Life & Health

The Anatomy of Being A Christian

Proverbs 4:21, 22

"Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh."

As we can read here, The Word of God belongs in our hearts. The Word of God is life to all that find. The Word of God is health to all the body. Remember John 1:1 tells us that The Word of God is real and alive and for ever: "In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God". And when we scan further to John 14:1 "And The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of The Father), full of grace and truth".

And who is the only begotten of The Father? John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 1:29 "The next day John sees Jesus coming unto him, and said, 'Behold, The Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world."

The Word of God is Jesus Christ and He belongs in our hearts. When The Word of God is living in our hearts, we are made whole, perfect, complete: 1 John 2:5 "But whoso keeps His Word, in him verily (truly) is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him." Psalm 119:11 "Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee."

The heart of a Christian is the home of The Word of God. As the heart beats in our natural bodies, pumping blood through it and into our veins, feeding strength and life to our natural bodies, so, too does The Word of God work in our spiritual bodies. The blood which flowed from the slain Lamb of God washes away the sins committed by the natural body. It is in believing this that our heart is cleansed and made free from the bondages of sin. Sin kills; Jesus saves.

Reading in Acts 1:8, 9, we see that Jesus went back to His Father in heaven, but first left us a promise of a coming Comforter, who would give us power to witness (testify on Christ's behalf). And that Comforter is The Holy Ghost, aka The Holy Spirit. He is known by both names but they mean the same thing: Spirit of God. It is The Holy Spirit who leads us into and through The Word of God which gives us strength to live the life God wants us to live in Him.

                                                                                        

Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you."

Psalm 34:4 "I sought The Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from my fears."

Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."

Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."

What is the first thing that The Holy Spirit does? He leads us to Jesus and reveals Who Jesus Christ Is. When we go to God's Word and look for directions, it is The Holy Spirit who guides our hearts and our minds to seek out The Truth of God's Word; setting the decision before us: do we believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God and that He died on the cross for us and rose from the dead, thereby washing away our sins and giving us eternal life? It is our decision to make. And it is the most important decision we could ever make: it affects not only our life here, but eternity after we die. What is your decision?

Breakfast of Champions

Both our home and our house are under reconstructive remodeling. Half the basement is living quarters and pantry, the other half is going to be laundry-workshop when fixed. Upstairs are two master bedrooms, the office (which is complete) 1 full bath and 1 half bath, the kitchen, the dining room and the living room. Now that my husband can see every shade on the color wheel, we are doing the house up nice. 

The basement stairwell is a wet sand hue. The basement living quarters are paneled and carpeted. Upstairs my room is pink and white. The office is painted a warm yellow shade called Fleeting Fawn; when the sun rises and shines into our office it is absolutely gorgeous. 

When we get to the kitchen, I have selected a pale yellow called Cornmeal. And I will be doing a custom border all along the top of the two walls that don't have cabinetry. I tell you these things to introduce you to our God, should you not know Him. Psalm 34:8" O taste and see that The Lord is good: blessed is the man who trusts in Him" will be written across it. And I am thinking I will have all of our friends sign it. I like different. And being someone who trusts in The Lord with all of my heart makes me different. 

I have perfect peace. I do not worry as much as I used to, in fact I would like to believe that All is well in Jesus' Name for every aspect of my life, our life. Our finances have been blessed that our needs and wants have been given. Our love is blessed because we honor God with our lives. We tithe of our incomes, of our time, of our gifts and talents, of our hopes and dreams and goals. Our home is blessed because we bless God with our home. 

Our home is open to visitors, friends, family, strangers. You knock on our door and want to tell us about your religion, we tell you about our Savior. You dial our numbers and we will pray with you, encourage you, lift you up right where you are. You dine at our table and God's blessings are invoked when we pray. You know our kids and are welcome in our home. You know our testimony and our witness is for God's glory, and none of the credit is due us for anything we have done. 

Taste and See, two major senses which are given us by God are meant to draw us closer to Him, as well. Taste The Word, The Manna from God, The Bread of Life. While Taste and See are two major players in the sensory world, they are different but still able to work together well. How would you know, understand, see? how The Word tastes, if you cannot first have it cross your lips, lie on your tongue and then swallow it? You can't. 

After that first bite, that first lesson, that first Sunday School class, that first message preached, that first small group session, that first knowledge of the Truth of the Holy Word of God, we hunger for more. This world is so full of fakes and falsehoods, deceits and greed, tainted messages that twist Scriptures or just plain leave them out that quite a few people really do want to know What is Real? 

God Is Real. God's Word Is Real. God's Righteousness Is Real. God's Holiness Is Real. 

I want The Whole Word of God. I am hungry and thirsty for righteousness and I will be filled. God says so in Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are they (me, you) who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

Psalm 63:1 "A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah. You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water."

Psalm 107:9 "for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things."

Proverbs 10:24 "What the wicked dread will overtake them; what the righteous desire will be granted."

Proverbs 21:21 "Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor." 

Gee all of these promises in God's Word sound yummy. Let us find some more to savor and learn.

Isaiah 55:1&2 ""Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost..Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare."

John 4:14 "but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

John 6:35 "Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

I believe. My hunger for Christ is satisfied in knowing Him, loving Him, serving Him. My thirst is quenched in His love, in His arms, in His heart. I believe that Jesus Christ Is Lord. Lord of All. Lord of my life. Lord of every beat of my heart. I believe that I am His and He is mine. 

My voice is His and I sing for Him, under the anointing of The Holy Spirit of God. For Him I study, I write, I preach, I witness, I encourage and I sing. In fact, I will do whatever He wants me to do when He wants me to do it. Remember, it is more important to be obedient to God, than it is to make sacrifices in His Name. He may call us to do what seem to be silly things, what seems to be little jobs or, to us, unimportant things. Do them anyway. God uses the weak things, the foolish things of this world and this world's understanding to confound and confuse the strong: the strong-willed, the strong-minded. He has His own way of doing things and He wants to do them through us. O taste and see that The Lord is good.