magdelene7

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"I delight in your beauty."

"Excuse me, young lady!" The voice asked. "If I might, with permission of course, have the last dance tonight?"

"With me?" She asked, startled as she turned to the voice. "You must be mistaken, I'm an awfully poor choice."

"Who told you you're awful?" He asked. "How do you know?" "Can't you see for yourself? The whole world tells me so!"

Then onto the dance floor, walked the King as He said, "Would you like to, my child, hear what I think instead?"

Then the hall filled with music, as the King took her hand. She asked, "Your Majesty? Please, I dont understand!"

"I think you're beautiful." The King said as He smiled. "I treasure you deeply. You're lovely, my child.

"I think you're beautiful. Your hair and your braces, your glasses and clothes, your cumbersome graces.

"And many more traits which I could speak of. There's nothing about you I don't truly love.

"You're kind and you're honest, you're funny and smart. You're really quite charming, you have a good heart."

"Your Majesty?" She asked, as a tear came in view. "I'd like to believe You, is that really true?"

"Of course it is true, every word that I say! Daughter, I am the King, and I made you that way.

"I delight in your beauty, you're wonderfully made. I knew you before earth's foundation was laid.

"You're precious to Me, every hair on your head. Daughter, hear and believe!" The King said.

Then the music grew soft and came to an end, when the cuckoos above struck twelve once again.

She smiled as she stood in that hall all alone. "I'm... beautiful!" She said, and turned to go home.

– VeggieTales, Ep. #33 "Snoodlerella"

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"Leave the irreparable past in His hands, and step out into the irresistible future with Him." -Oswald Chambers

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"Faith in what Jesus did allows us to receive what Jesus did."

Lets look at Colossians 1:21-23 (NASB20)

v.21, "And although you were previously alienated and hostile in attitude, engaged in evil deeds,..."

ALIENATED- experiencing or including feelings of isolation or estrangement; transferred to the ownership of another person or group.

v.22a, "...yet He has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death,..."

RECONCILE- restore friendly relations between; cause to coexist in harmony; make or show to be compatible.

v.22b, "...in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—"

REPROACH- the expression of disapproval or disappointment.

We as humans were originally created to live and dwell with God. But sin isolated us from God, we were owned by our sin. We couldn't be close to God. That was until Jesus died, and bought us back. He wiped out sins clean, He restored our relationship, He made it so we could be right with God! He made it so we can be "BEYOND reproach", BEYOND God's disapproval or rejection.

IF...

v.23a, "...if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard,..."

The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ and what He did for mankind, which was sacrifice Himself so that we could be restored to our original intended relationship with the God of the universe.

"Faith in what Jesus did allows us to receive what Jesus did."

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"If we do not resolutley sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural in us."

–Oswald Chambers

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"Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exist."

-C. S. Lewis

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Thank the LORD every day that His Spirit dwells in you. It's such a privilege and a gift that we often take for granted.

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A misconception about the Christian faith that a lot of people (including Christians!) really struggle with is that forgiveness = no consequences for your sins. That's what people think Christianity preaches, and it is a major hurdle for them. They think that if a serial killer genuinely repents, that means that Christianity says they are able to get off scot-free with their crimes, or that it means they should be let out of jail, etc.

That is not true.

There are quite a few figures in the Bible who committed acts of evil, and repented for it. And God heard them! But oftentimes, their sins caused catastrophic damage to those around them, and they had to live (and die) with what they caused. The entirety of the Old Testament is a domino-effect of this happening over and over.

If someone genuinely repents before God, the forgiveness they receive from God is a perfect forgiveness. But we live in a fallen world affected by sin. Sin has consequences. Other people are often hurt by our sins, even if we aren't aware of it.

We have to live with the consequences of our actions in this world. Part of repentance requires accepting those consequences, otherwise it's not genuine.

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"It is by the fear of the LORD that we depart from evil, not by the love of God. The love of God draws us to Him; the fear of God keeps us from the evil that seeks to destroy us."

–John Bevere

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Image-bearers

"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

-Genesis 1:27

Human beings are the image-bearers of God.

We don't lift up ourselves, we display the image that God has put inside of us. The image that reflects God.

(Sin destroys that image, but we have Jesus, who restores it!)

Embrace what God has put inside you to further His glory.

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Good Things

"For we are God's masterpieces. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago."

-Ephesians 2:10

The things that God wants for us or has planned for us are not bad. They are GOOD works that God MADE US to do.

We don't have to feel scared or worried about where He has called us. He made us specifically for certain things, He wouldn't call us to things that He didn't make us for.

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Today's worship of idols and "false gods".

Ecclesiastes 1:9:

"What has been, it is what will be,

And what has been done, it is what will be done.

So there is nothing new under the sun."

When we think of "idol worship" or "false gods", we immediately think of ancient civilizations bowing down to golden statues and doing unusual ceremonial sacrifices. We look at that and say, "Well, that's obviously evil and wrong."

We may not do the EXACT practices of people in those days, but the truth is, we still worship "false gods" and idols today, whether or not you realize it.

Worship means to respect and show deep reverence. When you worship something, you're saying, "This thing is the MOST important, and I will devote and sacrifice my time and things to it."

People have done this for ALL of human history, it's in our nature. When we think highly of something, we want our lives and actions to revolve around it.

Ancient civilizations worshiped their idols to seek favor and get benefits. Our idols today include money, adoration/fame, other people, so many things! We usually devote our time to these things to get something out of it. Comfort? Safety? Entertainment? Anything.

And yet, just like a gold statue made hundreds of years ago, the idols we devote ourselves to today are useless. Just like the verse above states, "There is nothing new under the sun." You can't gain anything meaningful from idols, they only take away things from your life. Even if it provides momentary pleasure, it doesn't make a lasting impact.

For generations and generations, God has proven Himself to be worthy of worship, and the life that He offers is full of meaning and purpose. There is no regret in putting God as your first priority, and putting His importance in your life above all!

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Attributes for "Unity of the Spirit". (Eph. 4:1-3)

Ephesians 4:1-3:

"Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

There are different attributes and characteristics in this scripture passage, so here are their definitions.

HUMILITY- a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness.

GENTLENESS- the quality of being kind, tender, or mild-mannered.

PATIENCE- the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER (IN LOVE)- not stopping to love others despite each other's faults; being patient with others.

DILIGENCE- careful and persistent work or effort.

All of these characteristics help us to be unified with each other in the Spirit, and to walk in a way that pleases God.

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Northern Lights

The only way to see its beauty is to have the darkness surround you.

However, you don't focus on the darkness, because there are beautiful lights shining right in front of you!

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"There is no sanctification without sacrifice."

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We need God ALL THE TIME.

People often go to God when they have nothing else to go to. Of course if you had nothing else, you would go to the One who is always there, right?

But... do you ONLY go to God when you have nothing?

In this age of so many distractions and opportunities, we sometimes feel like we don't have a need for God. But we shouldn't treat Him like that!

Spend as much time with God as if He was all you had. I mean, He is our ONLY hope, but we get so distracted! He is so gracious to let us be with Him, we can't take that for granted! He gave SO much to be with us, and He wants to get all that He paid for.

Don't go to God as a vending machine or genie. That's ABUSING your relationship with Him. Imagine treating another person like that, how do you think they'd feel?

Don't go to God only when you *think* you need Him. Because we need Him always! And He is offering His love and peace always, too!

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"Wood must be continually added to a fire to keep it burning. We must continually add things in our lives DAILY that keep God's fire burning bright in us!"