Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Are You Using Your Part



1 Cor. 12 v 12....For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many are one body, so also is Christ.....
12 v 14.....for in fact the body is not one member but many.....

We are told how one might be the eye, and another, the tongue, or ears. How one might be the foot, and one the leg. When we are building a church or getting ready to go out into the mission field, to speak the gospel of Christ, we need to make sure all of our body is with us. The body can’t move forward if all the parts are not moving together in sequence.

Have you ever seen the kids on field day running the 3 legged race, where two kids are tied together with a strap around their two legs, so they are running with 3 legs instead of 4? If they do not get in sequence with their two legs tied together and use those legs as one, they will stumble and fall.

You see we need all of our parts working in the body of Christ. Just like in the church, if some do not do their part, like helping with the nursery, cleaning the church, greeting the visitors, teaching the youth, then the body will start to stumble and if another part does not jump in to catch us, we will fall. When we do not do our part we cause some parts of our body to work harder. After a while the part doing all of the work will wear down. Christ says we are one body.

1 Cor. 12 v 20-22....But now indeed there are many members yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you" nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.....

It doesn't matter what part of the body you are operating in, whether it be teaching, preaching, or cleaning the bathrooms. All parts are essential to the wellness of the whole body.

1 Cor. 12 v 27-28....Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church; first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, variety of tongues......

We are not all called to be a teacher, or a prophet, but we are all called under the heading of helps. We all have a gift to give to the church body.

So let us become one like Christ intended for the church to be. When we work as one body, we can win this race even if we have two of our legs tied together.

When we pray and seek God and ask Him to show us what part of the body we can be a help in, He will be faithful to show us.

STAY IN THE WORD!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Keep Knocking


We are probably all familiar with the passage in scripture that tells us to, "knock and it shall be opened".
But whose door are we trying to open? Is it God's door?

Last Sunday at church our Pastor said just keep knocking until the door opens. After hearing this and meditating on this, I thought God's door is always opened to us. He will answer on the first knock. So why are we going to keep knocking? Is God not at home, or too busy to answer the door? No, you will always find God at home.

The door that needs to be opened is the door to our hearts and our minds. You see we can ask all day long of God, but if we do not believe that we receive we will be just knocking on the door to our minds and hearts with no answer. We have to keep knocking and asking for what we need or want until we settle it in our hearts, until we get revelation of what the word says we have what we ask, then that is when we reach His door, and it will be opened.

Matt. 7 v 7-8...."Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.....

Matt. 21 v 22....and whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive....

1 John 5 v 14-15....Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.....

Did you catch the part of those scriptures that tells us what we have to do? And if we KNOW He hears us. In other words if we believe that He hears us, then we KNOW that we have whatever we ask. We must first believe.

God will always do His part, but we have to do our part as well. Our part is to believe without doubt that what He says He will do, He is faithful to do it. That if He says we have whatever we ask, then we shall have whatever we ask.

First we have to open the doors of our hearts and our minds so that we will be able to find His door. And once we find His door and knock, and ask, it will be given.

We do this by renewing our minds with the WORD, by asking God for wisdom to know the right things to ask, and by having faith that when we ask it shall be done. AMEN!

Until you settle in your heart and have revelation that you have what it is you ask, do like Pastor said Sunday, keep knocking, keep seeking, keep asking. Remember faith comes by hearing not by heard. AMEN!

Romans 10 v 17...So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God....

STAY IN THE WORD!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Recipe for a Renewed Mind and Success In Every Area of Your Life



Ingredients: Scriptures, a faith filled heart, a renewed mind, a mouth to confess with, an ear to hear

Directions: confess these scriptures daily ( you may want to add some extra) make it fit your recipe of life

(Scriptures paraphrased..)

PS 23 v 1...The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not lack in any area of my life......

Phil 4 v 19...My God shall supply ALL of my needs....

3 John 2... I shall prosper and be in health just as my soul prospers...

Gal 3 v 13... I am redeemed from the curse...

IS 53 v 5...I am healed by His stripes...

Deut 28 v 3-7...I am blessed going in and blessed coming out, I am blessed in all areas of my life, my enemies shall flee from me....

Prov 10 v 22....The Blessing of the Lord makes me rich and He adds no sorrow to it.....

John 17 v 16-17... I am not of this world, Your truth has set me free....

Mal 3 v 10-12...The windows of heaven are opened unto me, and Your Blessing overtakes me, I cannot contain it all, and You have rebuked the devourer.....

MK 11 v 23-24....I shall say to my mtns. be removed and they shall be. I will not doubt, but I will have faith in Your Word.

Thank You Lord and let it be done unto me according to Your Word. For you are not a man that You should lie and Your Word is Truth. I believe and I receive in Jesus name. AMEN AMEN AMEN

STAY IN THE WORD!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Who's On The Other End


Last night at church we were taking some sayings of the world and replacing them with scriptures of what God says. For example, one was something like when asked to pray for the president you might hear someone say something like, "well I didn't vote for him". What does God have to say about people in authority? Let's look in 1 Timothy.

1 Tim. vs 1-2....Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.....

God says to pray for them. We need to know where to find in God's word the answers to the world's questions. Especially questions concerning their salvation.

We were reviewing the subject of renewing our minds. Can you see how stinking thinking, and things that we grew up hearing and repeating can be replaced by the Word of God when we renew our mind by getting into His Word daily?

How many times have we said something like, I am so poor I can't pay attention. Well what does God have to say about that? He says His blessing makes us rich.

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

One man said this. "When you open your Bible to read it, open it expecting to hear from God. When you are reading your Bible that is God speaking to you."

That hit me like a brick between the ears. (in other words I heard what he was saying). How many times do we get into the Word and then walk away without any revelation of what was just read or said? How many times do we go to church and listen to the pastor and follow along in the scriptures and walk out of church without a revelation of what was just said? I don't mean that we don't know what he just said, I mean we don't get it. I mean we walk out thinking we are just as poor, or just as sick as when we walked in?

I started thinking about what that young man said. I thought it is like when we open our Bible to speak with God, it is like we are calling God on the telephone. He always answers. You will never get a busy signal, or you will never find Him not at home or too busy to talk.

But then here is where we come in. Do we then hang up the phone (close the Bible) and walk away without a word from Him. If we do it is because we were not listening. We were either doing all the talking or just not paying attention. We need to make sure we do not have any distractions around us when we call on God.

How rude is it when you are trying to talk to someone and they are constantly moving around doing something else or talking with someone else and not paying attention to a word you are saying? How does that make you feel? Insignificant? Unimportant? Like you might as well be talking into the air?

When we open the Word of God, we need to be ready to listen and expect to receive from Him what we are seeking. I promise you He is listening and He has a Word ready for you. Everything you need is in His Word.

If we walk away without receiving, it is not His fault, but our own.

When you open your Bible and call on God, don't use a party line with more than one person on the line. No make a person to person call. Let it be just you and God on the line. Don't let someone else pick up on the line. Use a phone with just one line so that there can be no interruptions.

Walk away with a renewed mind, and with everything you were seeking. AMEN!

STAY IN THE WORD!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Our Second Step In A New Life


This week we are hearing what the second step is after we are born again. The second step is being renewed. The word tells us to renew our minds. The way we renew our minds is with the Word of God. The more we read it, the more we hear it, the more our minds are renewed. The more we become like Jesus.

First we are made new through accepting Christ Jesus. Then we must continually renew our minds daily to what He says in His Word about who we are.

2 Cor 5 v 17....Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.....

Romans 12 v 2...And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God....

If we are only hearing things from the world all day, and we don't take the time to hear from God. Then what do you think we will think of first, when something tries to come against us? We will remember what the world is saying.

For example, everyday the news for the past week has been about the market dropping. The economy failing. Has this concerned you to the point of worry? Well, it shouldn't, because the Word says, He will provide all your needs. Who are you looking to as your source? This worlds' economy, or God?

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

A thought just came to me while I was typing that scripture. Maybe the reason I lack sometimes is because I had to look up that scripture. Oh yes, I have heard it over and over again, and I can quote it. But, do I have revelation of it? I can tell you where all the healing scriptures are in the Word, because I have revelation of healing. I have faith in what the word says about healing. I have had healing manifest in me. However, as many times as I have heard this scripture, I had to look in the back to find where it was located so that I could type it correctly, and show you where the Word says that God will supply all of your need. Hmmm!

It is like I say, our Pastor tells us that faith comes from hearing not from HEARD. AMEN! Don't be too quick to turn off your paying attention when a familiar scripture is being read. You never know when it is going to hit you between the ears and you will get a revelation of the fact that it is for you. You are part of the ALL, when God gave us His Blessing, He gave it to ALL of us.

Romans 10 v 17....So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.....

Back to being renewed.....

The first thing we need to do when attempting to renew our minds, is to ask God for wisdom. When we pray for wisdom first, God will then add all other things unto us. Why? Because when He gives us wisdom, we will make right choices, we will be in the right place at the right time for His favor to cover us. AMEN!

James 1 v 5....If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.....

Matthew 6 v 33.....but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you....

All what things? Everything you have need of.

When God told Solomon he could have whatever he asked of Him, what did he ask for? He didn't ask for riches beyond anything that we could ever imagine. No. He asked for wisdom. And because of this God gave him more riches than anyone has ever seen since.

I heard on Joseph Prince the other day, something like this. When we make money a big important thing and chase after it, we never catch up. But when we make money a little thing and make God bigger, money chases us. AMEN!

Solomon didn't care about the riches. He just wanted to make sure that he had the wisdom to make the right decisions as king. Yes, Solomon did fail in some areas, as we all will do in our life times. If we were perfect, we wouldn't need a Savior.
But Solomon never lacked in riches.

God's will is for us to be prosperous and to be in good health and to live out our lives in abundance in every area. We have to renew our minds to believe and have faith in what He says His will is for us. We have to get into His Word, and find for ourselves His plans for us.

He has a good plan for us, a plan for us to prosper in every area. AMEN!

Don't hold on to stinking thinking that you had before giving your life to Christ. You are the righteousness of Christ Jesus. You have the riches of Solomon available to you. You have the Blessing of Abraham on you. You are blessed going in and blessed going out. Your storehouses will overflow. You will live a long and fruitful life.

How do I know all of this to be true? Because He said it in His Word, and He is not a man that He should lie. We just have to renew our minds with the scriptures daily so that our faith will bring revelation of this to each of us and we will see these things manifest in our lives.

Leave that old man behind and never look back. Don't keep picking up the trash you threw out when you became a Christian. Stay out of the dumps, and visit the Kingdom daily through His Word.

Now that you are born again, you have to learn a new language. One that is full of God's Word, and not the negative words you knew before.

Phil 4 v 8...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....

Remember you are the righteousness of Christ Jesus. The same Spirt that raised Jesus from the dead, now resides in you. AMEN!

Be RENEWED in all things that you do, in all things that you think, and in all things that you say.

STAY IN THE WORD!

How To Share The Gospel

We have started a new series at church for August, entitled 7 Steps to a New Life. I am very excited about it, as hopefully we will all learn how to better equip ourselves to share the gospel with others.

As we were talking last night about why it is hard for us to share the gospel, something came to me from my days as a "Mary Kay" Sales director.

I can remember when I was a consultant, I didn't sell very much Mary Kay because I had never used it, so I was unfamiliar and uncomfortable sharing with others. I was afraid they may ask me something I wouldn't know how to answer. Then one day, I took my friend with me to a meeting to have a free facial. No one showed up, so I told her I would have a facial with her.

My director was leading us through the steps of cleansing our faces and moisturizing, etc. I was so excited, I said, "this stuff is great!" My director said, "Neta, you act as if you have never used this before?" I was honest and told her that I had not. But that I would from here on out.

As I started using the product and studying all the facts about the products, I became very excited about what this product could do for your skin. From then on, every facial I did, I sold the entire kit. Why? Because, I beleived in what I was selling, because I had a personal view on the product since I was using it myself.

Having said all this, my point is, when we share the Gospel with others, we need to have a good understanding of exactly what we are sharing. We need to be excited about our Salvation and how we came to receive it. We need to share the good news with others, and not try to judge them or preach condemnation to them.

Pastor said something that caught my attention. Our task Jesus assigned us with was to share His good news. Once the person we share with, accepts Jesus as their Lord, He will take care of the cleansing. We can't clean them, we can't change them. Only He can do that.

One of the things we were always told in "Mary Kay" was to not take a (no) personally. As the person was not saying (no) to us but to our product.

The difference here is we are not trying to sell Jesus to people. We are trying to share the great things He has done with our lives. Sometimes we witness more to others by our actions and with no words at all. What are our actions telling others? Are our actions leading them to want to know more about our new life with Christ Jesus?

Don't be like me with the "Mary Kay". Don't just recieve your salvation, and then not read the manual as to what to do with it. Get in the word of God and study it out for yourself, what speaks to you, what means the most to you. Know where to find the Truth to share with others.

Once you get a revelation of the Word and what it is saying to you, you will be more comfortable and ready to share it with others.

Jesus says the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. God's will is that none should perish. If we would all get excited about what Jesus did for us on that cross, and start sharing with others, we would start to see a harvest time. AMEN!

I am not sure how you will personally share the Gospel with someone else. But I have came up with some Bible truths that will help me in leading others to Christ Jesus. My homework Pastor gave us this week was to find the scriptures that say what you want to share, and write them down and get them rooted into your heart, so that they are easy to share.

My Homework:

How To Share The Gospel With Others

1. Has anyone ever shared with you what John 3 v 16 says?
John 3 v 16....For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever beleives in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.....

2. What about John 3 v 17?
John 3 v 17....For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.....

3. The word might is there because God gave us all free will to choose for ourselves. No one can choose Jesus for us. We have to make the decision to make Him Lord over our lives on our own.

4. How do we do this?
Romans 10 v 9-10...If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.....

God is Love. It is His will that NO ONE should perish but that we would ALL come to Him through His Son Christ Jesus.

Jesus died over 2000 years ago on the cross for You and Me. For EVERYONE. His gift of salvation is His free gift of Grace to ALL who acknowledge Him as the only Son of God. We CAN NOT WORK for our salvation. We can only get it through Christ Jesus.

His blood covered ALL sins, past present and future. Since we obviously were not around 2000 years ago when He died, we would be the future, and all we do will be the future.

5. When we accept Him, we are a new creation.
2 Cor. 5 v 17...Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new....

6. God says, He remembers our sins no more.
Rom 6 v 14.... For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under GRACE......

You are now covered by the blood of Jesus.

It is the enemy who will remind you of your past. When he does, SHOUT him down with the WORD. Tell him "my sins are no more". "I am a child of God."

7. God says there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8 v 1-2....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. For the law of the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death....

8. We are made free in Christ Jesus.
2 Cor 3 v 17...Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.... (freedom)

9. Why do you have to beleive in Jesus and make Him Lord and Savior?
John 14 v 6... Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.".....

10.Now what does all this mean?
This means that if you believe in your heart that Jesus is the only Son of God, and that He died on the cross for your sins, and that God raised Him from the dead and that He is now seated at His right hand. Then you too are a child of God.

Now get into His word and find out all about this wonderful Savior. In His word are promises to you for your health, your prosperity, and your freedom. Get to know Him better.

STAY IN THE WORD!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

What Is Wrong With Praying For Our Nation

Ok, I don't know but I am tired of people telling Christians when it is right to pray and when it is not. When it is "politically correct" to talk about JESUS and when it is not. Here is the deal Christians, It is ALWAYS correct, politically or otherwise to talk about your SAVIOR.

We need to take our stand as Christians and quit letting people tell us what their rights are. I am not talking about getting into a RELIGOUS Battle, I am simply saying, we have the same rights as all those poor pitiful me groups who think that just because we want to share the good news we are infringing on their rights somehow.

What harm can come from praying for our nation and her leaders? What harm comes from asking God to give wisdom and guidance to our leaders?

No one is telling those who don't believe that they have to do anything or believe anything.

What are you afraid of when a Christian Govenor prays for the country and for our President? I am curious what are you, who are protesting prayer afraid of?

I would think everyone would want GOD to bless our nation. We are not as Christians just praying for other Christians when we pray for our nation. We are praying for everyone's benefit.

Does it hurt your feelings when someone tells you to have a great day? Then why should it hurt your feelings or offend you when someone wants to pray for something good for you.

GOD IS LOVE! AND GOD IS GOOD! AMEN!