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| Hello Friends, I welcome you to join me on this journey as I share this time in words of praise to God, devotion to Him for His faithfulness in my life and instruction I've received through my own time with God. I welcome you to come and relax with me, have a cup of tea and enjoy this time together. Justene |
| Hi All, I would also like to welcome you to join in our journey. I hope to bring you along with pictures of the people, places and things in our life. There are so many things to say, see and do and we pray that this little spot on the computer can give you peace and pleasure in the presence of God. Blessings, Jana |
| Hi, I'm Brenda. Welcome to our place of prayer, praise and peace. As we continue to come together in fellowship we pray you will join us. Come back often to see the things God is doing in and through us. |
JourneyThruFaith.com
Fresh Start
by Mary Justene Martin
January 1, 2012
“Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or
how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all
wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now
we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah
gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!
Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship
between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with
each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah,
giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given
us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's
representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their
differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them.
We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's
already a friend with you.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 MSG)
Have you ever had an argument with your spouse, or a friend but then
made up and forgiven each other? You are ready for a fresh start,
renewing or perhaps even having a closer relationship. This is exactly
what God has done for us. He has given us a fresh start. He sent His Son
Jesus to put us square with Himself, and because we see an opportunity
to look at Him through a different perspective, we too can have a deeper
and more loving relationship. But it doesn't end there. When we begin to
see God in a different light, we also have an opportunity to re-think our
relationships with each other. All is never as it seems. We find we have
been wrong about a thought or reaction, and see that we can change that
thought.
God did not just forgive us to make us more comfortable with Him, but
to show us an example about how our wrong thinking can mess up our
relationships. Today we have occasion to begin again. To begin looking
for the real reason we are here. We are here to restore our relationship
with God, with our loved ones, with our fellow human beings, because we
are here to restore the Kingdom of God.
Most of us have believed that we are here to get what we can get
before we die. However, God had a much better plan. He wants us to live
as a family, to be happy and content without the fear of death. Without the
fear of punishment, rejection, and death, we are free to live in peace and
harmony. We do not have to scramble to get all we can get before
someone else gets it.
I am reminded of black Friday, where people scramble, and run over
each other to get something before it is gone. Then the next year, they
probably won't even remember the item they scrambled after. We are
square with God. We don't have to scramble any more. We already have
everything as his children. We are free to love each other and to move
freely. So what is our purpose? To find others who are still scrambling and
let them see how wrong they are about God when they are not yet “square
with Him”.
Happy New Year and thank you for joining us in our Journey Through
Faith!
by Mary Justene Martin
January 1, 2012
“Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or
how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all
wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now
we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah
gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!
Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship
between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with
each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah,
giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given
us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's
representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their
differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them.
We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's
already a friend with you.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 MSG)
Have you ever had an argument with your spouse, or a friend but then
made up and forgiven each other? You are ready for a fresh start,
renewing or perhaps even having a closer relationship. This is exactly
what God has done for us. He has given us a fresh start. He sent His Son
Jesus to put us square with Himself, and because we see an opportunity
to look at Him through a different perspective, we too can have a deeper
and more loving relationship. But it doesn't end there. When we begin to
see God in a different light, we also have an opportunity to re-think our
relationships with each other. All is never as it seems. We find we have
been wrong about a thought or reaction, and see that we can change that
thought.
God did not just forgive us to make us more comfortable with Him, but
to show us an example about how our wrong thinking can mess up our
relationships. Today we have occasion to begin again. To begin looking
for the real reason we are here. We are here to restore our relationship
with God, with our loved ones, with our fellow human beings, because we
are here to restore the Kingdom of God.
Most of us have believed that we are here to get what we can get
before we die. However, God had a much better plan. He wants us to live
as a family, to be happy and content without the fear of death. Without the
fear of punishment, rejection, and death, we are free to live in peace and
harmony. We do not have to scramble to get all we can get before
someone else gets it.
I am reminded of black Friday, where people scramble, and run over
each other to get something before it is gone. Then the next year, they
probably won't even remember the item they scrambled after. We are
square with God. We don't have to scramble any more. We already have
everything as his children. We are free to love each other and to move
freely. So what is our purpose? To find others who are still scrambling and
let them see how wrong they are about God when they are not yet “square
with Him”.
Happy New Year and thank you for joining us in our Journey Through
Faith!