The Same God

DEAR READERS,

I have been listing to a CD lately that has been quite encouraging and it made me thing about the scripture...

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)

     It's a beautiful gem and is a reminder to us all that no matter what we go through God will always be the same God he has always been. It is a verse that can give us strength, in the days that we struggle with what life thows us. It can give us hope that God is still as powerful as he was in the days of old. Jesus Christ is always with us and always will be.

     I would like to post the link to the lyrics to one song that has really been speaking to me on the CD that I have been listening to...

http://www.newsongonline.com/music/onetruegod.php#same

     I have to say this is such a powerful song, and can be very encouraging when your facing the struggles life has thrown your way. I know for us it has been a difficult last six months and the first time I heard this song, I was in tears because of the impact it had on me. It reminded me that there will be days when it feels like our faith has is failing. The thing I need to remember is that God has always been near and has heard every word I have prayed to him. There were and still are times when it seems like He hasn't but he has. 

     Everything that life throws us happens for a reason and we while we may never figure it out the reason is there. There will always be a time and a place for every season of our lives good and bad and God truly does know what's best for us even when we don't think he does :-). God's timing is everything in our lives, even when it seems the world is against you.  Keep praying for that breakthrough, it will come.  Take all your fear and doubt and lay it in the palm of HIS hand. 1st Peter states. "Cast all your burdens on him because he cares for you." So just keep holding on and the same God who has been with you from the beginning will lead you through it :-).

     I will be honest it may not be what you want, or what you feel you need but in the end it will be what you need Psalm 37 speaks volumes more to this posting so I encourage you to read it :-) In the mean time "just keep holdin' on."

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you

(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.

Reflections: Let us Rejoice

DEAR READERS, 

Here is a Devotional Blog I wrote back in January. I didn't get the chance to post it then so it's posted as a reflection today. I don't really remember the exact date but I hope that it brings some kind of Joyful noise to your souls :-)...

The LORD'S unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!" Psalm 32:10, 11

God controls and allows every detail of our lives. Nothing happens without His knowledge and approval. It may seem like he doesn’t care sometimes but we all know deep down that he truly do care and that he cares a whole lot. So often we see a situation coming and begin to think “How in the world are we going to get through this?” and the answer may seem simple but it requires us to let go.   

My mother always told me “Matthew James, Let go and Let God for once, you can’t fix everything, and if you could why would you need God to save you.” That is so true. Every day, little changes in schedule or small irritations occur. Everyday, we can choose to let these obstacles upset us, or we can rest in the knowledge that God lovingly ordained them as small irritants to help us look to and rely on Him. 

For example, we can grumble about the frustrating traffic jam that is keeping us from getting somewhere on time, or we can remember that God knows about our deadlines and view the time sitting in traffic as an opportunity to pray. We can complain, or we can rejoice. “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, and again I say rejoice, rejoice in the Lord always and again I say……REJOICE…….” :-)

May we allow the knowledge that we are continually surrounded by God's unfailing love to fill our lives and chase away our complaints and fears. Let us always remember that no matter what the circumstance God’s in control and life can always be enjoyable. :-)

Adapted from http://www.christianperspective.net/articles/devotionalthoughts.html

Well that will be it for now, Hopefully will have some more to post a little down the road. I hope you all have a blessed week and that the LORD himself give you joy when you need it the most. :-)

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you

(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.

Complete Devotion

DEAR READERS,

This is a devotional Blog that I wrote a while back and I want to share it with everyone. I wrote a little blurb on this topic a while back but here is the extended devotional that was the basis for that little blurb. I hope it brings some encouragement.  

Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth, give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.”  Psalm 86:11 (NIV)

When I read this the first time it seemed like a pretty good verse.  It reminded me about the passage in Matthew that talked about serving two masters, and the passage in Joshua that talks about choosing this day whom we will serve. Two passages that really speak to the heart, if we let them. In many ways the three ask the same question, What does your heart belong too?

For now we will just stick with the one verse we have before us though.  When we look at this passage in the good news translation of the Bible instead of ‘give me an undivided heart’ it says, ‘teach me to serve you with complete devotion’.  One thing about serving is that it is an action, which means we actually have to do something in our hearts to serve with complete devotion.

In other words, we can’t devote our life to both God and something else.  At some point in our lives there will be things that try to pull our hearts away from God whether we know it or not and we must be able to over come those desires. I believe what it comes down to is this question, How do we serve with complete devotion? It’s simple, we practice letting go and letting God.  Of course it’s not that simple but that’s where the glory of it is. Daily we choose to give our life and our day to HIM.

Whatever is on your hearts today, don’t let it get the best of you.  Think about what it means to serve with complete devotion and take time to ask God “what can I do with this situation today to help me rely more upon you?” Instead of spending so much time trying to figure everything out, give it to God, tell HIM, “LORD, I WILL NOT LET ME, GET THE BEST OF ME, It belongs to you and only you”.

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you

(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.

Long Time Coming

Dear Readers,

It sure has been quite a long time since I've posted something on this page. I know I say this every time but I really need to get back in the swing of things.  I don't know if I will or not but I want to try to at least. Maybe now with recent changes in the life of The Elliott's this blog will be update more often and maybe not.

I just want to say though the last 6 months or so have been extremely difficult for Traci and I. We have run into some pretty hard situations and aren't through with them yet. I don't need to go into the details at this point in time because it will all come out eventually. Life is full of little surprises though. Even with everything that's been going on Traci and I are still loving and learning about life. Our marriage is still fantastic, we have some wonderful friends and there are little things that keep popping up that make everything we are going through worth it :-).

I just want to end this short little blog with one little word of encouragement...

(I may end up writing a devotional blog on this but I'm not sure yet)

You are God’s child, and God will give you the blessing he promised!  Galatians 4:7

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you

(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.

Roller Coaster

Hey Readers,


I have to say that it has been way to long since I have posted something on this site.  It has been just over a month since my last post, and it has truly been an eventful one. It almost as if we have been stuck on this never ending roller coaster of life and it has been interesting to say the least.  However, I believe that the roller coaster is finally nearing a softer spot on the track, if you know what I mean.


I am hopeful that I will be getting back in the swing of things with the posting of this Blog.  I really don't know what to share with this blog but how about I just start with saying GOD IS GOOD AL THE TIME and ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD.  Boy does that bring back memories, memories are good, memories that are bad, and memories that are simply neutral.  Those memories remind me just how much God has played a part in my life and help me realize that I haven't just been on a roller coaster the past few months but every day of my life.


I am beginning to believe that this is simply what life is, a long roller coaster adventure that takes us on several different types of terrain.  There is the mountainous terrain that we encounter when we face many struggles or events at once, there is the desert terrain that we encounter when we feel there is nothing more we can take, there is the   wooded terrain that we encounter when we have no Idea where we are going, there is the under water terrain that we encounter when we feel like everything is closing in on us, there is the beautiful hilly terrain where we feel that there will be some struggles we will have to face but have the confidence to face them, and finally there is the flat green terrain in which everything seems peachy and it's almost as though we won't have to worry about anything at all, I'll bet we all long for that type of terrain :-).


I wonder if most of us even know which terrain we are on right now.  I have to say I feel that Traci and I are just leaving the under water terrain and entering into the wooded terrain with the hilly terrain on the horizon in a way that we see glimpses that disappear soon after we see them.  I believe that many of you all are at this point as well and It is not a completely bad thing. It is at this point on our roller coasters that we have to rely completely on someone else to direct the path our roller coaster is taking. It's almost as though we see the the change of terrain coming but we just can't get there, isn't it? 


We all deal with this in our lives at some point, but you know it is at that point in which we have to put our trust into someone who can see a bigger picture that we can.  It is the point in which we place our hope in God, as I am learning more about each and every day.  I won't keep you any longer so to end for now I will simply say, Life truly is a roller coaster and regardless of what terrain we are all on right now,  "There is a Hand above, simply waiting to guide us through it."

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you

(2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.

Reflections; What Love is this?

Hey Readers,

 I have been really seeking the Lord the past month though and HE is really showing both my wife and I just how amazing he truly is.  God is showing me just how important the gift of Love truly is and I thought I knew that already :-). I guess there is so much more than I will ever e able to grasp, but that's ok, it just gives me something more to strive for :-).

"This is what real love is; It is not our love for God; it is God's love for us in sending HIS Son to be the way to take away our sins" 1 Jn 4:10

I have gone through most of my life earnestly working to improve my love for God, which is important, but love is so much more. When we begin to realize that it is not our love for God that opens the floodgates of heaven (so to speak) so that we may enter, but God's love towards us that opened them.  When that realization popped into my head, I became overwhelmed in the presence of God.   What I learned from that realization was this, we cannot earn our way into the arms of the savior, he has to open them up for us to come in.  The funny part is that they have always been opened. I have to say I believe that today we have this strange believe that we have to earn our way into HIS arms, when in reality it is only because of HIS love that we can love others.

Loving God as HE loves us is the key to loving others. We have lost sight of this.

True Growth, True Grace and the True Gift

Hey Readers,

The following devotional blog is one that I'm hoping will speak to you.  More and more each day the verses in this passage speak greatly to me. I hope to use this one later down the road but we will have to wait and see what the Lord wants to do with it.

"But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted. When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father" John 15:7-8 NLT

I have to say this is an interesting passage, verses 7- 10 are placed in the midst of Jesus' sermon I am the vine you are the branches.  It is important that we realize and understand that.  When we look at these four verses we can easily misunderstand the purpose behind them.  For the longest time I thought that verse 7 simply meant that God would give me everything I wanted if I just asked him.  I was wrong.  There is so much that we can grasp from this passage.

You see, all I was looking at was the second part of verse 7, "you may ask anything

 you want and it will be granted".  The connection was never made to the first part of that verse or its surrounding verses. The most important part of this passage does not refer to getting all that we desire, it refers to the challenge of remaining in HIM.  Life is full of its ups and downs; I know I've faced many of the downs even in the past two weeks. There have been some ups but sometimes it is going to seem like there are many more downs that ups. This is just part of life. The thing we need to remember is that while things seem to be heading the wrong way, God knows the outcome and he promises that it is wonderful, but only if we apply the first part of verse 7 to our lives "But if you remain in me and my words remain in you".

Apart from Christ, our efforts unfruitful. Therefore without Christ at the wheel in our lives, sure we can ask for things from him but that doesn't mean we will get it. We must let HIM work in our lives first. We must let HIM take up those burdens that we often carry and surrender our lives to HIS will. As our lives our given over to HIS will it does not mean we will always be fruitful or that we will always get what we want here on earth, it only means that one day God will fulfill the desires of our hearts, as it says in Psalm 37 (this is another topic entirely).

Remember this; our purpose in life is not to get all that we ever wanted but to embrace a life that strives to remain in HIM and to let HIS words remain in us.  I say this means that our only purpose in life is to remain in the love of God. As long as that is our true motivation all we will ever need is to grow in the grace that God gave us through the gift of HIS son who died for us because of the love HE has for HIS father.

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you   (2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.