Tag: spiritual growth

Attitudes are the foundation on which our actions are built.

This sentences gives us a picture of the important role attitudes play in our lives. Our attitude must start from scripture – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” Mark 12:30-31. Putting Jesus first, Others second, and You last will produce real JOY, but living out JOY cannot be done in our own strength. The scriptures are what gives life to joy in our lives. Joy is experienced through a leading of the Holy Spirit. Paul gives us an example of joy in his letter the Philippians; which was written while he was chained in prison, yet joy flowed from his heart.

Recorded live on KWXC 88.9 Christian Talk Radio – Grove, OK [archiveorg TheAttitudeOfJoy width=640 height=30 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in Your presences is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” Psalm 16:11

The new year is here and we are wishing people Happy New Year.  We want people to enjoy the new year putting old memories behind and looking to a bright future.  Some people are very sincere when they give this salutation ,and some say it as a matter of tradition. But is happy as good as it gets?

The Lord offered a better word in place of happy.  It is joy.  Happy is connected with happenings and some are good and some not  so good.  When we depend on our circumstances to determine how our emotions and thinking relate to our happiness, happy falls short of what is being offered by the Lord. His joy comes from delighting to do the will of His Father and prays that His disciples may have this joy fulfilled in themselves.  John 17.22

Discover with us the surprises that await when we choose to see His example, understand the joy He offers, and follow the path that leads to true joy regardless of our outward condition.

“I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known to you” John 15:15.

The Father and the Son were an example of friendship that we can have with our Lord. We are brought into that friendship as partakers in the “inner circle” of friends. Sharon Hoskins and Janie Ratzlaff discuss the opportunity of friendship that we have been given and what true friendship looks like. True friends are hard to find, but a friendship with Jesus is the Real Deal. As Christians, how can we be true friends to all those around us? We should be a peculiar people but it seems that we look more like the world than we do God’s own. How can we be a friend back to God in His faithfulness to us as a friend? These are questions of discussion for our challenging conversation today.

Recorded live on KWXC 88.9 Christian Talk Radio – Grove OK [archiveorg TheCrossTheRealDeal width=640 height=30 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16.

Our modern culture, flowing over into the church says there is a new way to crucify self without having to go through discomfort. The  principle of holding to the Word without dual controls is to know: Your personal faith is to be  centered upon what God has said to you, and about you, in His eternal Word.   Your faith is not to be governed by your experience, or situation and condition, what you think He is doing, or not doing.

If we choose to take the easy road we will never know the joy set before us as the Holy Spirit will be hindered in fulfilling His role in guiding us to “take up OUR cross and follow after Me” (the Lord Jesus speaking.) We are encouraged to look to “Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” Hebrews 12:2.

Janie and Sharon delve into the “new” vs. the “old” Cross and pursue, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if, by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Crucified with Christ Verses & Mind of the Spirit vs Flesh

Pre-recorded on KWXC 88.9 Christian Talk Radio – Grove OK

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“You have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”  Galatians 5:13

This is one of the main objects in understanding the nature of the Cross, centered in Christ. “You ran well.  Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” Galatians 5:7. Our joy when coming into the family of God is a beautiful thing to see.  As burdens fall from our backs and joy fills our hearts; we plan on this being the path to fulfillment of life.  We must learn that the under lying joy with contentment is ours; however, there are some valleys we can tumble into along the way and if not grounded in growth, we will fall back into our patterns that can hinder our growth.

Janie and Sharon review the “lusts and deeds of the flesh” to find the many traits that may still be clinging to us, unbeknown to our conscious level of thinking.  They discuss the struggle found in Romans 7 and the many reasons we find for not moving forward which brings suffering upon ourselves, as well as the body of Christ as a whole.  We seldom realize WE are a part of the problem with the “salt of the earth” losing its savor. John 8:31-32: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” As the center of our lives, the truth of these words free the believer that is willing to be a student of the completed word of God. “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me” Philippians 3:12.

Recorded live on KWXC 88.9 Christian Talk Radio – Grove OK [archiveorg TheCrossLifeAndLiberty width=640 height=30 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God” Hebrews 6:1.

Christians today are thankful for their salvation and the abundant blessings given as free gifts to each person that accepts the offer of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins. However, there still remains blindness and lack of applying the other blessings that were given at the same time on the Cross. You will never learn these Truths by faith in comfortable surroundings.  God gives us promises in a quiet hour; He seals His promises with great and gracious words. Then He steps back and waits while we choose to believe, then He lets the tempter  come, and the test seems to  contradict all that He has spoken.  It is then that faith can win the victory.  This is the time to look into His face and say. “I believe, Lord and that is shall be done as it was told me.”

Recorded live on KWXC 88.9 Christian Talk Radio – Grove, OK [archiveorg TheCrossBundleOfBlessing width=640 height=30 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

His Word tells us of His completed work on the Cross when He  cried out; “It is Finished” and committed His Spirit to His Father for safe keeping even amidst the most horrible death that will ever be known. Let’s explore the beauty in the bundle of His finished accomplishments and how, with simplicity, we can know, count on, and yield to the heart of The Godhead to find our true purpose in walking through the high and lows of life.

“These six things does the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren” Proverbs 6:16-19.

Recorded live on KWXC 88.9 Christian Talk Radio – Grove, OK [archiveorg SlipperySlopeOfStrife width=640 height=30 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

Sharon and Janie challenge Christians through the conversation of strife, which shows up in the midst of fear, frustration, hurt, and even stress. When we are facing situations in our lives that cause these feelings; strife is usually what comes out of us. As the body of Christ, our bickering, arguing, and splitting apart to start another church damages the name of Jesus and destroys our witness. In our homes, our fighting and contentions have the same results; damage and destruction. It is important to recognize when we are causing strife, to restrain from it, and find freedom. Reading the scriptures about strife will allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us directly about our own heart. Many verses can be found in Proverbs; Slippery Slope to Strife is available to download.

Recorded live on KWXC 88.9 Christian Talk Radio – Grove, OK [archiveorg SlipperySlopeOfStrife width=640 height=30 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]