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Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

Even In The Small Things Praise the Lord

01 May

We all know we should praise the Lord.  Yet most of us don’t praise Him enough.  

I typed in -Praise the Lord- on the NIV version of the bible and it came up 100 times in the book of Psalms.  David knew the importance of praising the Lord in all you do.

We take for granted the small things in life.  The shelter we live in and the food He has provided.  The safety we have right now.

There are the other areas in our life when something may get canceled that we were looking forward to.  We don’t know the future and it may very well have been for our own safety.  Our car trip may get delayed just 15 seconds because of something that would have happened if not for the intervention of the Lord.  We need to Praise the Lord even when nothing spectacular happens, because even when you don’t understand it, He has your back if you are serving Him. 

If you’re like my wife and I and you misplace things more often than you want to, pray that the Lord helps you find it.  When He does and it’s usually right away, praise and thank Him for that.

I want to finish today by having you read a Psalm of David.  It is one many that he dedicated to Praising the Lord.

Psalm Chapter 145:
1 I will extol You, my God, O King;
         And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
 2 Every day I will bless You,
         And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
 3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
         And His greatness is unsearchable.
         
 4 One generation shall praise Your works to another,
         And shall declare Your mighty acts.
 5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
         And on Your wondrous works.
 6 Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
         And I will declare Your greatness.
 7 They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness,
         And shall sing of Your righteousness.
         
 8 The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,
         Slow to anger and great in mercy.
 9 The LORD is good to all,
         And His tender mercies are over all His works.
         
 10 All Your works shall praise You, O LORD,
         And Your saints shall bless You.
 11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
         And talk of Your power,
 12 To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
         And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
         And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
         
 14 The LORD upholds all who fall,
         And raises up all who are bowed down.
 15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
         And You give them their food in due season.
 16 You open Your hand
         And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
         
 17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways,
         Gracious in all His works.
 18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
         To all who call upon Him in truth.
 19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
         He also will hear their cry and save them.
 20 The LORD preserves all who love Him,
         But all the wicked He will destroy.
 21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD,
         And all flesh shall bless His holy name
         Forever and ever.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Motivation

 

Does The Idea Of It Being The End Times Scare You

29 Apr

If we are living in the end times, does the idea of that scare you?

I’m not going to lie to you, if you don’t have Jesus as your Lord and Savior it should.  I have studied Revelation, Daniel, and the end times in the bible and for those left on earth it’s ugly.

The seven year tribulation is God’s wrath for those who have rejected him.  The Last 3 and half years of the tribulation is the devils hell on earth tour, after getting kicked out of heaven. 

In short, you don’t want to be here.

If you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I believe you will be saved from the wrath that is to come.

1 Thessolonians 1:10 – 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

1 Thessolonians 5:9 – 9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are other scriptures also that I believe indicate Christians will be spared from the seven year tribulation.  I’m refered to as a pre-trib rapture guy.  I will be going over those scriptures more in future posts when I do write on the rapture.  However we still can go through trials and tribulation on this earth as it states in the Bible, just like many of our brothers and sisters in the Lord all over the world are experiencing today. 

What’s the difference?  The Bible says the seven year tribulation is God’s wrath.

Another personal thought I’d like to share is I believe Jesus wants us to be excited about his coming again for the Church.  In all honesty I trust the Lord completely and whatever plans he has for me in these last days I will do it and do it lovingly.  But if the Church is supposed to be slaughtered in the last days as tribulation saints, my excitement wouldn’t be there like it is right now.  I believe the scriptures give us a reason to be excited.    

As I stated I plan to do many posts on the rapture in the future, but right now if you don’t know Jesus as your personal Savior I want to encourage you to do so now.  There are tribulation saints that do have to reject the mark of the beast and will die for their faith in Jesus, but I believe those are new Christians that missed the rapture.  Don’t miss it.  Go over to the “How To Accept Jesus Page” on the upper right column of this blog.  It will show you the simple step of how to accept the Lord and how to get started in your new walk.    

 
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Posted in Bible Prophecy, Encouragement, Motivation, Salvation

 

God Can’t Be Two Or More Completely Different Characters

28 Apr

There is a big generic belief that God is something different to every individual depending on what that individual believes.

This is impossible.  Let me explain.

God can’t be the God of the Jewish people, promise them that they will eventually live in the land he promised them, while at the same time be the God that wants all of his followers to kill the Jews and drive them into the Red Sea. 

Now it is possible theoretically that they could both be wrong, but since they both have a major, major contradiction, they both can’t be right.   

If both were true, God would be fickle.  There would be no absolutes.  If there are no absolutes, then you would absolutely have to worry about your destiny.  You would have to wonder who God is going to be today. 

God, however, is not fickle.

Hebrews 13:8 – 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Psalm 102:27 – 27 But you remain the same, and your years will never end.

We’re fickle, not God.  God is an absolute.  You can absolutely count on him to love you.  You can count on him to do what he says he is going to do.  God and Jesus are Truth.

What does the god of blow yourself up and kill others and the God of love your neighbor have in common?

What does the god of reincarnation and the God of spend eternity in Heaven with Me have in common?

Nothing.

All roads don’t lead to Rome.  Only one road and path leads to God and Heaven.  That road is narrow and not because God made it difficult, but because most humans have chosen not to take it.

The road starts with receiving Jesus Christ as Lord.  He died on the cross and shed his blood to cover your sins.  All you have to do is allow him to have taken your place of death.  Then you need to make him Lord. 

Trust me, whatever roller coaster life you’re living, it’s not complete.  By accepting Jesus you are not losing your life, you’re going to find it.

If you say I don’t want to find it.  I don’t want to find God or need him.  I say to you, that is what hell was created for.  It was created for the proud creation that didn’t want to come back to the Creator.  Hell won’t be a party.  Hell is a place of torment and isn’t ran by the Devil, he’ll be in more torment than anyone.

If you would like to accept Jesus as your Savior, please see the right upper column and click on page “How To Accept Jesus As Savior.

 
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Posted in Apologetics, Motivation

 

Story of Joseph – Trust in the Lord Part II

26 Apr

Continued from yesterday…….

It says that when Joseph was in prison the Lord was kind to him.  In prison he found favor with the warden and the warden put him charge of all the other prisoners.

The two most notable prisoners were the cup bearer and baker of Pharaoh, which he had thrown into prison.  Both had a dream and Joseph let them know that God can interpret dreams. 

If you have never read Genesis, it is one of the best reads of the bible.  Genesis covers many important things that you will always come back to in your studies.  If you have not read it please do so sometime soon.

To paraphrase the dreams, he told the cup bearer that he would be restored and fill Pharaoh’s cup for him again in three days.  He interpreted the baker’s dream and let him know that he would be hung in three days.  It happened just as Joseph had said, since it came from God, and he told the cup bearer not to forget about him when he was restored back to his job.

Of course, he was forgotten for two more years.  Once again, in prison, doing well, helping others in high places, and it’s still not looking like roses.

Does he get discouraged?  No.  He trusts in the Lord.

Two years later, Pharaoh has a dream.  Nobody can interpret the dream.  Then the cup bearer remembers Joseph. 

Mighty nice of him, huh?  Actually I’m joking here, because it’s important to understand God is in control.  When you serve the Lord wholeheartedly, he provides the timeline and the path.  But that’s another post.  Back to this one.    

The cup bearer says to Pharaoh that he is reminded of a young Hebrew in prison that interpreted his dream along with the baker’s dream correctly.

So Pharaoh asks for Joseph and Joseph interprets his dream.  It is a dream that states seven good years of crops are coming followed by seven years of famine.  Pharaoh like everyone else that came into contact with Joseph, puts him in charge of everything underneath him.  That’s the whole country besides respect to the throne.

You see, Joseph never lost trust in the Lord.  He could have easily have done so with the path he was on.  He could have become discouraged, could have rebelled, decided that if evil is rewarded for good what’s the point?

But he didn’t.  As a result the whole region was spared from starvation.

We need to trust in the Lord.  We need to get our lives focused of the Him, live the way He wants us to, study His word regularly, and be ready for the plan He has for each and every one of us.

Your steps might not make sense to you now.  You might think God is not looking after you.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  But we need to trust and meditate on the Lord and prepare ourselves, so He has an obedient person to use.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration

 

Story of Joseph – Trust in the Lord Part I

25 Apr

The Last major story of Genesis involves Joseph, the oldest son born to Rachel and the eleventh of twelve, which belonged to Jacob.

Joseph had a heart for the Lord that never quit.  As a result of the prosperity and favor the Lord showed him, he had jealous people around him, which caused him some undesirable mishaps.

His own brothers contemplated to kill him.  Reuben, his oldest brother talked the rest of them out of it, and instead threw him into a cistern that had no water.  Before he could come back and rescue Joseph, his brothers had sold him to some Midianite merchants traveling by in a caravan.

Why did the brothers want to kill Joseph?

One, because God gave him a dream, which signified he would rule over his brothers, father and mother.

Two, because he found so much favor in his father’s eyes that he gave him a beautiful robe.  This brought jealousy on from the other brothers.

He was sold by the Midianites to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officers in Egypt.  It says the Lord was with Joseph and Potiphar put him in charge of his whole household. 

Things were going well for Joseph again.  Then Potiphar’s wife gets a wild hair that she wants to seduce Joseph and when he doesn’t cave in, she tells her husband that he was trying to make sport of her.  As a result Potiphar had him thrown into prison.

Once again, here is a man, who is earnestly seeking God and trying to do what is right in the Lord’s eyes. 

He goes from being his father’s most cherished son, to being a slave.  He goes from being the keeper of his Master’s whole household, to getting thrown into prison.

Why is he in prison?  For being a righteous man and not doing an evil thing, like sleeping with Potiphar’s wife.

It’s easy to understand that most people would start getting discouraged.  Most people would think, what’s the point?  The more I try to seek God and do what’s right, the more I get punished.

Joseph, however, continued to Trust in the Lord.

Continued to tomorrow…..

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration

 

It Matters To God

22 Apr

Many of my friends around the office get this one from me in different forms, but it’s a fact.

It matters.  It matters to God!

What matters?  Everything Matters! 

Are you saying that if I decide to watch a baseball game or if I want to go shopping it matters?  Yes.  It matters.  If your watching baseball everyday and giving no time to your family and especially no time to God and Jesus.  It matters!  If you’re out spending money you don’t have, if it takes your time away from your family all the time, or your spending your tithe on shopping.  It matters!

Now on the flip side.  If you like to shop and you’re being responsible, it just happens to be what you like to do in your special down time, you’re being a good steward of what God has entrusted you with.  It matters.  God wants you to enjoy yourself.  Same with sports.  As long as it doesn’t become you’re God and take your time away from him or your responsiblities, it matters.

God made you to have relationship and worship him.  He also made you to enjoy activities.  He made you to enjoy fellowship with each other.  The fact you like to golf, horses, or something else doesn’t mean it comes from the devil.  He made you to enjoy those things.  However, when they become your number one or first love, it matters.

God allows you to think on your own.  We want our children to think on their own.  What happens when they think on their own and it isn’t good thinking.  Well one example could be this.

Don’t fill up the bathtub full of water and jump in it with an electrical appliance plugged in.
Why?  It’s just a matter of choice, isn’t it?  We all do things differently, right?
Wrong!  We don’t want them to do this obviously because it will kill them.

God is warning us throughout his Word that we can’t do certain things or they are either going to physically kill us, like many of the scriptures in the Old Testament he gave to the Jews.  He has given us many times more of those things that will keep us from dying spiritually.  He doesn’t want us to die spiritually.  It matters!

It mattered enough, that after Adam and Eve decided to turn away from Him, He chose to have His Son come down and die in our place.

He didn’t have to do that.  But, YOU matter!  And what you do matters.

The next time you choose to lie to someone, it matters.  The next time you help someone, it matters.  The next time you tell someone about Jesus, who He is, and what He has done for all of us, it really matters.

If you choose not to accept the Lord before you die, I’m afraid it’s going to be the only thing that matters.  Don’t miss the most important decision you need to make in your life. 

If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Savior, please do so now.  If you are wondering why I need a Savior, I have wrote an outline the best I could and condensed it  down for you.  You need another reason?  You’re not in control of your life on earth.  Someone can drive over the center line and in one second your dead.  Someone can be walking down the street and bang, your dead. 

If you want to say a prayer and accept the Lord, I have put a page in the right hand upper column to help you start a new relationship with your Loving Creator.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Motivation, Opinion

 

You Don’t Have To Have Blind Faith

21 Apr

I have heard it said that we just have to believe in God or Jesus.  That’s all we need to do.

That on its own doesn’t fair well.  I’m not sure when it was being said that the people meant it to come out that way.

You see the Devil believes in God.  He isn’t saved by this belief.  The Devil believes in Jesus.  He isn’t saved by this belief either. 

So if you are one of those people who believe God exists, that’s an encouraging step.  However, until you accept Jesus as Lord and accept His sacrifice to cover your sins, you are a still not redeemed.

One of my favorite analogies is the guy handing out one hundred dollar bills.  You can look at him, watch him offer them to you, but until you accept them, they’re not yours. 

It’s free.  It’s what your loving Creator wants. 

Revelation 3:20 –   20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

He’s waiting.  Here I am!  We have loving Savior that not only died for us, but is also persistent in reaching us.  If you haven’t accepted the Lord I have written some pages in the upper right column of this website. 

Now after I wrote that, I realized that I wandered from my main idea of this post.  When I looked back on it though, I really didn’t want to get rid of it because it still connected to the first four or five sentences.  So now back to my original thought.

We don’t have to have blind faith.  There are more resources at our fingertips than ever before.  I Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in Motivation, Salvation

 

Explaining End Time Propehcey Odds

20 Apr

There are many end time prophecies that are in the works and coming together in our lifetime.  Either they have happened in the last 60 or so years, or they are forming undeniably right before our very eyes.

This post isn’t to explain what those are.  Those will be done one at a time in other posts.  My goal is to show you the astronomical odds that all these things are happening at once.  When you realize the odds, it will take faith to not believe it’s the end times were living in. 

So let’s get started with odds using them in other human interest things.  First let’s address the guys.

A book comes along and claims it’s the complete truth of the world.  Within the book it claims that the reason you know you can trust this is because it will predict all the champions in all the major sports in America during one particular year.  Actually, I have to tell you the example of just the America teams, doesn’t even begin to really reveal the true odds, but you’ll get the point.

Now these predictions were made back before some of these teams were even in existence.  These predictions are made by writers from different time periods that didn’t personally know each other.  That’s another set of odds all entirely that I won’t go into which may be even more impressive.

So we don’t know the year these predictions are going to happen.  But many other predictions by these same writers in the book have already come to pass, so they have our attention. 

We know that the predictions can’t come to pass just yet, because there is still one team that wins Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in Bible Prophecy, Motivation, Opinion

 

Greetings!

18 Apr

Greetings!  Thank you for visiting my new ministry and I am very excited to work for the Lord in this way.  I have two major goals of this blog.

One, I want it to strengthen people who are Christians already.  I know this world is a fast paced place and it is easy to get too busy for God.  The problem is we can’t afford to get away from the most important Individual in our lives. 

Two, I pray it will touch and spark an interest into those that don’t know Jesus as Savior yet.

I have chosen to do a format that will fit your time schedule.  The average post that will be on this website will be around 90 seconds.

My goal is to have a post every day.  I pray that it will be a daily inspiration that you will keep up on. 

Please allow me to share 90 seconds of what our wonderful Creator and His Son Jesus is putting on my heart every day and I pray that it will touch your spirit.

 I named it Bible Prophecy and Inspiration, as Bible Prophecy has been my greatest joy in my walk with the Lord.  I think it is one of the most important things for our time period.  I will share periodic posts on many things dealing with Bible Prophecy and how they are playing out right in front of us.

Just as reading the Word of God is habit forming, I want to ask you to put Bible Prophecy and Inspiration up on your favorites and check it out for at least 30 days.

One last thing, which you will read from me a lot, I need your help to reach others.  Please forward this onto everyone the Lord puts on your heart to do so.  If you want to check it out and make sure the material is something you want to pass on, I don’t blame you.  I would do the same.

If you forward this onto someone else who strengthens their walk with the Lord, you have done something for Him and stored up treasure in Heaven.  If they send it onto someone else that does, you still had a part in that.  If eventually someone accepts the Lord because you sent it on, how glorious it will be to know that person is in Heaven by an action you took.

As you will read in many posts in the future, isn’t that what the Bible reminds us to do?

God Bless each and every one of you.  

Patrick

 
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Posted in Inspiration

 
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