Ecclesiastes III

I intend to finish my verses of Ecclesiastes tonight. I know that I have not been as diligent as I should have been in doing my studying and reading for the past couple of weeks. I think to myself. Was this a test from God.

Sure I can blame it on different things such as; as Lilly’s molars coming in so dealing with a fussy toddler, having my appendix taken out, my dog getting attacked, trying to get everything in order for school.

But there are 24hrs in a day, I know there was at least 10 minutes here and there where I could have sat down and just read some scripture.

I have not decided yet which book of the Bible I will move on to next, I will pray about it and see where the Lord leads me.

I believe I left off at Chapter 9 so lets begin. These are the verses that stuck out to me and meant to something to me while reading through the chapters of 10,11, and 12 of Ecclesiastes I hope that they will have some meaning to you and if not maybe it will lead you to open your Bible and and find some that will inspire you.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 10

v12: The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious ; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.

I know that whenever I am going through a time of discouragement I go to Christ in prayer asking him to lift the burden from my heart that I may be a better servant to him. There are times though I believe we are to go to the elders of the church and listen to their wisdom. They have been through so many things in their lives and are wise. We often take them for granted. I don’t want to have the lips of a fool, I only want grace, things that pertain to grace to come out of my mouth.

 

v13: The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness

v14: A fool also is full of words a man cannot tell what shall be and what shall be after him who can tell him?

When I read this verse what comes to mind is those people who are so smart they are dumb. You know the type of people that I am talking about. They can tell you anything about everything but in reality they are telling you nothing because they no not what they are talking about. People who believe in the big bang theory can talk their way around every situation saying that God did not create earth. How come they can’t come up with the explanation of how the Big Bang theory actually happened then. Does that make sense. They can talk about it till they are blue in the face use all the scientific words they want but in reality they can never really explain how it happened.My theory of the Big Bang Theory is, it didn’t happen, well in a sense it didn’t, not unless God said Bang when he created everything.

Chapter 11

v7: Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun

v8: But if a man live many years and rejoice in them all yet let him remember the days of darkness for they shall be many All that cometh is vanity.

As I interpret verse 7 for myself I think of the sun as the son, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Jesus is sweet he is pleasant and one day our eyes will behold him in all his glory and as the Bible states every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to God (Romans 14:11)

When it come to the words that are written in verse 8, darkness brings to mind sin, I am not sure if this is what it is meant to describe or not. I think, well I know from my own personal experience I have been through many dark times. I know that my sins are forgiven as far as the east is from the west.

Even though they are forgiven, you know what I still remember them. God being all knowing and all the power in the world, doesn’t take those memories of us being in the darkness or living in sin away from us. Why?

I believe that he wants us to remember where he brought us from.

I believe that he wants us to use our own personal testimony, so others will know what God really can do with a sinners life.

I believe he wants us to remember how much pain we felt when we hit rock bottom so we would never want to do it again. Again speaking from experience, I went through rough times and never hit rock bottom, but believe me when I hit it, I knew it and I never ever want to experience that pain again. By the grace of God I am alive today with a beautiful daughter, loving family and husband.

If you have a different idea of what this verse means please by all means leave me a comment and let me know what God laid on your heart about this verse.

v10:Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh for childhood and youth are vanity.

I will be the first to admit that I have a problem with both of these. The one that I struggle with daily is removing sorrow from my heart. You know there are just those days when you think back and you think of all the sorrow and all the pain that you put your family and your friends through just so you could make your flesh happy.

I remember a time when I had no contact with my family and friends,  not because I didn’t want to, I was ashamed, I felt like a disappointment to them. I didn’t want to see the sorrow in their eyes, I didn’t want to see what pain I was putting them through. I thought to myself, it is better for me to not speak, to not see them. I was selfish, I knew they were hurting and I didn’t want to see the pain that I had caused them.

Chapter 12

v1: Remember now thy Creator in the days of they youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when though shalt say I have no pleasure in them

O how I only wish in the days of my youth I said those words. I have no pleasure with you evil. I can only pray for my daughter and fully dedicate her life unto the Lord. That she will one day tell her friends who want to turn her towards evil, “ I have no pleasure.”

v13: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man

v14: For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil.

I know that I want that judgment part to go by fast, but I have from now until I pass to make that part better for me. I can stop now and not do anything for God and only have the evil or bad brought out about me or I can commit myself fully to God and have more good come out about me on judgment day. My plan is the latter, I want to be witness, a lighthouse unto others pointing towards God and not out into sin.

 

I want to end this post with one of my favorite verses in Proverbs

Ch 18 v10

The name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous runneth into it and is safe

Whenever evil or the flesh starts to call our name let us not forget to run to the Lord our Father!

Open the Bible, read it, memorize it

 

My poor Billie Jean :(

I have a 9 year old Chihuahua that was attacked today.

I know this has nothing to do with reading the Bible and that I promised I would have finished my Ecclesiastes verses by now.

I thought I would take a moment to post some photos of my poor baby and hopefully, ya’ll will pray for her. I know that she is just a dog, but she is like a child to me. I hope these photos are not to graphic some of you .

 

 

I know that God created animals for Adam and he named them. I think that there is a certain bond that is created between man and animal. If not I don’t think God would have put them here to friends for Adam before Eve was created.

Pictures of Lilly from 2010

This is a picture that was taken at the Christmas Parade downtown Queen Creek in AZ. They had a lil petting zoo set up with these cute lil baby pigs!!

Cant wait to see what this next year holds for us!!

Ecclesiastes Part II

So I believe I left off at Chapter 7 so lets just jump into 8.

Chapter 8

v4: Where the word of a king is there is power

         Jesus is my king!

v5: Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing and a wise man’s heart dicerneth both time and judgment

v17: Then I beheld all the work of God that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun because though a man labor to seek it out yet he shall not find it yea further though a wise man think to know it yet shall he not be able to find it.

Sometimes I think people are smart they are just plain stupid, is that being mean? We have the book, the Bible, the Holy word of God, that tells us how we were made, how earth was made, what our purpose is. Still there are people that don’t believe and feel the need to find ways to destroy the word of the Lord.

Why must we learn so much and yet it only make us ignorant to the fact that people are dying and going to hell.

 

Chapter 9

v2: All things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath

v5: For the living know that they shall die but the dead know not any thing neither have they any more a reward for the memory of them is forgotten

v6: Also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished neither  have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun

I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be forgotten after I die. I think that when he makes the reference to the living, he is talking about the saved. For the saved know that our body will die, but our soul will continue in heaven. The dead which are those without Christ, don’t understand death of the body, they will not know they are dead.

v16: Wisdom us better than strength  nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard

v17: The words of the wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools

v18: Wisdom is better than weapons of war but one sinner destroyeth much good!

I really like v18 wisdom speaking with yours words, using your speech as a weapon can sometimes bring others to their knees and weep. I think we are to use our speech and our wisdom as a weapon against Satan and his followers, let them know the wisdom of God. Recite verses when Satan is after you.

Often times though Christians use their speech to hurt other Christians. God is our judge not others.

Remember we are all sinners, so when it states that one sinner can destroy much good it isn’t talking about the unsaved, but also the saved.

Watch what we say to others, lets raise our fellow Christians up so when the time comes we can use our wisdom together in the time of war against Satan.

Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written  aforetime were written for our learning , that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have HOPE!

The Book of Ecclesiastes

The other day I read through the book of Ecclesiastes. I had never read through this book, it actually did not take that long for me to read it. The book only has 12 Chapters.

A little background on this book is that Solomon is the speaker or the preacher of the book. It is unknown or at least I could not find the information on who wrote this book. If there is anyone out there that can help with me with this information it will be greatly appreciated. They say the author is a man of God one who is a realist, who sees that man cannot simply put his life together.

The author believes that God is a just, should be feared, God has a wise plan for man, and that God is good.

In the book he list six ideas.

Three are negative

1. All is vanity
2. Man is limited
3. God is hidden

Three are positive

1. Fear God and keep his commandments
2. Enjoy life
3. Use wisdom properly

While reading this book I have picked up some verses that I thought meant something to me and that I could use them in my own personal life.

 

Chapter 3

v1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

v2: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

v3: A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down and time to build up

v4: A time to weep and time to laugh a time to mourn and time dance

v5: A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together a time to embrace and time to refrain from embracing

v6: A time to get and time to lose a time to keep and a time to cast away

v7: A time to rend and a time to sew a time to keep silence and a time to speak

v8: A time to love and a time to hate a time of war and a time of peace

V11: he hath made every thing beautiful in his time; also he hath set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

v13: “and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God”

v14: Whatsoever God doeth it shall be for ever nothing can be put in to it nor any thing taken from it and God doeth it that men should fear before him

V17: I said in mine heart God shall judge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

Chapter 4

v13: Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished.

Chapter 5

v1: Keep thy foot when though goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil

v3: “A fool’s voice is known by multitude of words”

v4: When thou vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed

v10: He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase this is also vanity

v15: As he came forth of his mothers womb naked shall he return  to go as he came and shall take nothing of his labor which he may carry away in his hand

Chapter 6

v3: If a man beget a hundred children and live many years so that the days of his years be many and his soul be not filled with good and also that he have no burial I say that an untimely birth is better than he

v4: For he cometh in with vanity and departeth in darkness and his name shall be covered with darkness

Chapter7

v1: A GOOD name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one’s birth

v5: It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools

v19: Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city

v20: For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not

 

I think that this will be a good place to stop. I don’t want to overwhelm the blog page with verses from the entire book there are a lot more that I want to list, but I also want to give a glimpse of what I think they mean to me and how I should apply these to my life. I hope that you enjoy reading these verses. The book has a lot more to offer. I will post more tomorrow. 

 

Jesus loves the little Children all the Children of the world, Red and Yellow Black and White they are precious in his sight Jesus loves the little Children of the world!!!

Genesis Chapter 2 and 3

I will have to admit I was having some issues today. I have been so tired, I wanted and knew that I needed to read the Bible today. It just seemed physically like it was not going to happen. I got out and went for a walk while my husband and daughter ran an errand. When I gotten back I made myself sit down and read. I am now glad that I did, I feel a sense of refreshment, maybe more a sense of accomplishment.

 

The reading that I done today is something that I have read over and over and heard over and over in church sermons. I went into with the attitude (which was the wrong one) of really am I going to see anything or learn anything different after reading this for another hundredth time.

The answer is yes of course I would, there is always something in the Bible for everyone and what that person is going through it will touch them in a different way. I know that I have said that before  and believe me it will probably not be the last time that I say it

 

As I started reading in Chapter 2

You learn that God gave man Eden, it was his, Adam’s property. He was the one in charge if taking care if it, dressing it and keeping it unto his liking.

God even pointed out the tree of knowledge of good and evil and told him though will SURELY DIE!!

The pastor gave a sermon the other day at church and it seemed to hit a chord with the beginning and the end of times.

In those times man has the knowledge, the capacity to ask God to save him and not to do evil. But what does he do, instead he turns from God rejects salvation. In the end of times there will be those who will be saved, but I doubt that it will be many. As you see even in the most beautiful Garden the Garden of Eden, man sinned, man ignored God.

What makes us think that in the perilous times that man will be calling unto God, I think there will be a lot of cursing unto God, people asking why are you doing this to us?   When the answer is right there, why did you reject and turn from Christ?

There will be those that do plead and really want salvation at that time  and will be rejected because look at what it took to bring them to the realization that they need God and even to the realization that he exists.

Look around miracles happen everyday, we see them we are just so use to seeing them we don’t think of them as miracles. Babies are born, people with illness are healed, the sun comes up, our planet doesn’t burn!

Sorry got off on a lil rant there. Back to Genesis.

In v 18-22 God knows that Adam needs a meet, so he created the birds, cattle, animals so that Adam would not be lonely. God noticed that was not enough for Adam, God knows our every need! So he created woman.

In the sanctity of Marriage man is to leave his Father and Mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be as one flesh. Most marriages aren’t that way, there isn’t much cleaving going on. There is a lot of trying to separate, going away from one another, even causing things to come between their relationship.

Marriage is the first of the three divine  institutions and it is patterned to illustrate Christ love for the church. We should remember that when an argument arises between husband and wife.

 

In Chapter 3 v:15

it says that bruise thy head  and thou shalt bruise his heel.

There are three truths about that verse.

• Satan is the enemy of the human race
• There is a spiritual barrier between thy seed (Satan’s people) and the woman’s seed (God’s people)
• There is also the representation of the seed of the woman that she would deliver that would be Jesus who would deliver the deathblow to Satan

Ch 3 V:20  Adam gave Woman the name Eve. The name means to live. I believe that when Adam named her although she had sinned and he was probably a little upset at her  

He knew of God’s love and forgiveness. He knew that God only spoke the truth. By giving her her a name that means to live we could take it as a literal translation that she is a woman and would give life. I like to think of it as a name that meant God gives us the promise of Salvation, the promise to live, even after we have sinned.

 

 

Just the little things :)

I love to take photos and today I was outside and noticed that we had some patches of grass throughout the yard. Which is odd because we do live in Arizona, on the outskirts of Phoenix. Fot the past few days it has been raining here which has been a real blessing from the Lord. It kind of made it feel more like Christmas to me. I know Im from NC and it was snowing there this year and there has rarely been a 70 degree Christmas there. But for some reason maybe just feeling blessed by having such a beautiful day, it felt a little like home for me in NC. If felt like those days in the Spring when the breeze is blowing and there is just that sweet smell in the air. The sky is so blue not too many clouds in the sky, just one of those days where you want to run around and act like a kid again.

So in my own way I did, I grabbed my camera and wanted to capture those small blades of grass I saw today. I know they will not be around for that much longer, but they did bring me just a lil smile to my face when I saw them.

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” – Jeremiah 17:7-10 KJV

No Snow but there is some Green

Well back home in NC my family got to enjoy a white Christmas, this is the second time in a row  

O well.

 

Here is some Green that we had to look at in Arizona, guess I should be thankful  

Lilly Christmas 2010

Verses that inspire me

Whenever I am going through a hard time and think bad thoughts about myself, there are certain verses in the Bible that I turn to. Reading these makes me remember how much God cares for me and what all he is has done and will do for me.

Proverbs 8:30

I was daily his delight

Proverbs 16:9

A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.

• God has a plan for my life though I chase the wrong way or turn my back on Christ he will turn me around and direct my steps and his will for my life will come forth.

I know this for a fact, there was a time in my life where I didn’t care about myself, I didn’t care about the road that I was traveling down and the destruction that I caused in my own life. There were many love taps from God saying “Melissa your on the wrong path”. I ignored those taps many times, in doing that God let me hit rock bottom. I believe that was my last chance. Not only does God chastise his Children, but it also comes to a point when a Christian isn’t doing the will of God and he will say enough is enough.

I’m so thankful that I had a strong Christian family and friends that were praying for me daily. Most of all I am thankful for a forgiving God and yes one that punishes his Children.

Proverbs 16:4

God made ME (all things) for himself

II Timothy 3:11

What persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered

• Remember at the end of those trials and tribulations that we go through, God always has a plan and he will deliver us. God will never give us too much that we can not handle. We may feel like we can’t bear no more at times, but he knows just when to stop.  It may be days, months, years or however long but going through those troubling times in our life will affect how we respond to others who have been in the same situation or someone who is going through it at that time. Later in life we realize exactly why we went through those persecutions. God is amazing how he works!

• I don’t think God ever gives a test that we can fail. It is just like any other test you would have in life. You have to study, you have to prepare, you have memorize, you have to know the information you are being tested on to pass. We work so hard to achieve a high GPA in schooling or learn the information needed for a job so we can achieve accomplishments and praise for our job.  But what about our Christian GPA, what would that score be?

One of my favorite hymns is when the storm passes by. I remember conversations I would have with my mother and I would tell her, I don’t want to come around the family because I feel like I’m such a disappointment. She told me at that time, its not the truth, but far from it, that is the devil telling you that, to keep you away so you will go farther away from the Lord.

Here is some of the lyrics to the song I hope you enjoy them

 

Many times Satan whispered, "There is no need to try,
For there’s no end of sorrow, there’s no hope by and by"
But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I’ll rise
Where the storms never darken the skies.

When the long night has ended and the storms come no more,
Let me stand in Thy presence on the bright peaceful shore;
In that land where the tempest, never comes, Lord, may I
Dwell with Thee when the storm passes by.

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more,
Till the clouds roll forever from the sky;
Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand,
Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

God loved us (ME) so much that he sent his son Jesus to be born, spat upon, beaten, made fun of, crucified and many other things that one could never imagine going through.

So Who Am I To Doubt his Love for me?