The Spider I've Never Met

      A spider has taken up residence right outside my front dear.  I haven't met him  (or her) but the evidence of its presence is there every morning.  He builds his web every night, and every morning I knock it down.  You would think he would give up and move on to another home; but the spider and I have played this little game for several days now.  

     I know some of us ladies don't even like the idea of being near a spider.  Personally, frogs and lizards usually bother me much more than a spider but I don't want to let this unseen inhabitant in my take over my porch.  So the two of us - the spider and I continue doing what we do.  

     I have to admire his tenacity.  His endurance to persevere.  Now, I don't know if a spider really has that much of a personality.  I think God just made the spider to build a web every day or night.  It is the way spiders survive.  They use their web to trap their prey.  (I know not all spiders build webs; but the large majority of the species do).  
     OK, so why am I talking about a spider so much?  Well, this little adventure made me think about a couple of things.  Truth be told, I have to admire the spider's steadfast efforts.  He hasn't given up.  He keeps working.   He is quite persistent.  
      God encourages endurance -- steadfastness -- determination- persistence -- there are many words for it and the Holy Spirit used several of them in the Bible.  Ladies, we cannot give up.  We have to hang in to there.  
      Here is a great verse I found while I studied for this devotional.  When I read it,  I could not help but think of the way God made the spider.  

      We find these words in Proverbs 24:16. 

"For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity."

       I just love this!  God's people don't give up!  They know God is their strength, and their fortress.  They have a confident and steadfast hope of heaven.  So when life knocks them down... they get back up.  

       There is nothing more courageous than a man or woman of any age to walk into a charge building alone.  I've seen older people who attended worship together for many years.  When one spouse dies, the survivor does not lose their faithfulness.  As sad and as difficult as it might be, their faithfulness keeps them going and they continue to worship with their church family.  

      There is a young lady in our congregation who just graduated from high school in May.  She is the only one in her family who attends services -- and she has done so for a couple of years now.  This girl has so much strength and maturity and faithfulness in her heart.  

     Life is not always easy, but we keep doing what we do because we know it is the right thing to do.  I'm not only talking about going to the church building.  I'm talking about how we live our everyday lives - how we conduct ourselves as Christians.  

     Galatians 6:9 -- "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

     The reward we will reap is heaven.  And it will be worth all the things we go through here -- all the little hiccups and headaches we go through - will be worth it.  But we know sometimes what we endure is not little at all.  It is tragic.  The loss of a spouse (through death or divorce), or a child,  or our financial security, natural disasters, losing our health and independence.... 

       Wow, we go through so much in our lives.  Sometimes we don't know how we will make it.  But what we have to do when life knocks us down is rise again.  Rise up instead of give up.  

       God tells us, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).

Christ above all things, 

Robin 

     

  

Help for our Spiritual Battles

       Everyone needs encouragement.  Fellowship with other Christians is vital for strength and growth for the individual believer.  We all struggle from time to time.  We all have weaknesses.  So we need help.  Christ knew that.  Our Savior knew we would need each other.  That's why He built the church with His own blood. 
    Christ has promised to always be with us.  But in His infinite wisdom, He also knew the devil would constantly plague us.  Think about it, if satan only left Jesus for a season - then Jesus surely knew we would be harassed by the old devil too.  That is why Jesus wanted us to love and serve one another.  So we could encourage and build one another up enough to be able to face the world on a daily basis  - to help us win the battle against the devil.
     Paul talks about his own spiritual fight in Romans 7: 14-25.  It is a rather long passage, so I will not post it here; but the apostle talks about the struggle between the longing to satisfy worldly desires (whatever they might be) and the desire to follow God and do what is right.  

       Sisters we are in a fight.  We are all tempted from time to time.  My weakness may not be the same as someone else's; but we all have them.  I don't think anyone is immune to temptation.  We all face it at one time or another.  The good news is - we do not have to yield to the devil's temptations.  

      God promised we will always have a way of escape  (1 Corinthians 10:13).  But we have to look for it, right?  We have to fight our way out of the temptations that come our way.  Hopefully, we all understand I am not talking about going out and beating someone up.  

       Paul makes it clear "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).  This is heavy stuff.  We really are in a battle for our souls. 

      BUT as serious as it sounds, it is by no means hopeless.  God is not willing that any should perish.  He really does want us all to win this fight. So He helps us.  Praying strengthens our faith.  The more often we pray the closer we grow to God.  The closer we are to Him, the more able we will be to win our spiritual struggles.  

       Sometimes God's helpers come to help us.  They are present in our lives and willing to help us whenever we reach out.  God's helpers are other Christians.  Maybe they once went through what we are going through.  Maybe their weakness is the same as ours.  Maybe they love others who fight the same thing we fight.  

       On the other hand, these helpers may fight an entirely different battle. Or maybe they have just learned to love souls in the same way God loves souls.  Maybe they just want to be there for us ... to help in any way they can.  

      We can be one of God's helpers too.  We can be compassionate, understanding and loving.  We can study with others.  We can pray with others.  Sometimes all we need to do is sit down and listen.  God needs us to help those who are hurting.  

       Romans 15:1 -3:  "We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.  Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up."   

     Let's allow ourselves to be used in God's service.  Let's help others because Christ has helped us.  In this way, all of us can win those battles within.  

Christ above all things, 

Robin 

        

     
     

The Amazing Love of God

 Good morning! We are waking up to a bright and beautiful day brought to you buy the Lord Himself!

Today I hope we can all put on a smile and remember Whose daughter we are!

The Amazing Love of God

It is just so amazing to think about the love of God! One thing that is so wonderful about His love is that it is universal! Another wonderful thing about His love is that it is so personal!! These two concepts do not contradict one another at all.

God’s love IS universal. He is our Creator. The giver of life ... He gave us our life. Yours. And mine. And all 108,760,543,790(approximately) that have ever been born. Every person who ever lived did so because God gave them life. Wow! Think about that number. God is truly worthy of our praise!

Like I said, it is amazing! If God’s love includes everyone then I can rest in knowing He loves the people I love. More than I do. My parents are covered by the love of God. So are my brothers and sisters-in-law. My nieces and nephews too. Even as much as I love my children, I know God loves them ever so much more!

The Father does not leave anyone out! It gives me great peace to know this. I am glad God’s love is universal. I am thankful the Creator loved us enough to send His Only Son to this world to die for us. All of us. He gave up heaven to live on earth among people like us.

God’s love IS personal! He knows our names. He knows how many hairs on our head. It boggles the mind. God knows our hearts. He knows everything about us. As some of us say sometimes, He knows us “warts and all.” And guess what? The Father still loves us.

Here is an absolutely beautiful portion of scripture which shows us how great the Father’s love is. We find this in Psalm 56:8 -11: “You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me. In God (I will praise His word), In the Lord (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Did you know God cares for us so much He keeps up with our tears? He knows what we go through and He cares. Yes, His love is personal!! The Father will fight for us. He will take care of our enemies. We can trust God! He will always stand for us when we stand for Him.

God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit all want us to be in heaven with them. What a wonderful thought! The thing is, we must want it too. Here is where it gets personal. We must love Christ enough to keep His commandments. All of them. Not just one or two.

It is our choice. God doesn’t force us. Christ doesn’t. Neither does the Holy Spirit. I am the only one who can choose for me. The same goes for all of us. The right choice? The right choice puts us in the presence of God’s love for eternity. I think it's worth it!!!

Christ above all things ….. Robin