It Must Run in the Family

My brother's, his daughter's, my father's, and my oldest daughter's strong hands

My younger sister ready to launch my niece with her strong hands (missed the hand pic)

Last week I spent time with my extended family in beautiful Navarre, Florida (between Pensacola and Destin).  Eighteen of us shared a beach house for the week.  Many laughs, yummy food, aching muscles from getting beat up by waves, late nights watching the Olympics and playing games, itches from the blood sucking mosquitos, and sunburns from extended time around the pool and seaside, were shared by all.

Our family vacation included a long awaited highlight.  A few years ago, my brother told me he had a daughter, but none of our family had ever met her.  My brother and his wife had flown to California to meet her.  Now, the rest of our family finally hugged our twenty-year-old granddaughter, niece, or cousin, Yasmine.  From the moment we saw her, stories began.  Over and over we discovered similarities using the term, "It must run in the family."  From physical traits, including brown eyes, curly hair, and thick hands (see pics above) to allergies and food likes, Yasmine definitely fit into the family.  She had some younger pictures with her almost identical to my sister Kelly and my niece Ashtyn.  Crazy!

After saying, "It must run in the family," several times, it made me think of my heavenly Father.  As children of the Father, we have handed down characteristics. 

I Peter 1:3-11 says, "3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. ⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
⁵ In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

⁸ The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. (New Living Translation) (emphasis mine)

As children of the Father, we share: 
1)  His Divine Nature.
This doesn't mean we are gods, but according to verse 3 we share his nature because of  "HIS DIVINE POWER", and verse 4, " HIS GLORY AND EXCELLENCE", not ours.  

2) His Gift.
We don't earn this nature.  According to verse 3, we have RECEIVED, and verse 4 says, "he has GIVEN US."  We can only live godly, God- reflecting lives because of the gift of new life through Jesus, conquering the power of sin on the cross.   

3)  His Love. 
We reflect God's loving character, according to verse 5, when we respond to God's promises.  He grows (verse 8) us in:(verse 5) moral excellence, knowledge, self control, patient endurance godliness, brotherly affection and LOVE FOR EVERYONE.   

4) His Plan
As we grow, according to verse 8, we are more productive and useful in the knowledge of Jesus.  The more we grow in the knowledge of  Jesus and His character, the more we become like Him.  The more we become like Him, the more we know His plans for us.

Are you a child of God the Father?  Want to be?  YES
If you are, do you reflect the Father?
And, are you growing into one that reflects Him more?





Linked to Cornerstone Confessions, A Holy Experience

Prepared for Company?

 

When I found out we were having company this week for 4th of July, I prepared for our guests. I cleaned, planned, and shopped.  I cleaned sheets, my WHOLE house, including my disasterous playroom/study.  My girls knew someone would arrive when I cleaned the guest bathroom/oldest daughter's shower (about the only time I clean the shower...oops).  I made a menu and went to the grocery store.  Yes, it can be done (note to myself).  I even bought new washcloths.

My oldest daughter, A, also prepared.  She knew if mom cleaned the shower, her room inspection would shortly follow.  She made her bed and even looked under her bed.  She discovered clothes she had missed, trash, and yes, even a chocolate bunny from Easter.  Her closet, a dangerous place,  overtaken by clothes that had fallen off  hangers, shoes without mates, and piles of duct tape (new fad).  Even though she hated to clean up her room, she loves having guests.

While I cleaned, I thought of another guest.  One who doesn't tell me when he will arrive.  One who desires to dine with me.  One who invites me as a guest into heaven for eternity (No.  Not a guest, a daughter).

The guest:  Jesus. 

Matthew 24: 42, 44
⁴² “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴⁴ For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

Are you prepared?  We don't know when He will come.

pics on my Grandmother's wall

Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Are you prepared?  He wants to dine with you.

John 1:12
¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.

Are you prepared?  He wants to call you His child.

Like preparing for my house guests, I must prepare for Jesus.  My preparation for Jesus determines my eternal destination.  I started my preparation when I asked Jesus to forgive me and become my boss.   Preparing for house guests never ends (even though I would love to quit cleaning forever).  Likehouse, my "spiritual house" always needs work.  When Jesus comes, I want to be in awe not ashamed.

What would you change if you knew Jesus would come today?  Priorities? Plans? Purchases?

Are you prepared?  You can have eternal hope.  If you have Jesus, our hope, you can share hope (H.elp O.thers P.repare for E.ternity).
     
Need to prepare?




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Good Morning Girls

Freedom

Freedom

Memorial Day, the day we remember our fallen soldiers that keep our freedom alive.  We celebrate with families, barbecues, lake trips, swimming pool parties, and homemade icecream.  Some visit the graves of all their loved ones, placing flowers to remember the lives that have deceased.

This Memorial Day will be different than most.  My husband is working.  My grandmother is in the hospital.  We have no lake trips and no homemade icecream.  We will be thankful to go swimming this afternoon.  (And I have time to write a blog).

This morning I contemplate freedom.  Not the freedoms we possess in the United States because of many soldiers giving their lives (I will forever be grateful), but freedom that comes through one man.  He gives us the freedom that changes the way we live daily.  He provides freedom that gives us a new family, an eternal family.  He delivers freedom that lives on beyond this temporary world.  The only man that could give us these freedoms, Jesus.

1.  Jesus gives us freedom from slavery.

Yes, we all are born slaves to sin (choosing our way instead of God's).  We need freedom from this sin that separates us from a holy, perfect God.

Romans 8:1-4 (New Living Translation NLT)
 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ² And because you belong to him, the power^[of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. ³ The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature  So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴ He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Romans 8:20 (New American Standard)
²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Only Jesus could provide us freedom from slavery to sin.

2. Jesus gives us freedom to salvation.
Acts 4:12 says, "There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” (speaking of Jesus, emphasis mine) (NLT)

Jesus saves  us from the penalty of sin, death (Romans 6:23). Through his death on the cross and resurrection, he provides eternal freedom.

3.  Jesus gives us freedom to sonship (and daughtership)

Romans 8:15-17 (NLT)
¹⁵ So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And since we are his children, we are his heirs.

and Romans 8:21 again says, "set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the the glory of the children of God."

I love that because we are children of God through Jesus, we call God "Abba" or "Daddy".  We have the freedom to talk to God as our personal daddy, who cares about our every need.

4. Jesus gives us freedom to Spirit living.

  Romans 8:4 (again) says, "He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

and Romans 8:15(again), "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.

Galatians 5:24-25 (NLT) says, " Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. ²⁵ Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives."

How I'm thankful for the freedom Jesus gives me.  Have you experienced true, eternal freedom through Jesus?  As a follower of Jesus, what freedoms do you love?

Freedom

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