Betty Whitaker Jackson

After Easter, Pentecost, God sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. We can know personally the indwelling of Christ within us to comfort, to guide, to encourage, to chasten, and to provide answers to life’s biggest questions. Emanuel means God with us. Nothing we can do can earn us this gift. Unlike other religious practices, we do not reach out to God; He reached to us to draw us personally to Him. This is a Lenten truth.

MY PSALM 324   DWELL…..

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We need to watch how we speak! Whether it’s on social media, on the phone, in conversation, or in print, our words do matter. As a writer, I need to watch tone, emotion, syntax, motivation, and truth in order to be authentic. When our faith guides our words, we are representatives of Christ and His kingdom. When we speak as professionals, in my case as an educator, I need to consider my audience and their viewpoints, prejudices, beliefs, and personal…..

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Today’s topic for Lent is Sanctification. I know and you know we will never live up to Christ’s example in our lives. We are sinners, we were sinners, and we will always sin, but Christ atoned for those sins and we can be counted as righteous because of His sacrifice for us. However, that does not mean we should ignore our sinful nature. That would be cheap grace indeed. Therefore, through prayer, reading scripture, and conscious editing of our speech…..

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God, creator of the universe and Lover of our souls, fashioned order out of chaos. Read the story of creation to see this. Then notice the plan, unveiled throughout all scripture, to defeat the chaos caused by sin into the order of heaven. By folllowing His precepts in this chaotic existence where the right seems wrong and wrong seems right is our challenge. Read and study His plan for salvation, make a pledge to follow His precepts, and earn the…..

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Deuteronomy 30:19 gives us the assurance and confidence in God’s covenany promise. May it bless your day along with My Psalm 319:

“I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listen obediently to Him, firmly embracing Him. Oh, yes. He is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

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One the greatest gifts Christianity gives is assurance–the assurance that God loves us just as we are, the assurance that He will always love us, the assurance that Jesus paid for our sins, past, present, and future, and that one day we will live to praise Him perfectly as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. No matter what the world shows us, all of which is fleeting, subject to corruption, and sure to bring us pain and disillusionment, Christ’s…..

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A little “anxiety promoter” for today. They tell me that historically, March 4th was Inauguration Day rather than January 20th, probably due to weather concerns. There is “chatter” that some might “storm” the Capitol in Washington today and cause a riot like the one that occurred January 6th.  As a cautionary step, Congress, finding any possible excuse, it seems to me, has abandoned its work today, the center of Washington is surrounded by troops, fences, and barbed wire. What is…..

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The Bible says we are to ask for our needs, for His Presence, for answers, for our leaders, for healing of body, mind, and spirit  in prayer,. God hears our prayers and answers yes, no, not yet, or it is not in My Will for you. We are assured He hears our prayers, and we experience Godincidences and answers to prayer as we continue our life’s walk. He answered teh biggest of the world’s prayers, the need for a Savior,…..

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Peace is a glorious thing. We give it other names too: satisfaction, well-being, assurance. We thrill to the concept, if not the reality, of world peace. We love the ending of the benediction, “And give you peace.” We long for it in politics. We long for reconciliation in our families. We abhor borders, crime, loss, anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and grudges. They steal our peace.  Our God created peace, the sense of everything being perfect, until man’s sin and deviance, the…..

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