Be clothed with Humility.

   Donna Partow, author of Becoming a Vessel God Can Use has penned a statement about humility that is absolutely spot on as far as I am concerned because it is completely scriptural.

Humility is not the same as beating yourself up or letting other people put you down. Humility is not the same as low self~esteem and it’s not the opposite of confidence. In fact, the truly humble person walks with absolute confidence, knowing that we are simply empty vessels through whom God wants to accomplish His work.   Donna Partow    

   In the Old Testament we see the phrase “put on” primarily in reference to the donning of garments, adornment or armor, or the application of oil or water on someone or something, or setting an article of some kind on something. The New Testament has a few similar references using the term “put on”, but the New Testament ushered in a far more personal and powerful kingdom principle with that phrase.

   In the Old Testament there are many verses and passages telling us what righteousness is and is not, and how God’s people can benefit from it. The New Testament shows us something very beautiful about righteousness that only the born again Christian can experience. Righteousness is a force and an integral, vital and powerful force. Because of the finished work of the cross, Jesus took all of our sin, past, present and future on Himself and gave us His righteousness, the righteousness of God!

   If you are a born again believer of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are the righteousness of God Himself!

   But we must wear that righteousness and not leave it in the closet. This “putting on” is going to take more than slipping into trousers, a dress or shoes though. And to believe you are the righteousness of God and walk it out before others will take the total abandonment of self and the trust in God that IS true humility. Unlike those in the Old Testament we have the very Spirit of God living in us, and all the fruit of His nature is a part of us. “Putting on” one the characteristics of God’s nature is not “putting on” pretense. This is receiving without hesitation or apology what God bankrupt Heaven to give us. To “put on” the righteousness of God, or anything else He promised us, we simply must believe God, agree with His Word and choose to walk and talk that alone.

   1 Peter 5:5 tells us to be clothed with humility. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Ephesians 6:14 tells us to put on our righteousness. And then, 1 Peter 5:5 tells us God gives grace to the humble. In our own strength, and since pride gets in the way, we need God’s grace to be able to walk in the kind of confidence we can have in God and in His Word. It takes true humility to do that. Humility is not self degradation, but understanding our right standing in Christ, and Christ alone. Jesus knew Who He was every step of the way to the cross. No matter how it looked to man, He, the King of kings, walked out the highest calling of all.

   When we have understanding, a revelation, of what God’s Word is saying about something to the degree that we make the quality decision to actively receive it, we will apply it to our daily lives and refuse to allow anyone, any thought, or any circumstance try to persuade us out of that promise.

   When you are tempted to say things about yourself are self degrading or are contrary to who you are in Christ, stop and think about how God sees you and the right standing you have with Him. Meditate on that for a few minutes and then see what it is you really want to say.

For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;

With favor You will surround him as with a shield. 

Psalm 5:12

It's a Prince!

Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of their first son the HRH Prince of Cambridge!

Update:  On Wednesday, 24 July the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announced their son’s name and title. His given name is George Alexander Louis and he will be known as, His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.

Margaret Hilda Thatcher

    

   Baroness Thatcher, more commonly know as “Iron Lady” due to her unrelenting and uncompromising manner of political leadership and administration died today. Margaret Thatcher served as a Member of Parliament for the Finchley constituency, the Secretary of State for Education and Science, was the first female leader of the Conservative party, and only female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to date, later to be titled "Baroness" by Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth and Margaret Thatcher did not always see eye to eye, but the Queen has commented on her today saying, "It was with great sadness that l learned of Lady Thatcher's death. We've lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton." So right. The world is a little quieter, less colorful and there is hole that will never be filled with this dynamic woman of passion and purpose gone.

Resting in our Relationship with God

   Have you ever been in a major drama production or cantata? They are so thrilling to be a part of. High energy, great fun with other cast or choir members, costumes, make~up... the audience, the rehearsals and then the productions.... and then the final performance. So exciting! But then at some point, after the production party  ~  it is over.

   That is how it is for our family after Easter. When my girls were young we would go over the life Jesus lived that week between what is commonly known as Palm Sunday and Easter. They now go over it with their children. So for our family there is much excitement that week. For me, though I come out of that week walking deeper in God's love, it is almost like that first few days after being in a play or cantata. So quiet and peaceful. There is a time of rest there.

   There was another seven plus one day event in scripture, the days of creation. God created for six days to prepare a perfect and lovely world for man to live in. On the seventh day, He rested. The six days from Palm Sunday until the Saturday after the night Jesus was crucified, Jesus was quite busy fulfilling prophecy, taking the keys of death and hell away from Satan that he took from us in the Garden (you know, the one’s Jesus said He would be giving back to us), and preparing a way for us to have that perfect and lovely world back. God was done on day seven in creation and rested. Jesus was done on that Saturday. Oh!!! But wait... the next day God raised Jesus up out of that grave and the power in the spiritual world was transferred back to Jesus and His heirs! After the Holy Spirit was released to begin His ministry here on earth at Pentecost....  then Jesus rested. He rested at the right hand of God, which is where He is now. 

   The Old Testament seven plus one day was the “day” or time of rest that Adam and Eve were to enjoy ~ forever. The plus one “day” or time of rest in the New Testament is the rest we are now to enjoy ~ forever. Forever started the day we were saved; we do not have to wait for Heaven to rest. We are now in a time of rest and have the same free will Adam and Eve had. A serpent will not approach us and wax eloquent deceptions to us offering us some piece of fruit. He will however hiss things at us to get us so busy that we do not spend time resting in our relationship with, God. There are always things, sometimes important things that keep our schedule, well... scheduled, and often overly so. Resting is a good thing. It is good for us mentally, physically, and is the only way to flourish, bloom and produce the fruit God has entrusted to us to bear spiritually.

   Schedule some time daily to rest and to spend time in the Word. It is so simple to do. Make a decision that your relationship with God is important and His Word is treasure worth hunting for. Then take the time to grab your favorite Bible, sit down with a pen and paper and just read, all the while talking to you Father, and listening to anything He is trying to show you. That time will be the best time you spend that day, and the benefits reside in your soul and will manifest out in your life, and bless those around you too!

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus...  Ephesians 2:4-6 (NASB)

The B.I.B.L.E, yes that's the Word for me.......

   This evening I thought I would get back on here and post something I submitted for a class I am taking. For those of you that don’t know; I attend a Bible college online and am hoping to finish on a campus when I am done with these first 30 classes that are available online. At the end of this term I will have 20 done and have thoroughly loved each one.

   The question for my response was, “The word of God has power to change peoples lives.  What scriptures have been particularly powerful in your life and why?”

The answer I sent in was as follows.

Jeremiah 1:5     “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

     My father drank alcohol in excess on and off and you never knew when the “on” time was going to hit, and he was in the military so we moved quite a bit. I enjoyed moving and meeting new people, but not having much stability at home as alcohol consumption always brought upheaval, and then never being anywhere very long at one time; I never had roots anywhere. I never knew what to say as an adult when asked where I was from. I loved life and was called a “dreamer” by most of my family, close and extended. One day a few years ago while at work, God brought to my mind the verse in Jeremiah 1:5. I simply could not shake it off to do my job so I went to the chapel our organization offered. In the less than 10 minutes I was in there God began to minister one on one to me, in that precious, stable quiet, that He had a plan for my life. This plan would take all of the empty wishes I had as little girl and all the dreams I had as a young woman, and all the daydreams I had at the time and call me out, use those things, and glorify Himself through me, if I would just trust Him and put my dreams and hopes in Him. He ministered to me how pleased He was with my heart and that His love for me was unconditional and an everlasting love. 

     The first part was a revelation to me right then, and it is as clear to me today as if it happened today. Oddly enough, I never really noticed the second half at that time.  As I press in and as I continue in these classes; that second portion of the verse is beginning to bear witness in me.

John 17:4     "I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do."     

     This verse initially changed my life years before the one above became revelation to me. Of all the prayers Jesus prayed to the Father, this is the one that penetrated my spirit and locked itself in there. This verse in that prayer is the goal, action plan and mission for my life. It is a short verse but taken apart is hours of meditating. Just start with “glorifying” God on the earth; that alone took me into years of studying God’s character, the fruit of the Spirit, so that I could walk His nature out before men. I still seek out what it means to operate in that fruit. I never grow tired of learning about it and the things I discover seem to be endless. To this very day and regularly, I will be studying a verse and God will show me how that is a part of one of the fruit. I suspect that will be the case the rest of the whole of my life. John 17:4 is all I really care about having said about me when my life here is over, unless of course the rapture comes first!

Psalm 46:10     "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,  I will be exalted in the earth!"     

     By nature I am a type A personality and in the supernatural I am the apple of God’s eye but He will be exalted without my trying to be Holy Ghost, Jr. In fact, in my letting God be God the stress was off of me and more and more I began to see people ask me about Him. The rocks will cry out if need be, all I need to do is walk in love and be that love letter God gave us so His light will shine and can be seen and read before all men in me. I have found this is usually done peacefully, quietly and orderly.

Matthew 14:14     "And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”             

together with...

Matthew 12:15     "But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all."

Settled that right there!

God's Word truly is alive and active and does change lives. I have seen where inmates in prison read God's Word and though they were physically incarcerated, they were reborn in their spirit and set free in their soul. The Word works! How has God's Word ministered to and changed you?

New Beginnings

UPDATE:  Please feel free to read this post. I have however decided I really don't want to leave Honeycomb Cottage parked and gathering dust in cyber space. I will not be using the blog referred to at the end of this post I wrote back in January 2013. I pen this on September 19, 2013, and plan to stay right here where I was for over six years. This feels like home. The other blog I created and worked part of this year never felt like home. I have transferred the posts I did there over here. It is so good to be back, and thank you for stopping by, and I hope you visit often!   




I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but aside from a few changes I made to this blog a few years ago I really don’t make changes here. I am like that in general; I hold out until I have something  the way I want it before I make any changes. I just don’t do fickle well and there are things that I do that require research and focus which make it all the easier to just get things where I want them and then leave them alone. Well, that is about to ...um well, change, here at least.

   I started this blog as a result of searching for creative cards ideas. It was then I discovered Kim and her wonderfully fresh and candid blog. I related to her and now am thrilled to say we are friends. I enjoyed teaching Sunday School and Bible Studies so I thought a blog might be a good way to share things I was learning in my walk with, God. So April 2007 I finally stepped out and began blogging. I read and enjoyed other blogs and met many lovely people, two I now have as dear friends. I began to share card making, family events, my dog, book reviews, cake decorating, baking, recipes, nutritional tid~bits... and the list goes on, oh and occasionally some of my walk with God and/or just Bible. Through the years I have enjoyed this blog and certainly enjoyed those I follow. However, I always felt I was not using Honeycomb the way I should have; sharing Jesus and my walk with God.

   In the last few weeks I pondered that very thing that wore on me. I decided to start using Honeycomb Cottage at the beginning of the year as a way to share those things and only share the odd card, quiche, cake and all the rest as the exception and not the common post. So I began doing just that on January 1.

   I have done Facebook as a way to see pictures of my grand children and stay in touch with a few friends I do not live close to. I am not an avid poster there, but do like to see what friends are doing. Facebook is becoming a privacy nightmare laced with tons of ridiculous “apps”. I have considered shutting it down and have decided to whittle it WAY back with the definite eye on shutting down soon. So I decide to take a dormant Google+ account my husband talked me into some time ago and make it more active. I can keep in touch there with friends without the hype and vulnerability Facebook brings with it. I stumbled into “Photos” and found tons of photos already in that Google+ account. I had no idea how that happened and really did not care; they did not need to be there so I deleted them. Now I go to this blog and notice what you no doubt noticed as soon as you landed on this page. NO PICCIES!!!!  I do a little research only to discover all those piccies we post, at least on Blogger, go to some Picasaweb thingy I never signed up for. When I deleted them in Google+ they all went away out of that Picasa thing and automatically deleted them for this blog. Yep! The piccies I posted for five and a half years, gone. And so I am, basically. I have all of those photos in my iPhoto, but I am not reconstructing them here. So, since I really had been leaning toward just starting a new blog and doing the odd cake, card and such post here ~ that is precisely what I have done.

   I will continue to follow those blogs I enjoy so much through Honeycomb Cottage. And I might post an odd card, recipe or family event here, but my focus will be the new blog, just as my focus would have been about Jesus and my walk with God here had I maintained this as my only blog.

Please visit me at Living life loving, God.

Be blessed, 

Teresa

Be Blessed This Year!

   For those of us that have made Jesus the Lord of our life; we stand to inherit all of the promises of the Word if we will just receive them. For those that do not have Jesus in their life, there is absolutely no reason for you to remain poor in your spirit because if you will receive Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is also yours. Having said that I want to wish everyone, everywhere a Blessed 2013 that is full of peace and prosperity in every area of your life!

    Christmas is such a time of excitement and wonder. That night when the angels praised God saying “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”, they were announcing the greatest gift ever given. We like to give gifts at Christmas to celebrate that amazing gift. But, soon after the gifts are opened, the food is eaten and eventually the trees and decorations come down and are all properly tucked away for next year we get geared up for the new year and the resolutions made, Valentine’s Day is all over the retail world even before New Year’s Day, vacation plans for the year are discussed, our Life Plan’s are revisited for tweaking and we transfer events to our Day Planner’s and off we go into another year. The wonder of that day is exchanged for the rote of another year. I would like to suggest here that we take the message of that day and make it our priority for the year. Write that into your Life Plan and daily into your Day Planner. Spend time with the Lord and walk in a really close and intimate relationship with Him everyday. Christmas should not be a holiday, everyday should be Christmas. Talk about Jesus like you do your children, or your dog, or your next vacation. Share Him as easily as you do those things. Give the gift that keeps on giving, Jesus.

   There is a quote of questionable origin, but I really like it. I am a “Word” girl and believe in the power of the tongue but this quote has its merit. The quote is, “Preach the Gospel, use words if necessary.” I do think words are always a powerful tool to be used, but people tend to watch what you do more than they listen to what you say. That being the case I think the best way to start to give Jesus to the world is to show love to others. In the last recorded thing we have that Jesus prayed before He was betrayed He asked God that not only His disciples walk in love and unity, but that all future believers would do the same. Can I just say Jesus was not talking about denominational quasi tolerance for each other or some of the fake fellowship that can be seen in a church? No, He was talking about the kind of oneness in the body of Christ that would be passed down through all generations, the kind of oneness that would manifest God on earth, bringing glory to God in that others through the visible love of God would believe on Jesus and make Him Lord and Savior. Here is what Jesus prayed.

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."  John 17:20-23 (NLT) 

   The song “Go Tell it on the Mountain” has been on my heart this Christmas season. It has never been on of my favorites and I honestly do not even think of it even at Christmas. Be that as it may, God has put that tune and that song in my heart for weeks now. “Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, go tell it on the mountain, our Jesus Christ is born!”

    Let’s start to be a blessing by walking in the love and perfect unity Jesus asked the Father for us to walk in so that we can give the gift of Jesus to others ~ everyday.

 Where is your mountain? Where can you tell others about Jesus?