"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Saturday, July 16, 2011

"BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED ME"

"We love him, because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19

When I woke up this morning at 2:27 am, I was singing the chorus that we sometimes sing in church, Oh, how I love Jesus, because he first loved me."  I lay in bed a few more minutes with this chorus going over and over in my mind and spirit.

"Oh, how I love Jesus because he first loved me." After a few minute's the Holy Spirit prompted me to get out of bed and come to my room where I study and read my different Bible translations and I have five or six devotion books that I read during the day, especially devotion books written by Oswald Chambers and Sarah Young.

I began to really think and dwell on the words of the chorus.  Jesus first loved me, before I was even aware of Him and His sacrifice of giving his life on the cross for me and for all mankind.  He loved me when I was a child growing up.  My family lived just across the dirt road from the church.  I remember even as a child when my Sunday school teacher would tell the class of His love for us, it would make me feel so warm and safe deep inside.

He loved me all through my years of growing up, becoming a teenager, graduating from high school, and starting to work.

I did not go to church regularly during those years, but God loved me and I could feel His call to me by His Holy Spirit.  Even though I did not fully surrender my life to Him until I was 24 years old, I could feel His Holy Spirit saying to me, "I Love You, I Love You."  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 KJV

When I  fully surrendered my life to Jesus and let His precious Blood cover my sins, I began to fall completely in love with Him.  The more I studied my Bible, the more I wanted to study.  The more I talked with Him in prayer the more I wanted to talk and communicate with Him.  Praying and communing with the  One that willingly gave His life for you and me becomes the most natural and precious part of our life.  We want to be in constant conversation with Him.  Sitting in a crowded room, no, I do not talk outloud to Him , but my spirit communicates with His Holy Spirit.  at home sometimes we communicate quietly, sometimes out loud.  Driving alone in the car is one of my favorite times to  talk with Him. I can talk as loud or as soft as a baby's whisper, it does not matter.  Just the very act of talking with Him is the most natural thing anyone willl ever do.  Our spirit just is not complete without communication with the One who died for our sins and made us whole in Him.  I love to go outside very early in the morning, hear the birds singing, and lift my hands toward heaven, throw my head back and shout out loud, "JESUS I LOVE YOU."

It still amazes me that Jesus Christ so willingly gave himself over to the tormentors to be broken, bruised and humiliated as no one before or since has ever been tormented.  Then to willingly walk up Calvary's hill lay down on the cross, have His precious hands and feet nailed into the wood, and say, "FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO."  Never before or since has such love been shown for all mankind to make a way that we can spend eternity with Him.

It has never been the will of God for anyone to go to hell.  Hell was meant for satan and his fallen angels.  That is why God sent His only Begotten Son Jesus Christ to earth to willingly shed his precious blood and  die for our sins so that we could escape hell.  God NEVER sends anyone to hell. Because God gave mankind the right to free choice, the person chooses whether they will spend eternity with God in heaven or eternity with satan in hell.  Precious reader, we make our own choice where we will spend eternity.  God has done everything He can to keep us out of hell, please ask Jesus into your heart today, to forgive you of your sins and ungodly way of living and let Jesus's precious blood cover your sins, no sin is so bad that Jesus will not forgive you and make your black heart, new and pure like white snow.

Please, do not turn Him away any more.  Just surrender your life to Him, I promise you, He is holding out His hand to you right now begging you to love Him as He first loved you.


Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.

Monday, July 4, 2011

GOD BLESS AMERICA, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, WE STILL STAND

"God Bless America, land that I love, stand beside Her and guide Her, through the night with Your Light from Above."

America, the land of the free, and the home of the brave, still stands true, no matter what the critics say otherwise. 

Several years ago my husband and I took a trip to two other countries, I will not name them, but they were not democratic nations as America is.  From the moment we stepped off the airplane in each country I had the immediate feeling and knowing that I was not in America, I was not free, I was in bondage to do what that Country required..

For the first time in my life, I felt afraid to be on the street, because I knew that if we were arrested, just because we were Americans, or the police did not like the way we looked or just for any reason there was virtually nothing we could do but be at the mercy of those countries.

In one of the countries the roads were so bad that the Land Rover we were traveling in had to travel on the  side of the road because there was virtually no asphalt on the road bed.

There were hardly any vehicles on the roads, because everyone walked.  When you did see a vehicle, there were people hanging on anywhere they could hold on.  On Sunday morning, I saw hundreds walking to church on the side of the road, and I thought oh, God, there are three vehicles in my yard that I could drive to church or I could call any number of people to pick me up.  But these people evidently did not have that privilege, so they walked.  It literally made me ashamed of myself,  and I asked myself, "would I walk to church for four or five miles if there were no transportation available?"

Americans, we have had it so good and have been so prospered by God for so long that we forget the good things about America.  Sometimes some people get so involved in the things that they think are so bad, as the old saying goes, "they cannot see the forest for the trees."

Yes, in so many ways our founding fathers values have slipped, but still, for all the things that are not right, there are so many things that are right.  We can still vote, if the one in office is too liberal, vote them out. Our roads have hardly any potholes. We can worship freely in the churches of our own choice, not told where we have to worship. Most homes have at least a dozen Bibles because we just want them. Most families have at least two vehicles. No one goes hungry, unless they chose because they are fasting or dieting.  Too many things to count are the blessing we enjoy as Americans.

Dear Readers, please pray for America, that she will return to God before God has to judge us,  In Genesis 18:32, a man (thought by Bible scholars to be Jesus) told Abraham that they would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there could be ten righteous people found in the cities. Surely there are ten righteous people in America, if we fast and pray for our Country, I believe God will not destroy America.

Again, I ask that instead of thinking and trying to find fault with our country, think on the many things and freedoms that we enjoy each day, one of them is the right to express our feelings about our country, but instead of complaining, why can't we just PRAY.  If each of us pray for America, it will put us in closer communion with God and we will begin to see the good in our country instead of all the time seeing what we think is bad.  Praying people CAN make a difference, all it takes is just a concentrated effort to Pray, and God will listen.

Precious readers, love America, don't put Her down, pray for Her, pledge your allegiance to Her, rejoice that you and I live in America where we are free.  Pray for our soldiers that are in harm's way trying to keep our country free from oppression and being overruled.  May God grant us the continued freedom that He has allowed us to have since the Revolutionary War was fought and won for our freedom.  God Bless America,

Love Gloria


Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.