Category: John

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New Passwords

It was a long and tedious day. A day where I had scheduled my time to be at the computer, a day I was not looking forward too but it was a job that needed to be done. I had to change and/or update my passwords! Egad! I would rather clean the toilets or the oven, pull weeds or wash baseboards but there it was on my “to do” list. Change passwords…

Some sites require us to change our passwords more frequently than others and these always seem to be the ones that say you can’t use a previous password. Really? I haven’t used that password since 1927 but no, I can’t use it again. I’ve seen advertising for those password randomizers, I know nothing about them, but I don’t trust them. They would give me a series of letters, numbers and characters that are unrelated to me and that wouldn’t be good. So there I sat, all day, from midmorning until later afternoon.

Was I finished? I thought so but in the middle of the night I realized there were still a few more that needed my attention so I will be back at it again today. There is one thing that gives me hope; there is one site I access often and that password never changes.

“But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.” Proverbs 1:33 NLT

“Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.” Jeremiah 33:3 NLT

“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” John 14:6-7 NLT

Access to our heavenly Father requires but one, never changing password

J E S U S

Whenever I have a problem or a special joy I want to share all I have to do is use that name and I’m in! Jesus, thank you. Jesus, help. Jesus, take the wheel. Jesus, I’m sorry. Jesus, I need ______.

I am secure! No hacker can enter. No one can counterfeit my personal data or steal my identity. He knows me. He knows my name and the number of hairs on my head. My life is protected and it’s not just for me it’s for everyone but we must all use the same password.

“But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Acts 2:21 NLT

Thank you Jesus!

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Miscarriage, Stillbirth, Abortion, Infertility

I will warn you. Today’s blog will be a bit heavier than most of my posts. Yesterday I was out pruning the plants in my yard. It has been a winter of heavy frosts and there was much to do. As I was pruning my geraniums I was overwhelmed. It was like someone had dropped a heavy blanket on me. I knew this was something I had to share.

In 1979, I had my first miscarriage and in 1983 I had my second. After that we decided not to try again. Our family would be complete with our son and our daughter. Our hearts were broken and we didn’t want to experience that kind of sorrow again.

We had two wonderful children. Healthy kids! A girl and a boy but we also experienced the lost of loosing two babies.

As I was pruning back the geraniums all this came flooding back. Cutting away the dead to make room for the new. At that moment I realize there are millions of families who are experiencing or have experienced the same loss.

We had some dear friends who came to visit shortly after my second miscarriage and shared God’s promise with us.

““So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. 26 No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.” Exodus 23:25-26 NKJV

They prayed with us that our next child, should we choose to try, would be covered with the Lord’s protection from the moment of conception. Since then we have shared that truth, the truth of God’s word, with a large number of women who thought they were barren and with those who had lost children to miscarriage, still birth and abortion.

They prayed with us that any child we would conceive in the future would be covered with the Lord’s protection from the moment of conception. Both babies we lost were lost in the first few months after conception and we didn’t even know to pray over them. Two years after this prayer we conceived our youngest daughter, Kaci. I held my breath and prayed. We waited several months before we announced her arrival to the world. These dear friends who prayed with us were there to officiate our youngest daughter’s marriage 30 years later! And now she is the mother of three beautiful children.

A number of years later my last miscarriage, about seven years, I was blessed to share with a class on childhood development at the local high school about the heartbreak of miscarriage. I was able to tell them that this was not a fetus, a blob of tissue, but a living being who became a part of our family and was gone.

I had never allowed myself to grieve. I didn’t know I should. I was the church administrator and one day I was covering the bookstore during lunch. It was slow and I grab a book from the shelves and began to read. As I read, I began to weep uncontrollably. My broken heart was allowed to speak. And healing began.

The book was “I’ll Hold You in Heaven” by Jack Hayford. He’s a wonderful Bible teacher. The entire book deals with miscarriage, still birth and abortion. It was my cry for healing and I didn’t even know I needed to be healed.

What I realized yesterday afternoon in my backyard is there are many women and their husbands who need to hear this message of healing. The pain and heartbreak have been pushed aside. There are those who are barren that feel there is no hope and those who have lost their babies before they could hold them who ache with grief. We all need to experience the Lord’s healing, comfort and hope.

If you know someone who is dealing with the anguish of barrenness, share with them the truth of God’s word. They may be a Sarah who has waited many years but they have God’s promise. He doesn’t lie!

Others may have lost a child, or two, as I did and didn’t know God’s word to cover that child with protection. The same holds true for those who have experienced a still birth. God is not a killer – He comes to bring life and not death. For those who have gone through abortion there is hope. Hope of a future.

Be kind, be compassionate, be truthful and share God’s word and His promise with those who are in sorrow.

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” John 10:10 AMPC

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Love Gives

Why do we do the things we do?

Why do we do things like dishes and cleaning, baking and bathing, nursing and washing, listening and comforting, going to work and then to after-school activities? Do we do these things because we have too? No.

Love gives!

“If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.” I Corinthians 13:3-7 MSG

Our actions can’t earn us love. If they could, then our lack of action would be reason for us to lose that love. Love isn’t based on our effort or the effort of those around us. True love is unconditional. Our actions are simply an expression of that love.

Love has no room for self pity or a poor me attitude. In all honesty, I have to admit that I have my times of whining and feeling put upon. But then, God’s word will correct me and I get on with loving my family and those around me.

Jesus said this to His disciples: “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. ” John 13:34 MSG

The love that Jesus has for us is unearned and unconditional. He showed his love for us before we were even born. He gave all He had for us. He gave up His life in heaven to come to earth; He gave up a good reputation and took on ridicule. Finally, He gave up His life to save us from death. Jesus gave all!

Let’s follow His example and His command. Let’s love the way we’ve been loved.

Love gives!

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My Favorite Place

Where do you abide?

Abide is an old fashioned word that isn’t used very often anymore. A person’s home was often referred to as their abode. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word abide as this: “to remain stable or fixed in a state; to continue in a place”. In other words, it means to stay put or be established, to put down roots.

Putting down roots is different than just going for a visit. Abiding has a sense of permanence. It implies that we are established or settled in. It can be a physical place such as our home or our city but it can also be a place of emotional stability.

Did you know that we can settle in to, be established and abide in love? We are encouraged to make it our home.

As a child I moved frequently. My dad was a construction worker; he operated heavy equipment and for years he was employed on road construction projects. As the road advanced toward the next town, we moved. The one thing that always moved with us was the love of my parents. We lived in a trailer but love was our abode.

Life surrounds us with things that are temporary but God gives us a permanent abiding place.

“I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home (*abide) in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain (abide) intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home (abide) in his love.” John 15:9-10 MSG

*abide is the word used in the old English, King James version of the Bible.

We can look at God’s love as if it were a home, our home. We can open the front door, walk in, sit down and know are welcomed there. This home of love provides us with protection and security. It protects us from life’s storms. It is a place of well-being.

“Those who live (*abide) in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.” Psalm 91:1-2 NLT

The door’s open – you can move in today. God’s love is a permanent place to abide!

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Playing Favorites

Yesterday there was lots of excitement at our house. First thing in the morning we learned that our first great granddaughter had been born. She is five weeks early but perfect in every way.

A few hours later our youngest daughter, son-in-love and three youngest grandchildren arrived for a weekend visit. My ninety-six year old mother is here and they came to spend some time with her and with us.

A busy house indeed.

There was a short space in time during the mid afternoon that Mom was resting and so were two of the grandkids. The youngest, 3 1/2 months old, was in my lap while I was looking at a text message with pictures of our first great grandchild. WOW! I was overwhelmed by the blessings I have received from the Father. Three children, their mates, five grandchildren and one great grandchild! My heart is full and my cup runs over.

After our first daughter was born I wondered if I would have as much room in my heart for a second child as I did for her. I found that with each child my heart grew and there was always enough love to go around. The same holds true with the grandkids; my love capacity increases with the size of our family and there are no favorites. Each one is unique, each one is treasured and each one is loved with the same depth and intensity.

Did you know our heavenly Father is like that? He has no favorites. He loves you and me as much as He loves Jesus. We are His children too. He adopted us and placed us in the family as joint-heirs with Jesus. Listen to Jesus’ prayer on the night He was taken to be crucified.

“I pray not only for these followers but also for those who will believe in me because of their teaching. 21 Father, I pray that all who believe in me can be one. You are in me and I am in you. I pray that they can also be one in us. Then the world will believe that you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me. I gave them this glory so that they can be one, just as you and I are one. 23 I will be in them, and you will be in me. So they will be completely one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you loved them just as you loved me.

24 “Father, I want these people you have given me to be with me in every place I am. I want them to see my glory—the glory you gave me because you loved me before the world was made. 25 Father, you are the one who always does what is right. The world does not know you, but I know you, and these followers of mine know that you sent me. 26 I showed them what you are like, and I will show them again. Then they will have the same love that you have for me, and I will live in them.” John 17:20-26 ERV

I highlighted in bold type face two specific incidents where Jesus mentioned that we have been given the same love from the Father that He received. Imagine that! God, the Father, creator of heaven and earth; all powerful, ever present, all knowing God who loved Jesus, HIs Son, and loves us with the same depth of love. We know this is for us and not just those who lived in Bible times because Jesus said it was. Those are His words, not mine.

We may feel that we have been treated unfairly in life, that our path has been skewed by partiality and favoritism. That very well may be. We may have been the last one picked for the ball team, overlooked for a promotion or completely ignored because we didn’t attend the right school or live on the right side of town. People make judgements based on prejudice, they shouldn’t but they do.

But God…God doesn’t play favorites! He loves us with an everlasting love!

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Being Loved – Caring For Others

There are so many things that we do each day to show the people around us that we love them. In our house, it starts with having the coffee ready first thing so when Dave gets up he can grab a cup on his way from the bedroom to the office.

Have you ever considered that the menial things we do are actually acts of love as we care for others?

The household chores like laundry, cleaning, cooking, dishes, grocery shopping, baking, mending, yard work, car care are all a way of saying I love you, I care. Then we have the things we do outside the realm of home duties: business trips, accounting, working from home, going to the office. These say the same thing; I love you and so I work to provide for our needs and am diligent to care for our finances.

If we look at our daily tasks as expressions of love we will be able to do them with joy and not resentment. Each school lunch we make, every load of folded laundry, each floor vacuumed and meal cooked can be a testimony and an example of our love. Every business call and appointment are a tangible expression of our love.

When we experience an outpouring of God’s love we will want to share that with those around us. His love for us is what gives us the ability and the desire to care for and serve others.

Jesus said: “I give you a new Law. You are to love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you. 35 If you love each other, all men will know you are My followers.” John 13:34-35 NLV

Our acts of serving, our acts of love shouldn’t be limited to just our family and a few close friends and neighbors. We should reach out to touch any of those we may encounter whether they appear to have a need or not.

“Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink? 38 When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear 39 or visit you while you were sick or in jail?” 40 The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.” Matthew 25:37-40 CEV

I pray that we all look for opportunities to serve others and show the Father’s love!

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2020 A Year of Promise

2020

In the beginning…a New Year, a blank slate, a clean page, a new horizon, a fresh start. How many more clichés can I come up with? You get the point.

Will this year start any differently than those in the past? High expectations are easily replaced by disappointment unless our beginning has a solid foundation.

I want you to look at a couple verses this morning.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 KJV

“In the beginning was the one who is called the Word. The Word was with God and was truly God.” John 1:1 CEV

The best way to start this new year is to have God there from the beginning! God the Father and His creative power are here to fill our beginning. And God the Son, Jesus, the Word, is here as our example of what life is like when we depend upon the Father.

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:26-27 KJV

God, the Holy Spirit, has come to remind us of what the Word says about our relationship with the Father and this will bring us peace! What a great way to begin this year and it’s a great way to walk through each day.

When we start each day with “in the beginning God” we will experience a power and peace, a joy and focus that will carry us through anything that we may face.

Happy New Year!

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He’s Not Mad

As the year comes to a close many become introspective; examining their lives over the past year. They also become determined to make changes; to improve themselves in the coming year. Part of the self-examination is letting go of bitterness and also making amends with those who have been hurt.

Religion, man’s idea of how God is, tries to tell us that we have failed God and that He is angry with us. Maybe you’ve grown up with that concept of God, maybe you think there is nothing you can do to please Him so why try.

The angels message on the night when Jesus was born is this, “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” Jesus came to show us how greatly God loves us. His whole life was spent doing good and displaying the compassion and unconditional love of the Father.

Jesus ended the war between God and man. God judged our sin by placing it on Jesus and He paid the price. He was convicted, found guilty and punished with death for crimes (Sin) He didn’t do. Our spiritual indebtedness was Paid in Full.

“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.” John 16:7-11 NLT

The Holy Spirit corrects people who don’t believe that Jesus was and is God’s Son and He is the sacrifice for our sins. He shows us that we are made righteous (in right standing) through relationship with Christ and that God’s judgment belongs to satan and those that follow him.

“Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. 18 God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others.” II Corinthians 5:17-18 CEV

New Year’s Eve is one of the prime times that people are plagued with depression and loneliness. It is our job to tell them that God has made a way of “peace” for them through Christ. The good news that was proclaimed in the angels’ message is still true. Peace on earth, good will to me.

I am doing my job of bringing this good news to you. I hope you will share it too.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Jeremiah 29:11-13 NLT

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A Full Heart

Yesterday was so nice. A day to be surrounded by family and those who weren’t here in person were in my heart and in phone conversations and text messages. Teaching the littlest grandchildren the reason we celebrate – it’s Jesus’ birthday!

My cup runneth over…God has been so good to me. He saw me for who I was and He loved me in spite of my shortcomings and my faults. He sees me now through His eyes of grace and His desire is for my good.

He has placed all I need before me and He has promised to go with me on this journey. He will provide – He won’t abandon me. His desire is for me to become all that He has designed me to be.

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” John 10:10 AMP

That which runs over isn’t wasted because God isn’t wasteful. The overflow is for sharing with others. What do you have to give? Encouragement? Joy? Love? Forgiveness? Understanding? Peace?

“Jesus said: Don’t judge others, and God won’t judge you. Don’t be hard on others, and God won’t be hard on you. Forgive others, and God will forgive you. 38 If you give to others, you will be given a full amount in return. It will be packed down, shaken together, and spilling over into your lap. The way you treat others is the way you will be treated.” Luke 6:37-38 CEV

If you wonder what packed down, shaken together and spilling over looks like I’d like to paint you a word picture. Yesterday our son-in-law was in charge of collecting the Christmas wrapping in a trash bag. At first, the pieces of paper were just tossed in, no problem. But as more gifts were unwrapped he started pushing the paper down to compress the contents of the bag. Finally, the bag was full and running over. No more room!

When we think we can’t contain anymore of God’s goodness, love and forgiveness, press it down and He will add more. He will add so much more that understanding, forgiveness and love will spill over into the lives of others.

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The Gift of Love

At last night’s Christmas Eve service we were encouraged to let the love of Jesus flow through us in a special way today. We were reminded that more than likely we will be sitting around the table with someone who is annoying. There’s one in every family, right?

The truth of the matter is this – I could be the annoying one, so could you!

We rarely see our own faults; it’s always someone else who has the problem. But the way God saw it, we all had a problem and were in need of a Savior. Christ didn’t come for some; no, He came to bring new life and love to us all.

A world changing event transpired over 2000 years ago when the sky was filled with an angelic chorus. A baby was born and He affected the whole human race by introducing unconditional love in human flesh. He came to reconcile us to the perfect and merciful Father God.

We all have a few rough edges and annoying habits, but praise God, He looked past those things and brought us unconditional love which will change our hearts if we let Him.

“I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other just as I loved you. 35 All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.” John 13:34-35 ERV

My prayer for you and your families this morning is that you know Him personally and that you have allowed Him to change your life. His love is transforming; we can’t be in relationship with the Lord and not be changed.

I was challenged last night. I don’t want to be the one who is annoying. I want to be the one who loves, unconditionally, the annoying people of my world because God chose to love me in spite of my faults.

I’m taking a little extra time in prayer this morning. “Lord, let me be the best me, the me you created me to be. Let me reach the world with Your love.” There’s no better gift we can give to others than the gift of unconditional love that God gave to us.

Merry Christmas from the Wilson’s casa to yours!

“This is what God commands: that we believe in his Son Jesus Christ, and that we love each other as he commanded. 24 All who obey God’s commands live in God. And God lives in them. How do we know that God lives in us? We know because of the Spirit he gave us.” I John 3:23-24 ERV

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