Exclusiveness

I am reading in John chapter 17, Jesus's prayer. I wonder how my understanding of that is today?
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
John 17:20,21.
I know from doing research that the denomination I was raised in says that exclusiveness was never an official teaching of their denomination. But I seem to remember scriptures like the one above and perhaps John 10:16 used in that way. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.    When we believe in Jesus we become Christian because he was the Christ. The savior of the world. That denomination has split at least three times in my lifetime. I remember when I first attended another church it took me about 4 years to feel comfortable at some other church instead of the denomination I was raised in. I was taught exclusiveness, they were the true church, their denomination. I think I run into this same thing in other organizations besides just the one I was raised in. I believe when we are in Christ, we are in that one body of believers and do not have to be a member of that particular denomination. I struggle with this still today wondering if my understanding is correct. I saw over the years when something happened in a church to where people left a congregation, they would stay outside and many would not go to another denomination. The exclusiveness should be in Christ, there is no other way to God the Father except through Jesus Christ.  Somehow we seem to get that same loyalty that should be to Christ in a denomination. There are many good churches, but the highest loyalty should be to Christ above that denomination. I often wonder if anyone else struggled with that being loyal to a denomination above Christ?  When my kids were in school and I do not remember what year it was but it must have been in the late 80s, my children's mother wanted to put my children in a Christian school. I agreed and we enrolled them in a Christian school about a half-mile up the road from where we lived at the time. A little non-denominational country church.  I started attending there because I wanted to see what was going on in the congregation that was responsible for teaching my children. But I had a struggle. I felt like I was going against God because I was no longer attending a church from the denomination I was raised in. That Pastor by the name of Darcy Haisley and Raymond Weurch that followed him helped me immensely.  We were also having marital struggles at that time already. Pastor Haisley was counseling us. I remember once sitting in his office and talking about the church I grew up in and he watched my body language. There was a Bible on the desk in front of me and I pushed it away from me. He brought it to my attention. Our exclusiveness needs to be in Christ, not in a denomination. But others that have not been taught the exclusiveness have fallen for other religions other than Christianity.  As I remember it took me about 4 years to start feeling comfortable outside the denomination I was raised in.  I am comfortable in Christ, my allegiance is to Christ above all else or should be. Having been divorced 4 times I do not believe they would even accept me in their congregations anymore. But Christ does and has forgiven me. I have not checked it out, I probably should not make a statement like that but it is how I feel.  Christ accepts us just as we are and corrects us as we live in him. You do not come to God with everything corrected in your life, you come to him just as you are, loaded down with sin and he picks you up and cleanses you with the washing of water by the word as it says in Ephesians. Sins are forgiven instantly, but learning how to live in Christ is a lifelong experience. No one wakes up the morning after becoming a Christian and knows the whole Bible from cover to cover. But in our relationship with Christ, we grow into looking like our Savior. Sins are forgiven instantly but learning to live in Christ lasts a lifetime. I am still learning and even sometimes relearning how to live in this present world.  I don't have a corner on the gospel and hope I never feel like I do. But I am growing in Christ day by day.
One Day at a Time

Merle Haggard

I'm only human I'm just a man
Help me to believe in what I could be and all that I am
Show me the stairway that I have to climb
Lord for my sake teach me to take one day at a time
One day at a time sweet Jesus that's all I'm asking from you
Give me the strength to do every day what I have to do
Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus And tomorrow may never be mine
So for my sake teach me to take one day at a time

Do you remember when you walked among men
Well Jesus you know if you're looking below it's worse now than then
Pushing and shoving crowding my mind
So for my sake teach me to take one day at a time
One day at a time sweet Jesus that's all I'm asking from you
Give me the strength to do every day what I have to do
Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus And tomorrow may never be mine
Yes just for my sake teach me to take one day at a time

God bless, LVZ. 

God Loves Me Dearly

1. God loves me dearly,
Grants me salvation,
God loves me dearly,
Loves even me.

Refrain:
Therefore I'll say again:
God loves me dearly,
God loves me dearly,
Loves even me.

2. I was in slav'ry,
Sin, death, and darkness;
God's love was working
To make me free. [Refrain]

3. He sent forth Jesus,
My dear Redeemer,
He sent forth Jesus
And set me free. [Refrain]

4. Jesus, my Savior,
Himself did offer;
Jesus, my Savior,
Paid all I owed. [Refrain]

5. Now I will praise You,
O love Eternal;
Now I will praise You
All my life long. [Refrain]

Thanks to cousin Alton

This is an old song my parents used to sing in German.  Some time ago I ran across this translation into English. It must have been done by my cousin Alton.  God loves us dearly, everything he does for us is with our best in mind. If he says no to a prayer it is for our good. I woke up this morning thinking about what to write about. I thought am I just dating or in a serious relationship with God?  We know even from Genesis, the first book of the Bible that after creation God would walk in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day to talk with Adam and Eve. It seems to have been a daily thing because God knew about their sin immediately. Think about your relationship with God is it an occasional outing? Hey God can we meet up Sunday at church?  Or do you wake up each morning conversing with God? After I got married this talking and conversing with my spouse was a daily thing. When we were dating it could have been an occasional phone call. As it became more serious, it developed into a daily phone call. God loves us dearly and wants a relationship with us.  Do we invite him in or is he still at arm's length as we consider do I really like this person? When you realize the person you are dating loves you and is truly concerned about your welfare don't you take it to the next level? Sometimes we worry about losing what we consider a good catch. Nobody has your best interest at heart like God does.  In a couple of my failed marriages, I'd come home from work and she would be gone. I come into an empty house. It was a devastating feeling and it happened several times. God promises to never leave us. He promises to always be with us. When the going gets rough he is there. When there are sunshine and good times he is there. But most importantly in the valley, in the hard times, he remains.  There is a poem about footsteps in the sand walking together and if you follow the steps you see where suddenly there is just one set of footprints. The poem tells us that is when God carried us. Do you realize just how much God loves you? God sent his son Jesus to die on a cross for our sins, John 3:16. God loves you dearly.  God bless, LVZ.  

Co-sign

 Do you realize King Solomon, considered the wisest man that ever lived instructed us to never co-sign?  

My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger—  if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said— follow my advice and save yourself, for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased. Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do. Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net. Proverbs 6:1-5

You put yourself in a difficult situation. If you do this you need to have the funds to pay the debt if the person you are helping defaults. I have heard of bad stories of this nature. A young couple co-signed for me to buy a motorcycle when I was about 19. Through no fault of my own, it was totaled not too long after I bought it. The insurance was not going to give me enough to pay it completely off. I had to continue making payments for 6 months until the debt was paid off. At that age, I thought I'll just quit making payments. Then my co-signer reminded me if I stop paying, he will have to pay.  As a very young man, I hadn't even thought about it.  I did make the payments until it was totally paid off.  It would have been difficult for my co-signer had I not continued to pay. If he had been unable it would have ruined his credit as well as mine. King Solomon tells us to get ourselves out of an agreement like that.  Often the person that needs the help of a co-signer does not understand or care when they get into financial trouble. They know they need help because they can't do it on their own. King Solomon strongly advises against guaranteeing another's debt. Today I understand why. It has the potential to ruin your credit if the person that you help defaults. I am thankful that the young couple co-signed for me. It got me started in life where I was able to borrow on my own. But that is another thing, we borrow too much because we want everything now.  It would be wiser to save up and get what we need or want without paying the interest. If you decide to help someone, be sure to have the ability to pay the debt yourself. Don't put yourself in a place that could destroy your own credit.   God bless, LVZ.

Self-control

 Reading Proverbs 5, I am thankful for grace. For a period of time, I got caught up in worldly thinking and living. Many of us have in one way or another. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness. Proverbs 5:23. Lack of discipline, lack of self-control. That was me. I bought into the lifestyle of the 90's.  I remember thinking after my first divorce of being celibate. But a Christian woman told me this is the 90's, that is not realistic. I think I listen to worldly advice instead of King Solomon in Proverbs chapter 5. King Solomon had been given a lot of wisdom by God. King Solomon had asked for it. God said ask me anything and King Solomon did ask for wisdom that he might lead God's people in a manner pleasing to God. How are we to be salt and light to a world that is on its way to hell if we don't look any different than the world around us?  If God's people are shacking up outside of the bonds of marriage? This is pretty much what this 5th chapter is talking about, at least it is what stood out to me. I'd feel guilty and want to do right and got into a marriage where my spouse did not want to live according to God's word. I have stories I would like to bury, I really do.  I would not edify anyone by telling them. They are now part of my history. A part of my history that has been forgiven. There are memories I would like to forget, they are part of my history. Bad decisions I made that were contrary to God's will for my life, were sinful. Except for God's mercy, they would have destroyed me. This is what strikes me in reading Proverbs 5.  The lack of self-control. I do have some stories of the good kind, that I am not afraid to tell. Stories that I can say do as I did, not just what I say. One of the good stories happened some 30 years ago, where I used some good sense (well maybe not at first).  I was taking my son to work, it was very early in the morning like about 4:30 am.  I saw two ladies on the street corner trying to hitch a ride. I could also tell they were very drunk.  On my way back home the two ladies were still there, and I did offer them a ride home (this was not good sense).  They had been celebrating one of the sister's birthdays. One of the sisters got in the back seat. The other in the front gave me directions to take them home. She directed me to the back seat sister's home and then to her home. Then it happened, in her driveway, I faced one of the greatest temptations I have ever faced.  She was a pretty native American woman and she asked me to come into her home at dark-thirty in the morning. No one would know except me and God.  I held on to the steering wheel, I was trying to be faithful to my God and my wife and I did not give in to the temptation presented to me. Maybe I was foolish to try to get those ladies off the street, but I had worried that they might stager into the traffic as drunk as they were. I did not expect one of them to offer her body to me. No one would know, it was dark and no one I knew would see. That is how temptation comes to us. I tell this story because I did resist and did not give in to the temptation presented to me. It was extremely difficult. The woman appeared very attractive to me.  But what a different story I could be telling today if I had yielded to temptation. I did not know this person, was she married? I was. I could have ended up with a child that I did not know anything about. What about sexually transmitted diseases?  I could have started an affair that would destroy my marriage. If a child was born and I did know about it, would this child have been raised without a father as is an epidemic in our country today?  This story could be so different if I had been promiscuous on that day.  Yet it is a story that is repeated in our country over and over again and children are raised without two parents. I didn't have time to think about all the consequences of that decision.  It happens with people that call themselves Christian also. We are tempted, we are not immune because we have accepted Jesus into our hearts. But we need to be people of integrity, that is the only reason I tell this particular story.  We need to honor the God that we claim to love with our very actions, not just depend on his grace to get us through. What kind of worthless salt would I be in this world if I gave in to every temptation that presented itself. Self-control, that is one of the times I exercised it in my life. In 2 Peter 1:6,  the Apostle tells us self-control is one of the attributes we need to add to our life. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.  The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-8. 

The Apostle Paul tells us self-control is one of the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:23. 

 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.  Galatians 5:22-24.

In 2 Peter and Galatians verses above are things we need to add to our lives including self-control that we may live productive and God-pleasing lives. I thank God for Mercy and Grace. God bless, LVZ.

The Law Of Christ

 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14

Did you ever have a Gary and Betty in your life? Or perhaps a MaryLou or a Johnny? Let me explain. Dysfunction in our world is very normal and most of us have faced dysfunction in one form or another. I did and in my teenage years, Gary and Betty came alongside and helped me bear my burden. They showed love to their neighbor, someone they knew.  I had parents that would open my mail before I received it. As a teenager, any mail I received was from a girlfriend. This young couple named Gary and Betty came alongside and helped me in that time of my life. They allowed me to get my mail at their house. When I graduated from High School and left home they took me in and gave me a place to live and let me use their car to find a job.  They moved across the state and moved me with them.  I bought a motorcycle on time and they co-signed for me. They treated me like a son.  What they did for me was in alignment with the scriptures above.  I hear a lot of testimonies and I heard the story of a fellow Christian named David. He was being raised by a single mom, their Dad up and left when he was a young boy. He had three older sisters that lived with him and his mom in a single-wide trailer. At age 11 he realized he needed to get a job to help out.  He had three teenage sisters that were all pregnant at the same time all in that little trailer.  He got a job at a grocery store owned by a young man named Johnny that for whatever reason took a liking to my friend and helped him. David now owns the grocery store he started working in at age 11. His friend Johnny introduced my friend to Jesus at an early age. There was a MaryLou that also worked with my friend and as a teenager took David aside one day and said you need an IRA. My friend at that age had no idea what an IRA was, but MaryLou helped him. Today my friend also is in the auto sales business. He is always driving a nice car. Leave it to me to notice the cars. Someone helped him bear his burdens at age 11 and loved him and today he is a successful Christian businessman.  He still contacts MaryLou and is like another son to her.  He is still in contact with Johnny who gave him a job at age 11.  My friend named David asks:  Do you have an 11-year-old in your life that needs a helping hand. Is there an 11-year-old David that needs your love? You may never know how great an impact you will have by fulfilling the Law Of Christ. God bless, LVZ. 

Erasing My History

 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17

I have history, stories I would like to bury. I have chapters of my life's story I wish I could erase.  As I thought about this and the Grace we receive from God, I had a friend years ago that described Grace this way, just as if I had never done it. My sins are washed away. They are removed as far as the East is from the West. I remember my stories. But if God has forgiven them, my sins, he no longer remembers them. They are erased from the books that will be examined on judgment day. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. Revelation 20:12.  My bad stories the ones I want to erase they involve sins that I committed. It is like erasing history, God forgives my sins and they are remembered no more. Charles Stanley says to ask God to remove those things from our memory. Replace it with God's mercy and grace. Paul who was called Saul was a persecutor of Christians until he had his encounter with God.  He was forgiven, and he went on to write even the scripture above from 2 Corinthians. He turned a 180 in his life. He started walking in a different direction. God forgave and in the Books described in Revelation, God erased part of his history. That is why I think I need to bury some of those stories, the bad history, the stories where I sinned. The stories that have been forgiven. We don't need to carry those burdens, they were lifted off of our shoulders at the cross when Jesus came into our hearts.  We really have become a new person.  We remember but God doesn't. God has erased it from our story that he will look at on judgment day. Jesus has already forgiven us of our past if we have turned our lives and hearts over to him. If we have repented of our sins. They are gone with the history.  The writer of Amazing Grace, the slave trader turned Christian, was forgiven and a new story was written. A story of Grace and Mercy.  I am thankful for Grace, receiving what I did not deserve or earn, and for Mercy, not receiving what I did deserve and earned. Thank you Jesus for a new life that began the minute I repented of my sins. Thank you for erasing some of my histories in the Books that record in heaven. Just as if I never did it. God bless, LVZ.

Build Each Other

 So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11.  Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. Ephesians 4:29.    

As I thought about some of my life's stories I realize there are some stories I would like to bury. Some chapters of my life I would like to erase. At __ty eight years of and having deen divorced 4 times in 11 years I do have a lot of stories to tell. Not all of them are good. The other side of those stories is also an image-bearer of Christ. God loves them as much as he loves me. I don't think all of my stories I could tell encourage or build up others. I do have some stories where I did the right thing. But I probably have as many that their only value may be shock value, like most of the news we hear today, the headline is shocking but the story is lacking in doing any good.  I posted something on Facebook one day and my daughter asked for what reason did I post that? I went back and looked at it and deleted the post and the only thing I could come up with was it was shocking. It didn't do anyone any good.  But I have a story wherein the midst of great temptation I'd did the right thing and if I had made a different decision I may have a sadder story to tell.  I took my son to work one morning at about 5 AM, it was still dark outside.  I saw two ladies standing on a street corner trying to hitch a ride. I could tell they were drunk and decided if they were still there on my way home I would give them a ride home before they got hurt. There were still there and I did offer them a ride home and they did accept. They were drunk, they were two sisters that had been celebrating one of their birthdays. The sister in the front seat gave me directions and we took her sister home first. Then she directed me to her house and invited me in. She wanted to go to bed with me and I refused. For one she was drunk and really didn't know what she was doing. I was a Christian and wanted to be obedient to my God. She was pretty which made it more difficult. But I didn't give in to the temptation.  But what if I had made the opposite decision and gave in to the temptation that day? Now that the decision is history, I could have a totally different story to tell. I don't know if she was married, I could have broken up a home. A child could have been born out of wedlock that I would know nothing about and perhaps raised without a father. Our decisions become our history after the fact and give us the stories of our life. Are they good stories or stories we wish we could erase? I have both kinds of stories in my history. Do my stories build up or tear down? We need men of integrity in our land today. We need men that will do the right thing.  I am thankful for grace and mercy. God bless. LVZ.