Just a thought by coppi

Just a thought by coppi – written in 2015

A light house does not blow fog horns but it only shines.  

When I read the above I thought of our walk as Christians.  Does our life reflect the light  of Jesus.  St Mark 4:21: and he said unto them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick?  A candle beams its flickering light so we may find our way in the dark as does the Lighthouse.  As Christians we should let our light shine & walk in the light of Christ.  We need not blow fog horns but just shine & let the Holy Spirit beam through us.  Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord……i grew up in a very legalistic religion & if we did have a little light, it was totally blown out with dos & don’ts & lots of fear. 1 John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God….10: herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us & sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4 is filled with scriptures of love.  The pendulum swings both ways but should be in balance.  I guess my desire is not to be a fog horn but a flickering light for our Lord.

—that Jesus can do more than redeem. He can make beauty from pain?

Just a thought by coppi

Analogy: football & prayer

Think of prayer as a football game.  The quarterback is receiving the football from the center.  He is now staring at all these giants coming toward him.  He has two wide receivers that have a connection with him.  He can trust them completely & he really needs to as these giants charge him.  Think of prayer that way.  When the mighty rivers of worry, anxiety, fear, etc are attacking you, imagine taking a football of prayer and throwing it to Jesus & leaving in his hands…….He is a Mighty receiver & He can handled all your worries, concerns, etc…..trust your Receiver.

“Gardens are a form of autobiography,” someone said. God as gardener, the intimate vision at creation’s beginning, can be traced throughout the Old Testament, in the psalms, and in the prophets. Jesus, too, concurs: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Such a reading of the world’s creation and the thought of a gardener tending to me, stirs a response akin to that of the man after God’s own heart:  (Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.)

In Jill’s message this morning referring to God as gardener caught my attention.  Jill also stated, “i can’t say that I have ever heard a sermon about creation as gardening, the creator of the world as Gardener. I had never considered what such an identity of God might mean to me or to the world around me. Yet here is one of the first passages in the Bible where we are introduced to who God is—and God is not a warrior or a judge or even a sovereign, but first, a gardener, a nurturer of all life, protector and planter, a designer, keeper, and pruner concerned with life’s flourishing. 

I grew up on a farm in Fredericksburg, Tx and watched my mother plant a garden yearly.  Firstly, she had to till the soil, turn the soil, dig a trench in the soil, and then plant her seeds.  She cultivated her garden with care.  Watering, trimming, watching that the different kinds of bugs did not destroy what she planted;  she worked diligently making sure her seedlings survived and weathered the storms of nature before maturity.  It was a difficult job but a rewarding one too.  She was able to witness growth, beautiful growth of each seedlings when it fully matured.  Yes, I can relate to God as a  gardener, a nurturer of all life, protector and planter, a designer, keeper, and pruner concerned with life’s flourishing,  because He has been all those things in my life.  He has been my gardener.

What stain are you trying to remove by yourself? Stop trying and let Jesus wash it white as snow

A stain is a discoloration that can be distinguished from the surface it’s on. Stains can be caused by the interaction of two different materials.

My husband, i think, can smell stains. I can put on an outfix that i know i washed and is clean, and he will say do you know you have a stain on your dress . “No way i say“, but sure enough there is a stain. Thank God for stain removers . However, the stains i am referring to are the stains of your heart. I wish i could spray a remover on it, and throw it in the washer, and be free of the pain – not so. I go to the only source i know to remove that kind of pain – Jesus. I have a relationship i have been dealing with for a very long time . I so wish i could remove this stain from my life, but not to be. I have prayed more times than i can express, but it seems to be ingrained in the fabric of my soul. As i read above quote “What stain are you trying to remove by yourself“- it rang a bell in my heart – “Stop trying and let Jesus wash as white as snow“. That’s my answer, but its up to me to stop trying . I pray that i can and will .

Just a thought by coppi

Place your trust in him that he will always be with you through thick and thin.

 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”Isaiah 41:10

Just a thought by coppi

A cosmic game of hide and seek is often how many view the search for God. “Where are you?” is the question that echoes throughout the ages as human beings seek for God in a vast universe often filled with inexplicable mystery- Margaret a Manning Oct 19, 2020
Have you ever wondered where God was when the storms of life blow into your life. I did. And, as I read the scriptures in the Bible I note that the Apostles did too. Not only the Apostles, but the prophets, Kings, and the Israelites. No one is exempt from problems. Why God do you hide your face from me when I am in need? Where are you? How long before you answer my prayer? These are just a few questions thrown toward God. His answers are not always the way we want, but He will answer your prayer. It may seem like forever before you see a glimmer of the answer, but it will come. I went from different training periods in my life before I realized the importance of my answered prayers. Yes, training is difficult, but the end results is the catalyst God is after. He wants you to know Him and His love. He wants a relationship with you.

I sent this before, but it popped up on Facebook as a reminder ~ will share again.    Coppi

Ezekiel 47:12 

“And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

And their leaves for healing…were words that stood out like sentries in the above scriptures.  Why?  Because I have been reading about friends who are like leaves in my life.  They stood by me when everything around me seemed to be falling to pieces.  I remember a time in my life that I was surround with friends – I thought, but when an unexpected storm blew into my life with betrayal from a husband of thirty-two years and attached to it were-lies, etc.  I looked for friends in the many I had and only found a very few.  The few were like leaves of healing.  They shaded my crumbling heart with love and encouragement.  Their leaves never withered but they stood like sentries guarding me against the crippling gossip that was thrown my way.  It took several years before truth availed and all the gossip the carriers enjoyed went to naught as the wind blew it into the sea of nothingness.  True friends are special and I was and am blessed with them.  I call them my leaves – they shade me with love, encouragement, joy, etc. they never wither but stay constant in their love.

Ps147:3 plainly says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” God longs to meet you at the place of your wounds and provide healing 8

Wounds come in all shapes and forms – health, death of loved ones, old hurts from long ago. loss of assets, divorce, abuse, and whatever is hidden deep within you.  The slightest of a thought can bring it forth or it can happen consciously before your eyes with little warning; wounds that change your life.  BUT Jesus! Scripture says “He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds”.  I know because I have been there many times in my life and I wondered why my wounds still encapsulate me.  I just know in Ephesians 6:10-18 it says, “… Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”  We live in a fallen world. Ugly happens.  Do I have the answer – nope I do not.  I only look up to Jesus and say “help me”.   He does. 

“Life is not a straight line, it is filled with highs & lows & looking back never moves us forward”.

“Moving forward in faith is about trusting God to make a path in desolate places”.

My friend told me before she married her husband, she started to tell him all the “uglies” that occurred in her past.  He stopped her and said, “all of those things that happened in your past made you who you are today and that is whom I love”.  

Jesus said the same thing about us in 2 Cor 5:17 – therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.  The old has gone, the new is here!

Let’s move forward knowing that we are new creatures in Christ…leaving the past behind & trusting God to make all things new.

“And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭8‬:‭42‬-‭46‬ ‭NIV‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.8.46.NIV

“Who touched me”.  

“Shackled by a heavy burden

‘Neath a load of guilt and shame

Then the hand of Jesus touched me

And now I am no longer the same”

The women with the issue of blood was crushed among the crowds of people wanting to get to Jesus for healing, she did not give up— she kept crawling through the drove of people saying to herself “if I can only touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed”.  She had great faith in the power of this man, Jesus, the Son of God.  Finally she reached him and reached to touch Him but was only able to touch the hem of His garment.  Jesus stopped and said “Who touched me”!!!  Fear probably rose within this frail women but she knew something happened to her.  The healing power of Jesus touched her and she was healed. When Jesus proclaimed “Who touched me”, and with all the people pushing against him, Peter tried to convince him that it was impossible for him to think a touch would awaken Him of such a thing as a touch’.  But, no, Jesus proclaimed again “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone from me”!  He then noticed this small fearful women who was healed looking up to him with gratitude, and said “your faith has made you whole”.  

He touched me…..among multitudes of people pressing in on Him; a small touch on the hem of His garment laced with much faith, she was healed.  “Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” From this particular passage we see that the central feature of faith is confidence or trust. In the Bible, the object of faith is God and his promises.”

Reach out to Him in faith….even small faith….and touch the edge of His cloak. 

Just a thought by copp

God is calling you to a greater lifestyle of childlike faith. He is calling you to place your trust in him alone for your finances, relationships, future, past, and present. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” What brings our Father pleasure is unadulterated, unveiled, and glorious relationship with his children. He longs for us to draw near to him with full assurance that he is good, real, and that he longs to bless us.

9Mark 10 teaches that it’s in having childlike faith that we will receive the kingdom of God. Childlike faith is what fills us with the unshakable hope that we will one day dwell in heaven with our Father for all of eternity. As Christians, we’ve placed all our hope in the truth that Jesus came, died, and rose again, and that if we place our trust in him we will have a resurrection like his. We succeed in having childlike faith when it comes to salvation, but often we fail in placing our trust in our heavenly Father on a daily basis.