Today I am honored to stand by two friends as their Brides maid and witness the form a union before God. It was a privileged to be there when they were baptized and now today she will walk down the isle and join her best friend and they will become husband and wife. As I think upon their wedding I think about how we are the Bride of Christ and that we are to be one with Him. How special that day will be when He returns to collect His bride.
Art by Julie Sheppard/The two shall become one
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV) And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
From beginning to end the Bible is about the love of God. God even showed Cain love after he killed his brother Abel. God was merciful to him by putting a mark on him to keep others from killing Cain. Jacob deceives his father and steals his brothers blessing, and God gives him a new name and he becomes Israel. Saul has Christians killed and on the road to Damascus he is blinded by God, and when God returns his sight he becomes Paul.
In the commandments God forbids adultery and murder but David has an affair with Bathsheba. When he learns that she is pregnant with his child he tries to cover up their affair. When he fails, he sends her husband out to be killed in battle. Does…
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Ephesians 1:16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Art by Julie Sheppard
Friends are gifts from God. They come into your life unexpectedly, and they love by choice not out of obligation. They are not…
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Hans (4 1/2), Defending the Last Frontier
Eight days before Hans died, in Sunday morning worship at church, we sang the hymn “More Love to Thee” by Elizabeth Prentiss. It is a challenge for me to sing this hymn honestly and I have always hesitated when beginning verse three which, in our hymnbook, reads:
Let sorrow do its work,
Send grief and pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers,
Sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me,
More love, O Christ to Thee,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!
Understandably, I have never sung these lines with gusto; it just feels too much like lying. Send grief and pain?!
Of course, I understand and accept the benefits to be won through trials and affliction. But to ask for it? I am not that brave.
But, I sang it anyway that last Sunday morning with my husband and all three…
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When I started writing about taking control of my thoughts in my post A thought and a question ( https://emotionalpeace.wordpress.com/2017/09/15/a-thought-and-a-question-9142017/) I was faced with a challenge. Taking your thoughts captive and submitting them to God is not as easy as it may sound. We face many obstacles.
Here are two of the first things I heard when I told others that I would be not speaking anything negative.
The answer to the question is no, I am not going to pretend that there is nothing wrong. We live in a world that has garbage in it I am not denying that. I can look only at the garbage and the destruction or I can change my focus and look to the One who loved us enough to die for our sin, our garbage.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Now for the second which was not really a question but a statement. I told them that yes I can speak. There are plenty of good things to talk about, like the Love of God and all the wonderful things He does for each of us, and the list goes on. This way of speaking keeps my focus on Him, which keeps my thoughts in check.
Proverbs 18:21(NKJV) 1 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Question
How am I doing on this journey?
To be honest with myself I feel like I am failing miserably. I am not giving up though. Each day I am choosing to push forward, and when I stumble I will get back up again. This journey is far from over. I am not perfect and will not claim to be, but the One who died to save me from my sins, Jesus is perfect and His love is perfect.
PHILIPPIANS 3:12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
You have a particular way of communicating, but do you know what it is and how it compares to the styles of others? Learning to identify the different communication styles and recognizing which one you use most often in your interactions with others is essential if you want to develop effective communication skills. Below is an overview of the four basic types of communication styles. Which are you?
Passive Communication
Passive communicators have developed a pattern of avoiding expressing their opinions or feelings, protecting their rights, and identifying and meeting their needs. As a result, passive individuals do not respond overtly to hurtful or anger-inducing situations. Instead, they allow grievances and annoyances to mount, usually unaware of the buildup. But once they have reached their high tolerance threshold for unacceptable behavior, they are prone to explosive outbursts, which are usually out of proportion to the triggering incident. After the outburst…
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Previously, we looked at 5 Traits of Those Who Are Vulnerable to Manipulators. Today, we will look at the manipulator’s tactics and I will give you some ground rules for dealing with manipulation.
The Manipulator’s Tactics
Manipulation in a relationship usually progresses over a long period of time. Manipulators learn over time how far they can go. They are unlikely to attempt to manipulate the other person at the beginning of a relationship since this could bring things to an immediate end. They observe the other person’s vulnerabilities and learn eventually how to exploit them for their own purposes.
There are two basic tactics that are used to exert control and they usually go hand in hand. The first is a promise of gain. That is, the manipulator will promise to provide something if the partner goes along with what the manipulator wants. “No arguments for a week…
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Good reminder
Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 135; 145, 1 Kings 21:1-16, 1 Corinthians 1:1-19, Matthew 4:1-11
Covet isn’t a word we use a lot unless we are quoting the Ten Commandments. It can be a difficult concept for us to wrap our brains around. We often treat it as a synonym of envy or desire, but it’s more intense than that. Those are feelings, and God’s commandments don’t waste time telling us what to feel. We can’t covet something unless it belongs to someone else. When we covet our neighbor’s livestock or spouse, we don’t just wish we had one of those too, we dwell on the idea that the one they have should be ours. It’s more than wanting it – it’s convincing ourselves we somehow have more right to it than they do.
King Ahab coveted the land of a man named Naboth. The land, which Naboth…
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Ephesians 4:27
You and I never have to fall prey to the devil! If we can shut every door, close every window, and seal every place in our lives through which the enemy would try to access us, we can prevent him from getting into the middle of our affairs.
One of the “entry points” the devil tries to use to enter our lives is relationships. If there is an unresolved issue or an ugly conflict with a loved one or friend, these conflict points often become entry points through which the devil tries to get a foothold in our relationships with those we love. Once the enemy is able to slip in through one of these “cracks” and build an offended place in our minds, then a wall has already begun to be constructed that will eventually separate us from the people we need and love the most.
In…
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emotionalpeace 