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Archive for December, 2012

Believing In What God Says

31 Dec

Galatians 3:6 – 6 Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

So how did Abraham believe God?  Was it by just saying, okay God, I believe that?

No Abraham showed he believed God by his actions.  However it’s important to note when he didn’t take God at His word it led to repercussions.  The story of not believing the seed would come from Sarah and he tried to force it through Hagar is still having ramifications till this day.

Actions speak louder than words.

If you keep telling me your going to do something and you don’t, your words mean nothing.  If you tell me you love me and then give me no time, do anything for me, or talk well about me to others, then the talk is meaningless and cheap.

What is the most important thing in your life?  If people watched you for awhile they would probably be correct in their guess.  It would be where you spend your time and efforts and where your goals are aimed towards.

Did Abraham chase after His own goals?  When he did it backfired.  When he chased after God and the goal God had for him he flourished.

Believing God is listening to His voice and taking action.

We can all be used by God.  Yet not many allow God to work through them.

Matthew 9:37 – 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

There have been workers since the disciples walked with Christ, but the workers have always been few compared to those who could be helping the Kingdom.

You can help your Lord.  It may be doing nursery once every 10 weeks, or helping to clean.  It may be in being a prayer warrior or fixing something for a gathering.  You have a ministry.  Let Him use you.  Listen to His voice.  Because if you do and you believe God fully, it will be credited as righteousness.

 

Be Patient And Gentle

27 Dec

Ephesians 4:1-3 – 1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Clearly it’s not rolling over and not standing for Truth, but staying gentle and loving.  The battle is for the heart of man, not that your personal will be done, but God’s.

Love and spread truth from the Word.  Ask God to use you.  Prepare yourself.  One can never get upset if someone chooses to not listen to the Truth.  They are not rejecting you, but God.  That’s why we need to stay gentle and loving.  You never know what tomorrow will bring to the continuation of nurturing or watering the seed.

 

HOPE

21 Dec

In advent one of the areas which are gone over is hope.

Where would we be with no hope?

The sad thing is most people don’t think about tomorrow.  They don’t realize that the only hope that exists is in the Creator.  They don’t know that there is a penalty to pay.  The penalty of sin against our Lord is death.  If Christ did not come and pay that penalty, there would be no hope for the human race.

For those who do not accept Christ’s payment in the place of their own, there is no hope.  With Christ there is complete hope.  He brings us peace, He brings us hope, He brings us joy, and He brings us love.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 –13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

This connected to one of my favorite groups of scriptures referring to the rapture, but the Paul reminds us that those without Christ have no hope.

Why do many people take their lives?  You have to believe in many cases they see no hope.  Focus this Christmas season on the One who gives us hope and a wonderful loving eternity ahead of us.

 

If You Love Me You Will Obey What I Command

18 Dec

The title is the whole verse.

John 14:15 – 15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.

Pretty cut and dry.

We need to have this in our hearts when we make decisions.

Do we love Him?  Or do we love what we want to do more that is contrary to Him?

It’s a classic, “Don’t tell me you love me, show it.”

Let’s show Him we love Him.

 

So Many Different Things We Can Offer The Lord

14 Dec

Romans 12:4-8 – 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

What all these gifts have in common is they are areas we can use our strength to serve the Lord.

So many different areas we can all help out the Kingdom of God.  There is not one person that can’t help.  Everyone can pray if they are unable to do anything else.  That’s why we are all going to be held accountable.  That’s why everyone will be rewarded based on His love and devotion to our Lord.

One thing that a lazy generation has grasped onto when it comes to scripture is it is not by works that you are saved.   This is one hundred percent true.  However, many will use this so they never have to help out in the service of Whom they refer to as Lord.

God has given us all gifts.  If you are cleaning toilets for the Lord, it’s better in the end than making millions for only yourself come crunch time.  However, just as it indicates above, if one’s gift is to make wealth so they may meet the needs of others or give generously in the name of the Lord , that can be a gift.  The individual needs to be strong though as the pull of wealth is strong.

You have a gift and God will show it to you if you are wondering what it is.  Use it for your Lord.

 

What Good Is It To Gain The Whole World Yet Forfeit Your Soul

11 Dec

Luke 9:25 – 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

The world and especially America has a mentality of trying to fulfill all of their worldly wishes in their lifetime.  They call it driven, goal setting, and settling for only their best.

However, does God have expectations for us?  What are they?

Luke 9:23-24- 23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

That doesn’t sound like an endorsement that I should live full steam ahead for all my worldly desires and ideas while I still can on this earth.  Then since I’m saved we’ll concentrate on that.   It appears to me that’s trying to go for the best of both worlds, but both scenarios revolve around one thing.  It revolves around the person (me), not the Lord.  

There’s a contradiction that battles within us and this country and its philosophy really isn’t helping people who struggle in this area already.

Yet the Lord is viewing the situation and watching for those who want to serve Him.

Luke 6:20-26 – 20 Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.

23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

The big picture!  Are we focused on it?  The majority of fallen humans want it all and they want it now.  Do we trust God?  Do we believe His Word?

God doesn’t want us to serve ourselves, He wants us to serve Him.  He will provide those other things to us.  He knows what we desire and need more than we do.

 

Committed

07 Dec

1 Kings 19:19-21 – 19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.

Elisha slaughtered the oxen and used the plow to cook the meat.  Then he set out to follow Elijah.

He was committed.  He jumped in with both feet and didn’t look back.  Lot’s wife looked back and it wasn’t good.  As we know she turned into a pillar of salt.

Does Jesus want us to look back once we start?

Luke 9:59-62 – 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.”

62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

The bottom line is He wants us.  He wants us to commit.

 

We Need To Put On The Armor Of Light

03 Dec

Romans 13:11-14 – 11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

The sinful nature comes natural from the fall.  It takes effort and it takes work.  We need to do our best to discipline ourselves to stay the course.  The power is in the Lord.  However, if we don’t seek Him and choose to follow those desires the power is not going to be able to be effective.  It doesn’t matter what the sin is, the Lord can pull us through.  Where we first get into trouble with sins is when we think about how to gratify them.  That’s why the Lord wants us to capture those thoughts early.  He wants us to resist.

James 4:7 – 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.