Our granddaughter is four, and from the time she started crawling and climbing, we have told her she could not jump on our furniture. But why, Mimi? This discipline does not make her happy. She still tries. We still tell her no. She doesn’t understand why she shouldn’t do it. Later, she fusses about controlling who sits where at the dinner table. She still tries to be bossy. We still tell her no. We spent over 12 hours with her and her two-year-old brother, navigating between giggles and groaning because we loved and disciplined. These two keep you on your toes. But they say thank you, and you are welcome. They squeal and play and bounce from game to game. They are precious. Now, they are not perfect. No grandchild is. The two-year-old boy will walk up and say, “I farted.” He wants a reaction. He wants to push our buttons. I think I am better as a grandparent than as a parent because I have seen the outcome of how I parented the first time around. I am not perfect. No parent is. But tucking them into their car seats last night to go home, both littles said, “I love you, Mimi.” And the kisses! They wave all the way down the driveway. My life is about the next generation now.
It reminds me of God’s Word: 6 “For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” Hebrews 12:6
God loves us and offers us Jesus as an opportunity to follow Him and to be invited to live eternally with Him if (conditional statement) we make Jesus our Lord and Savior. If we say yes to that salvation experience invitation, we are “sons” of God, meaning we partake in God’s inheritance. A father disciplines his son because He loves and wants good for them.
Why? Because God’s Word says, “Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?8If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.9Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
10Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good so that we may share in His holiness.11No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peaceto those who have been trained by it.
12Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.13Make straight paths for your feet,so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” Hebrews 12: 7-13
We have to learn our place in the family. For a season, we are an infant, then a child, then a teenager, then an adult. We change again when we become parents and grandparents. Each of us benefits when others invest in our lives. What they deposit into our hearts is what we will have to share with others down the generational line that follows.
As we ate lunch, my granddaughter began her conversation about our family. She asks me who my mom is. I tell her. Usually, she stays with her mom, my daughter, and then my mom, her great-grandmother. But today, she said, who’s your dad? She has never asked that before. She has also never met him, so it is understandable that she suddenly remembered that Mimi may have a father. She has figured out that we all have a mother and a father. I tell her that he has passed away. She pauses, and her little mind is processing. You can tell because she is not talking, and that my friend is rare! She then looks at me and smiles the sweetest smile. “I love you, Mimi.” That was her little heart’s way of saying, I don’t know what to say or do, but I love you. She understands how to “love one another.”
My father never invested in her heart. He will never be able to share any of what his heart could offer her. I watch my husband pour what he has into her heart. She values his words and actions, from rescuing her from a spider and being her hero to explaining how something works. His effort becomes a part of her when she learns from him.
Today, I pray for you to prioritize what is truly valuable, which is the next generation. We will come and go in this world, but what we invest in one another’s hearts is everlasting. Eternal good things are of God. If we don’t fill their hearts with God’s goodness, then their hearts lack good. This world will take a heart that is lacking and fill it up with all kinds of useless, not good things that are in opposition to God.
We wonder what is happening to the youth of today. Why are they the way they are? Because no one invested God into their hearts. Sure, we provided all kinds of other stuff: education, lessons of every kind, philosophies, ideologies, and material things of every shape and size. When they do wrong, we don’t spank or correct them anymore. Folks think a child will determine what is right or wrong on their own.
Our two-year-old grandson likes to play a cup game where I hide a toy inside one of four colored cups. He has to guess which one has the toy. As he lifts the cup to reveal what is inside, He says, “Nope” when it is empty. Nope! We need to guide them just as we need to be guided by God. We should never leave a child’s heart empty!
I wrote this yesterday. I had no idea what would be said in church today. It was just perfect, and it fit right into what I wrote.
We need more Jesus in every aspect of our life. Without Him, we have no purpose!
I was teasing and playing with my littlest granddaughter. She is four. She suddenly turned to me. Her turn had attitude from the position of her head to her toes and included a hang gesture found in teenagers. I know because I’ve seen our thirteen-year-old granddaughter do it. The hand is flattened and goes down in full on sass. And the eye roll!
The little one said, “Seriously, Mimi!”
I see that little love of a brown-eyed girl and the sass from her thirteen-year-old sister in that sass, and then I see her mama. If I am honest with myself, I will see myself in her too. Little by little, generation after generation, we sass. We think we know it all.
This morning, giggling at the thought of her, I soberly realize that little by little, generation after generation, we do that to God. We think we know it all.
We have a heart issues. Seriously, we have the matter of “teshuvah” (i.e., returning to God). We do not want to turn back to God. Little by little, generation after generation we drift farther and farther away from Him.
I played a game with my four-year-old granddaughter. Her response was appropriate and funny. But life is not a game with God. It is not appropriate or pleasing or good to sass or turn away from Him because when you do, that is when your deep heart issues begin!
The title was “You Might As Well Unfriend Me Now.”
Someone read it yesterday. Yeah, a blog I wrote in 2016. I had no idea what was in that blog. Why would someone read something that far back? I can’t even remember what I wrote!
So I looked it up.
Wow, just wow!
My heart breaks for the world in which we live that continues to grow in darkness instead of in Jesus who is The Light Of The World!
Nothing changes anything in this world but Jesus.
Nothing fixes anything in this world but Jesus.
In the end of your days, do you want to say, “Thanks for…nothing?”
In the end of my days, I want to say, “Thank You, Jesus, for everything!”
I can’t even begin to explain properly our last couple of weeks. Winter left and spring sprung but somehow it is summer. Weather trouble and trees fell. The end of the school year activities, my father passed away, projects, paintings requested, teacher duties, my mother’s sick, work, grandkids, sickness, appointments, this broke and that broke, Joe broke a tooth and I chipped one. Not at the same time or week, but we couldn’t even get them fixed at the same time because of more sickness. Somewhere in there was a trip to the zoo, Fun-Day Monday’s with the grandies, play dates, birthday’s, Mother’s Day and my first Father’s Day without my dad. Juggle this and get through that. One cat had a fever the other got hurt and needed another trip to the vet. More grandies, cookies, swings, cats, toys, naps, stories, and “dance parties!” As I am typing this, I realize that instead of continuing to type the chaos, I’m going to change to a summary.
Thankful. Grateful. Blessed.
It really doesn’t matter that you know or don’t know my little world. I can describe it in another way. Worry, stress, sadness, tears, joy, laughter, laughter so hard that I teared up. Panic, calmness. Peace and no peace. Grief and hope. Love and more love. Loss and loneliness. Hurt and pain. Growth. Timidity and boldness. Ending and beginnings and everything in between. I can also sum it up in another way.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
So, this morning I woke up, after the “tossing of the waves of the last couple of weeks,” singing.
“The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zeph. 3:17 is written by my computer.
I look up the verse in my Bible. I have the years 2010, 2018, and 2020 beside these verses. What do those years mean? Pretty much the same chaos as above only the details have changed. There will always be waves of instability in this world. ALWAYS. That will never change. You can take that to the bank. You can take to the grave unless you change. Jesus can help you with that change.
For example, 2018 was a year of a wonderful 3.5-week trip to Israel. But it was also a six-month journey with Joe’s cancer before the surgery and six months to a year after in follow up appointments, etc. There is always good and there is always bad. But how you handle the good and the bad is what can change you from where you are now to where Jesus wants you to be. You can sing about the wonderous love of Jesus, sing His mercy and His grace.
Back to this morning. SING! S-“seeing” IN-“in everything” G-“God!” I just made that up!
So let me tell/sing to you about my Jesus this morning. This is my songlist. A good old country church revival happened with only me and Jesus this morning. He didn’t even care that I am still sick and sounded pretty awful. But I had breath and I let everything of me that had breath praise the Lord this morning!
I LOVE TO TELL HIS STORY!
I love to tell the story Of unseen things above, Of Jesus and His glory, Of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story, Because I know ’tis true; It satisfies my longings As nothing else can do. I love to tell the story, ’Twill be my theme in glory To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story; More wonderful it seems Than all the golden fancies Of all my golden dreams, I love to tell the story, It did so much for me; And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee.
I love to tell the story; ‘Tis pleasant to repeat What seems each time I tell it, More wonderfully sweet. I love to tell the story; For some have never heard The message of salvation From God’s own holy Word.
I love to tell the story; For those who know it best Seem hungering and thirsting To hear it like the rest. And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song, ’Twill be the old, old story, That I have loved so long.
I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY BECAUSE WHEN WE ALL GET TO HEAVEN WHAT A DAY OF REJOICING THAT WILL BE, WHEN WE ALL SEE JESUS, WE’LL SING AND SHOUT THE VICTORY!
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, Sing His mercy and His grace; In the mansions bright and blessed He’ll prepare for us a place.
When we all get to Heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory!
Onward to the prize before us! Soon His beauty we’ll behold; Soon the pearly gates will open; We shall tread the streets of gold.
When we all get to Heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory!
When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory!
WHY WILL WE SING AND SHOUT THE VICTORY? BECAUSE ‘TIS SO SWEET TO TRUST IN JESUS AND TO TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD!
‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His Word; Just to rest upon His promise, Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er; Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! Oh, for grace to trust Him more!
I’m so glad I learned to trust Him, Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend; And I know that He is with me, Will be with me to the end.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er; Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! Oh, for grace to trust Him more!
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er; Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! Oh, for grace to trust Him more! Oh, for grace to trust Him more!
MY TRUST IN JESUS GREW IN A GARDEN OF FAITH IN HIM.
I come to the garden alone While the dew is still on the roses And the voice I hear, falling on my ear The Son of God discloses
And He walks with me And He talks with me And He tells me I am His own And the joy we share as we tarry there None other has ever known
He speaks and the sound of His voice Is so sweet the birds hush their singing And the melody that He gave to me Within my heart is ringing
And He walks with me And He talks with me And He tells me I am His own And the joy we share as we tarry there None other has ever known
I stayed in the garden with Him Though the night all around me is falling But He bids me go, through the voice of woe His voice to me is calling
And He walks with me And He talks with me And He tells me I am His own And the joy we share as we tarry there None other has ever known None other has ever known
IF YOU DON’T HAVE THAT PRECIOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS THAT YOU KNOW THAT YOU KNOW THAT YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE HIS OWN. YOU NEED TO ASK YOURSELF, “ARE YOU WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB?”
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood? In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you walking daily by the Savior’s side? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Do you rest each moment in the crucified? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
BECAUSE IF YOU ARE, OH THE SWEETNESS OF SOME GLAD MORNING WHEN THIS LIFE IS OVER!
Some glad morning when this life is over I’ll fly away To a home on God’s celestial shore I’ll fly away
I’ll fly away, oh, Glory I’ll fly away When I die, Hallelujah, by and by I’ll fly away
Just a few more weary days and then I’ll fly away To a land where joy shall never end I’ll fly away
I’ll fly away, oh, Glory I’ll fly away When I die, Hallelujah, by and by I’ll fly away
Yeah, when I die, Hallelujah, by and by I’ll fly away
I WILL SING HALLELUJAH BECAUSE WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS! WHATEVER MY DAY HOLDS, I KNOW MY JESUS HOLDS ME. O WHAT PEACE WE OFTEN FORFEIT, O WHAT NEEDLESS PAIN WE BEAR, ALL BECAUSE WE DO NOT CARRY EVERYTHING TO GOD IN PRAYER!
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer. Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer! In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.
Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer. Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.
HE IS A FAITHFUL FRIEND AND WE CAN STAND ON HIS PROMISES BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS!
Standing on the promises of Christ my King Through eternal ages, let his praises ring Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing Standing on the promises of God Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Saviour Standing, standing, I’m standing on the promises of God
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see It was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed When we’ve been there, 10, 000 years bright shining as the sun We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun
IF YOU DON’T FEEL SECURE IN THIS WORLD OR YOU HAVE NO ASSURANCE OF YOUR FUTURE. IF YOU HAVE LOST HOPE OR YOU NEVER HAD HOPE TO BEGING WITH, IT IS TIME TO TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS AND LOOK FULL IN HIS WONDERFUL FACE!
O soul are you weary and troubled No light in the darkness you see There’s light for a look at the Savior And life more abundant and free
Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in his wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of his glory and grace
His word shall not fail you he promised Believe him and all will be well Then go to a world that is dying His perfect salvation to tell
Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in his wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of his glory and grace
O soul are you weary and troubled No light in the darkness you see There’s light for a look at the Savior And life more abundant and free
Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in his wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of his glory and grace
BECAUSE OF JESUS, NO MATTER WHAT THIS WORLD THROWS AT ME, ON ME, OR THROUGH ME, I WILL ALWAYS HAVE IN HIM THE ABILITY TO LEAN ON THE EVERLASTING ARMS!
What a fellowship, what a joy divine, Leaning on the everlasting arms; What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, Safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, Leaning on the everlasting arms; Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, Safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, Leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread, what have I to fear, Leaning on the everlasting arms; I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, Safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, Leaning on the everlasting arms.
THAT BLESSED PEACE IS FROM MY JESUS. HE IS EVERYTHING TO ME AND I WILL CLING TO HIM!
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross The emblem of suffering and shame And I love that old cross where the dearest and best For a world of lost sinners was slain
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross (rugged cross) Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it some day for a crown
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true It’s shame and reproach gladly bear Then he’ll call me some day to my home far away Where his glory forever I’ll share
And I’ll cherish the old rugged cross (rugged cross) Till my trophies at last I lay down And I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it some day for a crown I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it some day for a crown
WHY? BECAUSE GOD IS GREAT. I CAN’T HELP BUT BE IN AWE OF HIM AND SING HOW GREAT THOU ART! HE IS!
Oh Lord, my God When I, in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout the universe displayed
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing He bled and died to take away my sin
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart Then I shall bow, in humble adoration And then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art How great Thou art, how great Thou art
I CAN’T THINK OF A BETTER WAY TO SPEND ENTERNITY THAN WITH JESUS. THE NEXT GREATER THING WILL BE IF I GET TO SPEND IT WILL ALL OF MY LOVED ONES AND JESUS! YOU NEED TO BE THERE WITH US!
If I surveyed all the good things that come to me from above If I count all the blessings from the storehouse of love I’d simply ask for a favor of him beyond mortal king And I’m sure that he’d grant it again I want to stroll over Heaven with you some glad day When all our troubles and heartaches are vanished away Then we’ll enjoy the beauty where all things are new I want to stroll over Heaven with you
So many places of beauty we long to see here below But time and treasures have kept us from making plans as you know But come the morning of the rapture together we’ll stand anew While I stroll over Heaven with you I want to stroll over Heaven with you some glad day When all our troubles and heartaches are vanished away Then we’ll enjoy the beauty where all things are new I want to stroll over Heaven with you
I want to stroll over Heaven with you
I ALREADY KNOW THAT I GET TO GO TO HEAVEN. IT IS NO SECRET. JESUS HAS GIVEN ME ASSURANCE THAT WE WILL BE TOGETHER, ALWAYS!
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God Born of his Spirit, washed in His blood
This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long
Perfect submission, perfect delight Visions of rapture now burst on my sight Angels descending bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love
This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long Praising my Savior all the day long
WHEN YOU HAVE THAT ASSURANCE THERE IS ETERNITY WRAPPED UP IN A WAY THAT CAUSES JOY AND SONG! YOU NEED THAT JOY AND YOU NEED TO SING. HE IS CALLING YOU, SOFTLY AND TENDERLY. JESUS IS CALL YOU!
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling Calling for you and for me See on the portal He’s watching and waiting Waitin’ for you and for me
Come home Come ho-ome He who are wary Come ho-ome
Ernestly, tenderly Jesus is calling Calling, oh sinner Come home
Come home Come ho-ome He who are wary Come ho-o-ome
Ernestly, tenderly Jesus is calling Calling, oh sinner Come home
YUP THAT WAS MY PLAYLIST. PRAYER LIST. PRAISE LIST. YEAH, I LIKE THAT ONE. PRAISE LIST!
THANKFUL TO JESUS. GRATEFUL FOR JESUS. BLESSED BY AND BECAUSE OF JESUS!
YOU NEED HIM TO REJOICE OVER YOU WITH SINGING!
I can’t imagine not having my Jesus! These precious songs started my day, and they are ending my day. And there were songs in between. Twelve classes of preschoolers, singing about Jesus, and whales, sharks, fish, bubblegum, birds, gentleness and the other fruit of the Spirit. Yeah, it has been a good day. A very good day to have a birthday!
Have a relationship with Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Read your Bible and do what it says.
Love God and love others as yourself.
Simple steps of faith, but ones with eternal blessings.
Heaven is not overrated because of Jesus.
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him and that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
Spending time in prayer and thanksgiving because in the next two days, we will be going to two funerals.
God is Faithful and True, and as the song says, “He is running after you…”
Each and every one of you.
I teach 4’s and 5’s at WEE school on Mondays and Tuesdays. They get it. They have a child-like faith. God is GOOD. God is EVERYWHERE. God made EVERYTHING. God is LOVE. God loves me.
Life in this world removes that child-like faith and fills it up with all kinds of distractions such as addictions, sports, hobbies, parties, entertainment, stuff, celebrations of things other than God things, etc.
We need to get back to that child-like pure faith and remember that God loves us. God is Faithful. God is True. God is real, and we really need God.
Don’t wait until it is too late to make sure that you choose Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Do not let this world kill, steal, and destroy your eternal future by you NOT making a choice for Jesus.
Listen to the song, “Goodness of God.”
How do you choose Jesus?
You just have to get to a point in your life that you put yourself aside, all of your junk, baggage, issues, problems, etc. and simply want a change.
The only ONE who can provide a real change in your life is Jesus.
Jesus is transformational. He will change you. It will always be a good change.
He is good. He cannot NOT be good.
He is Faithful. That means He is reliable and steadfast, and remains loyal. He is true to the original. He is the original.
In preschool, the children learn that a caterpillar eats leaves and then makes a sleeping bag to sleep in while he changes into a butterfly. God’s plan is for the caterpillar to change. They learn that God created the caterpillar to transform, to change, and to teach us that we start out one way and through God we become something as wonderful and miraculous as a butterfly.
We start out in a caterpillar like condition. We just go about life eating, drinking, and existing. We have a sinful nature which means we can never be good enough on our own. God is good and we fall short of His goodness.
Romans 3:23, “For all (each and every one of us) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
If we stay in our current condition, we will die. We will never change and become something wonderful like a butterfly. We will never fulfill God’s plan for us.
Romans 6:23, “For the wages (the payment) of sin is death, but (in contrast) the free gift of God is eternal life in (a position) Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Why do we need to change? Why does the caterpillar have to make a sleeping bag called a chrysalis? Because without the willingness to MAKE the chrysalis, there will be NO change.
If a caterpillar does not make a chrysalis, then that caterpillar will NOT change.
We are like the caterpillar. We have to MAKE a choice.
John 3:3 says, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'”
Without the willingness to MAKE a choice, there will be no way to see the kingdom of God.
John 14:6 says, “Jesus said to him (you and me), ‘I am (exist, my very being) the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father (God) but (in contrast) through (because of) Me (Jesus).'”
For the caterpillar, the chrysalis is the key to changing into a butterfly.
For you and me, Jesus is the key to changing into what God has planned for us. He is also The Door!
John 10:9, “I (Jesus) am the door; if anyone enters through (because of) Me (Jesus), he will be saved (from sin and spiritual death), and will go in and out and find pasture (eternal life).”
If you are a caterpillar, you make a good choice, you make a chrysalis.
If you are like me, you make a good choice, you choose Jesus.
How?
Romans 10:9-11, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”
Blessing and life is available to those who believe in Jesus the Messiah.
Deuteronomy 30:14-16, “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. See, I have set before you today life and prosperity (blessings), and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statues and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.”
What happens is you do NOT choose Jesus. Read on in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 30:17-20, “But if your heart turns away and you will NOT obey, but (in contrast) are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I (God) declare to you today that you shall surely perish (die). You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Choose life! His name is JESUS!
2 Corinthians 5:15 says, “and He (Jesus) died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him (Jesus) who died and rose again on their behalf.”
Jesus is waiting for you. How do I know? Because He waited for me too!
Revelation 3:20, “Behold (pay attention), I (Jesus) stand at the door and knock (He makes the effort first); if anyone hears (faith comes by hearing) My (Jesus) voice and opens (makes the choice-responds to the knock) the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him (a relationship-intimacy), and he with Me (Jesus).”
He is The Door, and He is at your heart’s door. He is waiting for you to choose Him.
Do it today. Secure your eternal future by opening your hearts door to HIM!
Two funerals. One person I know she knew Jesus. Her life had so much evidence to plead her case if she were to stand before a judge. One person, not so sure about. He struggled. He lived this world in a way that this world won. May God have mercy on us all!
I choose Jesus!!Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him and that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
College students asked Warren Buffet (billionaire), “What he would do to live a happier life if he could start all over again?”
He responded, with a four word answer, “Do what you love.”
Hmmm.
I could do it in one word.
Jesus.
Doing it Buffet’s way might get me in trouble with Jesus because doing what “I” love or what Buffet loves is ultimately “doing what is right in my own eyes.”
But I was not created by The Creator of The Universe, to “do what is right in my own eyes.” None of us was created for that purpose. That purpose will never be solved because we can’t define what is love unless we define it by our own opinion.
God defines love. God is love. Therefore we are to do what is right in the eyes of God-Who is love. He will define it, outline it, give us a purpose and a guide in which to live out our lives in a way that will be pleasing to Him.
Warren Buffet may be wealthy in the ways of the world because he has done what he loved to do. But (contrast word) that will not get him into the kingdom of God. Eternity is created by God and how we get in is defined by Him.
The enemy of your soul (Satan) knows the truth, but he wants to conceal it from you. He wants to deceive you. He lies to you. His plans for you are to harm you and to steal your future.
But there is a way in which we lie to ourselves. We deceive ourselves. Why? Because we can come up with all kinds of self-focused reasons that benefit ourselves. When we listen to our own voice instead of the voice of God, then we are in a heap load of trouble. We deceive ourselves when we excuse our behaviors instead of correct our behaviors. It is easier that way. We deceive ourselves when we examine ourselves based on our own truths rather than examine ourselves up against God’s truths. It is easier that way. We deceive ourselves when we are inconsistent between our behaviors and our false view of ourselves (we think more highly of ourselves than we should). It is easier that way. We justify and wishful think instead of verify what God thinks. It is easier that way…our way. We prefer to lie to ourselves than believe in God’s truth. That is exactly what deception is.
We would even like to blame the devil, but Galatians 6:3 says, “If anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives/seduces himself.” I didn’t see Satan’s name in there, people!
How do we fix this? Honesty! We have to be honest and accept ourselves as we really are. We have to see ourselves as God’s see us. Only God sees and knows us as we really are. We are sinners in need of a Savior! If we have not gotten there yet, then we are in a heap load more trouble than we will admit! Only when we know that our spiritual condition is lacking and that God alone can fill or complete that which is lacking, then we will be positioned by Jesus to go further.
This means further in Jesus as in more than Him saving us from our sins but following Him because He is our Lord AND our Savior. He becomes more, further, farther, a future is revealed in Him.
Following Jesus is a walk, a way of conducting our lives. It is not a show, drama, performance, or something to post on social media.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, least anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
The more we align with Jesus the farther from ourselves we get. God’s power working in us and through us and not us in us. We fade away and He shines brighter. His light is what will attract the lost and dying to Him.
I am teaching preschoolers two days a week at our church’s WEE program. This month we focus on what God has made including us. The very first act of creation recorded is the utterance from God, “Let there be light.” Then God goes on to say, “God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:3-4). There is a difference, a distinction between light and dark. We are to be children of the light and not of darkness (1 Thes. 5:5).
Deception from Satan or from ourselves or from non-believers will lead our walk toward darkness. Turn away, run, repent, and return to Jesus!
Jesus!
One word that will transform your future from darkness into light!
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him and that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
This is a mostly middle eastern symbol that is making it’s way to our neck of the woods. Specifically, on our necks. This morning, I was watching the news and I saw a necklace very much like the one above on the reporter. I wondered if she knows what that necklace means. Sometimes we wear stuff “just because.” Not a good practice. We should be purposeful to be honoring to the Lord in all our ways including what we wear around our neck.
Hamsa has many different spellings. In general, it is a good luck symbol. It protects the wearer and some believe that it will bring them happiness. Some believe that it brings protection and good fortune. Sometimes you see it with two symmetrical thumbs and sometimes it looks like a regular hand. Sometimes it right-side up and sometimes it’s hung upside down.
Muslims call is Khamsa, and “The Hand of Fatima.” Fatima was one of the daughters of Mohammad from his first wife Khadija. Fatima was married to Mohammad’s cousin Ali. She was the only child of Mohammad to give him grandchildren. Fatima is said to be by Muslims (Shite) to be pure and completely without sin. The symbol is meant to represent strong protection, power, and strength. If hung on a home it protects the home and the members of the home. Khamsa is the Arabic word for five. Muslims (Sunni) believe it represents the five pillars of Islam. Muslims (Shite) believe it to represent the five people of the cloaks.
Some Jewish groups (Mystical, Kabbalah, and Secular) call the Hamsa Hand “The Hand of Miriam.” Miriam was the sister of Moses and Aaron. Some say that it was Miriam’s virtues that helped the Hebrews find water in the desert when they left Egypt. The well of water that seemed to follow Miriam is a legend. Miriam is said to bring about protection, luck, and happiness. Hamsa (Hamesh) is the Hebrew word for five. Some believe it to represent the five books of Moses. Some say that is is God’s five senses.
Some groups associate it as a “magic protection”amulet. You may see other symbols embedded into the amulet including the evil eye, a fish, a star of David, a prayer. Some believe that the Hamsa protects you from the evil eye. Now that’s funny. You need one amulet to protect you from another one.
It’s not a modern symbol. Archeologist traced it back to the Phoenicians and was used as a protective symbol for an ancient Middle Eastern goddess. The hamsa hand has always been associated with a female entity offering protection from evil and misfortune. I want you to notice something. Did you hear anything about GOD in the above information? Exactly! This amulet, talisman, symbol, and household decoration has NOTHING to do with God.
Paganism. Idolatry. Spiritualism. Luck. But NOT GOD!
I grew up with it on the walls, on baby carriers and cribs, pinned on children, and worn as jewelry. Lately, folks are trying to use it as a symbol to unite the middle east and bring peace between the Jewish and the Muslim people groups. Ugh!
Ugh! It’s all I can do not to pick up a hamsa hand and slap ya’ll upside the head!
Muslims -not a faith that believes in the same God as Christians and Jews. Enough said. Yes, some will argue with me but I was once a Muslim who became a Christian. God and allah (yes, I do realize that others will capitalize this name, but not me, people!) are not the same god. I’ve studied Judaism for many years, and Christianity is an extension of Judaism, meaning Gentiles grafted in. So all that hocus pocus with the hand in Islam is an extension of paganism. Oh, and Fatima was not perfect, only Jesus can claim that.
Judaism – is a most wonderful faith who missed the Messiah sent to them. His name is Jesus. He is also Jewish. But there are a lot of secular and mystical forms of Judaism. This symbol has nothing to do with pure Judaism. Miriam did not provide the wells based on her virtues, God did. Give the Creator of the Universe some credit!
Well, lump the rest of the mystical junk in this bullet point. Magical talismans and wishes for good fortune and happiness is so pagan.
Peace in the middle east between Jews and Muslims. Not going to happen without the Prince of Peace. Read your Bible, really good long story!
So clean up your house, throw out the pagan junk, wear a necklace that represents the One True God. Represent Him in your words that come from your heart because it reveals if you have Him in your heart. Represent Him in your clothes, your choice of jewelry, your home and every way possible make it an opportunity to share Him. Make Jesus your everything, trust and obey, and He alone will bring you those traits like happiness-it’s called Joy of the Lord, peace-He is the Prince of Peace. Luck-no such thing. Jesus is the real deal, people!
May you seek Him and not symbols made by man with his own hands!
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him and that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
I saw a picture. It was someone else’s post. It was taken 19 years ago.
It had a picture of the Twin Towers on September 10th, 2001. #NeverForget
It makes you stop and think. Pray and wonder. I think of questions that will never have answers this side of eternity.
I think of problems that will never have solutions this side of eternity.
Without Jesus, we (mankind) will never understand any of it this side of eternity.
Maybe the hashtag should be #NeverUnderstand.
Why eternity? Because all will be revealed including to those who do not believe in Jesus now. They will see and know and understand in eternity all of life’s questions and answers and problems and solutions. Both believers and non-believers will be overwhelmed with the full and complete revelation of Jesus and Who He Is.
Then eternity will happen in two different ways for those that will #FinallyUnderstand.
For those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus, we will follow Him right into eternity “with” Him and “in” Him. That is a very GOOD position to be in.
For those who have rejected Jesus, they will see and bow at the knee and confess who He is before they will not be allowed to spend eternity “with” Him and “in” Him. That is NOT a very good position to be in. It will be a position in which they will spend eternity, “wishing, hoping, desiring, longing, pleading, and begging for…one…more…chance…just one…to change that moment that changed their life forever…to choose Jesus and live.”
One of the questions that I would ask a survivor of 9-11 would be, “If you could go back and change one moment that would change your life forever from that day, what would that moment be, and would you do it?”
I wonder how many of us “remember” because we experienced that sunken feeling, that dread and fear, the coldness and the heat of flames. Our eyes glued to the television to be eye-witnesses to the events unfolding live on television. The sound of silence from no airplanes and that sound that will never leave you of a human body falling on a building canopy below because they would rather jump than burn. Those images of the few that ran in when all the rest ran out.
We who were alive on that day, experienced that day. Some ran to churches; others fell on their knees. Some rushed to pull their children out of school while others rushed to donate blood. Some cried, some didn’t, but all were quiet. It was a day in which we ALL experienced together but each in our own way. Our experiences was based on our position. If our position was closer than our experience was worse. If were were farther away, then our experience was less hard and dangerous. It was a good day to be far away.
But that got me thinking. That’s a good way to describe a worldly experience in which we ALL experience together but each in our own way. This worldly experience was better to be far off than near to the center of the experience. But please notice, this was a “world” experience.
Let’s talk about experiencing as in a spiritual experience. To have a salvation experience is to follow Jesus as both your Lord and your Savior. You accept that free gift of salvation offered to you by God’s grace and mercy. You are changed forever by your experience with Jesus. You will spend the rest of your life in a process of becoming more like Him only not divine. God is divine. We are the reflection of Him.
I have had that personal experience and I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. My life has changed drastically. I have lost a lot, but I have abundance. I have lost family and friends, but I have gained sisters and brothers in Christ. There have been hard days and hard nights and hard experiences since I changed from the world to Jesus. But if someone were to ask, “If you could go back and change one moment that would change your life forever from that day would you do it?” I would say “NO! May it never be!” I have gained far more than I’ve lost, and what I have lost is of no eternal value. Eternity is everything because eternity is all Jesus!
Sometimes we #NeverForget because we #NeverRemembered in the first place.
Choosing to willingly have a relationship with the God who created you will change your day, your week, and your rest of your life forever.
But when you reject an opportunity to enter into a relationship with that very same God who created you then you have choosen to #NeverRemember what God has done for you.
Much like 9-11. Much like the history of the different statues that are torn down or the synagogues burned or the churches vandalized. You may change the name of a building because the current culture disagrees with it, but do you know why it was named that way from the beginning? Most people, as in mankind in this current world that we live in choose not to “deal” with the reality of this world.
They want to make it easy and have it easy. They want comfort and no work. Benefits and no costs. Privileges and advantages but no correction or discipline. They want to play and eat and be merry without the worry of shelter or bills or consequences to their actions. A pill will not solve everything they want solved. Neither will a charity or a celebrity or a cause. You can give free food to the hungry but they will be hungry again, sometimes by the very next meal. This world and the ways of this world cannot solve this world.
Why? Because it is in the wrong position. When you experience this world in its fullness, then you are far off or away from God. This world will fill you up with every form of thing, desire, food, experience, entertainment, or substance that will temporarily fill you up, but you will be unsatisfied shortly, sometimes as soon as the very next meal. It was not designed by God to be satisfying.
This dissatisfaction is by design to cause you to have “needs” in which you will “need” to have filled. You need food, you need to eat, but you will be hungry again. You will never be satisfied unless God gives you more than just food. That is why the Bibles says, “I am the Bread of Life.” The same goes for thirst, but Jesus says, “I am the Living Water.”
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14
Dissatisfaction will cause you to seek a change in position from dissatisfied to satisfied. Initially, you want satisfaction; you want to “be” in the position of “being” satisfied. But eventually, you will come to the understanding that satisfaction is only attained after and because of Jesus. Anything else will fall short of the glory of God. Why? Because Jesus, Himself is the Glory of God. (John 1:14)
People who are and have experienced real and true satisfaction have had a salvation experience which has changed their position from distant to near, from outside to inside, and from away from to within because Jesus has changed them.
The Bible says in Exodus 19 and 20 that the children of Israel were also given an opportunity to properly prepared themselves to enter into an intimate relationship with God yet they chose to remain at a distance. Why? For many of the very same reasons, folks are dissatisfied with events today. They were about eating and drinking and being merry for that moment and that day and they wanted what would satisfy them in the now. They gave up a most beautiful promise to enter into the Promised Land of God because they were simply disobedient to what God said and who God is.
I can’t help but wonder if people today #HaveForgotten what God has said and who God is because they are positioned in such disobedience. This is called “lawlessness” in the Bible.
The Israelites experienced some great and wonderous things that only God Himself can do. God told them to remember these experiences so that by telling their children, their children will be able to tell the next generations. Why? So that they will be in a position to #NeverForget all of the unique and miraculous things God has done for them.
We are entering shortly into the season of Rosh Hashanah, which is a season to Remember and Repent to Reconcile and Restore and to Reestablish and NOT Reject God.
#NeverForget God and all that He has done for you. So that one day, He will not say to you, “Many will say to Me (Jesus) on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declared to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”
God is Sovereign and knows everything, it is not like God is going to actually forget your name. It is that He will choose to not remember you as in #NeverRemembered. Because that is how you responded to Him on earth.
Today is September 10th…the day before…everything changes. TODAY is “normal” Your world and your experiences in this world TODAY will be changed by tomorrow. Tomorrow will not be “normal.” Make your decisions TODAY because tomorrow you may wake up, drink your coffee and go off to work as if it were just any other day of the week. You think you have plenty of time, you think it is just another normal day, you think this way, but someone else thinks otherwise. Someone else will think that planes should be weapons and that life is not valuable. Someone else will think that their religion offers a way to live out eternity in paradise by taking the lives of so many tomorrow. For many people on September 11th, tomorrow comes but not another TODAY. There will never be a normal TODAY again.
That Day, the one the Bible talks about, is coming, It will be a day in which we ALL experience together but each in our own way.
Don’t miss your opportunity to experience and draw near to God TODAY. This is not a decision to put off or to forget but to #RememberToday.
Remember to #ChoseJesusToday!
One of the questions that I would ask those who did NOT survive of 9-11 would be, “If you could go back and change one moment that would change your life forever from that day, what would that moment be and would you do it?” Bet their answer would be “YES!”
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus, and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
Shahe Nahler 