MIGRATING

Greetings!  

I have migrated on over to a brand new WordPress site:

I'm learning how to use it and get things all set up in my digs.

Come on over!

https://chriscanote.wordpress.com/

GOD’S SUFFICIENT GRACE

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.  — 2 Corinthians‬ ‭12:9‬

For the true disciple and genuine follower of Jesus, one of the greatest joys is to have Christ magnified in your life. God will use our suffering and weakness, through His grace, to magnify Christ in our lives.

Paul tells us how when the Lord told him his “thorn in the flesh” would not be taken away, the Lord also helped him to understand why. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”  The Creator uses this circumstance of Paul’s in such a way that Jesus could be elevated and seen as strong in Paul’s weakness.

Can I just tell ya something?  When we feel and others see us as being self-sufficient, the result is that WE are elevated instead of Jesus.  Paul received this “thorn” as God’s grace in his life and boasted in it.  “Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses...”

Can I just tell ya something?  When we feel and others see us as being self-sufficient, the result is that WE are elevated instead of Jesus. 

To accept and understand in the sufficiency of God’s grace even in our weakness and suffering, requires faith and a willingness to be content with our circumstances.  When we do, we can embrace the principle that Christ is magnified in our lives through our own weaknesses suffering. 

BY GOD, FOR GOD

We were designed and created by God, for God.

For it was you who created my inward parts; 

you knit me together in my mother’s womb. -- Psalm 139:13

FORGIVEN

SELF TALK:  I am forgiven.

I am writing to you, little children, since your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. 

— 1 John‬ ‭2:12‬ 

SPIRITUAL CARDIO

Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. — Proverbs‬ ‭4:23‬

Medical professionals tell us we should exercise, eat healthy foods in healthy proportions, to get plenty of sleep, to manage our stress, etc.  Doing these things will help keep our physical heart healthy. God is telling us through Solomon’s proverb here how to take care of our spiritual heart.  “Guard your heart above all else...”

The spiritual professional (our Creator) is telling us how to keep our spiritual heart healthy. We are to guard our heart. Guarding our heart means doing things such as: forgiving others who may have hurt us, letting go of any anger, bitterness and resentment toward others, releasing to God the hurtful behavior or words of others, etc.

Guarding our heart means exercising personal discipline over our mind and what we will allow it to think about. Can I just tell ya something?  It means taking care to guard what we will take into our minds.  “Garbage in, garbage out.”  What we consistently see with our eyes will eventually make it’s way into our spiritual heart.  Our minds and hearts are connected. What we think about impacts our spiritual condition.  When we guard our spiritual heart, it creates a healthy environment for the rest of our body.  

Can I just tell ya something?  It means taking care to guard what we will take into our minds.  “Garbage in, garbage out.”

Attending to our spiritual heart is even more important than taking care of our physical heart. Our spiritual condition can continue to deepen and gain strength even when our physical condition has gotten old, weak, sickly, etc.  

Are you guarding your heart?  Are you getting in some heart exercise?  If you haven’t already, today is a great day to commit to a daily routine which includes spiritual cardio. 

CREATED FOR GOOD WORKS

Be the you God created for such a time as this.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. -- Ephesians 2:10

WHO JESUS SAYS I AM

I am not who others say I am.  I who Jesus says I am.

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Íon of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  

-- Galatians 2:20

LIGHT OF THE WORLD

That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.  — John‬ ‭1:5‬ 

The Apostle John states two immensely significant Biblical principles here in one short sentence. First, he tells us of the glory what the light does. The light of the world and life, the light of Jesus, shines into the darkness, illuminating, bringing hope, making what was dark, bright.

But then he also acknowledges tension which exist between light and darkness. There is a darkness, which seeks to overcome the light. Darkness in the world, darkness in our lives, darkness in our hearts which is always seeking and pursuing an opportunity to snuff out the light. 

Can I just tell ya something?  Life in this lost and broken world is struggle and the sometimes the light may feel more like a flickering candle than the mid-day sun on a hot summer day.  Scientifically, darkness is no match for the active power of light. Spiritually, the darkness of the world is no match for the supernatural power of the light of Jesus. 

Can I just tell ya something?  Life in this lost and broken world is struggle and the sometimes the light may feel more like a flickering candle than the mid-day sun on a hot summer day. 

This struggle between darkness and light, good and evil, despair and hope, death and life, etc. is the central storyline of some of the best movies, books, and campfire stories. 

As true disciples and genuine followers of Jesus, it is our story. God’s Word and light of the world has come and dwelt among us. It illumines our lives, shines on in the darkness…and the darkness has not, will not, could not possibly ever overcome it.

FAITH OVER FEAR

Fear says:  What if?

Faith says:  Oh yeah?  Even if...!

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. — Hebrews‬ ‭11:1

FAITHFUL PRAYERS

Without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 

— Hebrews‬ ‭11:6‬ ‭CSB‬‬