Holy Dog

This is my dog, Lucky- it is only natural that he would love Bible Study Fellowship and reading the Word of God just like his family :D. 

Prayer Time before diving into BSF…Dear Jesus, please bless this time that I am spending in your Word….

Opening up the Word of God…        

Spending Some Time in God’s Word…Okay I need to read Proverbs 6-7…

Man, where is that answer? I think I am going to skip this one during discussion time…

I think I got it, Praise the Lord!!!

Now, I just need to write it down so I can share it on Tuesday!!! Can’t wait for those hymns!

By: Amber Johnson 

 Finals are finally over :D!!! Hope you all had a great week!!! Have an amazing weekend!!! God Bless!!!

All content copyright © 2009 Amber Johnson. All rights reserved. You MUST GET WRITTEN PERMISSION to reprint or republish any of this material.

Questions & Answers

Have you ever asked God to make something clearer? Have you ever asked the Lord for an answer to a question that has been on your mind or heart? Sometimes the answers we are looking for aren't given to us right away. I love to be organized, know what's coming, and have a back up plan for the plan. I love answers and information to help me get where I need to be in life. Yet, I have realized that life lessons don't usually get answered quickly. I don't get to ask Jesus why and get the answer without learning, without growing, and without clinging to Him with every fiber in me that He fashioned with His own hands. Tonight, I was thinking that even if everything is going well in our lives and we still don't have an answer to a question that is lingering in our minds maybe that question is there so we will follow Jesus even closer than we would had we had the answer. I have been struggling with a question I have been praying to Jesus to answer, to give me some insight on, to show me what I need to learn, or to just make it leave my mind but in all that what I realized is that I was praying, begging, and being with Christ. It never occurred to me that the question itself could be the answer! The torment of the unanswered question drove me further into the place I always long to be, at the feet of Jesus. Who knew an unanswered question would bring me so much joy and satisfaction? Finding myself on my face before the Lord, diving into Him and His Word is the greatest answer I could ever hope to receive.

All content copyright © 2009 Amber Johnson. All rights reserved. You MUST GET WRITTEN PERMISSION to reprint or republish any of this material

Shaken!

Acts 4:31 (New International Version)

 ³¹After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Wow! Shouldn't this be what it is like for all of us who receive the Lord Jesus Christ into our lives? We should have a deep desire to courageously go out and spread the good news, blessings, and message of Christ. We should want to do nothing but tell of the truths of God and the sacrifice and gift of His Son, Jesus. Accepting Jesus Christ into our lives should shake the core of who we are, our lives, and the place we are at in that moment. Our old lives and practices should be shaken off and our new holy righteous skin in Christ should come forth. The foundation of the world that we used to stand firm on should be cracked and useless to allow the new foundation of Christ, His Word, and His glory to be built and used as a solid rock for where we will stand. If you have accepted Christ into your life and your life looks the same as before you asked Christ into your life....examine your heart, ask yourself who are you truly living for...yourself or Christ?...read the Word of God, the Holy Bible and learn how Jesus wants you to live....pray every second of the day about anything and everything so you can build a unique and loving relationship with Christ....go to church consistently so you can learn more about His Word and fellowship with others who can encourage you and help you grow in Christ....if you have been living for yourself and for the ways of the world and want to live for Christ, tell Him, dedicate your life to live for and love Jesus. Jesus is waiting for you with open arms, so run to Him, and live in the joy, love, and unending goodness of the Lord.
May God Bless you all!!! 

All content copyright © 2009 Amber Johnson. All rights reserved. You MUST GET WRITTEN PERMISSION to reprint or republish any of this material.

Scripture for the Soul

1 John 4: 7-21

God's Love and Ours

 ⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^[b] into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for^[c] our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. ¹³We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ¹⁶And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
      God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ¹⁷In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
 ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.




All content copyright © 2009 Amber Johnson. All rights reserved. You MUST GET WRITTEN PERMISSION to reprint or republish any of this material.

Holy Helping

It is a blessing to me that the Lord guides us and the Lord knows all. It is such a comfort and relief to know that I don't need to have everything under control, even if at times I want to. The Lord knows what was, is, and will come and we just need to be open to the opportunities, the challenges, and to learning more about the Lord. Every day is a chance to show our dedication to the Lord and to improve our upward growth. We get to learn of the power, greatness, holiness, and love of God. We get the privilege and honor to read the Words of God and to have His spirit within us to guide us and teach us. As Christ followers we can mature and develop in the Spirit and dive deeper into the wisdom of the Lord. How amazing is it that the Lord Almighty gave us not only the gift of eternal life by His side and cleansing from sin in His Son but that we also received the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us, to teach us, and to grow us to be more like Him. His gift of the Holy Spirit grows us to be like Him and moves us towards Him as we start to mirror areas of His likeness. No one on this earth will ever be perfect but with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and Christian fellowship we can continue our journey, growing upward towards our kneeling seat at the heavenly feet of our gracious merciful and loving Savior. 

1 Corinthians 2: 

Wisdom From the Spirit

 ⁶We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹However, as it is written:
   "No eye has seen,
      no ear has heard,
   no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love him"^[b]— ¹⁰but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
      The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.^[c] 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
 ¹⁶"For who has known the mind of the Lord
      that he may instruct him?"^[d] But we have the mind of Christ.

All content copyright © 2009 Amber Johnson. All rights reserved. You MUST GET WRITTEN PERMISSION to reprint or republish any of this material.

God Has A Plan

Everything that happens in life is under the umbrella of God's plan. We have free will so we can see God's goodness, His love, and His grace. We may choose to sin or choose Christ but in all decisions He knows our hearts, He knows our deepest desires, and He knows where we are in our lives. That is an extraordinary thing- that the Lord God Almighty knows our future and will guide our steps if we listen and lean on Him. Every person, every place, every circumstance that has passed through your life has been there for a reason. If it was something negative- what did the Lord teach you? Did you make that obstacle into an opportunity? Did you grow in Christ in some way? Well, then that "negative" was not negative at all. It was an opportunity to grow, to change, to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. It was an opportunity to be strengthened by the Lord in your areas of weakness. If the past is following you to the present, meet it, deal with it. Ask God to show you how you have grown during that time, ask Him to show you the lessons you learned, and ask Him to help you live for the glorious present He has given you. The Lord has a plan for each of our lives. He knows our past, He guides our present, and He sees our future. Find peace and joy in the fact that the Lord can guide your steps, your heart, and your desires onto His path towards the prosperous future He has for you.


Here are a few Scriptures to show that the Lord has a plan, knows our future, and will guide us:

New International Version (NIV)
Jeremiah 29:11 Listen to this passage 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica
Psalm 37:23 Listen to this passage  23 If the LORD delights in a man's way,        he makes his steps firm; New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica
Proverbs 3:5 Listen to this passage  5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart        and lean not on your own understanding; New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica
Psalm 48:14 Listen to this passage  14 For this God is our God for ever and ever;        he will be our guide even to the end. New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica
Jeremiah 10:23 Listen to this passage Jeremiah's Prayer  23 I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own;        it is not for man to direct his steps. New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica
Psalm 37:4 Listen to this passage  4 Delight yourself in the LORD        and he will give you the desires of your heart. New International Version (NIV)Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

http://www.biblegateway.com/

The Bible is the best way to get to know your Creator God so dive into His Word to seek Him. If you don't have a Bible of your own check out-- http://www.biblegateway.com/ which is an online Bible.

Picture: http://www.heartlight.org/

All content copyright © 2009 Amber Johnson. All rights reserved. You MUST GET WRITTEN PERMISSION to reprint or republish any of this material.

Transform

The holidays always get us thinking of resolutions, of changes we need to make, and of things we need to or should do. Today the Lord has especially laid it on my heart to continue to change. We are all sinners, we all have fallen short of the glory of God, and we all make mistakes. We are not perfect, we do not have life down, and we do not know what is in store for us in the future. Although, we can trust the Lord for the perfection, for the control, and for the future. Striving to be like the Lord completes us as people, it draws us near to God, and it praises Him as well. I pray that we all long to change to be like our Lord and to serve Him in every way stated in His Word. I pray that we all have a deep desire to read His love letter to us, the Bible. I pray that we are not satisfied with who we are but unceasingly climb to new heights of loving and living for Christ. I am a sinner, I have and will sin, and I am beyond blessed to know that my Lord will forgive me and set me straight. He will love me, teach me, and turn me around. I pray that the Lord continue to change us, transform us, and make us more like Himself with our every breath and our every heart beat. Remember who we are celebrating- Jesus- so do what would honor Him and give Him the present of your obedience, your faithfulness, and your Christ-likeness.

All content copyright © 2009 Amber Johnson. All rights reserved. You MUST GET WRITTEN PERMISSION to reprint or republish any of this material.

What do you think of Jesus Christ?

What do you think of Jesus Christ? What do you know about Jesus? I start reading about Him in the Bible and find His truths and His promises lining the pages of His holy word. I read about His miracles, His power, His authority, His perfection, His holiness, and I just want to know more. The greatest thing is that I can because the list certainly does not stop there and the Lord won’t stop there either. He reaches out to His followers and wants to instill in them His word and His likeness. Thankfully, He will help me to change me into Himself. Can you even fathom THE FACT that the Lord of all Creation, the King of all Kings, the Alpha and Omega reaches out to us and loves us? Even that one truth overwhelms my mind and heart. 

All content copyright © 2009 Amber Johnson. All rights reserved. You MUST GET WRITTEN PERMISSION to reprint or republish any of this material.