REMEMBER, IT WAS JESUS ALONE, THAT MAKES IT "GOOD FRIDAY"

"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

Today is "Good Friday", but when we consider the sacrifice's of God's Son, Jesus Christ, and what he suffered: A night filled with mock trials, where no evidence could be found against him, shame, humiliation, beatings, scourging, ridicule from his own people, rejection and the ultimate horror of dying a criminals death on the cross, the Bible tells us that he was as a lamb led to the slaughter, in other words, a sinless spotless lamb.  He suffered all these things and more for us. 

How can today be called "Good Friday"? 

Jesus came into this world knowing that he would be given as a spotless lamb for the sin, disease, shame and degradation of the whole world and that he would die as a criminal on the cross. Only could he, spotless and sinless, the very Son of God, pay the debt for every sin and evil in the world. 

The night He was arrested he went with His disciple's into the garden of Gethsemane to pray.  He said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with me." Matthew 25:36 KJV.  "And he went  a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt." Matthew 26:39

I believe that the reason that Jesus dreaded the cross was that he knew that for the very first time in all eternity, all beginning and the Word says that God has no beginning and no end.  He always has been, always will be.  For the very first time, Jesus would be separated from His Father. For the very first time from beginning until that time on the cross there would be no communion, no fellowship between Jesus and His Father, I believe this is what Jesus dreaded, more than all he would have to suffer.  Because on the cross Jesus would bear in his own body all the sin, disease, evil, degradation, crimes  that ever had or would ever be committed, on his own  sinless body. Jesus literally suffered the weight of every evil and ugly thing on His body as he died on the cross.  Because it is impossible for God the Father to look on sin, He would have to turn His face away from His Son as he suffered death on the cross.  I am so glad that he said, "nevertheless, not my will but thine, to His Father." He shed every drop of his precious blood in his sufferings and that Blood is what covers our sins and makes us whole and clean.

Dear reader, Jesus did this for me and for you and for everyone that will just ask Him into their heart and repent of their wrongs and ask Him to become their Savior, from that instant on, live each moment trusting Him to lead and guide us through this life.  Once we have accepted Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for our sins and shortcomings, the Holy Spirit will come and dwell in us to lead us in the ways of God.

If you have never given consideration that you need a "Savior", even if you have never prayed before, just right now ask God to show you that you need  to accept Jesus Christ into your heart and life to forgive you of  EVERY wrong doing, I don't care what they are, Jesus will forgive you of EVERY wrong doing in your life.  Please just try, just pray, "Oh, God, I believe that I am a sinner,I now repent of all my sin, and I want to ask your Son Jesus Christ into my life, to apply His precious Blood over every sin in my life, make me new and clean with my sins washed away.  Lord from this moment on, I am going to live for you and I will tell people that I meet, that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.  Amen."

If you just prayed the prayer, tell someone what has happened to you.  Find a Bible, and begin to read, starting with the New Testament, read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John first.  Make Bible reading a part of every day.  This Sunday which is Easter Sunday, in memory of His Resurrection Day.  That's correct Jesus is not dead today.  On the third day after he was killed, very early in the morning the Spirit of God resurrected Him from the dead, he was seen by many before he ascended back to His Father in heaven.  Jesus now sits at the right hand of The Father, constantly making intercession (praying) to God for his children, the ones that have made him their Savior.

AND THAT DEAR READER IS WHY WE  CAN CALL TODAY "GOOD FRIDAY"

Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.

GOING HIGHER WITH GOD, BE SURE YOU ARE LISTENING TO THE CORRECT VOICE

Matthew 7:24-27 (KJV) "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock.  And everyone that heareth these sayngs of mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain desended, and the floods came and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." 

We all want to "go higher" in God. Over the years in an earnest zeal for God I am ashamed to confess that I have not always prayed and fasted enough to be sure the voice I listened to was God, or the accusing voice of satan saying,  "You never do anything for God, everyone will get credit but not you you are faithless."

Satan will prompt Christians to "go higher", to do some wondrous thing, just throw caution to the wind, surely you have enough faith.  Don't take the time to fast and pray.  Quit being a wimp, just do it.  God does not bless wimpy Christians." Does this sound familiar?  No one wants to be a hindrance to the Kingdom of God.  Remember anything that satan asks you to do for God is for your FAILURE, the thing that you do will be as the man that built his house on the sand, the rains will come and wash it away, there is no foundation built  in God.

So we throw caution to the wind thinking we are doing something for God, because being praised and being exalted feels so good so it must be for God right? WRONG! God has gotten NO glory, only you.  Suddenly there you are exalted high up, holding tight to a precipice, no where to stand, just hanging there, no foundation under your feet, a slippery crumbling slope.  High up so you can be seen, yes, but there is no Glory for God, only you with shame in your face that you let satan fool you, well let's not give him all the credit our pride got in the way and sadly we listened. 

But where is God, oh, did I forget to bring Him with me up here?  Surely he knew to follow me here.  Then I realize God does not FOLLOW,  He LEADS.

When we listen to what satan has to say he is playing on our greatest fear, and that is the fear of failing God.  Remember the fear of failing God IS NOT FROM GOD. 2Timothy 1:7, KJV "For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind." 

Oh God, help me get down from this place forgive me for letting myself be deceived by the voice of satan.  Forgive me that I did not take the time to fast and pray to be sure that the voice I heard was Yours.  When God asks us to do something for Him, he will lead us into a time of prayer and reading His WORD for guidance and for assurance.

God, help me get down from this place where I let satan lead me, please put my feet back on Your  Foundation, on solid ground which is the Rock Christ Jesus.

Yes, God's WORD does encourage us go "go higher", but that comes as we spend time getting instruction from God in His WORD.  Spending time on our knees, letting His Holy Spirit lead, guide and instruct us.

"Going higher" in God does not promise us fame or wealth in this present world.  Our heart's focus is to see souls come to  accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives because of His death on the cross for our and their sins.  We pray for them, help disciple them in the WORD and help them grow in God and in their faith.  We encourage them to live lives that will be pleasing to God, so when the trumpet sounds they will hear it and be caught up with Jesus in the air, and forever live with him in the new heaven and new earth that is now being prepared for those that love Him.

When we "go higher" in God we seek to exalt only His Holy Name, never our own.  God sees and knows our efforts to glorify Him.  The world may never hear us intercede for souls at the midnight hour when we have been awakened by The Holy Spirit.  Will never know the hours we have spent studying His WORD.  May never know when we have given an uplifting word or phone call to someone that desperately needed to be reminded of God's love for them at that exact time.

Precious reader, we all want to do our very best for our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.  We must always remember it is not just the "famous" or "great" men and women of God that will have crowns to lay at Jesus feet, but also we who are just "worker bees" in His Kingdom will also have crowns to lay at His precious nail scared feet.  he will look at us with His eyes of pure love and he will  say to us, "Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Matthew 25:11 KJV 

And so shall we always eternally be with Him.



Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.

JESUS, HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE ME?

Jesus, how much do you love me, I asked. "This much," He replied and He stretched out his out His arms and died.

I do not know where I read this quote or who wrote it.  The first time I read it I remember I literally held my breath for an instant as the power and true meaning of these words hit my mind and heart like a thunder bolt. 

Oh LORD Jesus you DID willing stretch out your bruised and bleeding arms on a wooden cross and died for me.  It became so personal and clear to me as I once again realized how much God loves not only me, but everyone that has ever been born into this world. John 3:16 tells us, "that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."KJV

Rembember, it was not the nails in Jesus hands and feet that held Him to the cross.  What was it then?  It was His love for me and for you that He willing left his home in glory, where He had always been with His Father God, to come to earth, to be born in a stable, live as a poor carpenter and then be betrayed and die on a cross to shed His precious blood for our sins, our healing and so we can have the peace that passes all understand in any situation.  Dear reader this was no accident. This was planned by God before the foundation of the world.  Jesus knew when he came to earth that this was His mission and he saw it fulfilled.    No man has ever before or since Jesus, suffered as He suffered for us at the hands of cruel men. His will  and purpose was to please His Father, and to provide for us a way to be forever with God  when  we die or if we live until He comes for us in the clouds. If we just ask Him to be our Savior, He will apply the blood that He shed for all mankind to us, cover our past, and make us like new.  Just think we become a new creature in Jesus Christ.

Not only did He die but he shed every precious drop of His blood, the stripes on His back are for our healing and He was chastised so that we might have the peace of God that passes ALL understanding.  Then He was buried in a borrowed tomb.

There may be weeping for the night, but JOY cometh in the morning. 

The Bible says that early on the third day which was Sunday morning, Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdeline and some others came to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus with spices.  They wondered among themselves, "how will we be able to roll away the heavy stone that the soldiers put in front of the grave."  But when the ladies got to the tomb they saw that it was open.  They saw an angel they were frightened.  The angel said unto them,"I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here: for he is risen as He said.  Come see the place where the Lord  lay. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and behold, He goeth before you into Galilee, there ye shall see Him: lo, I have told you." Matthew 28:L5-7

Dear Reader, that is why we celebrate Easter, it the day to commerate and praise Jesus Christ our Savior for being willing to be beaten, burised, scorned and  to hang on the old rugged cross until He shed every drop of His precious blood for who? FOR ME AND FOR YOU,  please get this into your mind and heart FOR YOU, no matter what your life is like now: that can and will change in an instant the moment you asked Jesus to be your Savior and to apply His blood to cover your sins and forgive you.  Please say this prayer with me: Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner, I have not lived according to your Word the Holy Bible.  Lord I am tired of fighting all by myself.  I need you, truly need you to be Lord of my life.  Please forgive me of every sin that I have ever commited and take away all the bad habits that control my life.  Lord I give all my sins and everything not like you, to you to cover them with your blood.  The Bible says that you will never remember them anymore.  From this moment on I am a new creation in You.  Lord I will tell someone what you have done for me and I pledge to make the rest of my life as an example of what you have done for me and will do for anyone that asks you.

Please find a good Bible believing church and get up in the morning and attend, if you do not have a Bible I am sure that someone in the church will be most happy to give you one.  God will never turn anyone away if we come to Him with a repentent heart.  God bless you as you begin your journey in this most wonderful path of life with Him.,  Love Gloria

Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.

ARE YOU SPIRITUALLY EXHAUSTED?

Isaiah 40:31 says, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles.  They shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.

Thank you for being one of my precious blog followers.


Spiritual exhaustion comes thru service, always giving out, never replenishing our spirit with His Word, prayer, and communion with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, "feed my sheep', this means that we must have to be nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God for themselves.  There is always something to do in the church, whether it is a class to teach, or some other job to do.  Our first response is if no one else will do it then I will have to do the job, no matter how busy I already am.  Soon, those around us can see that there is no joy in our service, no spiritual activity within us because we have become spiritually drained.

Satan does not care how busy we are working for the church, because the more we do, the more depleted we become emotionally, physically and saddest of all spiritually.  This is when he can so easily get our minds off the important things of God and  we begin to slip into a spiritual valley.

Yes there is much to do in the work of God, we must all be committed to doing our part, but the most important thing to remember is that the Holy Spirit will put a burning desire into us when He desires for us to take on or continue doing something for Him.  Instead of thinking we know more than God and volunteer to do a specific thing because no one else at the moment will volunteer, is not God's will for us.  If the job in the church really is of God, he will speak to someone about doing it.  Maybe not in an instant, but the world will not come to an end if we wait upon the Lord and let Him speak to the person that He has in mind for that work. 

You can only drive a vehicle as long as there is fuel in the tank.  When the fuel is depleted, the vehicle will stop and will have to be pushed.  The same thing applies to our work for the Lord, we can only work and be effective for the Kingdom of God IF we keep our spiritual self full of His Word, prayer, and communion with His Spirit.  If we have to study to teach 3 or 4 classes, or prepare to chair 3 or 4 committees in the church, when are we going to find the time to get alone with God to refresh our spiritual man?  The Bible states that Jesus had to get alone with God to stay on course to do His Father's Will that He had been born in to this world to accomplish.

The night that Jesus was arrested he was in the garden of Gethsemane.  He told His disciples to tarry while we went a little piece away to pray  alone because, "His soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death."
If we do not stay in a spirit of prayer and communion with the Holy Spirit our souls can become exceedingly sorrowful with the cares of this world.

Remember satan is as a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour.  Life can become so full of troubles that we forget that all we can do is to turn them over to God.  When we let God handle our problems and questions and ask for wisdom, the Bible says that He will give it to us and he will not rebuke us for asking.  If we seek the Holy Spirit with all our heart, mind and strength, He will give us that peace that passes ALL understanding.

Again, thank you my precious friend for reading this blog,
Love, Gloria Powell



Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.

Psalm 23

“Even in the Valley God is Good”.   There is a lovely young lady in our Church (Robin O.) who occasionally sings that song.  I always think of Psalm 23.

God has given me 2-3 wonderful glimpses of Psalm 23, but I woke up early one morning and it just kept going over and over in my mind about being in “the valley.” 

How can our mind wrap around such a statement as God being good even in the midst of the valley.  When I think of being in the valley, I think of turmoil and circumstances of life gone wrong.  Maybe you’ve been out of a job for a while, the bank is calling your mortgage is payments behind, the car is payments behind.  You went to the doctor and a small lump or an unusual ache in your body turns out to be cancer. Our children’s lives are in a mess.  Or worse, someone you love has just died, How in the world can we lift our hands to the Lord and say, “Even in the valley, God is good?’

In Psalm 23, David likens us to sheep in the flock of the Great Shepard.  Verse 1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”, God is already on the way with our answers.  Verse 2, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, Verse 3, “He restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness for His namesake”  Everything may seem to be wrong with no end in sight but God is always there just a call away just say “Jesus.

The Good Shepherd takes his sheep in to the lush green pastures, where they can be fed and refreshed, We must refresh ourselves on the Word of God, that is what feeds our mind and our soul. He leadeth me beside the still waters, not the stagnant water covered in slime and debris, not the rushing troubled waters, but the slow moving calm quiet waters, where we drink to our fill.  When we fill our mind and heart on the Word and drink of His Holy Spirit we become refreshed and renewed.

Just let your imagination take hold.  Can’t you picture the green pastures, the grass is tall and lush and green, it smells so good and clean the sun has warmed it.  There are wild flowers growing abundantly.  Just take a moment to pick a handful of wild flowers, hold them up to your face, and feel the loveliness and beauty of them.  Kneel down in the green grass and drink from the refreshing clean water.  Now lie back and let the grass envelope you like a cocoon.  You begin to get drowsy, the Holy Spirit is refreshing your spirit with the Love of God  you are cocooned in His love and grace. Let His Spirit speak to your mind and heart about how much He loves you, begin to praise Him, not because of the valley, but because of the fact that when this trial is over you will come forth as pure gold and God will in the end receive the Honor and Glory because you have been faithful even in the hardest time of your life.

Verse 4, “Yea thou I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."   As a shepherd gently uses his rod to lead his sheep and keep them on the right path, the sheep know that the shepherd will keep them safe even thou they may be walking in the valley where wild animals abound and death maybe close at hand.  So we can rest assured that our Shepherd will lead us thru this valley and keep us safe until we have safely crossed thru.

Verse 5, “ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, thou anointeth my head with oil, my cup runneth over.” Our enemy is satan and even he seems to be running rampant in your life always know that when we praise and worship our Shepherd, our Savior Jesus Christ, that he will prepare a table of spiritual meat and drink right before satan’s eyes and there is nothing that satan can do but leave us .

Verse 6, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”   No one knows how long their life will be.  For some, life is but a short time, while others live to a ripe old age.  Maybe for some ~His best for us is to take us home to be with Him, and that is the ultimate leaving of the valley, and I truly believe that Jesus is coming back in the air for his people--and could be just any second, or any day, we will hear the trumpet sound.  Those that are asleep in Jesus will rise first to meet Him in the air and those that are alive on this earth will join them in the air and so will we ever be with the Lord, forever without end. Never to face another valley.

If you are in a valley today, whether spiritual, emotional, physical, know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, ready to guide and lead you through this valley into the paths of His Blessings.  He will restore you.

In Christ Love,

Gloria

Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.
Photo used by permission of Angie Knight-All rights reserved.

In HIS Time

I am glad you stopped by.  Let me tell you a little bit about myself and why I am beginning to blog.  In the summer of 1969, God definitely called me into the mission field.  I had given my heart to Jesus Christ two years before and I knew that God was calling me to spread His Word as He commanded. 

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  Matthew 16:15 KVJ

Before I was saved, I had not lived according to His Word and I had made poor life choices.  Wrong crowd.  Bad influences and poor decisions on my part. However; God used those poor decisions to give me the best blessing of my entire life.  My darling daughter.

I am so glad that the Holy Spirit did not give up on me, but He kept calling me to accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord of my life.  Now I had a precious child--a true gift from my heavenly Father--and a journey in front of me to walk.

The Sunday night at church as I listened to a missionary give her testimony, I knew that God was telling me to go forth into my home town, and into all the world as He directs.  I wrote to two Missions organizations and told them of my call from God.  I also was forthcoming with the fact that I was an  unwed mother. 

In 1969 even the Christian community was not forgiving of mistakes, and they  told me that they were  glad that Jesus had saved me, but as for my being a missionary with their organization, thank you, but no thanks. 

I even took a trip with my pastor and his wife to a missions conference in Tennessee, to speak with the president of the missions group there.  He listened to my story and was sympathetic for me, but he also explained that their group could not have a missionary who was an unwed parent.  He saw my tears and heard my plea that "if God can forgive me and make me a new person, and could cover my sins with His Blood, then why could not the missions board do the same."   He finally said to me, "If you will never tell of what you have done and never tell anyone of  your life before becoming a Christian, then we might consider you." 

Oh my goodness!  Did I just hear right?  Did he just tell me to renounce my own daughter?  Did he just suggest I LIE??

My reply was that "I would be basing my whole ministry on a lie".  

Needless to say, I came home questioning God, "Why did you call me and I know that you did, and then not make a way for that calling?"  After much prayer, the Holy Spirit gave me peace that I had done all that I could and that I could work in my home church and be a blessing for Jesus.

In December of 1969 God sent Shug into my life, and his proposal to me (after 16 days of courtship), was "Will you marry me and let me adopt your child to be my child?" 

On January 11, 1970, Shug and I were married.  God blessed us with two precious sons (my life would have been so incomplete without my them) to make our family complete.

For at least the past year and especially for the past six months the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me about starting a blog.  I did not think I had anything to say, but night after night I would wake up with scripture after scripture going through my mind.  I would even get up and write them down and research them out.  I still felt such a strong need to do a blog.  I said, "God how can I do a blog, I don't know what to say." God answered, "You do not say anything on your own, you say what I give you to say and I promise you that someone will need to read it."

My precious daughter of my heart is a blogging wizard and she set up this blog for me and while we were formatting it, she was telling me of some things in her life that God is doing and believe me they are miracles.  All of a sudden  it dropped in my heart, WITH THIS BLOG I AM GOING TO BE A MISSIONARY!!! 

Over the last 41 years from time to time I would ponder  "God why did you call me to be a missionary and then close all the doors."  But today, after over 41 years through the magic of cyberspace I am beginning my missionary journey!

GOD IS SOOOOO GOOD.  If you are reading this and you feel that  God has promised you something, no matter how long ago that promise was made to you by God, never, never, never give up on that promise because I am living proof ~ "What He has promised, that will He bring to pass."

I hope that this first blog has touched you and I welcome your comments.



In Christ's Love, Gloria



Copyright 2011 Gloria B. Powell. All rights reserved.

He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. Romans 4:20-21 NKJV