It's a Wilson thing

Fear Not

Fear can be a very debilitating force in someone's life. That gripping fear that snatches on to your heart and squeezes, making your chest feel heavy and tight. Fear is something that we all go through at one time or another. Whether it be the worry of losing a loved one, fear of not being able to pay the bills, or fear of death, or countless other things we tend to worry about, it is never something that is easy to go through. Fear is a very normal response to a situation that you are not in control of, but we have to remember when we are afraid that someone else IS in control. 

God protects us
Psalm 91:4 
4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge; 
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
God has promised to cover us when we are afraid. He will shield us from the scary things in our lives. This verse makes me picture a Mama bird protecting her babies. I have seen it, when someone gets too close to their nest first they will cover the babies with their wing, then if the person gets closer they will come out of the nest and try and lead them away...as a last resort they will actually try to attack the person who is coming toward the nest. Isn't it great to know that our Heavenly Father will protect us this way?

God strengthens and helps us
Isaiah 41:10 
10 Fear not, for I am with you; 
Be not dismayed, for I am your God. 
I will strengthen you, 
Yes, I will help you, 
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ 
The Bible tells us not to be afraid because God is strengthening us and helping us through our time of trouble. Not only does He protect us, but He upholds us through it. We may think that it is more than we can handle, and it probably is if we try and handle it on our own, but if we let God help us we can handle anything. 

God comforts us
Psalm 23:4
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; 
For You are with me; 
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 
God has promised to protect us, to uphold us and give us strength, AND to comfort us. I remember when I was little and I was afraid, I would get up in the middle of the night and go to my grandma or mom and they would always wrap their arms around me and calm me. Just knowing that God is there to comfort us when we are afraid is a huge relief.

God gives us Peace
John 14:27
27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
God is in control of every situation. He knows what is going to happen and He just wants us to let go and let Him do His work. Knowing that He is in control and allowing Him to give you peace in your heart will bring you to the end of your fear.

When you are afraid remember to let go and let God protect you, strengthen and help you, comfort you, and give you peace

What are you giving up for Lent?

Today is a day to reflect upon what we can give to God during this Easter season. We make sacrifices during Lent as a symbol of Christ's suffering, yet nothing we sacrifice can really measure up to what He has done for us. As you are deciding what to give up for Lent this season, take time to remember what Christ did for you. Fix your thoughts upon Him! 

Easter is about the greatest gift that was ever offered to us...the Grace of God...Grace that caused Him to send his only Son to die in a horrific way so that we could have Salvation. He didn't want to see us perish, so He sacrificed His Son. Imagine...someone points a gun at your children and says "pick one". 

If you do not truly understand Salvation let me take a moment to explain it to you...the only thing Salvation requires of you is a belief in Jesus Christ as the one and only true Son of God. All you need, to get to heaven, is Jesus Christ, Son of God.

"For God so love the world, that He gave His ONLY begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life!" John 3:16

IF you believe in Jesus Christ as the true Son of God you WILL have everlasting life. It is that easy because of the gift that God gave us by sending His son to die. His Grace covers all our sin. We don't have to work for it, none of us deserves it, but He is offering it anyway. Open your heart and accept it!

As you are reflecting on what to give up for Lent, remember what Christ gave up for us. His suffering, His sacrifice, to make your life easier. What can you sacrifice for Him?

"Own" your sin

The girls and I have been talking more and more about "owning" our own actions. The other day, as I was trying to settle an argument between three of them, I began to realize that they spend a lot of time blaming each other for what they have done. 

"If she hadn't..." or "...but mommy she did it first!" After so much time listening to them placing the blame elsewhere I sat them down and told them to forget about what their sister did, be honest with themselves, and see if there is any possible way they could have done something different. I said "Imagine that Jesus is sitting right there next to you (cause he is), and tell me...were your actions such, that they would be pleasing to Him?" 

We spend so much time in our lives placing blame on others for our actions, but the Bible doesn't give us any room to place blame, in fact it is quite the opposite. This is clearly illustrated in the story of the first sin in Genesis 3. Serpent engages Eve in a conversation, "Hey pretty lady...come on over here and eat this apple..No, no you won't die like God says you will...He just doesn't want your eyes to be opened so you will know what he knows." 

Be assured...Eve was clearly aware of what God said about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, and yet, not only did she engage in conversation with temptation, but she gave in to it. She also turned around and tempted Adam, who was also clearly aware of what he was doing.

In vs. 13 Eve blames the serpent for her sin, but as you can see in vs 16 God gives Eve her own punishment. 

Genesis 3:16
To the woman He said: 
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; 
In pain you shall bring forth children; 
Your desire shall be for your husband, 
And he shall rule over you.” 

Adam also gets his own punishment:

Genesis 3:17 
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: 
“ Cursed is the ground for your sake; 
In toil you shall eat of it 
All the days of your life.

Each party was separately punished for their involvement in this sin. Each party had their own guilt. Our salvation does not depend on other people, it depends on our relationship with Jesus Christ and each person must repent of their own sin, therefore, we must conclude, that there is nobody else to blame but ourselves when we do sin. The devil made me do it is not a good enough excuse as we can see from Eve's story.

We cannot control what other people do, we can only control what we do.

Romans 3:23 tells us that 
"all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". God doesn't expect us to be perfect, he knows that we are going to stumble and fall, however, he does expect us to get back up, repent, accept our forgiveness and keep moving forward to strive for that perfection. 

About Faith

God is faithful even when we are faithless. 

2 Timothy 2:13 (New King James Version)
13 If we are faithless, 
He remains faithful; 
He cannot deny Himself.

There are many instances of this in the Bible. One particular instance that comes to mind is in Genesis 18:10-15 when Sarah overheard that she was to have a child in her old age, she was 89 to be exact, and she laughed at God. Not only did she laugh, but when God confronted her about it, she denied it. Through all this God was faithful and gave Abraham and Sarah a son. This story not only illustrates God's faithfulness, as we all know that Sarah was given a son despite her unbelief, but also the importance of God's timing. The baby came on God's time table.

Some of us may be struggling and praying and waiting for a miracle. We hope God will step up and answer our prayers even though we don't have the faith for it. He will.

In Mark 9 a father comes to Jesus for healing for his child...

17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” 
19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 
21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” 
And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,[a] all things are possible to him who believes.” 
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 

Jesus saw the man's unbelief. The man admitted it in verse 24 when he says "I believe; help my unbelief"

This same story is told in Matthew 17, in this instance Jesus says in vs. 20
"for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."

Just a tiny bit of faith and patient waiting go a long way. God will answer your prayers, if you have even the tiniest amount of faith, admit your unbelief, and wait for His timing.

How to we gain faith? 

The rest of this story in Matthew 17:21 tells us this:

21" However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Also the Bible tells us in Romans 10:17 that
"faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Our faith is srengthened by fasting and praying and reading the Word of God. Set aside a daily devotion time with God. Take time to pray. Remember God is faithful even when we aren't. How much more faithful will he be when we are?

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus?

The simple answer for this is Jesus is the true Son of God.  

Mark 9:7 (New King James Version)

7 And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!”

Jesus is 100% God and 100% man.  God became flesh so that he could suffer at the hands of men and give His life as a sacrifice for us.  By doing this, he negated for us, the need to make sacrifices to God.  He became our sacrifice, therefore making the need to follow the old law unnecessary. He was every bit as human as we are and He is God.  He loved us so much, he suffered immense pain at the hands of man and ultimately died so that we could be in Heaven with Him!

By His Grace, we are saved.  I want to make this very clear to people.  YOU ARE NOT SAVED BY YOUR WORKS!  Your works bring you no closer to Salvation, if you do not believe that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God.  As Christians we begin to desire to work for Christ.  This is out of our love for Him and a desire to serve Him, not because we want rewards.  We are saved through His Grace only.

Ephesians 2:8-9

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Jesus is the Word made flesh.

John 1:1-4 says:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.

 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Then in vs. 14

 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,d who came from the Father, full of grace and truth

Through Jesus we can become Holy, but only through Him.

I Corinthians 1:20

 2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

Jesus is our righteousness. our holiness, and our redemption.  Without Jesus we can have none of these things. 

 

I Corinthians 1:26-29

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,  29 so that no one may boast before him.  30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 

How do you recognize those who speak the Truth from the false prophets?  

1 John 4:2-6 (The Message)

 

 2-3Here's how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God. This is the spirit of antichrist that you heard was coming. Well, here it is, sooner than we thought!

 4-6My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world's language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception.

The Bible is very clear to us about how to recognize false prophets...if they do not confess openly, their faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who became an actual flesh- and- blood person, who came from God and belongs to God, this is the spirit of a false prophet.

Jesus IS the Son of God.  He became flesh.  He came from God, He belongs to God.  He saved us from our sins BY HIS DEATH ONLY.  Our works DO NOT get us into Heaven.

Who 

Where has Angie Been?

If anybody has been wondering where I have been check here  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=502679001&ref=profile#/profile.php?id=502679001&ref=profile

I have been posting more and more on Facebook, I feel that it is more secure because only people I add as friends can see what I post.  

Life is great here at the Wilson house, David and I are still having a blast with the youth. Over the holidays we took them Christmas caroling and we had a lock in at the church that even the little ones managed to stay up all night for.  David is teaching Sunday School now and I have been nominated to be Sunday School Superintendant.  The biggest news is, I am officially a counselor at the Pregnancy Crisis Center now.  I took my test and got 100% and I had my first day shadowing this week.  I feel like it is where my ministry lies and I am so excited about being there.

The girls are back in music classes now and they are loving it, of course. Gabby and Brittany will be attending the March for Life in DC next week and Kassie has her 12th birthday at the end of the month.  I will try to remember to post pictures of her English Tea Party, but if you don't see me post in awhile, check out my Facebook, add me as a friend.  I keep up with that much more than I do this now!

Bela and Dani are doing well too, Dani finished her Kindergarten Math and has started 1st grade Math.  She is doing pretty well on her reading too.  Bela is learning recorder along with Kassie and they both do really well.  All of the girls are very active in church and have been singing a lot.

Hope you are all doing well too.

A Child born to die!

Isaiah 9:6 (New King James Version)

6 For unto us a Child is born, 
Unto us a Son is given; 
And the government will be upon His shoulder. 
And His name will be called 
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, 
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

Long before Christ was born, His birth was expected. 

Luke 2:9-14 (New King James Version)
9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 
14 “ Glory to God in the highest, 
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

This child was born with the destiny of dying for our sins. Imagine His mother. Looking into her beautiful son's eyes, knowing that he was there to fulfill the prophecies. Mary must have had such mixed emotions. Did she know that she was raising her son to die? Did she know that she would be watching him suffer horrible atrocities at the hands of the Roman soldiers? It's hard to know what she was thinking that night, but we do know one thing, the scriptures said that He was to be a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. As a human mother, she must have felt some pride (at least I would have). 

How do you react when you hear those words? Have you ever stopped to think about those words?

Wonderful Counselor (The Message Bible uses the words Amazing Counselor)...the person we go to when we need to talk. Is He that to you? Do you bring him your problems and talk with him when you have nobody else to turn to? Is He the person that you trust with all your problems? Quite simply stated, the word counselor means: the person who gives you advice. When was the last time you turned to Jesus for advice?

Mighty God (Strong God in The Message Bible) Jesus is your strength and your God. He has the biggest shoulders and He always knows the right thing to do. Who could be a better person to turn to in your time of trouble. 

Everlasting Father (Eternal Father in the Message Bible). He is still always with you. When you just need a Daddy, he is waiting to put his big arms around you and let you cry on those big shoulders. When you need to share something in your life, good or bad, he is always there, never failing!

Prince of Peace, in the message Bible it says Prince of Wholeness. I believe that this part of the passage is speaking to the wholeness of our spirit. When we are broken, He will make us whole, he will give us Peace, and as the scripture says in John 14:27 (New King James Version)
27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

This is the kind of Peace that you cannot get from any worldly thing, but the Peace that comes from your Heavenly Father.

Take the time to think about that Holy Night, this Christmas season. Jesus, who willingly came to earth, as a baby born just to die. Take the time to make him your Wonderful Counselor, your Mighty God, your Everlasting Father, your Prince of Peace.

May the Peace of God be with you this holiday season, as you celebrate with your families.  May you remember why we celebrate Christmas.  May you have the well-being of knowing that He is always with you and he will never leave you or foresake you.  Keep your eyes on Him this season!

Merry Christmas!

Vote

The girls have been working hard out on the campaign trail.  Up at dawn and falling into bed between 10 and 11 every night.  They are having a lot of fun with it, but it is work and I am not sure they expected it to be so much work.

I just wanted to take a moment to encourage everyone to vote tomorrow.  It is crucial that you take a little time out of your day to exercise this freedom.  If you aren't sure where to vote, this is just one site where you can type in your address and it will show you.  There are many sites out there, just go to google and type "where do I vote" and many will come up.

I would like to encourage all you Christians to take some time tomorrow to pray, one for your decision on who to vote for, it is our responsibility as Christians to vote biblically, and two pray for our country.  I don't tihnk anyone disagrees that things have gotten a little messy here and we all would like to see it fixed.  There is no quick fix, this problem didn't happen overnight, even in the last eight years, or even in the last decade, it was something that happened slowly and it is something that will have to be fixed slowly.  There is no immediate "change" whatever candidate we pick.

There are a few issues that are close to my heart this, and every election.

Life: This is the most crucial issue to me.  If a candidate does not support life, they do not have my vote, and Barack Obama is not only pro-choice, he is pro-abortion.  I do not believe that the life of a child should be a choice!  I encourage you to click on that link and read that article.  It is very informative.

Family:  Family is very important to me.  The breakdown of family values and morals has left our children growing up in a generation devoid of morals, where relativism is a gauge to tell them what is right and wrong and there are no absolutes.  Soon it will be commonplace for children to read books about children and their two mommies, or their two daddies.  While I do not feel it is my place to judge homosexuality and I believe, as Christians, we are to love everyone, I do believe that the Bible is very clear about homesexual sin.  There is a video here that explains it very well.

There are many other reasons why I am voting for McCain/ Palin tomorrow.  I believe that Obama's redistribution plans are very much the beginning of socialism, which is defined as follows: 

 Socialism
An "economic, social and political doctrine which expresses the struggle for the equal distribution of wealth by eliminating private property and the exploitative ruling class. In practice, such a distribution of wealth is achieved by social ownership of the means of production, exchange and diffusion

I also have a very long article I wrote about socialistc medicine which i may post here soon.

I will leave you with this video please click the link and take the time to watch it.  It is our responsibility as Christians to vote biblically.

Simba and Peter's baths

More out of the mouths of babes

The conversation was about faith.  I talk to the kids about Luke 1:37 "Nothing is impossible with God".  They didn't believe me, they were trying to come up with things that were impossible to do, like licking your elbow.

I asked if they believe in God. They, of course, said yes.  I asked if they believed that the Bible is the word of God.  Again a resounding "yes".  I told them, now you have to believe that if God said it, it's true right?  And of course, it was a yes again.

The Bible says,in Matthew 17:20, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Dani piped in..."It's like in the last testament when it says "Go walk on water" and you will walk on water because Jesus told you to"

Dani ended the argument!