Everyday MattersThere's a reason for everyday.
Despite the bad and the good, everyday matters. |
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1/20/2021 You Need JesusWednesday Matters- January 20, 2020
Everyday I need Jesus When I honestly accepted who God said I was, loved, redeemed and not a mistake, I felt I could stop pretending and performing. I need Him desperately. It is not the “they” who are poor, sinful and lost. It’s awareness that we ourselves are the primary target. Unless we acknowledge that we are the sinners, the sick ones and the lost sheep for whom Jesus came, we do not belong to the “blessed” who know that they are poor and inherit the Kingdom. Do you ever try and appear righteous before God and others with your performance? I have and it’s exhausting. It’s a dangerous zone when get our assurance from wealth or our status. Oh, my goodness, “they” is me, wretched, pitiably poor and so often blind. Isaiah 64 lays things out clearly when we begin to think, “I’m doing really well here.” “We’re all unclean and all our righteous acts are like filthy garbage. It’s what Jesus did on the cross that cleans us up and sets us free…everyday.
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1/13/2021 Giving God’s GraceWednesday Matters- January 13, 2020
Everyday MERCY “Dan, c’mon, please pay the bill. My allowance won’t cover it.” I was at my husband’s office asking for grace as I handed him the bill from spending too much at J. Crew Catalog. Whew…he forgave and paid the bill. I was relieved. But when I went home, I discovered that a stick of butter, my special cake plate and a container of frosting was missing. I knew my nephew had baked a cake while I was away so I called and scolded him for not replacing my supplies. When I hung up the phone, I realized I was acting like the ungrateful servant in Matthew 18. A king was about to punish this servant for a debt of millions but instead had pity and forgave. But was this servant grateful? No, he instantly found his friend who owed him a few thousand and when instant payment wasn’t given, he had the man thrown in prison. Okay, so I got the memo. God gives fresh mercy to us each day so how can we afford to withhold mercy from others who need it too…everyday. 1/6/2021 Jesus is LordWednesday Matters- January 6, 2020
Everyday Jesus is Lord Okay so you’re talking to a person who says they know and love Jesus. Great. But the more you talk the more you realize that you’re kinda saying the same thing but you’re not. I love to talk about the love of Jesus but also about His holiness too. And now I realize that not everyone who agrees Jesus is love understands that He is holy. I’m on the same page as pastor and theologian Warren Wiersbe. “False teachers deny the inspiration of the Bible, the sinfulness of man, the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross, salvation by faith alone, and even the reality of eternal judgment. They deny the deity of Jesus Christ, for they know that if they do away with His deity, they can ignore the entire body of Christian truth. Christianity is Christ, and if He is not who He claims to be, there is no Christian faith.” Christ is our Savior and only through faith in Him can we have eternal life…everyday. 12/30/2020 HumilityWednesday Matters-December 30, 2020
Everyday Humility Remember that song, “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in everyday way?” We laugh cuz like yeah right, “as if.” But sometimes we’re so busy pointing out the faults of others that we don’t take time to look at our own that we need to address. My mentor friend Barb wrote, “True humility is not a denial of your positive attributes. It isn’t a humble person who says, “I’m not good at anything.” This is an expression of pride which says, “Look at poor me. I just have to have special consideration because I’m so weak. Please pity me...treat me well.” On the contrary, the truly humble person recognizes their strengths and weaknesses and so rather than a concentration on yourself, humility leads you to look around you for opportunities to encourage and help others.” Snap. When you understand humility that way it helps you to be confident in the gifts God’s given you rather than feeling bad about what you don’t have. Happy and free people are humble people…everyday. 12/23/2020 Kindness WinsWednesday Matters-December 23, 2020
Everyday Compliment Crazy “It’s not fair. They don’t deserve my kindness and I’m certainly not going to compliment them because they think they have it all together.” Very often those difficult people in our lives are family. We think; “How can they be so clueless to their own junk and continue to point out mine?” But here’s the deal; we may not think they deserve our love or kindness but neither do we deserve God’s grace and kindness toward us. The advice given me was; “Debbie, just lavish them with love. Compliment and see what happens in your heart and in theirs.” Guess what it works. Love someone with simply acts of kindness by praising the good of who they are and you’ll be amazed at how God changes your heart and theirs. Truth from God in John 13:34; “Love one another as I have loved you.” It’s hard at first…really hard. But the change, the blessing, the beginning of healing in a broken relationship…oh you’ll be thinking; “Why didn’t I do this sooner…everyday.” 12/16/2020 Marriage & MoneyWednesday Matters-December 16, 2020
Everyday Money, Honey Money can be a big fighting issue between a husband and wife. It’s proved true for my husband Dan and me. But after almost 26 years of marriage, we’re strong which basically means I’m allowing God to take my strong will so I’m the sort of wife who helps my husband and not hinder him especially in the way I spend money. Giving me an allowance helped me stay within necessary boundaries. If I wanna blow my whole month’s allowance on shoes I can…I did. “But Debbie, you’re supposed to say; ‘Get thee behind me Satan when you’re tempted.’” “Dan, I did. But he said, ‘Ya know it looks even better from back here than it did in the mirror.’” Proverbs 31 tells us about being a godly woman and one virtue is a wife who can be trusted. Girls, honor God by honoring your husbands’ because it’s a journey we take together…everyday. 12/9/2020 God is ABLE!Wednesday Matters-December 9, 2020
Everyday God say; I AM Think about how crazy it was for Moses to hear God speaking from a burning bush. It seems a little weird too. God speaks in love but He’s direct when He tells Moses, “Get to Egypt, get my people and GO!” And when Moses asks “What should I say to the people when they ask me your name?” it seems that God didn’t want to spend a lot of time telling Moses all the things He was, so He simply said in Exodus 3:14, “Tell My people I AM has sent Me to you!” “Okay, whatever that means”, Moses must have thought but upon “seeing” who God was Moses probably realized that I AM meant everything! God IS saying, “What you need… I AM! I AM your navigator, speaker, provider, comforter, and strength …I AM EVERYTHING YOU NEED when you need it…everyday!” 12/2/2020 God Cares About YouWednesday Matters-December 2, 2020
Everyday He Understands “No one understands what I’m going through and it’s not fair.” Does that sound familiar? Yet we can read in Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus experienced every emotion and suffered every feeling you and I do BUT He did it without sin! He didn’t give in to His negative feelings because He KNEW GOD, He is God. You and I will never be able to say “no” to our feelings if we don’t have within us a strong knowledge of who God is and how much He loves us. When my feelings are hurt by someone the best thing I can do is talk to God; “Jesus do You see what’s happening here and what I’m feeling! Thank You for not condemning me for feeling this way. Help me to forgive, and not pay back the person who’s hurt me.” I pray THAT all the time. God knows. He understands. God is able to work with us and our feelings… everyday. 11/25/2020 How to PrayWednesday Matters-November 25, 2020
Everyday Simple Prayer Sometimes I like reading the Message Bible because of its everyday relatable language. I mean look at Matthew 6: 5-13 telling us how to simply prayer; "Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place and just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace. The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. God knows better than you what you need. Pray simply: Our Father in heaven, reveal who You are. Set the world right; Do what's best— as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with You and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty…everyday! 11/18/2020 God’s Grace IS WorkingWednesday Matters-November 18, 2020
Everyday Performer I am performer. I love the stage. I love to take on a new character, an accent and present to an audience. But when it comes to real life I don’t want to perform. I want to be viewed as real, honest and sincere. No matter how long we’ve known Jesus personally, or professed ourselves as a believer it’s still important to go back to our ABC’S of Christianity: Admit, Believe and Confess. Admit we can’t go at it alone. We need the grace of God. Believe Jesus is who He says He is, trust Him. And Confess our own sin and stop trying to point out everyone else’s. Just think if your “thought-life” was recorded from just yesterday? Think of the judging of others, including yourself. HOWEVER, there is a God who knows EXACTLY our thoughts, dreams, hurts, motives and desires. He’s there with grace to make us new. Jesus loves with no conditions. He is always on the move in our lives with redemption and grace. This crazy love is from Jesus in a relationship and not through religion…everyday. |
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