Don't Play Church

But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heat to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?" Acts 5:3

Hi Friends!

Today, I'm in Acts 5. You may be familiar with the story of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira. It's a pretty unsettling story. In summary, they sold some property, kept some of the proceeds, and took the rest to the apostles implying that what they brought to the apostles was the entire amount of the proceeds. They got caught in the lie, and both died. Just fell down dead. Right there. It left the people who witnessed it unsettled. And it should leave us unsettled too.

My pastor spoke on this passage last week. And he said the problem wasn't that they kept a portion of the proceeds. The problem was that they lied about it. Even Peter said that it was theirs to do with what they wanted. But they lied- not to man, Peter said, but to God. And my pastor said they were suffering with what he called "perception management." See, they want to be perceived a certain way. Just before this episode, we see in Acts 4:36-37, a man sold some land and he brought the money from the sale to the apostles. Ananias and Sapphira wanted to be like that guy. They wanted everyone to think they were just as generous and just as faithful. It's all about perception, right? Here's the thing though- we might be able to trick people, but we cannot trick God. He knows our hearts, our motives, our faith. He knows.

It's easy to sit back and think that we'd never do something like that. But don't we? Don't we all have "perception management" issues? We want people to see us a certain way. Have you ever been fighting with your family before church but when you get there you all plaster smiles on your faces as you walk in? No? Just me? We all do it. We do it when we edit photos before we post them. We do it when we only post the good stuff on social media. We do it when we give time or money because we're "supposed" to. We do it when we try to keep up with the Joneses. But God knows. He knows our hearts and our motives. So let's not worry about what people think. Let's worry about what God thinks. Don't just put on a show. Don't just play church. Let's BE the church Jesus wants us to be. When we struggle with perception management, we must pray for God's help to overcome it. I pray that we can have enough faith in our great God to give Him our ALL, not just some, but all.

Page details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Marker Alpha, Skinny Minnie Alpha, My Father's House, Knit Together, Texture Tiles 8, and Serene Silhouettes. I used distress oxides for the background. I stamped the church on a hymnal page. The letters didn't ink evenly, and I ended up liking that look, so I left them that way.

Have a blessed week! Andrea

Everlasting Light

The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Isaiah 60:19

Hi Friends!

I don't know if you were affected by the bitter cold of the past 2 weeks, but I was. We live in KS and a couple of mornings the wind-chill was -30! I also have family in TX that experienced cold that TX hasn't seen in many years. The cold went all the way down to Mexico. And with that cold, some experienced power outages and other difficulties. Prayers to all who have been affected.

Power outages bring darkness. And in our day and age, we see that as an inconvenience. The sun and moon can bring us light, or a candle or flashlight. But our world is also full of spiritual darkness. And there's only one Light that can fight that. The good news is that one day our Lord will literally be our light.

Isaiah 60 speaks of Israel at the time of the millennial kingdom. When Jesus reigns here on earth, Jerusalem will be the capital of His kingdom. Israel will be redeemed. And verse 19 tells us that during that time, the sun and moon will not provide light because instead Jesus will and His light will last forever.

I've always loved the illustration of Jesus, of the Word, being the Light because it's something we can experience, and have experienced. Each of us has been in darkness before. We know what happens when a light is turned on. Darkness cannot fight the light. When the light is turned on, darkness goes away. It's that simple. Spiritually, Jesus is our light. When He is in our lives, the darkness flees. It has to. It doesn't have a choice! And not only is He spiritually Light, He is literally Light as this verse describes. In His glory, He shines brighter than the sun. Wow! I can only imagine!

Page Details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Marquee Alpha, Lollipop Alpha, Love Your Neighbor, Texture Tiles 8, and Trust in the Lord. I LOVE alpha stamps. I'm pretty sure I own all of the SNSS alphas. For Bible journaling, I think they are great to have, especially if you don't like to hand letter or you're still developing that skill. Love Your Neighbor is another versatile set as it has a bunch of common words. It's a cute set with the houses that's great. But I also often use just the common words from it. I used acrylic paints for the back ground. I sprayed my page with water to help the acrylics blend and move on the page. I also used acrylics to stamp the dots. I applied the paint to the stamp with a foam brush. The important thing to remember if you use acrylics with stamps is to wash the stamp as soon as you're done. You don't want the paint to dry on the stamp. Lastly, I used a white pen to highlight the letters.

Have a great week, my friends! Andrea

Shine Like Stars

Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life. Philippians 2:14-16a

Dear Friends,

This has been a rough week. Here in America, we're all probably feeling a little weary no matter which candidate we support. So what do we do now? As believers in the one true King, what do we do? Philippians 2:14-16a tells us what we do- we shine like stars. Are we shining our own light? Oh no, my friends, we are shining HIS light. We are reflecting Him to this broken and hurting world. So let's break down these verses.

1. Do everything without grumbling and arguing: If you've been on Facebook or Twitter or watched the news lately, you know there is a lot of grumbling and arguing. The sad thing is is that believers are wrapped up in it just as much as non-believers. We need to stop! Through Paul, God didn't say just do some things without grumbling and arguing. He said do EVERYTHING without it. I need to improve myself. I haven't gotten involved in political battles online or in person, but do I grumble to myself? Yes. Do I argue with the TV? Yes. Do I gripe at posts? Yes. We need to do better. When we are acting like the world, we are not sharing Jesus' light or His love as we are called to do. We can't draw others to Christ if we are at war with them.
2. So that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation: This is the reason WHY we should not grumble and argue. This world is definitely crooked and perverted. But we should not be! God is in complete control. None of this surprises Him. He's not worried. And no matter who ends up in the White House, God's purpose will be done.
3. Among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life: When we live differently than the world, when we don't grumble and argue as the world does, we shine like stars. I love that CSB translation. We shine God's light in this dark world and people are drawn to Him. Isn't that what we want? All these people we disagree with, isn't what we want that they too know Jesus? Our country, our world is hurting. Our country, our world needs Jesus. Let's shine. And we shine by holding firm to the word of life, His truth. Hold firm, my friends, hold firm to His word.  

My phone had an update the weekend before the election. One of the updates was that I could add a verse of the day to my home screen so I did. The day after the election this was the verse that popped up on my screen: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) What a reassurance that was. Jesus is on His throne. He was on it yesterday, and He will remain there always no matter what happens in this world.

Page Details: I used the following Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps sets: Shine Your Light, Texture Tiles 8, Playful Alpha, Marker Alpha. The background was done with watercolor crayons. I just wet my brush, gather color on the brush from the tip of the crayon, and pounce the brush on the page. I also used glitter glue to make some of the words and the stars sparkle.

 

Sparkle for Him this week! Blessings, Andrea