Acts 17:27 “So that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all the unrighteousness.
1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you double-minded.
Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings
1 Samuel 15:24 Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
God created man to have a relationship with him/her, his mate. He had already created the world, the lakes, streams, rivers, the land masses, the top and bottom of the world, both cold, snowy and icy; He created the glorious mountains, hills, trees and all the critters both on land or in the sea, or flying from one place to another.
Obviously, Lucifer had already been thrown out of heaven, banished to the underworld. Brazenly, he approached Eve and enticed her to disobey God’s one command. And of course, she couldn’t be disobedient without also enticing her husband to try the forbidden fruit. Misery always loves company—sometimes it’s less scary, sometimes it’s just nice to have someone to commiserate with, and sometimes you recognize that two heads are more constructive than just one in manuevering one’s way out of trouble.
Our relationship was broken by our sinning, disobeying God’s command. Definitely not worth it. A taste of fruit and then separation from God forever.
So, God had the farming, fishing, raising families, bartering and moving and settling about. But again, they were selfish, disobedient, not even recognizing Him, never mind praising Him—except for Noah. So God commanded Noah to build an ark, and load up all animals, male and female, then his family, and He opened the heavens, destroyed all the people, hoping Noah’s family would begin anew and teach all the reasons God deserves praise and obedience.
During the time of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, He supplied them with manna and birds to eat daily, water came from rock, and somehow, their own cattle, sheep, goats, and all grew. He wanted the people to realize they were dependent on Him and praise Him. Like us, when things are not always moving in a direction we want, and we are persistently snagged down, we complain; and so they complained. I am sure I would have been one of the most frequent and loudest complainer. Yuck, I pray the Holy Spirit helps me deal with that negative aspect.
Anyway, God set forth several laws, the 10 Commandments as well as the laws about sacrifices, what one could eat or not eat, what was clean and what was an unclean person, and how an unclean person needed to be separated away from the group. I cannot even imagine the numbers of people and animals and trying to organize and share information.
But, of course, we in our supposed wisdom, and definite selfishness, disobeyed, disrespected God and others, and biggest part is many did not trust in God’s ability and presence so because they felt battles were THEIRS to win, they chose to run from them. Only Joshua and Caleb trusted God and knew the battles could be won, and the land theirs. Instead, they went round and round in the Wilderness, until none of original elders were left, and got to take over the promised lands.
Finally, God and Jesus agreed that Jesus would come, live as full man even while full God, and show, teach, and love others to live the way He and His Father intended. This was a new covenant. God had made many promises over the years from Adam and Eve to the present. But the majority of people did not complete their side of the agreement, promise.
Now, people were able to see the peace, the love, the healing, the acceptance. These folks who traveled with Him were drawn to Him. Some laughed and chuckled about “what good can come from Nazareth?” while others felt led to be with, to listen, to watch His actions, healings, and non judgments, his acceptance of others. But He walked peaceably amongst them, and showed them a relationship. And that’s been the desire since God created man. He wanted to have a relationship with us.
How blessed we are to have numerous versions of the bible, some with easier to understand than others; but all with the promises, the encouragement, the love, the acceptance and the teaching to become better, more Christ-like. I tend to forget the easy accessibility for me to shop for a new bible is easy. I can stroll through Barnes and Noble, look through a friend’s bible and like some of that phrasing better than one I have, and order on Amazon, but it is easy to acquire more.
But because we are blessed to live here, have many teachers and learned persons sharing more of the gospel for us, we are able to choose to learn more about Jesus and how to live our lives becoming more and more like Him. We will never attain that, but we ask for help from the Holy Spirit and pray and confess our sins and failures. We are not alone. He is with us. He knows our struggles and is willing to help when we ask.
He is so awesome and helpful. He is worthy of our praise. As each prays, remember to give praise, He is WORTHY!
Thank You, Lord for all the ways You walk with me and counsel me and ‘mybellaviews.’
Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loveing eye on you.
Isaiah 40:31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand, then, to God.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
I have been reading a book by Mark Batterson called “Draw the Circle” which refers to drawing a circle around one of God’s promises and praying it, and reminding God of His promise. Mark Batterson is the lead pastor in Washington DC of the National Community Church, and I believe there are 8 campuses. He also felt led to purchase an older building a few years ago, which was decrepit and had been used as a crack house. He wanted to buy it and turn it into a coffeehouse where folks could stop in, grab a coffee and a table, and listen to someone of the workers talk about the love of our Savior, our Lord.
I truly enjoyed his writing and the premise, and then pulled up a few Youtube vids of his sermons. But he pointed out to me more promises than I was aware of. As often as I have gone through the bible, I find things I missed the first few times through. So it is with all these promises, or many of them. But I liked the idea of drawing a circle around something you were praying for. I have a couple of issues within my family I am concerned with. I asked a couple of my prayer warrior friends to also pray for these things, but now I see what it looks like with the issue surrounded within a circle of God’s promise.
The answers to the issues have not totally been answered, but there is improvement for one of them, and because it is an illness, it’s great to see the person improving.
I also want to challenge myself to find different things to praise Him for daily. Easy to praise some things—good health, have a home, great family, good friends, although I can complain about eyesight when there are no readers nearby, I am grateful for my eye health, thankful I live here and can enjoy the views here. But there is so much more, and I think it’s important for me to let Him know these other things—maybe my history, past experiences, travels, memories, my ancestors….there’s a myriad of things for me to be grateful for, and I think I don’t dig deep enough to thank Him, and be more sincere. If I am not praising Him for at least two events that occur throughout my day, then I think that means I am sliding into complacency. I don’t want that. He is worthy of all of me and all my praise; I want to dig deeper to thank Him for all the times He saved me from troubles of my own making, and gave me good, strong family and friends who could supply much of the human hugs and shoulders I might have needed at different times.
I am blessed and thankful, and I am going to look for more promises and if fitting, circle them in my prayers, and I am going to dig deeper for praise and the many reasons I have to thank Him. Glad this book also opened my eyes to more of You.
WOW! I printed a BUNCH of promises above. Betting you can find more, and make them specific to your needs. Feel free to let me know. Let me know if you like the circle the promise idea for something you specifically need fulfilled.
Praise for all You have done for me and ‘mybellaviews.’
Psalm 10:4 The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 16:5, 18 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; though they join forces, none will go unpunished. . . Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.
Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.
Daniel 5:20 “But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.
Galatians 6:3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.peope
I find so many areas that I need to have the Holy Spirit help me with when reading the bible. I know I have improved in many areas, with the Holy Spirit guiding me through and I find I’m changing with His help. Still I have so far to go.
It’s strange to me; for much of my life I felt so much less than others in numerous ways …no need to mention the various “truths/untruths” I have lived with all my life. Sometimes, thinking back, I think there were too many to recount. Both pride and low self esteem are symptoms of being selfish. It involves thinking too much of ourselves, being too self oriented; we become an “idol” to ourselves.
Pride places our view of ourselves over someone or many other ‘someones’ over ourselves. We think we are prettier, more hard working, more worthy of recognition, just better somehow that someone else, or something; but it is a matter of believing you are more worthy, and better than someone else. That is DEFINITELY not true in God’s eyes.
Low self esteem is the opposite end of pride, yet it still involves one being involved with the idea or view of themselves. One would think that is the direct opposite of pride, and it is, but it is still SELF centered, not God centered, not being thankful for the person you are in God’s eyes, who He sees you are, who He created you to be. And in essence you are finding fault with His creation. We are His creation. He made us—‘I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.’ (Psalm 139:14). We then have NO cause to belittle ourselves. . .
He created us ‘fearfully and wonderfully’; that is EACH of us. Each has his/her own strengths, weaknesses, dispositions, gifts, and we can develop further who He wants us to become through reading and knowing His word, and asking for help from the Holy Spirit. We all become better when we lean on Him and follow His words and learn to become more loving, more Christ-like, kinder, more forgiving toward others as well as ourselves, and be seeking Him at all times. There used to be a commercial advertising joining the Army, “Come, and be all you can be.” But that is what our God wants; not to be all wrapped in our thoughts, feelings, but to step out and beyond and do for and serve others.
When we seek Him, we learn we are NOT better than others, nor are we worse than others, and certainly have no business envying others. He gave each of us particular sets of strengths, wisdom, skills and so forth. Some are wonderful caretakers, givers, compassionate and teachers, preachers, leaders, and so many other varied, necessary skills. We are not endowed all the same. That did not take me long to learn. . . but it took long to stop the envy, the wishing I could be someone else, or have their skills, strength, beauty, or whatever I thought I was lacking.
But the “lack” I saw was in MY mind, not the way God saw/sees me. That took me work to get my brain to catch up to how God sees me. A lot of work, yes, it sometimes is something I still need to reinforce, still need to find verses and refresh my vision to His. Yes, He and I both agree I need to improve more, but it is wrong for me to see and think of myself as less, or for that matter, more and better. I need to see myself with honest vision the way God views me—totally, with good, with strength, with the love He has taught me to share. Please do not read any of this as God does not see many areas I need to improve–but He does not want me to improve like another–He wants me to improve from my sins, my places where I fall short of giving my ALL to Him. And there are plenty of those; He wants me to know it is MY journey with HIM. Not someone else’s; just mine and His.
So both pride, that willful thought and thinking you are better than another or several others, that is Pharisee thinking. They threw in more laws than God had decreed, then stood in judgment when others did not follow those. We tend to judge others and often see them as ‘less than’ and see ourselves as better. Better than what? And truly I do not want to be part of the Pharisee thinkers.
We are all created equal. Genesis 1:26-28 Proverbs 22:2 Romans 2:11 Mark 12:35
God loves each of us. He does not want us seeing ourselves better or higher than another. He wants us to be humble and honest. He wants us to not be in comparison with others, to not be prideful or self critical. Remember you are His precious child. Love yourself as He loves you.
He wants us to grow with the Holy Spirit and with the Holy Spirit right our wrongs that cause God hurt–our sins which stem from the selfish pride.
Thank You, God for the wonderful examples of Your Son and the Holy Spirit’s guidance in helping me become more as You want me to be. You have abundantly blessed me and ‘mybellaviews.’
Psalm 23:4 Though I walk through the darkest valley, I will not fear, for You are with me. . . .
Psalm 65:13 The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered with grain; they shout for joy, they also sing.
Psalm 121:1-2 I will lift up my eyes to the hills–from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Isaiah 22:5 For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the Valley of Vision–breaking down the walls and of crying to the mountain.
Isaiah 54:10 “. . . For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
Joel 3:17-18 “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain, then Jerusalem shall be holy, and no aliens shall ever pass through her again.” And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; a fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Acacias
I have never understood well when people state they are in a valley vs a mountain. I think the reason I don’t understand this is probably because I grew up in New England and loved the valleys formed by the different surrounding mountains, and thought they held equal beauty to the mountains. I still do. I also enjoyed hiking mountains for a day trip. It was always pleasurable to see the different flowers, trees, and the way the fauna would become less and less the higher I climbed, and the peaks and distances were easier to see and appreciate once you climbed above the tree line.
The valleys held their own kind of beauty, lush wild flowers or pretty weeds—it didn’t much matter the cows, horses, goats, and occasional sheep appreciated them. And they were enjoyable to watch by themselves—content to graze their fields, much and get their fill, no worries for them. They had complete confidence in their surroundings and made one feel the peace and beauty, the peace that surpasses all understanding.
So on a mountain top, I could look down at the valleys, the flowers, the trees and appreciate the peacefulness; while in the valley I could look up and see the size, the immovability, the beauty God had placed there, so close to the sky, the first areas to receive the snow while in the valleys it was still warm.
That’s the way I felt when I was in the mountains of VT or NH. Such beauty, such majesty He had created. I loved it—still do. For me there is such peaceful beauty there.
I also had the privilege of living in Germany for several years, with our last duty place Garmisch, Germany. Although we lived about 20 miles north of Garmisch, our living room windows looked out over the mountain ranges, called the Alps. It was awesome. I thanked God several times a day to see this beauty. I was fairly sure, this was the last of creating earth, so He shook off the extra material and the Alps were formed. This was such a wonderful area to be outside and wander the trails, up mountains, or staying in lower areas, the valley, or just within our neighborhood there was a moor, where several thousand years ago, it was one of the paths the Romans took to traverse through Germany and into France and so forth. Many different Roman artifacts had been found during years before we lived there; but I could imagine a bunch of red Roman clad men wearing their gold epaulets and moving with horses, some carts, and some walking cutting through the area.
So, again, I think when the comments of mountains are made, it means someone is climbing out of a predicament, and having a tough time about something or a few things. Because the valleys I’ve witnessed always look like fertile farm lands with grazing critters, flowers, fields busy growing hay for winter, or being planted then harvested for food, and although the farmers and families work hard, it seems like a peaceful scene to me.
“The mountain is thought to contain divine inspiration, and it is the focus of pilgrimages of transcendence and spiritual elevation. It symbolizes constancy, permanence, motionlessness, and it peak spiritually signifies the state of absolute consciousness.” umrich.edu/spiritual.html
Mountains are not just beautiful. They supply food for animals, plants and trees, and water as run off, They cover 22% of the earth’s land mass. That is impressive. So, as much as I appreciate the beauty, there is a wonderful purpose God created for them.
Now I live at the ocean. I must say, I still get a feeling of thankfulness coming over the high bridge on 210 and seeing the intercoastal and then the ocean sprawled out before me most days. True confessions, my mind may often be off traipsing about at times when I make the trek, so it’s not daily seeing it that I send Him my thanks, but I know I am blessed to live here, and in fact all the places I have been blessed to live; with all the experiences I have had in my life.
Seeing His creative beauty in many areas, then learning different cultures a little bit over the years, and being blessed with wonderful friends and family, I want to brag about the riches He has brought. Thank You, my LORD for all You have given and done for me and ‘mybellaviews.’
Proverbs 21:23 Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.
Psalm 119:171-172 My lips shall utter praise, for You teach me Your statutes, my tongue shall speak of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteousness.
Psalm 141:3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.
Matthew 15:11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
Ephesians 5:4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
James 1:26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not have bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this one’s religion is useless.
James 3:5-6,8-10 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell…..But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing, My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
WOW! What a wily ‘wascal’ waves within!!
I have difficulty with my tongue. I hear coarse and curse words eking out sometimes in the flow of conversation, and I hate it. Usually, I don’t catch it right away so I can apologize to those I’ve just spoken with in a crass manner; no, generally, the Holy Spirit scolds me later—or probably more accurately, He did try to interrupt me, and I was caught up in the time and “tuned out” the correction.
Anyway, I hate it. Not only is it sinful (using the Lord’s name in vain—and my words are using His name as well as common, disgusting street words) it is disrespectful to my Savior and Creator as well as the others with me. And certainly, how can I state that I am a Christian who loves and respects my God when disgusting speech spews? I wish my tongue was only used to demonstrate prayers, praise, and thankfulness and blessings to others.
My husband used to use coarse words all the time, like they were the word “the,” “that,” “and” or something. It was frustrating to hear so often, and yet, he was unaware. When it was pointed out, he would be more conscious for about 5 minutes at the outset, then back into the use of the negative ‘adjective/verb/noun’ in whatever capacity he used it at that moment.
I can remember having a heated discussion early on when we were married, and hearing me say the word for the first time. It was shocking and disturbing, but seemed to stress my point just BECAUSE it was not a common word for my vocabulary. However, apparently it go easier, and my speech became almost, or has crass as his. That breaks my heart. Lord, set me think of what I am saying before dreadful things come vomiting out of my mouth that disrespect and hurt You.
So my speech is one of the things I beseech God to address with me, preferable BEFORE I misuse crass words. And there is all manner of misbehaving our tongues can do. For being a tiny little muscle they are powerful and cause a lot of damage. For sure, they allow one to spew curse and disgusting language. But they allow gossip, judgments, lies, anger, discouraging words, and so forth to spill out.
We are to gently rebuke others when needed, we are not to express our negative opinions or judgments since we can be judged by the Judge with the same harshness we judge others. We are not to gossip about others; that always causes undo hurt. We are only able to get a small glimpse into others lives, and have NO idea why they might choose to make certain choices that we later gossip about. We have all heard others make noise about others doing something, acting a certain way, and we don’t know—and should not spread the negative news about; all a matter of “covering their father’s shame.” Genesis 9:23. Gossip, coarse jesting, and unkind comments frequently are spread when someone has seen something, overheard something and takes it out of context and spreads to others. Covering their father’s shame meant it would not go further, it would not be discussed, it would not be a worrisome and hurtful thing passed to others.
There are receptors in our tongues allowing us to identify sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (savory) {from broths and cooked meats}. I must have a multitude of sweet receptors, because I love to taste sweet and savory! But our busy tongues have receptors which help to taste and start the digestive process of foods, and yes, the majority of digestion is beyond the tongue, but different salivary enzymes are released in the mouth.
Certainly the tongue has pain and feeling receptors, and although your mind may repeatedly and firmly tell it no about playing around a wounded tooth, canker sore, place where you bit your cheek, this willful muscle continues to play where it wants.
Tongues are small but very wily ‘wascals’ and can cause a lot of damage, in multiple ways. Mine can spew curse words, or sometimes harmful, angry words, I try not to pass on gossip, but that too is a journey and process. I certainly have difficulty controlling my tongue from desiring foods, even without hunger. Love the sweets and so much more.
There is a lot to pray about for control of the tongue, and I will continue to ask for help in this regard. I do not want to disrespect God with anything I say, disrespect others by anything I say, cause someone hurt unintentionally with anything I say, and I certainly would love to gain control of what I put in my mouth! The tongue can bring curses and blessings. Let your tongue be used to bless others and thank God often throughout each day.
Lord, I am circling and believing on Psalm 141:3 Set a guard over my mouth; what comes out and what goes in Let me guard my intake and honor You with food, and guard my words and honor and praise You allowing no curses or negative speech to escape
You know my heart, and You know my intent, and I want to thank You for the ways You have already helped me gain control of this ‘nasty, wily wascal’ and help me demonstrate to others how You have changed me and ‘mybellaviews.’
Hi, I'm Kathy. Welcome to my website!