Category Archives: Talk

Devotions A Pure Heart- 7/28/21

Posted on by
Reply
Photo by Shihab Nymur on Pexels.com

I read Psalm 51 before work yesterday. Had very little time to do any deep study or meditating on it before the bus showed up. Guess what we are going over now…?

What does it mean to be “pure?” Does it mean completely untainted by the world? Or is it that one is on a path that they wouldn’t normally be on because they are apart from a direction that is their own sin?

We can only be pure by the blood of Christ. It is His life where He gave it by dying on the cross for our sin that we can be set apart for the will of God.

He died for us, was buried, and rose again so that we can have a relationship with God that couldn’t happen before that time.

After Jesus’ physical life on earth we can know Him but also be restored during our walk with Him. Sometimes we get “dirty” from old habits and the world sticking on us like some gross grit. We feel we might not be worthy to be servants of God. But He loves us so much and wants us to want to stay with Him in relationship He will if we ask bring us back and be refreshed in the spirit.

I feel like daily I need His restoration. I know I’m not alone in that as even if we might not do habitual sin we unintentionally sin too. We need God even if we think we might be “good.” We are not as we need the strength of Christ from the heavenly father every day!

Prayer to be right with God is needed as also is being in tune to knowing God’s will. We must have pure intentions to live a godly life. It is important as we then know what we can do for Him also.

If you learned about King David from the bible you might think he had it all together. But he was a representative for a king who followed God and he fell into bad things, to put it lightly. He did some bad actions! I have already touched on those in a previous entry but will reiterate it here.

While he was supposed to be a man of God leading Israel he went out of his way to peer out on the roof of his house. There he spotted a beautiful woman and desired her. He coveted her so much he sent her husband out to the frontlines in war to ensure he would die so he could then marry her!

God punished him for being so wrong in those actions.

His family then faced a lot of consequences and David for years as if in grief watched as ones he loved saw terrible things because of what he did.

It seems Psalm 51 touches a little on his sin about sending a man out to die (“Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,…” Psalm 51:14). It is in part of that verse.

I don’t think God released Him from that but He was able to keep David in focusing fully on Him. Psalm 51 almost seems like a lamentation, a crying out to be healed.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

It was inspired into being a very catchy hymn that many might know but at its core it is a reflection of God changing the heart of the sinner.

The song goes “Create in me a clean heart, O God/ And renew a right spirit within me.”

Even in our own perils we need God to rescue us and help us. We can be our own enemies. Not just that but actions do have consequences.

We need Christ daily to rescue us from the pits that we put ourselves in. And if we do well enough in keeping our old habits at bay it is as if we are dead to sin and alive in Christ as it says in the book of Romans 6:11.

What could keep that from being so is to hate that sin because it no longer rules us as it did when lived completely in sin. We must live in His way and see that living for God is a blessing and better than when we lived for ourselves.

With the attitude that Paul would beseech with the Ephesians, we must not have hearts that are stuck in what can dishonor God. He said in NIV (New International Version) that that those believers must not even “let” even a “hint of immorality” be a part of their lives. That was because they were deep in the fleshly desires that made them seem more like the world and less like believers who shine the light for Christ.

Do you have a “pure heart?” Do you want one? To live for Him means we must first know that we cannot live any way to get to heaven.

There is no way for man (man or woman) to get to heaven by their own means. That means that we all fall short because of sin. And that also means to fall short of sin means one will go to hell if they die.

But you must know there is a hope. That hope to live to one day to go to heaven is Jesus! Jesus Christ died in our place, He was the perfect “lamb of God” who died for our sin, was sacrificed for the world so that we could one day know Him and live in Heaven forever.

Do you want to know that life? I encourage you then to pray this prayer:

God, I heard that I can have a pure heart if I can know You. But I can’t have that relationship because of my sin. I can’t do that because there is no way of my own effort I can go to heaven. But I know Your Son gave His life, dying for my sin so that I can have that relationship with You. My sin died on that cross because Jesus paid the ultimate price for it. I want to live for You Jesus but to know You God every day so that I can seek Your will in what You want for me. Thank You for the privilege of getting to know You. Thank You for Your son Jesus Christ.

I pray You will be restored to find a church that can be true and You follow Christ and know what God wants for You.

And thank You Lord for knowing what is on my heart and for Jesus who makes hearts pure!

Devotions Your Heart- 7/26/21

Posted on by
Reply

Saw the angel again Saturday. Someone challenged me recently saying what is the reason for it. I am thinking about that more now.

How important is it to seek what God wants in our lives versus selfish ambitions? I guess it’s like the kind of question that may be where you already know the answer.

It’s good to be passionate about living life but if one wants to live for God, what should be their goals, their desires, and what they should do about ministering to others if they want to seek God’s Will?

My church recently had a great thought about something along these lines. They said that a lot of churches now keep planning things because of how the environment has changed recently but seem to think less about praying. Praying is important! But even people at church sometimes will want to create “revival” yet don’t first seek what God wants in the church life. We need to be in prayer to be in tune to asking God, not building what we think is the course of action and figuring this is what we should do.

Also reading His word and thinking on those things is important too (meditating). In order to seek what God wants we must first look to what His word says (His speaking to us) and also talk to Him in prayer like an open communication.

We also must be careful about what is right or not in our lives.

The NIV (New International Version) says this from the book of Proverbs:

Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

It is important to seek His Will because we might be wrong in our own. Also we need to be careful of doctrines and other things in this world that may warp our thinking in our path in following God.

It is also a good thing to be a speak of Jesus but to in our life have His will conformed to pretty much everything we do.

While we have a heart that struggles to focus on God let us see what we can do in His name in as much as we actually do.

This must be with our very being if we shine God’s light in life:

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:6

We respect God if we revere Him in showing how much we are grateful in what He’s done for us.

A healthy life in prayer and sacrifice of time in our life may lead to supplication so that we can live a life God can honor.

If we go His way in as much as possible there is no wrong way as long as we are deep in His Will.

To ask as long as it is in His will and it will be given you (“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” -John 15:7).

Also we must remember what we are thankful of what He does day to say and think on His tremendous blessings.

If we reflect a servant’s heart to Jesus there is only blessing and hope in our lives and a journey we will never forget.

Devotion Strength of Heart and Portion- 7/23/21

Posted on by
Reply

God has us in His Will totally and fully. We might not feel He is here at times or struggle in life to the point we feel we don’t know if we are “worthy” as believers but He is there. Always.

It is through His Son that He saved us and we trust in Him for our day to day lives.

We must not think only of the worries of our lives but remember that He is there with us and will help us through everything we are going through. He gives us strength and joy and peace.

He is also praiseworthy. Check out this verse:

My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalms 73:26 NKJV

We might become so weak in our sin but He is there. We must depend on Him always but to follow Him is much more that that!

I looked up what the bible meant by the writer saying God is his “portion.” It is mentioned not just here but a few other times as well.

Here is what it said:

the writer means that God is the source of his happiness and blessing content with all that the Lord is and provides. partial source: http://www.gotquestions.org Answer to question: “What does it mean to say that God is my portion?”

So the writer’s portion means that God is all that the writer needs and is his joy and happiness. We must reflect that!

Though our hearts get distracted and our flesh leads us to sin we must depend on Him for all of our happiness.

His goodness, His holiness is the way to live. Sure we can have hobbies and even do things that involve passing the time (just to follow God doesn’t mean we must stay in all Christian things at all times) we can do all for the glory of God.

I pray dear reader you continue to or will follow the Lord with all your heart. To be in His love means to have a special one on one time, a spiritual intimacy with God in the relationship.

I’m learning more and more to be like Christ because my heart fails me if I’m not. My flesh does not lead to anything good or to be worth doing.

To be content on what God has given me should be enough. My flesh provides nothing. God amazes me and I am humbled Jesus has guided me all this time. Amen!

God is my portion and He leads me toward His way which is only to be glorified endlessly in this life.

Thank you reader I hope that you are blessed by this.

Devotions Come to Him- 7/22/21

Posted on by
Reply

Wow, context means a lot when it comes to the bible. This has been kind of a surprising experience alone!

What can we do when we feel burdened or deep in worry? What can we do when we are probably not doing the right thing?

Should we depend on our own expectations?

In all things we should depend totally on Jesus and God the father.

I know that is easier said than done but it is a great life lesson.

Jesus said to the people what to do in His word:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

We can find so many things in God: peace, freedoms from anxiety, love after growing through His son.

The bible says that the people come to Christ who labor and are heavy laden, and will find rest.

Can this rest mean from being weary?

Seems like it. I will share some other verses (I honestly forgot to share the last time this blog spoke of being “weary,” haha…) since I didn’t get to though with this one.

The bible encourages us to not be weary in doing what we are commanded to do as Christians. “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 “As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.” 2 Thessalonians 3:13.

We must not be discouraged though it is hard because of the way our worries and life events keep us from sometimes seeing the full potential of living for God.

We also must know that we don’t know everything and submit to others especially in the church what know more in life of what to do:

…casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Our lives involve a lot but God is always there to guide the way. We must trust in Him, be open when we pray to Him because He really does care for you and for the ones you are concerned about. Amen.

Devotions Strength- 7/19/21

Posted on by
Reply

Thank You Lord for Your mercies every day

To have strength, what could that mean when it comes to the bible?

Does it mean “we’ve got this” in every situation?

Or does it mean we have to draw strength and show that He is in control of our lives?

It is unreal how prideful we can be. To boast about self or to treat living for God including “I” in the statement like Moses thinking that he and God were equal is a dangerous attitude to have in life!

We are weak without and with God. To credit self in the equation is like giving partial credit to God’s glory but all great things that have happened in our lives is ALL God’s glory, it’s not us. As in it is not in us alone. Think of your sin, then think of God. We need God in order to be glorified. It is God changing us, we don’t factor in what makes God great!

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak Isaiah 40:29

He increases our endurance, our love when we feel like hating, our joy when things get tougher, He is what gives us the strength though we are weak!

To be weary, what does that mean though?

“Weary” means- being exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness. Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary website (quoted online)

That is not like just working out all day and being tired. That means living out God’s will and then after a long time coming home and feeling like you can’t move anymore. Being so worn out that you feel spiritually exhausted too!

We must never give up hope. Whether we have not really lived for Christ or we feel worn out and discouraged we must not be afraid in life and live it out.

I believe God blesses so much things we do for Him. He wants us to be servants and witnesses as we have been saved, cleansed, and changed by the blood of Christ. To live after realizing Christ died for us and our old selves were on that cross, we must know how He then sees us.

We must be strong in Him. And be strong in Him and by nothing else and not to claim we were strong in our own strength by us.

God is the strength of my heart Psalms 73:26

In Him there is glory. We have nothing without Him. Thank You Lord for Your strength, Amen.

Blog Notes: When I saw the Angel

Posted on by
Reply

This will be very different from what people are used to about the “blog notes” I have done before, I feel. This happened six times total so I just wanted to share the moments that they happened! Each date will be mentioned.

Just a brief intro. God is amazing! He does a lot of things in our lives and sometimes He will if you are living for Him encourage you in an individual special way. Praise the Lord and His unlimited love!

6/1/21

I was going to work after spending time reading (or possibly also) writing on this blog. It was just an ordinary day and while I was working I had a customer behind my one I was ringing up. It was him. Only I didn’t know it was an angel. He was just smiling at me. I just thought, “He has such joy.” like he was maybe just some nice guy. When I was ringing him up he was talking small chat for a little while. Then he quipped, “I don’t even know your name.”

I looked down and saw I put my nametag on backwards. I usually do this when I am so caught up in the mess of the daily grind and don’t check because sometimes I am in a rush especially when I get to work and I am in the lounge later than I want to be!

I turned it around and he said my name and then remarked, “That is a beautiful name.” My name means bearer of Christ.

Then right before he walked away he shared his. He was a Hispanic looking man so when He said this I quietly responded back. He said “My name… is Jesus.” I said “Oh ‘Hay-zoo-ss.'” and then it he leaned down in a partial bow and pointed upwards to the sky with his thumb then walked out of my line.

The moment he left it dawned on me and I cried. Thank you for the encouragement Lord.

6/7/21

More to come

Devotion 1 John 7/16/21

Posted on by
Reply

The angel has as of this moment shown up at least six times now. Time to write that group of blog notes soon. Was so encouraging, thank you Lord!

Anyone else getting sick of their sin? (Raises hand) Hello!

It is not just a humbling thing, it makes me think of what Paul has said about it too.

Romans 7:19 sums up well just how frustrating and seemingly hopeless sin feels. It says: For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

It paints a picture of things we might do and over time we will hate it and avoid it though we seem to lose the battle to sins.

I already shared my own sin problem in an earlier month. I had shared about it being one of my biggest regrets in life.

But believe it or not, this is something that can be overcome with the help of the Lord!

We need to realize just what our hearts if we focus on things we shouldn’t are seen to God.

He doesn’t like it. It offends Him! Maybe that will help us to feel convicted about things that we do that we are better off without.

But have hope that Jesus paid for that sin already, long ago. Isn’t that also a great reason to walk away?

We must come to the “cross” in prayer, confess what we did and also ask God to revive our life to Him.

We should praise God that because of the cross and that Jesus died for our sins and rose again showing power even over death we should no longer have those sins in our lives anymore..!

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9 NKJV

To be forgiven by God through Jesus is such a wonderful relief. And to live for His sake is a reason to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit until the day Christ returns. Amen.

Devotion Hebrews-7/15/21

Posted on by
Reply

Had a restful night last night. What a relief to actually get sleep! I have an off day with work today; I guess not being stressed about having to do so much the next day helps…

Why do we always desire more? We might have a place to live, a family and/or neighbors that may care about us, things that we already own. And yet it seems like it’s not enough!

When people make a lot of money it seems to be a response to the life of a sinner: they will be happy with just a little more. To “make more money” seems to be the person’s life dream!

We should be glad of what blessings God already has for us though. Believe me, I know what it is like to keep wanting extra in life. But the ones being encouraged in the book of Hebrews are reminded of what one has can be enough:

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 NIV

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” Those were the words of the author of the Book of Hebrews. The temptation was strong amongst the Jews that they keep their faith, that they hold on to the traditions and rituals of their fathers. .. Source: owlcation.com Quote excerpt from search engine

Mainly I learned that it wasn’t exactly they were trying to keep up with tradition, there was more to that (I kind of feel like I put up a not so reliable source above)!

The main parts of this book of the bible from the New Testament was to state the supremacy of Christ and also to persevere even in tough times (like persecution).

That again would be going on a tangent (maybe I will cover this book entirely sometime!) so I will end with these thoughts.

Living a life in general means you will have aimless goals and might even be very successful. Living a life for God might entail a lot of roads to travel and try out before knowing what really is important.

But what we must realize is to be content. Why? Because God gave us the things we have. To desire “more” as in a lot more may take our eyes off of our goals for God. We have to stay focused and keep our hearts untainted by greed to see what God truly has for us!

Devotions About Mercy 7/14/21

Posted on by
Reply

We should almost grieve about our sins. Because God’s love is deep we don’t have to do the things from our old habits.

God’s love is deeper than what we can mostly imagine. We might have the humanistic approach and think that God can only do what we can ask forgiveness for, as if it was our power in the first place.

But God’s love is limitless. It is grand! It is beyond what we know. Read the bible and within all the countless stories you also can somehow find His mercy that was shown.

He gave lands freedom to glorify and worship Him, the peoples grieved about how bad they were and yet there is within that mercy that revealed!

He gave all sinners chance to turn away and repent and believe.

It is amazing just how much He can do. God’s love was first shown to all of us as we believed by just knowing His life He gave up on the cross through Jesus and after He rose we see His impact living in our hearts now. Amen!

We can also forgive others for their faults and mistakes towards us because not just it is a commandment but God can do great things in us that lead us to know to forgive.

It can be reflection from other believers showing mercy towards us, to help restore friendships that have been torn from selfish or other reasons, and maybe to know that we have been given great strength after we have forgiven during past times.

What a relief it is to forgive!

Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Luke 6:36

But we must also search our own hearts and see what we might have in our hearts that needs removing.

Are we seeing right now a potential in our lives to be moved and living within His Will? What can we take out of our lives that might be harmful to our lives and others?

The people of Israel during Nehemiah’s life early on went to seek God. They realized as a group just how bad they were and basically cried out to God, grieved about their sin.

God responded but it needed a small group to help them understand what the scriptures were then and to respond so that God would be glorified.

Nevertheless in Your great mercy You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; For You are God, gracious and merciful. Nehemiah 9:31

Have you ever been hurt by your past so you cried out to God? Did you realize just how deep His mercy flows like water in your heart? I hope that every day you ask for forgiveness so that you can live life for real like a servant bound to choose to serve Christ.

If you ever have now lived a life worthy of a follower of God may we not forget the mercy we have been shown so we can be merciful and share His grace to others. Praise the Lord!

Devotions Be Love 7/13/21

Posted on by
Reply

I am so humbled by this. The miracle I hinted at happening four times before? Happened again just yesterday. Praise God.

What can a Christian do besides witness, bring people to church, pray, and maybe (just maybe, haha) read the bible?

As believers whether Gentiles (that is most of us. I’m a part of that group) or ones who were from the nationality of Judaism to realize that Christ exists for real, the bible describes a lot of times that we must be showing love to one another (and the world around us).

To be love to each other in John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” 1 John 4:16 “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

I wanted to share three verses but looked up these ones. They will be mentioned.

We might learn that in the bible the greatest commandment is love. God is love! We should base all things we do if we want to draw people to church or to listen the word on love.

Because:

Let all that you do be done with love. 1 Corinthians 16:14

We must be like Christ, one who will show others love no matter what. We must honor Him in all things that we do also.

In 1 Corinthians 13, it talks a lot about love as well. It seems like a love chapter, haha. Here’s the next important verse I found:

(Love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7

It mentions the subject (what this article here is about) in the beginning and then also in verse 4 preceding this verse. I had to add context since it was not in the verse itself.

So if love endures all things, what might that say about our lives? Being love isn’t easy. Also in fact, doing acts for love is not what we might think either. If we have to be tough on say a brother that is not living right in the Lord, that won’t feel like love. If we confront someone about their sin, that is not going to be like “easy” love.

Sometimes we feel like we are tested when showing this love. But in all things God does good though it is difficult in circumstances.

Yet through it all He loves all of us in many ways. If we follow Him fully He will encourage us to show that He loves us. It is amazing just how sweet it is to follow Him in our hearts as passionately as possible!

And we can always be glorified in this life by His love and becoming more and more like Him every day.

We can also never say we love Christ or God more than He does us. As the word says:

We love Him because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

He loved us first. We were loved before we were born. God’s love is amazing, and if you follow Him with all your heart you will see that love in your life, through living in the spirit, and for the people who you care about!

God loves you.