Author: Shelia's Notes

Create in Me a Clean Heart Oh God!!!

~ Shelia's Notes ~ Leave a comment
cookie heart.png
I want to learn to serve God
with all my heart,
with all my soul,
with all my mind and
with all my strength.
Matthew 22:36-40  says;
 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
 And He said to him, 
“You shall love the Lord your God 
with all your heart 
and with all your soul 
and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment. 
If the greatest commandment 
is to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul
and mind, I have to study God’s Word to
learn what this truly means.
I need a clean heart to accept God’s Word.
Deuteronomy 30:6
And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart
and the heart of your offspring, so that you will
love the LORD your God with all your heart and
with all your soul, that you may live.
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart,
O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Ezekiel 36:26
And I will give you a new heart,
and a new spirit I will put within you.
And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh
and give you a heart of flesh.
God is the one who can create  a new heart in me.
He will remove my heart of stone
and give me a living heart of flesh.
Psalm 139:23
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
Romans 8:27
And He who searches hearts knows
what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes
for the saints according to the will of God.
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
Matthew 5:8
“Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and he will make straight your paths.
James 4:7-8
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Psalm 119:11
I have stored up your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
  piercing to the division of soul and of spirit,
   of joints and of marrow,
   and discerning the thoughts and
     intentions of the heart.
 God is the only one who can give me a clean heart.
 He is the only one who can remove my old heart of stone.
Father keep my heart from any evil 
so that I will live with You forever.
Father, create in me a clean heart 
and make me like You in all my ways.
Father, I pray that I will love You and 
You only with all my heart, and all my mind,
and all my soul.
Father I do not want to love any other god but You.
Father, please make Your living word dwell in my heart, 
my mind and my soul all the days of my life. 
Father,  please remove any unworthy thoughts 
from my heart, soul and mind.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!    
Try me and know my thoughts!
Thank You for creating a clean heart in me God.
Thank you God for searching my heart and
 knowing my ways and thoughts.
Thank you for revealing Your will to me
through Your Holy and inspired word.
In Jesus Most Holy Name I pray, Amen.
If you want to learn how to serve God
with all your heart just click on this link for a Free Bible Study.
This post is adapted and updated from an earlier one I posted in2014
All content and photos are copyrighted by Shelia Holmes 2017©

What Does God’s Word Say About Grumbling and Complaining?

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What Does God’s Word Say About Grumbling and Complaining?

DSC_0409First, what is the definition of grumble/complain?

To complain about something in a bad-tempered way, a complaint, a low rumbling sound.

Some words that describe grumble: mummer, moan, groan, whine, mutter, grouse, bleat, carp, cavil, protest.

Complain: to express dissatisfaction or annoyance about something.

If one looks closely at this picture of the older man with a stick for a cane, they will notice that he has no shoes on his feet. His hat has holes in it but it helped keep the sun off his head. His suit jacket have worn edges and his pants are thread bear.

 

Yet he is dressed in the very best clothes he owns. He dressed up to come to see the dentist.

DSC_0377The mass of people are standing in line with the hopes of getting some physical relief.

What do these people have to complain about?

Let me count the ways:

  • The old gentleman stood in line in the hot sun for hours to get one tooth pulled.
  • He was very elderly as you can see from the picture he needs help to keep him steady.
  • No one knows how far he walked to get to the Medical Mission, or whether he has had anything to eat or drink.
  • What teeth he has left are all very decayed.
  • The dentist will only pull one.
  • When he is finished he still must travel back to his abode.
  • The dentist may or may not be back in his walking distance next year.
  • This may be the first and last time he will ever see a dentist. No matter how bad his teeth become.
  • The people in the second picture may have walked many hours, or even days, with the hope of seeing a doctor, dentist or optometrist.
  • They may have even slept outside in the cold winter night (35-40-degree weather) so they could be near the front of the line in the morning. Now they stand in line in the hot winter sun for hours waiting to see a medical personal.
  • They may or may not have had a meager share of nshema ( a corn meal dough) since they left their village.
  • They may or may not have had a drink of water, little lone clean water.
  • This may be their first and last time ever to see a medical personal.

What in the world would they have to grumble about?

What in the world do they not have to grumble about?

Lack of everything-health care-food-clothes-water-living quarters-you name it and they have it to complain about.

What is in the world do we have to grumble or complain about?

We could list many things.

What does God say about grumbling and complaining?

Numbers 11:1

  • Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD; and when the LORD heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

Jude 1:16

  • These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.

1 Corinthians 10: 9-10

  • Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.  Nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.

Philippians 2: 14-16

  • Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

God’s word is plain on what He thinks and feels about our grumbling or complaining.

Philippians 2: sums it up:

Do all things without grumbling or disputing;

It doesn’t say it is okay to grumble sometimes or about somethings.

It says DO ALL THINGS WITHOUT GRUMBLING…..

Why?

  • So that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God.
  • Above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.
  • Among who you appear as lights in the world.
  • Holding fast the word of life.

We may just very well be the light to someone in this crooked and perverse generation.

We may just very well lead someone to Jesus Christ so He can save their soul.

God cannot stand grumblers.

  • He gives us many examples in the bible of how He handled them.
  • He destroyed them.

My challenge to myself and you is:

  • Let us stop grumbling before it is too late.
  • Let us be the light of Christ to this dark world.
  • Let us live as children of God.
  • Let us hold fast to the Word of Life.

For a free bible study go to : www.worldbiblschool.org

Scriptures are taken from NASB

When God Stops You Dead in Your Tracks!

~ Shelia's Notes ~ Leave a comment

 

When God Stops You Dead in Your Tracks

I want to write but the words do not want to come.

Why do they not want to come?

When one’s heart has been shattered and broken until it hurts so badly just to breathe.  You must remind yourself to just breathe. Just breathe.

When one’s dreams have been broken into a million tiny pieces.  How will you ever dream again? How?

When one’s hopes have been splintered into a jillion sharp hurtful pieces. If you dare to try to hope again you will surely bleed to death.

When one feels like no one understands what you have been through, even when you have told them. You feel as if you stand alone in this.

When God stops you dead in your tracks, He must have something better for you.

Romans 8:28 ESV And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

When your heart is shattered, He will fix it for you, He will breathe new breath into you. 

Acts 17: 24-25 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths

Psalm 34:18 ESV  The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 147:3 ESV  He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

When your dreams are broken into a million pieces, He will give you new and better dreams, His dreams for you, not yours.

Ephesians 3:20 ESV  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

When your hopes have been splintered into a jillion hurtful pieces, He will give you the true Hope that really matters, His hope, not yours.

Romans 5:2-5 ESV  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV    For we walk by faith, not by sight.

God’s Everlasting Love

Romans 8: 31-38 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long: we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When you feel like no one understands all you must do is know that the One who truly matters cares as He always has and always will.  When you feel like you stand alone all you should do is open your eyes and see that God is right where He has always been. Waiting for you to reach out and grope for Him. He hasn’t gone anywhere. 

Acts 17:26-27 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, For we are indeed his offspring.’

If you do not feel like you have found God, you may study His word for free and then you will know for sure. Go to www.worldbibleschool.org

Thanks and blessings from Shelia’s Notes.

All content is copyrighted by Shelia’s Notes©2017

“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

So Many Words Tossing Around!!!

~ Shelia's Notes ~ 6 Comments

Sometimes my heart is so full of thoughts, feelings and emotion. Sometimes I cannot put them into verbal words. Sometimes I can sit down with my lap top and just start typing and the words will flow from my heart and mind.

For sometime now I have wanted to write. I know I am not the best at writing but I know that I want to give it a try. I have had a blog for several years now but I have not been good at keeping it updated.

I have always been better at writing my thoughts than speaking them out loud. Some how they seem to make more sense and sound better when I write them than when I speak them. Maybe this is because I was painfully shy as a child.

I have so many things I want to write about but I seem to never get around to actually writing. The thoughts swirl around in my head, especially when it is time to sleep. I tell myself I will remember them in the morning and then the new dawning sweeps them away. I jot notes of thoughts that I want to write about. They seem to never get uncovered and the words never get written.

God has allowed me to participate in so many things that I never could have dreamed possible as that painfully shy little girl. He has taken me to places that I did not even dream of going. He has exposed me to things that have forever changed my being.

As a child I was an avid reader and the books took me places that I would never have gone as that blue eyed, painfully shy girl, whose hair was almost auburn when the sun touched it just right.

So this sight is going to be where I will try to make an honest effort to write my thoughts that come from my heart into my mind.

If you want to follow me, maybe I can say something that will touch your heart or add comfort to your day. I will tell you right now that there will be a lot of God’s Word on this site because He is the Upmost important person in my life.

What is the greatest commandment?

Mark 12:30 and YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the hears.

Thanks for coming and feel free to leave a comment.

Many blessings and if you would like to study the Bible free on line, just click the link:

http://www.worldbibleschool.org

All content and photos are copyrighted by Shelia Holmes ©2017

Why Go to Africa to Help When there are So Many Here Who Need Help? Why I Go?

~ Shelia's Notes ~ Leave a comment

Originally posted 5/29/2015
Reposted and updated 5/29/2016

 

Why Go to Africa to Help When there are So Many Here Who Need Help?
Why I Go
Mark 16:15-16
 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
1 John 3:17
17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
Zambia
Population: 13.3 million
Life Expectancy: 44.5 years
GDP: US$1248 per capita
Unemployed: 16.0%
81.5% earn less than US$2 per day
Why do I Go?
 
2 CORINTHIANS 8:9
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
 
I have had people to say, “Why go to Africa when we have so many people here that need so much help? Why would you want to go to Africa when you can help those here?”
I spent many years working with the poorest of poor children in Texas. I have witnessed the poverty in the Texas.
I have been highly blessed to travel to Zambia five times.
I have been in the Eastern Province every time. I have also traveled from the Eastern Province to the Southern Province and to the Northwestern Province.  Zambia is a country about the size of Texas. So, I have witnessed the extreme poverty that exists in Zambia firsthand.  In Zambia, I have traveled to numerous villages and once spent eight days and nights in a remote village without electricity and running water. I have never witnessed poverty in the United States that comes close to the extreme, widespread poverty in Zambia. There are many, many people walking and riding bicycles up and down the roadways, out in the country, in the villages, and in the cities. It is mostly the men who ride bicycles. They are hauling goats, pigs, eggs, elephant grass, wood, tin, charcoal, sweet potatoes, their families, mazes, cotton, mattresses, you name it and they haul it on their bikes.
I have been in peoples living abodes that have no window glass, no electricity, and no running water, very worn out furniture.  But yet they are willing and eager to share the little bit of food they have with us. They prepare the food for us and they do not eat. The average income is $2.00 a day or less. Many do not even have this. They live completely off the land. This is a land of many people who do not have a Bible and do not have access to a Bible. If a Bible cost $7.00 and one has an income of $2.00 a day or less, where are they going to spend their money? How shall they hear? Romans 10:14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
As an American it is so hard to comprehend this extreme poverty. We actually have no knowledge base to comprehend this extreme poverty unless we have gone and witnessed it firsthand. I can tell you but you won’t comprehend until you have built that new knowledge base.
When one has this knowledge base it will either change your life for the good or the bad.  It is a haunting reality for me.  1 John 3:17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Proverbs 21:13 He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered. 
I can tell you about the face of a four year old boy who brings his mother a hand full of field mice. I can tell you about her quickly snatching them out of his hand and hurrying off to later discover that she has put them in a pot of water to boil for lunch for her family.
I can tell you about an old grandmother asking for help with her grandson with a broken leg whom she is carrying. I can tell you about the people who walk 20Ks or longer to get to the Medical Mission we do. I can tell you about the lady who told me she needs my glasses so she can see.
I can tell you about the hundreds of people who stand in the hot sun all day long waiting with hope to see the Doctor or Dentist and get some relief.  I can tell you they do not eat anything all day long. I can tell you about the children with the extended tummies and no shoes.  
I can tell you about the abode without window glass or no windows at all. I can tell you about the schools where we do the medical missions that have windows but no glass in them. I can tell you about the desk that are so wore out that we are afraid they will fall down if someone sits on them.
I can tell you about the hole in the floor at the door of the room that is three inches deep by ten inches wide, I can tell you about the toilet that stinks so badly you almost gag as you walk in to use the little hole in the ground. I can tell you about 45-70 students in a classroom that is 10 feet by 12 feet. 
I can tell you about the smell of the people who are as clean as they can be without water, I can tell you about the clothes they wear that we would throw away and not even use as rags.
I can tell you but until you see, smell, feel, touch and let these things sink into your heart, you will not truly understand what I mean.

We go to Africa to take the gospel of Christ to so many souls that have very little physical goods and a heart that is starving to death for the Good News.  We can’t, not go.  That is why we go.

ACTS 20:35

 

35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” When we go, we always come home with the feeling that we are the ones who received the most blessings. They on the other hand are the ones who feel they received the most blessings.

Now we have added one more cause to that list. We are going to try to alleviate the suffering and death of babies.

This June 4, 2016 three of us are moving to Zambia to start taking care of babies who do not have a chance to live without divine intervention. We are not divine or anything special, nor do we have special powers. It is God who is mighty and awesome and He will provide the divine intervention. He has allowed us to go so many times and He has given us the love for the people in Zambia.

For a Free Bible study go to:
www.worldbibleschool.org