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Archive for August, 2012

The Lord Hears The Prayer Of The Righteous

14 Aug

Proverbs 15:29- 29 The Lord is far from the wicked
    but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

God doesn’t make enemies.  People choose to become enemies of God. 

He sits with His hands wide open and the free gift of grace is available.  To Everyone!  Who will accept it?  Since Jesus came and died on the cross, all that accept Him as Lord, now have righteousness.  It’s nothing of our own, but only because of Him.

The Lord hears the prayers of the righteous.

Not only does he hear them, He loves it when we come to Him with a humble loving spirit.  He hears the prayers and if it benefits the Kingdom and His will it seems to happen and then some.  He loves us, we need to love Him back constantly.

 

Leaning Not On Our Own Understanding

13 Aug

Inspired by a new friend I met recently.

Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

God without a doubt knows a thousand times what’s better for us than we do.   I know because my life never seemed to be going in the right direction until I trusted Him.  That doesn’t mean as fallen creatures we listen all the time, but the more we do and trust it works out the way it was supposed to.

Jeremiah 29:11 – 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

What is prospering in the eyes of the Lord?  It’s much different than the prosperity message we get from man.  It’s about prospering more for Him and the Kingdom.

God will never let us down.  Without even trying we always get ourselves in trouble.

 

The Lord Most High Is Awesome

10 Aug

Psalm 47:2 – For the Lord Most High is awesome;
He is a great King over all the earth.

Creator, King, Lord of All!  He has given us a choice.

Self or Him!  Who will you serve?

We read in the Word of God that those who choose to serve Him get rewarded by the Maker of All.  He knows our wants and our joys. 

Satan isn’t just a loser or misery loves company kind of guy.  He hates, murders, steals, kills and destroys.  If he had it his way you would bow to him and he isn’t going to reward you for eternity.  He can’t.  He also can’t love.  When he left God he disconnected himself from that.

The world teaches us to serve ourselves, however, only if it works out for the greater good of all.  Selfishness in an unselfish way.  Make sense?  It can’t, and that’s why things are haywire.  Those who want you to be selfish in an unselfish way want you to do so, because they want to be able to be selfish.  Look at congress or leadership in all countries.  Do they live on the same level or by the same rules that they impose on others?  No.  They never have.

Matthew 23:1-4 – 1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Without out our AWESOME GOD, it’s all doomed failure.  We need to fight that sinful nature on a regular basis and do our best to serve our KING!

 

We All Like To See Justice

09 Aug

It’s in every one of us.  Even in those who do wrong want to see justice when something has been done to them.

Our God is love, but he is also just.

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 – All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

Romans 12:19 – 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

We need to remember that God is in charge and that he will ultimately handle the situation.  Just know that the perfect loving ruler of the universe will be just and do so.

We live in such a wishy-washy world today in which this country seems to give more rights to those break the law that it is confusing.  That’s part of the fall.  There are so many leniencies that people after awhile don’t believe there are repercussions for rebellion. 

We read ultimately there will be.  Let’s continue to spread the Good News of grace while people still have a chance.

 

The Spirit Of Love

07 Aug

Galatians 5:22-26-  22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

It’s a fast paced world and it’s easy to get caught up into the hustle and bustle.  It’s easy to lose patience, kindness, gentleness, and our peace.

What takes us out of this Spirit?  Things that are not associated with God.  Self seeking usually takes us out of our game.  We need to remember to stay in the Spirit.

 

Man’s Life Is But A Breath

06 Aug

Psalm 39:5-6 –  5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Each man’s life is but a breath.  Selah
6 Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:
He bustles about, but only in vain;
he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

It’s a fact.  There’s no disputing it and yet the pull to try and acquire alot on this earth is strong.

We know that life is short.  We know that if we store up wealth won’t be taking it with us.

The rich and celebrities have proven to us is wealth doesn’t satisfy.  There is much divorce, suicide, drug use, and wrong doing amongst this crowd.  We know that wealth doesn’t quench.  There is never enough money to quench those who earnestly seek it.  It consumes but never fulfills.

Examples are there.  Facts are there, yet as sinners, we chase after these things.  Until…..

Psalm 39:7 – 7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for?  My hope is in you.

Ah fulfillment.  Win now, win later.  The hard part is until one puts their hope and trust into Him, they don’t see this.  Takes faith.  I’ll vouch that my whole life, I have always had my needs met.  Not my wants, praise the Lord, but always my needs.  Trust in the Lord.  Give of your first fruits to Him.  Put your hope in Him.

The fact of the matter is:  Life is but a breath.  Even at 80 years it’s short and no one is guaranteed even that.

 

Stiff Necked People

02 Aug

Acts 7:51-53 – 51 “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him — 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”

Stephen gave a great history lesson of the Jews to the upper tier of spiritual leadership.  This just how he finished and did they repent?  Did they feel shame for missing what they had been foretold and missed?

No, since they didn’t have the Holy Spirit, they were still blind.  So responding the same way demons do when they hear the Word, they picked up stones and killed him.  They didn’t want to hear it.

Today bible prophecy, which there is more written about Christ’s second return than His first, is in full bloom.  Ignorance is not an excuse because people like me are telling them about it.  They don’t want to hear it.

The bad thing though is the reason people don’t want to hear it is because they are not excited about the Lord coming back.  The reasons vary, but the reality is they are not interested in Him coming back.  If a Christian is not excited about the Lord coming back after they hear about it and the scriptures point to it, there is a Holy Spirit problem.

The lack of the Holy Spirit problem today is rapidly affecting the church.  Many denominations have turned away from the literal interpretation of the Word of God.

What are the results?  Even though God promised the Jews He was going to rule on David’s throne, apparently to many denominations, He’s not.  To other denominations he isn’t coming back, or not until man paves the way.  Apparently He doesn’t mind same sex couples as that one is rapidly sweeping through the pulpits.

However, we still have literal verses of prophecy that explain and predict those things above.

2 Peter 3:3-4- 3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

2 Timothy 3:3-4 – 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Don’t be part of the itching ear clan.  Seek Truth.

 

Representatives – Ambassadors

01 Aug

2 Corinthians 5:20 – 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

This post was motivated by Pastor Bill.

There are people that don’t like to be representatives in the world today.  They are high up figures in society.  However, it doesn’t matter rather you want to be or not.  If you are a part of an organization or associated with it, you are a representative.  You’re a face to what you are linked to.

As Christians, we are the representatives, ambassadors to our Lord.

Big responsibility?  I think it’s the highest.

It doesn’t matter if you want to be.  If you call yourself a Christian or are one, you have that responsibility to be a representative or more an importantly an ambassador.