My Divine Notes

Rethinking the familiar when God calls you out Joshua 5:12 Beginning after that Passover, the Israelites were no longer fed with manna, as they were in the desert. From the day they ate from the new land, the manna ceased. From then on they ate only the crops of the land of Canaan. It occurred to me how many people stay stuck on neutral in their life with God. It’s like they continue to do the things on auto pilot like the crowd who ate manna (which was life-sustaining) instead of venturing into exciting pastures of Canaan-like territory that might cause potential discomfort, but provide growth and new insights. How are you going to know if you like new crops if you continue to eat the familiar life-giving manna?  Is God just at church for you?  Is the Bible the book read by your priest, pastor or minister? Do you know God’s heart on an intimate level?  Have you tapped into delicious new crops available from the Holy Spirit?  Remember that God...

What does it look like to be kind?  Ephesians 4:23 Living Bible Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better. Ephesians 4:23 The Voice to take a fresh breath and to let God renew your attitude and spirit.  The  dictionary  defines kind as  of a good or benevolent nature or disposition, as a person: a kind and loving person. What does it look like to be kind? This sentence kicked me out of the ballpark.  As soon as the preacher said it, a knife chopped my heart in half. I was wounded because I can wound others well. This year I don’t want to forget the lessons learned during Lent, so  I've  paid close attention to a series of sermons that ask the question: If salvation comes free and we don't earn it, what does God want from me?  This week’s message was supposed to be simple, according to the preacher, but there’s nothing simple when it comes to changing old habits that ...

My sermon notes: Encouraging one another  ~ Dr. Charles Stanley  You can find this sermon at InTouch Ministries . We should all be encouragers. Even Jesus needed encouragement. Everyone needs encouragement.  Matthew 26:38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”  Dr. Stanley suggests we don't keep our faith to ourselves or keep to ourselves. We need each other.  Below are simple things you can do to encourage your friends, family, coworkers, those who help you and those you know need a little extra TLC.  ➡️Call ➡️Text better than nothing ➡️Write a letter ➡️Compliment  ➡️Ask: What can I pray about for you? ➡️Fulfill a need ➡️Give someone your time ➡️Provide Scripture. Psalm 32:8 ➡️Tell the truth ➡️Be forgiving  ➡️Say it -> I love you!  ➡️Be a good example  ➡️Give godly correction ➡️Listen ➡️Look people square in the e...

Written: March 3, 2013 Genesis 19:14 …one of the messengers gave this instruction: Messenger:   Now run!   Run for your lives! Don’t look back or stop anywhere in the plain. Head for the hills, or you’ll die along with everyone else. Go! Don't look back! There’s no going back. The story of Lot and his wife fascinates because many of us can’t help but continue to remember and stay in pasts that have been forgotten in God’s eyes. God is a place of safety, but our flesh is torn between here and now instead of eternal bliss. Living a life that’s focused on God is such a privilege. What if God let me do life as I preferred on my own terms? ·        What would I be interested in? ·        Who would my friends would be? ·        How I would spend my free time? ·        What I would care about? ·        Who ...

December 9, 2012 Isaiah 41:10  Don’t be afraid, because I am with you. Don’t be intimidated; I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will support you with my victorious right hand. Add your own issue and it becomes your story -- ·        Injury. ·        Hospitalization. ·        Incapacitation. ·        Loss of independence. ·        Long and painful rehabilitation. It’s easy to be overwhelmed when we tumble into deep, unexpected valleys and find ourselves with interrupted lives. Why not write? The journey has been interesting for me because I  didn't  let go of the hand of God. I screamed out in pain, I never doubted God was with me through my trauma. So why did I stop blogging and writing about the journey?   I had not been able to put into words what God revealed ...

Isaiah 65 The Bible makes me strong. 17 Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,       and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem     and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying     will be heard in it no more.  20 No longer will babies die when only a few days old.     No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. When it’s hard to see through the valley I don’t know about you and your life, but I know that sometimes I’d like to wipe all the pain, sorrow and major hassles of my life away. That’s the truth. Sometimes life becomes overwhelming and I want to push back and grasp for some semblance of normal. The problem is that once you are in the valley facing whatever shadows, there’s really no going back to ‘normal.’ My life is not ideal right now. I can say that this broken ankle is not...

June 3, 2012 Mark 7:6 Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ 8 For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” 9 Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.” It’s so easy to appear righteous around the righteous. But how’s your spiritual life in the privacy of your own home? ·        Are you the first to bless everyone around you? But are you blessed? ·        Do you figure that showing up your place of worship makes you holy? ·        Do you hope that holy from your family rubs off on you? It doesn’t, trust me. Have you had a heart-to-heart talk with God lately? Have you asked for guidance? Have you asked God to...

When it hurts to care – Psalm 31:7 Psalm 31:7 I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul. One of God’s gifts to me is the ability to care about and pray for those who are ill. But right now, my mother is at the end of her life, and another key person in my life recently received bad health news. I also follow the Facebook journey of a courageous 12-year old girl, Jessie Rees ,  who suffered from two inoperable brain tumors. She passed away a few days ago. I am sad. But it’s interesting that in my sadness, I’ve come to appreciate how God works my faith steps. Before I decided that God’s purpose for me was greater than my own purpose, I had a hard time being close to people because it hurt that they might die or leave me. God opened my understanding (and healed me) so that I could come to terms with that and step into the gifts of compassion he planned for me. I started to feel that familiar hu...

Divine Note #7 – Feb. 16, 2009 It’s not about me. As I grow in my relationship with the Lord, I realize that there are so many people who desperately need the love and comfort of Jesus Christ that we are all called to share. In verse 4, Paul tells us that our God comforts us in our affliction so that we may comfort others in their time of need. It’s so easy to go about our daily, busy lives and not think of those close to us who may need a comforting word. Maybe it says something about our society that even while we’re so connected by technology such as cell phones, computers and e-mails; we are still very much in need of a friendly voice or hug to comfort us during a valley period. Do you ever find yourself e-mailing or texting with family and closest friends and then realizing that you don’t really know what’s going on in their lives? Welcome to my world. Technology has made our lives so much less personal. If our friends and family feel like they can’t get enough of our time, what...