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)...