Be Yourself!

Galatians 5:26, “Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.” NLT

Good morning friends in Christ!  What a beautiful day God gave us!  When you look out upon the view outside your own window, what do you see, what do you think and feel?  Our views are all likely very different, yet God created them all.  My backyard is a wooded half acre. Besides many varieties of trees, there are many assorted bushes.  Fall is one of the prettiest and frustrating seasons for me.  As the trees begin to change colors, it is an artists masterpiece!  The Artist, Creator, Mastor of all!  I can not look upon the view of my backyard and not think of my God!  The frustrating part for me is the endless falling of leaves on my deck, which are impossible to keep up with.  Currently the squirrels are having fun opening all the acorns and making a huge mess on my deck.  I suppose if I am fair the squirrels and trees were there before my deck, right?  I am in their domain.    So my love of the trees and varieties may be another persons frustrating part if they suffer from allergies.  My frustrating part of endless leaves that continue to pile up could be the exciting part for a family with young kids who would enjoy jumping in the leaves.  God in His wisdom created each of uniquely!  This is amazing and wonderful; it adds to the tapestry of our lives.  No boring, monotonous interactions with the same exact people wherever we go!!

We are all uniquely gifted and have different personalities. So how one person lives out their spiritual walk and uses their spiritual gifts will look different from another’s.   Because this is true, we can find ourselves jealous, provoked or conceited over these matters in our lives and in others lives.  As Galatians reminds us we should not become conceited, provoked, or jealous of another.  Ugh!  Not always easy, right?  We hear about whole families that go and do mission work in other countries, and think  that they are really serving God well!  We may question what we are doing and how it just doesn’t seem like “enough.”  As long as we are actively using our gifts for serving God’s people, we are doing exactly what God has called us to do.  If we all went to minister in other countries, who would be here ministering to the people around us?

I have the gift of encouragement, and God has called me to minister in a small women’s Bible study.  It is such a blessing to be able to encourage and grow spiritually with these women! It would be very easy to drown myself in jealousy or self pity because my group is small and others are bigger.  I could question why God isn’t using my gift in a grand way. Though there are typically a dozen or fewer in my group, I know that God brings just who needs to be there and I do not allow myself to compare the size of my group with another.  God uses my obedience to minister to who He has sent to me.  Who am I to dictate to God how many women that should be!  He knows best!  He leads, He guides, He speaks.  I obey !  It is truly a humbling honor to  be used by God!

As you meditate on this verse, ask God to show you any conceit or jealousy in your heart toward another.  Then ask Him to help you remove it and replace it with genuine joy for the other person!  We are called to rejoice when others rejoice and mourn when others mourn!  This is the Christian walk that we will find many blessing along the path of life!

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

Come Find Your Rest!

Matthew 11:28, “Then Jesus said to me, “Come to me,  all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” NLT

Good morning friends in Christ!  I find God bringing several hurting people into my life currently.  Death of loved ones, job loss, future so uncertain, terminal diagnosis,  among other difficulties.   When life throws you so many troubles and pain at once, we are left trying to find away to just make it through another day, reach out to find God’s rest.

As I have been ministering, comforting and encouraging my dear friends, I have pointed them to Jesus.  I have spoken God’s Word over, prayed with them and hugged, cried and laughed with them.  Yet, this verse did not come to mind as one to help comfort or encourage them.  I would dare say that this is a verse that even unbelievers know, at least in part.  As Christ followers we may become “ammune” to the power in this verse, due to the fact that it used so much.  We hear sermons on this and songs, we encourage each other with this verse.  God gave me this verse today and it hit me anew how much power there is in this verse.  Power to comfort, encourage and lift someone from the pit of despair.  Power that shows the unfailing love and mercy  that we are given by a good Father and the precious care that Jesus pours into us.

To find this rest that Jesus offers us, we do not have to earn it or find it; we simply accept it.  Do not try to fix the problem yourself, do not numb the problem with worldly things, do not make the problem worse by assigning blame on anyone.  Just accept the gift of rest that Jesus offers you!  Remember that in this life we will have troubles, Jesus tells us this in His Word.  Even though we know this and we expect it; when it hits us, we are still left in a heap on the floor struggling to get through another day.

To accept the rest that Jesus offers, you first must believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose again, and asked for His forgiveness.  When you have been saved by His sacrifice, you are now a child of God!  Seek His rest in prayer and meditation on His Holy Word.  When God shows you a verse that speaks to your heart and encourages you, write it down, meditate on it, pray over it.  Tape this verse anywhere you will see it often, and carry it around in your pocket or purse.  Stay in communication with God throughout your difficult days, and lay claim to the promises He has given you through a verse.

God’s Peace is perfect and so is His rest!  Ask for and accept His rest today and allow Him to use others to come alongside you and share your burdens.  Come and rest in the arms of the One who created you and knows you better than anyone, whose love has no conditions and will carry you through.

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

Be Still!

Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God!  I will be honored by every nation.  I will be honored throughout the world.” NLT

 

Good Morning friends in Christ!  I believe this is likely the hardest thing for most of us to do; Be Still.     Not easy for our fast paced, scheduled, busy lives!  When was the last time you scheduled time in your day to Be Still?  Not likely, right?  There’s more to this verse than the act of just “Being Still.”  Be still and know that I am God!  So let’s explore this.

How do we “Be still and know God”?  There are many ways to do this.  For myself I seek Him through His Word.  Reading the Holy Bible helps us to know God, the Creator of the universe, the Almighty Father.  Instead of rushing through your scripture reading today and moving on quickly with the rest of your day, slow down and be still.  Begin with prayer.  Ask God to show you what He has for you to read today.  Then ask Him to prepare your heart and mind to accept what He has to show you in His Word!  Breath in God’s presence during prayer, this is the act of being still and knowing God!  Then open the Bible and read, seek and meditate on His Word. Use tools such as commentaries and Bible dictionaries to help you break down and see the layers of what God’s Word is saying.  Read different version and translations to better understand more difficult passages.

Once we have prayed and digested the Word of God, we will know more about our amazing God! Then we will long for more time to  “Be Still” and know are God!  We are a privileged people to have God’s Holy Bible available to us and in many different translations.  Don’t take for granted what others long for!  Be still and know your God through the His Holy Word.

I challenge you to break out of your normal routine of devotional, prayer time and do something different.  What that might look like for you depends on what you are currently doing.  Sometimes we have a routine of morning devotional that has become too routine.  We start to feel like we are not so close to God, or feel His presence as strongly as we once did.  Try changing just one thing about your time with God this next week and watch how He shows up to let you know who He is!

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

See Others!

Philippians 2:4, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” ESV

Good Morning friends in Christ!  This verse convicts, encourages and challenges me!  How often do we not even really see others around us?  Do we get so caught up in what we are “doing” in our daily life, that we do not really see others, and certainly we don’t take the time to reach out to them in a real and tangible way.  How often do we hear the still small voice of God nudge us, and we quickly dismiss it?

I am growing and learning to be more and more like Christ.  I often notice a need in others and reach out to help.  I will heed the Holy Spirit’s leading many times.  Do I ALWAYS see others interests and move into actions?  No, but I am learning to.

When I meditate on this verse, I feel challenged to really “see others.”  As I was working on this devotional, I received a text from a neighbor.  Our sons are friends and go to school together.  I often reach out to her and always feel I miss the mark.  She is not a believer and she knows I am.  So I just love her where she is.  The text this morning, told me her stepdad just passed away this morning.  With compassion and encouragement being my gifts, I told her I would be praying for her and I was so sorry for her loss, and I asked her what I could do for her.  The response came back as I knew it would, “nothing.”  Yet, I know there is so much power in prayer!  So I will pray for her comfort and peace as she grieves her stepdad.  I will seek out ways to help over the next days.  I invited her son to come with us to church, since it is Sunday morning that I am working on this.  She declined this offer, as I knew she might, but I felt the Holy  Spirit’s leading to ask anyway.  Her other response was to let her son play with mine and have fun!  Sounds easy and seems like I am not “doing” anything, yet this is what she/they need, so this is what we will do!  Many times I feel the Spirit’s leading in ways like asking to take her son to church.  I already have done this several times over the years and receive the same response, they do not go to church and really don’t believe in God.  Yet when I feel the Holy Spirit prompting me to do it yet again, I do!  One day maybe she will say, Yes!

So my challenge to myself and to each of you is this; pray and ask God to show you the people He wants you to “see” today and be open to meeting their needs as the Spirit guides you.  You will bless another and be blessed in return!

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

 

 

 

 

Abundantly Blessed!

John 1:16, “From His abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.”

Good morning friends in Christ!  Abundance!  More than we need of something.  Blessings!   A help and approval from God, it helps you do something and brings happiness.  Who wouldn’t want blessings?!  We all want, need, crave blessings.  Here’s the hard part, blessings are GIVEN to you not earned, achieved, or bought.  Blessings are a gift from God right alongside His grace, mercy and eternal salvation!  We can do nothing to earn them.

Blessings that are poured out in abundance into our lives, will look different for each of us.  We are each uniquely made and therefore how we are blessed will be unique, as well.  I love how God created us each in such a unique and wonderful way!  So let’s not allow  ourselves to  compare the blessings in someone else’s live to our own.  There are no comparisons in God’s divine plan.  We are all called to a different journey in this life, following God’s will for it.  Let us put on the armor of God and move in His will and we will be abundantly blessed!

Count your blessings!  Write them down, sing them, say they in poem form, pray them to our Savior, shout them to our family and friends!  Count them and you will be amazed at how abundantly you really are blessed!  THis is my challenge to each of you reading this, literally count your blessings.  Reply to this blog and count them here for us all to see!  Through this recounting of blessings, many more will be blessed!

My blessings of abundance are:

Jesus, my Lord and Savior!

God’s Holy Word, the Bible!

God’s unfailing, unending love!

Forgiveness, given and received!

a godly marriage that has been through the test of fire and shines for HIm

two wonderful boys here on earth with me and 10 babies waiting for me in heaven

The legacy of two beautiful, godly, loving in-laws, who are in glory now, but left a lasting hand print on our lives.

Family, who even through tough times and estrangement, have taught me well the lessons God had for me.

so very many godly friends that I can not name them all, but you and God know how precious you all are to me.

So many physical needs met in abundance: a home, food, water, clothes and shoes

emotional, physical and spiritual healing.

The survival of abuse and the healing to move on and continue to love others well

The created beauty all around us, trees, flowers, mountains, streams, lakes, oceans,

Birds, sea life, animals of all shapes and sizes!

The sunrise and the sunset.

The moon and the stars

So very many more, but will continue to recount them to my Heaney Father.

Let’s hear some of your blessings!

Love and prayers, Paula Nebel

 

 

 

United!

Acts 4:32, “All the believers were united in heart and mind.  And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.” NLT

 

Good morning friends in Christ!  United!  Unity!  What does this look like?  Many people coming together to accomplish ” something”, most likely something that is more than one person could accomplish alone.  As a  believer in Jesus, we are true followers when we unite with other believers to accomplish more than we could do on our own.

How might we live out this verse today?  When the first church was forming, the new followers of Christ were led by the Holy Spirit to share all that they owned.   When we remember that everything we have is a gift from God, then we know that we are to bless others with it.   A gift is not a gift if we hide it and do not share it with those around us.  Imagine a gifted musician hiding out in his own home and playing only for his own ears!  Who would enjoy and be blessed by his gift of performing beautiful, moving pieces of music? What would the point of playing be?  Would it be music at all if there is no one to hear it?  The same is true of the blessings God has given us.  He did not give us anything, so we can hide it away from others.

As followers of Jesus we are called to be united in heart and mind.  This should be a unified effort of loving everyone well; loving with the love Jesus has shown us!  As fallen, sinful people, we will not do this well all the time with everyone.  But when we are unified in one mind with Jesus to love everyone, He will help us to do just that.  When we are open to the Holy Spirit’s leading, we can in any given moment love others well.  In loving others well we are sharing what we have.  We may have physical, material things, such as food, clothing, necessities; or we may have the news of eternal salvation to share with someone who needs to hear it; or we share are wisdom and experience, time, talent and skill with those who would benefit from it.  Remember Jesus met people’s physical and emotional needs before He met their spiritual needs.

When I read a truth like this verse from Acts, I am humbled and convicted.  Whatever I think I am doing in this area, is never at the level that Jesus called these new believers to, or what He is calling me to.  Do you hear His call to you today?  He will not shout or force you to share.  That would not line up with who He is.  He calls us to be of one heart and mind.  Meaning we have the choice to make each and every moment of every day, to share with others what God has blessed us with or not.  I want to be found choosing to share abundantly what God has so lavishly poured out into my life!  We are not each “rich” in material wealth, but we as believers are RICH in the only thing that has eternal power, Christ’s love and salvation promise!

Let’s unite in loving others well!  Let’s share the most precious gift God has given us all; the Good News of salvation through Jesus!  Then love others well by sharing what you have, remember that all we have is a gift from God and it’s meant to share, not to hide!

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

God Is Love!

1 John 4:7-8, ” Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. NIV

 

Good morning friends in Christ!  God is Love!!!!  Since we know as believers that God is love, we can love others.  It is not easy to love some people, this is true because we are all fallen, broken, sinful  people.  It is only through the Holy Spirit’s help that we can love even the most difficult people in our lives.    Nothing is impossible for God!

God’s  call to us in these verses, is to love one another.  It does not say to love only those who are lovable.  It does not tell us to love those who are nice to us.  It tells us love one another, meaning everyone, BECAUSE love comes from God.  So we are truly loving others with God’s love, not our own.  God’s love is a perfect love, so this is even better than loving someone with our own human kind of love.

When another does not deserve our love, we love them through the Holy Spirit’s love. This is a beautiful testimony to what God has done in our lives.  Our hearts and minds are being transformed daily to be more Christ like.  Loving others, shows the world that we are born again in Christ and we truly know God.  Confessing to be a Christian and then not loving others well, speaks very loudly of the condition of our heart.  Let us seek daily a cleansing of our heart and mind, so that we can look at others through the eyes of Jesus!

The warning here in these verses is that we do not know God if we do not love others.  I pray we can all hear this call and warning at a heart level, and pray and ask God to help us see others as He does and to love them with His love.

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

Your Hope!

1Peter 3:15, “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life.  And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.”

Good morning friends in Christ!    Where does your hope lay?  Are you pinning your hope on your successes, your accomplishments, your bank account, or your relationships?  All these things are fleeting and completely incapable of giving you hope.  Webster defines hope as,”to expect with confidence, to trust.”  So if you trust in things of this world, you will be disappointed. As believers, we know that trusting in God, is the only answer.

We can confidently place our trust in Jesus who has secured our salvation for us.  We now have true hope in Jesus!  Now we will be assured that this world is not our final destination, we have eternity.  Our hope is not in this world and all this trappings, it is in our Heavenly Father’s Book of Life!  Is your name in it?  I pray this is so.

When we have this kind of hope we do not need to look anywhere else for it.  No bottle, book or new philosophy will give us this kind of hope.  When others see us go through difficult times and still see the peace we have through it; they will wonder and perhaps ask about it.  This is when we can give our reason for this miraculous hope found only in Jesus; the way, the truth, and the life!

Be ready to tell others about your hope!

Love and Prayers, Paula Nebel

Nothing Is Impossible!

Matthew 17:20 “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Good morning friends in Christ! As I have grown in my walk with Jesus, I have had layers of meaning in this verse revealed to me.  We all want to have some control over our lives, right?  So we see a verse like this and jump at feeling like nothing is impossible for us.  If we work a little harder, a little differently, a little better, we can do anything, right?  This is not what this verse is about at all!  Though the impact it can have on your life is still very strong!  So let’s break this down.

Let’s look at the context this verse is a part of.  We are looking at the story of a man bringing his demon possessed son to the disciples for healing and they were unable to help him.  Along comes Jesus and He rebukes the demon and it leaves the boy at once.  Now the disciples ask Jesus why they were unable to do this same thing, when they had indeed been able to this before in their ministry.

Now that we have a bit of context, what are we looking at here?  For me, the first thing I am drawn to is that we need faith and our faith does not need to be this big, grand thing.  Faith, is a strong belief and trust in God and His character and promises!  Faith can not be replicated, manipulated, or forced.  Meaning that you can’t “make” faith happen, there is not magic formula.  It just “is”.  We can have faith in many things.  When we buy a package of pens, we have faith that the manufacturer put ink in them.  When you go to the emergency room, you have faith that the hospital staff did their job and hired competent doctors who received a degree in medicine.  We buy furniture without asking to see the manufactures credentials for building it.  So faith in God is not something we require a degree for, or proof of His existence.  We have faith that God is who He says He is!  The verse tells us a mustard seed of faith is all it takes, which is a very small seed.  This small faith will move mountains?  Yes, not because we have a magical formula, but because our God is bigger than this world!

Nothing is impossible for us!  What does this mean to us in our daily life?  We will not be moving real physical mountains, of course.  We each have trials and troubles in this life that God is using to bring about good for us.  These “mountains” are the ones we encounter.  What we do to overcome these mountains, is to have complete faith, trust that God will work all things out for our good.  In our weaknesses, His strength shines!  We live and move in His strength, not our own; this is how the impossible becomes possible!  It’s God working through us that makes nothing impossible!

Think about the mountains you have moved in your lifetime.  Now think on how the impossible happened!  In my life, all things that were simply impossible for me to accomplish, God made possible!  My small faith, moved mountains because God worked in and through me!

Be thankful today for the “mountains” your faith in God have moved and praise Him!

Love and prayers, Paula Nebel

Be Thankful!

Philippians 4:6-7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

 

Good morning friends in Christ!  This is a day of reflection for me and just feeling so very thankful.  God has been very faithful this week.  We had a large tree come down on our house Sunday evening.  It split up high and on its way down it got stuck on another tree, hitting the roof of our house but not coming through.  Then on Monday evening it finished its decent and damaged the roof more and the deck.  All in all we were saved from devastating damage, more importantly no one was hurt!  Material things can be replaced, people can not!

As I have been reflecting on God’s goodness, and praising Him,  these verses came to mind.  Philippians 4: 6-7 have become my life verses.  I have clung to them as I have stood solidly on the Rock of my Salvation.  As I have been through difficult times in my life these verses have reminded me of God’s character and goodness; His unfailing love and kindness.  I am reminded not to worry first thing, which is something that is very easy for me to do.  God has shown me through many trials that He is all I need and His strength  guides me and covers my weaknesses.  In thanking God for who He is and for His love and peace, I have seen first hand how His peace truly does guard my heart and mind.  It has kept me from worry that only causes more problems and solves nothing!   God’s peace also, has protected me from falling into the pit of depression and despair.
As I am reflecting and praising my God today, may you also, take the time to do the same.  Whatever is going on in your world today, stop right now and thank Him!  Thank HIm for sending His son so that you will be saved for eternity; thank Him for the peace that only He can give in times of trouble; thank Him for guarding your heart and mind from bitterness and anger, depression and despair;  Thank Him for always hearing us when we pray!  Do not worry today, Pray and thank your Almighty, Abba, Father today!!!

Love and prayers, Paula Nebel