Welcome Home

Home should be a place

Where warm arms embrace you

Welcome you home

After a long hard day

Where you are embraced by your biggest supporter

Your champion who believes in you

Accepts you for who you are

Imperfections and all

A place where judgment and condemnation

Are forbidden to enter

A place where you are loved by one

Who never ceases to hope and pray for you

A place where you can rest

Your weary body, mind and soul

Without fear that you will be examined

Picking apart every thought, word and deed

A place where you are encouraged

Though the world may leave you discouraged

A place where the enemy feels very unwelcome

Where he may not enter in

A place where forgiveness, love, grace and mercy flow free

Given beyond measure

by Susan Wachtel

May 6, 2012

Dedicated to my best friend! 

Sin Debt

She dreamed she was standing in the long and winding line

Up ahead the Judgment Seat of Christ

She held a bill in her hand

On it the summary of her sin debt

She knew there was no way she could pay

The enormous debt she had incurred

She had spent a life time going her own way

Ignoring the stops signs God had placed in her path

All her life she tried to blot out the truth and reality of God

The One to Whom she must give an account

She believed she was better than some, not as bad as others

Now she could not escape the truth

Her heart was deceitfully wicked above all things

In her lies no good thing

She began to weep and cry out to God

“Lord, forgive me for I have sinned”

As she wiped the tears from her eyes

She felt a hand on her shoulder

She looked over

Saw a nail pierced hand

She looked up, staring into the eyes of compassion

Filled with mercy and grace

“Give Me your sin debt

For I have paid the price”

“You have been forgiven

Your sin has been removed”

“Dear one, go and sin no more

For I have set you free”

She awoke from her sleep

Darkness surrounded her

Her heart was pounding

She whispered, “Was it a dream?”

Then she cried out

“Lord Jesus I believe”

By Susan Wachtel

May 6, 2012

Five Minute Friday - The Battle is Real and Belongs to the Lord

As believers we are engaged in a very real battle.  The enemy and his minions wage war against us, but there are a few things I need to remember:

The enemy’s head was crushed 2,000 years ago.

We are fighting from a place of victory that Christ won for us.

Some of the things the enemy hates to see:

• He hates to see the saints of God on their knees in prayer to their heavenly Father.
• He hates to see us open our Bible to read, memorize and study God’s Word.
• He hates to hear us speak truth from the scripture.
• He hates to see a sinner repent and ask for forgiveness from God.
• He hates to see a sinner forgive someone who hurt them.
• He hates to see a saint praise God in the midst of their trials and tribulations.
• He hates to hear songs of worship to the Lord.
• He hates saints who are unashamed of the Gospel and share it with those who are perishing.
• He hates the truth of the narrow way to salvation through Christ Jesus alone.
• He hates a humble servant of God.
• He hates to see a saint take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and meditate on that which is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy.
• He hates to see the saints of God put on their spiritual armor each day, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the gospel of peace, taking up the shield of faith, putting on the helmet of salvation, wielding the sword of the spirit and praying always. 
• He hates to see the saints gather together and not forsake the assembling of one another.
• He hates it when a saint remembers that they have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling them and their bodies are a temple of God.
• He hates it when the saints read and pastors preach from Revelation because in doing so, we see his ultimate end.

I like to win the spiritual battles.  Too often I get my focus off of God and fall into trap of the enemy.  Praise God, He doesn’t leave me there. 

Thank You Jesus for winning that battle 2,000 years ago on the cross.  Thank You for saving me from before the foundations of the world.  Lord…I pray that You would grant salvation to those for whom I pray.  Snatch them from the enemy’s hand and hold them securely in Your hand.  May today be their day of salvation.  May they confess with their mouth and believe with their heart that Jesus Christ is Lord…to Your glory forever and ever…Amen.

Okay…I confess this was longer than five minutes, but golly I love remembering the victory I have in Christ and my absolute security in God’s hand. 

This post is linked with The Gypsy Mama’s Five Minute Friday challenge.  I encourage you to go on over and read some of the wonderful posts from others who join in.  You will be encouraged. 

Ephesians 6:10-18

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

Under Your Feet!

This is the scripture that leaped off the page at me this morning:

And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Romans 16:20

Anyone beside me need that great reminder!

More Alive

I just love this quote by D.L. Moody:

Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield, is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal- a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.

Five Minute Friday – Community Bible Study

It’s been my privilege for the past two years to participate in Community Bible Study’s Orange Evening Women’s class where we do an in-depth study of God’s word.  Last year our class went through the book of Revelation.  I learned more from that study than any other time I’ve read or studied Revelation.  This year we’ve been studying the gospel of John. 

For many years I was part of the Bible Study Fellowship class that meets in Santa Ana on Monday evening.  Those years of study took me from being a relatively new Christian to someone who knew God’s word for myself. 

There is nothing like studying the word of God in depth for myself.  It’s just me, the Bible and God.  I pray for the Holy Spirit to give me understanding.  God has revealed Himself to man through the Bible.  He tells us who He is.  He has revealed His purpose and plan for people and our world.  He tells us what went wrong, why our world is so messed up and why I’m so messed up.  He offers me hope that it doesn’t have to stay that way. 

When I read God’s word, I fall more in love with my heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ who bore the punishment for my sin so that I could be forgiven and set free from sin.  Set free from the penalty of sin, the power of sin and one day from the presence of sin. 

This post is being linked to 5-Minute Friday courtesy ofThe Gypsy Mama, where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it's right or not.  Head on over and take the challenge today.

As I See It Now...Who Comes First

I want to point you to a post written by Debra at "As I See It Now" called "Who Comes First".  In this piece Debra shares how living out Colossians 3:23 transformed her life. 

"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people."   ... Colossians 3:23

I give Debra a hardy Amen!  It served as a good reminder to me on how to approach giving to and serving others.  As I was reading, the thought came to mind that for me the most challenging people to live out Colossians 3:23 is family.  I take that as a prompt from the Lord to purpose in my heart and mind, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to do things without expectation on how they will respond or what I should get in return.    

Five Minute Friday – Together Again

Recent days and months have had their share of sorrow in the death of precious friends.  I’ll tell you, there is a world of difference when a Christian dies and when an unbeliever dies. 

As a Christian I have confident hope and assurance that I will one day see my believing family and friends again.  It brings joy to think that I will once again see their face, hear their laugh and feel their warm embrace.  We will be together in heaven, a place where there is no more sin, sickness, sorrow or death.  We will be with our Savior and see Him face to face.  A place where worship and praise will never end.  Halleluiah, I long for that day.

But when someone dies who has not received Jesus Christ as their Savior, when they haven’t repented of their sin, when they haven’t cried out to the Lord for forgiveness…it’s not good!  It’s a place of eternal punishment, retribution, unrelenting suffering that will never, ever end. 

It almost feels more tortuous when I don’t know if my loved one is in heaven or hell. 

There’s not a day that goes by I don’t think of my precious friend.  I may hear some whose laugh sounds just like her laugh, or see someone who looks like her and I wonder…where is she today?  Will we ever be together again? 

Lord forgive me please for not being more bold in sharing the Gospel message, for worrying more about offending her rather than being concerned about the place she will spend eternity.  

This post is being linked to 5-Minute Friday courtesy of The Gypsy Mama, where you simply write for 5 minutes without worrying if it's right or not.  Head on over and take the challenge today.

Preconceived Notions

Squeaking breaks were more than just an annoyance or an indication that I needed to get our car serviced to insure that I was safe on the road.  This would be another repair on a car that’s 11 years old.  A repair that might cost more than what the car was worth.  Our car had become a money pit and it seemed like we were throwing good money after bad. 

After the last repair, my husband Chris and I discussed the possibility that it might be the time to consider getting a new car to replace our aging car. 

The squeaking started just a few days before we were going on vacation and whatever action we decided to take would have to wait until we returned.  Thankfully both Chris and I had taken an additional day off from work following our vacation.  It proved to be helpful as we went car shopping yesterday.

God had some lessons for me to learn in the middle of our car troubles.  One of the top lessons was to not be anxious.  Our car problems didn’t take God by surprise and He would go before us and give us wisdom to make good choices. 

Yesterday, before we set off to look at vehicles, I felt that God was telling me to let go of my preconceived notions.  Based on prior bad experiences with two car dealers, I was tempted to dismiss two cars that we should consider because they had good ratings for safety and value.

Prior to our vacation, I had done some research on AAA’s automobile car shoppingservices and had a good idea on what cars we should look at.  It’s a great tool that proved to be very helpful in our search for a car.  If you are a member of AAA you can contact the designated dealers and arrange to meet with them.  In doing this, you eliminate the high pressure sales tactics associated with car buying.  You will also avail yourself of the AAA agreed upon discounted rate.

Before we left the house we prayed for God to give us wisdom to determine the best car to purchase and trust His leading and timing.  We asked that we would both be in agreement as to what car we should purchase and for His favor.

We set out with a plan to look at three vehicles, test drive them, find out what finance options were available so we could choose the best car for us and be responsible with the resources God has given us.

God did indeed go before us and we both felt comfortable with purchasing any of the top three vehicles we were looking at.  We had set a plan to look at all three vehicles before making a decision and we stuck to that despite heavy pressure from one dealer to make a decision right then and there. 

As it turned out, we ended up getting the vehicle that was last on my initial list.  We both liked the car and the tipping point was that we were able to get 0.0% financing for 60 months.  That was too good to turn down.

Now every time I look at the car I am reminded of God’s faithfulness, His provision in finding the car and getting a good deal. 

I know it’s silly, but I like to name my cars.  Last night after we got home, I decided to name our new car Ebenezer because it will be a reminder, “Thus far the Lord has brought us.”