The Sweet Life

What does that mean, Living the sweet life?
Traveling to exotic lands?
The house of your dreams?
Having all the money you could want to buy anything you want?
Or enough money to never go to work again?

Maybe it isn't any of that....maybe it is..
✴watching a mother bird feed her babies in the nest
✴seeing the sun shine through the leaves
✴hearing a child laugh
✴having homemade raspberry jam on your toasted bagel (what inspired this blog!)
✴"hearing" God's "still soft whisper"
📖 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 1 Kings 19:12

✴Having scripture speak right to your heart.
📖 My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”
    And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” Psalm 27:8

✴Seeing Him move every where.

In this day and age of excessiveness.... maybe the sweet life is the simpler things....the "stop and smell the roses" things..
The God things that surround us everyday.
Like the particles of dust floating in the air...that you only see in the shaft of light.
God is around us ALL THE TIME....moving, giving life and love...but we have to look through the Light that shines.
📖 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” John 8:12

That is IT!
THAT is the sweet life!
Basking in the Light of Jesus Christ and knowing....seeing God all around you, in every circumstance!

What does it mean to you?
📖 Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
Sing the glory of his name
make his praise glorious.
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you,
they sing the praises of your name."
Come and see what God has done
his awesome deeds for mankind!
He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the waters on foot.
Come, let us rejoice in him.  Psalm 66:1-6

🙏 My prayer today is that you take some time to be with our Amazing God and let Him show you the sweet things in your life! 

📖 How sweet are your words to my taste,

    sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:10

Spelling Bee

September is here and children have gone or are headed to school!  Those of us who are, shall we say, a bit older...may be relieved to NOT be IN school...but we should always be learning!

We even can learn to spell and do our ABC's all over again!

A.B.C. -  Admit Believe Commit
📖 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. .Romans 10:9-10

J.O.Y.  - Jesus, Others and You.
📖 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31

F.R.O.G. -  Fully Rely On God
📖You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely. Psalm 59:17
📖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. 1 John 4:16

A.S.A.P. -  Always Say A Prayer
📖 Rejoice always,  pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

B.I.B.L.E. - Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

📖 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,  so that the servant of God^[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:15-17

S.W.A.G. - Saved With Amazing Grace
📖  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

No matter our age or status in life we can learn lessons like:
We need to SING...louder than we did in music class
📖 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. Psalm 96:1-3

Make Noise...like we were just let outside for recess!
📖 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!  
Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
Psalm 100:1-2 (NKJV)

🎵 Good News Mandisa (click to hear song and see if you can sit still!)

And just like PE class we need to MOVE... for the Lord
📖 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday. Psalm 37:5-6 (ESV)

📖 Serve the Lord with gladness; Psalm 100:2

As I was sitting down to do this blog and find the scripture I might use, I opened Biblegateway.com and the verse of the day was....
📖 The earth is filled with your love, Lord; teach me your decrees. Psalm 116:64

I had to laugh and said "Thank you Lord for showing me the verse that covers the whole BLOG this week!  Isn't He a GREAT and AMAZING TEACHER!?
AMEN!

The song, I hadn't heard before, was playing while I was writing!  I just had to share because it went with what I was writing....I included the link where I was at the time I heard it!

I pray that you seek out and look for the lessons that God has for you today!  EVERYDAY!

River of LIFE

This is delayed a bit because the blog I had intended for Monday didn't seem to be the one God intended...
While doing up my early morning dishes Monday, I was thinking about our outing with my daughter, son-in-law and 3 grandchildren the previous day.  It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon out in their boat on the water at Rainbow Falls.

And as I started reminiscing about the day, God placed a new blog idea in my mind!
First of all the song "River of Life" (VBS version) keeps playing in my head.
🎵 I've Got a River of Life (click to listen)
And what life there was on the water! All the vegetation along the edges. (Even noticed a few trees changing color😱)
We could see the water grass and weeds swaying just under the surface in the more shallow areas.
Insects danced on the surface of the water giving the illusion of rain drops.
An occasional fish would would break the surface reaching for those insects closest to the surface.
We even saw a beaver lodge, evidence of animal life along the water.

On the boat there is a fish finder....a "finder" of the life that can't be seen in the deeper darkness of the water.
And it is also a depth finder....sonar bouncing off the land hidden beneath the surface to give a gage so we didn't go too shallow and run aground.
It also shows hidden dangers; stumps and rocks which could injure or even damage the motor prop.

I've got a river flowing out of me!

springing up within my soul!
A river full of LIFE....life so abundant and free...because the River in me is full of Him!
📖 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”.John 7:38
📖 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:14

He has given us His Holy Word as well as the Holy Spirit to help us "detect" any dangers or pit falls that might be lurking near by
📖 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

If God had a "depth finder" what would it detect?  How deep would it say our faith and commitment to Him was?
How many  hinderences would He find that we seem to let hang just below the surface tripping us up frequently?
How many "fish" would He find on our sonar?   We are called to be "fishers of people"...
📖 Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”  Matthew 4:19
...spreading God's love and light to those around us and telling them about the One true source of Life, Life everlasting!
📖  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

I know it may seem over simplified..but lazing in a boat at trolling speed, watching grandchildren cast out and reel in with their Daddy and their Papa simplifies things...How Sweet It Is!
                                         

To know the Father and have the Living Water of Jesus overflowing in my soul,
knowing He is my Life giver and has given me the Holy Spirit to guide and protect me.
📖  What we have received is not the spirit of the world,but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 1 Corinthians 2:12
And there is no depth finder that can register the depth of His love for me!  AND FOR YOU!
📖 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19
AMEN!💗

We Believe

I have used this song in a blog before, but it just keeps popping into my head.
This time it is all about THE song and what I....WE believe!

We believe in God the Father
    📖 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. 1 Corinthians 8:6

We believe in Jesus Christ
   📖 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 1 John 3:22

   📖  This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile Romans 3:22


We believe in the Holy Spirit 
^📖 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me John 15:25-27

📖 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:21-22

and He's given us New Life
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  2 Corinthians 5:17

We believe in the crucifixion

^📖  Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. John 19:16 
Read the full account  (click on the link)  John 19:6-16

📖 There they crucified him John 19:18
📖 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. Mark 15:25

📖 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

We believe that He conquered death
📖 Who has the authority to condemn? Jesus the Anointed who died, but more importantly, conquered death when He was raised to sit at the right hand of God where He pleads on our behalf.  Romans 8:34 (The Voice)

We believe in the resurrection
📖 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,  and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.   Romans 1:3-4
📖 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

and He's coming back again
📖 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Matthew 24:42 
📖 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:3

WE BELEIVE

📖 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,  that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”   For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:14-18

Click and listen to the song....SING loud if you BELIEVE!
🎵 We Believe Newsboys

We Believe

Newsboys

In this time of desperation
When all we know is doubt and fear
There is only one foundation
We believe, we believe
In this broken generation
When all is dark, You help us see
There is only one salvation
We believe, we believe

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He's given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the resurrection
And He's comin' back again, we believe

So, let our faith be more than anthems
Greater than the songs we sing
And in our weakness and temptations
We believe, we believe

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He's given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the resurrection
And He's comin' back again

Let the lost be found and the dead be raised
In the here and now, let love invade
Let the church live love our God will see
We believe, we believe
And the gates of hell will not prevail
For the power of God, has torn the vail
Now we know Your love will never fail
We believe, we believe

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He's given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the resurrection
And He's comin' back
He's comin' back again
He's comin' back again
We believe
We believe

Songwriters: Jeremy Lynn Epperson, Matt Hooper, Richie Fike

© Songtrust Ave, ST MUSIC LLC