The greatest thing about Grace

is that it makes life not fair.

THE KNOTS PRAYER

Dear God,

Please untie the knots
that are in my mind,
my heart and my life.
Remove the have nots,
the can nots and the do nots
that I have in my mind.

Erase the will nots,
may nots, and
might nots that find
a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots,
would nots and should nots
that obstruct my life.

And most of all, dear God,
I ask that you remove from my mind
my heart and my life all of the am nots
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough.

Amen.

Envy - Wrecking

By Rhonda Rhea



Does the green eyed monster grab ya?
Psalm 37:8 (NLT) "Do not envy others--it only leads to harm."

Rhonda Rhea: I have a friend who looks good in absolutely everything she puts on. Argh! The girl could drape herself in the cover of her car and look classy enough for the fashion runway. If I draped myself in a car cover, I guarantee I would look more like a Buick. And I'll just go ahead and admit that I need to drop a few pounds off these fenders. My bumpers are a bit of a wreck, too.

Envy is such a dangerous thing. It throttles peace--and worse, it leads to anger, even rage. Psalm 37:8 says, "Stop your anger! Turn from your rage! Do not envy others--it only leads to harm." (NLT) The envious, angry person experiences painful harm personally. Proverbs 14:30 tells us that, "...envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones." (AMP) Our own personal rottenness. It can be a total life-wrecker but it's even more than just personal rottenness. That harmful, rotten disposition often spreads, spilling over onto family and friends.

How do we avoid bone-rotting envy and wrath? We replace them with love. 1 Corinthians 13:4 tells us that "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy..." (NIV) Love is the opposite of envy.
Anytime we catch ourselves envying, we can ask God to love the person we envy through us. He loves to answer that prayer. As he gives us love for the ones we're tempted to envy, we discover that love, just as 1 Corinthians teaches, always wants the very best for others. Instead of envying, love rejoices in their victories!



Rejoicing in victory; that's the Jesus way. Yes, rejoicing in the victories of others ... even if those others have exceptionally sleek fenders.

A pearl to string: Rhonda Rhea is one of my favorite Christian authors. She brings home a point here that will bless you deeper and wider than you can imagine. If things are tough and you’re looking around you thinking everyone else has got it better…STOP! Come on! Look what the Lord has done in your life. Really! There are so many things for you to be thankful for. Are you reading this? Then start with your eyes and your education. Thank the Lord you can see with your eyes and you have learned to read. Turn your sorrow around do not let that green eyed monster grab ya. How you ask? Count your blessings!

Be in Sonshine
You are loved,
Lyndi

BLUEPRINT FOR LIFE

~ The I AM ~

I am the Lord, I change not.
Malachi 3:6a

That which hath been is now; and
that which is to be hath already been;
and God requireth that which is past.
Ecclesiastics 3:15

To enter the promised land,
find what pleases God and do that:
Deuteronomy 6:18.

Pay attention, listen for God,
then follow His instruction and
He will protect you and your children:
Deuteronomy 12:28.

When you make God the husband
you give your devotions to, God can use
your example to teach your children:
Isaiah 54:5, 13.

For your wife and children to be the blessing
you had hoped they would be,
return to Zion (Psalm 125:1)
and lay your hands on the word of God
to get guidance from Him:
Psalm 128:1-4.

To overcome indebtedness and
then to experience financial freedom,
take care of God's business and
let Him take care of yours:
Matthew 6:33.

For spiritual warfare, sing:
2 Chronicles 20:21.

For healing, share testimonies of how,
in your weakness,
God became your strength:
James 5:16.

Exhausted caretakers,
to remove sickness from around you,
make sure it is God that you are serving:
Exodus 23:25.

If you have problems walking,
follow God as He speaks to your heart,
that your steps are in alignment
with His desires for you.
Hebrews 12:13

If you want to experience
an End Time Holy Ghost Pentecostal Revival,
put God's true apostles in their rightful seats:
Acts 8:18.

To live longer, in the place of blessings,
honour your father (Isaiah 66:13)
and mother (Exodus 20:12):
Matthew 23:9.

Except the Lord build the house,
they labour in vain that build it:
except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain.
Psalm121:7

KJV

Mouths of Christians

There are times I’d just love to drag my soap box out and stand on it.
So I’m gonna do it.














It bothers me that people suffer at the mouths of Christians. Hate and vicious accusations, condemnation and judgment all hurled in the name of God. LORD HAVE MERCY. What kind of a witness is that? A tune keeps humming through my brain, a line in a song: “and they’ll know we are Christians by our love….” Who can see that love? Not the ones that hold an opposing view to what some believe are biblical principles. Who did Jesus die for?

Out in the streets where emotions run high over moral issues of the present day people are beat up for their belief by Christians or people calling themselves Christians. It’s not people Christians are supposed to fight…. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12) Not all people that believe in God hold the same opinions on every subject. A Christian’s weapon is love. God’s love.

Nobody wants to be smashed in the face with a Bible but everybody needs to know they matter. If you believe in Jesus and have invited Him into your life, you are a Christian. I did that more than 30 years ago and as long as I am on this earth I am a work of His in progress. I will never reach any type of perfection here on earth. My hope is in Jesus sacrificed life for my sin. It is in that Salvation that I will be able to spend eternity with God. My blueprint for life on earth is in the Word of God, the standard I live by. All other standards change with the wind.

A pearl to string: God’s word tells us about love in 1 Corinthians 13: “….....If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing……… faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

There are people who do not believe in God and maybe they never will. Interestingly it is God that gives them that choice.

We were created to be love
Be God’s arms today and hug someone for Jesus
Know you are loved,
Lyndi

I know Christians take a beating too but that’s another soap box……

Along the Way

Are you shouting your struggles to God? Want-Want!
Can’t find a job/hate my job, want-want!
Can’t find a life mate/don’t want this one, want-want!
My finances stink/check too small, want-want!
Can’t stand school/what future? want-want!
Sick of being sick/still breathing, want-want!
Angry? Depressed? Unhappy? Unfulfilled? Is that working for ya? Who is being blessed by you? Is God in there? There are times two emotions mix like vinegar and baking soda and the heart erupts like a volcano. Family, friends and co-workers never grow fond of being covered in emotional ash. The dog doesn’t like it either!

A young man had lost his job and didn't know which way to turn. So he went to see the old preacher. Pacing about the preacher's study, the young man ranted about his problem. Finally he clenched his fist and shouted, "I've begged God to say something to help me. Tell me, Preacher, why doesn't God answer?" The old preacher, who sat across the room, spoke something in reply -- something so hushed it was indistinguishable. The young man stepped across the room. "What did you say?" he asked. The preacher repeated himself, but again in a tone as soft as a whisper. So the young man moved closer until he was leaning on the preacher's chair. "Sorry," he said. "I still didn't hear you." With their heads bent together, the old preacher spoke once more. "God sometimes whispers," he said, "so we will move closer to hear Him."

This time the young man heard and he understood. We all want God's voice to thunder through the air with the answer to our problem. But God's is the still, small voice... the gentle whisper.

Beth Moore says: Without God on our side, where we’re going is just the ugly side of where we’ve been.

A pearl to string: Sometimes God wants to show us what we can do rather than let us find someone who can do it for us. I know now I was missing something along the way with my incessant shouting. God's whisper means I must stop my shouting and my want-want and move close to Him, until my head is bent together with His. And then, as I listen, I find the answers I seek. Better still, I find myself closer to God.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.” (Psalm 32:8 NASB)

In His love,
You are loved
Happy Valentine’s Day
Lyndi

Can’t Rent God

You can rent just about anything these days: A car, a home, clothing, all types of party merriment with a magician no less. You can rent a myriad of tools, scientific journals, a fine Horse Box …… a what? It’s designed to transport your horse or donkey in complete comfort with front and rear ramp for easy loading and unloading. Hmmm sounds perfect for the busy suburban Mom hauling kids all day long – wonder if they have seat belts or maybe it could carry granny on my electric scooter? Sorry just thinking out loud. You can even rent a fence. Yes you can! You can find them at construction sites. Originally in areas where Coyotes posed a danger to the workers rented fences were temporarily installed. Now it seems rented fences are needed to protect sites from construction poachers – a two legged predator. These fences are just leased for temporary protection and are sent on to a new site when the work is completed.

I’m sure there are things you can’t rent but one thing for sure: you can’t rent God.

You wouldn’t try to rent God would you? I mean you wouldn’t just pray when things don’t go the way you think best. Or live a self directed life then expect God to bail you out in times of crisis. There are times of crisis in all our lives, times of threat to our safety, our health, our income, and our relationships. If you just need God on a rental basis only I’d worry that in your most desperate prayers for help you might hear a booming voice out of the darkness ask: Who? Oh no …… that would not be good. I know I don’t want to hear that…. Talk about a nightmare! I want to walk with God in Sonshine along the quiet shores of life. I want to enjoy being with Him and learning to trust Him because I know Him…. I know His heart. I don’t want a temporary fence of protection around my life – I want an eternity with my Savior. God tells us in His Word (Hebrews 10:38), that faith is trusting God in everything- at all times. "And those whose faith has made them good in God's sight must live by faith, trusting him in everything.” It is not something we rent and use only for those difficult periods of our lives- God’s love was designed with a forever purpose in mind.

A pearl to string: I’ve got some great news for you. If you think your faith is weak read Mark 9:24 where God’s word tells us a weak faith can become a strong faith with the Lord’s help.

In Him we are made strong,
Know you are loved
Lyndi