“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16 NIV
My thoughts: He extends mercy for our past failures and freely gives us grace that cannot be earned. It is freely given. Praise the Lord!
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
“We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19 NIV (emphasis mine)
My thoughts: We have the Bible, which is the prophetic message, to guide us in this dark world.
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
My Bible reading plan led me to the book of Jonah. Even though I thought I knew this book well, God showed me something new.
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.” Jonah 1:1-3
Jonah didn’t want to preach to Nineveh because Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was cruel and wicked. Israel hated the Assyrians! They were barbaric! No wonder Jonah didn’t want to go there!
You probably know the rest of this story. A great storm arose at sea and the crew threw Jonah overboard. Then,
“…the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17
Jonah cried out to the Lord…
“And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” Jonah 2:10
The Bible doesn’t tell us what kind of fish swallowed Jonah, but one possibility is the Blue Whale, the largest animal on earth, a marine creature without teeth. Learning about God’s creation is fascinating and the blue whale is no exception.
Ambergris or whale vomit, also known as Floating Gold
But I digress. Another interesting fact about blue whales is that they have 4 to 6 compartments in their stomachs, any of which could house a group of grown men. The nasal cavity contains an enormous air storage chamber often measuring 7’x7’x14′.
Many skeptics have said the story of Jonah would be impossible. But after doing a little research, I’m not so sure. Of course, nothing is impossible for God anyway. But I found these facts about the blue whale quite interesting.
The question before Jonah was this: “Will I accept that God is God and yield myself to His will? That same question is before us today.
My advice: Don’t run from God. He has some interesting ways of getting our attention and He knows how to get us to do what He wants us to do!
“Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 AMPC (emphasis mine)
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Proverbs 2:1-6 NIV
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
Merry Christmas to all my blogger friends! How I wish we could all be together and have a grand pot-luck Bible Study! Maybe someday we will! I love you all and appreciate your encouragement and support so very much. It is so exciting to have friends all over the world! I thank the Lord for you all!
Today we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ! He is the reason for the season!
Prophecy: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14
700 years later: “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Galatians 4:4-5 (emphasis mine)
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
7 “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened.” (Jesus) Matthew 7:7-8 AMP Read full chapter
Footnotes
Matthew 7:7 Here the use of Greek present imperatives (asking, seeking, knocking; vv 7, 8) emphasizes persistent, constant prayer.
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
Our extended family was all together for the holidays when something unusual happened. Pastor Mike challenged the congregation to go for a whole month without complaining.
Our family took on the challenge (all 8 of us). Christina had the idea that if you complained about something, you had to sing your words! Here are a couple of the “songs” that were sung at dinner that night:
“Is that kale in my salad?”
“I thought we were eating at 6:45!”
Naturally, these songs had everyone in hysterics!
Cousins, Christina and Patricia making dinner
Needless to say, it was a lot of fun! Not only that, it cut down on complaining because if anyone came even close to complaining, the others immediately made the guilty party sing it!
After I was caught complaining, I said, “But I’m just stating a fact!” Guess what? If the fact is negative, that’s complaining!
Our family kept this up for about 3 hours and I learned something. We complain and don’t even realize we’re doing it! (That is until you get caught!)
So why not take this family holiday challenge? God says,
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” Philippians 2:14-16 NIV (emphasis mine)
Have you ever been around someone who never complained? Nice, isn’t it? Have you ever been around anyone who complained constantly? Not so nice! It’s pretty straightforward. Complainers don’t make bright stars in the darkness.
God knows that complaining isn’t good for us. If only we would just obey Him! Science has proven that complaining is unhealthy. Consider this:
Complaining changes the way people see you. “According to Travis Bradberry, PhD, “Repeated complaining rewires your brain to make future complaining more likely. Over time, you find it’s easier to be negative than to be positive, regardless of what’s happening around you. Complaining becomes your default behavior, which changes how people perceive you.”
Complaining causes brain damage. Research from Stanford University has shown that complaining shrinks the hippocampus—an area of the brain that’s critical to problem-solving and intelligent thought. Damage to the hippocampus is scary, especially when you consider that it’s one of the primary brain areas destroyed by Alzheimer’s.
Complaining has negative health effects. When you complain, your body releases the stress hormone cortisol. One effect of cortisol, for example, is to raise your blood pressure and blood sugar… All the extra cortisol released by frequent complaining impairs your immune system and makes you more susceptible to high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. It even makes the brain more vulnerable to strokes.
So I challenge you to accept the “Don’t Complain Challenge”. For one month, you can’t complain about anything. See what happens. Pastor Mike guarantees that it will make you a happier, healthier, and more positive person. You will not only feel better, but you will become a person others like to be around.
You will be “seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world, Holding out [to it] and offering [to all men] the Word of Life…” Philippians 2:15b-16a AMPC
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
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