Verse of the Week- 1 John 1:5 May 22, 2017

My husband shared his philosophy for living a Christian life with me early in our marriage. 
He lives his faith walk by testing everything with this saying: "Good God - Bad Satan." 

I decided to try out this outlook for a while, after all Bill is the spiritual leader of our home AND Bill has a peace and calmness that I wanted to have too. 

After a month or two, I realized that life is much simpler when measured by "Good God - Bad Satan." 

Today, I have lived by this philosophy for six years and find myself with some of the peace and calmness of my spouse.

Good God - Bad Satan
The things of God do not show darkness because God is light and in him is no darkness at all. I do not blame God for doing bad things because God cannot sin or do anything wrong. God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

Am I living life in the darkness or in the light? 
The answer to this question lies in my attitude and actions. My attitude and actions show where I am living. Therefore, a daily inventory of my attitude and actions is in order at the end of each day because I want to stay firmly in the light of God.

Bad things come from the world and the ruler of this world is Satan.
I assign the blame where it belongs - with Satan. My God isn't a tempter, Satan is the tempter. Am I feeling tempted? Then I need to get back into the light (shelter) of the Lord. I do this by submitting all areas of my life to God. He is Lord of my whole life, not just a part of my life. When I submit my entire life to God, Satan will FLEE! Satan cannot stay in the light of God.

John 8:12  
Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life

Psalm of the Week - 84:11 - May 22, 2017

The author of this psalm is King David.  

David's life shows how he walked closely with God, then let the world move him from God, and after he admitted his mistakes, he once again walked closely with God. 

• The Lord God is a sun — He will enlighten, direct, and comfort all his people; in contrast people that live without God in the world walk in darkness and do not know where they go, (John 12:35) 
• and shield — He will defend them from all their enemies, and from those awful and destructive problems which happen to all other men. 
• The Lord will give grace — His favor and friendship, which are better than life. Psalm 63:3. And all the blessed fruits of it, especially the influences, gifts, and graces of his Spirit; 
• and glory — Not the vain glory and splendor of this world...but the honor which comes from God here, and that eternal...glory saved for God’s people in the future world. 
• No good thing will he withhold — Nothing that is truly good in itself, and which would be good for them...While the good things of this world ...would be very hurtful to them, as is verified by frequent experiments. 
• From them that walk uprightly — That worship and serve God sincerely, and order their conversation aright. 

Any bad that happened to David, was his own fault. 

David here assigns the true reason, which was not any defect in God’s goodness and all-sufficiency, but only his own misconduct, whereby he had clouded this sun, and cast away this shield, and forfeited these privileges by departing from his integrity.

Bullet points and ending paragraph of this post are adapted from the Benson Commentary. 

Psalm of the Week - 84:10 - May 14, 2017

Let us account one day in God's courts better than a thousand spent elsewhere; and deem the meanest place in his service preferable to the highest earthly preferment.  

Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary

Verse of the Week - Luke 10:39 - May 14, 2017

Bed time has always been a time for me to think about my day.
Good times, bad times, in between times are all looked at and gone through. For years I followed this routine, but I also kept my mind busy with thinking about what I could have, or should have, said to other people. In short, my mind was not silent.
Mental Silence 
Being mentally silent was not an activity that I had even thought about until I was thirty-three years old and participating in a twelve-step recovery program. People kept talking about "meditating" as part of their daily prayer time. I remember thinking about this as an activity to be practiced. It was an action that I needed to do so I created a "meditation wall" in my tiny apartment.
The meditation wall consisted of a Serenity Prayer plaque, a plaque of Proverbs 3:6, and framed slogans.
Each day I would sit on the couch and read my meditation wall. Then I would think about what each one said and what it meant. One day, I realized that meditating wasn't me talking to myself, it was a time for me to be still, or silent. Wow! I had not tried to be mentally silent in a VERY long time.
Today, I am in awe of the Lord and trying my best to not sin. 
At days end, I search my heart, or review my actions and behaviors of the day. Then, I am silent and listening. 

2017 Diamonds Out of Dust Women's Conference

Conference Theme Song - Diamonds by Hawk Nelson

It's the hard books that count. Raking is easy, but all you get is leaves; digging is hard, but you might find diamonds.” 

― John Piper, God's Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards

What a great time of praise and joy!
My spiritual tank is overflowing after spending time with my sisters in faith at the conference in Carthage, Missouri. All of us felt strengthened and encouraged from listening to the conference speakers, from discussing scriptures and from sharing our faith experiences with each other.

Are you raking, or are you digging when you read the bible?
Reading the bible is key to developing from a diamond in the rough to a sparkling, faceted diamond mounted in a ring of faith. Read your bible sisters. Ask the Lord to give you wisdom, knowledge, and discernment as you read and meditate upon the Word of God. Yes, it is a hard book, but stop raking and start digging!

Diamonds Out of Dust - Five Statement Pledge of Faith

1. He is who He says He is
2. He does what He says He does
3. I am what He says I am
4. I can do all things through Christ
5. God's word is alive and active in me

Directions for the Five Statement Pledge of Faith

Put this on your mirror girls and read it aloud. Look yourself in the eye as you speak these truths aloud. Do this daily until you believe it with all your heart, with all your strength, and with all your mind. 

Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'   Matthew 22:37

Scriptures From Friday Night Session

Acts 14:22
 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

Mark 16:15-17
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

SalleeB: I added Luke 10:19, it is a cross reference for Mark 16:18 and provides and emphasis on the authority and power we have been given to overcome the enemy through Jesus Christ. 

Luke 10:19
I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

Acts 18:9-10
One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 

Psalm of the Week - 145:10 - May 7, 2017

He (God) satisfies the desire of every living thing, except the unreasonable children of men, who are satisfied with nothing.                                                      Matthew Henry

Are you satisfied with nothing, or are you praising the Creator for everything he has given you?
I think Matthew Henry must have been thinking about the Israelites after the Exodus. Nothing satisfied them for long. Rather than praising and blessing God, they grumbled. They wanted meat instead of manna. Quail didn't make them happy either. 40 years in the wilderness is what it took to make them change their attitude.

Attititude is key to being happy.
When you believe that all things come to you through God, your attitude should be one of praise and thankfulness. Happiness is being thankful for what God has done for you.

Verse of the Week - Romans 1:25 - May 7, 2017

The Truth About God

• He created us in his own image Genesis 1:27
• He wants to be in a relationship with his creation, us 1 John 4:16
• He wants us to worship Him and Him alone, yet he gave us free will to chose 1 Timothy 1:15-17
• He loves us so much he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus to us to die as an eternal sin offering. Hebrews 9:28
• He has a plan for each of us Ephesians 1:11

Created Things That Shouldn't Replace God

• Yourself
• Family
• Work
• Pursuit of Wealth
• Food
• Alcohol
• Drugs
• Sex
• Sports
• Things - car, motorcycle, truck, house, furniture...

The Big "C" - Cancer

My mom is 74 and her last mammogram revealed a small lump that turned out to be cancer. 

Mom and I prayed together for healing before the biopsy came back. I was surprised that the lump turned out to be cancer. Surprised because I have felt nothing but peace about my momma and this situation. However, that is what the biopsy revealed and my good God will take care of my mom. I KNOW he will! My momma loves the Lord with all her heart. 

Yesterday, mom had a lumpectomy and two lymph nodes were removed. 

The lumpectomy surgery went smoothly and quickly. Preliminary results for the lymph nodes were negative for cancer. Now we are waiting  for the results of the second lymph node test while mom heals at home. The surgeon told us that there was a 93%-94% chance that the results will be negative. 

Numbers don't mean much to me. 

God is in charge of this and I know he is holding my mom in his hands. I am believing that it will be negative too. I am NOT going to let numbers impress me. Numbers don't mean anything to God. 

How many times have his people won against incredible odds? 

A shepherd boy slew a giant warrior. A pillar of cloud led God's people through the parted waters to escape Egypt. The walls of Jericho fell down after 7 days because God's people followed his directions. A small number of warriors defeated a huge army. When God is involved, numbers don

't mean anything!.

My mom is an amazingly strong woman who never fails to surprise me. 

After the release papers were all done, mom was surprised that I wanted to help her dress. However, I was able to hold her clothing for her while she quickly dressed. 

Before going home, Dad drove to the local pharmacy to fill the prescription for mom's pain medicine. Mom opened the pharmacy bag, looked at the prescription bottle, and read the instructions carefully. Then she says,

"Oh my goodness! 325 milligram pills. That's too strong. I don't know why they gave me more than 30 either. I won't need that many and I am going to have to cut them in half."  

My mom is not in any danger of becoming dependent on pain killers. lol...lol 

After arriving at home, mom laid down for a short while. Then, she was up cooking and eating an egg for lunch. In fact, the only thing I actually did was to fix a printing issue they had with their computer and printer before leaving for home. 

My heart continues to be full of joy.

My mom is at home with dad, following her normal routine while following the doctor's aftercare instructions. I am grateful to still have my mom. She is a blessing in my life. 

Exodus 15:2

"The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.

Matthew 6:34

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.