grace notes: The Royal Wedding

grace notes: The Royal Wedding: "You are cordially invited to a Royal Wedding Wedding being hosted by: God The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit The Groom: The King of..."

The Royal Wedding

You are cordially invited to a Royal Wedding

Wedding being hosted by: God The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit

The Groom: The King of Kings and Lord of Lords

The Bride: The Church

The Bride will be adorned with a divine dress of fine linen, bright and clean. In lieu of flowers, the bride will be carrying a lamp filled with oil. Which she has been carrying with her at all times for when her groom would come to romantically and mysteriously whisk her off to His glorious mansion.

The Groom will be draped with a glorious robe, however, it is stained with blood. The blood does not take away from the beauty of it, but only makes it more so. On His royal robe is fine engraving bearing the name, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is also called Faithful and true and The Word of God, and The Lamb of God. He will be entering on a grand white steed.

Distinguished guests: The Father has invited many distinguished guests

Guests list includes: Moses, Elijah, Daniel, John the Baptist, Ezekiel, Joshua, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul. Many too numerous to mention

Your invitation is by way of a book form, it has 66 books, it also comes stained with the blood of the Groom, the perfect Lamb of God. The invitation says that all who are invited are Blessed.

Where will the royal wedding take place: The New Jerusalem

When will the royal wedding take place: No one knows except the Father

The Father is making all of the arrangements, and He Himself is getting everything ready for this glorious, and splendid occasion.

This is taken from the book of Revelation 19: 7- 16

Today there is a royal wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William of Britain. You may be anxious to watch ladies, we tend to love romance. You may watch this wedding today and think about how romantic it would be to marry a Prince, a future King. There will be a lot of frills and pomp and circumstance. But let me assure you that in the grand scheme of things it will not have much "circumstance". One day there will be a far grander wedding, with far more circumstance!

I am here today to remind you that if you are a Christian, you will be the Bride of The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This wedding will be to someone who is absolutely perfect! This wedding will be the most glorious wedding that will ever be held. The royal wedding today will pale in comparison, it will seem like paupers were getting married compared to this one! Can you imagine being able to talk with Paul, and Moses, and Daniel?! The famous people at this royal wedding today will seem petty and UN-important compared to these great men of God! Are you getting yourself ready? We will be whisked away to be a Bride by a King on a white horse and the difference in this marriage and the royal wedding today is... It's a marriage made in heaven! It will be absolutely glorious, human words cannot do it justice, or begin to describe it! Amen, Hallelujah, Praise and Glory, for the Lord our God, The Almighty reigns!!

Jesus, the Mediator, an answer to Job's prayer

In one of the oldest books of the Bible, Job says, speaking about God, " For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both." Job 9: 32-33. (NKJV) Job was wishing and praying for a mediator who could bridge the gap between himself and God. Little did he know at that time that God would provide such a mediator for mankind. It had already been planned!

Jesus is the only person who could build a bridge for man to get to God. He is the only one who could lay His hand on both man and God. Jesus who was with God from the foundation of the world came and died on the cross so that man could be reconciled to God. He was the only sinless, perfect lamb. Jesus suffered far greater than Job ever did.

No one can stand and ask God, as in a courtroom, " Why didn't you do something about our pitiful condition?" God did. Can you imagine this same God who spoke the worlds into existence and got his hands dirty when He formed man? The Bible says in Genesis that He formed man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into him the breath of God. This was the crown and glory of His creation. This same God comes to earth and buys our redemption, and it is soaked in His own blood, and bears our sin in His own body. We have a God who is not afraid to get dirty for His own Beloved children that He loves!

Scripture says in Colossians 1:17 " He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Just think about this for a moment. Jesus is hanging on the cross, and He is the one in whom all things hold together. He could have just thought, or spoken one word, and He could have been rescued. Not only that, it could have been over in a matter of minutes, but He was on the cross for six hours! Not only did He drink the cup, but He drank it to the very fullest. We should be so grateful for this, not just at Easter but everyday. Because we are redeemed, bought, washed, we are adopted children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah, praise the Lamb!!

Why is Good Friday good?

Because....

Isaiah 53:4-6 says, ( vs. 4)" Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; (Good news for us.)

(vs. 5) "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well - being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. ( Good news for us.)

(vs. 6) " All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." ( Good news for us.)

I Peter 2: 24 " And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. ( Good news for us )

Romans 5:8 " But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ( Good news for us. )

John 19: 30 " Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, " It is finished!" and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit."

     It is good for us because God sent His Son on a " Rescue Mission" and Jesus could say, " It is finished" because He accomplished this rescue mission! Only One man was good enough, and perfect enough to save us. The one spotless lamb could accomplish this, and that makes it good for us. It is good, because we are not! In Randy Alcorn's book "90 Days of God's Goodness" he says, "...Out of the appallingly bad came what was inexpressibly good. And the good trumps the bad, because though the bad was temporary, the good is eternal." What Jesus did for us on the cross is indeed cause for celebration, the celebration of the " Good". The Goodness of God and the Good news of His glorious gospel! ( I Timothy 1:11) Amen, and may our Good God be praised!!

Maundy Thursday

Today is Maundy Thursday. The word "Maundy" means "commandment". During the Passover meal Jesus said to His disciples," A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34-35

During this time when Jesus was thinking about all that He must endure for His bride, the church. He was also so filled with love for His disciples that He had walked with for three years on earth. How close they must have been to one another. But He was also thinking about the future church. He left His disciples and us, with a new commandment, that we love each other.
They needed to love each other because He had set the example by loving them. They would certainly need each other in the coming days. Jesus said that He would send the Comforter, but He knew that they would also need each other. It was time to set aside the petty bickering of who would be the greatest in the Kingdom, and just love each other.

We also need to love each other as the body of Christ. This is not a suggestion, but a commandment. During this time of the year when we focus on how much Jesus loved us because of what He did for us on the cross, let us not forget to love each other. To show our love for each other in the things we say and the things we do. My friends, as Christians, we have been given so much! The Lord freely gave us His life, and His love. We should also freely pour our lives into the work and ministry of loving others. Let us strive to do this on this "Loving Thursday", and the whole year long.

Cultivating Fruit Eternal

It is a beautiful, warm day. Spring is here and it is beginning to be the time that people start preparations for planting their garden. Every year I receive through the mail, seed catalogs. I just love going through them and dreaming about what I might plant, or cultivate. Recently I was reading this verse " ...Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness." Psalm 37:3. Later that same day I was reading a devotion by Randy Alcorn. The title was "Cultivating Christlikeness". Wow Lord, I guess my word from you today is "Cultivate"! This scripture also tells us what we should be cultivating in our lives. " For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ..." II Peter 1: 5-8 These are all things that are building on one another. Like seeds that are planted in soil, watered, and fertilized. But down at the very base is Love. How is your garden growing in these areas? Are we planting faith, watering it with knowledge? Fertilizing it with godliness? I have decided that I can't plant much in my back yard without the rabbits, and deer feasting on it, but I can plant these eternal seeds mentioned in these verses. God is the one who has called us, and by His strength and power and glory and goodness we can plant, and "cultivate" these character qualities in our lives. Even in terrible difficulties, and hardships, even when we don't see the sun shining, and we may be experiencing a severe drought in our lives, we know that He is at work to make us productive and to produce fruit that will never wither, or decay, the fruit of the Spirit. That is the best kind of fruit, fruit eternal!

Beautiful Home Furnishings

My precious Preacher husband is away preaching a revival this week. Ed Yarborough preached for us yesterday, and he mentioned the verses Proverbs 24: 3-4. Well these verses jumped out at me, so I thought I would blog about them today. "By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches." So many times we pray for Wisdom, and then we leave it at that. But these verses are showing us that there is more to it than that. We can pray for wisdom, and the Lord can give us wisdom and understanding, but what are we doing on our part? (Vs. 4) says that by knowledge the rooms of this wisdom built house are furnished. These furnishings are described as precious, and pleasant. What are we doing to increase our knowledge? Are you reading God's Word daily? Are you sitting in on the teachings of great and knowledgeable teachers and speakers? There are so many different things you can do to learn these days. With the internet at most peoples fingertips, you can also go on itunes and enter a certain speakers name and subscribe to their podcasts absolutely free! What are you reading? We should continue to learn and grow, we never know it all. We have never arrived no matter how old we are. I was so excited to read these verses! No matter who you are, or what your financial budget is, we can furnish our " Spiritual Home" with beautiful furnishings by doing what we can to increase our knowledge of the Lord and His Word. I wonder what I can learn next? I have a few ideas, and I'm sure they will be precious and pleasant furnishings that will bring richness to my spiritual life!

Definition Of a Fool

In honor of April 1st,( otherwise known as April Fools Day). The book of Proverbs is a book full of wisdom, which fools do not have. Here is a list of verses about fools just in the book of Proverbs! Verses are in (NASB) Are you a fool? Proverbs 1:7 " ... fools despise wisdom and instruction." Prov. 10:21 "... fools die for lack of understanding."(vs. 23) " Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool..." Prov. 12: 15" The way of a fool is right in his own eyes..." (vs 16) " A fool's anger is known at once." ( vs. 23) "... the heart of fools proclaims folly." Prov. 13:19 "...It is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil." Prov. 14: 9" Fools mock at sin..." Prov. 15:5 " A fool rejects his father's discipline..." Prov. 16:22 " ... The discipline of fools is folly." Prov. 18:2" A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind." Prov. 23:9 " Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words." Prov. 24:7 " Wisdom is too exalted for a fool..." Prov. 26: 1-12 All these scriptures deal with "fools" (vs 12) " Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." Prov. 28: 26 " He who trusts in his own heart is a fool..." Prov. 29:11 " A fool always loses his temper..." I think in looking at these scriptures we see the definition of a fool. In essence, a fool disregards God and His wisdom, he trusts in his own heart, and thinks he knows everything, and can't be told anything! In Prov. 3:35 it says (NKJV) " The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools." We need to ask ourselves, " What kind of legacy am I sowing for myself in this life? What kind of legacy will I leave behind, shame, or glory?

Prayer: Lord help me to be wise, and if I am a fool, to be a fool for you. Amen.