by His Servant Joanne
HOW
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16 King James Version
I have received several emails from people who were angry at God because their spouse, their child or a loved one had died. They told me that God could have stopped them from dying so why didn’t He? We ask ourselves “How could a loving God allow my child to die”?
That question is answered with another question “How could we kill and crucify God’s only Son? Why would our loving Heavenly Father send His own beloved Son into the world knowing in advance that He was going to be tortured, abused, spat upon, mocked, cursed, ridiculed, rejected, beaten beyond recognition and die on a cross of horror and excruciating pain”?
The answer to the second question is because God is a God of mercy, grace, forgiveness and compassion. He not only gives us love; He gives us unconditional love. I think instead of us getting angry and asking Him how He can allow things to happen that hurt us that we should be asking ourselves how we can allow ourselves to mistreat His children.
How can we not love others unconditionally and forgive others when they hurt us when He loves us no matter what we do or what we say? How can we continue to harbor unforgiveness in our hearts when a Holy God forgives us? May God have mercy on us! How we must break the heart of our loving Heavenly Father because of the unkind words we say and the cruel things that we do others.
Heavenly Father, please forgive us for asking You how You can allow things to happen that hurt us when we hurt You every day of our lives. Help us to love each other unconditionally as You love us and please help us to forgive the ones who hurt us just as You forgive us when we hurt You. Remind us, dear Father, that none of us are perfect and that all of us hurt each other. Please work in our hearts and make our hearts tender, loving and full of forgiveness. Thank You for giving us Your beloved Son so that we may be saved. Amen.
Joanne Lowe
October 7, 2008
joannelowe8@cox.net
http://joannelowe.synthasite.com
IT IS GOD
“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19 King James Version
I have read this statement on a lot of websites that I have visited and I have also heard it on the television and the radio “We had a great service. I healed the people who were blind and the people who were crippled.” I submit to you on the authority of the Word of God that the statement is not true. It is a lie straight from the pits of hell. God is the one who does the healing. It is true that He works through us but He is the one who does the actual healing.
We are simply instruments that He works through. We read in Luke 5: 17 “And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.” We need to understand that it is not our power that heals people; it is the power of the Lord.
We are at times a very arrogant people. How dare we presume that we heal people! Our Heavenly Father is the creator of all people and the healer of all people. I think that sometimes we forget that we are the clay and our Heavenly Father is the potter. We must always remember that we are the clay and He is the potter. There are times that we act like we are the potter and He is the clay because we try to mold Him into doing what we want Him to do. May God have mercy on us!
Heavenly Father, thank You for healing us when we are sick. Most of all, thank You for providing a way for us to be healed of our sin sick souls. Thank You for opening Your heart of compassion and sending Your beloved Son into the world to save us from eternal death. Thank You, Jesus, for the sacrifice that You made for us on the cruel cross of Calvary when You shed Your precious blood so that we may be saved. You are altogether lovely, Jesus. You are the great I AM. There is no one like You. All hail, King Jesus! Worthy is the Lamb of God. I can’t wait for the glorious day when I shall see You face to face. Even so, come Lord Jesus!
Joanne Lowe
October 5, 2008
joannelowe8@cox.net
http://joannelowe.synthasite.com
REBELLIOUS CHILDREN
“I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people,
which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.”
Isaiah 65:2 King James Version
I remember one time when I was a teenager that I wanted to do something and my Mother told me that I couldn’t. I kept asking her and hounding her to get permission to do what I wanted to do. She finally got exasperated and upset and said “Do what you want. It doesn’t matter what I say. You’re going to do it your way anyway.”
I think that sometimes we treat God the same way that I treated my Mother. If He tells us no or doesn’t give us an answer when we want it, we may not say that we are going to do it our way or even think it but we do it our way anyway. I’m reminded of what I heard Bill Gaither say on one of their Homecoming tapes that I have. I don’t know if he was talking about his parents or if he was quoting someone else. No matter if it was his parents or someone else’s parents the message is the same.
Bill Gaither said “I used to think that my parents were so stupid until I went away to college. When I came home, I was surprised at how much they had learned.” When I first heard Bill say that, I laughed but then it hit me that we do the same thing to God. We sometimes think that our way is better than God’s way. Then when we fail and end up with our lives off of the perfect path that He has set for us, we realize that it is us and not Him who acted in a stupid manner.
There are a lot of good things that we can do to serve Jesus but we need to be certain that they are in His will for our lives. He may have other plans for us; plans that He hasn’t revealed to us yet. We also need to be certain that we don’t get involved doing so many things, even things that are good, that we don’t have the time to spend with Him. I received an email from someone last year who told me that she had joined so many clubs and was teaching so many Bible studies, ten Bible studies every day of the week, that she didn’t have the time to fellowship with God like she used to do. How that must hurt Him and break His heart!
It is time that we stop being rebellious children to our Heavenly Father and become obedient children. We need to remember that He knows what is best for our lives. He can see the end results and He is the only one who can make all things work together for good. Are you being obedient to God or are you one of His rebellious children? Allow God to direct you on the perfect path that He has for you. You will have a lot more peace, a lot more joy and a lot more happiness in your heart and in your life. The most important thing is that you will make the heart of our precious Saviour happy.
Joanne Lowe
October 1, 2008
joannelowe8@cox.net
http://joannelowe.synthasite.com
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