Musings and Nuggets

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.                                                      Hebrews 9:22 , (ESV)                                                                                              Photo by Alan Bowman on Unsplash   Passion Week begins Sunday, April 2nd and extends to Saturday, April 8th.  This is one of the most important times for a Believer to reflect on the Jesus' path to the Cross and why it was necessary.  Because of His compassion for mankind who had fallen so far away from God and His passionate love for us, Jesus willingly left heaven, took on all of our sins, suffered humiliation & violence, then allowed Himself to be crucified to pay the penalty for OUR sins...He Who had no sin.   The scripture above tells us why His sacrifice was necessary.  There was no animal pure enough and no human who was sinless (because we are born in sin) whose blood was p

above all, taking  the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  Ephesians 6:16 NKJV.                                                 The emphasis is mine. A daily walk with God requires us to be dressed for spiritual success meaning that every day we must be intentional in putting on the (whole) Armor of God.   Before we open our eyes in the morning, the enemy has already prepared a spiritual (fiery) dart with each of our names them. This is spiritual warfare because his plan is to "steal, kill and destroy"!   ( John 10:10 )   Ephesians 6:11-18 outlines each piece, however, today I want to focus on the shield of faith and why it is so important.   Verse 16 starts with above all .   Photo by Yogurt on Unsplash According to anthrology.ac.uk and The Oxford English Dictionary 'the shield was used as protection from the blows of the enemy and were carried by the hand or by a strap over the left shoulder during batt

  Praying is an integral part of every Believers life.  So much so that every decision   should always be bathed in prayer... first .  Scripture records several  instances of Jesus praying and admonishing us through the Word.  If the Son of God recognized the need to pray and provided this example for us, certainly we should follow His lead to do the same.                                                                                   Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash Sometimes we may feel like we are praying in a bubble with our prayers never making it beyond the ceiling.  There are times when we may wonder if He is there or even listening because He seems to be silent.  However, God answers all prayers, but not necessarily the way we would like.  His answer may be  "yes", "no" or "wait/not yet".   Actually, our prayers, all of our prayers are very important to Him.  So much so that He keeps them all.  * Now when He had taken the scroll, the four

So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void (useless, without result), Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.                                                   Isaiah 55:11 (AMP)                                                                     I have always believed in praying scripture. Equally important to me is personalizing them.  For clarity, I will share a couple of examples. Perhaps you might want to consider trying this.  Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering of sacrifice to God.   Ephesians 5:5 (ESV)                                                       (Personalized) Therefore, I am an imitator of God,  As a beloved child.  And I walk in love, as Christ loved me and gave himself up for me, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now t

(Last week I was MIA because I took some time off for some much needed R & R.)   Black History Month just concluded.   We have the responsibility to always remember & honor the fact that we stand on the shoulders of many who have gone before us.  For many, it cost them their lives.  There is something in our culture called the "oral tradition", which ensured that our history be kept alive by orally passing it down from generation to generation in families.  This was especially crucial because for a long time in our history education was denied.   The scripture below reminds me of that part of our culture and why it is so important.             When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.   Judges 2:10 (NKJV)   Dr. Carter G. Woodson is remembered as the Father of Black History Month, and I consider it appropriate to end with one of his quotes.    &q