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Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

Fill Your Cup

23 Sep

You have a full cup.  It’s full of something.  For some it’s full of emptiness.

Is this an oxymoron?  No, your cup is full of something.

Clearly the cup is your spirit.  Young and old alike have a spirit.  What you fill that spirit with is who you are or who you will become.

One of my favorites is that people want their children to become their own person.

Trust me we were all made unique and we all we become our own person.  If someone doesn’t want to guide their child through this world, the world will be happy to take over.   They’ll fill that cup with all sorts of flavors until it spilleth over. 

I have one guarantee for you.  If the world is influencing them, God’s not in it.

John 8:23 –But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

There is no greater supporter of letting your children become their own person than Satan.  However, he’s a cheater.  When one’s not protected or paying attention he’s doing his own influencing.

You know what we are supposed to be?  Children of God!

God wants to fill your cup.  In this country in the present you have that wonderful opportunity to do just that.  You have the freedom to read the Bible when you want.  You can go to church as a Christian and worship with others.  You can turn on the television and even tape your favorite pastors to watch when it’s convenient for you.  There are Christian radio stations in your car.  All of these things are about your loving God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

You have the ability to fill your cup all day long.  I’ve been on both sides of the coin.  It’s addicting. 

What?

It’s addicting.  Wanting God in your whole life becomes addicting.  I believe it’s because the light doesn’t like the darkness.  The light starts pushing out the darkness.  The spirit was made to love God.  It’s why we were made.

Complacency and filling your spirit with everything but God is habit forming and addicting also.  If you don’t take any time for God or seek Him in your day, wouldn’t say you are filling your spirit with darkness?

Matthew 6:23 – But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

 Jesus is the Light.  Jesus is the Word.

John 1:1-5 –1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.  3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

The more darkness you put in your spirit, the less you understand your God and Creator.

Fill your cup with the things of God, not darkness.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration, Motivation

 

God Limits Man To 120 Years

22 Sep

Genesis 6:3 – 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

Why all the sudden only 120 years? 

I believe there are at least two easy answers to this question.

The first one being that 120 years or less is long enough for a man to be evil.

Genesis 6:5-7 – 5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Why was man so evil back then?  One it appears that not only was man a sinner, but the supernatural got involved also.

Genesis 6:4 – 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

Chuck Missler does a great study of the Nephilim.  They appeared to have somehow bread with the daughters of Eve and created an offspring of human.  It is believed that these are the Giants we read about in other books of the Bible.  Goliath was the most famous of them all, because of his battle with David.  They were men of great strength and heroes among other men. 

They were clearly evil though as they mention them only one verse before how wicked man had become on earth.  That’s why it makes sense that the Son’s of God spoken of here were fallen angels.    

Hitler in my book lived long enough.  Stalin lived long enough.  Could you imagine if these men lived longer?

Which brings us to the second thing I believe is an easy reason.  It benefits man to face mortality at an earlier age.

The longer you have to face the mortality question, the longer you can put it off.  Man is still bad about this even at a life expectancy of 75 years.  It must have been really hard for Noah to witness to people back when they lived to be 900 that they needed God when they didn’t have Him.  Holy Spirit wasn’t there the same way we have Him now, and some of them were offspring from fallen angels or fallen creatures that weren’t from earth that came from the Heavens.

Man only has up to 120 years.  Spiritually that is a good thing.  With that knowledge and how quickly 75 years comes to us, you would think that more humans would be inquisitive. 

Why aren’t they?  It’s spiritual, we are spiritual beings.

Stop thinking with the flesh and start thinking with the spirit.  Now make it the Holy Spirit!

 
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Posted in Inspiration, Motivation, Reflections

 

Love Is Not Only A Feeling

21 Sep

Why are we swamped with so many divorces and relationship problems?

The main problem is our selfish nature.

It’s about me.

My needs aren’t being met.  My feelings are hurt.  Me, My, Me Oh My!

How many times have we heard marriage is 50/50?

It’s not!  If you think it is you’ll always feel like you’re being short changed on your 50 percent.

It needs to be 100/100.

How many relationships or marriages fail when both people care more about the other ones needs more than their own?  That deserves another question mark.   ?

Satan has a wonderful time reminding us that we are being short changed.  He sits back with his demons and constantly reminds us about what we are upset about.  What that person either did or didn’t do to me. 

Satan tells us he’s got a great idea.  You really don’t have any feelings for that person anymore anyway.  You should just leave them and start fresh.  You remember how you felt when you first met them.  That’s what you want.

I’ve got news for you, that’s called infatuation.  By the way it still exists when both work hard on the marriage.

Love is commitment.  Love is a choice.  Love is unselfish.  Yep here we go into those scriptures.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 – 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Jesus loved us enough to give it all on this earth.  Here is what He has to say in John.

John 15:12-14 – 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command.

Give 100 percent when you love.  Many times it is addicting and will come back.  If it doesn’t appear to be then pray constantly.  Also never be afraid to share words of love, in a loving way to one who seems they could use more of it.  There’s a spiritual battle out there and love is one of the strongest weapons.

 
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Posted in Opinion, Reflections

 

Quote – C. S. Lewis

19 Sep

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
C. S. Lewis

I have told many people that if it weren’t for the Word of God, I’d be confused about what’s going on around me.

Seriously, if one pays attention to anything that’s going on around them, it’s mystifying. 

However, when one learns about the spiritual fall of man, he begins to understand himself and those around him.  Also in this day we live in, we get to see God’s prophecies unfolding.

What an exciting time if you’re looking for Jesus.  What a squandered time if you’re not.  Start looking, loving, and longing for His appearing.  There is a crown for those who do.  Do you think if you’re living your life as if he’s coming today, that you will disappoint Him?  Obviously not or you wouldn’t be getting a crown for it.

 
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Posted in Quotes, Reflections

 

How Arrogant Is Man?

17 Sep

So how arrogant is man when he questions the existence of God?  Pretty Arrogant, but the longer I think about longer my anger turns to sadness.  You see Satan plays the best way he can on all of our weaknesses.  Many people have many different agendas why they don’t want there to be a God.

However, most of the reasons are tied to Pride, the very same thing that drug Satan down.  They want to be the God of their own selves.

Isaiah 14:11-15 –  11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you.

 12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!  You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

 15 But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.

Others want to be worshipped.  There have been rulers of countries that wanted to be worshipped and if you didn’t they killed the people.  Daniel even had this happen in his day.

Daniel 6:7 – 7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.

Now in this case the groups of guys in the scripture above were trying to get rid of Daniel.  The only way they knew they could get him to do something against the law was to have something created in which they knew he wasn’t going against God.  Darius the Mede however, didn’t object to the decree.

Satan is going to do the same thing as we read in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 13:15 – 15He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 

Same old sins, different day.

The fact is; the evidence of God is in everything, because God made everything.

Psalm 14:1 –  The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

God is clearly not impressed with the atheist or lazy agnostic.

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.  Arrogance will only land someone in an eternity without God and that of torment.

 
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Posted in Inspiration, Reflections

 

When This Life Is Over It’s About What You Did, Or Didn’t Do For Jesus

16 Sep

The title pretty much says it in a nutshell, but I’ve never been lost for words, so let’s continue.

IDLE!  Hey that looks a lot like Idol.  Both are not good unless your Idol is Jesus.  It’s safe to say that not enough people idolize our Savior.

Both idle and idol is a big problem on why we don’t act or do enough for our King.

Why don’t we do more for Jesus?  Are we busy?  Are we planning on getting around to it?  It really isn’t my thing to speak up? 

All of these are keeping our service for the Lord out of gear.  We’re in idle……idling…..puh puh puh puh puh puh puh.

Another day goes by.  Did you do something that will live forever?  If it was for Him, it lives forever.  If it was for you, or done by you for someone else that wasn’t in the name Jesus, it’s gone forever. 

It’s like that $50 meal we just ate.  All gone.  Bye, Bye.

Then there is the other Idol.  Idol Worship.  Sure there are a few people out there that still worship actual idols, but in today’s world it goes further than that.

I am going to have a whole series on 2 Timothy Chapter 3 so I won’t get into detail here.  It speaks of our generation and their love for many things but not God.  Verse 4 says:

2 Timothy 3:4 – 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

Oh this section hits our generation right on the head and I will be writing on it in the months ahead.

We idolize pleasure in this generation more than any other.  When those things we partake in dwarf the time you’re giving to God and Jesus, it’s considered an idol.  If you’re putting 20 more times into golf, television, sports, camping, etc, than you are to the Lord, what does that say?

I’ve been there.  I know what it says.  It says I matter.  I matter much more than the Lord does. 

Now we all make excuses on how to justify it, but they are just that and will carry no weight in front of the Lord.

God made you a wonderful person.  He wants you to rest at times and he wants you to enjoy the wonderful creation He has provided.

He doesn’t want you to pay more attention to it than Him.  Understatement.  God first, other things second.

Here’s the good news.  You were made for the very purpose of having a constant ongoing relationship with Him.  You were made to serve Him.  If you quit choking yourself out on all the other things and the sins of this world, it will begin to be natural and you will realize that’s why we were created.

 
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Posted in Inspiration, Motivation

 

God Looks At The Heart

15 Sep

The Lord was grieved that he made Saul King over Israel.  He sent Samuel to go see Jesse of Bethlehem because He had chosen one of his sons. 

1 Samuel 16:6-7 –6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”

 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

This is very important scripture here.  The Lord does not look at the outward appearance like man does.  The Lord looks at one’s heart.  Clearly he’s not looking at the pumping mechanism in your chest. 

What is the heart?  I’m going to do my best to describe it.

The heart is your spirit.

The soul is the eternal vessel in which we are, but the spirit in essence is the character of your soul.  The spirit can be many things.  It can be good, bad, evil, gentle, loving, selfish, etc.

So God looks at the heart.  In David what did he see?  Was He impressed by the fact David would give the shirt off his back to someone?  Was God impressed because David was a kind gentle spirited person?

Not from what I read.

The David I read about was a little firecracker who had faith of a Lion for God.  He trusted God and loved Him so much he wasn’t going to listen to some arrogant Giant bad mouth his greatest Love.  When David loved the Lord he lived for the Lord.

Now here is just one of many reasons why the Bible is so great.  A man after God’s heart and is revered as such was a mess at times.  Why is this important?  No one is perfect and God wants you even in your imperfection, to love Him with the faith of a warrior.  As you get closer He begins to reveal the areas of your life that need to change and draw nearer to Him.  

First Love!  How do we do this?  Surround yourself with God.  When you sit down to relax, read about Him.  When you sit down to watch television, watch shows about Him.  When you listen to music, worship Him with the words of the song.

If you’re thinking about God constantly throughout your whole day, your heart is in the right place.  God looks at the heart.  He wants to be your best friend.  Can you think of a better Best Friend?

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration

 

How Big Is God?

14 Sep

Have you ever pondered the idea of how big God is?

We’re not even ants.  This is a God that is so big he created the universe.  Millions of light years away are planets and stars that are huge.  Yet he cares for you.  He loves you more than you can comprehend.

He cares about the 6 Billion plus that all live on this planet currently. 

Do you know how many people who have been born since Adam and Eve?  He does.

Do you know how many hairs are on your head?  He does.

Matthew 10:30 – 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  

When you stop to think how incredible God is; it’s beyond our comprehension.  Why, because as a creation we have a certain capacity.  That capacity got smaller after the fall.

He is huge and yet he loves you a thousand more times than you love anything or anybody.

How can we turn our back on that? 

Sin!  SELF-ishness!

How cool to be able to see God’s creation after we die.  An eternity and as many stars as see in sky….I’m sure that’s only a minor exploration of what we’ll get to experience.

1 Corinthians 2:9 – However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”

For who?  All of us human beings?

No, it says for those who love Him!  Your focus as a creation smaller than an ant is to acknowledge God, tell Him, and show Him how much you love Him!

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration

 

Came To Save What Was Lost

13 Sep

Who came?

Jesus came.

What’s lost?

The whole human race, starting from Adam on down to the present, except One.  Jesus avoided this sinful gene because of virgin birth. 

Luke 19:10 – 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

We’re lost.  The first thing every human being has to be able to do is look around them and realize something is drastically wrong with me and the creation around me.  If can’t see that, one is not going to seek truth or redemption.

Look at people.  They lie when they don’t even have to.  Why?  Look at ourselves.  We get upset and treat people, usually the ones we love most terribly at times.  Why?  Others are so evil that even if we want to fool ourselves, we can’t ignore the obvious.

Alright you say, but what’s this about creation being drastically wrong.  When Adam fell along with Eve they turned things over to Satan.  He hates…everything.  No love in him.  The curse has not only man, but also the creation. 

Tornados, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Tsunamis, Hail Storms, etc.  All of these things that wreak havoc on this earth.

Gracefully, most animals still have instincts to fear humans.  Not so sure that will be the case in the Tribulation.

Revelation 6:8 –  I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

These beasts could clearly be that kind we may not see in the form of viruses, but if the animals did turn on humans it would be a nightmare and very deadly.  In any event we don’t want to be here to find out first hand.

Jesus came to earth to die for our transgressions.  We’re lost.  He came to seek what was lost.  We’re like a bunch of sheep roaming out in a dark pasture.

Many of the sheep are coming across things in the creation and saying, “Look at this.  I will make this my God.”  It can be in the form of almost anything.

The real Shepherd has come back and is calling out in His voice.

John 10:27 – 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

His sheep hear His voice.  They follow him.  Those that are not His sheep follow after other things and not Him.

Follow Jesus, not everything else that is preoccupying our busy lives.  You can’t invent another way back to God, no matter how sincere one wants to be towards that way.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Salvation

 

Quote – Charles Stanley

12 Sep

An unschooled man who knows how to meditate upon the Lord has learned far more than the man with the highest education who does not know how to meditate.
Charles Stanley

Why is that?

Because man is not more intelligent than God.  However, this world is full of men who think they are.

Question:  How smart is man to observe everything around him and still declare there is not a Creator?

This is not an intellectual thing, it’s a spiritual thing.  The same people who have high intellectual ability are not missing the obvious based on intellect.  Satan will play on anyone’s weakness.  If intellectual pride exists, he will play on that.

We’re God’s creation.  If you had two children and one was humble, loving, obedient, giving, and the other selfish, arrogant, and too smart for you, who are you going to be pleased with?

God has given us many of these scenarios in the structures of our own lives.  Some humans are just too smart to observe them.

 
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Posted in Quotes, Reflections

 
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