My Tea Time With Jesus

We CAN Let God Do The Punishing Psalm 56:7 (NLT) “Don’t let them get away with their wickedness; in Your anger, O God, bring them down. ” It is hard to give up control to someone else, I get it, I do. However, the bible tells us over and over again, that the Lord is the One that is our Avenger. He is the One on the throne that is King and rules justly. God knows everyone inside and out, from before we are born until the day we die, and then into eternity. He doesn’t want anyone to die separated from Him, He doesn’t! However, He gives us all the “free will” to choose Jesus or reject Jesus. That simple. Then, there are days and situations, that just seem to come at us and we REALLY want to fight back! OR if you grew up like me, you were told NOT to fight back, and to “love” everyone. Do unto others as you would have them do to you… Well, that 'way' created in me a person that was a door-mat. Not what God actually intended I don’t believe. Through my journey in li...

What Feels SO Heavy - Can Be Lifted Away Psalm 55:1-7; 18 (NLT) 1  Listen to my prayer, O God.      Do not ignore my cry for help! 2  Please listen and answer me,      for I am overwhelmed by my troubles. 3  My enemies shout at me,      making loud and wicked threats. They bring trouble on me      and angrily hunt me down. 4  My heart pounds in my chest.      The terror of death assaults me. 5  Fear and trembling overwhelm me,      and I can’t stop shaking. 6  Oh, that I had wings like a dove;      then I would fly away and rest! 7  I would fly far away      to the quiet of the wilderness. 18  He ransoms me and keeps me safe from the battle waged against me, though many still oppose me. Verse 3 jumped out at my with a bit of a MEF (mind’s eye flash) – S...

Who can be ALL of these things: Watcher, Keeper, Protector, Guardian? The Lord of course! Reading Psalms 121 today in 4 different versions of the bible, gave me just a hint of a different perspective of our Lord today! He is called our Lord and that He is where our strength comes from in all four versions. However, just when I needed to remember, that we are all different, and we hear/learn differently - I see the "same" verse in four different ways. Of course - this gave me a MEF (minds eye flash) with each of them. Verse 3 NLT (new living translation) -  He will not let you stumble;  the One who watches over you will not slumber. MSG (the message) -  He won’t let you stumble,  your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. Not on your life!  GNT (good news translation) - He will not let you fall; you Protector is always awake. ESV (English standard version) -  He will not   let your foot be moved; H e who   keeps you will not slumber. ...

Have you ever had a moment in your life that needed a "change", and you needed something to 'mark' it with? How about a Baptism? What is Baptism?  bap·tism /ˈbapˌtizəm/ noun 1.     (in the Christian Church) the religious rite of sprinkling water onto a person's forehead or of immersion in water, symbolizing purification or regeneration and admission to the Christian Church. In many denominations, baptism is performed on young children and is accompanied by name-giving. synonyms: christening, naming "the baptism ceremony" o     a ceremony or occasion at which baptism takes place. plural noun:  baptisms o     a person's initiation into a particular activity or role, typically one perceived as difficult. "this event constituted his baptism as a politician" synonyms: initiation ,  debut ,  introduction ,  inauguration ,  launch ,...

Who can you go to 24/7/365? Hosea 1:6-7   6  Soon Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. And the  Lord  said to Hosea, “Name your daughter Lo-ruhamah—‘Not loved’—for I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them.   7  But I will show love to the people of Judah. I will free them from their enemies—not with weapons and armies or horses and charioteers, but by My power as the  Lord  their God.” You know what I got from this today? That I NEVER want to be on God’s “bad side”! I know that our salvation is a permanent thing, fixed, in place… yet, to see that we can behave so bad, and distance ourselves so far from what good God has for us – that we can actually be “out of love” with Him. THEN, to be able to SEE the love He pours out onto someone else! Wowzers! I am SO thankful that God allows us a free will, we have the freedom to choose what we do or don’t do – DAILY! Hour by hour – shoot, minut...

Have you or someone you know behaved like a prostitute in their marriage? How can this be a "good thing"?! If you knew it was coming, would you still do it? Hosea 1:2 NLT – When the  Lord  first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute,  so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the  Lord  and worshiping other gods.” GNT – When the  Lord  first spoke to Israel through Hosea, he said to Hosea, “Go and get married; your wife will be unfaithful, and your children will be just like her.  In the same way my people have left me and become unfaithful.” Wow!! Can you imagine?!?! Being told right up front, how your spouse is going to be, and what they are going to do in your marriage? THEN for it to be “as an example” to everyone for “their” sake?!?! I mean, to HAVE to endure all the heartache, sham...

What do you see when you look around you? Are you full of worry, or are you content? Matthew 6:33   (NLT) Seek the Kingdom of God  above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. (MSG) Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. What does it mean to “seek the Kingdom of God”? Well, to me, you just have to look at another version of the same verse, and it tells you. ‘Steeping your life’ literally means to put yourself all-in. Fully immerse yourself. Like we do a tea bag in hot water. Then let it “rest” there – “live” there. This means, that if we look for where God is and “go be in it” – then we are IN God’s Kingdom. We are looking forward to our journey to our “home” which is heaven. We are just foreigners here on earth, and our TRUE Home is in Heaven with God the Father and Jesus the Son. If you have ever visited anot...

What is the best way to have a clean slate before God? Making sure it is clean each night before going to bed. ;-) Using the "eraser" of confession!  Hebrews 10:30-31 “For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge. I will pay them back.” He also said, “The  Lord  will judge His own people.” It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. ” Have you ever had one of those days where nothing seems to go right? Have you ever thought it is due to unconfessed sin? Could be. Could be something from the past that perhaps you haven’t been fully aware of. Then again, it could also just be because we are still alive here on earth, living in a fallen world – nothing to do with us or our life at all. Yes, the enemy can and does try and “trip” us up a LOT! He TRIES to trip us up with things from our past, that we HAVE confessed, and the Lord HAS forgiven. That’s when we need to claim truth, and remind the enemy that he is the one that is the loser and the ...

Hebrews 10:35-36 35  So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!   36  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that He has promised. This chapter in Hebrews is talking about when we first became Christians. How, some of us had to endure hardships because of our decisions. Back then, some ended up in jail, were badly beaten, of course they even lost all of their “things”. Well, here in America, we may or may not have suffered like people do in other countries or back in the bible times. However, I DO believe that we DID have this amazing confidence in what we chose to accept – the FREE gift of salvation through Jesus. I see it each year at the Harvest Crusades. People that hear a message that seems designed right for them – they come down to the field with all of their emotions, baggage, confessions… and they are ON FIRE when they leave the st...

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14   NLT The Bible Gateway is my favorite site to be able to see more than one version of the bible at a time! They also have a "verse of the day" that pops up. Well, here is today's verse. I love how this verse takes in all THREE aspects of the trinity and gives us a blessing and a promise with each One. Here is another promise that we can add to our list of promises that we have and can pray back to God at any time. The last part, "the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" hit me today because in order to have "fellowship" with Someone, we actually HAVE to spend time with Them. Right?!?! Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is with us anywhere and everywhere we are! Because He lives IN us! LOL but that doesn't mean we are always having fellowship with Him though. You know how you feel something, or get a whisper...

Genesis 12:7-8 7  Then the  Lord  appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the  Lord , who had appeared to him.   8  After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the  Lord , and he worshiped the  Lord . Altars are a memorial of the places where God meets us Altars represent the occasion and place where we have had a personal encounter with God. We may not always be able to make a physical altar, but there can be one established in our hearts. (Jack Hayford)      I have had the opportunity to “meet God” in a few places and special times in my life. I wish I had set up alters, then perhaps it would be easier to relive and share the changes that God did at those times. We have a couple of friends, that collect a rock at diff...

Luke 22:54-62 Unfailing Mercy I am constantly amazed and humbles at how many times the Lord forgives me for my mess-ups! Yes, there was a time that I “moved away from God” in an attempt to ‘do it on my own’ – well, that did not work out so well for me! Yet, really, it sort of did. That is what actually brought me back and made me see just how much mercy, forgiveness, and grace our loving heavenly Father has for us/me!! Better than ANY earthy example of love! He truly will NOT ever leave us, nor forget us!! NEVER! No conditions, no rules, no long lectures… just plain and simple acceptance and forgiveness! Today, as I read this passage from My Daily Bread from last year, another verse jumped out at me: Matthew 16:24 (Mark 8:34 & Luke 9:23) - Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. Which then lead me to realize that no matter what we go through WITH Jesus, it is WAY better than...