JUST A LITTLE TESTIMONY

April 5,2014

Been reflecting back and seeing the movement of God, as He has been changing me and shaping me for His glory.

So I will begin with a word that was spoken at church approximately a year ago. In the message my pastor said "Everyone wants to see the glory of God, yet do you know what you are asking for?" I thought not really but I am fixing to find out. He went on to say "When God reveals His glory, He will reveal more of you, and He will reveal more of Himself". So I began to pray; regularly, Lord I want to see Your glory, reveal more of me and reveal more of You. Little by little He would do just that. Then approximately nine weeks ago our church began a series entitled: "From Death to Life". It has turned into a life changing series for me, and a series where God revealed His glory to me, I would see more that was in me that needed to die and to be buried, and He began to allow me the privilege of experiencing Him in a fresh and new way.

Most who know me, understand that I love the Lord very much, and know that I desire to walk in a close relationship with Him. But I still have life struggles, and everyday I struggle with just living, making an income, paying bills, etc. There are times when I think "I'm not going to make it" "It is never going to get better". As I was sharing this one evening with my pastors, my pastor looked at me an said "You are looking at your job as your provider and not Jesus". Needless to say, a little self-righteous indignation rose up inside me, and I thought (but didn't say) "I know that Jesus is my Provider". But at the same time The Holy Spirit said "He is right". I went home that night and asked for forgiveness, repented by aligning my mind with the Word, I began to study the covenant relationship I have with Jesus Christ. And I began to ask Him to let me experience Him as my Provider. Let me say that God honors your prayers, when you pray from your heart and desire to understand yourself and Him, as you journey through this life to fulfill the destiny He has for you.

Three weeks later, came a shift in my life. To get out from under a particular struggle I had with paying the rent where I was living, meant I had to break my lease and move. I began to realize that was what I needed to do because God had said in my heart "You will have victory in this, but you must obey what I say" So I spoke to the office, turned in my notice, and began to pack. Yet, I had no place to go. My church is located at the entrance to the community of Clinton and for several years I had been praying for the community. Several months ago the Lord had spoke to my spirit and said "I am placing you in the community you have been praying for". But at that time I believed it would be at a later date. To be completely honest, I have no desire to live in Clinton. I am definitely a city girl (laughing). But if God says that is where He is putting me then I am willing to go.

But there was and is no where to go. I have a budget that I must stay within and nothing at this time is available, where I am lead to go. Other possibilities have been offered, yet they are not in my price range, or not in the area I believe God says to go to. So my furniture is in storage, and I came to stay with my daughter and her family, until God opens the right door. Instinct says run out and find a place any place, just some place to have yourself and your belongings together. Yet, I have determined to not settle for my less out of fear and stay ready to receive God's best for me.

My biggest concern with staying with my daughter was that I would be in her and her family's way, that I would interfere with their life and they would interfere with mine. It has been six days, and all is well. Praying God's peace with me and them. I think for me it has been the biggest adjustment, I have lived alone for years, no noise at the house, stuff done the way I wanted it and when I wanted it. Now here I am with my daughter and her husband three kids and a dog they had a cat but he must be gone because I haven't seen or heard him. I must remember to ask what happened to the cat. Definitely different from what I am used to.

So that brings me to something else I have been praying, (I really didn't have a clear understanding of). One Sunday my pastor said "Keeping Jesus in our focus will cause us to be creative and stop reacting to life and life will begin to respond to us" I had the reacting part down pat, I knew exactly what that meant, since I did it a lot. So I began to speak and to pray "Lord teach me not to react to everything that comes my way and let life begin to respond to me". Then about a week into this I realized I didn't have a clear understanding of what it meant to have life respond to you. So I approached my pastor and asked him what did that mean, after all I was praying it. To simply put it "When I am faced with a situation either I can react to the situation or I can allow the peace of God to be released in me and the situation, and then I will see it from a different perspective and not react." Now those are not his exact words but that is how I received it to my understanding.

So where am I in this journey "From Death to Life"? Jesus is allowing me the privilege and the opportunity of experiencing Him as my Provider and my Provision. He is teaching me to listen and obey His voice. I have had several opportunities to react, yet I have chosen His peace and joy. You see God is moving me, yet the enemy has sent several distractions to me to get me off course and get my focus off of Jesus, yet I recognized his tactics. I am praying that while I am staying with my daughter that the light of Jesus will be seen in me and that I will not be the reason for another mother-in-law joke with my son-in-law. I hope that I will be a help and not a bother to my daughter. And I hope to enjoy my children and grandchildren during my stay.

What is this new life, this resurrected life look like? Let's just say that the resurrected life indwells me and has since I was born again. The anointing power that raised Jesus from the dead is in me. And as I live this life in Christ I walk in that power. This enables me to live in such a way, that Jesus is seen in me and not Linda seen, it allows my circumstances not to hold me as a hostage, binding me to them. It releases freedom in Jesus and then the chains fall off. I may still face many battles in this life, yet the battles are already won, all I have to do is keep Jesus as my focus and walk in His peace, lifting Him up, continue the upward call on my life. I have the victory already the biggest lie the enemy can convince us of is that he still has power over us. Wherever He places me the anointing of the Holy Spirit will penetrate the atmosphere and both myself and others around me will be changed not by me but by the presence of Jesus Christ in the room. A lot more to share on this subject but will wait until the bible study. This is just an update of where I am in my walk with Jesus.

Remaining steadfast on this journey.

Check out the on-line bible study and begin the journey From Death to Life at www.lindagroberts.com

JESUS IS ENOUGH

I am sitting here looking around at the boxes I have packed (to move) seeing my home is disarray and thinking Lord what is happening? I have moved many times, but each time I have had a place to move to, a home waiting on me to fix up, put my stuff where I want it, enjoy my new surroundings. Yet, this time it is different, I have no home to go to, no place to arrange my beloved stuff, no place that I can enjoy and know I am home.

What has brought me to this moment in time? I had begun to pray "Lord forgive me if I have not really seen You as my provider and my provision, my desire Lord is experience you as my provider and my provision." Three weeks later I find myself about to be homeless.

It is one thing to know that Jesus is enough, that Jesus is your provider, your provision, your protector and it is another to experience Him as these things. I had experienced Jesus as my protector on many occasions and now I am about to experience Him as my provider, my provision. All of this is to increase my faith and to prepare me for the destiny He has planned for me.

The word tells us that we walk by faith and not by sight, do you believe that? I do, yet if I can see where I am going is it faith? When the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant went to cross the Jordon River when did the sea part, before or after they got wet? When Noah built the Ark, there was no water, never had rained, he had no idea what a flood was, but by faith he obeyed God and the Word that was spoken to him and he and his family were saved. The word tells us that without faith we cannot please God. So if I desire to please God I ask for my faith to be increased. Asking this will place you in positions that exercise your faith. In other words, your faith will be stretched, think of how you work out and stretch your muscles, to increase my faith it has to be worked and used in many different situations, situations that will require my faith to be activated.

So now I am being stretched, Jesus is showing me who He is and allowing me the privilege of experiencing Him. That is if I don't waiver, don't give up though times may be hard I will see the reality of my faith. For I also know that the word says I am not abandoned nor forsaken, that I am loved and secure in Him, His word is real and His word is true. I am not a victim I am victorious.

So you don't get to feeling sorrow for me, until God opens a door of His choosing I will be staying at my daughter's home, I have said I don't know who I feel sorry for;

me or her, and then decided it would be her husband. (smiling)

God has His best for me and I will not settle for less out of desperation, and fear. My faith in who He is will encourage me and sustain me during this time. All of this has come about from a series of messages my church is doing entitled "From Death to Life" last week I began to do a bible study based on these messages as the Lord directs me in this. Hope you can join me for this life changing study at www.lindagroberts.com

Be blessed and remain steadfast

MY VIEW FROM THE GRAVE

Are you wondering about the title? Well I would like for you to come with me on a journey I have been on for a few weeks, a journey that will move me upward in the call of God on my life. It is the journey of sanctification. Sanctification is a life time process that transforms us from who we were to who He desires for us to be.

At the time of salvation a transformation from the old man to the new man takes place. Death to the old will bring a resurrection of the new. God brings the death and the resurrection, yet we are to bury the old and keep it buried. 

Romans 6:4-12 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

The problem most Christians find is that they continue to allow the old man (old nature) to rise up out of the grave and have rule in their lives. The dying process is a daily process not a once in a lifetime, or once a week or once a month.

Luke 9:23-24 Then He said to them all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

This self-denial is what we call “crucifying self, or dying to self” it is surrendering our will, our wants, our desires, our ways to His will, His wants, His desires, and His ways.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

There comes a time when God will speak to us the need to let go of old ways, old thinking and even old teachings, even ministries we are involved in,  these may not be bad things yet they are ways, thinking and teachings that may be hindering us from moving forward to the next level in our walk with Him. Our walk or I like to use the term journey is always moving forward and upward, as Paul says in Philippians.

Philippians 3:14 I press toward the goal for the prize the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

When God reveals an area that needs to be buried and placed in the grave, we are to respond in obedience and place it in the grave. In the grave is where you will find the place of surrender, yet, not without a struggle. As God began to reveal to me that I had a stronghold, a mindset that I needed to let go of, first of all I entered into denial, I just couldn’t believe I actually had that way of thinking it was a thinking that has held me in bondage for years, throughout the years He has revealed little by little of a mindset that was not allowing me victory; a victory I so desired. When I agreed with my Lord that this was an area that needed to change and to be placed in the grave now that was me acting in obedience. Now here you find me in the grave and suddenly I find myself in a battle to get out of the grave. Spiritual warfare now begins, the enemy will begin to send thoughts to give you a counter offer; for me the thought he kept sending was: “you would be better off continuing to do what and how you have been doing things, because the other way is too uncertain.” It is the uncertainty that will get you every time. Uncertainty brings fear, and we know that fear is the opposite of faith, it also brings doubt, doubting that you are really hearing God correctly. My pastor had a message the other Wednesday night and in the message he said “Some would rather stay in their suffering because at least they understood their suffering.” That would be me; though I was suffering greatly, continuing to do things as I had been was better than the uncertain future. So here I am in the grave engaged in warfare, now comes the wrestling. I begin to wrestle with myself and to wrestle with God, wrestling with myself was exhausting, it was wanting to do as God directed and at the same time wanting to hang on to the last bit of control. Wrestling with God is that time of saying “Help me let go, help me to obey and surrender completely, I don’t want to and I want to, bless me God because I need you.”

So it was God was asking me to do something that I really didn’t want to do. Something that took humility, something that left me without a crutch, something that I believed if He asked me to do would be the very thing I needed to do that would help me in the journey and out of my suffering. So I did it, and I saw the last shovel of dirt poured over my grave. I felt immediate rest and peace; the burden of the decision was done. Then in two days the thing I was supposed to do and did was destroyed. It looked like I had heard wrong, but I knew that I hadn’t.

So now you find in the grave in a time of reflecting, this is the time of resting in the position I am in and allowing the Holy Spirit to feed me with previous messages from the word and remembering scriptures and people that we were given examples of; that I would need to continue remaining at rest and peace. I began to remember these words: “Obedience is the key that unlocks your destiny, obedience is the key to doing the Father’s will, obedience to the Father puts us in the position to fight the giant (like David), obedience unlocks and keeps us.” And these words: “Between the dream and the destiny there is always development (character development). Walking in covenant does not always look like we are blessed and does not eliminate suffering, is not passive and it requires perseverance.” (Joseph) So here I am realizing that when God asked me to do what He did,was Him wanting obedience from me, Him desiring me to be surrendered to His will, His way. It was not about changing the circumstance it was about changing me in the circumstance.

So here I lay, 6ft under, dirt piled over me, my circumstance hasn’t changed, in fact you might look and say it has gotten worse (imagine that). Do you realize that when you are in this yielded, surrendered position you have only one view to look at, and that is looking UP. I look up from where I lay and I have the hope and the assurance that what has died and what has been buried will one day arise in the resurrection power of Christ Jesus my Lord. So here has been my grave experience, here is the place I find myself, allowing the Holy Spirit to make the necessary changes in me for the next phase of my journey. More to come.

Reminder to check out the bible study web site at www.lindagroberts.com

LET GO AND LET GOD

After listening to some recent messages at my church, I began to reflect, and pray about why I believe the way I do and why I respond the way I do. Just another moment in my journey with Jesus.

If you are a Christian then you understand that at salvation you are a new creation, in fact in 2Corinthians 2:17 it says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. The question I am asking you and one the Lord revealed to me is "What did you think salvation was going to be like?" I never gave it a lot of thought until I began to pray "Lord reveal to me any preconceived ideas that would keep me from moving forward?" He began to show me that when I was saved in 1974 I had this preconceived idea that life was going to be wonderful, my husband would be saved and everything would be heavenly. Never for one minute did I see that thought coming, never understood that I even would think that way. But it does explain why when it didn't look like what I expected; how quickly Satan was able to tempt me into giving up. I gave up on my marriage, I gave up on myself, and I gave up on God. So what is it you may have thought salvation was going to look like? I recently wrote this phrase," I changed but life around me didn't. " Without seeing change in those around me I quickly became discouraged, depressed and divorced. I had to come to the place that I had to surrender my thinking on salvation and how it would look over to God and allow Him to show me how to walk by faith. Twenty four years would pass before I would do this. And even now I ask Him is this preconceived idea affecting me today? I laid that idea (one I wasn't even aware of) down on the altar and allowed His consuming fire to consume it.

Next question; "What preconceived idea do you have about the dream or ministry God has placed you in?" Early in my new beginning of being a Christian, I had this dream of sharing Jesus with multitudes of people all over the world. Yet, as I got older and older I truly didn't see how this would ever come to pass, who was I to have such a wonderful ministry? So I just buried the dream, then every now and then it would come back up and I would think "Lord could this really be?" Then I would bury it believing there was no way I would ever be traveling the world sharing Jesus. Then over the last year God began to move in certain areas of ministry that I became involved in, but it never looked like what my idea of how it would look would be. Here is how it looked, The Lord prompted me to first of all begin a blog, next some time later He prompted me to begin an on-line bible study, a short time after this He prompted me to begin a facebook page called "We Support Jesus Christ". Never thought much about any connection to my dream, until one day I realized I was reaching people around the world and all over the USA. Then I realized the dream that I did not understand how could happen, had become a reality. When I surrendered my idea of how it should be done and allowed God to have it His way, then I had let go and let God.

I recently went back and read Ezekiel 37 in this chapter the Lord had taken Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones, now I know and realize that the Lord is speaking of Israel, but we can also see how it speaks to us individually. The Lord asked Ezekiel can these bones live and then He told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and speak breath into them. I love verse 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together bone to bone. Go ahead and read verse 8-10. All of us have dreams we thought were dead, relationships that we thought were beyond repair, some may think that their relationship with God cannot be fixed, bad finances, bad doctor reports. But the word says to speak life in those areas, we are told in Proverbs 18:21 that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Begin to seek God and begin to speak His word which is life over yourself, over your finances, over your family, your business, your dream, and your ministries. Lay all these things down before the throne of God and surrender your idea, your control, your way, your will and say as our Lord Jesus said in the Garden "Not my will but your will be done". Now watch the breathe of God breath life into everything you thought was over, allow Him to resurrect it His way, and watch the dead come to life.

Next question "What preconceived idea do you have about church?" Why isn't church going in on Sunday, listening to some singing, taking up an offering, prayer, a message, an invitation oops it's noon got to go, don't need to stay for an invitation been saved, I'm ok. Then gone again until next Sunday. You have to admit a lot, I mean a lot of people think this way. Yet this is not church!! Church is never about the walls in a building, it is about being the people that God wants His people to be. Corporate worship is gathering together, and is such a necessary element in a Christian's life. The church is the body of Christ, we should be the church whether we are at Walmart, in our home, at work the same as in the building. Everything about us should speak to people, not just our words, but our behavior, it should say I follow Jesus, and He is in me, leading and directing me. But most who say they are Christians look, sound and act like the world. In Luke 9:23 we see that Jesus tells His followers that in order to follow Him they must deny themselves and pick up their cross and follow Him. This denying self is merely this, laying down in surrender my desires, my pleasures, my will, my way, my agendas, my plans, and on and on, and say 'Lord not my way not my will, but Your way and Your will.' This must be done daily. Once we let go of us we will now be letting God.

 Surrendered life will allow people to see more of Jesus and less of me. It involves digging a little deeper. None of this is new for me, yet, all of it is being learned on a deeper level. Just another part of my journey,

The on-line bible study is www.lindagroberts.com we are studying the Book of Ruth right now

MOVING INTO A NEW YEAR AND A NEW BEGINNING

I just want to talk today, is that okay?  A new year has begun 2014, I have been reflecting on this past year, seeing all that my God has done for me. And I am so thankful that I began a journey with Jesus. The journey is always one of faith, step by step. Just like when the priest were crossing the Jordan and they were carrying the Ark of the Covenant the water did not begin to part until they had stepped into the water. One man from each tribe was designated to remove a stone from the place where the priest stood bearing the Ark, they were to carry the stone to the other side and there they made a memorial to remember what God had done for them that day.

There have been days this past year when I would cry out to God and say "Lord where are You?" then there would be days when I would say "There You are Lord, I see You!" In all of these days 365 of them, God has brought me through every rough spot, it may have been a struggle, a time when I did not understand why I would have to go through this. But in spite of all the struggles, all the tears. This one thing I knew, God was with me and He was preparing me for the next part of our journey, 2014. With each struggle in this life I am being shaped to fulfill the destiny God has planned and purposed for me. I am being transformed little by little, shaped and fashioned into His design, His plan. This is not exclusive just to me, God has a divine plan for His children and His church. The problem rest in the fact that most are just living life and giving no thought to what God has for them.

Sometime ago I knew I wanted to change I didn't want to be the person I used to be, I didn't want to just live life saved, I wanted to experience the very presence of God in my life. I wanted to make a difference in my family, friends, church and community. I never want people to see me, I want people to see Jesus in me. When that becomes your desire, the enemy will begin to attack and attack. He will attempt to discourage, distract, and destroy you and your God given destiny.

So it was in 2013, growing in my prayer life, growing in wearing my garments of praise, growing in my faith. Oh though I have not attained I still press forward to a higher calling (taken from the words of Paul).

Now today is January 7, 2014 and I have begun to write a book. I believe that God is directing and leading me to write, yet how it will be published is beyond my knowledge. But I do know this when God leads and I follow by faith the path will be made straight and God has already made a way for this to happen. A great year is ahead, my church has embarked on the God given vision that the Lord has given to our pastors, I know that salvation will come into my family, I know that I will be moving from where I am to where I need to be.  I have placed my faith in One person His name is Jesus and where He goes I go. His indwelling Holy Spirit is my guide I am committed to listening to His voice and to following His directions. Obedience to walk in faith and as I obey and walk He will give me understanding.

Just an update in my daily walk. The title of my book is "The Thread of Hope"

If you are interested in an on-line bible study check out www.lindagroberts.com

HOLD ON HELP IS ON THE WAY

Have you ever been in the place where you knew you had to hold on, yet you really wanted to just let go. A place where the storm was coming so hard and so fast against you, you had called out to Jesus over and over again and yet, wondered if He was listening.  I have been in that place more often than I would like to say. In fact I believe I have written about it at some time or another in another post. But here I am again, faced with a storm, and really tired of going around this mountain one more time.

I have been working on a bible study about Guarding the Gateways to our Inner Man and have been praying in a prayer ministry at my church about pressing forward through the storm. And where do I find myself, you guessed it in the middle of a storm. The enemy sends his lies into my thoughts saying things like "You might as well give up, lay down and die, it will not get any better" I rebuke and rebuke declare the truth of God's word and yet, inside there is this little part of me who wants to just lay down and die. Have you ever been there? In fact to be very honest, I have been angry. Angry at my situation and angry at Jesus for not changing my situation, when I called out His name. I won't be typing a lot of scriptures but I will be sharing from scriptures that God is showing me on this journey through the storm.

In Matthew 8:23-27 an account is recorded of Jesus telling His disciples that they must go to the other side of the lake. Then He laid down an went to sleep while He was sleeping a storm came up and His disciples were struggling in the storm for they were sinking. Finally they woke up Jesus and He calmed the storm and then rebuked them for their lack of faith.

What I have always seen in this account is that Jesus made a promise in the beginning, His presence was with them, His peace was with them and He displayed his power when He calmed the storm. Yet friends when you find yourself in the middle of a storm; and we all have them, I become like the disciples and begin to scream out JESUS wake up do You not care that I am drowning. Surely I am not the only one who has felt this way.

I recently said, that I thought perhaps God was getting tired of my crying (that was a thought from the pit of Hell). But the Holy Spirit brought a verse in Luke 11:9-10 to my memory. The one that talks about keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. This is persistence and one I will continue to do. I will keep asking, seeking, knocking and will not give up.

In Deuteronomy 2:3 God told Moses: "You have skirted this mountain long enough, turn northward"

I love that verse. I said recently two things I desired to hear from my Lord. First is "Well done good and faithful servant" and the second is "you have skirted this mountain long enough" I understand that in this journey I am on God is teaching me areas that need His touch, areas in my life that are hindering my walk with Jesus, areas that I struggle with and perhaps my faith is weak in these areas or better yet I need to see through God's eyes and not my eyes. I have heard the expression that we need to soar above our storm the way an Eagle soars above storms. I realized apparently I didn't know how to soar above the storm I found myself in. So I inquired of the Lord, "Lord how do I rise above the storm?" He answered me saying "You are looking into the storm, in order to rise above the storm you must see it with My eyes." Can you guess my next question? "Lord how do You see my storm?" His answer "I see it as a place of trust, a place of faith and the place where I will be glorified."

I know all the truths of who I am in Christ. All the quotes to say to you and to myself when troubles arise. But in that moment, when the storm is raging, and the enemy is shooting his darts into your mind, when you are screaming out for Jesus to help and you don't see the help. In these moments you really don't want to hear the encouragement you really want to lay down and die. Yet the Holy Spirit rises up in you and speaks into your spirit and says "Hold on Help is on the way" It is this small still voice that makes you get up and keep going. Recently I was told and will share with you, "get up keep doing what is right and your faith will follow" That is a good word, yet the hardest thing to do is to get up when you want to lay down, keep going when you want to give up and HOLD ON when you want to let go.

So what am I learning on this journey with Jesus? To be content with who I am in Christ Jesus, to understand that Jesus is Enough in spite of the storm, to hold on, Jesus is sending my help. The problem is most of us are looking in the wrong place for our help. We are looking with our natural eyes and they see the impossible, yet we walk by faith and not by sight, so we need to see through the eyes of faith and expect God to take our natural and make it His supernatural. Look for it, Hold on, Help is on the way.

If you are looking for an online bible study check out www.lindagroberts.com

LIVING IN GOD'S GREAT LOVE

Someone asked recently "Explain God's love". As I reflected on this, I asked myself how do you explain such a great love as this. Oh some simple answers came to mind, yet none truly revealed the depth of His great love. You see as a Christian each day of my life is living in His great love. A love that forgives, a love that listens, a love that blesses, a love that chastises and so much more. So lets look at what our human finite minds can understand.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

Have you seen the sunrise in the morning? Have you seen the beauty of the changing colors of the leafs? Have you seen the waves washing on shore at the ocean? Have you seen the mountains and all their magnificent glory? Have you reached down and smelled a flower? Have you seen the smile of a child as they delight in the small things? Have you looked into the eyes of the one you love? Have you felt the rain on your back as you dashed to the car? All of this the creation of the world, the creation of the pets many of you love, the creation of human life all of this was God's love being poured out, the beauty of His creation is more than we can fathom. I could talk about the fall, the sin that entered this earth, the sin that corrupted the beauty of all He created. And that would take me to:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Do you see the two little words 'HE GAVE"? This is God Grace, His love being poured out from heaven to earth. How great a love that God would extend His grace to us as His Son, that we might have everlasting life. In Romans 5:8 it tells us that while we were still sinners God demonstrated His love for us by allowing His Son Jesus Christ to die in our place. (Now that is not a quote just what it means)

When I was in the middle of the pit, sinking deeper and deeper into my own sinfulness, not knowing how to save myself and not knowing who could save me. God in His great love and through His loving Grace extended His hand to me and cast me a life line. That life line I grabbed hold of was Jesus Christ. Very soon I will write of how His great love, grace and mercy has sparred me from death on more than one occasion, but not today I am still in the middle of something and must see more.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves it is the gift of God.

That grace that saved us, was His love for us. It is hard to imagine that as God watched Jesus the Lamb of God hanging on a tree, He thought about you and me. He turned for a moment because seeing mine and your sin on His Sinless Son was more than He could look at. That is when Jesus said "My God, My God why have You forsaken Me" This is the first and only time that Jesus did not refer to God as Father. You see my friends God's love for us was so great that He could forsake His Son so that we would not be forsaken.

So how can I being me begin to describe such a great love as this. I can't but this one thing I know I love Him because He first loved me. He continues to pour out His grace (love) into my life each and every day. People may get mad at me, people may even stop loving me, people may forsake me, people may hurt me. But not my God He never gives up on me, He never forsakes me, He never stops loving me, He loves me in spite of me. And I say thank You Jesus for Your great love, Your great grace has set me free from the bondage of sin and the bondage of people.

Looking for a bible study check out wwwlindagroberts.com When you go here to see all the studies not listed on the front page click on the Galatian Study and you will see all the others. Right now I am doing a study on Joseph you will find it in the Galatian area.

Be Blessed and know that you are Loved by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit