong, and in doing so, they didn’t compromise their wives’ trust. My male, married friends have never put me in the position this guy did. I took that for granted, but today I am indebted to their right behaviors and characters, and value their upright friendships more than ever.

Now, how to turn other lemons of life into lemonade …

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Harbingers of Spring

On this first full day of spring, I pray your hope is revived by harbingers of God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Definition of harbinger

  1. 1archaic:  a person sent ahead to provide lodgings

  2. 2a:  one that initiates a major change :  a person or thing that originates or helps open up a new activity, method, or technology : pioneer the great legal harbinger of the New Deal revolution — Timea harbinger of nanotechnologythe harbingers of peace to a hitherto distracted … people — David Livingstoneb:  something that foreshadows a future event :  something that gives an anticipatory sign of what is to come robins, crocuses, and other harbingers of spring

In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.  Psalm 5:3 
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As The Snow

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

It was said of God, the Creator:

“For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”

Psalm 33:9

What has He spoken to you? Stand firm in it, wait for it, plan for it …

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there
without watering the earth
and making it bear and sprout,
and furnishing seed to the sower
and bread to the eater;
so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
without accomplishing what I desire,
and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
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Isaiah 55:10-11
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DSCN2127 evergreen for blog
Believe that what God has spoken to you and about you, will yet sprout and grow to maturity, to accomplish the purpose for which He intended.

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His Voice

There was one way out for these horses in New Zealand yesterday, and it was obscured by rising floodwaters. They followed the voice …

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep 

John 10: 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Video credit belongs to Hololio Polo Club, New Zealand.

 

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Who Can Separate You From the Love of God?

An unprecedented number of Americans are declining to participate in organized religion. (See “America’s Changing Religious Landscape”, Pew Research Center, link below.)

Is it any wonder that people are rejecting church attendance, given the last decade’s convergence of religion and politics in a large sector of American Christianity? Why would people be drawn to religion when what they know about church (and therefore think of God) is what they witness on public platforms? Why would anyone be drawn to God when people who claim to represent him think and behave as they do?

To you who are understandably and rightfully turned off from this growing branch of American Christianity …

I wish you knew that “those people” are nothing like God.

I wish you knew that unrighteous people sometimes affiliate with a religious institution for selfish agendas and personal gain, not to worship God.

I wish you knew unscrupulous people sometimes exploit religion as a cover to control others, to shut them down with handpicked, out-of-context scriptures.

I wish you knew this usury has gone on since biblical days, and that Jesus had harsh words for people such as these. The sinless, ever-loving son of God wasn’t all sweetness and acceptance — while he gave “sinners” a pass, he boldly confronted hard-hearted, legalistic believers, calling them “you brood of vipers”, “snakes”, and “sons of Satan”.

Many of these religious people own the podium today — they pursued their platform and got what they wanted. Their numbers have swelled, and with it their sense of confidence and correctness. We hear from them regularly that they are right and the rest of the world is wrong.

This segment of Christianity has positioned themselves as the door through which everyone else must pass to access God — they have formed a united front to separate others from the love of God

For those of you observing it all, know this:

All Christians are not the same.

It’s not only non-Christians those people condemn, they also reject Christians who don’t conform to their beliefs. There are many who are alarmed and appalled at it. It was much different before politics insidiously infiltrated our churches. Services used to be about honoring God. In many churches it has become “us” verses “them”, and “right” verses “left”. Anger- and arrogant-tinged monologue that used to be considered wrong is now applauded.

There are many exceptions, to be sure. Many churches and individuals have not been swept into this trend; they have resisted conforming to a contaminated amalgam of theology, agendas, pride, politics, and appetite for power. I know many, many people who have attended their churches for decades, some for their whole lives; they and their churches have not changed. They are busy living life and making positive, genuine contributions to the world.

Another thing you should know:

God has not changed.  

For those who have run the other way from Christianity, I wish you knew the immeasurable loss of “throwing out the baby with the bathwater”. Throw out the contaminated water of fraudulent religion, but don’t throw out God with it.

I wish you knew that God offers to be your lifeline, your air, your shelter, your sustenance.

I wish you knew you don’t have to go through “those people”. Humans are not the gatekeepers to God, regardless their claims, demands, or puffed-up display of authority.

The truth is …

No person or thing can separate anyone from the love of God. 

Romans 8: 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/

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Your Biography

cindigale's avatarCindi Gale

Just before the financial crisis of 2008, I decided it was time to consult a financial planner. I rolled all my old retirement accounts to his company and chose the most aggressive growth strategy. It was terrible timing. I lost 35% of my hard-earned savings in mere months. I understood the Sunday morning quarterbacking that was rampant at the time, the wish to have safely invested if I’d known what was coming. It seemed everyone was spooked. Many delayed retirement. Some believed their losses would never be recouped.

Widespread fear would have pulled me down with it, had I not summoned the effort to ignore alarmists. It required a conscious choice to think spiritually. I made myself trust God. I didn’t consider Him as just a recipient of tithes, I wanted Him in control of all my resources. If that meant living in a tent subsisting on rice and beans…

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Display of His Splendor

Isaiah 61 – The Year of the Lord’s Favor

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3  and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

sunset-feb-17-2017-display-of-his-splendor