EVERYTHING THAT PERTAINS TO LIFE

Good morning! My name is Charlotte and I am writing to help us give our very first thoughts to the Lord.

Actually, I am doing part of this in the evening because I am afraid I will oversleep in the morning so am giving myself a head start.

This has been a good week - starting Charlotte in the Morning again. I love to write and for some odd reason the Lord blesses what I put my hand to....ohhhhhh, but I believe that is one of his promises from Deuteronomy 28 - He will bless everything I put my hand to - He will make me the head only and not the tail - above only and not beneath. I keep reminding my family of this when I cook (which was only my mother's forte). Some ladies from my church and I are going to a cooking class over at UCA on April 14 and Bill is so excited - hahaha - he thinks I can learn in one session. He doesn't know how far I have come - since when I was very young I had to write to my mom to find out how to boil beans. That is the truth, my friend.

Speaking of trees - I am reminded of Galatians 5:22 and 23 which says BUT (there's the but) THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONG SUFFERING, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITH, MEEKNESS, TEMPERANCE: AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW.

Now, what came before the BUT was this: NOW THE WORKS OF THE FLESH ARE MANIFEST (written down as in a book), WHICH ARE THESE: ADULTERY, FORNICATION, UNCLEANNESS, LASCIVIOUSNESS, IDOLATRY, WITCHCRAFT, HATRED, STRIFE, SEDITIONS, HERESIES, ENVYING, MURDERS, DRUNKENNESS, REVELINGS, AND MUCH LIKE: OF THE WHICH I TELL YOU BEFORE, AS I HAVE ALSO TOLD YOU IN TIME PAST, THAT THEY WHICH DO SUCH THINGS SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

Then the BUT, which compares two lifestyles....a life without the Lord and a life with the Lord. Notice that in verses 22 and 23, it is called the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. As on trees, which we have been talking about, fruit does not grow on baby trees. Fruit comes as the tree matures and has strengthened to withstand the wilds of the weather in the ground it is planted.

That is the same with the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. We cannot expect full fruit on our spiritual tree until we have been rooted and grounded in God. It is truly hard to love someone who is totally unlovable, and the only way we can do that is through the Lord. It is hard to be kind and gentle with someone who is a back stabber. BUT (there's the but) 2 Peter 1 verse 3 says ACCORDING AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN UNTO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN UNTO LIFE AND GODLINESS THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM THAT HAS CALLED US TO GLORY AND VIRTUE.

One time I worked at a truck line in Benton. It was run by a woman who didn't like women. Sorry - she hired me. She was so overbearing that she would make me turn in a pencil stub to get a new pencil. I would go home and pray God, if you want me to love her, you are going to have to give me love for her, because I don't have it. I would go to work in the morning singing 'Sheltered safe within the arms of God - so let the storm clouds rise, the black clouds roll, they don't bother me cause I'm sheltered safe within the arms of God. He walks with me and naught on earth can harm me, for I'm sheltered safe within the arms of God.'

God gave me kind things to do for her. Love in return for her ugliness. Now looking back, that job was a great blessing to me as. In the morning, we got the freight out and the bills etc. and in the afternoon they went out on the back roads to drink, and I was alone with nothing to do all afternoon. I asked her if it would be all right to bring my Bible up there and study my Bible. She said sure she didn't care. So for three years in the afternoon, all I had to do was study my Bible. Guess who grew in the Lord. Guess what happened - my mind slooowly got renewed to a new way of thinking-------ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE -how? THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM THAT HAS CALLED US TO GLORY AND VIRTUE.

I'm not a preacher - I'm not what do they say - a Bible thumper - something like that. I am a plain ordinary person who God saved and filled with His Holy Spirit and who uses His Word as a guide for my life. All things that pertain to life - that is what is found in God's Word. It is a road map for prosperous living....I'm not talking about being rich in money...I'm talking about water that makes me never thirst again - the living water that only comes from God.....and is only found in His Word.

Father, put a strong desire in our hearts to study Your Word, God, so we won't flounder, we won't fall but will stand upright looking always up to You for the answers that pertain to life. In Jesus name. Amen (it is done)

Have a good one!