{"id":19242,"date":"2014-04-23T00:30:42","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T04:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19242"},"modified":"2014-04-23T17:06:37","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T21:06:37","slug":"truly-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/23\/truly-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"What Truly Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13840\" alt=\"SeekingHimLogo\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg\" width=\"560\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg 560w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #3c9799;\"><em>Blessed<\/em>\u00a0are\u00a0<strong><em>the<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><strong><em><span style=\"color: #3c9799;\">poor in spirit<\/span>,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #3c9799;\"><em>Blessed<\/em>\u00a0are\u00a0<strong><em>those who mourn,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>for they shall be comforted.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #3c9799;\"><em>Blessed<\/em>\u00a0are<strong><em>\u00a0the meek,<\/em><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0for they shall inherit the earth.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #3c9799;\"><em>Blessed<\/em>\u00a0are\u00a0<strong><em>those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>for they shall be satisfied.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #3c9799;\"><em>Blessed<\/em>\u00a0are\u00a0<strong><em>the merciful<\/em><\/strong><\/span>, for they shall receive mercy.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #3c9799;\"><em>Blessed<\/em>\u00a0are<strong><em>\u00a0the pure in heart<\/em><\/strong>,<\/span> for they shall see God.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #3c9799;\"><em>Blessed<\/em>\u00a0are\u00a0<strong><em>the peacemakers<\/em><\/strong>,<\/span>\u00a0for they shall be called sons of God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #42878a;\"><em><strong>You\u2019re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. \u00a0That\u2019s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God\u2019s family.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #42878a;\"><em><strong> Matthew 5:9 MSG<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This verse immediately made me think of the peace I experience internally. To have the ability to spread the Prince of Peace&#8217;s peace sounds awesome! But first we need to make sure we are showing what peace looks like in the Church.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.<br \/>\nFor as members of one body you are called to live in peace.<br \/>\nAnd always be thankful.<br \/>\nColossians 3:15<\/p>\n<p>Formal clothes&#8230;jeans. \u00a0Tie&#8230;no tie. \u00a0Saturday&#8230;Sunday. \u00a0Three hour service&#8230;one hour service. \u00a0Bible study&#8230;no bible study. \u00a0Some things which we allow to come between us as a Church are&#8230; trivial. \u00a0God called us to be One Body. \u00a0One. \u00a0Yes, we all have different functions, but we are <em>still<\/em> one Church.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">So then, let us aim for harmony in the Church and try to build each other up. Don\u2019t tear apart the work of God over what you eat! Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Romans 14:19-20<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been told before, by non-believers, that they don&#8217;t believe in God because of the inconsistencies in churches. This, along with &#8220;not living right enough,&#8221; and religion (vs. relationship) are common reasons I&#8217;ve heard.<\/p>\n<p>To me this is saying that we as the Church need be mindful of how we represent our God. It irks me when Christians teach\/preach the Bible and it&#8217;s incorrect. If someone came to me with a list of things I couldn&#8217;t do, I&#8217;d be turned off by it, too. Tell me about a Maker who cares about the hurts and heartache of this world AND wants to have a relationship with me and you&#8217;ve got a better chance!<\/p>\n<p>Yes, sadly there are going to be those people\/organizations that claim to do things in the name of the Lord that are off-balance, but our representation of the One, True, Living, Loving God can outshine anything. God&#8217;s character is so fantastic and we have got to portray it right!<\/p>\n<p>As long as the true Gospel, from the Bible is being preached (nothing more, nothing less), we the Church, should be able to link together and represent a united and whole God to the world. \u00a0One God. \u00a0One Christ. \u00a0One Church.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #42878a;\">* \u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0*<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Lord, help us not let our differences hinder people from seeing You. \u00a0Instead let the Church&#8217;s light shine bright on the path leading to You because You care more about people than traditions and appearances. \u00a0Thank You that we do not have to shine Your light on our own, but have brothers and sisters to help us! Help us to be kind to one another and stay focused on who truly matters\u2014You! \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blessed\u00a0are\u00a0the\u00a0poor in spirit,\u00a0for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed\u00a0are\u00a0those who mourn,\u00a0for they shall be comforted. Blessed\u00a0are\u00a0the meek,\u00a0for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed\u00a0are\u00a0those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,\u00a0for they shall be satisfied. Blessed\u00a0are\u00a0the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed\u00a0are\u00a0the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed\u00a0are\u00a0the peacemakers,\u00a0for they shall be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[3146,127,3194,3367,1287,425,1714,3174],"class_list":["post-19242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-ahmee-bronaugh","tag-beatitudes","tag-colossians-315","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-matthew-59","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-50m","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19242"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19246,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19242\/revisions\/19246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}