CHILDREN OF GOD

June 25, 2015.  Today is our daughter Lynn's birthday, which she must celebrate with a newly broken arm! And on her birthday in 2004, we were still writing selections for our Children's Journal, and today's was chosen and written by Jerry. He used the words of Joel in Chapter 12, verses 12, 13, and also from 1 Timothy 1:7.  "Yet even now (in the midst of national disaster)the Lord says, 'Return to me with all your heart'...for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love..for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love, and of self-discipline."


"The prophet Joel told the people of the nation that God calls them back to Himself and is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, has steadfast love, and relents from punishing.  These very traits are what God wants from those who would follow Him.  Jesus made clear that we are children of God and since He is our parent, our father and teacher, he will teach us how we are to be and do, to and for others.  Paul said that God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but of power to be victorious in our lives sharing love and self-discipline.  Only through God's abundant grace can the power of the Holy Spirit change us from being self-centered and vindictive, to being people of God , with His characteristics.


"Lord, I thank you that you have called me to be your child.  Amen.''


Because we have the Spirit of the Lord within us, if we have asked Him to be in us, we are certain to see changes in our words, how we feel about others who have needs, our actions, our prayers, and our attitudes.  What we do and say shows the world that we are His children.  When we do not consider the others in our world, both personal world and the world at large, we are not revealing the Spirit of God and therefore need to go back to God in sorrow and shame and ask Him to forgive us, and to teach us once again.  God gives us many chances, but our heart will ache more and more if we do not give our all to following Him. Believe me, I have been there, and God has been good to love me through it all.  He, however, is not fooling around, and therefore, we must not take advantage of his goodness.


I want to be the person that God calls each of us to be.  I have asked Him to be within my person.  And I believe He has come, and lives within me, even on this very day.
Jo INMN