The Honest Apostles

(Just thought I'd let you all know that I have had my broken arm operated on....I have had a pin put in and it is still very painfull. I have been assured that the pain will eventually go away, I pray that it does, yet in all this I thank God the Father that He was with me through all this as on my own I would not have managed to cope with it all!)

THE HONEST APOSTLES
In 2 Corinthians 4 v 2 we read, "We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty....
not walking in craftiness.... not handling the Word of God deceitfully......
but by manifestation of the truth.....commending ourselves to every man's conscience
in the sight of God....."

One of the most useless and foolish arguments of unbelievers is to accuse the New testament
writers of trying to foist off tales of a "super natural Christ" on to gullible people. I mean....really!

And the scriptures written by these men contain strong condemnation of all dishonesty and deceit...
so it would be impossible that they, all  at the same time, unbeknowns to each other, would do such a thing, such a big conspiracy!
Paul's claim in the above text would be the worst kind of hypocracy....if this was the case......
And the Apostle Peter said..."Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocracies, and envies, and evil speaking.......as new born babes, desiring the sincere milk of the word..." 1 Peter v 1-2.
And John warned...."All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone....Rev21 v 8...
But......the clincher was that they were all prepared to suffer and suffer horribly, for their honesty and sincerety.
Paul said...."Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked, and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place.....and we labour with our own hands (meaning no one supported them).....being reviled.....we bless.....
    
             being persecuted....we suffer it.....

             being defamed.......we entreat....

we are made as the filth of the world....and are the offscouring of all things unto this day....." yet....
1 Cor 4 v 11-13
All the Apostles and writers of the New Testament (Except John, but he also suffered severe persecution throughout his long life)  eventually died as martyrs for their faith.....and it is incredible to think that they would have suffered all that.......for what??
A message they knew to be  lie???
I don't think so!
We can have complete confidence that the New Testament records are honest reports of sincere and Godly men....                                                                                     Thank you Henry Morris Ph.D
Bless you,
Yaddy

FROM THE DUST!

From the dust of the earth, God created man....

His breath made man a living soul.

Then God so loved this world....He gave His only Son.

And that is why I love Him so!

My hands were made.....so I could help my neighbour.

My eyes were made, to read God's word.

My feet were made just to walk in His footsteps....

my body is the temple of the Lord.

I was made in His likeness...created in His image, for I was born to serve the Lord!

And, I must never deny Him...just let me walk beside Him...

for I was born to serve the Lord.

From the dust of the earth, God created man.....

His breath made man a living soul.

Then God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son.....

and that is why I love Him so!

                               ~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~


A friensd's son had recently gotten saved, and when I saw him, I asked him exactly "when" it happened?
"Well, it was about 2000 years ago," he said, "But I didn't know till a couple of days ago..."
( precocious little kid) But wish we all had such a grasp of Revelations 13 v 8

Bless you...
Yaddy

Do you...."Love yourself?"

Are we....you...am I....willing to look at my flaws?
Sometimes we...I.... use preoccupations with......God...( a good thing in itself) or...
the grand children.....( nothing wrong with that either).....or...
to avoid looking at myself and "my" flaws.

Would that be a kind of an escape?
As I thought about this some more......I sort of became very disappointed with myself....why?

Because that is what it was...... a kind of escape!

No one.....not one single person....wants to admit the flaws they have....but there are lots!
We sin.....but that does not make me any LESS in God's eyes....
He knows all that....and still loves me!
How many times have I heard some one say...."God loves you....warts and all"

I always thought that was such a silly thing to have some one say to you......but it is true!

And in truth......God wants me to become more and more like HIM......He accepts me...
 as I am....right now....even though I am not as He wants me to be!

When I learned to understand this, and learned to see myself....as God sees me....I
could also look at my "flaws"and deficiencies, without being daunted by them.

I dislike them.....but, with His help....I will seek to overcome them...
His word says....."We are overcomers..."
As long as I am as gentle on myself as God is with me!

I am learning to "grow" under a loving discipline....HIS and my own!

Dear Lord,
Help me to be as gentle on myself, as You are with me and show me how to treat myself with
the same love and respect with which You treat me...in Jesus' precious name...Amen

Bless you
Yaddy

Do you ever tell a lie?

Even what is known as a "white lie?"
I mean...really.....a lie is a lie....is a lie.....no matter what the colour....right?
The thing is.....when ever we refuse to face anything that is "truth" something dies inside us!
Why...do you supose that is?

I imagine it could be...because we are made in His image....A God who does not lie.....so....when
He designed us....He made us in such a way, that when ever we actually speak....or live....a lie....
we are deprived inside!
Do you think that could be so?

We are designed...right from the beginning...when God created Adam and Eve, for truth....

and we can't function right...unless we live by that truth!

That is why, I think, when a rational human being, knows....that something is a lie, he can't
convince him or herself, it is the truth.

I am sure we have seen a lie detector in action?
Some one is trying to hide the truth, but not very convincingly!

Some one might be able to fool another person, but it is not so easy to fool a machine.

It seems to have something to do with the nervous system, and the lie detector senses this and the needle goes funny and tells every one..."Hey...he's telling a lie!"

Interesting...isn't it...that this little test machine shows the fact that we are made for truth and righteousness?
It is very important then, that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, learn to live according to His plan,
and face everything that is truth....even if it sometimes is unpleasant!
But after all....If we do follow after Him, and His resources, then He, through the Holy Spirit will work in us to make us the kind of people He wants us to be!
Blessings...
Yaddy

Thorns and thistles....

"Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;  Gen 3 v 18:

I am not a gardener...never have been....my mun and dad both loved it, so did my older sister....I will admire any one's garden, but don't like nor want to do the work.
Give me some wool and a pair of knitting needles or a crochet hook and I will fill in my day easy...

Well, more than 6 months ago, now, I broke my arm......it has not healed, the bone has not come together, and I will need an operation. And it is still broken and it hurts!

The little bit of garden we do have....I looked after. We have concrete paths around the house, to save work, and would you believe there are weeds all in the cracks.
Man...are they hard to get out....with one hand!


I try to do 10 minutes a day, and just before my accident, I had it all cleared, but, you should see it now!

I could cry! My arm hurts.....
 This morning I looked at all the weeds and looked at the sky and asked God..."Why?
Why did we need weeds?...Couldn't it have been something else?"

I have to wait almost 3 months before I can have the operation....meanwhile....pain killers are the go!

I am now apologizing to God....He knows best!
In his word it always says...."And it came to pass..."

This tantrum I am having will also pass....
Thank You Lord for being so patient with me!
Bless you,
Yaddy

Obedience is saying "Yes Lord"

Luke 9:61, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house”
John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me”

No matter where Jesus went in the region around the Sea of Galilee during His public ministry, He caused quite a stir.

 But most importantly, the people who had observed Him firsthand...... were moved and motivated to action.

If you read carefully through the New Testament you would find that Jesus often told and spoke in parables to illustrate how people received and responded to His teaching.

In Mark 1:18 we see obedience from the fishermen who followed Jesus.

In Mark 1:27 we see the amazement of people who marveled of His power over demons.

Then in Mark 1:31 we see service from Peter’s mother-in-law who served the Lord.

In Mark 1:45 we see those who saw Jesus in action proclaiming to others what He had done. In Matthew 13:1-9,

His disciples asked, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

 In reply Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah, “For the hearts of this people have gown dull. Their ears are hard to hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15; Isaiah 6:10).

Most parents are very familiar with the words from their children, “I’ll do it in a minute, but first …” As God’s children;
He often receives a similar response from us.

This important truth in the life of Janice is illustrated as follows:

 "I’ll never forget my inner battle one morning, as I was on my knees scrubbing the kitchen floor.

It began with a strong impression from the Lord that I should visit a young mother named Carol.

 So, I decided to do it later that day. “But first I must finish this floor,” I said to myself.

Then the inner prompting began to feel more urgent. “As soon as I finish the floor, I’ll go straight over to Carol’s,” I promised the Lord.

 But deep inside, I knew He meant now, before the floor was finished!

 A real battle of the will took place.
 I admitted that countless opportunities had been lost because of things I wanted to do first.

 Finally I said, “Okay, Lord, I’ll go now!”

When Carol opened her door, she said tearfully, “How did you know I needed you right now”

 I didn’t, but God did, and my surrender to Him played a part in Carol’s eventual surrender to Christ as her Saviour."

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus taught that some things can wait, which includes half-scrubbed floors and a host of other things; however, a ripe harvest can’t wait!

Are we being obedient to His call for your life?
God chooses to use us, because we are the ones most suited to minister to the people in our arena of influence.

 It is not by chance you/we have the relatives, friends, job, and church family that you/we do.

God led us wherever we are, for a reason.

Pray today that the Lord will begin showing you the destiny He has for you. Ask Him to help you be obedient to His will for your life. Are you willing to serve Him whatever the cost? It is this unswerving obedience and faithful service to the Lord that God richly blesses.
Thank you Mikey.

Bless you,
Yaddy

Is it an illusion?

I am asking a question......"What is a real person?"

I think a real person is some one who faces up to everything that happens in life and resists
every temptation to escape!

Professional people who work in mental health will say that, one way in which our  mental and
emotional wellbeing can be measured is by "how" we face up to real life and reality.

I suppose I could go one further and say that reality is truth....
good truth and bad truth....ugly truth and pleasant truth....

From one Bible translation it says..."If we refuse to admit we are sinners....then we live in a world of
illusion and truth becomes a stranger to us" or "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1John 1v 8)

So.....if we refuse to face the truth....... any truth......Biblical truth......something inside us dies!

Of course we could always bury our head in the sand and ignore it all!
But where does that than leave us?

So....what am I?  A realist? or a retreatist.....some one who runs away from life.
One thing is for sure....realists get to places.
Dear Jesus,
Help me to face everything that comes my way and not to "dodge" the issues no matter how threatening they are...Thank You Jesus, Amen
Bless you
Yaddy