What scars do you have?

We all have scars, some inside some out. Scars serve as a reminder a lesson learned, a lesson to be shared.

I grew up in Church , had great head knowledge of God, and great heart knowledge of those who called themselves Christians. A lot of them that I seen go to the churches on Sundays are the same ones I hung out with on the weeknights in the local bars.

I said to myself this is not what a child of God should be someone who plays a part, but I to played the part as a child of God I did not know Him as my Lord and Savior.  I asked Christ into my heart a thousand times but I never meant it,

I led worship in our church, could quote scriptures ,I knew the Bible backwards and forwards but none of it meant anything to me.

I lived life on my terms.

Mother's Day 1984 I walked into church after binge dinking all night. I would not set foot in Church until almost ten years later. I only came back to church because it profited me , God still had work to do in my life. And for the next five years of my life I fought God every time harder than before, knowing what was right and wrong. I wasn't willing to submit to Him yet.

By the world's standards I had everything you could ask for I had a job as a general sales manager for a car lot making $15,000 plus a month , money was my god and I served her well,most people didn't like me, including me.

But October 22nd 1998 it all changed when asked in a meeting at church if I left here tonight and went into eternity where would I go? and I heard God say to me that I would go to hell. I stopped in my tracks and could go no further. That night I surrendered my life to God He took my anger , He took my pride, He took my greed, He took my smoking, He took my drinking, He took my vocabulary, He took me and buried me.. I offered Him a broken vessel, He gave me Grace.

The next day I walked in and quit my job I was looked at like I was crazy but I knew I could no longer do my job in good conscience, I no onger wrestled with the Lord but started walking with Him.

Change in me was easy to see , I told God when I walked away that either I was all in or all out. I was all out to long. Now I am all in.

This is just a glimpse of what God has done for me and in me and is still doing. I bear the scars of choices I made, ones that remind me daily of the Grace I have received.

I can't boast of anything except who Jesus Christ is and what He has done and is doing in me. If it were not for His grace I would be dead or in prison for the things I have done, I can think of 10 times these 2 things should have happened, but God spared me.

God has spared each of us for such a time as this to reach the unreachable to love the unlovable for we to were once one of them.

Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted.  Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But each person should examine his own work, and then he will have a reason for boasting in himself alone, and not in respect to someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load. Galatians 6:1-5

But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation.  May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy to the Israel of God! From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body scars for the cause of Jesus.  Brothers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Galatians 6:14-18

Is it right to be angry?

Is it ever right to be angry?

I’m not very good with anger. I hate it when people get angry with me. And when I say something in the heat of the moment out of anger I spend hours afterwards regretting it.

What does God’s anger mean to us? Do we really expect him to get angry with us, punish us?

God does get angry, and rightfully so, He sees beginning and end at the same time, and sees the heart of wickedness in mankind, and He deals justly with it, God never reacts He acts against it, and says leave vengeance to Him.

There are many things in our world today which can rightly make us angry. We have to do what we can to put things right, and then leave the rest to God. We need to help people to realise, that only true repentance can turn away God's anger.

We need to pray we will understand our own anger  and know when to use it and when to apologise to God.

Humanity is brought low, man is humbled, and haughty eyes are humbled. But the Lord of Hosts is exalted by His justice, and the holy God is distinguished by righteousness. Lambs will graze as if in their own pastures, and strangers will eat among the ruins of the rich. Woe to those who drag wickedness with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes, to those who say: “Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly so that we can see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place so that we can know it! ” Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion and clever in their own sight.  Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the Lord ’s anger burns against His people. He raised His hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised to strike. He raises a signal flag for the distant nations and whistles for them from the ends of the earth. Look — how quickly and swiftly they come! None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap broken. Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses’ hooves are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind. Their roaring is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry it off, and no one can rescue it. On that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress; light will be obscured by clouds.
Isaiah 5:15-21, 24-30