Tag Archives: Gift

Well-Taken Care of Rich Kids

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Moments with My Father

 

Today, I’m rejoicing over the fact that we are well-taken care of kids.  Through faith, our Father shields us with His power and He has also made us rich kids! I mean this not in the sense of having great worldly wealth, but in the sense that we have been given a new birth – a second chance if you will to be a part of a family that is destined to an inheritance that can never spoil, never perish or fade. It is the inheritance of being redeemed from the sins and empty way of life of our forefathers that we all inherited as a result of Adam and Eve’s fall to sin in the Garden of Eden.  It is a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, into an inheritance that was not purchased with any amount of perishable things such as silver or gold.   It was purchased with the priceless precious blood of Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb that was without blemish or defect!  Our Father chose Him as the price to pay before the creation of the world as His great gift of love to us.  He has revealed His plan to gift it to us in these last times for our sake, but the coming of the gift will be revealed at the last time.  It is being kept in Heaven for us now.   With my Father’s gift to me that was purchased with Jesus as my Lamb of great price at the place of salvation, I’ll have a new resurrected body like Jesus to replace this old junker of sin I’ve got now.  It will be a new-condition vehicle to travel through eternity in.  Hey, could you call that a ”Lamb”orghini?  Woohoo!  Some day soon, I’m gonna be rollin’ in the eternal wealth of being His kid!  Until then, may your day and mine know all the generous riches of His love and provision for us today, here and now.  Blessings to ya!

 

1 Pe 1:3-5, 18-20; Ge 3; 1 Co 15:35-55; Jn 3:16

Fellow Saints

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Moments with My Father

 

After a great weekend, I welcome Monday and as I step into this new day and new week and a new peek into our Father’s Word, I find myself wondering what it would have been like to have met the servants of Christ of Biblical times.  I read about Paul this morning and I so admire his heart of love for his fellow saints.  Paul told the Philippians that he thanked God in his prayers for them and he prayed with joy because of their partnership in the Gospel of Christ Jesus. This morning, I thank my Father and pray with joy because of our partnership in Him.  It is a special gift.  Much love to you and God bless your day!

 

Php 1:3-8

 

 

Better Than Life

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Moments with My Father

 

Good Thursday to you all. I’m loving life today and the reason I say that is because of the love of my Father.  He is the source behind everything in my life and without Him, I would have nothing and I would be nothing.  So I’m thinking it would be a good practice for me as my Father’s kid that with everything I take in today that I am enjoying and am downright excited about, I should pause to glorify my Father and say “Thank you, Father, for you are even better than this.  You are better than life itself!”   Life just doesn’t get any better than having my Father’s love! Let us exalt His name together!

 

Psalm 63:3; Ps 34:3

Giving Thanks

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Moments with My Father

 

It’s a wonderful Wednesday morning – a gift from our Father who loves us greatly!  What a blessing it is to know of His love for us His kids.  This morning my Father has laid it on my heart how very blessed I am.  I have so much to be thankful for!  I am seeking to put into practice this day, the will of our Father to give thanks.  No matter where we are in life, when we exercise this Truth, it can bring us a whole new perspective on life and as I begin to think of all I am thankful for today, you all are at the top of the list.  Our relationship with our Father and our dear relationships in life are by far the most precious gifts to be thankful for.  I thank my Father upon every rememberance of you!   I hope you have a blessed day wherever you are.

1 Th 5:18; Php 1:3

 

 

Divine Wine by Sheila and Dad

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It’s a special Saturday. Never will there be another day just like this one! It’s a unique adventure and I’m so glad Daddy has me in hand. Yesterday in our study, we looked at how Dad’s Words aptly spoken can color the pages of life beautifully. Our Dad – He sure is a great artist! The masterpiece of our Father’s Words spoken through our brother Mark today colors a picture that reveals a beautiful vineyard that is symbolic of the world our Father has created. He owns it and is its land Lord. Mark’s writing points out that at one time, our Dad entrusted His vineyard’s fruit bearing to a group of tenants (Jewish religious leaders of Israel) who ended up bearing bad fruit and they mistreated His representatives He sent to help them (prophets and ultimately Jesus). Therefore, He ended up entrusting His vineyard to others (gentiles) to work at bearing good fruit for His Kingdom to come and guess what? Ok, I’ll tell ya – you and I are Dad’s hired hands! Yeppers! We are blessed to be His workmanship to carry out His work. We’ve got the job and how wonderful to work for the greatest land Lord that ever was and ever will be! If we stay in communication with Him, He will provide us all that we need to bear much fruit that is a great reward to see and He says the wages He will pay us for our hard work for Him are more than we can imagine – out of this world in fact! At harvest time, He Himself is preparing for us the ultimate feast when we shall drink of His “Divine Wine” for which He is well known for and that is produced by this vineyard to which He has called us to tend to. You know, when you have been given a job that you love, it doesn’t seem like work at all, but each day is a gift, a privilege and an honor to serve one who is so wonderful! The times are getting ripe. The blessed day of His feast will be here soon. Until then, I’m co-laboring with you for the great harvest and enjoying the Sonshine of this day. I so enjoy teaming up with you for His Kingdom!
Mk 12:1-12; Jn 2:1-11; 15:1-17; Ac 13:42-48; Eph 2:10, 3:20; 1 Co 3:5-9; Mt 8:11, 9:37; Lk 14:15, 22:14-16; He 6:10; Rev 22:12

Zooming in by Sheila and Dad

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Dear Family ~ I hope you all had a great weekend! Monday is here with the gift of another day of new opportunity. As always, I want to begin this day by listening for my Father. Our brother Mark is telling the story today of when the disciples and Jesus went to Jericho and as they were leaving with a large crowd, a blind man sitting on the roadside begging, hears that Jesus was near. How about that? It seems he had his listening ears on, too! He knew Jesus offered hope to his life and he began to shout “Jesus, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and basically told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more – Son of David, have mercy on me!” This man, as it is for many of us today, had those who voice opposition and seek to squelch our pursuit of Jesus. I find it admirable that this man didn’t listen to them and he was determined not to miss out on the blessing of seeking Jesus for His life! Hee, hee! I have to snicker here because I can imagine that if I was there, I’d be encouraging him “keep going for Jesus, dude!!!” I’m so glad he did! Well, what happens next sure blesses this cowgirl. Marks says Jesus stopped. In other words, when one who has faith in Jesus calls out to Him, He stops and zooms in to listen to His child. I don’t know about you, but that comforts me as one of His children to know He listens when He hears my voice! “Call him,” he said to those with Him. So the people following Jesus said to the blind man “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you!” Just like this man, when we have determination in seeking Jesus, we receive cheer and encouragement to stand and sometimes that cheer and encouragement is spoken to us through others who follow Him. Also, just as Jesus called him, each of us are called by Jesus. When you hear the call on your life, it is a precious gift and mine made me react the same way as this blind man did, in that once he received his call and his mind zoomed in on pursuing Jesus, he threw his cloak aside. He didn’t just set it aside, he THREW it aside meaning he had enthusiasm in the choice of doing so! Ya know, some things that are once valuable before the call of Christ lose their importance after Christ’s call. Jesus’ Words can be real life changers and we see this here as Jesus asked the man: What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man had a heart that wanted the vision for his life that Jesus could give Him and he told Jesus his desire when he said “Rabbi, I want to see!” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you!” The blind man not only received his physical sight as a result of his faith to seek Jesus, but he also received the vision for the direction he was to take in life. Mark says that immediately (without delay) he received sight and followed Jesus along the road. I’m so proud of this man for choosing to follow Jesus along the road of life instead of going his own direction. I have to smile here as I can visualize myself along the side of this man as we dance and clap our hands down the road along with our other brothers and sisters, all following Jesus and singing “I see the light, I see the light, no more darkness, no more night. Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight – praise the Lord, I see the light! Whoohoo!!! It’s such a gift to be on the same road of Jesus with ya! It sure makes for a great day! Much love to ya’ll ~
Mk 10:46-52; Php 3:8; He 3:13

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Serving by Sheila and Dad

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It’s a great Saturday with opportunities galore and I’m chomping at the bit to experience what this day holds! What a gift to me to walk through this day with our Father and those He has brought into my life! Taking a peek into Dad’s Word today and after hearing James and John asking Jesus if they could sit on either side of Him, we find that the other ten disciples were just a little bit upset with the two brothers for asking such a question of Jesus. It seemed that they all wanted to sit next to Jesus! They may have just wanted to sit close to Jesus as they greatly cared about Him or it may be that the disciples may have been struggling in heart for personal power and position. In the anger of the ten disciples towards the two brothers, Jesus encouraged them that if they really wanted to be great, to not be like those who ruled over the Gentiles by lording it over them, but rather to be servants to others. In the eyes of eternity, the latter is of greater value. I so relate to what Jesus is saying: What a privilege and an honor to serve our God and those in my life! Jesus sets us a great example, in that it says that He came to serve and not be served and to give His life as a ransom for many. When you love someone, it is hard not to want to be with them, doing kind things to serve them. An example of this is the woman who was so grateful for the gift of Jesus and His forgiving grace in her life, that she took an alabaster jar of perfume and standing behind Jesus at His feet weeping, she began to wet the feet of Jesus and then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume upon them. Other examples can be found in the New Testament where out of their love for him, many served the Apostle Paul as he sought to serve others with the Gospel of Christ – an expression of his love for and desire to serve Jesus. An interesting thought says “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” You do not have to have expensive perfume or resources to serve someone. It may be sharing the gift of you! I smile as I am reminded of a sweet little boy in my life that recently gifted me with the love of his heart-felt words. He is the same little boy who on another recent occasion picked a little flower and gave it to me. I have looked upon it for several days now as a reminder of his serving of love to me as I set out to serve him. It was one of the richest gifts I have received. In service to our King – Sheila
Mk 10:41-45; Lk 7:36-38; 2 Cor 8:7;

Curve-Ball Thinking by Sheila and Dad

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Good Wednesday my dear family! I am excited to walk through the gift of this day with you all and I always enjoy starting each day with an adventure with Dad. Each day is a surprise! That is how it was for the Disciples also. They were constantly amazed, shocked, bewildered and razzle dazzled by Jesus in their life and today’s lesson shows Peter still reeling over the rich young man who walked away with all his wealth instead of choosing to follow Jesus in the pursuit of Heaven. As Peter pondered it all, the Devil threw him a curve ball and his thoughts led him to say to Jesus something like “ya know, Jesus, we all gave up a lot to follow you. What’s in it for us?” Often Christians are tempted by the Devil with this way of thinking. He puts before us what looks like “benefits” to living the sinner’s way of life. Peter was caught up in it wondering and questioning if he was making the right decision to forego the ways of the world and instead follow Jesus. Yikes!!! It is a good thing that Peter had a talk with Jesus and listened to His voice instead of going with the continued thoughts of the Devil! Jesus basically said to Peter, “Peter, I speak Truth, listen to me!” “No one who has sacrificed and given up family, friends, fields and homes for me and the Gospel will go without great reward both now and in eternity. In fact, you will receive 100 times more, but with it comes some hard things like persecution.” Jesus then said “But many who are first will be last and the last first.” I can imagine Peter thinking “now what does that mean?” What Jesus was meaning is that it is those who sacrifice with a humble mindset (thinking of oneself last) that will reap the greater reward in eternity. Prideful, boastful attitudes (thinking of oneself first) in sacrifices made for Jesus and the Gospel will reap the lesser in eternity. In other words, if we start thinking we’re high and mighty about what we are doing for the Kingdom, it is “curve-ball” thinking (of the Devil) and that ball will in the end come back around and smack us upside the head. It is written that pride goes before a fall! Yikes and ouch!!! I’m thinking “focusing on Jesus” is the straighter way. His focus tells us not to be jealous over the ways of sinners. Sin may look pleasant for a moment, but in the end it lets us down and we end up saying “I know what I was thinking, but WHAT in the world was I thinking?” Well, this girl is thinkin’ I like Jesus’ thinkin’ and I could spend all day here thinkin’, but now I’m thinkin’ it’s time to move on with the gift of this day. So, zip-adee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay, my oh my, have a wonderful day!
Mk 10:28-31; Pr 2; 11:2; 16:18; 23:17-24:2; Ja 4:7; He 6:10, 12:2