Confess*

Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."  When I read this scripture I thought about the story that came out about this Jesus thing being a hoax. I believe that that story is the actual hoax. I believe God raised Jesus from the dead after he was crucified on a cross for me. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is my Lord and Saviour. That is all it takes to become a Christian. Those simple actions. So easy anyone can do it. Every person alive is given enough faith to be able to accept this truth. But it always has been a whosoever will program. I believe we are in the last days. I see so much stuff coming our way to discredit Christianity. Our country has changed drastically in recent years to be almost against Christianity in many ways. Even many of our local governments do not recognize the impact churches have had on improving society. We no longer recognize how many hospitals and schools were started by Christian Churches. But also churches are made up of imperfect people and sometimes we get our eyes off Jesus who is changing all of us and see only the imperfections of those around us. I didn't change overnight, but at the moment of conversion, I started an about-face and walked a different direction. I started from where I was at at that moment. There were times when I feel I took some steps backward. There were times when I allowed things in my life that I shouldn't have. But God continued to deal with me and change me. The main thing in this blog today is all it takes to start this journey is to confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, and scripture says I shall be saved.  I remember the night of my salvation, and when the minister said to me: What have you done with Jesus? God bless, LVZ.

Love*

In our recent studies in I Corinthians chapters 12, 13, 14, one thing came thru loud and clear. Charity or love is so important in everything we do. these Spiritual Gifts mean nothing if they are not used in love. The 13th chapter says it over and over again, "and have not charity, I am nothing", " it profiteth me nothing."  and verse 4 "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself , is not puffed up, 5. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth; 7. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."  Without charity or love the spiritual gifts are meaningless. In thinking about this and telling about Brother Kruckenburg paying me a nickel to sit with him in church,  his actions were not for himself. He was thinking of others. He took an active 4 to 6-year-old under his wing in the church to make it easier for others. He helped my parents who had their hands full with other kids. It was a simple action that showed love for others. Love for me a little guy. Love for the parents who had their hands full. Love for others in the congregation so it might be less disruptive for them during the service. Whenever the spiritual gifts operate thru believers, be sure if it is effective there is love in the ministering. Without love, the gifts are meaningless. This nickel story is a simple example of how gifts can operate in love. I never thought of the nickel thing as an operation of service to others until we were studying these verses in Sunday School recently. As a little kid, I just liked getting nickels, and certainly didn't see the bigger picture. A missionary said when he retired, he wanted to just rock babies, and that's when it made the connection for me. And I believe that many times the gifts can operate thru us in very simplistic ways and we may not even recognize it. I have not done justice to the subject of gifts of the spirit, but I am just a blogger and like to keep it simple. I don't need to understand it all at once, but if I can just take a small part and apply it to my life, I have made progress. When I think of this nickel story, I wonder if I will recognize Brother Kruckenberg in heaven. If I find him, I'll sit with him awhile and thank him for the nickels. I hadn't thought about this in years, and I wonder what other blessings I have received. I wonder what other people touched my life thru the years that I don't even remember.  God bless, LVZ.

Gifts*

I Corinthians 12:11 "But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."  There have been several lessons lately on the gifts of the spirit that I have been thinking about and learning. One thing recently I picked up and it helped explain how I feel about some things being said by others. Here it is: people with the gift of Prophecy can sometimes come off harshly, they seek the truth and want to tell the truth. The gift of Prophecy is not foretelling someone's future, but it is truth-telling. It is proclaiming the Gospel, the truth of God's word. Some times I would feel like I was reverting back to legalism, but when you want to tell the truth of God's word, you want it to be accurate. Wanting to be accurate is not being legalistic. Wanting to rightly interpret God's word is not being legalistic. I don't know that this is actually a strength of mine. There may be other areas that I am better at, but this is one that I try to develop.  God gives these gifts listed in Romans 12 and in I Corinthians chapters 12, 13, 1nd 14 as he sees fit. To strengthen believers, to grow believers that we might be witnesses for him. Another thought that stuck with me is some of these gifts are service gifts, where we serve others. A janitor is necessary, imagine what our churches would look like if there were no janitors. When I was somewhere around 4 to 6 years of age, our family attended Church in Bismark, North Dakota. I had an older sister, she would have been between 6 to 8 years old during that period of time. I had an older brother, he would have been somewhere around 7 to 9 if I counted right. But if I was 4 to 5, I had a younger sister about 2 and my next younger brother came along two years after this sister. My parents at that time had their hands full with all of us. Brother Kruckenburg attended church with us at that time. He was a bus driver in the city of Bismark. He walked with a limp and he had hairy arms. Those are the few things I remember about Brother Kruchenburg (I have no idea if I am spelling his name correctly). Brother Kruckenburg would pay me a nickel every Sunday to sit with him in Church. I thought he really liked me and possibly he did. But as an adult, I look back and realize as much as he may have liked me, more importantly, he was helping my parents with all these children during Church. He had taken at least one of them off their hands. Operating the Gifts of the Spirit can be as simple as that was. It may not have been recognized for what it was. Brother Kruchenburg was actually serving others (my parents) in a very helpful and possibly it wasn't even seen as a gift of the spirit operating in our midst.
It helped others at the same time to enjoy the service, hear the sermon and not be overly disrupted by all these children. This was before the days of childcare being provided. God bless our childcare workers. He was serving others in a very simplistic way, it was a gift of service that God operated thru him. We look at other gifts as sometimes being more important, Prophecy, Teaching, etc., but the janitor is just as important. This little blog is also my attempt at exercising Prophecy, telling truth. This is my attempt at explaining the gifts of the spirit. Much more can be said, and I think I will blog some more about this subject at a later date.  God bless, LVZ

Things I know*

Many times we come across things we do not understand fully. But, what do I know? I know that Jesus is the Son of God. I know that God has our best interest at heart. With hindsight I see this but in the moment, I sometimes don't understand or perhaps feel like God is not hearing me. For instance when we first got to Tupelo, I was praying for a church. Actually I started praying about it before we moved. I visited church after church and was actually becoming discouraged. I was thinking, I set the bar to high, I cannot find a Church as good as I had in Tacoma. I need to be satisfied with less. Perhaps I was a little like King David, God had anointed him as king when he was about 15 years old. He still had things to learn. King Saul was actually trying to kill David. God spirit had left King Saul when he went asking mediums and others about what to do instead of  seeking God. David fled Israel and hid to get away from God. He was discouraged because Saul was trying to kill him. But God had already anointed him King. He should have just trusted God to deliver him. Anyway back to what I was saying about finding a church. I had just thought about maybe I had set the bar to high, and shortly after, I visited Hope Church for the first time. From the first Sunday I felt God had answered my prayer. As I thought back on it I realized Hope Church had been there all the time, I just hadn't visited it before. God was waiting on me to get there. I didn't know much about Hope Church that first Sunday, I just felt in my heart it was the place I'd been looking for. I had not set the bar to high. It just took me a long time to get there. Hind sight shows that the longer I attend the more I feel it was God's answer. I don't understand everything, I know God can heal, either thru doctors or supernaturally. But he doesn't heal everyone. I don't understand why. But I know God can heal. Not everyone accepts Jesus as Lord and Saviour, but I know God is not willing that any should perish but that all men might come to repentance. But not everyone is willing to accept God grace. But I know God can save and transform any life, if that person is willing to turn their heart and life over to him.  I have seen so many before and after pictures of peoples lives, I know what God can do, if we accept him as Lord and Saviour. I know he hears a Christians prayers, he has answered many of mine. Sometimes I think he hasn't heard me or perhaps he said  no or not yet. I do not have all the answers, but I do know God loves me and has my best interests at heart. I know God is in control. I know, he created the universe and us. I know the Bible is also a history book. I know there have been many disappointments in life in the past, but God is still working on me. I saw God work in my fathers heart up until the end. I didn't understand a lot of things about my father, but God loves to work in our hearts. He wants to change us, change our hearts into what he wants. I know he will do that in my heart also if I allow him to work on me. There is much I do not understand, but one of the most important things I know is God loves me just as I am and he is still working on me. God Bless,  LVZ.

Little Elijah*

Thinking about Grandchildren this morning. Little Elijah loves to spend time with his Big Daddy and with his Papa (me). He loves to wrestle with me. He needs his Daddy, but Daddy doesn't have the time for him. That's all it is just spending time with him, wrestle with him, pick up nails in the yard. At one point, I bought him a little shovel and he helped spread some gravel. He just wants time with the adults in his life. I look back and wish I'd spent more time with my children, just time. It didn't have to be quality time as we so often use as an excuse, but time to just interact with them. I remember early on when Jeremy was a little tyke. He would try and help wash the car. I would change a tire on the car and he would have a tool in his hand and be touching it against the tire. Just time. Carla made up a song when she was little - It's raining, it's pouring, my Daddy is boring. She wanted time with her Daddy. But the generational curses play on unless we break them. Haji's Daddy didn't have the time to interact with him a lot and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Haji has excuses for why he doesn't see his son. Summer and he do not get along, so who suffers? Little Eli, he just wants time to wrestle. We cannot see it until it is too late. I remember early on when Jeremy was just a toddler, playing cars in the back yard with him. We built roads in the dirt and were driving cars along those roads. A neighbor looked over the fence and saw us, and made a comment about Leon is playing cars. It embarrassed me, here I was a 20 something year old and playing cars in the back yard. I was too young to know I was doing the right thing. I was spending time with my child. I should never have felt embarrassed as I was doing the right thing. Isn't that the way it is like the song Cats in the Cradle, we realize too late what is really important. I miss my grandchildren. I remember when I used to go up to help Carla with the grandkids almost every weekend. The first thing Callia would do is lay on my shoulder and take a nap, almost every time. Time to just do nothing but spend time together. I believe that is what Eli wants and needs, as do other children. No one can do it as good as Daddy or Mommy. I see it in Brianna, just spend time baking cookies. Children suffer when we do not have just time to spend with them. Not money, just spend time with them. I see it in Shania, the little 4 year old across the street. I'll be busy working and I'll hear Hi Leon, and there may be no adults in her yard. What do you need Shania, I'll ask? I have popcorn, she'll say. Children just want time with us. God bless, LVZ.

By Grace*

You don't have to know every doctrine in the Bible to become a Christian. You don't have to live a perfect life to become a Christian. By Grace we are saved, unmerited favor, we don't deserve it, we can't buy it, but we just believe, ask and receive. There are times when I disagree with the theology of others, and sometimes I feel compelled to respond. But do I come off the same way? We do not have to see eye to eye on every doctrine of the Bible. The requirement for salvation is being born again. I did not see everything the same today as I did over 25 years ago. But I was born again and a Christian way back 25 years ago when my doctrinal views were quite different. I recently blogged about Unity and Unanimity, but sometimes I forget unanimity is not a requirement for salvation. By grace alone we are saved. We don't have to study the scriptures and have an answer for everything to be saved. A lady at church was talking about relatives that belonged to a certain denomination that believed you had to literally be baptized to be saved. In a conversation with a relative the question was asked, what if I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and on the way to my baptism I was killed in an accident, would I still be saved? Per that relative, the answer was no. She would be lost for eternity. While not all beliefs are that extreme, per my reading of the Bible it is by grace we are saved, not an act we perform. I hope I do not come off as legalistic as that person did when I disagree about doctrinal issues. Many times talk about just one verse of scripture at a time and there is a danger of going off on a tangent based on using just one verse of scripture. I believe we do not need unanimity in the Christian world, I do not believe we all have to respond in a certain way. We are different, I am a somewhat emotional person, have been most of my life. I can be moved to tears quite easily, but not every ones makeup is like that. Some people are not emotional and it is almost impossible for them to shed a tear. Does that make me more spiritual then they? No, it just means I am more emotional. The Bible does not say we have to shed a tear to be saved, or show emotion. We are different, we think differently. Do we have to think conservatively to be a Christian? Do we have to think liberally to be a Christian? Do we have to be a Republican or do we have to be a Democrat to be saved? No, by grace we are saved, we cannot earn it, we cannot buy it, we cannot make ourselves good enough to become a Christian. At some point just as we are, we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and the forgiveness of our sins. At that point, we start a new journey. Yours may be different than mine. Sometimes I think I forget how simple it is when I get caught up in trying to live the best I know-how. I study and try to feed myself from the word and forget how simple the first step was. I don't want to be legalistic, I do want to be like Jesus. God Bless, LVZ.

To Forgive*

My thoughts this morning go to my building project. I really have to pray, because I am so angry. I pay to have a metal roof put on and a few days later I end up with a small hole in the roof. A week goes by and the builder comes back with a new panel to replace the one with the small hole in it. Then he takes the damaged panel home to use it on his porch. I paid for it twice and he ends up with panel material for his project on his own house. He didn't ask to take the panel, he just took it. Actually, I don't know if I paid for it twice yet. I will see Monday morning when I pay for my bill. He makes an error on the roof rafters and I pay time and material to put in a second beam and the cover-up so it looks like it was intended. If I say something I feel they have the opportunity to take it out on me on the next part of the build. If it is my own dysfunctional self and a perceived injury or actual, it has been a real lesson in forgiving for me. To forgive is not optional for a Christian. In fact, another scripture talks about if we pray and we realize we have ought against another person to leave the altar and make it right. The Bible tells us Love does not keep a record of wrongs. So being a Christian and really living it is hard, downright difficult at times. I had worked thru my feelings about the hole in the roof when we perceive an act as an accident we write it off. There is no injury to us. I looked at it after a few days as it could have been as simple as a nail gun going off and hitting that roof panel, an accident. Now I am back to considering if this was intentional,  a way to get me to pay for material for his own roof. The panel was long enough he could probably cut the damaged part off, or still use it an put a screw thru it. I don't know if it is my own dysfunction coming thru at this point or not but I am sure having to pray about it. I perceive it as an injustice to me. It certainly is a smaller amount than what God has already forgiven me on my account. Once again I pray God to help me to forgive as you have already forgiven me. I am a theist, and God wants me to show the world what love is about. I believe in God and the forgiveness of sins. God wants us to live a life of love, joy, peace, patience all those gifts of the spirit, to show Christianity works. As Pastor Wolfson says in the game of life, atheist, agnostic, theist; the theist wins every time. We need to show the fruit of the spirit in our lives. Being a Christian is not always easy, sometimes it can be difficult to apply these words to our life and really live it. The future will be worth it all. God help me to forgive as you have forgiven me. Am I really living the life of a Christian when I have such a difficult time with the issues above?  I want to come thru this with my Christianity intact. God bless, LVZ

I Timothy 4:8*

As I read the Bible this morning in Proverbs, I read a cross-reference in Timothy about a different subject and read I Timothy 4:8 (Amplified Bible) "For physical training is of some value (useful for a little), but godliness (spiritual training) is useful and of value in everything and in every way, for it holds promise for the present life and also for the life which is to come." Here again, when the Apostle Paul is writing to Timothy, he is referring to the life to come. There is a benefit to living a Christian life in the here and now, but the resurrection (the life to come) is central to the Christian belief. I was reading about benevolence and accidentally ran across this scripture. I think that sometimes you have to walk the Christian lifestyle awhile until you see the benefit in this present life. But the future, the life which is to come is what I believe to be after the resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous dead. It is central to the Christian faith, and  I cannot forget the scripture in I Corinthians that said if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable. I did not look it up but believe it was chapter 15 about verse 19. God bless, LVZ.