(Verses 27-36)   I encourage you to open your bible and/ or bible app and read this whole passage.  It’s good stuff!!!! This verse is also in Matthew 7:12.  As you know, this verse is the Golden rule, if you didn’t know that, well now you do.  This rule is hard  to follow.  We have to keep our flesh in check to that of Christ’s love.  If you are grounded in Christ, love in Faith, this will come easy with discipline.  When you think you have it mastered the Holy Spirit will take you to the next level. God offers us mercy.  We should aim to be merciful…

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free and all were made to drink at one Spirit.  1 Corinthians 12:13 We believers are one body, We are the church.  The community of true believers.  When we receive Christ as our savior, we are spiritually united with other believers in love and purpose. In Christ body, we are not to be divided by race, cultural, social banners or disunity.  We may be different in thought, opinions, interests, and gifting but we all have one common goal – to do the will of God and be obedient.  If we are not in…

For many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  Galatians 3:27 This is a little Jewish Culture note from the life application Bible. In Roman society a youth coming of age laid aside the robe of childhood and put on a new toga.  This represented his move into adult citizenship with full rights and responsibilities. Paul joined this cultural understanding with he concept of baptism.  By becoming Christians and being baptized, the Galatian believers were becoming spiritually grown up and ready to take on the privileges and responsibilities of the more mature.  Paul was saying that they had laid aside the old clothes of the law…

and you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thoughts.  if you seek Him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. King David is talking to his son Solomon.  He is instructing Solomon to know his God and to serve him.  King David is encouraging Solomon to always acknowledge God.  When we acknowledge God and rely on His ways we are depending on God’s leadership and his guidance.  We are serving God’s purpose with a…

Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 God I thank you for this day.  I thank you for my family and friends.  I thank you for what you have provided.  I thank you for the adventures you take me and my family on.  I thank you for being in control of all things in my life, even when I don’t  understand.  I know your ways are so much better than my ways.  Thank you when things don’t go the way I want them to because you have a better way.  I thank you IN all circumstances of my life.  Even…

Today I want you to grab a journal book or paper, and a pen. We are going to write  a gratitude list. Pray and search your heart on what you are thankful for.  It can be the usual things we are thankful for, but I also want you to dig deeper.  Thank God for the trials, tribulations, hardships, and closed doors.   Search deep within yourself.  Do you trust God?  Sometimes being thankful in the hard times is hard.  You still need to thank God. God, as we take the time to search our heart.  I pray that you will show us what we are thankful for and grateful for.…

Love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.  Mark 12:30 Loving God with your whole heart means being completely devoted to God with your entire being, with all that one has.  Loving God with your whole heart means He is the source and object of your greatest desires and passions.   Center the core of your heart on Jesus.  This means that you are completely faithful.  Loving God this way means a willingness to do anything for him. Loving God with all your soul deals with our deepest longings, emotions, and convictions.  The soul is your…

But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.   2 Corinthians 12:9 God’s grace is his favoring us with what we don’t deserve.  God’s favor is His presence, love, help, and power.  When we depend on him or call out to him for help, he gives us a heavenly strength.  He’s grace is all we need.  We will let our dependence  on him show his magnificent  power, God is honored.   God’s grace is given to by studying his…

But emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient  to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Philippians 2:7-8 We can learn a lot from Jesus.  He is a servant and humble.   He humbled himself and came to earth as a man.  He was humble by becoming obedient to God.  Jesus was so obedient that he died on the cross for us.  He laid aside the privilege of his limitless existence as God.  When he emptied himself, he took on human suffering, misunderstanding, mistreatment,  hatred, and  the curse…