Nesting dolls are popular and made mostly in Russia. I’ve searched the meaning of the nesting doll concept online and the only comparison I found was likened to an onion. Each skin, as it is peeled is like the one before but smoother and healthier.
I thought about this a little bit more. As we grow more mature and gain wisdom of the true meaning of life, we begin to get deeper and deeper in ourselves. When I was younger, the hustle and bustle of daily living was all I could focus on. My relationship with God was more on the back burner, only to tend to it when I needed a prayer answered. As I grew more mature in my relationship with God, I have been able to get more and more in touch with the deeper layer of my heart and the deeper I touch, the bigger God became. I found myself relying more and more on Him, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, all at once. The more transparent I was with God, the more motivated I was to stay in His lane, meaning detouring from a sinful nature, into a blessed nature.
Just like a nesting doll, the more we dig into each layer, the smaller and smaller we become and the bigger God becomes in our lives. Each doll in encased in one larger than it, the largest one being God and we are engulfed and protected by Him.
Until my next rant… LOVE ONE ANOTHER!
The silent sin that kills. In a dog-eat-dog world, wherein we all strive to succeed, greed an act that is pretty much undetected because it cloaks itself as a normal human factor to survive. We work hard to gain worldly possessions, have the best of the best in life, or even finance some of our lavish habits. It all boils down to what can we do to gain more and more.
We all have the fundamental sin of greed. It is undetected because it feels like everyone is doing it so we do not feel the need to ask God to forgive us for it. That’s where the danger lies. In every listing of the seven deadly sins, greed is present and the evidence of greed in our everyday lives is very real.
What most people don’t understand is that you can be a greedy rich person, or you can be a greedy poor person. Greed is the monster that saps your strength, your energy and your emotions. Left unchecked, it will dominate your life. In the late 1970’s a gallup survey revealed that 50% of college freshmen were just as interested in having a meaningful life as they were in achieving financial security. In a similar survey conducted in 1987, 81% of college freshmen were more interested in financial security than they were in building a meaningful life. This means the numbers don’t lie. As years progress, having a meaningful life is overshadowed by financial gain. The sin of greed has made inroads through the years.
For a culture that is bent on getting and choked with greed there is a way out. It is called giving. Greed is killed by giving. If you own something you cannot give away, then you don’t own it, instead, it owns you. If you are not satisfied with what you have and instead driven by a desire to have more “just a little bit more,” then you can slay that greed dragon by the virtue of giving. Give until it hurts! Then keep giving until it begins to feel better. You’ll be surprised at the liberating feeling giving brings.
In Luke 12:15 (NLT) he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
Do you have a lot of giving to do? Until my next rant…. LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!!
How many times have you gotten caught in the web of other people's jealousy, belittling, criticism, and small-mindedness? We are merely human, with emotions of the flesh which cause us to react to these types of people. For whatever reason they do what they do, we need to stand our ground and remember that they don't control our destiny. God does.
People who don't celebrate you, your successes and achievements, people who will try to make you feel small, people who are jealous of you. These people are merely distractions in life designed to tempt you into their own shallowness to prevent you from God's best. Your purpose in life is too important, time too valuable to get caught up in it.
The ultimate judge in your life is God. Only God. God tells you that you are designed in His image, blessed you with his grace and glory, giving you authority over evil and the power to do His work just by using your words and prayers! So if God says that about you, why listen and give credence to what the jealous, critical and small-minded people say? Who has more authority in your life? If you listen to those people instead, that poison will seep inside of you and you will find yourself fighting a battle that you were never supposed to fight to begin with!
Isaiah 54 says that no weapons formed against me shall ever prosper! God says that you will see His wonders, meaning; His protection, His vindication and His favor!
You are not defined by your past, God says you are being prepared for the future. The future lies within God in His Glory. We need to shut the world's noise in our heads and start listening to only one God for He is AWESOME!!!!!
Until my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!
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| CHARCOAL AND ACRYLIC |
Literally! The solemn truth is that Jesus is just waiting for us to speak up. Fact. God created everything using his WORD. Fact, in order for our prayers to be answered we have to speak it into fruition. Yes, we need to pray for God to give us what we need. However, with prayer, we also have to believe that we already have it. There is a distinct difference, though. The difference is that if what we are asking for is in line with God's will, He will definitely answer our prayer. That is what we are called to do. We are called to distinguish the difference between selfish prayers and prayers that furthers the kingdom of God. Of course our flesh wants what it wants. We are sinners to begin with. We may want something we see others have. A house, a car, a happy family, a great career. We sometimes waste our time trying to take or desire someone else's blessings because we do not want to make the effort to achieve it on our own.
The Bible says it simply, in 2 Corinthians 4:13 says "But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, "I believed in God, so I spoke." The beauty in God's blessings are the words you speak into fruition. Whether it is healing, hoping or happiness.
If we don't speak up and ask God what it is we need, we will never ever experience the true love of God (agape love). Jesus also said, in Matthew 7:7 "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." If you believe this, ask. God will answer your prayers and you know what's cool about it? His timing is PERFECT! Just as He is!
Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!
