Month: September 2019

See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. Isaiah 65:17

There is a place being custom created for you! New Heavens and earth!

Where, “The former things will not be remembered.”

The pain of disease…..won’t be remembered!

The shame of mistakes……won’t be remembered!

The grief of loss……won’t be remembered!

The darkness of hurt…..won’t be remembered!

Are these things going to be negligently nullified? No! They will be replaced with a love so amazing that anything we have suffered will become completely irrelevant because, “Nor will they come to mind.”

It is God’s choice to provide redemption and salvation, it is His choice to forget our sins AND it is His choice to create a place where we will live for all eternity in purity, Holiness, love and PEACE!

Gretchen

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Psalm 90:2

The eternal existence of God and the eternity of space is not just difficult to fathom, but incredibly intimidating to try. From the very beginning of Biblical narrative God reveals He has alway been and always will be. His space also continues forever without beginning and end. Every facet of God is infinite.

We are a people of definitive experiences.  We like the cause column of life’s ledger to always equal the effect. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, what goes up must come down. Faith would be much easier if we could define God quantitatively or linearly.  So what do you do when your mind won’t rest in what your heart knows? Apply the words of the psalmist. State it and praise Him for it. We ask for peace when “From everlasting to everlasting” overwhelms us. He is quick and immediate to answer.  Forever and ever is your’s too.

Have a Beautiful Weekend,

Gretchen

You will see it with your own eyes and say, “Great is the LORD-Even beyond the borders of Israel!” Malachi 1:5

The Jewish people were in the midst of economic hardship, constant physical threat and opposition.  They felt God had forgotten them, although He promised restoration.

Malachi’s message? GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES FAR BEYOND OUR COMPREHENSION, NO EXCEPTIONS!

Our faith and our hope rests in God alone. His love is constant and continuing and is not dependent on our present circumstances, but His will which is His faithfulness to us.  The only appropriate response is absolute faith in Him.

Happy Friday,

Gretchen

I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

Very popular words from Philippians.  Here’s the prequel……”I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Verses 11 and 12.

So what can Paul, the author, do?  Yes, all things…… the most essential things, contentment in all circumstances, faithfulness in need and discomfort, grace in plenty.

What can we do through Him who gives strength? Persevere and become what Christ died for us to be: redeemed, missional, compassionate……..

Pulled out of context this phrase seems to be an endorsement for pressing confidently toward human ambition. It is not.  It is Paul’s humble affirmation that Jesus as friend, redeemer and hope, is a reliable constant and that is enough.  I’m with Paul, He is enough and I need nothing more.

Love,

Gretchen

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15

Maturity is a choice. Growing older is not. You don’t impassively get one with the other.

No one has say in when and where they enter the world and no one has a say in when and where they leave, but the choices in the middle bring about the mental and emotional level you dwell in. 

Maturity is facing the truth and owning what is yours…….mistakes and failures, successes and blessings. Recognizing other’s contributions to the above mentioned and showing gratitude where it is due exchanges bitterness and defeat for grace and mercy.

Believers become the body of Christ and Christ wants to perfect our growth to do His work on earth. The path for this progress is truth.  In accepting Jesus as the only truth we submit our tainted perspectives, petty folly and selfish ambitions to His perfect knowledge, patient love and final victory. Suddenly we are grown-up Christians, a very nice thing to be.

Love,

Gretchen

P.S.  I don’t think my spirit face has any wrinkles!!! Or maybe in loving truth I need to be okay if it does.

Have a great day!

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. I Corinthians 13:1

Sorry if I offend any percussionist, but there is no worse music on earth than an extended, accapella, snare drum solo, a gong sonata, or maybe a cymbal minuet!  It’s just a bunch of noise that brings about one thought, “How soon will this end?”

Talk takes no effort, costs nothing and often brings the same response as the music I just spoke of, “When will it end?”  Lip service is worthless if there is no manpower to back it up.  Love is the verb this world needs. 

Words just stir air molecules, love in action changes things.

Just Love,

Gretchen

She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” Acts 16:17

This loud mouthed, fortune-telling young slave girl had become a regular aggravation to Paul as he made his daily trek to a place of prayer. After many days Paul turned and said to the spirit possessing this woman, “In the name of Jesus Christ, come out of her!”

Things didn’t go well for Paul and Silas after this act of healing. There is no further record of the young woman who lost her lively hood and that of her owner. BUT! A few hours later, wrongly flogged and imprisoned Paul and Silas experience the miracle of freedom from bondage and lead their jailer and his household to salvation.

This narrative leaves two legacies. Sinful man acts predictably.  The slave owner is outraged that his easy money is cut off, shows little respect for any other human and keeps his mouth going about his rights as a Roman citizen until he starts a riot that robs two other Roman citizens of their liberties. Godly men make beautiful history.  Because they are disciplined to daily prayer, they free a woman from an unwelcome spirit, respond to their injustice with praise and prayer, and when a natural disaster breaks their chains, they remain in place to minister to the frightened, hopeless and lost. Finally, they use their ‘rights as Romans’ to further the gospel, not oppress others.

You get to choose. Which legacy do you want to embrace?

Have a great day!

Gretchen

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. John 17:20

Jesus is within hours of being crucified and He knows it.  He also knows that His beloved disciples, the men He spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with for the last three years have no clue about what is coming down.  Yes, Jesus has prepared them, but they cannot comprehend what will prove to be the most mysterious, glorious and victorious event of all time.

So what does Jesus do?  He prays.  He sets things in perspective in a quiet talk with His dad.  The entire seventeenth chapter of John is Jesus praying, first for Himself to focus on the big picture, eternal life, then for His disciples.  Jesus is literally committing His friends into the care of His Father. How beautiful is that?! And Then……..drum roll please…….He prayed for you and me.  Yes, Jesus has spoken, out loud, a prayer personally for you and for me.

What did Jesus ask the Father to give us? A oneness with Him and each other so that we may know the full extend of the Father’s love.

Oh How He Loves Us!

Gretchen

She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” Acts 16:17

This loud mouthed, fortune-telling young slave girl had become a regular aggravation to Paul as he made his daily trek to a place of prayer. After many days Paul turned and said to the spirit possessing this woman, “In the name of Jesus Christ, come out of her!”

Things didn’t go well for Paul and Silas after this act of healing. There is no further record of the young woman who lost her lively hood and that of her owner. BUT! A few hours later, wrongly flogged and imprisoned Paul and Silas experience the miracle of freedom from bondage and lead their jailer and his household to salvation.

This narrative leaves two legacies. Sinful man acts predictably.  The slave owner is outraged that his easy money is cut off, shows little respect for any other human and keeps his mouth going about his rights as a Roman citizen until he starts a riot that robs two other Roman citizens of their liberties. Godly men make beautiful history.  Because they are disciplined to daily prayer, they free a woman from an unwelcome spirit, respond to their injustice with praise and prayer, and when a natural disaster breaks their chains, they remain in place to minister to the frightened, hopeless and lost. Finally, they use their ‘rights as Romans’ to further the gospel, not oppress others.

You get to choose. Which legacy do you want to embrace?

Have a great day!

Gretchen

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.  Psalm 119:105

I know my yard well.  The shrubbery is mapped in my head, the water features give themselves away, there are sidewalks to mark common thoroughfares to necessary places. I spend a great deal of daytime and dark in my little paradise. So why would I ever need a flashlight?

For the unexpected, the unforeseen!  Dog pooh!  A SNAKE!! Rogue patio chairs!

We are a mobile race. Our minds and bodies stay constantly on the go.  For the most part we choose our routes, but even so, we encounter the unexpected and need light to avoid, detour or protect ourselves from the things we do not wish to step in or stumble over.

The Psalmist is praising God for this ‘Word’ that indeed sheds brilliant, shadowless light so we may journey free from the detrimental obstacles life offers. Let’s renew this praise also, for this wonderful luminary that is our gift.

Love,

Gretchen