Thursday, July 31, 2014

Tell What He Has Done

Let them give thanks to to Lord for his love and for the miracles he does for people.  Let them offer sacrifices to thank him.  With Joy they should tell what he has done.-----Psalm 107:21-22

It is said that when you cross the Alabama state line, you must pledge your allegiance to either Alabama or Auburn.  Now during football season this could very well be true, or at least one would think so because of all the hype that is carried out.  Alabamians take their football to a whole new level.  During the season, wherever you go you will notice a sea of crimson and white or blue and orange, elephants (Big Al) or tigers (Aubie).  It almost teeters on overkill.

The fans are either shouting "ROLL TIDE!" or "WAR EAGLE!"  to each other.  The businesses even display their preferences, homes, yards and vehicles are decorated to the hilt with either BAMA or AUBURN decor.  Now, I have said all of this to make a point.

If the Born-Again Child of The Living God, Creator of the Universe and EVERYTHING in it, The Redeemer of Mankind, and The Righteous Judge of Mankind, would give PRAISE and THANKSGIVING to Him like they do to their favorite football team, who by the way, has NEVER done ANYTHING on  a personal level, like GIVING their life for you, or PROVIDING an ETERNITY in HEAVEN, if WE would offer to Him our SACRIFICE OF THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE, to the ONLY ONE WORTHY, our relationship with Him would be so RICH and we COULD truly proclaim His PRAISES for our ABUNDANT lives.  GOD IS GREAT ALL THE TIME.  GO GOD!!

If you CAN'T give God thanks and praise for His love, because you have NEVER TRULY given your heart to Him, you can change that NOW, and become a CHEERLEADER for Jesus, by:  CONFESSING your sins to God and telling Him you are sorry for those sins, BELIEVING that Jesus died for your sins and is in Heaven making intercession for you before God and ACCEPTING His gift of SALVATION. Do it NOW, while you still can.  He's waiting!!

Monday, July 28, 2014

A Refuge in Times of Trouble

The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.  He cares for those who trust in Him.-----Nahum 1:7

In this time in which we live, we are surrounded by, or consumed with, TROUBLES, HEARTACHES, FEARS, DISCOURAGEMENTS, and a multitude of other unhealthy situations.  We search FRANTICALLY, looking for SOMEONE OR SOMETHING to bring us PEACE and TRANQUILITY for our wretched souls.

When ALL we have to do is CALL on the name of the Lord.  GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME! not just in the good times, but He is GOOD in the BAD times, as well.  He is our REFUGE,  a place of safety, in troubled times.  We can DEPEND on Him for He CARES for His very own, who puts their TRUST in Him.

Are you in need of a REFUGE?  You ONLY need to call on the precious name of JESUS, He will be your SAFE HARBOR in your STORMY SEAS. He will GUIDE you SAFELY to shore, if you only TRUST in Him.

If you have NEVER TRUSTED Him before, you need to start NOW by:  CONFESSING your sins to God, telling Him that you are sorry for your sins, BELIEVING in your HEART that Jesus died for your sins and is ALIVE, in Heaven forever making intercession for you, then ACCEPT God's gift of SALVATION.  Then you too can have a REFUGE in TROUBLED times by TRUSTING Him.  Do it NOW, while you still have time.  He's waiting!!

Trusting in His Unfailing Love

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.  Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.-----Psalm 143:8

WOW!  What an absolutely AWESOME way to start a day.  Meditating on God's UNFAILING love.  Allowing our HEARTS and MINDS to concentrate on His AMAZING GRACE, the GRACE that brought us into His family, as His children, to be able to spend ALL eternity with Him, and all because of His UNFAILING love.

To be able to experience that UNFAILING love, it MUST be a HEART thing, because our HEART tells our MIND to TRUST in His UNFAILING love and  when we TRUST, we then have the ability to EXPERIENCE His UNFAILING love.

To SEEK His guidance is an attribute of our TRUST in His UNFAILING love.  The Psalmist says:  "Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul."  Which indicates his TRUST in his Heavenly Father.  Notice that he says "Show me the way I SHOULD go, for TO YOU I LIFT UP MY SOUL."   This part of the Scripture indicates the DEPTH of the Psalmist TRUST in the Almighty God.  He is putting his soul into God's hands and basically saying:  "Lord, I TRUST You with my very soul."

To be able to say and feel in your HEART the same thing that the Psalmist said and felt:  "Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You.  Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul."
You must CONFESS your sins to God and BELIEVE in your HEART that Jesus died for your sins and is ALIVE today, in Heaven, making intercession for you before the Father, then ACCEPT God's gift of SALVATION and all because of His UNFAILING LOVE.  Do it NOW, while you can.  He's waiting!


Thursday, July 24, 2014

Be Still!

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!-----Psalm 46:10

The first two words in this verse; "Be STILL" would put many in a tailspin.  Because, in this day and age, the word STILL seems to have been lost in the shuffle of our extremely busy lives.  We hustle here and we hustle there, we just hustle and bustle EVERYWHERE, never taking time to be STILL.

However, our Creator, doesn't ASK us to BE STILL, He is TELLING us to BE STILL, and NOT just BE STILL, but to KNOW that He is GOD!  And NOT to just KNOW with our MINDS, but to KNOW with our HEARTS, and when we do what He TELLS us to do, in other words, when we are OBEDIENT to Him, we find ourselves in a time of WORSHIP and PRAISE and GOD IS EXALTED in US!

We are to take our WORSHIP and PRAISE with us, wherever we go that He, FATHER GOD might be EXALTED among the nations and in the earth!

So TRY it, BE STILL and KNOW that HE is GOD!  You can do that by:  CONFESSING your sins to God and telling Him you are sorry for those sins then BELIEVING in your HEART that Jesus died for your sins and is alive today, in Heaven, FOREVER making intercession for you, before God.  Then ACCEPTING His gift of SALVATION!  Do it NOW, while you STILL have time!  He waiting!!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Don't Rely On Your Own Understanding

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.-----Proverbs 3:5

Our Heavenly Father is the CREATOR and SUSTAINER of this universe.  Therefore, to me, it only makes sense that His crowning touch of creation, should LEAN ON, TRUST IN and be CONFIDENT IN Him.

Some of us, though, want to be or are self-sufficient, which in some instances may not be so bad, but when we STOP LEANING ON, TRUSTING IN, and not being CONFIDENT IN, the Only One, who is in CONTROL of us and our surroundings, then we are facing BIG problems.

When we rely on our OWN understanding and leave God out of our situations, we are heading down a DANGEROUS path, which to us, leads to the UNKNOWN, but when we LEAN ON, TRUST IN, and are CONFIDENT IN the ONLY ONE who knows what is waiting for us, we are ABLE to face the unknown with TRUST and CONFIDENCE, because we are LEANING ON the ALL-KNOWING, ALL-POWERFUL CREATOR AND SUSTAINER of the universe, who LOVES us SO much that He gave His only Son to die for our sins.

If you are struggling with problems, frustrations, and fears, come to the One who has it all under His control.  CONFESS your sins to God, BELIEVE that Jesus died for YOUR sins and is ALIVE and forever making intercession for YOU before God, ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION.  Do it NOW, before it's too late!  He's waiting!!


Monday, July 21, 2014

The Light and the Life

Later, Jesus talked to the people again saying, "I am the Light of the world.  The person who follows me will never live in darkness but will have the light that gives life."-----John 8:12

There are many verses in the Bible that talks about LIGHT.  A few of them mention JESUS as the "Light."  A light that dispels the darkness of this dark, corrupt, sin-ridden world.  A LIGHT that can and will NEVER be extinguished, a never-ending light.

The person who follows the LIGHT (Jesus) will NEVER walk or live in darkness, because they are in the Light.  They are guided by it's illumination and as long as they REMAIN in the Light they will not be overcome by the darkness.

Isn't it AWESOME how JESUS is not ONLY presented in the Scriptures as LIGHT, but also as LIFE.  He states that He is, the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE...And notice that in this verse He says that He is the Light of the world and the person who follows Him will have the LIGHT that gives LIFE.

Jesus gave Himself for the remission of our sins.  You too can be led by the LIGHT to eternal life through, the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE by, CONFESSING your sins to God, BELIEVING in your HEART that Jesus died for YOUR sins and is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for YOU before the Father, then ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION.  Do it NOW, time is running out!!  He's waiting!!

Friday, July 18, 2014

Heavenly Citizenship

Our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.-----Philippians 3:20-21

Do you ever feel like you are a stranger in a foreign land, especially when you wear a Christian tee shirt, or take out your Bible and start reading it in a public place, or how about when you go out to eat and you bow your head and pray over your meal?  Well that, my dear Brothers and sisters, is exactly who we are, "foreigners" in a STRANGE land, because our citizenship is not of this world.  We are citizens of Heaven.

And we DEFINITELY are awaiting the return of our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, to take us HOME to be with Him for ALL ETERNITY.  When He comes back He will have the POWER to CHANGE our old, decrepit, corrupt, sinful, bodies, into brand-spanking NEW and GLORIOUSLY IMPROVED, PERFECT in every way, SPOTLESS AND CLEANSED bodies.  AMEN AND HALLELUJAH!!

WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE, WHEN MY JESUS I SHALL SEE, WHEN I LOOK UPON HIS FACE THE ONE WHO SAVED ME BY HIS GRACE.  WHAT A DAY, GLORIOUS DAY THAT WILL BE!!!

Are you looking FORWARD to seeing the return of King Jesus?  Can you CLAIM your citizenship is not of this world, but is in Heaven?  Are you looking FORWARD to having a BRAND-NEW, GLORIFIED, BODY?  Can you say, "WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE?"

You sure can IF you will CONFESS your sins to God, BELIEVE that JESUS died for YOU on an old rugged cross and is ALIVE today, in Heaven making intercession for YOU before Father God, and then ACCEPT His AWESOME gift of SALVATION!!  He's waiting!!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Who Do You Trust?

You are only human, and human beings have no right to question God.  An object should not ask the person who made it, "why did you make me like this?  The potter can make anything he wants to make.  He can use the same clay to make one thing for special use and another thing for daily use.-----Romans 9:20, 21

To me, it is amazing that mankind has the audacity to try and tell the Creator of EVERYTHING, that is, was, or ever will be created, how to use HIS very own creation, such as, dictating to Him what He should do with mankind, and when He, the Creator decides to do something that differs from the norm, or when the person, He, God, created, thinks they know better, they, the creation, takes matters into their own hands and WALLA!!  We have what we have TODAY!

Wars, rumors of wars, diseases, famines, incurable diseases, pollution, murders, thievery, covetousness, drug abuse, alcoholism, increase in divorces, abortions, infanticide, corruption in governments, poverty, child-abuse, pornography, adultery, corruption in the workplace, unemployment, lying, hypocrisy, cheating, hatred, malice, etc., etc., etc., and that is just some of mankind's accomplishments.  Not very impressive!

When Almighty God created this world and EVERYTHING in it, it was PERFECT, with none of the above present.  God wanted the VERY BEST of the BEST for the CROWNING TOUCH of creation, MANKIND, but MANKIND thought he knew better than his CREATOR, thus we have ALL of the above and more.  And now the rest of the story!

The Creator lovingly has made a way for His CREATION to have the BEST OF THE BEST by sacrificing His VERY BEST, His only Son, to die a shameful death on an old rugged cross for the sins of His CREATION, MANKIND.

If you are trying to tell God what's BEST for YOU, and are struggling to live in this world full of SERIOUS problems, that aren't going to go away, if anything, they WILL get WORSE.  So let go and let God be God!

You can look to a future of experiencing THE BEST OF THE VERY BEST by:  CONFESSING your sins to God, BELIEVING in your heart that God gave His only Son to die for YOUR sins and is ALIVE today, in Heaven, FOREVER making intercession for YOU before Father God!  ACCEPT God's AWESOME gift of SALVATION.  He's waiting!!

Be On Guard!!

Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.-----1 Peter 5:8-9

This passage of Scripture has always intrigued me.  I can picture in my mind the devil sneaking around, lurching among different hiding places, taking into account our, God's Children's, every move, every action, listening to every word we speak or every emotion we display, waiting for the exact opportune time to be able to cause us to stumble and sin against our Heavenly Father, accusing us before Him.  Satan is the great accuser of God's Children.

This verse tells us to RESIST him, and to stand firm in the FAITH!  That is one of our MIGHTY weapons we have to use against the devious schemes of that old, dastardly, wicked devil, OUR FAITH, when we use our SHIELD OF FAITH, that wicked old coward flees.

We are NOT alone in this battle of good vs evil, our brothers and sisters in the Lord, all around the world are going through the same battle.

Take heart, my dear Children of the Living God!  We are NOT fighting this battle alone we have all the MIGHTY POWER of the LIVING GOD to help us OVERCOME!! But remember that we CANNOT DO THIS ON OUR OWN.  We NEED HELP from the Holy Spirit.

The REALLY GOOD NEWS is, we already have the VICTORY through the shed blood of Jesus Christ!  So put on that FULL ARMOR of God and STAND FIRM IN YOUR FAITH!!  Remember, He's waiting!!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Continual Praise

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise---the fruit of lips that confess His name-----Hebrews 13:15

Are you, today, CONTINUALLY offering  God a sacrifice of praise?  Some may be saying: "but I'm at work I can't do that!" Oh, but yes you can!

There are NUMEROUS ways to offer our sacrifice of praise to Holy God!  Audibly is just one way and I suggest that when it is appropriate you do it, if you are so LED by the Holy Spirit to do so.  Sometimes, just softly, and quietly humming a chorus from a song of praise would be appropriate and would bring honor to our Heavenly Father and JOY to our hearts.  At other times, just reflecting on the AWESOMENESS of God and realizing just who He is and who we are in Him can cause at attitude of PRAISE that is pleasing to Him.  Through our ministry to to others, this, can evoke in us a sacrifice of praise, when we do it with the RIGHT attitude (doing it in LOVE), what a BIG difference it makes in our own lives.  So you see there are MANY ways to be able to CONTINUALLY offer our sacrifice of PRAISE to our Heavenly Father.  Try some of them TODAY and see how incredibly BLESSED you will be.

If you are searching for ways to be blessed, TRY JESUS! CONFESS your sins to Him, BELIEVE in your HEART that He died for YOU, and is ALIVE TODAY, in Heaven making intercession for you with God.  ACCEPT His gift of SALVATION, and START your CONTINUAL sacrifice of  PRAISE to the Father!
YOU WILL BE BLESSED! He's waiting!

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

A Love Like NO Other!

I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.----Romans 8:38-39

People all over this world are searching, have searched and will search for LOVE.  A LOVE that is lasting and satisfying.  A LOVE that cannot be removed from them , in any way shape or form.  A TRUE, UNFAILING, UNENDING LOVE!

Mankind does not nor cannot provide such LOVE.  ONLY Father God can give us LOVE that can NEVER be destroyed, altered or removed from us.  NOTHING and I repeat, NOTHING OR NOBODY can separate us from the LOVE of ALMIGHTY GOD which is IN His ONLY Begotten Son, our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, who LOVED US SO MUCH that HE GAVE His life that we might be saved from our sins!  This is TRUE, UNFAILING, UNENDING, AGAPE LOVE!!

Are you searching for somebody that can give you TRUE, UNFAILING, UNENDING, ABIDING LOVE?  TRY JESUS!  He has the LOVE you have searched or are searching or will EVER search for.
CONFESS your sins to Him, BELIEVE that He died for Your sins and ACCEPT God's TRUE, UNFAILING, UNENDING, ABIDING LOVE that He is offering you.  HE"S WAITING!

Not Seeing, Yet Believing!

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.-----1 Peter 1:8

I have heard people say:  "Show me God and I'll believe in Him," or "how can you believe in someone or something that you can't see?"  Well, my answer is:  "By FAITH!"

You can't see the wind, only the effects of it, but you believe that it exists by using your FAITH.

When a person gives their heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust Him for their salvation, they are exercising their FAITH in Him, even though they can't see or touch Him, they can feel His presence and they BELIEVE that He's REAL by using their FAITH.

In Hebrews 11:! it says: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see..."  You have FAITH and are CERTAIN that the wind exists, because you FEEL and SEE its effects.  So it is with the Child of the Living God even though we do not or have not seen Him, we exercise our FAITH BY BELIEVING that He exists because we feel and see the results of His presence!

Exercise your FAITH, NOW by BELIEVING in Him and calling upon His name.  CONFESS your sins to Him and ACCEPT His UNENDING LOVE!  BELIEVE that He died for you and FOREVER LIVES to make intercession for you before Father God!  He's waiting!!

Friday, July 4, 2014

Free Indeed!

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"-----John 8:32

Today, we celebrate America's independence from the rule of Great Britain. Our FREEDOM, as a nation, to be FREE to make our OWN laws and not to be held in bondage to another's laws.

Over NUMEROUS years, THOUSANDS  upon THOUSANDS of men and women have BRAVELY fought and died to secure and preserve OUR FREEDOMS.  And for that we are very THANKFUL!!

In God's Holy Word, He says: "...YOU shall know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make YOU FREE."

The TRUTH is the FREEDOM or LIBERTY we can possess from the DEATH, BURIAL, and RESURRECTION of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has bled and died so that WE might be SET FREE from the bondage of our sins.

He is the TRUTH and when we come to Him and have a relationship with Him, HE WILL SET US FREE!! And when He SETS US FREE we are FREE indeed!

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Where Would You Rather Be?

A single day in Your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.  O Lord of Heaven's Armies, what joy for those who trust in You-----Psalm 84:10, 12

Have you ever been in a place that made you feel really uncomfortable, like maybe you SHOULDN'T be there?  Maybe a place where you felt threatened or frightened?  Maybe just that uncomfortable feeling that you just don't belong there?  I have been in those places a time or two and therefore, I can truly say AMEN!  to these verses.

I love being around and in the presence of God's people!  There is such a strong presence of God, Himself, in places where the Children of the Most High God have gathered to offer WORSHIP and PRAISE to Him.
There is such a SWEET, SWEET Spirit in that place, where the very presence of God abides.

There is such a LOVING, SWEET Spirit in my Church, that whenever we have visitors one of the first things they mention is what a LOVING feeling is in the Church, and that is because God's Children LOVE Him and they LOVE each other.  When God's Children are Spirit-led and Spirit-controlled they will LOVE God and each other with a Godly love or an Agape love.  Believe me I would rather spend a single day in that environment than a thousand anywhere else.

A good life in the home of the wicked cannot even come close to comparison with having the "lowliest" position in the house of Almighty God, (if there is such a position.)  What a JOY it is to know that, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!! When we get to Heaven, it only gets BETTER!!!

I heard a story once about a dear saint of God who loved desserts and whenever her church had a dinner she would ALWAYS  eat her dessert  first.  When she was dying, she made a request that they place a fork in her hand and when she passed on they granted her last request and someone passing the casket  asked why she had a fork in her hand,  The Pastor said  She had told him that THE BEST WAS YET TO COME and she wanted to be ready.

My question for you is:  Are you ready?  If you were to leave this world today in death  would you spend the rest of ETERNITY in God's courts in His presence with the rest of the Saints. or would you spend ETERNITY in that HORRIBLE, inconceivable place, known as HELL with the wicked?
If you want your destination to be HEAVEN, all you need to do is to CONFESS your sins and ASK for God's forgiveness, BELIEVE that Jesus died for YOU and has prepared a place for you to spend ALL ETERNITY in. ACCEPT GOD's FREE gift of SALVATION.  And join the Saints in HEAVEN!
He's waiting!.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

God's Abiding Promises

God's way is perfect.  All the Lord's promises prove true.  He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection.-----Psalm 18:30

This verse tells us that God's way is PERFECT, when we are OBEDIENT to Him, we can be assured that OUR way will be PERFECT.  When we are TOTALLY surrendered to Him and we allow Him to lead us down the STRAIGHT and NARROW path then HIS ways become OUR ways, because He is OUR Father and WE are HIS children.

Children have a way of imitating their parents and in a lot of cases following in their footsteps. So it SHOULD be with God's Children. We should have an insatiable desire to FOLLOW our Heavenly Father and His PERFECT ways.

I really like this section of the verse that tells us:  "All the Lord's promises prove true."  not just some, but ALL His promises are TRUE.  In other words, He will NOT make a promise that He will NOT keep. ANY of His promises that He makes, He will ACT upon, because He is TRUTH and what He promises will come about.

He is our shield and our protector in times when the old despicable devil is on our backs trying to discourage us and weaken our faith..  We can ALWAYS call upon His name and He is there to lift us up and set our feet of SOLID ground.

Praise God for His UNFAILING love for His Children!!!

If you are searching for PEACE, ASSURANCE, A BETTER WAY OF LIFE, TRUE ABIDING LOVE, AND A PROTECTOR OF YOUR SOUL. You don't have to go very far to find these things.  Just ACCEPT God's FREE gift of ETERNAL LIFE by CONFESSING your sins and BELIEVING that He is ABLE to SAVE and FORGIVE YOU from ALL your sins because of the shed blood of His ONE and ONLY SON, Jesus Christ.  He's waiting for you to make that decision NOW!