notes from lisa...

Everything in the life of the child of God, has purpose--not only that, but everything that happens (good or bad ) will , by the design of God, be for our ultimate good . That's hard to believe--even harder to see , at times. I know that it is--from my own experience and also from watching the suffering of others. There are times in our lives, when we question, "what good could possibly come from such a dire situation?!!" That's one of the miracles of God's good will, toward us. He will use even the valley experiences of life, to carry us to the mountaintop. "We are assured and know that [ God being a partner in their labor ] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose." (Romans 8:28, TAB) "As for you, you thought evil against me , but God meant it for good , to bring about that many people should be kept alive , as they are this day." (...

In our daily walk, sometimes, it is hard to recognize just who our real enemies are. As we deal with broken, damaged and difficult relationships, it becomes easy to see people as our enemies. An important reminder, for those of us who walk with Christ is that, people are NOT the enemy ! The enemy who is behind our hurts, hindrances, and heartaches is satan--and only satan . Sometimes, when things happen, in our lives--we begin to view our attacks as if they come from people--as if they are conceived in the mind and spirit of the individual. Truth is, satan is the author of all of the confusion . satan plants every single one of those destructive seeds. When we focus on people, as our enemy, we step right into the snare , that the true enemy has set for us. We lose sight of the bigger picture--we miss that what satan meant for evil--and to destroy us, God will use to perfect and mold us . Ofttimes, we are so focused on human beings as the enemy, that we miss our victory. The weapon...

When the Scriptures speak of "fearing God", it is often meant--not to be afraid of Him, but to reverence Him, or give Him honor . For example, "There was a man in the Land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God , and escheweth evil". In the Amplified Bible, you have a very clear picture of the actual meaning of "fear" in this case: "There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who [ reverently ] feared God and abstained from and shunned evil [because it was wrong]." (Job 1:1, KJV, TAB) There are times, when the "fear of God" has nothing to do with honor or reverence, but is directly related to the awesome power of God's wrath . For example: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell" . The Amplified Bible illumin...

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:20 How can we glorify God in our bodies? Today, I read these statements, "SOW A THOUGHT, REAP AN ACTION. SOW AN ACTION, REAP A HABIT. SOW A HABIT, REAP A CHARACTER. SOW A CHARACTER, REAP A DESTINY." Each statement is profoundly accurate in and of itself, but altogether, they teach a powerful lesson. They can all, individually or collectively be positive or negative. We decide. Each and every one of us. Oftentimes, when we speak of sin in our lives, we refer to it as "falling or being fallen in sin", as though it slipped upon us, completely unawares! We say it as if sin came out of nowhere and swooped down, making us its victim. We say, "we just couldn't help it", or like Flip Wilson, a comedian popular in the 1970's, used to say (in his, then famous Geraldine act), "the devil made me do it!" But, unders...