new covenant freedom

Frank Viola Podcast live

2009-04-06T23:43:00.030-04:00

Frank Viola Podcast:
Q & A on New Book "From Eternity to Here"
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 8:00pm
Listen to it here on Facebook
The audio podcast will air live on April 7th at 8pm EST.
But you can hear it afterwards.

The hour when my ship comes in.

2008-10-27T21:00:00.011-04:00

Song Lyrics

Discerning, Deciding and Doing God's Will

2008-10-25T12:34:00.001-04:00

http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/practical-christianity/PC1104W1.htm

I came upon this and thought you should read it

Butterfly - with apologies to Seven Day Jesus

2008-09-16T22:12:00.014-04:00

You see me, it's not me, it's something underneath my skin. I wanna tear it all away, and show the beauty that's within. Begin to come unglued and throw away the older me. Just give it time and then you'll see. I wanna really be a butterfly, flying in the sky, with you, today. I wanna really lose this old cocoon. I wanna do it soon, and fly away, away. So tired of always crawlin up the tree to fall back down again. This lonely place where I began, it's not the place I'm gonna end up. So before you sum up all the missing pieces in my head, there's so much further I can get. Your wind is underneath my wing, it carries me away. It's you, my Jesus that makes me sing. When I'm on my way, I change a little every day. You take what's old and make it new so I can be with you, and fly away, away....

See Video here

He that hath ears, let him hear

2008-09-01T00:12:00.002-04:00

My husband and I were having a conversation today. Let me correct that--we were TRYING to have a conversation today. Most of my contribution was, 'What?" and, "Honey, you've got to speak up, I can't hear you!"

You see, I'm hard of hearing. I have been since birth. Coping was always okay, sort of, because I depended on my parents for my life. Although there was a lot of frustration from me and my folks, at least I knew I had a roof over my head, food in my stomach, and clothes on my back.

Doc has said that my hearing would decline even more over the years. I didn't realize that time would be so soon, though. I find myself growing anxious over the future. What future is there for a hard of hearing woman, who doesn't have any skills that doesn't require hearing?

This is where the rubber meets the road. Before this, I could talk a good talk about having my dependency on God. Did I, though? Or was my dependency in my ability and my husband's ability to make a paycheck? I scanned the internet for stories of deaf/hard of hearing people getting jobs. Most of what I found were the deaf/hard of hearing sharing their horror stories of being discriminated against. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I think my 'dependency on God" might've been not true. As long as I had some thread of hope to hold on to--and the hope was in my local connections, my ability; my, my, my something, I could claim to not be anxious, and claim a trust in God, like any good little Christian should.

But what about now? What about the fact that soon I might have to give up teaching in a public school, because I'm not what the students need? The students need to know that their teacher will hear them gasping for breath when an asthma attack breaks out. Their teacher will need to hear when the class bully is secretly terrorizing the timid child that rarely speaks. So, any administration in their right mind would let me go. I wouldn't blame them.

So, do I really trust God, now? Now that I don't have any secret contacts to draw from--I have totally exhausted all of my human strengths... now do I trust God? What about you? Have you ever been on your last leg, no thread of hope anywhere, and have had no choice but to depend on God? Jesus walked step by step in dependency. He had no earthly job, although as a young boy we infer that he helped Joseph with carpentry. His very food he ate, the shoes on his feet, the place to bed down for the night--he depended on God for every bit of His livelihood. Can I? Can you?

That's one of the many wonderful things about God. He knows our faith falters--some more than others (mine!), but that doesn't worry Him. As God, He is able to grow us as we need growing, and He teaches us through concrete lessons, that He DOES care about our every being, no matter what. Our earth suits will continue to dry up and shrivel away due to illnesses, age or accident; but our spirits belong to God. In the end, we'll know that everything was worth it.

What are you going through? Are you having a 'rubber meets the road' type situation facing you, now? Has God showed you in times past that He indeed can be trusted? Do you know for sure that He loves you, no matter what? God has a habit of showing us little things to remind us of His love for us.

He loves you :-)

Blessings

Lisa

I'm anxious, I'm anxious not, I'm anxious, I'm anxious not... I'm anxious...

2008-08-17T13:24:00.002-04:00

This morning's message was an eye opener. It came from the book of Philippians, where Paul was talking about being encouraging, not arguing, and what have you. He's encouraging us to be like minded. This doesn't mean we're clones of each other, but rather, have all come to understand the Gospel from God's P.O.V, not our own. Therefore, we'll be like minded in our understanding. Towards the end of chpt 2, he's telling the folks that he really needs to send Epaphroditus back to them, so they'd be blessed, and he himself would be less anxious. Now, how does that compare to Philippians 4, where it tells us to be anxious for nothing, but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, we're to make our requests known to God. So, on one hand, Paul is saying "....by doing this I hope to be less anxious"... and then a few paragraphs later, he's saying, "Be not anxious for anything". I suspect that Paul knew good and well what it's like to be anxious. Don't we all? Is it something weird to be anxious? No..perfectly normal. Perfectly NOT desirable, but normal. There are going to come times when we're going to 'wonder' about what the future holds--our jobs...families...finances; and even not in a big picture but 'little' things like, "Will I get to the phone company before it closes to pay the bill?" "Am I going to run out of gas before I find a gas station?" little ordinary things that beset us. Those are the things Paul is helping us through.

Paul wasn't preaching only to 'us' in that verse--he was also giving himself some encouragement. When we turn our eyes upon Jesus, then the things of this world, will grow strangely dim--in the light of his glory and grace!

Anxious? Welcome to humanity. Want to NOT be anxious? With prayer and thanksgiving, let it be known to God.

Have a great week!

Lisa

Let it go...

2008-08-17T10:34:00.002-04:00

There's a verse in Matthew that states: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29).

You know..I remember reading this so many times, trying to conjure up the rest spoken about. It didn't quite make sense to me back then--I mean, who's got time to rest? Shouldn't we be busy about the Lord's work? Shouldn't we feed the hungry, nurse the sick, comfort the broken hearted... etc. The list never seemed to end. Of course, in order to be a 'good Christian" one would desire to do all the above, right? After all, they are a noble thing indeed!

I finally decided that what that meant was---come to him now and He'd give me rest later like when I died and went to heaven. Surely that was it... if everyone was 'resting', nothing would ever get done!

It was a great relief, when eventually, God taught me that no, it wasn't that we were going to be sitting around eating bon-bons all day. What it means, is, that WEno longer have to conjure up the desire to do, or worry about the consequences if we don't. You see, as a child of God, we have the joy of not stressing out over things. Let's think about this--if God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, does it make sense that He would leave the fate of someone ready to receive His offer of life in the hands of me? No way! I don't have to do anything. However---I do make myself available. If he cho

True Dependency on God

2008-08-03T23:13:00.021-04:00

What does it mean to be truly dependent on the Lord? We understand depending on God in a spiritual sense, but are we to also depend on him in our physical life. I like the well-known scripture in 3 John 1:2 “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
I believe this letter to Gaius shows the direct correlation between our body and our soul. In Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all things will be added unto you.” Again you see God is addressing our body and our soul, He will add spiritual blessings as well as physical blessings. Our soul is blessed in the act of seeking God’s Kingdom, our body is blessed when God adds all things unto us.
The question is: are we constantly separating the two and not know it? When God had Moses with his followers in the wilderness for 40 years, He provided manna from heaven everyday except Passover. This was the blessing for the body. What was the blessing for their soul? Could it be the blessing for the soul is the dependency on the Lord.
Does God desire for us to depend on him for every little thing in our life? I believe the answer is best summed up in Proverbs 30:8,9 “give me neither poverty nor riches-feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny, and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God." And also in Matthew 6:11 “Father give us this day our daily bread.” What are we to learn from these two verses? Is it possible that God wants to give us something new everyday, He desires for us to draw from him daily. So what Proverbs is saying is if we were rich, we would not be able to see the need for the lord. And if we were poor we would take it into our own hands to provide for ourselves.
If we put God first in all of our life's plans, we can truly say He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2)
Be conscious of where your mind is at in all situations. Is your mind 80% on a problem and only 20% on God, or are you giving is all to Jesus and dwelling in his peace. God begins His work when we finally let go 100%. It’s funny that it takes more work NOT to think of life’s issues and troubles and just trust the Lord!
If God was a famous Chef and he was cookin' up your life, and the kitchen smells great. But you feel the need to go over God’s shoulder and put a little of your own spices in the pot, because you know just what your life needs and you are just helping God out a little. How do you think your life will taste by you adding to God’s perfect work. I think a little too salty. But what if we got out of the kitchen and let God truly go to work on our life, (without our input) it will be a perfect dish with flavors you didn’t even know you had.
Could you imagine a life where every single one of our needs are met just because I stopped trying to do it on my own. This is true faith! A life of not having to worry about tomorrow, because you are too busy thanking the Lord for today! Praise God! All things are summed up in Christ Jesus, I love you Brothers and Sisters with the true love of Jesus Christ our Lord!

To God be the Glory

2008-08-03T00:22:00.001-04:00

I pray that as you visit this site, you will not leave the same way that you entered. I want to thank our Webmaster, Chris for lending his patience and expertise in developing a blog page for visitors, as well as members of this site to come and express themselves. I pray that as we enter this site we will grow and continually be united in Christ.

Welcome

2008-08-02T23:07:00.000-04:00

Welcome to New Covenant Freedom website blog page.
We hope and pray that as you utilize/visit this site, that your understanding of Christ, God's word and the new covenant and its application to your life increases. As a result, we hope your relationship with Christ, your family and other believers grows deeper and more meaningful. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of the individuals listed on this site. If you have any ideas for improvement of this site, submit them, they will be appreciated. Thank you and enjoy the site.

posting to our blog page

2008-08-02T20:43:00.006-04:00

Hello contributors (bloggers). Please post your blog by reading and using you invitation email and creating a free google account. Check your email for all the info.

Romans 14:23

2008-08-02T20:10:00.000-04:00

for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.