Category Archives: God and Jesus

May 13, 2015 · 11:18 am

God is Love

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.  No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.  We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” 1 John 4:7-16

By ~ Elizabeth Yalian 2013-2015 ©http://hiseyeisonthissparrow.com. ♛

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April 14, 2015 · 9:41 pm

Letting Our Light Shine

In Matthew 22:36-39 a Pharisee, hoping to stump Jesus, comes and asks: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 36 

The Pharisee thought Jesus should say all of the commandments came from God and all of them were great, right? I mean, that does make sense, doesn’t it? However…

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” 37-39 

Jesus gave the Pharisee those two commandments because they cover all the other commandments combined. That’s what made them so great. If we love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, and mind, it should be naturally easy to also love our neighbor as our self. And if we happen to not like ourselves very much, we know we are valuable because we are made by God, and made in God’s very image.

However, in our fallible and errant condition, that’s not so easy at all. We often struggle to just be nice to our own family and friends. Yet as followers of Christ we are told we must demonstrate love and respect to all people, including those we don’t like, love, or agree with.

It’s God’s way.

Even those who rub us wrong? Yes!

Well then, they should be nice back to us if we are nice to them. Isn’t that common courtesy? Continue reading →

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March 25, 2015 · 6:08 pm

God’s Delay on Answering Prayers is no Delay

I had just left my house and was on my way to a walk-in lab for some extensive blood tests the new doctor I began seeing required. I talked to the Lord about my level of frustration, concern, and anxiety over my health issues. As I always do when I drive, I turned on Moody Radio Station KMBI 107.9.  Within a few minutes a new program came on. I’m not even sure which program it was or who the person was, but he was talking about the death of Lazarus, and his sisters’ frustration that Jesus had showed up too late to heal their dying brother.

 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:21

I was surprised by what came on next.  The man on the radio said these words: Continue reading →

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February 15, 2015 · 1:39 pm

Never a Loss in Prayer

Kenny Stills's photo.

I saw this on Facebook and decided to use it here because there is so much to this quote.  When you turn to God and give Him your worries, you can only gain.

What the man lost through prayer became his richest gain.

In losing anger, he gained self-control.

In losing ego, he gained selflessness.

In losing greed, he gained charity.

In losing depression, he gained hope.

In losing insecurity, he gained confidence.

In losing fear of death, he gained peace of mind.

Coming to God in prayer is a win-win situation, all the time.

By ~ Elizabeth Yalian 2013-2015 ©http://hiseyeisonthissparrow.com. ♛

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February 14, 2015 · 5:26 pm

Happy Valentine’s Day Friends

imageHow wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ?

For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the saints,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge –
that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19

By ~ Elizabeth Yalian 2013-2015 ©http://hiseyeisonthissparrow.com. ♛

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December 13, 2014 · 12:32 am

CHRISTMAS: To Celebrate or Not?

image

I’ve given Christmas a lot of thought this year as there’ve been articles circulating Facebook and the internet for several months about Christmas being a pagan holiday that originated with the celebration of the birth of a sun god, and that the Catholics broke away from the Roman pagan sun-god roots and declared December 25th a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus instead. And much more. (I apologize for this being a little long, it’s a complicated subject.)

Then there’s the one of a tree taken from the forest and being covered with silver and gold. Of course, most think of Christmas trees, tinsel, ornaments, etc. I read those verses before in Jeremiah 10:3-5 and looked them up again. It speaks of the god(s) of that culture, a wooden statue carved in the image of a being or an animal then literally overlaid with melted silver or gold, and Ta-dah, it’s a god! (Insert tongue in cheek here) These carved images were actually worshiped. I agree, if I did that with a tree, or anything, I would definitely offend God.

I do understand the articles. People who write them have strong convictions and I don’t hold that against them whatsoever as I have my own strong convictions. That being said, I’ve been trying not to rationalize Christmas, but rather weigh out the celebration of Christmas as Jesus’ birthday against not celebrating it at all, and took a close look at what Christmas means to me. Continue reading →

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November 10, 2014 · 12:14 am

It’s From the Pile of Ashes that Diamond Dust Sparkles Best

imageDear Sweet Girl,

There’s so much I wish someone had been there to tell you when you were a small child, and in your teens. Since no one seemed to care much what went on in your life then, I decided to write to you to tell you what I would have told you at eighteen years of age. I hope you don’t mind the intrusion.

First of all, you aren’t worthless and you aren’t a failure. No. You. Are. Not.

You are lovable, you are lovely, you are loved! Continue reading →

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Filed under A Broken Childhood, Child Abuse and Neglect, God and Jesus, Hope, Inner Sruggles and Heartache, Life Lessons, Living for Jesus

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November 8, 2014 · 10:01 pm

No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus

image I love that Jesus loves us like no other and that oftentimes

His love shows up in our lives through the kind word or gentle touch of a friend.

No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus

Chorus
No one ever cared for me like Jesus;
There’s no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me;
O how much He cared for me. Continue reading →

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November 5, 2014 · 10:07 pm

The University of Higher Learning

Off and on I have shared with you a few of the hardships I have experienced the last 3 years.

The death of my son. Then immediately after his death I needed more emotional support than ever, but instead was further alienated and impacted by terrible family drama, followed by the estrangement of a precious family member. Shortly after that I experienced an ankle injury that took 8 months to fully heal. I thought I was out of the woods once my ankle healed, but no. Sitting around waiting for my ankle to heal led to my back atrophying and further caused issues with a previously existing back injury, which then led to over six months of sciatica (also referred to as psychotica because of its ability to drive a reasonable person to utter insanity).

After some time I could commiserate with Job’s predicament.

Throughout the hard times I asked, begged, and sometimes in frustration demanded healing and relief. I cried buckets of tears. I wanted, needed, an escape from the agony and the heartache. I wanted a speedy recovery, a prompt delivery, anything, to get me past the immediate pain. Continue reading →

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October 2, 2014 · 11:58 pm

The Locked Gate

imageLife is just like this sometimes. Our path goes smoothly for a while then suddenly there is a locked gate ahead looming large before us, a blockage in our path that won’t allow us to pass without stepping way out of our comfort zone and making some sort of sacrifice. In life we can’t exactly go back to what life was before we arrived at the locked gate; we have three choices. We either give up, or sit by the locked gate and hope someone with the key will show up soon, or we must get uncomfortable, sweaty, messy, and possibly wet. We must get out of our cozy place and get to a place where things are out of sync with our earthly comfort and understanding to get around the locked gate. Continue reading →

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