What Does God Tell Us To Do?

1— Seek those things above:

“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2 NASB)

2— Resist the flesh:

“But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.” (Colossians 3:8 NASB)

3— Let your spirit rule:

“... put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience...” (Colossians 3:12 NASB)

We are to magnify Christ in all that we do. We are to be examples to those in a dark and dying world. Once we know who we are in Christ we are to portray His characteristics. As we grow in Christ then His light shines through us.

We can be ‘just what the doctor called for’ to a person in need. A word, a hug, or just a listening ear. We have no idea what a person may need, but God does. We need to be ready to show the love of Jesus when the opportunity presents itself. 

Amen!

In Christ,

Shifra

 

February 12, 2018

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”

2 Colossians 2: 6 & 7 NASB 

Paul is reminding us not to allow what we received to fall by the wayside. We have received life and should let His ‘light’ shine through us to those of the world. 

The next verse warns us not to get swept away with deception and empty words. Not to fall prey to worldly things that only satisfy the flesh.

We are one with Christ and the fullness of the Deity dwells in Him. We need nothing else. 

We are alive together with Him! Dead to our transgressions!

Forgiven of our sins!

Everything has been nailed to the cross!

Hallelujah!

"Por lo tanto, como ustedes han recibido a Cristo Jesús el Señor, así anden en Él, habiendo sido firmemente enraizados y ahora edificados en Él y establecidos en su fe, tal como fueron instruidos, y rebosantes de gratitud".

2 Colosenses 2: 6 y 7 NASB

Pablo nos está recordando que no permitamos que lo que recibimos se quede en el camino. Hemos recibido vida y debemos dejar que su 'luz' brille a través de nosotros a los del mundo.

El siguiente versículo nos advierte que no nos dejemos arrastrar por el engaño y las palabras vacías. No caer presa de las cosas mundanas que solo satisfacen la carne.

Somos uno con Cristo y la plenitud de la Deidad mora en él. No necesitamos nada más.

¡Estamos vivos junto con él! ¡Muertos a nuestras transgresiones!

¡Perdonado de nuestros pecados!

¡Todo ha sido clavado en la cruz!

¡Aleluya!

Portrait of Christ

Jesus was around from the beginning of creation. Proverbs 8 is a good source of proof for this. Here are some verses to show just that:

VS 6: “I shall speak noble things; And the opening of my lips will produce right things.”

VS 7a: “For my mouth will utter truth;”

VS 7a: “All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness;”

VS 14: “ Council is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine.”

VS 22: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of  His way, before his works of old.”

VS 23a: “from everlasting I was established,”

VS 30a: “Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;”

VS 35: “for he who finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord.“

This one proverb alone gives us so much proof and yet the whole Bible speaks of Christ from Genesis to Revelation. 

What a wonderful and awesome God we serve!

O, Christmas Time

O, Christmas time,

O, Christmas time,

O, what a joy that

Christ has come.

Our King of Kings

was born this day;

To bring us love 

and peace this day.

O, Christmas time,

O, Christmas time,

O, what a joy that

Christ has come.

A time of wonder 

and of awe;

A time of splendor

with the Lord.

O, Christmas time,

O, Christmas time,

O, what a joy that

Christ has come.

Rejoice, rejoice 

and believe with your hearts

that, Christ the Son, came on this day.

O, Christmas time,

O, Christmas time,

O, what a joy that

Christ has come.

O, Christmas time,

O, Christmas time,

O, what a joy that

Christ has come.

Breaking Through

Since I have been having problems sleeping I decided to look up Scriptures on sleep. Most of my problems come with falling asleep or staying asleep. There are times I have no problems, but those days that I do are the pits.

There are not that many verses that I could find that specifically pertain to my situation. I did find three that I chose for myself.

Proverbs 3:24 

"When you lie down, you will not be afraid;

When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet."

(NASB)

Psalm 4:8

"In peace I will both lie down and sleep, 

For Thou alone, O Lord, dost make me to dwell in safety."

(NASB)

Jeremiah 31:25-26
"For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes.

At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me."

(NASB)

I'm not actually afraid when I lie down, but as I said I do have sleep issues. God says differently. My physical being and mind do not control me. By consistently reading these Scriptures I believe they will go from my head and into my spirit. I also know my Lord will honor my efforts.

I know there are those of you out there with similar issues or another issue. I truly believe we need to be transparent with those we know we can trust because God places them in our lives for a reason. They may have the exact word, at the exact time, that we need it. Proverbs 11:14 from the ESV says, "Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety."

Our God is faithful and His Word our blueprint for life.

Blessings my friends,

Shifra

Instruction Done with Correct Attitude

"But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."

1 Timothy 1:5 NASB

This is how we all should instruct someone whether it be from the youngest child to the oldest elder. The word RESPECT comes to mind. 

If we want our words to ring true then we must do it in such a fashion that we don't cause division or lead someone to retaliate. Not everyone will agree with what we say and that is okay. We are more likely to have more listeners when we do it according to God's plan then if we try to do it in our own flesh. 

When we get caught up in trying to bring forth instruction in our own way, we ourselves can then be led astray, and as a result we will lead others astray. It becomes like a tangled web.

Christ Jesus needs to be and remain our focal point in every situation for therein lies love, purity of heart, good conscience and faith. Jesus encompasses it all. 

Amen.

Independence Day

The Fourth of July is upon us, but I truly wonder how many people celebrate it for the right reasons. 

I think just too many of us look forward to partying with friends and sounding off the loudest and most beautiful displays of fireworks.

Do we take into account what our forefathers labored over all those years ago? Some maybe? Most, probably not.

I think we should make this year different and put it at the forefront of our gatherings. 

The Declaration of Independence in Congress, July 4, 1776. 

The unanimous Declaration of the 13 united States of America,

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes

which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. "…

Obviously, I could not type out the whole Declaration, but I'm sure I have opened some eyes. 

So my friends I hope that this Fourth of July that we at least remember why we celebrate and why it even exists. Our children and children's children need to know what it is all about and so truth will prevail. Amen.

Jesus, Jesus

Jesus, Jesus what a glorious name that is! A name of hope and continuous love for today and forevermore. 

Open your eyes and see from within what a marvelous thing He did. For you and for me He endured Cavalry; 

The cross before us and an open door; eternal life within.

The choice is yours---freedom or slavery to sin.

Jesus, Jesus what a glorious name that is!

Foretellings of Jesus, Yeshua

"Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,

And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,

The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of council and strength,

The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 

And he will delight in the fear of the Lord,

And he will not judge by what His eyes see,

Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

But with righteousness He will judge the poor,

And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;

And he will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, 

And with the breath of his lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, 

And faithfulness the belt about his waist."

Isaiah 11: 1-5 NASB

This scripture tells of the coming of the Messiah and also indicates that He was from the line of Jesse. Jesus or Yeshua delighted in His Father. It was said that He would be a lawful and fair judge. 

I will be sharing more scriptures indicating the coming of Messiah. All scriptures will be from the NASB.

Isaiah 4:2

"In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel." 

Notice the capitalization of Branch. Branch of the Lord refers to the Son of God.

Isaiah 9:6-7

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace,

On the throne of David and over his kingdom, 

To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness 

From then on and forever more.

The zeal of the Lord of host will topless this."

  

Isaiah 11:10

"Then it will come about in that day

That the nations will resort to the root of Jesse,

Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; 

And His resting place will be glorious." 

Isaiah 53:2-3

"For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, 

And like a root out of parched ground; 

He has no stately form or majesty

That we should look upon Him, 

Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

He was despised and forsaken of men,

A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

And like one from whom men hide their face,

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him."

I would suggest reading all of Isaiah 53 as it actually speaks of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Jeremiah 23:5-6

"Behold, the days are coming, "declares the Lord, "When I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch;

And He will reign as king and act wisely 

And do justice and righteousness in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved, 

And Israel will dwell securely; 

And this is his name by which He will be called, 

 'The Lord our righteousness.'"

Now if you go to the Gospel of Matthew 1 you will find the genealogy of Jesus. You will see that He is from the line of Jesse and King David was Jesse's son.

 

There are many more verses that refer to Jesus too.

See: Psalm 22; Proverbs 8....

Shalom my friends,

Shifra

Seeds of Discord (Semillas de la discordia)

Why is it that people constantly complain about others and cause seeds of dissension in the ranks?

Why do they have to be the 'thorn' rather than the 'rose'? Do they not realize that negativity only leads to more negativity?

When there is something that does not fit or work properly wouldn't it be better to be part of the solution rather than adding more fuel to the fire?

The 'Absalom spirit' must be dealt with. (Read 2 Samuel 15)

Absalom moved against King David by bringing others to his side. He talked King David down by sowing seeds of discord.

You will find that this spirit is found in homes, schools, the work place and yes even in churches.

My friends, let us be part of solving the problems and not creating them or adding to an already violative issue or situation.

Yours in Messiah,

Shifra

¿Por qué es que la gente constantemente se quejan de otros y hacer que las semillas de disensión en las filas?

¿Por qué tienen que ser la 'espina' en lugar de la 'Rosa'? ¿No se dan cuenta que la negatividad sólo conduce a más negatividad?

Cuando hay algo que no entra o funcionar correctamente ¿no sería mejor ser parte de la solución en lugar de agregar más combustible al fuego?

El "espíritu de Absalón" debe ser tratado. (Leer 2 Samuel 15)

Absalón se movió contra el rey David al traer a otros a su lado. Habló el rey David hacia abajo por siembra de semillas de la discordia.

Usted encontrará que este espíritu se encuentra en hogares, escuelas, el lugar de trabajo y sí incluso en las iglesias.

Mis amigos, seamos parte de la solución de los problemas y no creándolos o añadir a un tema ya escribirás o situación.

Suyo en el Mesías,

Shifra