Sue D.’s Journal

This reminds me of when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane. (From Matthew 26: 38-39)Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." vs. 38) Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." -- (This shows that He was submitted to God, His Father.)

I am very thankful that Jesus is able to sympathize with our weakness. Because, He became a man and was tempted with every temptation that mankind was temped. YET, without sin. He truly was the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. He took my punishment, I should have been the one who was flogged. I should have been the one who was crucified on the tree.

This verse reminds me of: Psalm 139: 23-24 - (KJV) -- 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. I believe this is telling us that we need to encourage each other to examine ourselves to see if there is any sin lurking in our hearts, minds or body. And if we find any sin we need to confess it to God. And 1 John 3: 20 - 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Note - An oversensitive, conscience can be quieted by the knowledge that God knows whether or not, in spite of our shortcomings, if we have born again or not. From Hebrews 3: 13 I believe that God wants us to encourage each other to: 1. Examine ourselves, our faith, whether we are prideful, or any-other sin that may have crept in to our lives. 2. And if we recognize that we have sinned. We need to confess our sin. 1 John 1: 9: 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. More than anything else, I want to be purified from all unrighteousness, and to be lead in the way everlasting.

I find that there are several good verses in this chapter. I know that when I was working two part time jobs. It seemed like my life consisted of eat, sleep, and work. It seemed hard to find time to read the bible, and to pray. Although on my drive to work in the morning I did ask the Lord to give me the strength that I needed for that day. --- When I read this verse about salvation, I thought about. What an in creditable, wonderful, thing that God did for me. And when at times, I get sidetracked and do something that is sinful. I get so disgusted with myself. And I have to say "Lord it is me again, I stepped out of Your will, I disobeyed Your word. Lord I humbly ask for your mercy and grace. You say that if we confess our sins, that You will forgive us and cleanse us form ALL unrighteousness. "O Papa God, that is what I want, I want to be cleansed from all unrighteousness.

This verse reminds me of when Jesus was here on earth. There told his disciples that He did what He saw the father doing. Here it also says that, Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word. To me that means that he sustains me as well. Next it says that Jesus provided purification for sins. I am so thankful that He porvided purification for my sins.

I was struck with a new thought as I read this verse. I knew that Onesimus was a slave. But, the new thought I had was that we all sold away as a slave to sin - - - But because Jesus Christ took my whipping, He died on the cross and on the third day He rose Triumphant, a Victor over sin and death. - - So that if we believe that He was the Son of God, and if we believe that He bleed and died for us. Then we have the right to be sons and daughters of God. We are hairs with Christ, if we share in His suffering.

God is so good, He knew that attempting to obey the law, nor our righteous acts, is not able to save us. But, because of his great love and his mercy for us. He sent His Son to earth to shed His blood, and die for us, so that could once again have a relationship with God. Lamentations 3: 22-23 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;[b] his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

To me I think this is something that needs to be taught to our sons as they are growing up. I think that the one word that sums up: temperate, worthy of respect, self controlled est... Is integrity. A good example is the story of Daniel, he resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine. This chapter, pricks my concession, I know that given my age, I should have the maturity to be self control. Yet, at times I find myself struggling with self control, and it bothers me that I still feel weak in this area.

I feel that this whole chapter is worth reading though many times. It shows us how we ought to look like. What we should strive to be. Yet, we need to remind ourselves that we need the help of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to achieve this. We need to ask the Lord to create in us a new heart, a pure heart. Also that he would help us to renew our minds, to help us to have the mind of Christ. We need to be sure to take every thought captive. If we don't guard our hearts and minds, because of our enemy, the World, the flesh and the devil, we are able to have our minds be filled with impure thoughts. When we fall into sin it is often because of an impure thought, that we have allowed our minds to think on.

I chose this verse because the issue of abortion weighs heavy on my heart. I look back at Genesis 4: 9-11: Here God asked Cain "Where is your brother Abel?" In vs. 10 God says that Abel's blood call to Him from the ground. and because of what Cain had done he was under a curse. Now in this verse King Joash forgot the kindness Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son. As this son lay dying he says: "May the Lord see this and call you to account." It is very sobering to think of all the innocent babes who have been and are being aborted. I have no doubt that their blood also calls out to God. I know that many times I have felt so helpless, because I want this Holocaust to end. Yet I don't know what I can do to make it stop. I wonder why way back in the 70's when the signing of Roe vs Way (not sure if that is spelled correctly) that the churches did not immediately band together in protest against this inhuman action. I wonder if they had all stood up and cried out together day after day. Weather it would have turned out much different?