I am a woman who stands in awe of her loving and Faithful God.
I am the bride of Rich for 31 years, and the mother of four grown children. I recently retired from homeschooling all four of my kids for 21 years total. I am also the blessed grandmother of two.
Currently I am a Bible teacher and weekly devotions writer for Women on Wednesdays Bible Study, a local women’s ministry.
https://www.wowjcmo.com/
May God bless you and reveal to you His everlasting and faithful love!
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Romans 2:7-8 NIV
Our actions are a reflection of what is in our hearts. If our hearts are polluted by preoccupation with ourselves, we will be “self-seeking.” If our hearts are polluted by embracing the lies of the enemy, our hearts are polluted by rejection of the truth and following evil. But if our hearts are seeking God’s approval, our hearts are full of the desire to glorify Him. If our hearts desire to reflect His character to those around us, our hearts are full of desiring to honor Him.
What I am seeking reflects what is truly in my heart. Seeking God and His ways brings great reward to our lives — “eternal life!” Seeking after “self” will lead us in paths of death, darkness, and destruction — “wrath and fury.”
We need to ask ourselves: What am I experiencing in my life? Does it reflect what I am seeking?
If I am seeking God first, He assures me that I will find Him and experience Him — life!
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Romans 2:7-8 NIV
Our actions are a reflection of what is in our hearts. If our hearts are polluted by preoccupation with ourselves, we will be “self-seeking.” If our hearts are polluted by embracing the lies of the enemy, our hearts are polluted by rejection of the truth and following evil. But if our hearts are seeking God’s approval, our hearts are full of the desire to glorify Him. If our hearts desire to reflect His character to those around us, our hearts are full of desiring to honor Him.
What I am seeking reflects what is truly in my heart. Seeking God and His ways brings great reward to our lives — “eternal life!” Seeking after “self” will lead us in paths of death, darkness, and destruction — “wrath and fury.”
We need to ask ourselves: What am I experiencing in my life? Does it reflect what I am seeking?
If I am seeking God first, He assures me that I will find Him and experience Him — life!
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Romans 2:7-8 NIV
Our actions are a reflection of what is in our hearts. If our hearts are polluted by preoccupation with ourselves, we will be “self-seeking.” If our hearts are polluted by embracing the lies of the enemy, our hearts are polluted by rejection of the truth and following evil. But if our hearts are seeking God’s approval, our hearts are full of the desire to glorify Him. If our hearts desire to reflect His character to those around us, our hearts are full of desiring to honor Him.
What I am seeking reflects what is truly in my heart. Seeking God and His ways brings great reward to our lives — “eternal life!” Seeking after “self” will lead us in paths of death, darkness, and destruction — “wrath and fury.”
We need to ask ourselves: What am I experiencing in my life? Does it reflect what I am seeking?
If I am seeking God first, He assures me that I will find Him and experience Him — life!
“Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” Romans 2:4 NIV
“’Cause He is good, and He is God What I earned, it’s not what I got And He is just yet also kind What I deserve, it’s not what I find What more could I say about Him? My God is love” – Chris Renzema “God is Love”
You and I are all lawbreakers/ sinners. It’s what is in us, our nature. We all need to recognize that sin has been our practice. What we deserve is punishment. BUT God!
Through Jesus we see the “riches of His (God’s) Kindness.” Kindness is defined as “Act of good will; beneficence; any act of benevolence which promotes the happiness or welfare of others.” Webster’s 1828.
God’s plans for us are good! He works in our circumstances to prosper and benefit us – which is love. He promotes our happiness – enjoyment of good – when our happiness is found in Him.
I love the song I quoted above. The phrase I quoted always sticks out to me. In Jesus, I don’t get what I deserve. God’s kindness is rich towards me. It is abundant and overflowing!
May we truly see what God has done for us! Then we will love Him all the more!
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Romans 1:21 NIV
Today we read Romans 1.
You and I were born with a heart defect! Before you object and try to tell me that your “ticker” is working just fine, let me clarify. This defect is within our spiritual hearts. This defect is serious, and many of us do not even know we have it, much less that our spiritual hearts exist.
However, we need to understand that not only do we have a spiritual heart, it is the MOST important thing about us. This heart is where we are able to experience the very thing we were created for, relationship with God or oneness with Him. It is comprised of our mind (the thinker), will (the doer), and emotions (the feeler).
The defect of this heart is that we are born with it being darkened. To be darkened is to be made black, obscure, or destitute of light. We come into this world with a spiritual heart that is inclined towards sin. Our thoughts are “futile” — sinful; acting without regard to the divine law and glory, or to one’s own eternal happiness. (Webster’s 1828) Our actions are motivated by “dishonorable passions.” (Verse 26 ESV) We believe our self centered actions are wise, but in truth it is foolishness. (Verse 22). This is because we worship ourselves (a me centered life) and the things we have created (our jobs, our homes, our hobbies, our phones, etc.) instead of worshiping God. We don’t accept His truth that we hear in His Word. Instead we would rather believe a more convenient lie (Verse 25) about the things we want when and how we want it.
God will not force Himself on us to correct this defect. BUT, He does offer us the cure! A NEW Heart!
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV
We must choose…
Is what you are doing in your life not working? Has sin (knowing what is good to do, but not doing it) been a struggle? God offers us transformation from what we are to what He intended us to be all along – a reflection of Him full of His peace, joy, love, etc. We can walk in truth, live with purpose, be full of His wisdom, and experience His life. It all starts with asking God to give you a new spiritual heart. Ask Him to transform the way you think, and to align your feelings with His truth in His Word. Ask Him to help your actions to flow from a new pure heart inside of you.
We do not have to live with a darkened heart any more. We can have a new spiritual heart and experience relationship with God!
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,” Romans 1:18 NIV
Today we read Romans 1.
God hates sin! But why? How could a God whose very nature is to love hate anything? The answer is pretty simple: Sin destroys the ones God loves. At the beginning with Adam and Eve, sin destroyed God’s connection to all of us and introduced death into our world.
God is perfect. He is perfect in love, goodness, doing what is right (righteousness), etc… His perfection has no sin within it. This means the consequences of our sin has to be separation from Him. Sin cannot live in Him. We experience death in our sin, because He is life. When God is not present within our lives, we are walking in “godlessness.” Our actions are “wicked” which is our departure from following His ways. His perfection means we cannot be united to Him in our imperfection or sin. His “wrath” is His “justifiable abhorrence” (Webster’s 1828) to sin. He cannot, in His great love and goodness, embrace the things that brings destruction— our sins…
Sin is a choice. It is not an uncontrollable impulse… I know because I have experienced it. For years, I wanted to do things my way. I chose to… I heard the Word of God at church and read it on occasion. But I chose not to obey. This lead to much anxiety, depression, anger, bitterness, etc.
But thankfully God wants us to live free! This is why He has given us the opportunity to know Him.
“since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.” Romans 1:19 NIV
God is making Himself plain to us! He has given us all we need to know Him! He doesn’t want the truth of His Word to be suppressed in our lives by our ignoring it or cherry picking it.
May we embrace the truth of God’s Word and obey it fully so we can live as we are meant to live — in a deep relationship with God.
“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”” Romans 1:17 NIV
(Today we read Romans 1)
Sin divides. It separates. It keeps us from what we were meant to be all along, closely connected to God in an intimate relationship with Him. The gospel – Good News – is we do not have to live separated any more. Jesus made the way for us by paying the penalty for our sins on the cross.
The restoration of our relationship with God through Jesus and His gift of salvation is only the beginning! We receive what Jesus has done for us as a gift by faith. It isn’t anything we have done. He cleanses us from sin. We are made right with God. Connection is restored! BUT we were meant for more! This relationship we have with God is a daily living “by faith.” As we live connected to Him, our relationship is meant to grow!
Faith is trusting in God. It is placing our confidence in Him. It is believing what He says. Living by faith is a day in day out relationship of hearing God speak to us through His Word, listening to it – paying attention to it, and doing what He says. All of this is for our good. Because God is good, all He does is good, and His plans for us are good. In fact He is a work in our lives working ALL things for our good! (Psalm 119:68, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28)
A life of faith is a life living connected to God. It is like a baby in the womb. That baby is connected to her mom by the umbilical cord. Everything the baby needs is provided. The baby doesn’t have to second guess or worry about what will happen next. That baby is connected to her mom. We don’t have to worry or second guess. The power of the Gospel has connected us to God. The more we know Him and grow in our relationship with Him the more our faith will grow. We will rest in calm assurance that our God holds us closely to Him, and we can live our lives believing and trusting Him — We can live by faith!
“that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Romans 1:12 NIV
Today we read Romans 1
The things going on in our world are CRAZY! Things in our personal life can be crazy too. But truth be known “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Crazy has always has been… This is why God puts us in relationship with each other.
“God sets the lonely in families…” Psalms 68:6 NIV
Sin brought death, darkness, and destruction to our world. It also caused separation, not only from God, but from each other. We all feel its effects. Broken families and broken friendships, are the norm of our society, but God is the restoring God. When we feel we have been left alone, He opens up opportunity for us to live connected to our brothers and sisters in Jesus.
This is what Paul is referring to when he says he is “mutually encouraged” by the Christians in Rome. He has much to offer to them as a spiritual leader, but they have much to offer to him as well. He is thankful for them. He is praying for them. He longs to spend time with them.
Who do you have in your corner encouraging you? Our world may be going crazy around us, but we have each other, our family that God has given to us!
“And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” Romans 1:6 NIV
(Today we read Romans 1)
You and I were created for connection. We were meant to be a part of and in relationship with someone greater than us. We were created to belong. Paul puts it this way, we are “called to belong to Jesus…”
When God first created man, He stated something very profound:
“The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone…”” Genesis 2:18 NIV
It is not good for any of us to be alone and disconnected. We can see it easily in the life of the most fragile amongst us, a baby. Without connection to their mother and father, lack of physical contact, (skin on skin time— close and intimate) a baby will present as “failure to thrive.” They simply will not develop correctly without experiencing “belonging.”
Spiritually, we will not as well. God knows this. His great love draws us in for connection to Himself. He knows that without us experiencing, “belonging” to Him, we will be “failure to thrive” spiritually. This will affect every area of our lives. We will lack peace, love, and joy if we live disconnected from Him. We NEED to belong to Him.
Paul states not only that we are “called to belong”, but we are “called to be God’s “holy people” i.e. “saints”. (Verse 7) To be holy is to be set apart for God. It is to be conformed to His image and have our life regulated by His divine precepts (i.e. God’s Word) -Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
Our connection to our loving Heavenly Father, will cause us to grow as we were meant to grow. We will become more and more like Him in every way — His image bearer.
Do you feel the longing “to belong?” This is what you were created for — relationship with God.
He longs for you “to belong” to Him as well. In fact our verse says, He called us to belong to Jesus Christ. He called us to be His Holy people — set apart for Himself.
All we have to do is come to Him responding “Yes God, I want to be connected to you! I no longer want to live my life alone. I give myself to You. I belong to You!”
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—” Romans 1:1 NIV
I cannot tell you how often I have wrestled with God. Beginning this study is another example of that wrestling.
Last month, as I was finishing my study of James, I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to invite you all on a journey with me through Romans. But, I have resisted. I felt like it was too big for me. Truthfully it is. Anything we do in our lives is “too big.” That is why we need Jesus! This is why He has given us the Holy Spirit to be our helper.
Paul opens Romans stating He is a “servant of Christ Jesus…” The Greek word for servant is “duolos” which is interpreted “slave.” A slave is defined as “A person who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who has no will of his own, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another.” (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)
When you and I say that Jesus is “Lord” of our lives, we are stating that we have become His “slave.” He owns our lives. Whatever He says, we must do. He is not a harsh and cruel taskmaster. He is good and everything He does is good. What He commands us to do is for our good.
Our service to Him was purchased by His love, and our obedience to Him is a display of our love for Him in return!
Oh how I long to have a heart that is fully and instantly obedient to my Lord! I fail at times, but I am hoping that my response time to His call is getting better.
As Paul said, I am a slave to Christ and set apart for the gospel ( The Good News)! My obedience brings glory to Him and displays to others His image so they can see Him too. Then they can respond to His call saying, “Yes You are my Lord, I am a slave to Christ. Whatever You say, Wherever You send me, I will obey!
Join me in reading the Book of Romans. We will read chapter 1 for a week. Each day we will read it expecting the Holy Spirit to speak to us through His Word! This is the Romans Challenge that God has put before me.Join me!
Your Love 