Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The Big Sift

Do you know what a sift is? It is an instrument used to sift the fine from the coarse so to speak. To separate the good from the bad sometimes. Pastor made a comment at church Sunday about sifting through things with the Word of God to find what's good and what is not. In other words, sometimes the enemy will tell us one thing but when we check it with the Word it is no good. We need to sift those things out and separate the bad from the good so that we can focus on the good. AMEN!

We need to be careful about what we put into our mixing bowls (our minds). Because once we stir it all together, it becomes too difficult to separate the bad that dropped in there. Once it is blended in, it begins to form our thoughts. We want our thoughts to be formed by God not the enemy. AMEN! God told Peter that Satan had asked for him so that he might sift him as wheat. In other words, Satan wants to trouble us with our thoughts so that he might sift out the ones he can manipulate. Remember he can only attack us through our minds, through our thoughts.

Luke 22 v 31-32.....And the LORD said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strenghthen your brethren....

You see Jesus knew that Peter was going to deny Him. But He was telling him, when you return to Me, make strong your brothers. How was Peter going to make the disciples strong. By sharing the Word of God with them. By sharing what Jesus had taught him. Likewise we need the WORD in us, so that we do not let the enemy attack us and lead us astray. We are made strong through our minds with the Word of God.

We need our Pastors just as the disciples needed Peter. Jesus told Peter to return to shepherd His disciples. The same way God leads our Pastors to disciple us. With the teachings of His WORD.

Paul tells us in Phillipians to meditate on good things. He says to meditate on the things we have saw and heard and learned through his actions. I believe this is just another passage the Lord is using to tell us to imitate Him. He tells us it will go well with us.

Phil 4 v 8-9....Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.....

Let's look at an example of a good report vs. bad report. You eat right, you exercise, you take good care of your body, but yet you go to the doctor for your annual check up and he says, hmmm, it looks like you have high cholesterol. That is a bad report. So now, you go to the Word and see what does God have to say about that. The Word tells us that every name that is named has to bow to the name of Jesus. Cholesterol has a name. It has to bow to the power of the name of JESUS according to your belief. For example Rob and I went for our annual check ups a couple of years ago, and one doctor had told me that I was going to have to take cholesterol medicine if my cholesterol did not go down. I immediately rebuked that report in my mind and said my blood work will be excellent. My mom talks about how she has high cholesterol and how it runs in the family. I rebuke that bad report and say I am of a blood line where the cholesterol is excellent. So before we went to the doctor the next time for our blood work, I said Lord according to your word, we have excellent blood work, and all of our tests today will come back with excellent reports.

When we got our paper work our report from the doctor, the word excellent was used over every area of the reports. Now I ask you how many times do you hear a doctor use the word excellent to describe your health. Let it be according to your faith, your belief. AMEN!

Ephes. 1 v 15-23....Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the LORD JESUS and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which he worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is the body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.......

That is quite a mouthful, but the point is, that Christ was made head over all things, He has power over all things, and if we be in Christ and He be in us then we have the same authority to speak to all things with the same exceeding greatness of his power which works in us through Him that is in us. AMEN!

God raised us up to sit together in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus, so that through our faith, our believing in Him that we would share in those same powers.

Ephes.2 v 6......and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus....

Ephes. 2 v 10....For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.....

We walk in good works, not in sickness and bad health. Sickness and bad health are bad reports from the enemy trying to attack us through our minds.

But as we get into the Word of God and use our big sift to sift through those bad reports and let the good reports outweigh the bad, so that we focus on what is pure and just and of a good report. AMEN! We all need to do some housecleaning in our minds now and again. What is the best way to clean our minds. By renewing them with the Word of God.

STAY IN THE WORD!

A Daily Dose

How many readers out there take daily supplements to stay healthy? That's great! We are suppose to take care of our bodies as they are the temple of the Lord. AMEN!

Which supplements do you take? Is it P4202122, P378, P1722, P1624, P1225, E61314151617, PH46789, P413?
These are just some of my favorites that seem to help me to stay healthy.

Oh you are probably more familiar with their common names. Scriptures from the WORD. Let's see that would be Prov 4 v 20-22, Prov 3 v 7-8, Prov 17 v 22, Prov 16 v 24, Prov 12 v 25, Ephes. 6 v 13-17, Phil 4 v 6-9, Phil 4 v 13.

You see our supplements work well to take care of little things, but when it comes to the enemy, we had better be more protected. We better have the word of GOD in us so that we can stand against him. You see your supplements can't defeat the enemy. He can only be defeated by the WORD of GOD. That is why it is so important to spend time in the WORD daily. Some people get sick and can not figure out why they can't get better. They eat right, they exercise, they do all the things their doctor tells them to do. So why can't they get better?

Doctors are great for taking care of some things, but Who is the greatest physician of all? JESUS! What does this great physician tell you to do? He says to keep His words in your heart, tied around your neck, on your forehead, before your eyes, well you get the picture. STAY IN THE WORD!

Let's look at an example in the Word, of how Jesus healed a woman who the doctors could not heal.

Luke 8 v 43-44.....But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

So you see she spent all her money going to different doctors trying to find a cure for her affliction, but it took a special kind of power to heal her, and that power came from her faith in the LORD.

46-48.......But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me." Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. And He said to her, " Daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.".......

Our pastor tells us to read something, even if you can only get a verse in a day. Get something in you. It's true. We have to have the word in us to fight the enemy. You know our bodies are made up of spores, so we are full of holes. We have leaks that can not be plugged up. Pastor also tells us that faith comes by hearing not by heard. In other words we have to continually hear the word of God so that our faith and strength is built up to withstand the attacks of the enemy. Oh he may let you slide a few days, because he wants you at your weakest when he attacks. But we can be assured of this. If we do not have the word of God in us, we do not have the strength it will take to fight him off when he does attack.

You see Jesus has already defeated Satan and all the curses of the world for us. But where Satan attacks us and causes us to receive these curses is through our minds. If you have enough room left in your mind that is not covered with the WORD, then when the enemy tells you something is wrong, you will start to think about that and meditate on the bad report instead of what the WORD says, that you WERE healed by the stripes on HIS back. AMEN!

1 Pet 2 v 24 .....who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed......

IS 53 v 5....But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed........

So I encourage you today, to not only take your daily supplements to fight off the little things, and exercise and eat healthy, but take a DAILY DOSE of the WORD to fight off the bigger attacks that are brought on by the enemy. AMEN!

See what you can find in the list of scriptures above to meditate on so that they might help you with whatever you may be going through. Here is a thought. Your doctor gives you a prescription that reads take three times a day. Are you faithful to do as the prescription says? Then I encourage you to do the same with what the GREAT PHYSICIAN tells you to do. TAKE AS NEEDED. For some of you, you may can get by on once daily, for others you may need to take 2-3 times daily or around the clock. And the good news is, there is no expiration date on THE WORD OF GOD. AMEN!

STAY IN THE WORD!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

NO ONE KNOWS

The WORD tells us that no one will know the time or the day that the LORD is coming back. And although I am soooo ready to meet Jesus, I am not anxious for His return.

Now before you all start thinking that I am not ready to meet Jesus, it is not that. The fact is, there are still so many people out there who have not yet come to know the Lord personally, there are so many who have yet to accept Him as their Savior. I am not ready to lose these loved ones, friends and family members to Satan and his lies. So before we all jump on the band wagon of trying to rush the Lord into coming back to get us, let us all check and make sure all of our friends, loved ones, and family members are ready for His return as well.

My heart is heavy for this person who thought, or I should say who believed so much that he knew the time and date of the Lord's return. Why you say? Because, he must have believed so much in his heart that he was right that he would dare to tell the whole world this. But here is the thing. Why would anyone want to try to pin point God down and say this is when He will come when He has said, NO ONE WILL KNOW. He is not a liar that He should lie. His word is TRUTH. Why would anyone concern themself with wanting to be the one to guess when the LORD is coming? I mean if you are right, no one will care or remember when they are in Heaven with the LORD. There will be no reward or crown waiting to reward you for knowing the exact time. It is not a contest or a game.

Matthew 24 v 36....."But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only."....
Matthew 24 v 42...."Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming"....
Matthew 24 v 44...."Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."......

Numbers 23 v 19.... "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"..........

The Lord did not tell us to try and figure this mystery out. No the Lord said take His gospel to the ends of the earth so that all creatures will know of His love and His gift of salvation. We need to be more concerned with getting people ready to meet the LORD when the time does come, instead of trying to be the one to guess at something God has said NO ONE WILL KNOW.

Mark 16 v 15....And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.".........

And then here is another thought. How sad for so many people who believed that this man knew the day and hour, and what did they do with that belief? Were they running around trying to save others, or were they running around trying to take care of unfinished business? It is not the same as us going home to be with the LORD when our time comes. We make preparations for our loved ones that we are leaving behind. But when the LORD comes back for us, hopefully there will not be any loved ones left behind. AMEN!

For all of us Christians, here is food for thought. We do not have to concern ourselves with the day and hour, because we will know instantly without mistake because we will be present with the LORD. What we do have to concern ourselves with, is that we spend what time we have here on earth, sharing the love of Christ Jesus with all we come into contact with. We do our part of bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth starting right here at home. AMEN!

2 Cor 5 v 6-9......So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the LORD. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the LORD. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him......

John 3 v 16-17.....For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.....

So you see, God is not out to condemn us, but to love us. He wants us each and everyone to spend eternity with Him. He says whosoever. We are the whosoevers. He is talking to us. Accept Him today as your personal Savior. Ask Him to come into your heart and make Him LORD over your life here on earth and He will be your LORD throughout all eternity. We can't wait on our friends,or even for our family members, this is a personal decision we have to make for ourselves. The TRUTH is , we will serve one or the other, Satan or JESUS. Choose Life, Choose JESUS!

DON'T WAIT! Do it today. Remember NO ONE KNOWS the day or hour. It could be before I finish typing this message and sending it out. I love you all, but Christ Jesus loves you more. Get into the WORD and you will always find the truth and see His love for you. AMEN!

STAY IN THE WORD!

There Has To Be Pressure

I planted some green beans a while back and they never came up like I thought that they should. So I dug another bed and planted some more, and then added some more seeds to the first bed. I'm thinking I must not have planted them right the first time. I remember thinking, I have never seen it take so long for a bean to sprout, to at least come up out of the dirt and show some signs of life.

I started watering my ground diligently, instead of just now and again when I would think about it. I was diligent about watering everyday, and pulling weeds out. But still no sprouts showing anywhere. Hmmmm! I'm thinking, those must of been bad seeds. Then we had a storm with lots of lightning and wind and rain. The day before nothing was showing any signs of life, and then after the storm my seeds were up out of the ground a good 3-4 inches high the very next day.

There had to be pressure applied to cause that seed to open up and sprout forth. I am glad I did not jump the gun and just till up the whole bed and start over. I'm glad I did not give up on my seeds.

Sometimes we plant seeds in the kingdom of God or in our own lives, and when we do not immediately see the results, we want to just give up. I'm telling you now, don't give up. Don't quit! Your seeds will spring forth and bud. When we sow God's word into good ground it will come to pass.

IS 55 v 10-11....For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it spring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it......

When we give up, it is like the parable in the Word about the seeds being sown in different types of soil. If we quit watering and nurturing and pulling the weeds, the things of the world will take over our harvest.

Mark 4 v 18-19....Now these are the ones sown among the thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful......

Remember sometimes it takes a little more pressure to cause that seed to burst forth.

When I say pressure let me explain so you do not get the wrong idea and think that God is causing pressure on you or that you are to pressure someone into accepting anything. The pressure does not come from God. The pressure however does come from you, but not like you may think.

When we plant our seed, we have to take care of our ground. We can't just walk away and say oh well if it buds good, if not too bad. No, we have to keep pressure on Satan to keep him out of the way for our seed to grow. We are the ones applying the pressure here. We have the authority over Satan. So everytime a weed (doubt) tries to come up and choke out our seed that we have sown, we cast it out through fervent prayer, and then we are putting pressure on Satan to leave it alone. The Word tells us to resist the devil and he has to flee. When we diligently pray over our seeds after they are sown, pressure is being applied. AMEN!

James 5 v 17-18...Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit....

James 4 v 7...Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you...

What seeds have you planted? Have you planted seeds into a loved one's life for their salvation? Have you planted seeds in your own life for prosperity, or for divine health and healing?

First we have to plant good seeds, God's words, then we have to nurture our soil, meditating on His word and praising Him and thanking Him for our harvest from our seeds and believing that the seeds we have sown will come to bear fruit, some thirty, some sixty and some one hundredfold. Don't just throw the seeds out there and then walk away. Praise the Lord constantly and give Him thanks for your seed and apply pressure on Satan to leave your seed alone, and then trust God do what He says He will do. He will cause that seed to sping forth and bud and accomplish and prosper in that for which He sent it.

Mark 4 v 20....But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit; some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.......

In today's economy 10% return sounds doubtful, but PRAISE GOD we are not of this world we are the righteousness of Christ Jesus and heirs to the promise of Abraham and we will see a one hundredfold on our investments (seeds) if we do not grow weary and give up but stand fast on His word and put our trust in Him and not this world. If we keep the pressure on our seed with our prayers and thanksgiving, we will bear fruit. We will see signs of life sprouting forth. AMEN!

Where do we find the strength to apply pressure on Satan?

STAY IN THE WORD!

What Has God Done For You

Ok, I do not have enough space here to write all of the things God has done for me. My God is so good. He delivered me from a life of destruction. If it had not been for God, I would probably be dead by now. But God my Father had another plan for me. For those who knew me before 1992, you know what I mean. I tried drinking my life away, partying at every chance. Missing out on the most important years of my children's lives. One marriage after another failed. You name it, I was tagged with it, adulterous, liar, baby killer, drunkard, no good for nothing, sorry excuse of a mother.

BUT PRAISE GOD, then came JESUS into my life. Not just into my knowing who He is, but me having a personal relationship with Him. Me understanding just Who He is, and what He did for me. How many of my drinking buddies would lay their life down for me? How many would take a beating until their flesh is torn away from their bodies? How many would hang on a cross and die for me? I can't think of one.

Pastor talked Sunday about Grace. He was talking about the undeserved, unmerited favor from God. I just told you above how I was living. Did it sound like I deserved this forgiveness, this kind of love, this kind of favor? Does it sound like anyone you know? Pastor has said over and over again, we can only tell you our testimony. I can only tell you what Jesus did for me. How He picked me up and turned me around, how He made me into a new person with a renewed mind. With a love from Him that surpasses all understanding. Would you have loved me back then just as I was, or would you have been one of many of my judges? I had very few Christians who loved me right where I was and prayed for me daily, and I had many many Christian judges who condemned me.

It reminds me of the story of the woman who was brought before Jesus to be condemned and stoned for adultery. BUT THEN! JESUS says simply, "Let him who has no sin, cast the first stone". It is interesting here to note that they were in the temple listening as Jesus was teaching them, when the interruption broke out with the scribes and Pharisees bringing the woman before everyone. Why were they not listening to His teachings? Instead they were out trying to find a way to trip Him up and prove Him to be a false teacher.

John 8 v 2-7....Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act." Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say?" This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."......

Isn't that the way of the world still today? Aren't there plenty of those out there still trying to prove Jesus not to be who He says He is? Who GOD says He is. Instead of accepting this free gift of Grace from Him, there are still those who want more evidence. If you are one of those, I challenge you to look at my life and see proof that He is who He says He is. There are many more stories like mine out there, where people have been transformed into new people with the renewing of their minds through the love of JESUS and GOD'S WORD.

Instead of sitting at home calling all Christians hypocrites, try going to church to hear from God, to hear the WORD preached instead of focusing on judging the others there. First we have to open our hearts so that we can hear who Jesus really is through His Father's Word. I thank God everyday for those who were instrumental in praying for me and inviting me to church so that I could get a good understanding of who God really is and just how much He loves me without condemnation, but with forgiveness that I did not do anything to earn or deserve. Not by works was I saved, but by LOVE. By Grace that my LORD would die for me and for you as well.

Hebrews 8 v 12....."For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."....

Romans 8 v 1....There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.....

Ephesians 2 v 8-9....For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.....

Jesus is all about LOVE not condemnation. He wants to love you right where you are without you having to work to prove yourself worthy. He has already forgiven you. You just have to believe and accept His love and forgiveness. Then get into His word and renew your mind. Meditate on His word and let Him bring you peace and joy into your life. A life overflowing with His love. AMEN!

I would not trade my new life with Christ Jesus for anything. As I look back on my life before, I can see clearly now that I was living with the enemy in darkness. The enemy makes sin look and feel like fun or else we would not be attracted to it. But the TRUTH is, that we are blinded by thinking it is fun. When our eyes are opened to the light of Jesus, we can then see where we are being deceived. We can then find true Peace and Joy through Him.

Share your testimony of what God has done for you, how He has turned your life into a full life. How He has healed you, prospered you, delivered you, rescued you, tell how He saved you with His undeserved, unmerited, free gift of GRACE.

STAY IN THE WORD!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

WISDOM UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE

The word tells us these things are beneficial to our health, our soul, and our safety. The word says that with these when we lie down we will not be afraid but that our sleep will be sweet. How many of us have trouble sleeping from time to time? Sounds like if we do, we need to be seeking His wisdom, and understanding and knowledge. The word goes on to say that we will not stumble, that we will be sure footed and walk safely in our way, it says that we can have confidence in our foot not being caught by the enemy. AMEN!

Prov 3 v 19-26.....The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens; by His knowledge the depths were broken up, and clouds drop down the dew. My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion; so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; yes you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.......

The word tells us that when we trust in the Lord and lean on Him, and not look to our own understanding, that He will direct our paths for us. Now how many know, that if the Lord is directing your path, He is not going to lead you the wrong way? There are miracles in the word that we do not always understand. But the Lord says it is not in our understanding but in His. He tells us to not be wise in our own eyes. When our wisdom comes from the Lord, we will have health and strength added to us.

Prov. 3 v 5-8.....Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil, it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones......

The Lord tells us that His ways are not our ways. His ways and thoughts are higher than our ways.

IS 55 v 8-9....."For My thoughts are not your thoughts. nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts".......

So when people question how you can believe you are healed when the world says you are sick, or how you can believe in prosperity when the prices of things skyrocket. You can answer with confidence that you do not trust in the things of the world, but in the Truth of the Word. That the word says your God will supply all your needs. That your confidence is in Him. AMEN!

Phil 4 v 19....And my God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.........

Where can we find this confidence, this protection, this wisdom, this understanding and knowledge?

STAY IN THE WORD!