Hello Mornings - Believe

He says it over and over and over again.

Believe.

"I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life."  John 5:24

And not only that. Once we believe we have eternal life. It is done. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation.

Not...once you change your ways and stop sinning. 

Not....once you do enough good deeds

Not....if you read your Bible enough

Not....if you pray hard enough and attend church regularly

Now.....we HAVE eternal life, from the moment we first believe we "have already passed from death into life." (John 5:24b)

This verse says it all:

Jesus told them, "This is the only work God wants from you; Believe in the one He has sent." 

John 6:29

All we are required to do is BELIEVE. Everything else will fall into place. He will change our hearts and guide our actions. Our belief will lead us into prayer and worship and good deeds and out of sin. Our belief will cause us to follow Him. It becomes the desire of our hearts to do His will. 

I'm doing the Meet Jesus study with the Hello Mornings group HMCPsalm1438 and this is what He has been impressing on me. Just believe. Quit trying so hard to earn my way, just believe. It's where everything starts.

So, although our study is from John, my prayer today is from the book of Mark: 

"The father instantly cried out, "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!" 

Mark 9:24

"For it is my Father's will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day."

John 6:40

View

I think about you a lot.
Missing you every day.
It's the little things that remind me of you......
A song that was your favorite,
A bike tire that needs fixing,
The sound of a lawnmower and the smell of fresh cut grass,
Our boy wearing your cologne to remind himself of you.....

It helps knowing where you are
Who you are with......
Sometimes I try to imagine the view.....
The golden streets,
The pearl gates,
The angels,
The room that Jesus made just for you.
And the one He is preparing for me.

Linking up with Lisa Jo Baker for Five Minute Fridays. Join in and be blessed!

Comfort

I know it's Thursday and we are just hours away from a new prompt for 5 Minute Fridays with Lisa Jo, but I've had this word on my mind all week. Since I had to do a tiny bit of "research" --does looking up words count as research?!?----I suppose I'm not following the rules, but here goes anyway! Just under the wire....

COMFORT

A few months back, during a sermon on Sunday morning, the pastor speaking was talking about the Holy Spirit and how He is our comforter. He then went on to explain that in Hebrew the word comfort actually means strengthen. I wanted to know more so I looked it up for myself......it not only means strengthen, it also means sustain, support .....comfort.

This is so much more than my version of comfort which was to soothe and console. And those are an important part of comfort, but to be strengthened, supported, sustained......it is so much more powerful!

 It also made me look back on my hardest of times and be able to see His presence with me. Holding me up, supporting me, sustaining me, strengthening me.....comforting me.

Linking up (a little late!) with Lisa Jo Baker for Five Minute Fridays! To join in click HERE!

Brave

Brave. It has been a topic of conversation around our house lately.

My 3rd grade son has been having trouble with a boy in his class bullying him. It is really hard to take, my momma bear really rises up. My son is a people-pleaser, conflict-avoider, super-sensitive, follow-alonger. I would like to say I have no idea where he got that from, but I can't. He totally got it from me.

I'm trying to teach him differently though.  I'm praying he can learn from my experiences and be brave way before I was. I'm learning it won't take him as long to trust Jesus as it did me.  See I used to think that "brave" meant having no fear. I was totally wrong, brave is having fear and doing it anyway.....that's what makes it brave. The other side to that is learning to trust Jesus in our fear. Knowing that Jesus is with us can make us brave in spite of our fear.

So, we've been praying and my son has been brave. He's gone to school and has been having a great week. (And the other boy has left him alone.)

Soon, I'll be taking lessons on bravery from him.

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I'm linking up with LisaJo today for Five Minute Friday! Join in and be blessed! To find out more, click HERE.