Family

Jesus will be the center of every conversation, as we remember.....  

Ephesians chapter 3 verses 18 and 19.

May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand , as all God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep and how high His love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God Himself.

Do you belong to a family? Even if you do not have any immediate family, you probably have close friends, that you enjoy being around. 

   In Genesis chapter 2 we read about the garden that God planted in Eden. He planted all sorts of beautiful trees, which produced the choicest of fruit. He placed a river through the garden to water it. He then placed the man, He created, in the garden to tend for it. 

   In John chapter 15 Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He lops off every branch that does not produce." By pruning the tree He strengthens it. Jesus says, "Take care to live in Me and let Me live in you. For a branch can't produce fruit when severed from the vine. Nor can you be fruitful apart from Me."

   When you belong to a family you pick up each others ways. For example anxieties, worries, what makes us happy, our likes and dislikes. Especially what it means to be loved and to love. When you were young, you enjoyed the freedom of childhood innocence. You played with friends and held close to the family activities. Then you were expected to go out on your own, making decisions on your own that would lead hopefully to positive results. 

   Your family was still there to help guide you but there was change coming in the decisions that you were about to make. Those decisions made you feel grown up as you showed responsibility and the ability to fit in. Having an income helps. Maybe you get support from family or maybe you have had to find your own source of income, either way you have taken the steps of independence. 

   Everything is new to you. You have watched others and those closest to you, learning from their mistakes and experiences. You have learned through education, books and multi media how others react to their experiences. You may have found interest in following after what someone else has enjoyed doing for many years. 

   Lets look at a tree. This example is strong, and vibrant surviving through harsh conditions and lasting from generation to generation. Not all trees are given the opportunity to have the right conditions, to enjoy a good long life. But if it is God's will, the right trees will be given the means to survive. 

   Jesus tells us in John chapter 15, "I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me. Live within My love. When you obey Me you are living in My love, just as I obey My Father and live in His love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your cup of joy will overflow!"  

   There is a struggle and it is in our thoughts. Things happen to us and we have to make sense of why they do and how we are going to handle them. That is the cause of stress, anxieties and worry. Everything is great when everything is going smooth. In our youth we did not have too many issues to deal with, but now that you are older, well, lets just say that those times of peace would be welcomed back at any time. 

   God wants us to know that we are not alone in dealing with our lives. In fact He wants us to see Him as our Father, our heavenly Father who breathed life into us the moment we were born. Don't make this confusing. It's called believing by faith. And it is through your faith, your believing that God is real and that He, through Jesus has made it possible for you to have life with Him, that you can be at peace, knowing God has got you in His protection, as He watches over His child. 

   Job chapter 22 verses 21-24 say, "Quit quarreling with God! Agree with Him and you will have peace at last! His favor will surround you if you will only admit that you were wrong. Listen to His instructions and store them in your heart. If you return to God and put right all the wrong in your home, then you will be restored. If you give up your lust for money, and throw your gold away, then the Almighty Himself shall be your treasure; He will be your precious silver!"

   When you come to God, you are making the choice to call out to Him with true belief in your heart. Hope is powerful and it is through your hope for a better outcome that you find Jesus and begin to understand why He loved God, and talked to Him as much as He did. 

   In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, the apostle Paul talks about his experience with God saying, "Three times I begged God to make me well again. Each time He said, 'No. But I am with you; that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak people.' Now I am glad to boast how weak I am; I am glad to be a living demonstration of Christ's power, instead of showing off my own power and abilities. Since I know it is all for Christ's good, I am quite happy about 'the thorn,' and about insults and hardships, persecutions and difficulties; for when I am weak, then I am strong---the less I have, the more I depend on Him."  

   He wants you to flourish and be at peace. He wants you happy and filled with the joy of His amazing grace and love for you. He wants you to feel blessed in all you do. 

   In John chapter 4, Jesus is talking with a stranger at a well saying, "If you only knew what a wonderful gift God has for you, and who I am, you would ask Me for some living water!" They questioned Him about this "living water" and He replied, "That people soon became thirsty again after drinking this well water. But the water I give them becomes a perpetual spring within them, watering them forever with eternal life."

   We are not meant to feel alone, in dealing with whatever it is, all by ourselves. Others who support you will listen, and will try to help, but are they the answers you need and expect? God, has given us Jesus, so that we can have a forever life with Him.

   In John chapter 15, Jesus talking to the crowds said, "Yes, I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him shall produce a large crop of fruit. For apart from Me, you can't do a thing. If anyone separates from Me, he is thrown away like a useless branch, withers, and is gathered into a pile with all the others and burned. But if you stay in Me and obey My commands, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! My true disciples produce bountiful harvests. This brings great glory to My Father." 

   Place God first in your life and watch as His love flows into every part of who you are. You will flourish in all you do. Others will notice and others may ask you where this change came from. But no matter how they feel, you are experiencing way more than you ever thought possible. Your joy is in the saving grace of God, who through Jesus, has brought you home. 

   Your joy is in how you feel, and when you feel the warm love of God filling every corner of your life with peace and contentment, you will radiate how you feel. 

   Thank You Father for Jesus. Thank You for family. 😊  

Galatians chapter 2 verses 19 and 20.

For it was through reading the Scripture that I came to realize that I could never find God's favor by trying---and failing---to obey the laws. I came to realize that acceptance with God comes by believing in Christ. I have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

Psalms chapter 90 verses 1 and 2.

Lord, through all the generations You have been our home! Before the mountains were created, before the earth was formed, You are God without beginning or end. 

Verses 7-12.

We die beneath Your anger; we are overwhelmed by Your wrath. You spread out our sins before You---our secret sins---and see them all. No wonder the years are long and heavy here on earth beneath Your wrath. All our days are filled with sighing. Seventy years are given us! and some may even live to eighty. But even the best of these years are often emptiness and pain; soon they disappear, and we are gone. Who can realize the terrors of Your anger? Which of us can fear You as we should? Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.  

1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 33 and 34. 

Do not be fooled by those who say such things. If you listen to them you will start acting like them. Get some sense and quit your sinning. For to your shame I say it, some of you are not even Christians at all and have never really known God. 

Hebrews chapter 4 verses 14-16.

But Jesus the Son of God is our great High Priest who has gone to heaven itself to help us; therefore let us never stop trusting Him. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, since He had the same temptations we do, though He never once gave way to them and sinned. So let us come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive His mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need.