Inspired by . . . Life thru My Lens 9:52

Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars! (Psa 148:3)

The waxing gibbous moon is doing a good job of drawing attention to my favorite constellation this month; Orion and its Nebula where stars are born. Shift your gaze slightly northwest and you'll have no trouble seeing the Pleiades Star Cluster. Even through binoculars, it is a wondrous thing to behold!

February is the only month this year that doesn't host a full moon. Instead, March will host two full moons, the second of which will be the second (and last) blue moon of 2018!

When enveloped by the heavy scent of this year's pear blossoms it is hard to believe that we are but a mere speck in the universe.

Even if we could count all the bees in the world and all the sand on the seashore we still wouldn't reach the number of stars in the sky. 

Looking up into the night sky can make us feel very small and insignificant indeed. The truth is, we may be small but we are far from insignificant.

We can delight in our surroundings because the earth and everything in it is proof of God's love for us. We are significant because we matter to Him.

10,000 species of birds? 20,000 species of butterflies? Surely, five or six hundred would have been enough. Our Creator God delights in His creation and we are the apple of His eye! 

American Lady Butterfly

Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings, (Psa 17:8)

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies

If we listen and observe, God will use nature to reveal things about Himself.

For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  (Rom 1:20)

Eastern Bluebird

As our hearts awaken to the truth of God's presence we gradually become aware of the great chasm of sin that separates us from Him.

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom 3:22-23)

God in His great love, before time began, had already prepared a way for us to return to Him. 

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  (Joh 3:16)

Jesus Christ died to pay our debt and His blood washes us clean from the stain of sin.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 6:23)

Carolina Wren

The gift of life, freely given to His beloved children. Given to you.

It doesn't matter what you've done, what you've said or how many times you've rejected God. The past is behind. Today, if you come to Him, He will receive you.

Today. Now. Is all that matters.

Will you open your heart to Him? Admit your sins. Turn away from them, turn to Jesus and confess Him as Lord?

"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."  (Heb 4:7)

Blessings, 

How to Know Jesus

Sharing inspiration here:
Nature Notes, Through My Lens, Bird D’pot,
Saturday’s Critters, Life thru the Lens,
Wild Bird Wednesday, Our World Tuesday,
Community Global, Photo Friday, Little Things Thursday

Inspired by . . . Life thru My Lens 7:52

I heard the freezing rain hit the windows and went to look outside. The boughs of the cedar tree waved back at me as the wind rocked his branches. A flash of white caught my eye. A flock of Killdeer had arrived. The poor dears. Why do they always show up during foul weather, I wondered.

I wish I could talk to them. Wouldn't they like to come in and scoot around where it's warm? Oh, how I would love to fill my home with birds! But they wouldn't understand. Merely opening the door frightens them into flight.

It reminds me a bit of how the Israelites acted when God came down to them. He covered the mountain with His presence and they were terrified! They didn't understand His voice amidst the peals of thunder and bolts of lightning. They were content for Moses to speak to God for them. Then they became content to slaughter animals as a way to atone [pay] for their sins.

But God knew that all of this, the prophets and the sacrifices, were just a shadow, a mere picture of the things to come.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the Heir of all things, through whom also He created the world.  (Heb 1:1-2)

God has come down to us in His image. As a baby. Grew into a man and spoke clearly to us in ways we may understand. 

Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. (Heb 2:17-18)

He has become the sacrificial lamb. Once for all; paying our debt on the cross.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Heb 9:11-14)

People respond to this truth in a variety of ways. I hope it brings you joy and gives you a yearning to learn more.

Perhaps the next time you see an animal in danger and you long to be able to speak to them, you'll remember the great lengths and great sacrifice God has made to speak to and save you.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. (Joh 3:16-17)

Happy St Valentine's Day,

Inspired by . . .  foolishness

Much of what I write about here may seem like foolishness to you.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Pro 14:12)

This man, Jesus, and what He did may seem foolish to you.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." (1Co 1:18-19)

I understand. Without the Holy Spirit to enlighten you, these things will make little sense.

The things of God must be spiritually discerned. However, God is easily found by anyone who seeks Him.

And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for "'In Him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed His offspring.' (Act 17:26-28)

You have a choice when it comes to Jesus. To accept or deny Him. This choice can be put off, but it cannot be escaped. In the end, a choice you will make.

Your disbelief does not offend me. It grieves me. I pray that your heart will soften. That you will seek the Truth.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (Joh 8:31-32)

So what is the truth?

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom 3:23)

Our sin separates us from a Holy and Just God.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 6:23)

But GOD . . .

but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, (1Pe 3:18)

The debt of sin must be paid.  Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Heb 9:22)

For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2Co 5:21)

There is no magic formula to faith in Christ. You don't have to say special words or be forgiven by a priest. Jesus is our High Priest. Go to Him. Confess to Him your sin. Repent (turn away from your sin) and believe in Him.

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Rom 10:9-10)

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1Jn 1:9-10)

Remember,

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8-9)

If you have taken theses steps of belief today, I greatly rejoice with you! You are a new creation!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2Co 5:17)

And just as a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis needs time to strengthen his wings before he can fly, you will need a time of strengthening, too. I urge you to connect with other believers in a Bible-teaching church. Let someone (I'd be honored if it were me) know about the decision you've made. I've listed some ministries at the end of this post that can give you guidance.

But most important of all - read His word! Get to know Your Savior! 

For He Is Risen!

Celebrate this truth today!

Amen.
Blessings on your Easter,

Resources:

Online Bible Reading: https://www.youversion.com/

Truth for Life Ministry of Alister Begg: https://www.truthforlife.org/

How to Know Jesus: https://peacewithgod.net/

Online Bible Resource: https://www.biblegateway.com/

Sharing inspiration here:
Nature Notes, Through My Lens, Bird D’pot,
Saturday’s Critters, Life thru the Lens,
Wild Bird Wednesday, Our World Tuesday,
Community Global, Photo Friday, Little Things Thursday

Inspired by . . . Bifocal Souls

I was going through some of my dad’s things this week, and found a little book that he had been given by his church just before the Army sent him to help rebuild Germany in 1951.

Strength for Service to God and Country, Daily Devotional Messages for Those in the Services

It is a collection of devotionals written by Pastors from churches from all over the United States.

I’ve been reading it all week. You would think that such a devotional would have little to say to a middle-aged, middle-class woman in 2015.

Sadly, the exact opposite is true. Each devotional speaks to the heart and spirit of this woman who is engaged in battle, in conflict, every day.

Personal grief, family matters, Mother Nature’s groanings, a country in moral decline, and worldly atrocities being carried out at an increasingly alarming rate all weigh heavily on my heart and threaten to steal my JOY and my HOPE.

Bernard C. Clausen, of the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio wrote the devotional for February 4th and urges us to:

“Join the ranks of those who live bifocal lives. Look down, frankly and boldly, into all the trouble of the world. Spare yourself no part of the terrible reality. Then look up. Hope, and wait patiently, for the salvation of the Lord.”

When it’s not our reality, it’s easy to distance ourselves from the images on our TV screens. I’d much rather escape into a world of thistles and butterflies than to think about what’s happening in the middle-east, or even my own backyard.

But how can we truly find the JOY in creation {and in our Creator} when our hearts are hardened toward our fellow man? There is a balance, and I think Clausen expresses it well. We are not to spare ourselves the terrible reality. We are to have compassion and empathy.

We are to cry out in prayer, and act by other means as we are led.

But we are not to remain focused on the troubles of the world.

We are always to be looking upward, for salvation comes from the Lord.

The Lord’s compassions fail not. They are new every morning; . . . .

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Lam 3:22, 23, 26

This bi-focus is how we balance the troubles of the world with our eternal HOPE. It’s how we are able to be content in all circumstances - - how we are able to know true JOY!

And it is the catalyst that prompts us to proclaim the Truth of Jesus Christ - the only One Who can SAVE a suffering, hope-less world.

Clausen’s prayer is my prayer, maybe today it will be yours too:

Grant us courage for the conflict,

Patience for the long striving,
Love enough to forgive.   Amen.

Shalom,

June

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