Thursday, June 30, 2011

What Does It Profit Us

What does it profit us to be angry, jealous, envious, or irritated by our neighbors? It profits us nothing. Did you get that? NOTHING. A BIG FAT NOTHING! So all the energy wasted on those feelings toward your neighbor is just that, WASTED TIME. Now I do not know about you but, I for one do not like to waste time.

That is not to say that I have not wasted alot of time throughout my life on these feelings. I am sure we all have. But if we would stop and ask ourselves each time we start to get into the spirit of anger, jealousy, irritation, etc, what good is this going to do for me? Then we can break ourselves away from those feelings of the flesh. And if we stay in the word, we can replace them with the fruits of the Spirit.

Gal. 5 v 22......But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.....

It is lack of that last one listed there that usually gets us, and then we fall into the feelings of our flesh.

Gal. 5 v 19-21a.....Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.......

Not only do those feelings toward someone waste our time, they also cause us to be sick. When we are feeling like that we are stressing our bodies and minds. If we continue to stay in those feelings, we will eventually die. First we will die in our spirit, because we are filling up our hearts and minds with the feelings of the flesh that we leave no room for the fruits of the Spirit.

I know, I am not ready to die either. So what do we do? We get into His Word daily, we spend quality time with Him each day. We learn from the Lord Jesus how we are to live. Not only to live, but to live with peace, harmony, joy, an abundant life. A life filled with good health, a sound mind, a life of freedom.

Yes, we will still experience difficulties from neighbors and family members now and again, but it is how we deal with those situations when they arise, that will keep us healthy.

One, we do not sit around and brood about something. We do not rehash things over and over in our minds until we work ourselves up into a frenzy. No, we go to the word of God and see what does He have to say about it? How does He tell us to handle the situation?

When a situation arises, there are two choices that will come your way. One the enemy will try to convince you to get even, and will try to recall over and over why you are right and they are wrong. Second, we can decide to not listen to the enemy, to recognize him for who he is, a troublemaker. And instead seek God, and let the Holy Spirit who dwells within us lead us through the word to the right attitude.

Remember we can not control other peoples actions, but we can control our reactions.

John 10 v 10....the thief does not come except to steal, and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.....

Matthew 18 v 21-22....Then Peter came to Him and said "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.".....

Just like people say all the time you can not out give God. The same is true with forgiveness. We will never be able to forgive more than what He forgave us.

Prov 17 v 22...A merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.....

Prov. 16 v 24....Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones....

Prov 15 v 1....A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger....

Prov 15 v 4....A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit....

Do you see the pattern here? How our words can affect our lives and our health through our spirit?

Let's make an effort to take time to think before we speak or answer someone. Let's make an effort to always have a forgiving heart toward our neighbors. Let's make an effort to be more like Jesus and be true followers of Christ.

Let's make an effort to

STAY IN THE WORD!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Family

Do you find it hard to witness to your own family members? Well meaning people will always tell you things like, "well, sometimes it is not you that was meant to witness to them." I have to say that might just be a lie from the devil. I can't believe that God would be telling you not to witness. OK, here is what I mean by witnessing. Not preaching, not condemming them, not telling them what they are doing wrong, not talking about how bad they are to everyone else in the family or among your friends.

But loving them where they are and praying for them daily, and confessing them as being saved in your prayer time. You know, calling those things that are not as though they already are??? Why do we find ourselves so on fire for God and wanting to share Him with the outside world, but we let our own family members fall through the cracks?

There are ways of witnessing without ever opening our mouths. In fact that is the best way to witness, by the way we live and by the way we show love toward others. What does the Word say, something like it is easy to love the lovable it is the unrighteous that needs your love. Well something like that. In other words what have we profited, if we save the whole world but let our family members down? Didn't Jesus say, what shepherd would not leave the 99 to find the one sheep and save him from danger?

Oh I know, I have heard it before many times, where people say, I am not wasting any more time on that one. Well, PRAISE GOD, JESUS didn't say that about us. I am so very thankful for the faithful people who continued to pray for me even when I was soooooo unlikeable. There were family members who could have easily written me off and no one could have blamed them the way I acted, but they didn't. Although they might not have spent much one on one time physically with me, I know they spent alot of one on one time praying for me and my salvation. God is faithful, He is no respector of man, He will hear the prayers for the worst of them just as easily as He will for the best of them.

How do you witness to your family members? Do you have someone in your family who needs the Lord in their life? What do you do about that? Now don't go beating yourself up about not spending enough time with them, but please if you are not already doing so, pray diligently for them. Pray with a sincere heart. God didn't say we had to like each other, but He did COMMAND us to LOVE each other. First we have to check our own hearts and make sure that we have no unforgiveness for that person in our hearts. Then we love that person the way Christ loves us. Unconditionally. Then when we pray for them, we can pray out of love and not obligation.

Matthew 5 v 43-46...."You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?....

Now I ask you, have you ever seen it pouring down rain and two people standing side by side and the rain only falls on one of them and not the other? It is the same with God. It is not possible for Him to love you any more than He loves me.

Matthew 18 v 12-14...."What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.....

Remember His grace is undeserved, unearned. We can not gain His grace by our merits of doing good. His forgiveness is for everyone not just you or me. Don't give up on your loved ones, don't listen to the lies of the devil telling you that you are wasting your time, that your job is done. Jesus will be the one to say "it is finished". He has the last word. So lets get in our prayer closets and spend some time praying for our loved ones and maybe even for ourselves to cleanse our own hearts of any unforgiveness that we may be harboring.

Where do we find the strength to keep on keeping on, to keep loving the unloved, to diligently pray for the lost?

STAY IN THE WORD!

What Does Our Mirror Reflect

It is said in the word that our hearts are a reflection of who we really are, how we really feel, where we store our treasures. It is like a mirror image. That for me is a scary thought since sometimes I do not say or do things that are in a pleasing way to the Lord. In fact probably just the opposite. What? You say the same with you. Sometimes you mess up too. Good, I am glad I am not alone. Truth be told, we have all missed the mark at some time or other in our daily walks.

That is why we can rejoice that our God is a God of Love and not condemnation. He knows we are not capable of being perfect. More importantly He knows our hearts. When we repent and turn to Him and surrender to Him, then and only then can our hearts get in line with His word. The more time we spend in His word, the better shape our hearts will be in, and the better the image is that we reflect.

His word is like furniture polish we use to polish and shine wood. The more we use it the more the wood shines. The more of His word you have in your heart the better you shine. There will be dust try to gather on us now and again, but we get the Word out and saturate our hearts and our minds with His word, so that our reflection is what pleases God.

Prov. 27 v 19....As in water face reflects face, So a man's heart reveals the man......

Prov. 23 v 7a....For as he thinks in his heart, so is he....

Matthew 6 v 21...For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also......

PS. 139 v 23-24....Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting......

Romans 10 v 8....But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach)....

When we keep the word in our hearts and speak it daily with our mouths we will be better able to have the reflection of Christ. And isn't that what we want? To be a reflection of Christ Jesus. For our hearts to be a mirror image of our Lord.

The world will try to steal your joy on a daily basis. The world will push you to reflect a different image than that of our Lord. The world can make our mirror image look ugly and uncaring. But we have what it takes to reflect a better image. We have the Word of God to guide us daily. We have only but to open the book and read. AMEN!

STAY IN THE WORD!

The Perfect Dance

WOW! Sunday our Pastor said somethng that really stuck with me. He was talking about the Holy Spirit being our guide. He sort of compared it to when you are dancing a waltz with someone, and how you only have one person leading, and the other following.

That is how the Holy Spirit wants to guide us. He wants to be the leader and He will lead you perfectly if you will let Him. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman, He will not force His moves on you. But in order to create the perfect dance, we have to let Him be the leader. Let Him lead and we follow.

Every now and again we will get our toes stepped on, but that is because we are trying to take over the lead instead of following Him. Sometimes we will look pretty silly because we are out there trying to dance all by ourselves. We will look as though we have no direction.

But if we would just let the Holy Spirit guide us and lead us around the dance floor of life, we will be floating together as a beautiful waltz.

Jesus said He would send us a helper someone to guide us through our lives. He did, He sent us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. He wants to dance with you through this life. Let Him lead. AMEN!

John 14 v 15-17...."If you love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever..the Spirit of truth, whom the world can not receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you"........

John 15 v 26...."But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me......

John 16 v 7.....Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.......

PS 25 v 4-5....Show me Your ways O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.....

PS 25 v 9-10....the humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth........

We put our trust in the Lord and believe what He said, the Helper would be our guide that He will lead us in truth. We first have to trust in our dance partner in order to let Him lead.

PS 25 v 1-2....To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; let not my enemies triumph over me.....

In other words, Holy Spirit, I am trusting You not to drop me when You dip me in our dance.

You may ask what if I do not know how to let Him lead? Then get into His word and get you some free dance lessons.

STAY IN THE WORD!
Thank you Pastor Danny for a beautiful way of explaining the Holy Spirit and how He wants to guide us through our lives.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Watch Over Our Seed

When we sow our flower seeds or vegetable seeds in the ground, we do not just put them there and then never go back. No, we have to water and nourish them so that they can build a good root system to sustain them. We have to make sure we give water when needed sometimes more than others when the heat gets so bad that it will scorch them. Some plants are more delicate than others and need alot of care, and then some develop good roots right off.

It is the same with when we sow a seed into someone's life. When we sow the word of God we can't just walk away and forget about the seed we planted. We have to be faithful to watch over that seed for a while. I don't mean we have to babysit these folks day and night, I mean we need to be faithful to check on them now and again to make sure they are not being scorched and dried up by the enemy. We need to make sure they know where to get there nourishment and water so that they might build a good foundation (a root system). If we just told them about the Lord but never show them how to find His love and their strength in the word, then we have not taken good care of our seed.

I have heard many times in the church that we plant the seed then our part is done. It is now up to that person to do with our seed what they will, we have no more responsiblity to that seed. I have to disagree. As much as the Word of God uses seedtime and harvest as a lesson I believe that is how we are to plant and take care. Never do you plant and forget about it. Now don't get me wrong, if that person does not choose to take care of their own seed then that is their choice. THAT IS NOT YOUR FAULT! God gave us each free will to choose. Whether or not they choose to serve Him or not is up to them. However all Christians know that when you first give your life to the Lord, the enemy is going to come against you. Sometimes we have to stake our plants to hold them up, the same with people sometimes they need a little support as well.

It is not the Pastors job to take care of the seeds we plant. It is our job. You may say, but I do not know what to tell this person about how to take care of their seed. That is what we have the Word for. The Word is our guide to good planting and harvest. Here is the planting chart.

1. Plant the seed with love
2. Water with the Word
3. Love and Nourish with prayer

Sometimes harvest time takes a long while, sometimes harvest comes quickly. Just as different seeds have different germination periods, so do the people you are witnessing to. Some may come to the Lord right off, and some like myself for example may take 20+ years. You say, well I may move away or they may move away. What then? Loving and nourishing your seed comes through prayer for that person. You can always pray for someone even if it is impossible for you to physically be near them. You may plant a seed into some peoples lives and it is in your best interest to not be near that person even if they live down the street. You can still love and nourish them with prayer.

Luke 8 v 11-15...."Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among the thorns are those who, when they heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.......

When we plant our flower beds and gardens we amend our soil so that our seeds get a good start. The way we can amend the heart of the people we are sowing the word of God into, is by sowing always in love. And remember the last part of that passage of scripture. With patience the seed in the good ground bears fruit. What is patience? Patience is LOVE.

When we walk in love and share the gospel with love and without condemnation our seeds will fall onto good ground. We may not see it right off but Love never fails. Remember keep condemnation away from your seeds. Condemnation is like ROUND UP on your plants it will destroy and kill. It is from the enemy not from God.

1 Cor 13 v 8a....Love never fails.....

Romans 8 v 1...there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.....

Gen. 8 v 22...."While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease....

There will be a seedtime and harvest. It is a promise from God. AMEN!

How do we know what words to use when planting a seed. By knowing what the Word says.

STAY IN THE WORD!

Monday, June 6, 2011

All Things Belong to Us in Christ

Jesus tells us in His word that all things He has belongs to us. He didn't say some things, He said ALL things. He is telling His disciples that He will be leaving this world going to be with the Father. He says that He will send us a helper. Our Helper is the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit could not come until Jesus had left. He said that all things that the Father has are His and therefore all things He has He will declare to us through the Spirit.

What does this mean for us? For Christians? It simply means that excellent divine health are ours, freedom for financial woes are ours, favor in all situations are ours, victory over all trials are ours. Let me ask you this. Do you think Jesus has sickness in His body? Do you think Jesus is a poor man? Do you think the devil can beat Jesus at anything? The answer to all of those questions would be a big resounding NO!

Jesus defeated Satan and He took the victory over death, sickness, disease, poverty, or lack in any area. Jesus is the VICTOR not Satan. So if all things He has belongs to us then it is up to us to claim these things for ourselves. AMEN!

John 16 v 13-15....However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.......

Jesus went to the Father on our behalf and declared us as one with Him and the Father.

John 17 v 21-23....that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me......

What it all boils down to, is how do we see ourself in Christ? Do we see ourselves receiving all the promises He gave us in His word? Do we see ourselves receiving the Blessing of the Lord? The Blessing covers it all. There are not many blessings, there is one Blessing of the Lord, and in that Blessing is your health, your riches, your peace of mind, your joy, your salvation, and He says He will add no sorrow with it. WOW! You can have all this with no sorrows according to your faith. AMEN!

PROV 10 v 22....The Blessing of the Lord makes one rich and He adds no sorrow with it.....

PS 37 v 3-7....Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him....

Ephes. 1 v 7-12....In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory....

This scripture tells us that we have all things according to His will. His will is always good never bad. If it is bad it is of the enemy. God will only give to His children that which is good. So sickness, poverty, lack, unrest, all these things are from the enemy and do not belong to us who are in HIM. Remember your inheritance is The Blessing of the LORD, and no sorrow with it. Take your inheritance and leave the rest of that junk alone that does not belong to you.

Where do we go to find how we can receive the Blessing of the Lord, how we can be made one with Him and the Father, how we can inherit all He has to give us?

STAY IN THE WORD!