God Moments Blog with Angela Serocki - Wisdom For Inspired Living

January 31st, 2015

1/31/2015

I'm one of those people that will read passage and then try to apply it either to my life, or a situation that I'm aware of. Sometimes it's all about me, sometimes I specifically have someone come to mind and I write about them. Today, however I'm focused on "Grace".

I looked up Grace in this scripture, because although we skim over the word in reading and we probably get a warm feeling when we say we are thankful for God's Grace. Do we have any idea what that truly means? I don't know about you, but for me, I wanted to dig in.

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 says:
I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

If you recall from yesterday, this letter is being addressed to you and I , and all the other people that have accepted Christ's message. The grace talked about here, is the ease in ability that God has given you. You are filled with God's ability, because God lives within you, when you believe in Christ. Maybe we don't always act like Christian, but that doesn't mean we don't have the ability or the grace to do so. God's grace is no light topic. It has a eternity wide meaning and I don't anticipate we will ever full grasp it. But if I were to try to sell it to you, you could never buy it. It's God's gift. The gift of grace. Some people like to say that it's the price he paid for your sins. Well that's a small part of it, but within grace is something even more beautiful. It's your strengths, even the ones you haven't developed yet or don't understand you have.

Sometimes we try to please God through the eyes of others. God doesn't need an audience to applaud when you've done good, or the critics to write a negative post about you when you've done bad. The gift of grace isn't I'm going to forgive you for being such a mess up, and just look the other way. The gift of grace is I'm going to show you that I've created you to be something more than you could possibly understand or think. I've created you to do far beyond your limits and potentials that you set upon yourself. No matter what road you choose to take, whether you understand or deny me, I'm going to invest my all into your life and if you are willing I will show you things you never dreamed possible.

January 30th, 2015

1/30/2015

I love to visit with you each morning, whoever "you" is. I love to share thoughts. I read other blogs and they are nice and I enjoy them, but I'm finding more and more in this walk with Christ that anything that doesn't have "Christ" in the center, just simply falls apart sooner or later anyway. Many things strip life away, money, time, health, negativity, stress, unbalance. The only thing that remains true is Christ. So if I'm going to continue to blog, I'm starting to feel a lot like Job, nothing else matters, but talking about Christ.

Some people say that the Bible is just an old book written along time ago. That it wasn't meant for us. But as you start out in 1 Corinthians you see that, 'that' just isn't the case. Paul wasn't in this Christian thing for the short spurt, he was in it for the long haul. I know first hand that it can be easy to take a run at this Christian thing and really do good for a few hundred yards, but if you've exerted all your energy in that burst, you can get tired quickly if your running the 5K. Paul was in this for the long haul, and he fully intended to take you and me with him. How do I know?

1 Corinthians 1:1-3
New International Version (NIV)

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, who called Paul to share the Gospel? Was Paul ordained by the church leaders? Did he go to school for being a preacher? Maybe a disciple took him along side and ministered to him and gave him the scrolls of the old testament? What I do know is that...Paul used to be Saul the Christian killer. God knocked Paul off his high horse. Have you ever had a Saul of Tarsus moment? Where no one could get through to you about God's love, so God came directly to you and did it himself? I did. That's how I understand how Saul was converted to Paul. Well Paul, was "called" to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. You can be too, all you have to do is get to know the one who leads you.

Next who is the letter in 1 Corinthians wrote to? Read it...you will see "YOU" are in there. Paul is writing this specifically for you and me today to be able to understand the love of Christ and the way to eternal life. If you want it, it's there for you.

What does he want you to receive by this letter? Grace and Peace. To you.

January 29th, 2015

1/29/2015

You can bet your bottom dollar that the scripture below is tried and true and will reflect if you have REAL love. We talked about what love was last night in our study group and although I'm a very loving type person, I had to question several things about myself last night. When we are trying to determine what love is, we need a solid example. Christ was our example of love. If we place the goal on the table, we can erase all the other nonsense we've formed about love in our head. Notice the things love isn't. We say love is all sorts of things based on emotions, experience and wants. But what is love in the eyes of God? God is love so in him and through him we can achieve a more perfect love. Sometimes we need a heart check.

Love is patient, able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.

love is kind. fundamental nature or quality

It does not envy, a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck.

it does not boast, talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities.

it is not proud. feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closely associated.

It does not dishonor others, bring shame or disgrace on.

it is not self-seeking, seeking of one's own interest or selfish ends.

it is not easily angered, a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.

it keeps no record of wrongs. an unjust, dishonest, or immoral action.

Love does not delight in evil profoundly immoral and malevolent.

but rejoices with the truth. the quality or state of being true.

It always protects, keep safe from harm or injury.

always trusts, firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

always hopes, a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

always perseveres.

Love never fails. be unsuccessful in achieving one's goal.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Something Strikes Me As Odd At The End Of This Gospel

1/28/2015

I guess I just assumed that John, under the leading of the Holy Spirit wrote the Gospel of John. I still believe that, but something struck me as strange when I got to the end. I had to actually go in and see what theologians believed and come to my own understanding. I've always loved the Gospel of John. I'm not sure why, but I believe it's simply because I'm more of an emotional person, and this Gospel to me, seems more about the relationship that Jesus had with his disciples, than the historical.

Read today's scripture here: John 21:15-26

The first thing I find beautifully orchestrated is Jesus sitting down with Peter and restoring their relationship. This is giving us a perfect model of what I believe "forgiveness" should look like, although it doesn't usually look like this at all. Jesus sits down with Peter, who said he would die for Jesus, but then turns around in fear and denies even knowing him on three (3) separate occasions during Christ's death.

Jesus asks Peter three (3) questions, all in the same way, but all with different meanings. After he had denied him 3 times, he is restored 3 times with instruction. For whatever reason, perhaps because God calls us who we become when we have learned a hard lesson, there is a transition in Peter. The transition, I believe, happens in this very moment when Simon Peter (the wishy washy believer) transforms into Peter, the Son of John, "the rock" on which he will build his church.

Now this is where my brain and heart start clicking. There is another disciple following them here. This disciple is referred to as "the one Jesus loves". I believe it is John, who I believe wrote this gospel. However John is not referring to himself, he continues to talk about himself in third person it would seem. Why? He even shares that a rumor started about himself, but doesn't say that, he continues to reflect on the disciple that Jesus loves. He even goes on to tell you that it is the disciple referred to in this passage that wrote all this down. He goes on even further to suggest that he has testified or witnessed it all first hand.

Finally this disciple shares that if everyone wrote down all the miracles that Jesus did, there would not be enough room in the world to contain all the books.

It's all about relationship. A personal contact. A walk with Jesus.

How to Never Come Up Empty Handed Again...

1/27/2015

Did you ever go about life doing what you normally do, or what you thought was what you wanted in life and you only came up empty handed. That is why I love this scripture, it tells you how to never do that again!

Read today's scripture here: John21:1-14

I can barely stop smiling with this scripture. It reminds me of me, and lots of other stubborn people like me. The fisherman say, lets go out and fish. In other words, let's go live life like we normally do. Like we used to, the things we know how to do, the life we know how to live. They go and they fish, in other words live life like they always do, how they know how to do, and they fish all night long, and when they pull up their nets to reap their hard work, they pull up...

NOTHING!

Ever felt like that, you've gone through life, job after job, husband after husband, child after child, temptation after temptation, addiction after addiction, pursuing happiness, and you keep coming up EMPTY HANDED.

When Jesus comes on the scene he doesn't tell them. Stop being a fisherman and be a farmer! He says, try fishing like this instead... in other words, don't think that when you start to learn how to do things for Christ you will go from homeless to astronaut, but that he will take you right where you are, and he will start helping you learn how to succeed by listening to his voice and his instruction. He simply says, toss your net on the other side of the boat. (how big could the boat have been to get nothing on the left side and 153 fish on the right side). Well it's because they were on the "right side".

You see, we don't live for Jesus because we want to follow all sorts of stuffy religious rules, or listen to people tell us how bad we were, or are. We don't do it to be beaten up and condemned. We do it to reap life and live it abundantly. You see this Christian walk isn't about running around telling people how bad they fish, it's to tell them that they can succeed if they just listen to the voice of Jesus and throw their nets on the "right side".

I think this might be one of my favorite blogs and lessons of all times. So go and throw your nets on the "right side" and reap a full harvest! Why not start today, see how fast you catch fish!

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

1/26/2015

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20-30-31

The scripture was so short today, I figured I might as well include it instead of it's link. It seems like one of those scriptures you could just read over as a Segway into Chapter 21. This would seem like it would be at the end of the book, but it's not, it's at the end of Chapter 20.

There's more than just purpose in this title.

That YOU might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by BELIEVING, YOU may have life in his name.

When You Offer Trust, Do You Find Betrayal?

1/25/2015

Sharing the scripture with others is amazing. Sometimes people will see transformations in others or they will trust others enough, (like Pastors) that they take credit in what they say. They will come to Christ because words have been spoken over them and it connects with their Spirits and hope and faith grow, other people however will not believe one single word you say until they see it with their own two eyes and feel it with their own two hands.

Read todays scripture here: John 20:20-29

I think everyone can become a doubting Thomas and I think the world needed to hear about doubting Thomas. God is giving us the credibility of a man that really stuck his fingers inside the nail holes and the spear puncture of Jesus Christ. He was given further confirmation to Thomas, who would be able to say, I stuck my hand in his death marks.

Why do you suppose we doubt? Why is it so easy to believe the whispered lies of the enemy, and so hard for us to see the truth of God. We are so easily pulled into darkness and so easily tricked in believing that we are not good enough, while other people are tricked into believing they are more powerful then they are. The world is certainly full of unbalance.

I was talking to my son last night and he shared with me that he has learned to do a certain thing because then people don't see something different. It made me think. There are many of us out there. People have been hurt several times, and they are cautious at trusting anyone, because most times when they offer trust they find betrayal. They won't believe just words, they need to see it with their own two eyes. I've pulled away from many people because I've opened up to them simply to find my struggles twisted and turned into a gossip session with other people. Will I stop sharing my heart with them? Probably. But I won't stop sharing the Gospel.

What I've learned through that process however is how more real God has become through this process. He becomes more faithful when others are disloyal, he becomes the healer through sickness, he comes the Father to those without, he becomes the finances to the poor, he becomes the friend to the lonely, he becomes the strength to the weak. He becomes the one that you can stick you finger through the death holes and know that what he says is true.

I Clearly Need God to Reveal The Meaning Of This One!

1/24/2015

I full heartedly believe the Bible to be complete truth. I do not doubt that at all. But some scripture I can't seem to wrap my head around. Today I'm in that situation. Sometimes the Bible does that. It makes you think long and hard about God's word and God's meaning. Sometimes it's hard to agree with because either we aren't understanding, or we are not capable of knowing God's full plan at this time.

Read today's scripture here: John 20:19-23

So my issue is this: Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Immediately I think, wait a minute, didn't God just go and take back the power from Satan and restore us back to God through Christ? Why in the world would he put the power of forgiveness back in the hands of humans??? Why would anyone be allowed that sort of power? Can you imagine what would happen if people believed they had the power of heaven and hell in their hands?

Next I think, well wait, that's not what Scripture says though. Jesus says he has "all authority" and Jesus says "he is the way", and that no one gets to the Father except through him. So now I understand that this scripture can not be reflecting people's ability to send people to heaven or hell.

So what in the world does this scripture mean?

Well through the process of talking it out, and praying on it, I believe that Jesus is talking specifically to our INDIVIDUAL Spirits. It is probably as simple as your perspective. If you want to go ahead and hold a grudge against someone for the rest of your life, you can do so, but understand that within you, you will never be settled. However, if you want to forgive someone, you will, and the Spirit will set you free from that hurt and pain and sorrow. If you want to continue to look at your life in a negative way, you will. If you want to be set free and choose to have faith you will.

Life doesn't always make sense, but as long as you have Christ you have the power to choose. So no matter what you've done, or what anyone had done to you, at anytime you can choose Christ and start new. Satan doesn't have that control, you do.

Jesus Appeared to Her

1/23/2015

This scripture has interestingly jumped out at my heart and opened up a whole new mindset for me. Scripture has a way of doing that, the more you read, the more it happens. You don't have to read a big chunk, sometimes it takes simply dedication to continue reading. Life is not the same day after day, there are so many different encounters, emotions, feelings, happenings, changes. But one thing is for sure the Bible remains constant and faithful, ministering God's living word for your spirit no matter what you are going through.

Read today's scripture here John 20:11-18

Sometimes you will find that scripture isn't clicking, and you just read through it, other days it hits you. I read today's passage and thought, I don't know what to share today. My thoughts were blank. I then went and grabbed my study bible and the commentary on this bible said Perhaps Jesus went to Mary because she needed it most at that time. She was wailing with loud grief.

Instantly I recalled the moment where I was in the same shoes. I was at a time in my life where I could see absolutely no hope, no joy, no solutions, no answers. I was devastated. I was "wailing" and hurting, and God spoke to me. I actually heard him audibly, and he was responding to my Spirit and he said "you won't get to heaven". I know it doesn't make sense to you in that context, but it made complete sense to me. God spoke the exact words that would change my life forever. I even argued with God. Can you imagine, arguing...it was more like pleading, and begging, but his audible reply was the same and in the same "matter of fact" "calm" tone. "you won't get to heaven".

I've never heard his voice audibly again, but it was enough to where I will never forget even what it sounded like. I tear up instantly upon that moment. It was the moment when God saved my life.

How about you? Has there ever been a need so strong in your life, that you wailed out to God and God responded? Sometimes it is audibly, perhaps physically, perhaps in your Spirit, or perhaps he sent a SWAT team of friends to gather around you. God hears your heart and your heart out cries your audible sounds.

God's there.

What You Don't Find At An Empty Tomb Scooby Doo!

1/22/2015

I feel like an investigator today. I read this passage and it isn't jumping out at me like there's a huge inspirational message. Today it feels like we should solve a mystery Scooby Do!

Read today's scripture here: John 20:1-10

1) Who arrived first at the scene

2) What did Mary witness at the tomb?

3) Was Mary capable of removing the stone?

4) Who did Mary tell about what she saw?

5) Why did Mary pick Simon Peter and John to investigate?

6) Why is John being referred to as the "Disciple Jesus loved"?

7) Why did scripture find it necessary to tell us both disciples ran but John got there first?

8) What is the significance of the way the cloth and linen were laying?

9) What did Simon Peter do while he was there?

10) What did John do while he was there?

11) We are told that John "believed" but Peter must not have. Believed what?

12) What did they do after they left the Tomb?

Alright gang, we've got a mystery to solve! Let's investigate!

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