“Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.”
Charles Spurgeon
In His Love, Cindy
Before you go, please see my page Who Is Jesus?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122:6
All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.
RealChristianWomen.blog
1-minute meditation for Tuesday, 7/8/25
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” John 18:37
In His Love, Cindy
Before you go, please see my page Who Is Jesus?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:6
All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.
RealChristianWomen.blog
1-minute read for Monday, 7/7/25
Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NIV
Comments: Even when trouble is all around us, we can still have peace. Peace comes through Christ, not the world. May we put our trust in Him alone.
In His Love, Cindy
Before you go, please see my page Who Is Jesus?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:6
All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.
RealChristianWomen.blog
Sunday’s Memory Verse, 7/6/25
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4
Comments: We like to think of ourselves as mature Christians. Or, at least we want to be one. This is how that happens: Trusting God and what He has said in times of difficulty.
In His Love, Cindy
Before you go, please see my page Who Is Jesus? Hundreds of people have viewed this page! Have you?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:6
All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.
RealChristianWomen.blog
Many churches have shifted their focus from loving God and loving others to a “me-centered gospel.” That is sure to attract the world and naive believers. After all, humans are naturally self-centered.
“There is nothing more irreligious than self-absorbed religion.”
― J.I. Packer
“The me-centered gospel makes a subtle shift at its foundation about what—rather, who—is at the center of the gospel message. Well, it seems subtle. It’s actually a fundamental, seismic relocation. Jesus is removed from the center and is replaced by…you.” Jim Thomson, Pastor and Missionary, from his book Leadership on the Brink
You will see this from churches that advertise Your Best Life Now and teach that God wants you to financially prosper. In other words, it’s all about what God can do for me as if He is some kind of Genie in the sky. But this is in direct opposition to what Jesus said. In Luke 14, Jesus explains what it means to become His disciple. For many years, I skipped over these verses thinking they were too difficult to understand. Let’s examine them now.
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.”
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Luke 14:26-35
In other words, we must make Christ our first priority, even over family, wealth, and even our own life. Being a disciple is not about what we can get if we say a sinner’s prayer. It’s about being willing to give all to Him.
Some Examples to Consider:
(vs. 26) Did you know that when a Muslim follows Jesus, his family will reject him or may even kill him? When Jesus said, “hate your father and mother” He means that He is above everyone, even family. Nabeel Qureshi describes his experience when he converted from Islam to Christianity in his book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. Nabeel’s mother and father, whom he respected and loved were devastated by his conversion. For the first time, I understood this verse.
(vs. 27) Many of the original disciples lost their lives, being crucified for their faith. Even today, many Christians are persecuted around the world and are viciously slaughtered. In 2023, 8,000 Christians were massacred in Nigeria! When you are robbed, beaten, and murdered for your faith in Jesus – that’s Christian persecution! You may not hear about it in the news, but it happens much more than you think.
(vs. 33) This does not mean we must become penniless, but we must hold all that we have with open hands, willing to give what the Lord asks us to give.
Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23
Lord, create in me a willing heart that I may follow you wholeheartedly. Take away my “itching ears” and give me ears to hear.
In His Love, Cindy
Before you go, please see my page Who Is Jesus? Hundreds of people have viewed this page! Have you?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:6
All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.
RealChristianWomen.blog
1-minute devotion for July 4, 2025
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 Read full chapter
“When the Galatians trusted Christ, they were freed from the law’s yoke of slavery – in which people try to gain God’s favor by carefully heeding His rules… It seems our default position is to try to work our way to salvation… We are saved by grace through faith” (and not by works!) Jeremiah Study Bible Notes
In His Love, Cindy
Before you go, please see my page Who Is Jesus?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122:6
All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.
RealChristianWomen.blog
Verses for Meditation, 7/3/25
Israel had been decimated by Assyrian armies… Judah’s elite (including Daniel and his three Hebrew friends) had been deported to Babylon… The temple was obliterated, the walls of the city flattened. (Jeremiah Study Bible Notes)
Yet amid the devastation, the writer of Lamentations says,
“Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”” Lamentations 3:21-24
In His Love, Cindy
Before you go, please see my page Who Is Jesus? Hundreds of people have viewed this page! Have you?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:6
All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.
RealChristianWomen.blog
The following quote is taken from Tim Challies’ book review of The Prodigal God by Tim Keller. The book refers to the parable Jesus taught, better known as the Prodigal Son. (Luke 15:11-32) Keller compares the older son to the Pharisees and the younger son to sinners. I highly recommend the book review. It gives us something to think about.
“The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners doesn’t have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren’t appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we’d like to think.” Tim Challies
In His Love, Cindy
Before you go, please see my page Who Is Jesus? Hundreds of people have viewed this page! Have you?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:6
All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.
RealChristianWomen.blog
1-minute read for Tuesday, 7/1/25
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
In His Love, Cindy
Before you go, please see my page Who Is Jesus?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:6
All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.
RealChristianWomen.blog
1-minute read for Monday, 6/30/25
Jesus said, “The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Matthew 23:11-12
A Prison Story
A prisoner talked about the huge impact made on a rough group of fellow prisoners and himself by none other than a nondescript janitor who had worked for years at the prison. This little woman spoke to those hardened men as she held her broom and her words were used by God to pierce their hard hearts with the Gospel.
He said, “Because that janitor, a woman without a title, without a stage – she delivered a sermon that still gets me choked up. She didn’t come to save us. She came to serve. And in doing so, she became the loudest gospel I’d ever heard.”
“That little prison janitor touched toughened hearts through her acts of service. Her stage was a prison meeting room, holding her broom and mop, her dirty bucket of water sitting beside her.” Patty
God loves using the weak things of this world to confound the mighty.
Read Patty’s excellent post, Burping and Serving HERE.
In His Love, Cindy
Before you go, please see my page Who Is Jesus? Hundreds of people have viewed this page! Have you?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:6
All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.
RealChristianWomen.blog
Real Christian Women 