Have you ever been so thirsty you feel like your tongue might stick to the roof of your mouth?
I'm going to tell you yet another embarrassing Gena story.
When I first moved into my apartment complex I started taking long walks. It's a really big complex with lots of lakes and trees, it's really very pretty. So I'm out there one morning enjoying the scenery, praying and singing and as usual not paying much attention to my surroundings.
I had a bottle of water with me and it wasn't until the water was gone that I realized I had no idea where I was. Did I mention it's on 500 acres and all the buildings look exactly the same?
I was out there for hours trying to figure out how to get home. It was getting hotter and hotter and I was getting more and more thirsty. The fact that I was lost seem to make me even thirstier.
I was too embarrassed to call someone and tell them I was lost in my own apartment complex. Those of you who know me would not be surprised.
When I finally got home four days later, just kidding I wanted to make sure you were paying attention.
When I finally got home I told my daughter I was dying of thirst which of course was an exaggeration.
It did get me thinking about being thirsty and what do I really thirst for.
I looked up the word thirst in the New King James Bible and it gave me 31 verses so it's obviously a condition God uses as an example for us.
Jesus uses the physical condition of thirst and takes it to a spiritual level. For example:
Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
In the book of John Jesus meets a woman at a well that is obviously there for water.
John 4:13-14
“Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.
Jesus is basically telling us that all the things we look for in the world to fill us will eventually leave us thirsty again. No person or thing can fill the void in our soul that was designed to be filled by the Lord.
There's something important I want to point out to you.
Because we live in a performance driven world we tend to put the same dynamics on our relationship with the Lord as we do with job performance.
We can easily get caught up in the “if I do enough for God He will give me more” type of thinking.
I'm not talking about being obedient to God's word, I'm talking about always trying to do better or do more things to gain more love or favor from God.
It's great to allow the Holy Spirit to mold your life to look more like Jesus but you can't possibly DO anything to make God love you more.
For example there are times in my personal walk with the Lord that I have no income and I live on complete faith. When I say I have no income I mean no income. No child support, welfare, food stamps, unemployment or disability.
During these times I sometimes feel like I need to be serving God as much as possible because I'm not going to a worldly job and I miss the part of Him wanting me to take some of this freed up time to thirst for Him.
Let's pick up where we left off in John.
John 4:15
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
This living water is free, there are no performance stings attached.
Do we ask for this living water from Jesus? Do we even know what living water means?
Do we wake up and think I need to drink in some of what God has to say to me before my feet even hit the floor? Do I rush home to spend time with the Lord before I play video games or work in the garden or whatever you do at the end of your day.
My daughter has four dogs. I call one of them the beast but her name is Aria. When she comes in from outside she makes a mad dash for the water dish. She will literally knock you down if you get in her path. She will then slurp up the water so fast and loud like she hasn't had a drink in days.
Can you imagine if we were that thirsty for a relationship with God?
If we actually knocked everyone and everything out of the way to get to Him.
God was so thirsty for us He freely gave His son and we sip Him when we have a need or life blind sides us. We sip Him when we hit rock bottom and there's no place else to turn.
We eventually get back on our feet and have a sense of false security and start drinking all the lies the enemy tell us. Things like if you work hard enough or look good enough or know enough of the right people you won't thirst again. You can lower all kinds of things in the world's well but you'll always bring up an empty bucket.
God's not telling us we have to be Bible scholars or we have to do enough charity work or give away enough money He just wants us to be thirsty for Him and allow Him to take care of all our needs.
John 6:35
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
We may flippantly use the phrase I'm so thirsty I could die but don't for one minute take for granted the fact that Jesus IS so thirsty for you He did die.
In a way you have to die too. Die to selfishness and greed, die to it's all about me and I'm number one. Die to I and think about we.
Thank you Lord it didn't end at your death! We serve a risen Lord a Holy God and a powerful Holy Spirit! How thirsty are you for living water?
Gena's Jewels Keeper of The Testimony available on Amazon
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
What's In A Name?
It never ceases to amaze me that when the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you something new the Lord keeps putting it in your face til you get it.
I for one am glad He does cause I tend to be a bit slow.
I was reading the book of Nehemiah and when I got to chapter 7 there was a long list of names. I started reading the list and my mind would go from a name to, I wonder if I have any emails than back to a name to, I wonder if any ones on face book.
I decided since I could not stay focused on the names I would just skip the rest of the chapter and move onto something more interesting.
A few days later I had to drive somewhere that was going to take a while so I looked through my CD's so I could listen to something in the car.
I found a CD of the Bible I forgot I had. I got it at a flea market years before and never listened to it. I didn't have my glasses on so I didn't know if it was Old or New Testament but it didn't matter, it couldn't hurt to hear whatever book it was.
Guess what? I pop in the CD and it starts right at Nehemiah 7! Right where I left off, the list of names.
I just started laughing because you and I know there is no such thing as coincidence.
I asked the Lord “why do you want me to listen to the names? What's in a name?”
This is what the Holy Spirit showed me, again we had to start off slow.
He said you recently went to your son and grandson's graduation and when you got there you were given a program. What was the first thing you did?
I did what everyone does I looked for my son and grandson's name.
I did the same thing at Anthony and Amanda's graduation from high school and college.
I made sure their names were there then proudly showed them to whoever was sitting next to me.
Seeing their name was the only reason I took the program.
I remember when Anthony was going to Full Sail and his class made a movie that Anthony directed and Nathanael got to play a part in. When it played at a small theater I took a picture of the marquee and at the end of the movie starred at the screen to see my boy's names on the credits. Even though they went by really quick I knew they were there.
You do the same thing right?
When you go to the movies you may not watch the credits but let's say someone you knew was in the movie Avatar would you wait to see his or her name?
Would you not tell everyone you knew they were in the movie? Of course you would. We get a sense of pride and ownership when someone we care about is recognized.
This was the thought process the Holy Spirit was showing me.
Now as I have told you before I am not a Bible scholar so what I share with you next is the Gena version of the book of Nehemiah. This is not a history lesson in any way. With that said.....
Nehemiah was a cup bearer and an influential man to King Artaxerxes. He heard the walls of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt and he wants to return there to make that happen. The King gives Nehemiah permission to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall.
When we get to chapter 7 the wall has been rebuilt. The city was large and spacious but there weren't many people living in it.
Verse 5 Then my God put it into my heart to gather the nobles, the rulers, and the people, that they might be registered by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of those who had come up in the first return, and found written in it:
Then you get the whole list of names and number of people that I skipped over.
What I skipped over was a very important list. The list of people whose names were written down were the Isrealites who had the right to settle in these rebuilt towns. They were from the original tribes proved by the genealogy records.
If you or I were there and we wanted our rightful place in the city finding our name would be pretty important right?
So now I got the first point but then the Holy Spirit taught me something even more amazing, I love when He does that.
He reminded me there's another list, what the Bible calls the Lambs book of life. On this list is all the names of God's children who will be allowed in His city otherwise known as Heaven.
Here's where I need you to stretch your thinking....
I was always taught your name had to be written onto the list to get into Heaven.
How that happens is to repent, which Webster defines as: to feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscience-stricken about a past action, attitude, etc.
After you repent you ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life and your name gets written in the Lambs book of life.
Are you with me so far?
Well like I said when the Lord is trying to teach you something He will put people, CD's or whatever He wants in your path to show you a truth.
Next lesson. I went to dinner at a friend's house and we ended up talking about this very scripture. Arthur, a real scholar of the Bible, showed me that I was just regurgitating what I had been taught but not what the Bible actually says.
Stay with me....
I was taught your name was added when in fact the Bible says everyone is already on the list because we all belong to God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20a Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price;
There is NOTHING you can do to get on the list however, where our part comes in is we have to decide to stay there.
I'm going to stop there because Arthur (the one who showed me this) also showed me that I didn't have the correct definition of repent.
When I do something wrong I go all the way :)
Repent in the Greek is metanoeō - meaning to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider.
Now if I repent, change my thinking, I accept that I am no longer my own. I was purchased by Jesus when He died on the cross and was raised to life.
OK so now I understand I am not my own I belong to Jesus but I decide not to have relationship with Him. I don't want Him to be Lord of my life because I don't believe this message then my name gets taken off the list. My decision.
Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh,the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
You can only blot out something that's already written down.
Arthur reminded me what the Holy Spirit has been telling me for a while.
You have to read the scriptures for yourself so the Holy Spirit can reveal things He wants you to understand.
The genealogy records will show you belong to Christ so you have the right to keep your name on the list in the Lambs Book of Life.
You have first right of refusal to the Kingdom of God!
Now what's so important about a name? Everything!
I have decided to keep my name on the list and I pray you will too.
This jewel does not give justice to Arthur's teaching. I would strongly suggest you go to www.kingdomlifeministry.com/ to obtain the original message. Arthur is a Spirit filled believer that God uses in an amazing way.
I for one am glad He does cause I tend to be a bit slow.
I was reading the book of Nehemiah and when I got to chapter 7 there was a long list of names. I started reading the list and my mind would go from a name to, I wonder if I have any emails than back to a name to, I wonder if any ones on face book.
I decided since I could not stay focused on the names I would just skip the rest of the chapter and move onto something more interesting.
A few days later I had to drive somewhere that was going to take a while so I looked through my CD's so I could listen to something in the car.
I found a CD of the Bible I forgot I had. I got it at a flea market years before and never listened to it. I didn't have my glasses on so I didn't know if it was Old or New Testament but it didn't matter, it couldn't hurt to hear whatever book it was.
Guess what? I pop in the CD and it starts right at Nehemiah 7! Right where I left off, the list of names.
I just started laughing because you and I know there is no such thing as coincidence.
I asked the Lord “why do you want me to listen to the names? What's in a name?”
This is what the Holy Spirit showed me, again we had to start off slow.
He said you recently went to your son and grandson's graduation and when you got there you were given a program. What was the first thing you did?
I did what everyone does I looked for my son and grandson's name.
I did the same thing at Anthony and Amanda's graduation from high school and college.
I made sure their names were there then proudly showed them to whoever was sitting next to me.
Seeing their name was the only reason I took the program.
I remember when Anthony was going to Full Sail and his class made a movie that Anthony directed and Nathanael got to play a part in. When it played at a small theater I took a picture of the marquee and at the end of the movie starred at the screen to see my boy's names on the credits. Even though they went by really quick I knew they were there.
You do the same thing right?
When you go to the movies you may not watch the credits but let's say someone you knew was in the movie Avatar would you wait to see his or her name?
Would you not tell everyone you knew they were in the movie? Of course you would. We get a sense of pride and ownership when someone we care about is recognized.
This was the thought process the Holy Spirit was showing me.
Now as I have told you before I am not a Bible scholar so what I share with you next is the Gena version of the book of Nehemiah. This is not a history lesson in any way. With that said.....
Nehemiah was a cup bearer and an influential man to King Artaxerxes. He heard the walls of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt and he wants to return there to make that happen. The King gives Nehemiah permission to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall.
When we get to chapter 7 the wall has been rebuilt. The city was large and spacious but there weren't many people living in it.
Verse 5 Then my God put it into my heart to gather the nobles, the rulers, and the people, that they might be registered by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of those who had come up in the first return, and found written in it:
Then you get the whole list of names and number of people that I skipped over.
What I skipped over was a very important list. The list of people whose names were written down were the Isrealites who had the right to settle in these rebuilt towns. They were from the original tribes proved by the genealogy records.
If you or I were there and we wanted our rightful place in the city finding our name would be pretty important right?
So now I got the first point but then the Holy Spirit taught me something even more amazing, I love when He does that.
He reminded me there's another list, what the Bible calls the Lambs book of life. On this list is all the names of God's children who will be allowed in His city otherwise known as Heaven.
Here's where I need you to stretch your thinking....
I was always taught your name had to be written onto the list to get into Heaven.
How that happens is to repent, which Webster defines as: to feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscience-stricken about a past action, attitude, etc.
After you repent you ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life and your name gets written in the Lambs book of life.
Are you with me so far?
Well like I said when the Lord is trying to teach you something He will put people, CD's or whatever He wants in your path to show you a truth.
Next lesson. I went to dinner at a friend's house and we ended up talking about this very scripture. Arthur, a real scholar of the Bible, showed me that I was just regurgitating what I had been taught but not what the Bible actually says.
Stay with me....
I was taught your name was added when in fact the Bible says everyone is already on the list because we all belong to God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20a Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price;
There is NOTHING you can do to get on the list however, where our part comes in is we have to decide to stay there.
I'm going to stop there because Arthur (the one who showed me this) also showed me that I didn't have the correct definition of repent.
When I do something wrong I go all the way :)
Repent in the Greek is metanoeō - meaning to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider.
Now if I repent, change my thinking, I accept that I am no longer my own. I was purchased by Jesus when He died on the cross and was raised to life.
OK so now I understand I am not my own I belong to Jesus but I decide not to have relationship with Him. I don't want Him to be Lord of my life because I don't believe this message then my name gets taken off the list. My decision.
Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh,the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
You can only blot out something that's already written down.
Arthur reminded me what the Holy Spirit has been telling me for a while.
You have to read the scriptures for yourself so the Holy Spirit can reveal things He wants you to understand.
The genealogy records will show you belong to Christ so you have the right to keep your name on the list in the Lambs Book of Life.
You have first right of refusal to the Kingdom of God!
Now what's so important about a name? Everything!
I have decided to keep my name on the list and I pray you will too.
This jewel does not give justice to Arthur's teaching. I would strongly suggest you go to www.kingdomlifeministry.com/ to obtain the original message. Arthur is a Spirit filled believer that God uses in an amazing way.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
If You Ask He Will Tell You
My friend Courtney invited me to a summer Bible study and I thought it would be a good idea for me and my daughter to do together. There were a few different studies available and I figured we would pick one when we got there.
The morning of the study I woke up and the Lord gave me the word Aquarius. Being the spiritual person I am I broke into song “ uh-kwair-ee-uhs, uh-kwair-ee-uhs ” I knew right away God was not talking about me singing.
I decided to look up the word and the first meaning was about a zodiac sign and again I knew that wasn't what He wanted me to see so I went to the next definition.
In this one it talked about it being a zodiacal constellation but the part that hit me was it said it looked like a man pouring water out of a bucket and I knew right away that was it.
The Lord wanted me to know He would be pouring out the Holy Spirit on the Bible study. I was so excited I couldn't wait to get there and see what God was going to do for me and the other ladies of the group.
When Jess and I got there we listened to each leader share what their study title was and what it was going to be about. The first two shared and although they were good studies I knew they weren't the ones we were supposed to be in.
Then it happened, the third woman got up and started talking about Forgotten God a study by Frances Chan on the Holy Spirit.
I knew instantly this was the one, you know Aquarius.
Quite honestly I had been feeling like I was in a dry spell in my spiritual walk so I figured God would use this to help me get through it.
Let me stop here and show you a couple of verses on the Holy Spirit.
One of His jobs (yes He is his own person) is to give us the power to live the way God tells us to. He also convicts us (your conscience) when we are going off track.
John 16:8
When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
1 Thessalonians 1:5
because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.
The following day I asked the Lord to fill me with more of the Holy Spirit and I asked the Holy Spirit to fill me more with His conviction. They both answered......
WARNING! Gems I have told you before if you ask God to show you something He will, so be prepared.
I wrote a status on my facebook; when you ask the Holy Spirit to reveal things to you about you, you might as well just start on your knees...that is where you will end up.
It started immediately, if you had me on a pedestal in anyway my confession will set things right.
First confession. I had made a flippant comment to my son during a phone conversation. Like I said I was in this dry spell and I was getting kind of negative.
I told my son I was being negative and probably shouldn't be talking at all. I should have taken my own advice hence the next facebook status, “One of the worst taste in your mouth is when you have to eat your own words.”
I had made a flippant comment regarding someone else and it got back to her and she called me on it. She wrote me a message on facebook about what she heard I said.
It gets worse. The first thing I did was call my son and blast him for telling anyone what I said. Can you believe this! I'm blaming him for my sin!
I know I can't believe it either, who is this person???
I had to apologize to my son first for running my negative mouth and second for blaming him. Did I mention I hung up the phone on him???
Now the hard part, I had to write back the person I wronged who by the way I totally respected for coming right to me with the situation.
I explained to her that I was obviously a butt head and gave my opinion where it was not needed or asked for. I was truly sorry because my flippant remark hurt another person, not just any person but one of God's children.
Worse than that I had grieved the Holy Spirit.
I wish I could tell you that was the only thing the Holy Spirit revealed to me but it wasn't.
He showed me a few days earlier I had made a flippant comment to a friend about someone else in joke form. They didn't know it but He did and again this grieved the Holy Spirit.
Because it's not in the best interest of this person I won't apologize to them personally. It would only hurt them and cause them harm they don't deserve however I did have to confess my sin to the friend I said it to and shared with her what the Holy Spirit said.
He reminded me if your joking about something that would hurt a persons feelings, especially if it's about something they are seriously struggling with it is obviously not funny.
He asked me how I would have felt if someone joked about something that hurt me to the soul. Need I say more?
These were a couple of things I had not dealt with. What I mean is when I knowingly mess up I immediately ask God to forgive me, accept the forgiveness and move on, but there are times we sin and don't realize it right away.
That sin still needs to be dealt with. If you ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there's anything you need to deal with.... He will.
I really felt awful and got on my knees and asked God to forgive me and thanked the Holy Spirit for loving me enough to show me things that were clogging up my flow with Him, hence my feeling of a dry spell.
It's not God or the Holy Spirits intent to make us feel bad it's just the opposite. They want us to get rid of anything that will keep us from feeling great.
I encourage you to do a Spirit check every once in a while and even if you don't have to make things right with one of your friends or family you may have to make things right with God and that's always a good thing.
We are all living our lives one day at a time and we need to help each other in this journey as much as possible. Our strength to do this successfully can only come from the Holy Spirit.
So there you have it Gems, if you ask He will tell you. Ask the Holy Spirit if there is any sin you need to deal with so you don't end up in a dry spell.
And just for fun sing out “ uh-kwair-ee-uhs, uh-kwair-ee-uhs”
The morning of the study I woke up and the Lord gave me the word Aquarius. Being the spiritual person I am I broke into song “ uh-kwair-ee-uhs, uh-kwair-ee-uhs ” I knew right away God was not talking about me singing.
I decided to look up the word and the first meaning was about a zodiac sign and again I knew that wasn't what He wanted me to see so I went to the next definition.
In this one it talked about it being a zodiacal constellation but the part that hit me was it said it looked like a man pouring water out of a bucket and I knew right away that was it.
The Lord wanted me to know He would be pouring out the Holy Spirit on the Bible study. I was so excited I couldn't wait to get there and see what God was going to do for me and the other ladies of the group.
When Jess and I got there we listened to each leader share what their study title was and what it was going to be about. The first two shared and although they were good studies I knew they weren't the ones we were supposed to be in.
Then it happened, the third woman got up and started talking about Forgotten God a study by Frances Chan on the Holy Spirit.
I knew instantly this was the one, you know Aquarius.
Quite honestly I had been feeling like I was in a dry spell in my spiritual walk so I figured God would use this to help me get through it.
Let me stop here and show you a couple of verses on the Holy Spirit.
One of His jobs (yes He is his own person) is to give us the power to live the way God tells us to. He also convicts us (your conscience) when we are going off track.
John 16:8
When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
1 Thessalonians 1:5
because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.
The following day I asked the Lord to fill me with more of the Holy Spirit and I asked the Holy Spirit to fill me more with His conviction. They both answered......
WARNING! Gems I have told you before if you ask God to show you something He will, so be prepared.
I wrote a status on my facebook; when you ask the Holy Spirit to reveal things to you about you, you might as well just start on your knees...that is where you will end up.
It started immediately, if you had me on a pedestal in anyway my confession will set things right.
First confession. I had made a flippant comment to my son during a phone conversation. Like I said I was in this dry spell and I was getting kind of negative.
I told my son I was being negative and probably shouldn't be talking at all. I should have taken my own advice hence the next facebook status, “One of the worst taste in your mouth is when you have to eat your own words.”
I had made a flippant comment regarding someone else and it got back to her and she called me on it. She wrote me a message on facebook about what she heard I said.
It gets worse. The first thing I did was call my son and blast him for telling anyone what I said. Can you believe this! I'm blaming him for my sin!
I know I can't believe it either, who is this person???
I had to apologize to my son first for running my negative mouth and second for blaming him. Did I mention I hung up the phone on him???
Now the hard part, I had to write back the person I wronged who by the way I totally respected for coming right to me with the situation.
I explained to her that I was obviously a butt head and gave my opinion where it was not needed or asked for. I was truly sorry because my flippant remark hurt another person, not just any person but one of God's children.
Worse than that I had grieved the Holy Spirit.
I wish I could tell you that was the only thing the Holy Spirit revealed to me but it wasn't.
He showed me a few days earlier I had made a flippant comment to a friend about someone else in joke form. They didn't know it but He did and again this grieved the Holy Spirit.
Because it's not in the best interest of this person I won't apologize to them personally. It would only hurt them and cause them harm they don't deserve however I did have to confess my sin to the friend I said it to and shared with her what the Holy Spirit said.
He reminded me if your joking about something that would hurt a persons feelings, especially if it's about something they are seriously struggling with it is obviously not funny.
He asked me how I would have felt if someone joked about something that hurt me to the soul. Need I say more?
These were a couple of things I had not dealt with. What I mean is when I knowingly mess up I immediately ask God to forgive me, accept the forgiveness and move on, but there are times we sin and don't realize it right away.
That sin still needs to be dealt with. If you ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there's anything you need to deal with.... He will.
I really felt awful and got on my knees and asked God to forgive me and thanked the Holy Spirit for loving me enough to show me things that were clogging up my flow with Him, hence my feeling of a dry spell.
It's not God or the Holy Spirits intent to make us feel bad it's just the opposite. They want us to get rid of anything that will keep us from feeling great.
I encourage you to do a Spirit check every once in a while and even if you don't have to make things right with one of your friends or family you may have to make things right with God and that's always a good thing.
We are all living our lives one day at a time and we need to help each other in this journey as much as possible. Our strength to do this successfully can only come from the Holy Spirit.
So there you have it Gems, if you ask He will tell you. Ask the Holy Spirit if there is any sin you need to deal with so you don't end up in a dry spell.
And just for fun sing out “ uh-kwair-ee-uhs, uh-kwair-ee-uhs”
Thursday, June 3, 2010
PAJ
This is the title Amanda, my oldest daughter, has given herself. It stands for Pride and Joy. I don't remember exactly when it happened or what prompted it but it definitely happened.
I think it was when she was a young teen, she will be 29 in October. She just decided one day that out of the four children she was my pride and joy.
She not only proclaimed it to me and her brothers and sisters but she added the disclaimer, the title is not transferable.
Anytime she did something nice for me she would look at her siblings and say “that's why I'm PAJ.”
The same theory worked the opposite way. If she did something I didn't like and I brought it to her attention she again would look at her siblings and say “it's OK I'm still PAJ.”
The funny thing is the other kids would complain to me that they wanted to be PAJ and would get upset when Amanda would flat out say “NO.”
Any time they did something really nice for me and I told them how much I appreciated it they would say “so am I PAJ now?”
I would remind them that I did not give Amanda this title, she did.
It is truly the funniest thing.
Recently my youngest son did something really nice for me and said “I'm PAJ now right?” This kid is 18 years old!
My oldest son still makes sarcastic comments when he's annoyed with his sister and will end with “I guess it's OK cause she's PAJ.”
If Amanda hears this she will just stand there nodding in agreement grinning from ear to ear. This only fuels the fire.
Of course they are all my pride and joy don't they know that?
I read a story about this woman who had a bunch of kids and the interviewer asked her if she loved one child more than the rest and she said yes. When asked which one she said the one who needs the most love at the time.
What a great answer and how true it is.
There was a disciple in the Bible named John that got the PAJ thing only he referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Same theory different title.
John 13:23
One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him
John 19:26
When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"
John 20:2
So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
John 21:7
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.
John 21:20
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them.
No where does it say Jesus named John this so we must assume John named himself. I love this guy!
It must have driven the other disciples crazy that he always said that.
He doesn't even use his name, just the disciple whom Jesus loved. Can't you just hear them around the fire “Oh there's John the disciple Jesus loves bla bla bla.”
If John messed up I can just see them running to Jesus to let him know and offer to take over the title.
I can just hear John like Amanda saying “it's OK I'm still the one Jesus loves.”
Of course Jesus loved all His disciples as He loves all of us but there were probably times He loved one more, just like that mom said.
I have a habit of telling people I'm Jesus favorite and I truly believe that.
Friends of mine have bought me things like book marks or coffee mugs that say “I'm God's favorite”
The great thing is even if I mess up and people run to God to tell on me it won't change the fact that I'm still His favorite.
My goal in life is to get everyone to feel the same way.
If we understood how much God loves us it would take so much pressure off of us and we could start living with the freedom God intended.
Matthew 11:30
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Message Bible:28-30"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Don't get me wrong, it's like Paul said in the Bible this does not give us license to sin, that would be a slap in the face to the Lord.
What it does give you is peace to know when you mess up God still loves you and He will help you get back on track with the help of the Holy Spirit.
There are times when you need to feel God's love more than others and those are the times I think He loves you the most.(I am still God's favorite)
So I'm giving you permission today to give yourself a new title. Be creative and announce it to your world. Get crazy and post it on Face book! Make bumper stickers or stationary!
It can be anything you want however please note, The disciple whom Jesus loved and PAJ are taken.
I think it was when she was a young teen, she will be 29 in October. She just decided one day that out of the four children she was my pride and joy.
She not only proclaimed it to me and her brothers and sisters but she added the disclaimer, the title is not transferable.
Anytime she did something nice for me she would look at her siblings and say “that's why I'm PAJ.”
The same theory worked the opposite way. If she did something I didn't like and I brought it to her attention she again would look at her siblings and say “it's OK I'm still PAJ.”
The funny thing is the other kids would complain to me that they wanted to be PAJ and would get upset when Amanda would flat out say “NO.”
Any time they did something really nice for me and I told them how much I appreciated it they would say “so am I PAJ now?”
I would remind them that I did not give Amanda this title, she did.
It is truly the funniest thing.
Recently my youngest son did something really nice for me and said “I'm PAJ now right?” This kid is 18 years old!
My oldest son still makes sarcastic comments when he's annoyed with his sister and will end with “I guess it's OK cause she's PAJ.”
If Amanda hears this she will just stand there nodding in agreement grinning from ear to ear. This only fuels the fire.
Of course they are all my pride and joy don't they know that?
I read a story about this woman who had a bunch of kids and the interviewer asked her if she loved one child more than the rest and she said yes. When asked which one she said the one who needs the most love at the time.
What a great answer and how true it is.
There was a disciple in the Bible named John that got the PAJ thing only he referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Same theory different title.
John 13:23
One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him
John 19:26
When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"
John 20:2
So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
John 21:7
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.
John 21:20
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them.
No where does it say Jesus named John this so we must assume John named himself. I love this guy!
It must have driven the other disciples crazy that he always said that.
He doesn't even use his name, just the disciple whom Jesus loved. Can't you just hear them around the fire “Oh there's John the disciple Jesus loves bla bla bla.”
If John messed up I can just see them running to Jesus to let him know and offer to take over the title.
I can just hear John like Amanda saying “it's OK I'm still the one Jesus loves.”
Of course Jesus loved all His disciples as He loves all of us but there were probably times He loved one more, just like that mom said.
I have a habit of telling people I'm Jesus favorite and I truly believe that.
Friends of mine have bought me things like book marks or coffee mugs that say “I'm God's favorite”
The great thing is even if I mess up and people run to God to tell on me it won't change the fact that I'm still His favorite.
My goal in life is to get everyone to feel the same way.
If we understood how much God loves us it would take so much pressure off of us and we could start living with the freedom God intended.
Matthew 11:30
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Message Bible:28-30"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Don't get me wrong, it's like Paul said in the Bible this does not give us license to sin, that would be a slap in the face to the Lord.
What it does give you is peace to know when you mess up God still loves you and He will help you get back on track with the help of the Holy Spirit.
There are times when you need to feel God's love more than others and those are the times I think He loves you the most.(I am still God's favorite)
So I'm giving you permission today to give yourself a new title. Be creative and announce it to your world. Get crazy and post it on Face book! Make bumper stickers or stationary!
It can be anything you want however please note, The disciple whom Jesus loved and PAJ are taken.