Holy, Holy, Holy!

I have discovered (in the blogging world) that Wednesdays are the days to blog hop and link your blogs to share with fellow bloggers. As I discovered this and decided to try it yesterday, it was a blessing to me! One of the fellow bloggers commented on one of my post to encourage me and I hopped over to her blog to find that she was beginning a bible study this week on 1 Peter! Well, I really got excited and decided to join in on the study. If you would like to join in on the study or just read her blog you can visit it at:  Satisfied by Love!

I didn't get a chance to read over Chapter 1 yesterday, but Praise the Lord he woke me really early this morning and I was able to read and study the chapter. I feel like I could write a book today on what I have gained from reading God's word this morning. First of all I read my daily reading plan and it was on 3 John and I was going to blog on it, but then after doing the 1 Peter I decided to share from it. But don't be surprised if you get 2 blogs from me today (depending on time). I want to share with you this morning of how one particular part of the chapter from 1 Peter spoke to me!

1 Peter 1:15-16 says "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

As I read this verse, all I could think about was the people that don't follow God and obey his word. I could remember back to when I first started living my life whole-heartedly for God and what he wanted of me and hearing some people say, "She is all holy on us now", "She is holier than thou", "She is a holy roller", etc. Back then it kind of hurt my feelings and made me wonder if I was acting or doing more than I should have been doing. And I also think about those that say they don't have to go to church to believe in God or be a christian. There are some things that are not written in neon lights in the bible for us to know that it is right or wrong. This one scripture covers anything that is not specific. This scripture was cross-referenced in Leviticus. This lets us know that he has been calling his people to be holy because he was holy since the beginning of time.

Leviticus 11:44-45 For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

Leviticus 19:2“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy

The Lord was telling Moses to tell the whole assembly of Israel and command them to be holy. He was so serious about his people being holy because he was holy, he went on to say in Leviticus 20:27 ‘A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.’ I was a little unsure of this scpriture and what it really meant and how it went along with the other scriptures. I done a little research to find out that it was saying that anyone that is not holy is of the devil and evil desires of the world and he wanted them put to death. 

As for us today, we are his whole assembly. He commands his entire assembly (all the children of God) to be holy! Praise God that he sent his son to die on the cross for us so that if we failed at being holy we wouldn't be stoned to death and he would give us other chances. But just think of the death that you would receive in the end if you didn't become holy. If we continuously failed at being holy, we wouldn't receive the stoning that they did then, but we would not receive the gift that he promises if we live holy like and according to him.

This gave me a whole new outlook on being Holy! I desire to be holy like my father. I will take any insults that I get from here on out on this topic and consider it a compliment! I will definately know that someone is seeing me being Holy like my father calls me to be!



Your Holy sister,
Rebecca

Blessings!

As I was just thinking and reading this morning, God reminded me of just how much I have been blessed. So I decided to look at different scriputres that talks about blessings in the bible. I just want to share a few of them with you:

• Matthew 5:3-12 ~3“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is their 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. 6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. 9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. 10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

• Numbers 6:24 ‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. 25 May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. 26 May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’

• Psalm 67:1 May God be merciful and bless us. May his face smile with favor on us. 2 May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere.

• Ephesians 1:3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

• James 1:12 God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

• Revelation 1:3 God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.

This is just a few, of many, scriptures in the bible that talks about blessings. As I am reminded this morning of the blessings that I have received and how blessed I have been, I would like to share a few of those blessings with you.  No matter where we have been, where we were, what we have been throught, what we go through, or where we are at, God promises to bless us if we obey his commands and words and follow him. I have been through so much in my life (probably not as much as some people) and have done so much wrong in my life, but God still loved me enough anyway to bless me as much as he has and he is ready and willing to bless you as well.

I have been truly blessed with a wonderful husband of 11 years. We have had our problems, issues, and even seperation after 8 years, but God has blessed our marriage and it is stronger now than ever before. So if you have or having marital problems and you think it's the end, don't give up. Cling to God and be obedient to him and he will bless you. I have been blessed with 2 amazing children. A 11 year old daughter, Bethany, and a 20 month old son, Lane! They have brought so much joy and hapiness to our family. I just want to share with you a small part of how big of a blessing Lane was to us (not saying that Bethany wasn't, but he was just in a different way). I had my daughter at an early age and several years before I came to know Christ. We decided when she was 3 years old that we wanted to have another baby and so we started then trying. At this time, my husband and I were still not followers of christ. I had several of miscarriages in the 7 years that we tried to conceive. It was January 08' when I decided to surrender my life fully and whole-hearted to Jesus. It was later in that year that Satan attacked and my husband and I seperated for several of months. I continued to stay faithful to God through all of the trials and tribulations that came along with the seperation and in June 09', God restored my marriage.  It was in August of 09' when we found out that we were expecting our 2nd child that we had been trying for, for 7 years! (This refers back to the James 1:12 scripture and it is the scripture that I clung to in that time). God will always bless you in him time and when you stay faithful to him! I am blessed with amazing family (mom, dad, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, aunta, uncles, and cousins). I am also blessed with the most amazing 2nd family (my husband's side) that anyone could ever ask for. I am blessed with a job, an amazing church and church family, and some of the most spiritual best of friends that anyone could ever ask for.

There are so many more things that I have been blessed with to even try to fit all of them in, but this is a glimpse of just how much I have been blessed because of my faithfulness and obedience to God. I am not always faithful and obedient as I should, but I try my best to be as christlike as possible. When I'm not, I ask forgiveness and try to better what I failed at.

In Revelation 1:3, it simply says that you will be blessed if you read the word and obey it and that the time is near. I want all of you to be blessed abundantly as God promises. So, don't miss out on the blessings that you could be receiving from God. Be obedient and faithful to him and receive everything that is in store for you before it's to late!

Blessings from your sister in christ,
Rebecca

Jesus' Love!

Good Morning! I just wanted to share with you all this morning my desire to love like God loves us. As my daily reading plan has come to the book of 1 John, I have received so much conviction and have learned so much. I have read these scriptures so many times and have even gotten daily encouragement from a sister of mine that just recently went through a study of 1 John from Good Morning Girls. She shared daily of how God was speaking to her through the study and even encouraged and shared scriptures from it daily, but I didn't receive from it then what I am getting from it now that God has put it in my path. Don't get me wrong, I get something from every devotion, encouragement e-mail, bible reading, etc. that I read or receive but it may not always be the same every time. You know how they say that you can read something a hundred times and get a different point of view or meaning from it every time? Well, God is showing me just how true this statement is.

1 John 3:7-21 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

As I was talking to someone last night on the phone, I was sharing with her of how God says that we are to love our "brothers and sisters" (this means everyone that comes from God) like he loves us. No matter what they do, how they act, our opinion of them, what we don't like about them, etc. If we were only to love those the ones that we thought done no wrong then we wouldn't have anyone to love and wouldn't have anyone to love us. We get so caught up on our opinions about others and how we feel about them that we forget that we are just the same as that person. We may not have the same "issues" or "problems" that they have, but we do have our own. It may be in a different form or way, but according to God it is all the same to him. So why would we not love someone just because we thought they were doing wrong or because we didn't like the way they were living? I was very convicted because I have said so many times that I can love someone but doesn't mean that I have to be there friend or like them. That's not true. What if God told us that he would love us but he didn't have to have a relationship with us because of something we done wrong? We would not like that at all. God says to love just like he does. God loves us even when we do wrong, he forgives and washes it clean and he sees it as it have never happened. Oh how much better the world would be if we could just do this. I want a relationship with God and oh how devastated I would be if God said that he would love me, but wouldn't have a relationship with me because of my actions. Even as I am writing this blog, I am getting more and more convicted as God is speaking to me right now. I say so much that I love someone but in all honesty, I don't love them like God loves us like he commands me to. He loves me so much that he sent his son to die on the cross for my sins. This is the love that we are supposed to have for EVERYONE. So, no I don't love these people like God commands me to do because some of these people, it would be hard to even consider doing what God done to show his love for me.

It is my truest deepest desire to start loving everyone regardless of their actions or my thoughts or opinions about them. After all, God is the only judge and it's not my place to judge them anyway and I am just as wrong as they are if I judge them. Those people that we claim to love but don't have to have a relatioship might be the people that will only see the light of Jesus through us. How do we expect them to change and do better, if they don't see the light of Jesus in christians? This blog is directly to myself this morning, but hoping that you will find encouragement through it.

Striving to love like Jesus,
Becca