The act of water baptism (being immersed in water in response to receiving salvation) is a very important first step in the Christian life. 

Matthew 3:13-17 (KJV) “13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.” 

We see the Lord Jesus Himself coming to His cousin John to be baptized, in order to "fulfill all righteousness." He then went on to establish baptism as an eternal ordinance for His church, calling every believer to follow in His footsteps.

Matthew 28:19 (KJV) “19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

The word baptism in Greek means dip or immerse. And most scholars agree that this is the way the early church practiced baptism.

There are a few other pointers to immersion besides the meaning of the word and the imagery of death and burial. In Acts 8:37-38, the Ethiopian eunuch comes to faith while riding with Philip in his chariot and says, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” Philip agrees and it says, “He commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”  

That they “went down into the water” makes most sense if they were going down to immerse him, not to sprinkle him. Similarly it says in John 3:23, “John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there.” You don’t need plentiful water if you are simply sprinkling. You just need a jar.   

People ask me why they need to be baptized.  I tell them the old man needs to die a public death and experience a public resurrection just like Jesus and just like Jesus, it will please the Father.

Let this be your year to go down, down, down to the river and rise up in amazing grace. This is my new favorite song. I pray you enjoy it. 

What a difference a day or two makes. One day I was praying the road crews would have salted the road because everyone was paralyzed due to the icy road conditions. Less than 48 hours later I’m complaining because there was salt all over the road and the temperature was 45 degrees outside and the salt was being thrown all over my car. Oh what a difference a day or two makes. Jesus I am sure would attest to that as would Jonah. (For new believers read 1 Corinthians 15:4 and Jonah 1:17-2:10)

What made the difference? Temperature. The temperature difference made the difference between my desire for salt and my lack of desire for salt. Think about it. Isn’t that the way the world is about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If the world is on fire for God and desires or hungers for righteousness they love being around Christians who are the Salt of the Earth. Those who love darkness and hate the light won’t like Christians any more than I liked salt on the roads on a warm day.

However, the worlds like or dislike of Salt (Christians) doesn’t make the Salt any less valuable. Salt is a preservative. Take all the Christians out of this world and it will no longer be preserved. We are the preserving agent God is using on the earth. We are valuable to God and He is using us to create a thirst in a very dry culture.

Matthew 5:13 (NIV) “"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

Be what God called you to be. Some may want to trample you under foot and even get disgusted with you. My advice is just wait a while and you will become very valuable to them. The temperature is about to change.

Matthew 24:12 (NIV) “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,”

In a world growing harder to maneuver in each day and the way being narrow a lot of accidents can be avoided and lives spared because of a little salt.

Below is a great little illustration I found and wanted to share:

“Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride--common table salt--the substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor. Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various doctrines. On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, it can turn people away from the gospel. When truth and love are combined in an individual or a church, however, then we have what Jesus called "the salt of the earth," and we're able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith.” David H. Johnson.

It always amazes me how a person’s gift operates so effortlessly to them and how difficult it is for others to even try to function in the same way. I caught up for barely an hour with a friend today. I had planned to give them soup and a couple of their bags back from the last things they’d given me. I ended up with a trunk full of things and left their soup and bags in my car. How did that happen? How is it I forgot to give to them the very items I purposely met up with them to give them? Not my area of giftedness.  They are the expert in this area.

Now this was a very blatant example to you because I exposed myself for the sake of a teachable moment. We all have areas we are strong in and areas we are weak in. When we operate from our strengths we appear to be super human, because we are. The gifts we possess have been given to us by the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:11 (NLT) “It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.”

When we realize that our gifts are just that—gifts, we no longer can boast of them. We come to the realization that we did nothing to deserve them.  Gifts are to be used. When we operate in our gift we are doing what we were created to do. Gifts are to be given.

In the Old Testament the priest garment had a bell and a pomegranate at the bottom of their garment. This is symbolic of the fact that we should have the character to match our gift. Character and gift should go hand and hand. If we are balanced in the two then we will know when to operate in our gift and when to wait and pray and do as the Lord would have us.

The next time you start to beat yourself up about not being as good at this or that as someone else you know, ask the Lord to help you define your gift. Ask the Lord to show you the truth about the matter.  Then ask God for grace. Grace being God’s ability to do through you what you cannot do through yourself. Ask God to use you. He is looking for the available.

   Everyone knows its winter. It’s supposed to snow in the winter. Never let your gas tank go empty in the winter months. Wait it out they said. It took me 2 hours to go in a circle of a 1 mile radius. So what do you do when you’re going nowhere? Stay where you are? Venture out again into the craziness? Some grab a blanket and settle in. Some decide to wait it out. Some abandon their car all together. Some stop in at a friend’s house. Still others decide to eat.  That entered my mind I must admit. Perhaps being in the middle of a Daniel Fast brought that one to mind sooner than later.

I was grateful for a good book and a great flash light. I read. I read some more. Finally the traffic began to move and I was back where I started from but at least I had a bathroom and water to drink. Isn’t it amazing how we take things for granted until we no longer have them.  Where am I going with all of this?

We need to be prepared for the days ahead. Maybe it’s not snow and ice but it is the unknown events of tomorrow that can cause us to be stranded and unable to get to where we need to go. On a deeper note, once this life as we know it is over—it will be too late to make a decision to go in a different direction. Decisions are made on this side of life not on the other side of life as we know it. 

Let me suggest you grab the BIG BOOK (also known as the bible) and find out where you are headed. Make sure you know what direction that is and when everyone goes crazy their hearts failing them for fear know what to do.

Luke 21:26 (KJV) “26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” 

One of our staff came back in after a second try to make it home and said at least we like the company we’re with and we’re safe.  She’s right. I think Heaven will feel that way too.  

Every woman knows about the “yearly examination”. We hate them. We don’t want to get them. Men you too need them. You men however usually skip them until we wives get on you.  We women endure them.  Well January is my time for all the yearly’s.  I want them done and out of the way as quickly as possible. I even go to the dentist in January. Why do I put myself through these? I love life. I want to be around to see my grandchildren. I believe it is my responsibility to take care of my temple.

1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV) “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;”

We are three part beings. We are a spirit, we possess a soul and we live in a body.  If the body wears out we get evicted. In order to be legal on this earth we need a body. Jesus had to have one. So in order for God to manifest Himself on earth He needs us to take care of our body. 

Bitterness and unforgiveness, anger, stress, fear all kill our bodies. This is the reason we need to be in right standing with God and with one another.

Proverbs 17:22 (KJV) “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”

This time they gave me a card to hang in my shower and told me to examine myself monthly.  I think we need to hang a card in our shower and examine ourselves daily.  Do I have anything against anyone? Have I forgiven everyone? Am I right with God and man?

Here is an excellent book you may find interesting regarding the connection between our heart and our healing.

http://www.amazon.com/More-Excellent-Way-Be-Health/dp/1603741011

Yearly examinations have been known to save people’s lives. They never knew anything was wrong or that a disease or cancer was growing in their body. Jesus can give us a Holy Ghost Cat Scan if we will allow Him to examine us and we will cooperate with Him and examine ourselves.

“Orange.”  “Book.”  Just watching her little mouth form the words makes me smile.  What is it that is so captivating about our little children learning to talk? For the most part we know they are going to talk but we anticipate those first few words and hang onto them as if they were diamonds. 

What happens between then and now? They speak a thousand words and some we agree with and others we wish they’d left unsaid. What happens is our children grow up and no longer just mimic the words out of our own mouths but they actually formulate words from their own thoughts.  It is what’s in them that comes out and sometimes it is what we put in them that come out. It truly matters who we listen to.  If Adam would have listened to God he would have said no to the fruit Eve offered him. Instead Adam listened to his wife. That changed his life.

Who we listen to can change our lives as well.  Tell me who has your ear and I’ll tell you who is influencing you. Choose your friends carefully. Be watchful who you share your thoughts and feelings with. For example it’s not a great idea to ask someone who can’t keep a job to ask them how you can keep yours.  If your friend has been married three times perhaps they are not the best source of marriage advice for you to stay married. The serpent had an agenda to destroy Eve and indirectly Adam’s. People don’t always know their own hearts so we need to give our hearts to God who created us and has our best interest.

Genesis 3:3-4 (KJV) “4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”

God had a plan to take care of the problem.

Genesis 3:14 (KJV) “14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 5 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

Want to help yourself this year control what comes out of your mouth?  Want to make better decisions than you did last year? Start with what you’re putting into yourself. Start by who you’re hanging out with. There is someone who is waiting for you to ask for His help. His name is Jesus. You are a child of God, learn to talk like one.


Psalm 46:1 (ASV) God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

Today is the 8th of January. A New Year, a new month and a new day. Symbolically the number 8 means new beginnings. If you are wanting a new beginning, a new day, a fresh start, a true do over today would be a great day to begin one.

Today I woke up to the smell of soup. I don’t particularly like food smells in my house. I like the house to smell like clean laundry, vanilla, or cinnamon, but not food. Soup is one of those rare smells however in the food category that I never mind the smell of. It means my husband got up earlier than I and started a pot of what will later be a comforting and nourishing meal. Today however we are on a liquid fast. We are not planning to eat the soup but give it away. We know just who we plan to bless, with this comforting concoction. Today this is a sacrifice.

Genesis 8:21 (KJV) “The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.”

Ephesians 5:2 (KJV) ” and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Yes, today this is a sacrifice. This soup is a sweet smelling sacrifice for others. There are 43 Bible verses about smells. Not everything in life is about us or for us. One of things Christ life shows us, is that our life itself is to be a sweet smelling sacrifice unto God. He smells the aroma of our life. We can be a stench or a sweet smelling aroma.

Today let’s fill God’s house with the fragrance of love and obedience. Let’s take some time to praise Him.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (KJV) “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life and who is adequate for these things?”

Your new beginning can start right now.  Begin to thank Him for all that He has brought you through and all that He has done. From there I think you will begin to catch on. He will lead you. If you get lost try reading John 3:16.

While working at the office today I was listening to a webinar. I was easily distracted by the clock behind me. Usually the ticking doesn’t bother me, today it did. I was about five minutes late checking into the webinar and was stressed about if I would be able to join in. Throwing the computer open and hooking into the internet I was grateful they were still doing the introduction and explaining what we would be learning today.  Tick, tick, tick the clock seemed to scream and the volume was being turned up with every tick. “I never noticed how loud that clock was”, I said to myself. I took a deep breath and tried to relax and ignore it.

It dawned on me that if the passing of time was as audibly loud as the ticking of this clock we may pay more attention to minutes going by. It seems we only notice time ticking by when we are late or under the gun. When nothing is pressing and nothing is on our schedule we do not notice the time going by. Other times we don’t notice the minutes slipping by, such as when we are enjoying what we are doing, or when we are caught up in our work.

What can we learn from this? Time presses on regardless of whether we want it to or not. We cannot stop time and only God can cause it to stand still. (Joshua 10:13) The only way to enjoy the time passing is by being in a state of mind where you don’t mind the minutes ticking by. God made time for man. He is eternal. He has all the time in the world. God never fills rushed or pressed.  The more I am changed into His image the less time will affect me, good or bad.  So time is on my side when I work with it not against it. Time spent in His presence whether working or relaxing will be time that I am being changed into His likeness and His character. 

2 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV) “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

When I settled myself down and focused on the webinar the ticking was forgotten about. Why? Because I was no longer focused on the ticking but on what I was learning.  This New Year let’s not be so focused on what we are going to be doing with our time, but on who we are becoming, and into what image we are being made.  Let’s let God do what He does best and rest in Him taking care of the clock.

Ephesians 5:16 (KJV) “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Oh and remember what my One Word for 2016 was....EARLY! I am learning perseverance!

Do you know the Informant? He likes to let me know about things ahead of time. He wants me prepared for what is to happen in my future.  I trust Him. I don’t always know all the details but He gets me in the right direction and mental attitude.  Before my father passed away I had three dreams. Before a friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer He had me read two books and watch a clip on You Tube. From the time I was a little girl He warned me of things and told me things. This Informant loves me and cares for me.  

Genesis 18:17 (KJV) “And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;”

Abraham and God were friends. God showed Abraham things. Abraham was informed of things and directed in his affairs of life.

Numbers 12:8 (KJV) “With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

Moses and God were also friends. God spoke to Moses. Moses was talked to and told what to do and when to do it.

Acts 10:34 (KJV) “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:”

Romans 2:11 (KJV) “For there is no respect of persons with God.”

We can only be a friend of God if we keep His commandments. Friends tell friends secrets and share their most intimate thoughts and really care about one another's day to days affairs.

John 14:21 (KJV) “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

Want to know the things the Informant desires that you know? Let me introduce you to Him. His name is Jesus. Accept Jesus and He gives you the Informant to come and live on the inside of you. His name is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives on the inside and is our Counselor. You know how you can be assured He loves you and wants what’s best for you.

John 3:16 (KJV) “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.” 

It was so important for Him to have a relationship with us He gave His only begotten son. He wants to talk with you. He is as close as the mention of His name.

I love being with my 2 year old grandson. His face lights up when he sees me. He is totally consumed with me when he is in my presence. Even though he uses more sign language than words to communicate with me he never stops wanting my attention, my eye contact, my hand, me, all of me.  When someone wants you that badly, it in turn makes you want them. You miss them when they are not around. You want to please them. You think about them when you make your purchases and usually include something for them before you make it to the checkout counter.

Well let me share something with you. God wants you, all of you.  He totally loves your company. He is jealous over you.

Exodus 34:14 (NIV) “Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

This little guy of mine wants to be so present he climbs on me, runs to me, sits on me, hugs on me, kisses me (that can get pretty wet and messy at times) and literally consume me.

1 John 4:16 (NIV) “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

Being a parent was and continues to be awesome. Being a grandparent is just that it’s grand. I have more time and less stress. God has all the time in the world in fact He made time. God has no stress. He loves us with such an incredible love He sent the Holy Spirit to live inside of us.
 
Maybe you didn’t have the greatest of parents. Maybe you don’t even know your parents. This year I challenge you to get to know God as father. Find scripture about Him as father. Sit in a quiet place and talk with Him like you would like to talk to your father and then listen to hear what He speaks to your heart.

1 John 3:1 (NIV) “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

Get to know God this year.  When you are present He will be present. He desires your presence. He loves us!