TRUTH or CONSEQUENCES

Continuing from the last post based on Colossians 2: 6-7 ("And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.  Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him.  Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.").  I love the imagery in this third part, let your roots grow down into Him.  What has the greatest roots?  Trees of course.  The scripture paints the picture of us being trees, whose roots are firmly set in Him. These are some of my favorite scriptures because my heart is set on being one of these trees, who are planted by streams of living water.  That my source and my strength is found in Jesus, and I drink from His throne.  That I am tall and stately, filled up with his goodness.  My leaves are always green and bring healing to peoples lives.  I bear fruit 12 months of the year, for the feeding of the people....

Continuing from the last post based on Colossians 2: 6-7 ("And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.  Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him.  Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.").  Today I want to look at..." you must continue to follow him". That sounds very simple, but even some of His disciples turned back from following Him in John chapter 6 when some of them decided the challenges were getting a little too hard.  It is no different in our day!  I have seen people start out following the Lord until the Holy Spirit prompts some change in their lives that they are unwilling to make...and they turn back.  To follow someone means to go after a person in the same manner they went; to watch steadily; to keep the mind or focus on what they are doing; to attend closely.  Jesus said that anyone who wanted to ...

6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. 7 Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7 | NLT Overflow with thankfulness. Here we are in the Thanksgiving Season...a season when we are supposed to acknowledge how thankful we are, but mostly, as you listen, you will hear grumbling and complaining! Why is that? From the above verse I want to point out four things that may help you to be more thankful! First, has there been a point where you made Jesus Lord of your life? I am not talking about praying and asking Him to be part of your life. Many have said the "sinners prayer" and then just keep living any way they want. Jesus has many facets to who He is. You can know Him as Savior, Lord, Friend, Brother, Groom, Lover...and at every one of these levels you have come closer to His heart...

Ouch!  That is a horrible word to everyone of us.  Nobody likes to be rejected.  The definition of reject is to "discard or throw out as worthless" or "to deny love or acceptance to someone".  Through our lives we will each face times of being left out or even asked to leave something we have invested time and energy into.  It is very hurtful.  It can make you question your own self-worth.  Being rejected is a tough emotion to deal with.  I know, I have dealt with some great rejection in my own life.  Your stomach feels upset, your mind rehearses responses and you feel turned upside down.  The thing that truly matters in these times is how we respond! That is why it is so important to know WHO we are in relationship with Father God.  He will never reject anyone of us!  The scripture says that "God so loved the world He gave His only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3: 16)...

Have you ever really listened to yourself in the course of a day? Do you see the glass as half empty or half full? Do you build others up or tear them down? Do you believe that there is power in the words that come of your mouth? Proverbs 18: 21 says "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."  If I have to eat the words that I speak, I want them to be sweet and full of good things!  There is a lot of responsibility that is handed over to us by our Heavenly Father.  He left us in charge of this earth!  We are supposed to take dominion and rule.  Unfortunately, most of can't even rule our own lives.  James says in chapter 3 verses 5-10..."Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s li...

Why did I choose to name this blog spot "Truth or Consequences"? I am convinced that the Bible, the Word of God, is filled with wisdom and insight into all of life!  If you are wondering should I or shouldn't I? The answers are in the Bible.  If you aren't sure of what is true or false...in the Bible.  If you want to know which direction to go...in the Bible.  How do I live my life...in the Bible.  It is a blueprint, filled with principles and patterns of the BEST way to live.  Yes, there are other paths to walk, but in following them you will face consequences, disappointments, let downs and wrong turns.  You see, if we walk God's paths for us we may still have some hard times and bumps in the road, BUT God will be with us and cause ALL things to work together for our good. (Romans 8:28).  Some of you are thinking..."that means I will never have any fun in life again".  That is a lie!  Who created life?  God the Father. ...

The heart plays a big part in our lives being lived out.  I am not talking about the physical heart, but the seat of our affections, our soul decisions, the part of us that responds to God...or not.  Jesus talked about the heart, a lot.  Proverbs tells us that we are to guard our hearts above everything else for it is the center of our lives.  In the Old Testament the prophet Ezekiel spoke that God would one day take out our hearts of stone and give us a heart of flesh.  What does that mean?  Simply, that life's hurts and problems can cause us to harden our hearts so we don't let anybody in who could hurt us again.  When our hearts are hard...we don't respond to God or the Holy Spirit.  God's desire is for us to keep our hearts soft, so they respond to love, His love.  Jesus told a parable that was repeated in at least three of the Gospels, the Parable of the Sower. Because it was told over and over we can assume that it is v...

Remember Waldo?  A few years back everyone was looking for Waldo and hundreds of pictures were shared where you had to search and search to find him.  Sometimes it was easy, he just kind of stood out and other times you spent a lot of time looking and looking.  The reward...satisfaction that you found him.  In all the searching, his likeness was revealed to you. I use this illustration because so many people don't read the Bible...or say they don't get anything out of it.  But God in his wisdom has many "insights or revelation" about himself, and His Son Jesus just hidden away in the Word!  He is looking for people with hungry hearts to not only read His word, but to search for them in the pages.  Solomon told us in Proverbs 2: verses 1-5... "My son, (daughter), if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud...

There are many in our day who feel this is an ancient book that has no relevance for our day. I have been asked many times, "How can you just take this as truth without any proof?"  We are our own worst enemy when it comes to trust.  We have been raised in a scientific generation where we have been taught if you can't see it, touch it, taste it, hear it...how can you trust it.  We have been taught to question everything...it has become part of our very nature.  So for me to say that the Bible is the word of God, you want me to prove it.  The proof I have to offer you is FAITH.  I have faith that this is the Word of God!  2 Timothy 3:16 says that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."  Yes many different people wrote the Word of God, but because God the Holy Spirit was breathing on them and directing what they wrote.  In the last few years I have been reading straight t...

Is Jesus Aladdin?  That seems like a pretty silly question, but many people treat Jesus like He is supposed to be magical.  We keep him hidden away, as in a magic lamp, then take him out and rub him when we need help or immediate answers.  The truth is...Jesus is a person.  Not a genie. We have watched way too much television!  We think that supernatural means I should be able to get whatever I want or need, when I want it.  But Jesus does not work that way... He is interested in relationship with each one of us.  As I read the New Testament Gospels and pay particular attention to the life of Jesus, I see Him doing many incredible things!  He heals ALL who are sick or full of disease.  He calms a storm at sea. He multiplies bread and fish to feed thousands of people.  That may seem like magic, but it was not!  He was here on earth as a man in relationship with His Heavenly Father.  If you read carefully you see that...

We live in a world that is struggling to decide if there is absolute truth!  Slowly, through the years, a thought has crept into our society that each one of us can decide what is true for our own lives. This is, in fact, one of the biggest challenges of our day.  I believe that the Bible is true.  God has expressed Himself in there, by inspiring men moved by the Holy Spirit, to write down His heart for us so we could know what is true.  The biblical definition of truth says "truth is that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory and being of God".  It is the self expression of God! I have named this blog "Truth or Consequences" because we all have choices to make as to how Biblical truth effects our lives.  I can choose to accept the biblical standards and truth...or I can listen to what my culture and society say is right for today.  If I just do what ever feels good or what everyone else is doing, there will ...