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The best life is a God First life

Category: God First (Page 9 of 11)

Snackelfracle!!!

July 14, 2021 / / 0 Comments

It’s almost impossible to break a bad habit. However, it’s very possible to replace it! For example, when I was young, my dad suggested replacing any profanity that surfaced in my mind with his made-up word… “Snackelfrackle“

Admittedly, this has gotten some strange looks from people, some questions, and a few laughs, all of which are better than any profanity or using the Lord’s name in vain. However, it also sends the soft message that I don’t use that type of language.

In today’s world, a large percentage of people use, condone, and even defend their use of profane language and taking the Lord’s name in vain. However, most are respectful of my stance when they realize that I do not appreciate its usage. I very much appreciate their efforts in controlling their language while around me.

I personally don’t understand the need for using vulgar or profane talk and I know what God’s Word says about it, so, whether it’s one word that has become a bad habit or a slew of them I know “if a person wants to” they can replace these habits with good ones.

“But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator”

Colossians 3:8
  • Ephesians 5:4
  • Matthew 12:36-37
  • James 1:26
  • Exodus 20:7
  • Romans 12:2
  • Romans 12:21

God First!

Divisiveness is a tool of Satan; God plans that we love one another; if we do that, Satan cannot divide us. God’s way leads to peace that goes beyond understanding. So let’s encourage each other today and Strengthen our bonds of love.

Encouragement Challenge

July 13, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I want to challenge everyone to say something honestly encouraging to as many people as you can today. In-person, on the phone, on social media, at work, at school Etc. Go out of your way today and build each other up!

Divisiveness is a tool of Satan; God plans that we love one another; if we do that, Satan cannot divide us. God’s way leads to peace that goes beyond understanding. So let’s encourage each other today and Strengthen our bonds of love.

Matthew 22:37-40, Philippians 4

God First!

Conforming to God’s will is the ultimate act of Love.

July 8, 2021 / / 0 Comments
  • Our tastes change,
  • Societies change,
  • People change,
  • Governments change,

GOD, DOES NOT CHANGE

  • GOD, does not change,
  • God’s Love does not change,
  • God’s Truth does not change,
  • God’s Word does not change,
  • God’s Promises do not change.

We must NOT conform to worldly changes but rather stay true to God’s unchanging hands of love which offer eternal life in heaven.

“For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham,[b] having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 6:13-20

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.“

John 14:21-24

God First!

Money is not evil

July 7, 2021 / / 0 Comments

According to Scripture, “the love of money” is the root of all evils (1 Timothy 6:10), however; Acquiring or having money is not evil; evil depends on how we pursue and use money. We can use it for good things that glorify God or selfish things that glorify sin; what’s really important is where our hearts reside.

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Jesus’s words: Luke 12:34 ESV

“For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:20

“AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH “

MARK 12:30 (NASB1995)

God First!

How would you feel?

June 29, 2021 / / 0 Comments

How would you feel? Your daughter’s been a bit of a tomboy most of her life, you love her with all your heart, and she gets engaged to marry. Now, you are a master at sewing and spend months sparing no expense, gathering the perfect materials, designing, preparing, sewing, and tweaking to perfection the most beautiful wedding dress the world has ever seen. With each adjustment, love flows exuberantly from your heart. Your imagination is unstoppable as you visualize your daughter walking down that aisle. You are creating ”A Work of Art,” just for her! And you know in your heart, she’s going to recognize and appreciate all the love you’ve put into creating this gorgeous wedding dress. In this dress, she will be the bride of brides and forever grateful. (talk about precious memories!) When your daughter sees the dress, she exclaims how beautiful it is; she tries it on and is simply stunning. She hugs you, and thank’s you profusely. (You smile!)A few days later, you come home and see your daughter in jeans and a t-shirt doing what she loves working on her pickup truck with tools, parts, dirt, and grease all over the place, which is kind of normal for her, what you don’t expect to see is the wedding dress under feet being used as a drop cloth to protect the driveway.

How would you feel?

Are you disappointed, hurt? I know. This is absurd and would never happen, right? Yet, in a sense, it has happened and does happen. Not, to the creator of a wedding dress, No; It’s much worse. This is how ”Our” creator gets treated by His creation.

God created this beautiful, fascinating universe for us, and after creating each piece, God said: “This is good” BUT, after creating, mankind God called it all “VERY GOOD.” God was pleased with His creation. God also sacrificed tremendously for us. His plan included the life, death, and resurrection of His son through which God extended an offer of grace to everyone that we might all have eternal life in heaven. At some point, many learn of Christ and put on Christ in baptism; we thank God profusely and recognize His love. We put God First in our lives, then often get caught up in skewed self-absorbed priorities and quickly lose sight of what’s really important. We let honoring God trickle down our priority list. This is when we really hurt our Creator. God watches when we treat ”His artwork” as if it was worthless fabric, as we step-on, trample, smudge, dirty, and abuse His perfection, His labor, and Gifts of pure love; God knows our hearts! The Church is the bride of Christ; those who are “In Christ” should always be mindful of God’s precious gifts. God told us how we could demonstrate our thankfulness. Jesus said; if you love me, you will keep My Commandments, and “the greatest command is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. God gave us freedom of choice; the one thing we can offer God that is ours to give is our choice. Our choice to love God by following Christ and keeping His commandments to the best of our ability. It’s all God really asks of us!

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

Isaiah‬ ‭61:10‬
May we always keep God First in our lives, every second of every day!
  • Genesis 1:31
  • Exodus 20:3
  • Exodus 34:14
  • Psalm 18:31
  • John 5:44
  • 1 Timothy 1:17
  • John 3:16
  • Galatians 2:20
  • Matthew 6:33
  • Romans 12:1-2

God First!

Does your thinking call God a liar?

June 22, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Sometimes we let our smarts get in the way of the obvious as we seek hidden meanings behind simple words rather than accepting them at face value. We do this with each other and sometimes with God’s Word. Doing so can easily cause issues with each other and with proper understanding.

With God’s Word, we can be certain there is only 1 perfect answer. We can be sure that answer will not conflict with any other parts of God’s word. God is perfect and cannot lie, and according to scripture itself, all scripture is God-breathed. To dismiss or decide that God doesn’t mean what he says in any part of God’s Words is to call God a liar.

Because scripture is all from God, we can rely on it not to contradict itself. For hundreds of years, many have tried to prove contradictions but failed. You can find answers to many supposed contradictions addressed in articles on the website https://www.apologeticspress.org/

  • “For God is not a God of Confusion…” 1 Corinthians 14:33
  • “Be not wise in your own eyes; …” Proverbs 3:7
  • “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” Isaiah 5:21
  • “…God, that cannot lie...” Titus 1:2 (KJV)
  • “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” 2 Timothy 3:16

God’s Word is full of proof, facts and, knowledge on things to come, Science unknown to men when it was written; please consider it all before dismissing or thinking God’s Word does not mean what it says. Study and evaluate to learn instead.

God First!

Johnson Family Collage

Time is precious

June 17, 2021 / / 0 Comments

My brother and I were truly blessed to be born into such a loving family. Dad’s example was of one who earned respect by his actions; He was far from wealthy by monetary standards yet always did what he could for others though few would ever know.

Dad always stood up for what was right; I wish I had been half the example to my son that dad was to us! The life dad lived was one to be proud of and to be admired. Several years before his passing and before he was diagnosed with ”dementia with Lewy bodies,” I began thinking of how much dad had done for me and seen him do for others.

I did a little bit of self-examination and reflected on how little I had been there for dad. I had become so wrapped up in my own ”wants” in life that I seldom made time to help dad accomplish things in his life, yet Dad would always make time for me or my brother, no matter what.

I’m certain this had to be disappointing to him as I lived only one hour away yet seldom visited or helped him accomplish a task. Sure, I would help from time to time but only at “my convenience.” You know, when there were no parties to attend, tennis to be played, movies, etc. Or, if dad’s problem became urgent enough that he had to ask me for immediate help, then I would step to the plate.

As I reflected on those years, I realized by not reciprocating his love with proactive action of my own, I had been shortchanging both of us. With that, I approached Virginia and said: Dad‘s getting older; I don’t know how much more time he has, but I’d like to start going to Dad’s at least once a month to spend the day and see what I can do to help. It began sporadically and eventually became one day each week. Dad died in November of 2019.

I’m so thankful I made and followed through with that decision. That time, even the difficult part of seeing that horrible disease take his mind, is now time cherished in my mind. I’m so grateful I made that time a priority. During those years during project breaks, Dad and I had many conversations sitting in the yard sharing stories of family, friends, past and new challenges. I was able to make a difference in his later years and help him accomplish tasks. Not everyone can give a day a week, but most can give more than they do, even if it just a phone call. For me, I discovered the best gift we can give our parents and loved ones on any day is the gift of our time.

  • Time spent to make a gift,
  • Time spent to make or send a card,
  • Time spent visiting,
  • Time spent to call,
  • To me, Time Offered is Time Treasured!
  • I treasure my family time, both my related and spiritual families.

When I reread my words above, I can’t help but notice the similarities between how often our Heavenly Father is treated in the same way – At our convenience.

Never give up on doing good!

God First!

Breath-Giving Love of God

In Christ, we have access to the power of God

June 14, 2021 / / 1 Comment

God: Unseen by the human eye, yet His power and love is evident in all of creation. Through Jesus, we are encouraged to tap into God’s power. Scripture tells us If we draw closer to God, He draws closer to us that we should work toward righteousness and demonstrate our love by keeping the commandments of Jesus. Although we live in the world, we should not be of the world, that so far as it depends on us, we are to live peaceably with all.

If God is with us, who can be against us!

  • IN Christ, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, who intercedes with our prayers.
  • IN Christ and through Christ, we can petition God in faithful fervent prayer.
  • IN Christ, we have God’s ear; we can turn those burdens ”out of our control” over to Him and trust in Him.
  • IN Christ, the God of all comfort, helps us in times of suffering.
  • IN Christ, we can have peace that surpasses understanding.

Scripture tells us how to be ”IN Christ,”

  • The Holy Spirit helps with our prayers. (In Romans 8:26)
  • The prayer of the righteous is well heard! (In James 5:16)
  • The closer we draw to God, the closer he draws to us (in James 4:8)
  • If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (In John 14:15)
  • God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)
  • Christ disciples are Not of the world (in John 17:14-23)
  • “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
  • “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man” (Acts 17:24)
  • To be In Christ (Galatians 3:25-29)
  • They were cut to the heart, and they asked, What do we do? (Acts 2:38-41)
  • Live peaceably (Romans 12:18)

God First!

Faithful Christians in Government

June 12, 2021 / / 0 Comments

If politicians were faithful Christians, corruption would not be an issue. Lies and Deceit would not be an issue. If we love Christ, no matter our role in this world, we keep his commandments. Love of God and our neighbors are the two greatest commands. The keyword to this statement is “Faithful“- those continuously striving to be Christ-like, to love others as Christ loved us!

You can’t love two masters, such as greed and God.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Matthew 6:24
  • John 14:15
  • John 13:34

God First!

Choices -The Apostle Paul and Us

May 26, 2021 / / 0 Comments

As I traveled down the road listening to the words of the apostle Paul, it dawned on me that just like all of us, Paul had a choice! Although Saul was spoken to directly by Jesus in a supernatural way and blinded for three days, he still had choices. Saul could have turned tail and tried to hide, maybe gotten angry about the blindness. He could have had a pity party, but instead, he listened and followed directions.

After three days of blindness, Saul’s vision was restored, and Ananias immediately asked him: “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” (Acts‬ ‭22:16‬) ‭Saul wanted his sins forgiven, so he chose to be baptized to have them washed away, calling on Jesus’ name.

If Saul had made any other choices, God’s will might have been done through someone else. Of course, God knew Saul’s heart, but it was still Saul/Paul’s choice to do the will of our God at all cost to himself.

We also make choices – we can read and follow directions according to God’s will, training ourselves to do so to the best of our ability, or choose not to follow God’s will or sort of do God’s Will. We should keep in mind; God knows our hearts; He knows our level of effort. Are we studying to “shew ourselves approved unto God” as it says we should in (2 Timothy 2:15)

I hope someday; we can all hear Jesus say: Well done, good and faithful servant.

I also thought of Esther‬ ‭4:14,‬ ‭where Mordecai said, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

‭‭God First!

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