NOT LONG after my son turned 40 he had a heart attack! His body already had replacement arteries, so no stints were needed. Not long after I turned 70 I had a heart attack and had one stint put in. At the time my son and I had our heart attacks the hospital had a rehab program for heart patients, and so both of us were able to go thru a six week, 3 times a week, rehab. We were wired up and connected to a monitor. We were watched, evaluated, and our blood pressure was measure often during our morning visits.
AT FIRST both of us were a little intimidated because we were afraid to do anything for fear it would bring on another heart attack. But we were encouraged to keep moving along, and we had to work hard at it physically, emotionally and mentally! By the time the six weeks were up, our confidence was restored. However, part of us was still in recovery! Little by little we began to live again without apprehension, and life has become good again.
I HEARD a phrase a few years ago that I wrote down and came across it, just this morning. "Let God restore you but don’t stay in recovery all your life!" God’s rehabilitation is full restoration. But we have to discipline ourselves to respond to His program. Now I know most people do not like "programs". But the Church needs programs to get us off the couch! Without them we neither learn how to become transformed, nor to live the life God has created us for! Think about who you were before Jesus and who you became after Jesus!
KNOWING Jesus is not all in the wrist! Knowing Jesus is when you’ve stopped knowing about Him, and become one with Him! When you know Jesus, as you read the book of John, it literally jumps out at you that because we live in this period of Grace we have advantages that gives us the edge that the world would never understand.
"IF YOU love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth (The Holy Spirit). John 14:15-16 When you know Jesus, you know that after He completed His work; the death burial and resurrection, he promised us that He would never leave us and so He gave us the Holy Spirit that lives within us. Acts 2:38 tells us what we are to do and what will happen afterwards. Upon Baptism our past sins will be forgiven, and we would received God’s Spirit!
YOU SAY but what about our present and future sins? "The times of ignorance, God overlooked, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom He has appointed, and of this, He has given assurance to all men, by raising Him from the dead." Acts 17:30-31 God has promised that when we repent, He will forgive; likewise we must forgive others also.
WE ARE on a journey! In the days of old when Jesus came they did not recognize Him. Don’t be like them! God gave us His Word, so we do not have the same excuses of those who came before us. Satan hides the beauty of the Word so we will read junk! Don’t let Satan hinder your way! When we allow Satan in, he sets about stealing our peace and our happiness! But let me tell you, Satan may take away your happiness but he cannot take away your JOY, because JOY is the fruit of the Spirit within you! It has come to stay!
MANY talk about works but they are alluding to the law of the Old Testament. We are not under the law! Jesus said he was working just as His Father in heaven was working. We need to work at keeping our lives in tune. God has given us restoration not just rehab! Keeping in the word is how we keep our joints lubed and oiled! I heard a preacher say; "One who wants the perks without the works is a jerk!" Having the rehab after a heart attack was a good thing and Danny and I were blessed to do that. But the program closed after I finished. God’s program never stops. It is His way or the highway; choose wisely! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 1/24/15
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