Thinking on those things that are good
You'll be eternally glad you did!
Is your figurative boat taking in water? Have the rations nearly been depleted and the water low? A storm is coming and it looks like your boat is going to sink...
If you want to become a Christian, all you have to do is have a change of mind and turn around from doing things your way and going His Way!
Today is the Day of Salvation. Make your choice today and live forever!
Come aboard the good ship "Salvation" which will never ever sink. You'll be eternally glad you did!
I would still sit alone
When I was working in an office about 20 years ago, we would all take our lunch together in the tea room. We ate and chatted and sometimes one particular very self opiniated woman would preside over our talks.
She was very proud of her son who had graduated as a pharmacist and who had his own pharmacy. We saw no harm in that: we would have been proud of his achievements if he was our own son. But one day, she overstepped the mark and upset quite a few women at the table. Myself included.
One of the conversations centred around drug addicts and she declared them all to be a waste of space and definitely would be better off overdosing and dying and getting it over with.
At the time I was a mother of two drug addicted sons who I love dearly and pray for daily with the gut wrenching and desperate prayers that only a mother prays- I took exception to that.
With my stomach turning ill, I picked up my sandwich and took my cup of tea out of the tea room and ate and drank it in my car. She really was too much. I wanted my sons to be delivered and live.
From that day on, I avoided eating my lunch in the tearoom, especially if she was there, but one day I was asked by my boss to make him a coffee, and one of my former lunchtime companions was there.
She asked me directly why I never ate with the women anymore and I told her the truth. I told her that so and so was so hurtful in the things she says and so prideful of her son that she had no consideration that there may be mothers there with prodigal and wayward children who were also drug addicted.
To my surprise, she shared that she too was no longer taking her lunchbreak with so and so because she too had a drug addicted son and it was just too painful to consider that he was better off overdosing.
I said that I was praying for my sons and that I live in fear that they will overdose and I cannot sit and listen to her without feeling sick to the stomach.
She agreed and said that was why she too took her lunchbreak in her car away from her as well. We both agreed that one had to be feeling strong to listen to her raving.
One who doesn't have wayward or prodigal children like so and so had, can not imagine the constant fear when the phone rings that it will be news that her child has indeed overdosed. It gnaws at a mother's heart constantly.
As a Christian, all life is precious and all drug addicts have been enticed by carnal desires and instant gratification and this is something that is very hard to break from. Even with the LORD. Such is the hold from drugs that many have succumbed to their addiction praying for deliverence. And they are saved. They are, because Jesus died for our past, present and future sin. And addiction is sin.
There is hope in Christ and today one of my sons has broken from addiction and can testify that God heard my prayers. I continue to pray for the other who battles with it even while loving the LORD.
To tell me that either of these sons or even your son or daughter who battles drug or alcohol addictions is better off dead is evil. It limits God's ability to heal and deliver us and negates His Blood, and sees only successful humans as worthy of that. None of us are worthy but are sinners saved by Grace.
Nothing has changed my mind about her and people like her: if I turned back the clock, I would still sit alone.
For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. Romans 14:8
Of salvation and love glances
A Spotless Bride
- Pornography invalidates the one flesh relationship of the covenant of marriage.
- It denigrates married love to animal baseness and allows women to be used as sex objects instead of loved tenderly.
- Women who engage in pornography also tend to treat men with little respect.
- It encourages selfish love making and greater expectation of the act
- It can make a woman feel dirty and effects her relationship with her husband if he watches it
- It creates a lustful mindset that overflows into the heart and becomes sinful actions.
- It encourages a roving eye and Jesus says that is adultery in the heart therefore sin.
It's none of my business!
Our gracious God
When we get older we often lament our mistakes and wrong choices, and I know that these regrets are not confined to the elderly- we all have them.
It is comforting for me to remember that our God is a God of grace and mercy. He is quick to forgive and then forgets...
We are loved immensely in spite of our foibles and mistakes.. what a wonderfully gracious God we serve...
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Isaiah 30:18
Thank God it's Jesus!
There are many things in life that can break us. Illness, loss, grief, depression, divorce to mention just a few. But often it is sin that breaks us the most: and unlike some other things that break us, time does not make it easier. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Revelation 3:19
But after repentance and forgiveness, we often find that there are those who still judge us and who remind us of our sin constantly. They call that which God sees as clean, unclean...
I couldn't live with myself
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? Micah 6:8
Prince of Peace
God is gracious
We know that God is described as "gracious" many times in the Bible, but what exactly does it mean?
To be gracious means 'to favour,' to show kindnesses to an inferior, and to be compassionate. In the Old Testament of the Bible, this adjective applies to God, indicative of His favour and mercy, His long-suffering and general inclination of favour and kindness. This was originally written by Erickson and Millard. from a publication called Christian Theology, pages 320-321.
God's favour towards us is the epitome of Grace. Salvation is by Grace alone. God's abounding Grace is deeper than the largest sin.
This Easter Saturday, may we reflect on the Grace of God that has saved us. Without salvation, no one can stand.
What a wonderful God we serve.. Gracious. Kind. Just. Loving. Righteous. Holy. Merciful. Fair.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Isaiah 30:18
God sent an angel
A world we don't want to live in
- We must emulate our Saviour.
- We must remember that the very things that annoy the world delight God.
- We must keep in mind that the very fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control...
- We must keep in mind that because of this, the world is going to be contrary to it and react adversely.
- We must keep growing in the Spirit and emulating Jesus
- We must also remember that we are the salt of the world and must remain flavoursome...
And having done all.. to stand!
Today's the day of salvation
Above reproach
- Pornography invalidates the one flesh relationship of the covenant of marriage.
- It denigrates married love to animal baseness and allows women to be used as sex objects instead of loved tenderly.
- Women who engage in pornography also tend to treat men with little respect.
- It encourages selfish love making and greater expectation of the act
- It can make a woman feel dirty and effects her relationship with her husband if he watches it
- It creates a lustful mindset that overflows into the heart and becomes sinful actions.
- It encourages a roving eye and Jesus says that is adultery in the heart therefore sin.
You meant it for my harm
We have had a lot of chaos in our lives with Covid and world events. Being home has meant a lot of time to think. Sometimes this can be good but other times it can lead to depression.
Lately I have had too much time to think and it had given rise to depression at times. Often it lead to having the evil one throw darts at me, often in reminding me of sins and mistakes of the past.
Things have been better lately. Once I realised that the darts were coming from the evil one, I was able to take action.
We know that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin with a way out: repentance and forgiveness. But the evil one condemns and accuses with no way to move forward out of the path of guilt and anxiety.
What the evil one was doing was trying to make me feel guilty and sad over past sins that have been forgiven and covered by the Blood of Jesus.
Remembering that Jesus has thrown those sins and mistakes into the Sea of Forgetfulness and remembers them no more, gave me the tool and the power to overcome these attacks.
An example of this would be me remembering some sin in my past that I would prefer to forget. The old anxiety pattern would start, making me miserable. So my conversation (vocal if I was alone) was to acknowledge with Satan that I was indeed guilty... but reminding him that Jesus has paid the price for that sin and has forgiven me!
Immediately, I would thank Jesus for His sacrifice and forgiveness and I would feel happy again. Satan cannot stand us to pray, praise and love Jesus!
What Satan meant for my harm became a reason to rejoice in my salvation!
Next time you are reminded of your past sin, remind him that you are redeemed and belong to Christ and start to praise Him. The devil will flee and what was meant for evil will be for your good.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Genesis 50:20
Her Kinsman-Redeemer!
Her deep brown eyes drinking in the sight of Him-
His tiny hand clasped strongly around her finger-
The first touch of God incarnate amongst man.
He is God's own Son-
Her Kinsman-Redeemer.
Repentance is good for the soul
I have noticed many times over that people who have been broken and whom God has restored, often serve Him with passion and a zeal that others don't match. The greater the sin, the greater God's Grace..."Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." Luke 7:47
As for those who judge us, we should remind them that the Blood of Jesus has washed our sin away and that they should not ever call unclean what God has called clean...As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12
The LORD [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Psalms 34:18