The Power That Works in Us

   Have you ever felt defeated and wondered why you continually succumb to the same issues in your life?

We all struggle with that because we are human.........That's where Jesus comes in.......

   I remember the day clearly when the light turned on for me. I was sitting at the computer. (Probably mistake number one). My young children were doing the typical. Bugging each other, scrapping about this minor thing or the next. It irritated me. Why not just get along and do what the knew they should be doing?


   As that flood of irritation welled up in my heart. I realized once again that it had been happening a lot lately. I was giving in to frustration and I didn't like it, and I asked  God why, right then and there. Why, if I am a new creature in Christ do I not have power over my feelings?



 Here is what God whispered to my heart. "Because you are not listening for my voice. Because you are listening to the loud yelling voice of your own passions instead. Listen for my voice, it is so soft that you have to stop, put your own emotions on hold and listen. I will speak peace into your heart. Just stop, wait and listen." The sound of his voice in my heart was sweet, so full of peace and love. As I stopped to listen, the irritation and frustration just disappeared and his peace flowed over my innermost being like warm honey.



  Later I found the answer in his word. Romans 6:12-19
     Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.   And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.   For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.



    What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!   Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?   But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.   And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.   I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.



In other words, I am a slave to whom I yield myself to. Whether its right or wrong. 



And then later I noticed Romans 7:24 
  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.



 With my mind I serve the law of God,........I know in my mind what is right. Its a clear case of mind over matter.....with my flesh I serve the law of sin. So,....if I listen to the law of God that is in my mind then I don't come under the law of sin in my flesh. But wait a minute. Where does the power come from?.......



Jesus said in John 15 
   Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
   “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

^{Jesus said without him I can do nothing. That simple statement has been proven true over and over in my life. Both ways. I can relate to you time and again when I yielded to the voice of my flesh and did it all wrong and then time and again after I learned that priceless secret, of listening to Jesus whisper peace in my heart and through him and his ability, I got it right!}  



There still remained one question, that I had asked in my heart many times. How do I abide in Christ? How do I receive this power? How do I get the many marvelous things he has promised me? How do they become more than mere words on the pages of my Bible? The promises in his word have become alive to me and entered into my heart in reality because I have chosen to believe them. Jesus works in us when we believe. Every word becomes vibrantly true.



God's word is true whether we believe it or not. But they become true in us, when we believe.


Ephesians 3
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the
power that works in us,  to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Duffer, The Cat

  You have to meet Duffer to really appreciate him. He is a young grey male cat. We don't have him because we need him. He's just here because he has PERSONALITY.

  We had no intention of keeping any cats from our first litter. I was simply going to raise them until they could make it on their own and then give them away. Imagine what it is like with 5 kittens underfoot! You can't even walk without tripping.

 With five kittens in the litter, all solid grey or grey Tabby, they just kind of blend into one identity. Besides I wasn't paying attention. 'Til one day!....

On this particular day they were all in the house and all underfoot. When all at once I notice this one little grey kitten come bouncing up to me and sliding to a stop right at my feet. Well, he got my attention. I reached down and picked him up, and that little creature had a motor going at top speed. It was almost like he picked me! I lost my heart to him, right there.

  I said, "You little Duffer, who do you think you are anyway."
But that did it. I was a goner. He was going to stay, and he had a name from that day forth. DUFFER!

  Now that he is pretty close to full grown, he has committed some crimes that get him booted out of the house on a regular basis. Such as stealing food that does not belong to him and jumping on counters like his mother before him was much to well mannered to even think of doing.

  The other day as I was walking to my van to leave on some errands he met me again with his motor at full blast. I picked him up and gave him a hug and told him. "Duffer, if you weren't such a sweetheart you wouldn't be here."

My daughter says the moral of the story is....be a sweetheart......you get liked a lot better that way in spite of your faults.