Terrell’s Miracle and the Miracle of His Mom’s Surrender

Terrell was being considered for discharge today but they changed it to sometime over the weekend. He is still doing great! His WBC has come up enough that he is getting his chemo as we speak. His lungs are clearing nicely and he has been taken off of a few antibiotics. They said his lungs won’t be ‘normal’ for about 6 weeks but he is breathing completely normal and you would not even know he was sick at all except for his cough. He is quite frail after 2 weeks of next to nothing to eat but he is slowly picking up. I am so thankful…abundantly thankful!
The biggest miracle to me thru this time has been facing Terrell’s death…we honestly didn’t know if he would make it….and knowing that God is trustworthy and that He would do right. Not right according to me but according to His perfect will. He would help me get thru whatever we faced…I could totally have peace there. He is the source of my joy and if He took Terrell from my arms, He would supply my every need as He always has. This has truly changed me. He never left my side thru all of this…what an amazing God we serve!! All that being said, he IS still in my arms and I will enjoy him there:) ♥

Culture, Media & Compromise (via 5 Pt. Salt, via Modesty: The Forgotten Virtue)

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.-Romans 12:2
I’ve been preaching this for years now, and quite frankly, it’s good to know someone out there is in agreement. – JT
Paul Washer:
You must be renewing your mind.
If someone tells me I have to have media in my church because culture needs media, it still will not be in my church, I am not called to conform to culture. If you can’t read then when you get saved I will teach you to read, if you can’t sit for 25, 35, 40, an hour and a half to hear a good sermon, I will teach you how to do it...to read more, click HERE

God Hates the Sin But Loves the Sinner? Really?

While looking at the expression “God loves you, but hates your sin”, we’ve seen that it isn’t a quote from the Bible and also that God Himself says He hates sinners  and not just the sin. So where does the idea of “God loves you, but hates your sin” originate? For something that is quoted so often you would think people would know where it originated. But most don’t. Does it matter who said it? Even whether or not it is true? I think it does. See if I found that Charles Spurgeon was to be credited with saying it then I would lend it more credence than if say Benny Hinn was quoted as having first said it. Not that Spurgeon is always right, but He does get more benefit of the doubt than a false teacher would. But then I would even check up on Spurgeon and see if it could be backed by Scripture. I know it is a radical concept but I would throw out even a Spurgeon quote if it didn’t stand up to Scripture.
The earliest person to be attributed with saying something similar to “God loves you, but hates your sin” is St. Augustine of Hippo.  St. Augustine was Bishop of Hippo from 395 – 430 A.D. In a letter (Opera Omnia, vol II. col. 962, letter 211 ) St. Augustine wrote, he is reported to have said “With love for mankind and hatred of sins.” That is a similar statement but it isn’t in context. Is it attributed to God saying it or is Augustine himself saying it? That I couldn’t find out. And it matters greatly!
Another quote from Augustine:

“It is clear, then, that the man who does not live according to man but according to God must be a lover of the good and therefore a hater of evil; since no man is wicked by nature but is wicked only by some defect, a man who lives according to God owes it to the wicked men that his hatred be perfect, so that, neither hating the man because of his corruption nor loving the corruption because of the man, he should hate the sin but love the sinner. For, once the corruption has been cured, then all that is left should be loved and nothing remains to be hated.”
-Augustine, City of God, p. 304

This appears to be saying that a “man” should love the sinner and hate the sin. That is a big difference than God saying He loves the sinner but hates the sin. But notice also Augustine says “no man is wicked by nature but is wicked only by some defect”. I would say Scripture teaches that our nature is wicked from conception. We are sinners from the beginning, not just because we sin.
The next person who is attributed as saying something similar to “God loves you, but hates your sin” is Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi from his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth:

To read more, click HERE

Blind, Lost and Without Hope

‘You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ –Genesis 3:4-5

The devil will promise you one thing, but always deliver something opposite. Take the promise he gave Eve that her eyes would be opened. Inferring that she was somehow blind to really great spiritual things, the devil promised he could open her eyes. He promised she would become spiritually wise, knowing the secrets of heaven, and even the loftiest thoughts of God himself. That was the promise. But it was a lie.

The exact opposite happened when Eve believed the devil. Second Corinthians 4:4-5 says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” People who do not know Christ cannot see his light. The adversary has blinded them.

God is the only one who can spiritually open our eyes. Acts 9:17-18 records the amazing story of Saul’s spiritual eye surgery: “…Placing his hands on Saul, [Ananias] said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here-has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again.”


What promise has the devil whispered to you? How has he enticed you to compromise what you believe about God? What command from the Bible has the adversary told you is not necessary? Don’t listen to him. “I pray … that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…” (Ephesians 1:18-19).


Lord God, I choose to listen to you, not the devil. The devil is a liar, but your promises are true. Thank you that Jesus is “the Truth and the Life.”

Blessings,

 

Joni and Friends

www.joniandfriends.org

Pray for Grace to Assist you that you may be Universally Conscientious

That we may be universally conscientious.

O that we may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Colossians 4:12(KJV)
O that our ways were directed to keep thy commandments! And then shall we not be ashamed, when we have respect to them all. Psalm 119:5-6(KJV)
Teach us, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and we shall keep it unto the end. Give us understanding, and we shall keep thy law; yea, we shall observe it with our whole heart. Make us to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do we delight. Incline our hearts unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Psalm 119:33-36(KJV)
Grant us, we pray thee, according to the riches of thy glory, that we may be strengthened with all might by the Spirit in the inward man: That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, and that we being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and may know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, and be filled with a divine fulness, Ephesians 3:16-20(KJV) and may partake of a divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4(KJV)
And let the love of Christ constrain us to live not to ourselves, but to him that died for us and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15(KJV)

Matthew Henry

A Friend in Need...Please Pray

I have become good friends with some brothers and sisters in Christ over in India. We have written each other for a number of months now and always they have written back with kind words and pictures showing their tireless work spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now they have decided to build a church to reach out to the outcasts and lost in their area with Christ and the truth of God's judgment upon them. They truly are a testament to a spirit of love and dedication. They have very little money and are pressing forward the best they can, trusting in God to supply. Will you pray for them and stand in prayer for them? They are a wonderful people who need to know that us over here in the "Land of Milk and Honey" stand with them in their endeavor.

The "Therefores..."

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. --Philippians 2:5-9

Notice the "therefore" in today's reading. Jesus was on a journey of humility - he was God, but he made himself nothing. He was a servant, but he was utterly obedient, even unto death. And not only an average death, but death on the cross. At each level, Jesus humbles himself more. And the point? "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." You may be a "somebody," but God would have you make yourself a "nobody" in the world's eyes. But does it end there?

No! Therefore God exalted Jesus... and God will exalt you to be a co-heir with Christ. "We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory" (Romans 8:17). It's like a math formula or an inverse proportion. The more we humble ourselves, the more God will raise us up not to just any old high place, but as a co-heir seated alongside our Savior. Astounding! We suffer with Christ - that we may share in Christ's highest glory. Believers who face the greatest conflict yet hold onto God with all their hearts - these are the ones who have the greatest confidence in sharing Christ's glory.

In what way can you humble yourself today? Is an apology owed to a friend or a family member? Is there an elderly person in your apartment unit you can help with a chore? Volunteer as a teacher's aid in the special needs class at church?

I humble myself today in the sight of you, oh Lord.

Blessings,

 

Joni and Friends

www.joniandfriends.org

 

Taken from Pearls of Great Price.  Copyright © 2006 by Joni Eareckson Tada.  Used by permission.  Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530