LIGHTS, ACTION, CAMERA

You have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. By His sacrifice and the His blood you have been adopted into a royal family. Now you are under the microscope like the royal family of England or any actor or musician. Everything you say or do will be judged by others who do not even know who you are. Even how you say something can be misinterpreted. The enemy will work through anyone or anything to kill, steal or destroy your life, your credibility. So how do handle this? Do we run and hide? Do we pretend that we are not who we are, and put on a mask? Do wear camouflage so others do not see us?

As brothers and sisters in Christ we are held to a higher standard, like it or not. Scripture tells us that in this world but we are not to be like the world. We are a peculiar people, we are made to stand out. This means we will be scrutinized, every action and word we speak will be judged. This should not keep us from hiding our relationship with God. Put on your armor, and stand firm. You don’t have to defend God, Jesus is our defender, our advocate, and our victory. Be faithful to Him.

His light is shining favorably upon you, your faith is in action, and the world is looking at you. Be the light in the darkness and show others how to get to where you are. We are to do more than hear His Word but put It into action, and not be afraid of what others think. Care only what God thinks of you, and he thinks you are special. He loves you. His love is perfect.

John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

John 12:31 The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Acts 13:47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'”

Ephesian 6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

More Than Words

This may be a secular love song but listening to the words I was inspired and was able to hear God telling me that He wants more than our words. We may talk the talk but are we walking the walk. Our works do not create faith but if we have faith and truly love God our actions prove this. If you speak a foreign language does that make you that language’s nationality? I took French in high school but that did not make me French, it just meant that I learned how to read and speak the language.

Thanks to Jesus we have been adopted into God’s family. His sacrifice redeemed us. He did more than say I love you and you are forgiven. He proved it by laying down His own life to pay the price for sins He was not guilty of. He walked this earth not to condemn us but to show us love.

How we live are lives says more about us and our relationship with Him, than the words that come out of our mouths. We say I love you, as easily as we say I love chocolate or pizza. We have watered down our relationship with worldly attitudes and do not even realize it. How we live each day matters, and what we value tells others where our hearts desires are. Scripture tells us that if we love the Lord that He will give us the desires of our heart, but what we do not read is that if you love the Lord the desires of your heart will change to what He desires us to have. Even Jesus when speaking to our Father said, “not will but Thine be done”. When you give you life to God, you are to submitt to His will, to do as He instructs. Our ways are not His, and His ways are not ours. Neither are our thoughts His. Frank Sinatra said he did it his way, but a life with Jesus means we give up our own way. We give Him more than lip service. We give Him our entire lives. We live, eat and breathe His Word. Every action speaks louder than even screaming at the top of our lungs. More than words should be how we live everyday for Him.

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Colassions 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

1 Peter 2:21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

Fire and trials

Thanks to all of you who have read my posts, kept me in your prayers and offered words of encouragement and comfort. A couple of the recent comments had reminded me of a word God had given to me some years ago.

A sword when formed the materials chosen are put through the fire, stretched, folded, and hammered. This is done over and over until the blade is formed. The more the blade is folded the stronger it becomes. The part I am focused on today is the fire which inspired by both a recent painting I had posted, ‘Going through the fire’, and a current one that I have been working on for a client, ‘Risen’. Risen is not ye finished and neither are the rest of us. I like to say we are a work in progress and God is not done with us yet. Both paintings represent fire.

Risen unfinished by Julie Sheppard

Through the Fire by Julie Sheppard

First thought of fire you think of destruction. Homes and forests burned to the ground. Getting burned. Yet fire is not just destructive. You cook with fire. Create with it. Fire can be scary but look at Daniel’s friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abed Nego. They refused to bow down to and idol and were thrown into a fiery furnace. They did not burn and they came out not even smelling of smoke. Then think of the Holy Spirit Fire. We grow when we go through the fire. We are refined. We are made stronger. In the painting immediately above I had explained in a previous post. The current painting which is unfinished I will tell it’s story when it is finished. Clay pots are put into kilns and baked. God is referred to as The Potter and we are His clay, to be molded and shaped into vessel He can use. This also means to be made solid we too must go through the fire. I am not sure how long it is going to take for me to finish my current painting but I will post it when it is finished.

Remember His fire will not harm you but make you stronger!

Through The Fire

I used to have this nightmare that terrified me years ago, where I was surrounded by fire, covered in blood, and being attacked by something I could not see. Recently God revealed to me that it was not a nightmare, which I would argue until He gave me understanding. He told me that even though I was surrounded by fire I was not being burned. The blood that covered me was not my own, but His Son’s blood which was protecting me. Even though I was being attacked, that I did not die, but stood firm. That the fire kept the enemy from destroying me, and that it was His Spirit that surrounded me. This inspired this painting.

Through The Fire by Julie Sheppard

Which I hope inspires hope for those who are going through their own fiery trials, or nightmares.

Call To Prayer / 1 Timothy 2:1-2

1 Timothy 2:1-2 (NKJV)

1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

Let us pray for ALL men, this includes women and children. Praying for every person. Peaceful life, lives free from strife and hatred, healed from all illness and disease, filled with love, and joy.

Here is a scripture to think about during our prayer time.

Philippians 4:8-9  Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Let us pray together for God’s will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Leave any prayer requests in the comments so we can all pray together and for each other.

Thank you and god bless and keep you safe.

May 10, 2020

I recently had a word given to me to give to someone I knew who had asked me to pray for their situation. They have since told me that I should share this word.  They believed that this word could help another, as it at helped them. So I will share it but not the persons name or situation.

This is the word that I had received;

‘You have had someone hurt you. This pain was not caused by their actions but because of what they did not do.  You feel hurt and are disappointed. Their actions did not live up to the words the spoke to you. They made a commitment and they failed you. I know exactly how this feels. You cannot count the numerous times per day people who have committed their lives to Me, that have turned back to the world the second they have a problem. Instead of turning to Me, they return to doing things as the rest of the world does.

The second troubles come you want to turn and walk away and say that it is no big deal. I want you think about what would happen if I gave up on you that easy. If I turned from you every time you disappointed Me,  hurt Me, or even cheated on Me, etc….  Every time you have been hurt, I have been hurt.  Every time you were rejected or abused, so was I. Now multiply your pain by an infinite amount.  What you go through with others, I go through too. I don’t give up on you. I will never leave you or forsake you.

Yes you have been hurt by these people, but can you see now how I feel? Can you see how much I love those who have hurt and wronged Me?  You may be the only one who is bringing my Light into these peoples dark world. Don’t give up on them. They have never met anyone to show them my love before and they do not know how to react. The spirits operating in their lives are don’t want to let go. Yet My Light can drive away the darkness in their life. You carry this Light within you, like a lantern in a dark world. Let them learn of my Love through you. Another might now show them this love. Remember Love is patient, and love is kind and it also long suffering. ‘

To put it in other words. God puts up a lot with the mistakes we make, the pain we cause and He does not give up on us.  There are bad relationships that we have to escape, because they can and will cost us our life if we don’t leave. This message is for those of us who have been slighted in any way that hurts us, we need to remember the pain of a Father who sent His Son to pay the price for those pains. How much pain Jesus suffered for our sins. We sometimes will have to let go of people who we cannot help and will only continue to hurt us and themselves. Yet our first reaction to pull away at the first sign of trouble we should rethink. Sometimes God will use these people to teach us, smooth out our rough spots like sandpaper.

Please take a moment and read 1 Corinthians 13.

May 9, 2020 The Seeds We Sow

This grapefruit tree, which is still a sapling, was grown from a seed from a grapefruit given to me a few years back. It had come from a tree that was growing in a friends yard back in Florida. I kept a few of the seeds after I had eaten the fruit and thought I would see if the seed would grow. To my surprise a few weeks after I had planted it in a pot did I see a sprout. To my amazement it continued to grow over the past few years. This spring I thought it was time for it to be planted in the ground. Living in an apartment I had not planned on planting it in my little yard, but when I had seen that the bush outside my door had died over the winter I thought it was good as time as ever.

I have grown many plants from cuttings and had even been able to grow an avocado tree from a seed but this is my first attempt of growing any kind of citrus.

This is an orange tree that was also grown from a seed that I planted.

Avocado trees.

I love watching things grow. It lets me know there is still life no matter how dark things may be at times. They also let me see growth. For one to truly live we need to grow, not just physically but spiritually. Jesus gave us the parable of the sower and the seed.(Matthew 13:1-23/Luke 8:1-15) I have grown plants and trees from either cuttings or seeds, they have both needed to be planted in order to grow. They have also needed to be cared for, if I wanted them to grow.

There are things in our lives that grow that are not plant life. I gave birth to a beautiful daughter, who then had her own child. What God had blessed me with has been fruitful and had given birth to a child who will grow up and some day give her a grandchild. Now there are other things we grow, relationships are one of those things. How we grow in these relationships depends on the care and nurturing we give to them. We do this not only by the words we speak but by are actions as well.

We are not judged by our words alone but how we live. If we live in love we grow in love. Others see how we live, if only for a brief moment a stranger can be effected by how we act and speak. These are the seeds we plant without thinking about. Yet these seeds are just as important as the close relationships we have with family and friends. Simple acts of kindness can impact people in ways we may not see or realize. These are seeds we may not nurture or see the fruits of but they can grow and the next person may be the one to nurture and cultivate what we have planted.(1 Corinthians 3:6 Contemporary English Version / I planted the seeds, Apollos watered them, but God made them sprout and grow.)

I look forward to seeing this tree grow, and possibly produce some fruit. This will take time and over that time I look to learn even more and do some growing myself.

May 3, 2020 The Dead Sea

Today I have been thinking about the Dead Sea. Many tourists travel to it because of the high mineral content and the buoyancy caused by the salt volume. This is supposed to have healing qualities, but it is the name that is stuck in my mind today. Water flows in but it goes no where and this is to be the reason why for the high salt and mineral content. This sea is called dead because it cannot support life. Water continues to flow in but then it under the sun it evaporates. I wonder how many of us are like the Dead Sea? His spirit and blessings are flowing into us, but what are we doing with what He is giving to us? Works do not produce faith but faith should produce works.

James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.(Read James 2:14-24)

Think about the parable of ‘the servants and the talents. Matthew 25:14-30. In this parable three servants are each given talents. The amounts varied, but it was what each servant did with what was given to them. The first two increased their talents, but the third one buried his talent and it produced him nothing. It is with this servant that the master was not pleased. This servant lost his talent and it was given to the first servant. This parable too, reminds of the Dead Sea. I want to be like the first two servants and do something with what God has entrusted to me.

Even though I have faced many trials and abuse in my life, I know He has been with me through it all. He kept me going when I there was nothing I could do. When I felt hopeless He gave me hope. He did not create me for the pain I have lived through but that pain inspires me to help others who are in pain. I don’t want to wallow in my self pity, but share that even when everything in the world is coming against you, He never leaves you and His love is limitless. For all that He has done for me I want to do whatever I can to be there for others. I want to be a vessel that He uses, not one that sits on a shelf collecting dust, and I don’t want to be a dead sea. Receiving but doing nothing with what He has given to me. I want to be more than a hearer of the Word, but a doer as well.

What about you? Are you using what has been given to you to further His Kingdom, or are you sitting their collecting dust?

 

 

Pilgrim’s Progress / Movie and Book

In 1664 John Bunyan was in prison for holding services outside of the Church of England. while in prison he began writing, ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’. This book is one of my favorite christian books that I have read. I have also enjoyed the movies made based on this book. A book written over 400 years ago is still speaking to us today. It has withstood the test of time. In short it is the story of a man named Christian, who goes on a journey. This journey is one we are all on, whether we realize it or not. I can relate to the trials he faces on this journey. I don’t want to go into too much detail because if you have not read it or seen any movie based on it, I do not want to spoil it for you.

Revelation Media has produced the most recent version of the movie and it is also animated so your children will enjoy watching it with you, as I have watched it many times with my grandson and highly recommend it. I have enjoyed every production I have had an opportunity to see.

Here is a link if you would like to purchase a copy. https://www.revelationmedia.com/donate/thepilgrimsprogress/

You can currently watch it on youtube as well as this version with Liam Neeson who plays Christian.

I hope you will take time to check the book out or watch anyone of the movies based on it. There are many things you can learn from it.

 

April 18, 2020

Many these days are anxious because of the pandemic of Covid19, that is world wide. It is effecting people of all nationalities and classes. Social media has become the main way people are keeping connected. Unless you have a job that is deemed necessary, you are basically grounded. When the stay at home orders were first being issued, one of my first thoughts were about the parallel of Passover and the Exodus. One of the things Moses had told the people to do before Pharaoh would finally release the Hebrews, was that they were to put blood on their doorposts and were to remain inside. The reason for this was to keep their first born alive. For the plague of death of every first born was coming. yet those under the blood would be safe.

Exodus 12:22-23 22 Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the top and the two side posts of the doorframe with some of the blood. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and the two sideposts and pass over the door; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

We are all going through a terrible time right now and the treat to life is real, so I understand why so many are afraid. This virus does not care if you are a first born, what your religion is,what color your skin is, or if you are wealthy or poor. Any one of us could get sick from this virus. If we take the necessary precautions we should be okay. Looking at the story of Exodus I do see the reason to have hope. If you are stuck staying home you could very well have cabin fever by now, and are itching to get out. If you have a full house you may want to get away just to find some peace and quiet, if you live alone the desire for company can make you want to leave the safety of your home. As much as I do not like feeling like I have been grounded, I do see the importance of staying home unless I have an important reason to go somewhere.

We need to remember these is temporary and that we will get through this. There is hope. I turn to the Word for this hope and it never lies.

Art by Julie Sheppard

Light at the end of the tunnel is not a train but the Light of Jesus Christ!