Advocate for Christ

The best life is a God First life

Category: Heart (Page 2 of 2)

Reflecting

The Mirror of Reflection and Growth

August 14, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Our dual battle between good and evil starts with the desires of our hearts and minds. (James 1:15) When we act with goodness, we glorify God. When we act on evil desires, we sin against God.

Our actions show our heart so let us not be afraid to better ourselves by embracing the mirror of reflection and growth.

Let us ask ourselves daily:

  • Are my actions demonstrating where I know my heart’s desire, should be?
  • Am I proud of my actions?
  • Would Jesus be proud of my actions?
  • Did I reject temptation?

If the answer is “Yes” then you do well if your answers are “No” remember God forgives, He even forgets, If bad habits have formed it’s not too late to replace them with good habits. Scripture tells us to repent, which means: To change direction. There is never a better time to change direction than the moment you realize you need too and reflection helps us get to that point.

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

Matthew 6:21

God’s word tells us how to focus our minds and hearts, how to overcome the temptation to sin. (Philippians 4:5-9)

  • Hebrews 8:12
  • Matthew 5:44
  • Matthew 5:16
  • Matthew 22:37–39
  • Grace: – Ephesians 2:8, Romans 3:24, Titus 2:11, Acts 15:11
  • Belief/Faith: – Hebrews 11:1, John 8:24, Romans 10:17, Acts 3:19
  • Repentance: – 2 Cor. 7:9-10, Luke 13:3-5, Acts 17:30
  • Confess: – Romans 10:9-10, Matthew 10:32-33, Luke 12:8-9
  • Baptism by immersion for forgivness of sin: – Matthew 16:15-16 1 Peter 3:21, Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16, John 3:5, Matt 28:18-20, Ephesians 4:5, Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12, Acts 8:36-39, Mark 1:9-10, John 3:23

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God First!

The most valuable time of the day is the time we take to pray!

Include God; He offers so much!

July 19, 2021 / / 0 Comments

We know from Scripture we are made in the image of God; we also know from God’s Word that God has feelings. For example, that God hates sin, God loves, God is righteously jealous, etc. so; I have a few questions for us to ponder:

How do we feel when the only time someone thinks of us is when they need or want something?

How do you think God feels when we treat him that way?

Why treat him this way?

It’s obvious from Scripture; God wants to be included in our lives; He wants us to love Him as He loves us. This said, Why would we not want to include God in all that we do?. After all, Jesus told us to: ask, seek, and knock.

Our very breath is dependent on our creator! By embracing God’s love and keeping his commandments, we secure God’s promise of eternal life. Thus, we can obtain the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding that will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. If we are truly In Christ, our hearts are filled with joy and the comfort of God. Therefore, it seems kind of stupid to me to exclude God when he offers so much life both in this world and for eternity.

  • Ephesians 6:18 – pray often
  • 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 – God of all comfort
  • James 5 – prayers of the righteous
  • Matthew 7:7-11 – Ask, Seek, Knock
  • Philippians 4:7 – Peace beyond understanding
  • John 15:1-16 – Joy

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!

••• Viewing the Soul •••

June 4, 2021 / / 0 Comments
  • If you’re attractive – so what!
  • If you’re ugly – so what!
  • If you’re poor – so what!
  • If you’re rich – so what!
  • I could care less if you’re black, white, yellow, green, purple, or red…
  • So what!

When I wave at you, I wave at a soul when I smile at you, I smile at a soul, but more importantly, when God looks at you, He sees your soul. When God looks at you, He sees your heart and knows your mind.

May we always live to bring honor and glory to God, striving to be someone after God’s own heart, willing to do all God’s Will to the best of our ability. Pleasing to the loving eyes of God.

“And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.”

Acts‬ ‭13:22‬

‬God First!

Life,through Boo Boo's Eyes

The glories of life

May 29, 2021 / / 0 Comments

If you saw the glories of life through my eyes; You would go to sleep each night with great anticipation! Looking forward to the next morning’s air, its sunshine, its birds, and playful squirrels in the trees.

Through my eyes; Each morning brings a new opportunity to hear the voice of those I love and do my best to see them smile and hear their laugh. To tease them, hug them, play with them or even; just sit with them and soak the glories in!

Through my eyes; We all miss out when we sleep in late and must rush to start the new day’s race. But even then, I do my best to start their day at its very best! To bring a smile upon their face, they can carry through the day’s race.

~Boo Boo

If only we all lived each day in this way, what a blessing it would be to everyone around us. What Joy we would have in our hearts, what Joy we would bring to others all day long.

Written by: Wayne Johnson

Be sure your enemy is not; you

May 27, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Throughout the Bible, we are given numerous examples of people attempting to do their own thing instead of what God asked them to do, and; we see the results.

In the following scriptures we are told not to add or take away…

  • Deuteronomy 4:2
  • Deuteronomy 12:31–32
  • Revelation 22:18-19

God’s Words are Perfect to accomplish His will! They are not written to confuse.

It takes the efforts of mankind to cause confusion, efforts that, if honestly viewed, are derived by personal desires (most likely, the most well-intended desires) or worse yet, because we think we have a better way than God.

Somehow some are convinced they are not really adding to God’s Word when they add to God’s word. They think they are just making it more interesting to pique interest and get more people to come. They have affixed themselves to the tactic that unless worship can constantly appeal to the senses, it’s boring so, it must be entertaining to get people in the door.

Maybe, with this thinking, the heart is in a well-intended place, but we need to adopt God’s way if it’s to be in the right place.

When we try to improve on worship, leadership, and structure beyond what God-breathed scripture gave us using God’s writers, examples, commands, and inferences under the New Testament. We become that which we would say; we stand against. By approving of these additions, we make ourselves liars, False Teachers, enemies of God.

In reading the warnings of these Scriptures, I would say we should treat God’s Word with the utmost respect and be ever so careful not to add or take away from them.

Jesus says; “if you love me, keep my Commandments,” which we find throughout the New Testament. All God’s commandments hinge on loving God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind because, if we love God in this way, we will question our own desires, we will question our motives, even when they seem right in our eyes.

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Matthew 12:50
  • 1st Corinthians 14:33
  • 2 Timothy 3:16 – Gods inspired Words
  • 2 Timothy 4:3-4
  • Mark 12:30 – Greatest command
  • John 14:15–24 – “keep my Commandments.”
  • Proverbs 3:7, 21:2 – In our own eyes
  • Jude 1:1-25 – once for all delivered
  • John 14:6 – through him
  • John 5:23 – Honor Son and Father
  • John 6:38 – God Will by Jesus
  • 2 Peter 2:1-22

God First

Writer: Wayne Johnson

Striving to Mimic God’s Love

May 20, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Jesus walked this earth and walked so to do his father’s will. Because of this, we get to see into the heart of God. We get a glimpse of love beyond our imaginations, a glimpse of God’s incredible love for us. An example of what our love should strive to mimic.

In (John 1:1-14) we find Jesus was with God from the beginning, from the creation… “all things were made through him” Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection give us every reason to believe, to have hope, and to choose to follow Jesus in obedient faith.

“but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Matthew 6:20

God First

Save yourself with honesty.

May 18, 2021 / / 0 Comments

When good minds and hearts succumb to telling lies and being deceitful, it produces guilt, and guilt is heavy on the heart. When we choose to hide the truth rather than correct the issue with honesty, we carry unnecessary burdens. These burdens of sin allow Satan to set up residence and dwell in our minds. For example, if we lie or deceive someone (like a spouse) regarding an important matter, we carry that unresolved lie with us daily?

Sometimes, rather than confess, we tell ourselves things like ”no real harm done,” it’s better if they don’t know.” ”Why hurt them with the truth?” however, by doing so, we seal that burden of guilt in our hearts and minds, maybe for years or till death when honesty sets us free.

Our cover-up then gives Satan permanent residence in that part of our mind, and guess what? It’s not hidden from God. God knows the truth and has told us to always speak with the truth.

God hates lies!

When we fess up, confess, ask forgiveness and repent, we simultaneously kick Satan to the curb, kicking him out of that permanent dwelling we’ve furnished him in our mind. Don’t let Satan settle in, save yourself with honesty, pray, tell the truth, face the consequence and stop Satan from building a mansion in your mind as one lie leads to two, then three, then four, and many more…

The above thoughts bring to my mind the parable of unclean spirits and following scriptures.

  • John 8:34 – slave to sin
  • James 5:16 – confess
  • Matthew 12:43-45 unclean spirits
  • Philippians 4:8-9 rethink
  • Romans 1:28-32
  • John 8:32 – truth
  • Matthew 5:23-24 – Reconcile

God First!

Doing without expectation of reciprocation

May 10, 2021 / / 0 Comments

– At some point in life I decided that doing things for others should be done without expectation of any reciprocation. For me, this was the best attitude to have toward helping others.

In reflecting, I think in part it’s because I’m a little selfish. I don’t want to risk feeling that someone owes me something because I did something for them of my own accord. In other words, I don’t want to risk feeling angry or overly disappointed if, for some reason, they are unwilling or can’t help me at a later date.

Rather than calling it selfish, a better word might be “guarded” as in guarding my heart. By purposely deciding ahead of time that nothing is owed due to my effort, not even as much as a simple thank you, my heart is guarded against potential bitterness or disappointment.

By extending help without any expectation of reciprocation, I’m actually protecting my heart from becoming bitter should the situation arise when I could use some help and can’t seem to get it. I remind myself, “I am owed nothing,” which helps me stop my thoughts from going down that bitter path of anger and disappointment. Instead, I trust that God will provide for me if I need it, and then I let it go and dismiss it from my mind.

One thing for sure, whatever my real motivation, I’ve never regretted when I’ve had the opportunity and took the time to help others. That’s always a win for me.

God First!

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