Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A Coffee Break With God

I love the mornings when I have time to get up and settle down with my cup of tea or coffee and get my Bible and start praying for God's guidance and His wisdom as I read His word. It is such a peaceful relaxing time. No worries, no stress overhanging, just one on one time with God.

This is the time that we can take for ourselves, to just rest in Him and lean on Him. This is the time to tell Him all of our troubles, instead of getting on the phone and calling our friends and family to vent, we take this time to tell Him what is bothering us. It is surprising how fast our troubles can get smaller and even dissappear altogether when we take them to Him instead of building them bigger by telling everyone else our problems.

This is the time that God is talking about in PS 91 when He says he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High. He wasn't talking about hiding in a closet (unless you need to in order to get by yourself) or going to some mountain top. He is talking about just taking some one on one time with Him and His word.

When I was working, I found that when I took the time to spend with Him first, my job that day went a whole lot easier. When we take the time to saturate ourselves with His word, then the world's junk can not stick to us throughout our workday. It is like covering ourselves with Holy Oil and everything else just slips right off.

When you read PS 91 change the word you to I and me and make it personal. That is how God intended for it to be. Let it read like this.....

PS91....When I dwell in the secret place of the Most High, I shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, You are my refuge and my fortress; in You I will trust. Surely You shall deliver me from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. You shall cover me with Your feathers, and under Your wings I shall take refuge; Your truth shall be my shield and buckler, I shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand, but it shall not come near me. Only with my eyes shall I look and see the reward of the wicked. Because I have made You my refuge, even the Most High my dwelling place. No evil shall befall me, nor shall any plague come near my dwelling. For You will give Your angels charge over me, to keep me in all my ways. In their hands they shall bear me up, lest I dash my foot against a stone. I shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent I shall trample underfoot.
Because I have set my love upon You, therefore, You will deliver me. You will set me on high because I have known Your name. I will call upon You and You will answer me. You will be with me in my times of trouble. You will deliver me and honor me with long life and You will satisfy me and show me Your salvation. AMEN.............

Now after God talks to us like that, how can anything the world has to throw at us stick. That is His Holy Oil annointing you. His Word is your protection, your nourishment, your salvation. His Word is everything you need to survive. His Word is TRUTH.

You might say, I feel so defeated, how can I go on? Open His WORD and let His TRUTH set you free. His WORD is a personal love letter written to you. Read it, believe it, and then let go and let God have the leading role in your life.

STAY IN THE WORD!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas Manger

While speaking at my brother-in-loves's church one year at Christmas, I was speaking on the true meaning of Christmas. I was talking about the manger, and my brother-in-love brought up a good point. He said the word manger means a box or trough to eat from. Then he said, do you think that was a sign of our first Holy communion? What a great question.

God gave us His Son and there was no where for Him to lay but in a manger. A feed box for the animals.

Luke 2 v 6-7...So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn......

Manger; a box or trough used for feeding the animals


Then the night Jesus was betrayed, He had the last supper with His disciples. He told us that as often as we eat the bread and wine to remember Him. He said when we partake of this bread and wine we proclaim His death till He comes. He offered Himself up for all of us, not just some, but for all. The last supper, that means there had to be one before. I believe the first was the night He was born.

1 Cor. 11 v 23-25....For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you; that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "take eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.".....

What is He telling us here? I believe He is telling us that when we receive Holy communion, we receive Him into ourselves. We are claiming everything He died on that cross for. He died for our salvation.

SALVATION, Sozo, It means in the literal Greek, "saved, delivered, healed, protected; to be made whole spirit, soul, body, financially and socially
It means complete, finished, whole, nothing lacking.

The Father first gave us this gift on the birth of Jesus, His only begotten Son, born in a stable and laid in a manger. The first Holy Communion.

This was the gift Jesus gave to us. His life. You will not receive a greater gift than this on Christmas.

What better way to remember Him and celebrate His birthday than to receive the Lord's Supper this Sunday.

Merry Christmas and Peace on Earth Goodwill toward all men. AMEN!

STAY IN THE WORD!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Stretching A Meal So That None Go Hungry

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where pay day is a long way off and you still gotta feed your kids? You go to the cupboards and they look bare. It looks hopeless. I have to tell the truth, I lived that life for many years, and I gotta say,
I learned alot of ways to make food stretch.

This is a time of year when people seem to think about the homeless and the hungry more so than the rest of the year. I always thought it funny, how people must have thought we only got hungry at Christmas or Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong I always appreciated the help I got from others at this time of year, but I have to say there were days when my stomach was empty during the rest of the year that caused me to wonder why.

When I would start to worry about where the next meal for me to feed my kids was, there would always be enough. You see God is no respector of men, and although I did not have a relationship with Him during these times, He always came through. It seemed as though the potatos I would peel look so few, but then they would seem to grow in the pan. Kind of reminds me of another story about a couple of fish. (Matthew14 v 17-18). And don't even get me started on how many beans we ate. To this day I stilll love pinto beans and whenever I feel blah and feel like I just can't seem to get satisfied, nothing makes me feel better than some beans and tortillas.

Some people would go through times like these and say "I will never eat another bean". Not so with me. I will always appreciate the days those beans literally saved me from starving and remember God always comes through even if I hadn't asked Him for His help.

Just like we can make our food stretch so that we do not go hungry, we can also nourish ourselves on His word. God did tell us that man does not live on bread alone but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. (Deut. 8 v 3).

You may say, I just do not have enough time to spend learning the word, there is just way too much, I could never learn it all. You would be half right. There is alot of word and the word will never finish teaching us all there is to know. But we can take it one verse at a time. We can find where in the word our help comes from and meditate on that, and once we get that not just into our heads but into our hearts, then we can move on to the next verse or scripture passage that nourishes our needs at that time.

Just like making a pot of beans stretch to feed us until we get more food, we can make a passage of scripture stretch and feed us, for as long as we need to. There is no expiration date on God's word and it will never sour or go bad. And once that passage has led us through we can start feeding on a different passage.

I don't know why the Lord led me to write on this today except that while fixing a pot of chilli and remembering all the ways I use to stretch that chili, I felt like maybe someone would like to know how to make a meal stretch and feed their kids and at the same time remind them to feed on His word as well and they would never go hungry.

Remember those who are less fortunate and donate food to your local food pantrys and shelters all the time, but especially now when they are trying to feed so many. God Bless you for helping to feed His children.

Please find at the bottom of page a recipe for chilli and how to stretch it into many meals.

STAY IN THE WORD!

Chilli

1 pound ground beef, 1 can of diced tomatos, 1 can of black beans or refried beans, chilli spices (like, chilli powder, cumin, garlic powder, red pepper, salt and black pepper) 1 small onion chopped up.

Brown meat, with onions and spices, add can of beans and tomatos and bring to a low boil. Let simmer and thicken. Freeze and take cut off little at a time to mix with water to make chilli soup.

Now when supper times comes, take a couple of ladels of chilli and mix in a boiler with a little water. You now have chilli soup. Grill some cheese sandwiches and a salad to make a meal. Depending on how many you are feeding you can have enough chilli in the freezer to make soup about 3 -4 times.

Don't forget to have chili for breakfast as well with a boiled egg. I can remember eating this many mornings while pregnant with my oldest son. I couldn't afford bacon or ham so I used the next best thing. Chilli from my freezer. Maybe one day I will share with you all the ways to cook a potato. One of my favorites french fry sandwiches with ketchup.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

My Gift To Jesus This Season

Have you given any thought to what you might give to the Lord for His birthday? I have to be honest, until I saw a sign at a local church about what gift will you give Christ on Christmas, I hadn't really thought about a gift for Him. Isn't that strange? How many other people would we celebrate their birthdays and give gifts to everyone but the birthday person?

This message is not to bring condemnation to anyone about the way they choose to celebrate Christmas. Let's get rid of that notion right off. No, instead this message is a way of causing us to pause and give some thought to what can I give Christ this year? This is what I came up with.

During the Easter season there are some religions who celebrate lent by giving up something that is a sacrifice in some way, like desserts, or coffee, or eating meat, you get the picture.

Why not for Christmas, say we do something like try to change one thing in our daily routine so that we can give Him a few moments of our time each day.

Remember the song, "Little Drummer Boy". He was a poor little boy who had no material posessions to give. But he did have a special talent, playing the drum. So he played a song for Him. And he didn't just play any ole song. He played his best for Him.

We do not have to have alot of money or a special musical talent. Our Pastor was saying Sunday that Jesus gives us the best present of all, that is being PRESENT with us at all times. He never leaves us. He went on to explain when we do give Jesus some of our time, to give Him our best time. In other words not at the end of the day when we are so tired we can't go another step, or keep our eyes open another minute.

There needs to be a time of day that we can set aside especially on purpose for the Lord each day. A time that we can sit at His feet and worship Him and learn from Him through His word. In other words some quality time.

I think this would be the best present we could give to Jesus on His birthday. Special one on one time with just Him. How many children or parents know that this is what they appreciate most from each other? One on one time, not the material gifts.

Do not let the Christmas season get you down, or stress you out. That was never God's intention. He did not send His Son to the world to bring us stress everytime His birthday came around. He sent Him so that through Him we could know His peace and His grace, and to give us the greatest gift of all, the gift of Salvation, the gift of Eternal Life with Him and the Father.

Luke 2 v 8-14....Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth "peace, "goodwill toward men!"......

You see there is nothing about stress and heartache being brought to you. But instead Peace, Good tidings of Great Joy.

So this Christmas let's pause and take time to give Jesus our best gift of all.

Let's give Him some on purpose quality time each day. AMEN!

STAY IN THE WORD!