I Know The Thought I Have For You!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. “– Jeremiah 29:11-13 NLT

These three verses are some of my absolute favorite verses in the entire bible. Since I got saved these verses have sustained my faith and hope throughout many trials and tribulations. I will often quote these verses to someone who is facing adversity and needs encouragement. It’s a reminder that no matter what we are going through there is no need to worry and stress out because our Lord has A GOOD PLAN that He’s working out in our lives. In His plan there is ALWAYS hope for our final outcome. He promises that if we will pray that He WILL listen and when we look for Him WITH ALL OF OUR HEART, requiring Him as a vital necessity to make it through our daily lives, we will find Him.

I love how these verses read out of the Amplified Bible. Read it out loud that your faith my increase, because faith comes by hearing the Word of God. (Romans 10:17) So speak out loud now,

“For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and NOT for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you.
Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”Our Creator and heavenly Father is telling us clearly that he thinks about our life and has a specific plan for us here on earth. Our life has a divine purpose. Look at what Psalm 139 says,

"Lord, Lord"

So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.” Luke 6:46-49 (NLT)

Here in Luke 6 Jesus says to some of those who have been calling Him Lord, “Why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord! When you don’t do what I say?”

Jesus is addressing those who were just giving Him the lip service, “Lord, Lord”. They had not truly made Him Master of their lives. With their mouth it may have seemed that they believed, but their lives did not reflect the teachings of Christ. We know this is true because He said to them, “you don’t do what I say”. It is not enough to just 'say' we believe in Jesus. Even the demons believe and they tremble with terror. It is not enough to just 'say' we have faith. He wants us to show that we truly believe and have faith in Him by obeying His Word. Calling Jesus Lord is something that anyone can just ‘say’. You see to call Jesus Lord is to call Him our Ruler or Master. To call Him Lord means that we want Him to have authority, dominion, and control over our entire lives. We surrender our lives, our will, and our selfish desires to follow His teaching because we know that His ways are righteous and true. We surrender because He loved us so much that He laid down His life for us. Therefore we trust Him with our lives and lay them down at His feet to do with as He pleases. (James 2:19)

“And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:3-6

In the Gospel of John Jesus says, “If you love Me, obey My commandments.” (John14:15 NLT)

Our obedience to His teachings is for our own good. He says, “I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.” (Luke 6:48 NLT)

When we truly make Jesus Lord of our life and allow His teachings to go down deep into our hearts and take root we will be able to stand firm against the floodwaters of life’s problems, testings, and persecution. His Word will rise up in us and bring us comfort and assurance that He has not forgotten us but that He is with us every step of the way. The Sovereign Lord will be our strength! He will make us as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon heights. We will not be shaken or moved because He has set our feet on the Rock of our Salvation. He becomes our Fortress and Strong Tower then we are able to withstand the floods and the winds that beat against us. We won’t collapse under the pressure because we are standing on the Word of God which is our solid foundation!

However, Jesus said that it is very different for anyone who hears His Word and doesn’t obey. He said they are, “Like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.” How sad to have heard the voice of God and ignore His leading. Ignoring Him only leads to destruction and chaos. Our lives will surely end up a mess and ruined without implementation of His Word.

There are so many people who have heard the teachings of Jesus Christ and have seen His miracles but refuse to submit to Him. They continue to want their own way, enslaved to their sinful nature. They have convinced themselves that they are fine without Him. So they continue on the broad road most commonly taken that sadly leads to hell. It reminds me of what Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death”. (Galatians 5:16 & 19-21)

Brothers and sisters let us truly examine and test ourselves to see if our faith in Christ is genuine or not before it is too late. For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. Each day it is our own choice to decide whether or not we will be doers of the Word or just hearers. But let us remember that it is sin to know what we ought to do and then not do it. (2 Corinthians 13:5, 1 Peter 4:17, James 1:22, 4:17)

Matthew 7:21-23 says, “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day MANY will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

Each of us needs to stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old godly way, and walk in it. May we be truly repent for our sins and turn to God so that He may forgive us and wipe away all of our sins. Let obedience to His Word be our number one sacrifice. Let us call out “Lord, Lord” because we desire for Him to teach us His Ways, believe in His commands, and obey His Word. Let us be like the person who built their house on the Solid Rock! (Jeremiah 6:16, Acts, 3:19, 1 Samuel 15:22, Psalm 119:66,11,9)

Moving Backwards Instead of Forward - Do What God Has Called You To DO!

Over the past couple of weeks I have felt a leading to read the book of Jeremiah. I am ashamed to say that I knew that upon reading it the Spirit would reveal to me a Word of reproach that our Lord wanted to speak to me and through me, so I prolonged reading it. I guess the truth is that there is still this fleshly side of me that longs to be accepted and not persecuted for speaking God’s Word. But I love Him too much not to allow His Spirit to speak through me. I love Him with all my heart and I long to please Him and be His faith filled handmaiden; therefore I must be obedient to His leading. He constantly reminds me that if I am going to try to win the approval of people, then I will not find approval with Him. If pleasing people ever becomes my goal, then I could NOT be Christ’s servant. (Galatians 1:10)

I only got to chapter 6 when I had to start writing this. My spirit is so grieved within me. All our heavenly Father has ever wanted was for us was to truly surrender our pride and power. He has wanted us to trust Him and change our hearts before Him. He wants us to be humbly sorry for our sins. To go before Him with broken and contrite hearts, with weeping and mourning because of the sins that we have committed, instead of acting nonchalant and ignoring the Holy Spirit’s tugging at our hearts to do what is right. He wants us to have a reverential fear of Him. A holy respect and honor for our God that will keep us on the narrow road that leads to life. He wants our obedience.

All we have to do is acknowledge our guilt, admit that we have rebelled against the Lord and wanted our own way, and confess that we refused to listen to His voice. Can’t we see that His kindness and patience has always been meant to lead us to repentance? But so many take His kindness for granted and continue in their rebellion and sin forgetting that our God sees everything. There is no where that we can hide from His Spirit. We can hide from others. We can lie to them and to ourselves, but we cannot lie to our omnipresent God.

There is a lack of reverential awe for God in the church today. This lack of fearing the Lord has caused many believers to ignore the direction the Lord is giving them for their lives. Many Christians are refusing to receive the Lord’s correction and then are wondering why their families are falling apart, their businesses are in trouble, their finances are mess, and they have no peace. They are doing work for God and making sacrifices in Jesus name, but they have forgotten what the Lord told His people when He led them out of Egypt. Listen to what the Spirit of the Lord says through Jeremiah about this,

This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Take your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves! When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. This is what I told them: ‘Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’ “But My people would not listen to Me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward..” Jeremiah 7:21-24

How many of us today feel like we have moved backwards instead of forward. If so then we need to allow the Holy Spirit to show us where we have gone wrong. Where we have rebelled and refused to listen to the Lord and instead followed our own desires. We need to get back to doing what we know is right. We need to get back to truly loving God. Loving Him means obeying Him. That is how we truly know that we are in Him. Jesus said, “If you love Me, obey My commandments.” (John 14:15)

1 John 2:3-6 says, “And we can be sure that we know Him if we obey His commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love Him. That is how we know we are living in Him. Those who say they live in God should live as Jesus did.”

It is time for us to start living in the truth. No matter what our Lord is calling us to do, whether it’s something we need to change, to leave behind, to surrender to Him, to step out in faith and go, the time has come to step out in obedience and faith. Remember that He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. He never asks us to do something that He has not equipped us to do. Sometimes we will not feel equipped for what or where He is calling us, but we have to believe that He will honor our obedience and give us everything we need to do His will.

Don’t be fooled when we know what we ought to be doing and instead we choose to ignore God’s direction, then we are in sin and rebellion against God. (James 4:17) We can be sure that because He loves us so much that we will receive His divine discipline and punishment if we don’t repent and do His will. Oh but too many believers are following teachings of those who water down the Word and glorify a God that they have made up that is so merciful and forgiving that He does not judge, correct, punish or rebuke us. But this is not the God of the bible. This is not our Heavenly Father. You see our Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child. He disciplines us so that He can produce a harvest of right living in us. (Hebrews 12:5-12)

No more excuses it’s time to do what He has called you to do! If not, your rebellion will deprive you of wonderful blessings. Your sin will rob you of many good things that the Lord has planned for you. (Jeremiah 5:23-25)

“Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16

Brothers and sisters it is time for us to go before the Lord and humble ourselves in His presence asking Him to forgive us for being rebellious and giving in to fear, doubt, anger, bitterness, unbelief, compliancy, or whatever other hindrances’ we have allowed to keep us from obeying His direction. He will not reject a broken and contrite heart. If you want to see change in your life then it’s time to humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up in honor. Make a choice today stop moving backwards and start moving forward. (James 4:7-10)

What's Holding You Back?

Last night I attended our Out of the Miry Clay monthly support group meeting. Out of the Miry Clay is a ministry formed by ex-offenders for ex-offenders. The ministry’s vision is to provide a place of refuge and accountability for ex-offenders. We are meeting, mentoring, and encouraging one another that we can overcome our battles by faith and hope in Christ Jesus.

Last night’s topic was ‘What’s holding you back?’ As I listened to some of the others share I truly asked God to help me see what has been holding me back or hindering my walk. Then I realized that lately I have been attacked with fear. Fear has tried to creep in and hinder my progress. I shared that the fear has been affecting me the way the wind affects me when I am running in the morning. When we are jogging and we turn onto a new block often times the wind is pushing against us. It slows me down me for a second but then I find that I just have to press forward harder. It’s like that when fear attacks me. The fear slows me down for a second mentally and emotionally, but I know that I have the power of Christ that is more powerful so I learn to do it afraid.

I sat back and listened as our wise mentors of the group lovingly gave their godly counsel. I humbly received their wods of encouragement and edification. I will treasure them and remember them, but most of all I will apply the counsel received to my walk with Christ. I do not want anything to hinder me from fulfilling the visions that our Lord has given me.

Through attending this support group, which of course I thought I did not need, I realized that if we are going to accomplish what our Lord has planned for us we have to constantly evaluate ourselves. That is the only way that we can truly progress in our Christian walk. If we try to pretend that nothing is wrong with us and that we have arrived then we are only lying to ourselves. If we ignore our shortcomings, temptations, or fears these will most certainly become the hindrances that cause us to stumble and more than likely cause us to become entangled in sin again. So we must keep it real with ourselves.

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”– Hebrew 12:1

Today I want to encourage you to honestly ask yourself ‘What’s holding you back?’ Better yet, ask the Holy Spirit. Heed the Holy Spirit and throw off that hindrance. Is it your attitude, fear, hidden or unconfessed sin, lust, sexual immorality, denial, feelings of unworthiness, pride, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, or doubt? What ever it is don’t allow yourself to try to carry these burdens on your own. Go to a strong believer and follower of Christ that you can trust and confess this hindrance. Ask them to pray with you and help keep you accountable to overcoming this issue. Be prepared to receive their words of encouragement, concern, and instruction.

Most importantly confess your need for help to the Lord. I believe that when we confess our hindrances or sins to the Lord that He not only forgives us but He gives us an increase of power and determination, through the Holy Spirit to overcome our battles with these shortcomings. He promised that He would continue the good work that He started in us; therefore He will not abandon us to deal with these things on our own. But first we must start by taking a look at ourselves and making an honest evaluation of whether we are in complete surrender and obedience to the will of God. Keep it real..

Lord please show us anything in us that is hindering our walk with Christ and affecting our testimony. We long to be hindrance free. We do not want to be entangled in any sin. Help us Lord. If there is anything hidden in our hearts shine the light of Your Word on it and let us not deny the Truth. Help us to confess our sins to not only to You but to someone we know that loves You and loves us too. We want to godly counsel and true constructive criticism. We receive correction and instruction with a wiliness to change. Thank You for loving us so much and changing us daily. In Jesus name I pray..amen.

Do Not Let Sin Control You

“Do not let sin control your puny bodies any longer; do not give in to its sinful desires. Do not let any part of your bodies become tools of wickedness, to be used for sinning; but give yourselves completely to God-every part of you-for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes.” Romans 6:12-13

A couple of postings back I wrote on how our Lord gives us 'Do Overs'‘ when we mess up and sin. I feel the need to follow up that posting by clarifying that all though we know that our Lord Jesus is merciful, quick to forgive us, and gives us ‘Do Overs’ when we sin, that does not mean that we are to take advantage of that. His kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. We are Christians saved to be living testimonies for the world to see Christ. We are the walking Gospel. Our lives will either be an encouragement and inspiration to others, drawing them to Christ or our lives will be a hindrance to others faith and could possibly be the reason why they stumble and fall away.

We must stay away from sin. We are not to make plans to sin doing things that we know are unpleasing to our Lord. We are called to live holy and pure lives. This is not an impossible request from our Lord. He would never ask us do something that He has not empowered us to do. It is by His power, the power of the Holy Spirit that we can resist the temptation to sin. It is by reading and hearing the Word of God that our minds are renewed and our desires are changed. When we are constantly in the Word we will desire to please our Lord instead of gratifying our own sinful desires. The secret is staying close to the Lord, being in the Word of God consistently because our Lord promises that if we keep looking steadily into His Word that we will not only remember it but we will do what it says, and God will greatly bless us in everything that we do. (1 Corinthians 10:13, James 1:25)

But those who keep on sinning are against God, for every sin is done against the will of God. So if we stay close to him, obedient to him, we won’t be sinning either; but as for those who keep on sinning, they should realize this: They sin because they have never really known him or become his. Oh, dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: if you are constantly doing what is good, it is because you are good, even as he is. But if you keep on sinning, it shows that you belong to Satan, who since he first began to sin has kept steadily at it. But the Son of God came to destroy these works of the devil. The person who has been born into God’s family does not make a practice of sinning. Because now God’s life is in him; so he can’t keep on sinning, for this new life has been born into him and controls him, he has been born again. (1 John 3:4, 6-9, 1 John 5:18)

There should never be an area of our lives that is reserved and devoted to sinful practices. We are to give ourselves completely to God. Instead of being defensive and self excusing, we must acknowledge our sins and renounce them. We should continually look at all areas of our lives asking our Lord to reveal to us anything in us that is unpleasing to Him. By not exempting any part of our life from continuous self-scrutiny I believe the Holy Spirit will show us any hidden sin that hinders us and may even be a stumbling block to others around us.

Just as you used to be slaves to all kinds of sin, so now you must let yourselves be slaves to all that is right and holy. You choose your master. You can choose sin (with death) or else obedience (with acquittal). The one to whom you offer yourself-he will take you and be your master and you will be his slave. (Romans 6)

Holy Spirit search us through and through. Show us any unconfessed sin that we need to renounce. We long to be slaves of righteousness. We do not want to be slaves to sin. Thank you for the power to resist temptation and sin. May our lives bring you glory and draw others to your Son, in Jesus name. Amen..

Read the posting "Do Over!" now

"Do Over!"

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:23

Recently I have been thinking about how many believers allow themselves to be tormented by feelings of guilt and condemnation when they sin and fall short of our God’s glorious standard. They get so down on their selves when they realize that they are still susceptible to sin. We must remember that we are going to make mistakes as long as we are here in these sinful bodies living in this world full of sin and temptation.

Satan and his demonic forces are determined to keep us bogged down under feelings of condemnation and guilt when we sin. These forces immediately try to attack our minds with negatives thoughts like..

“Do you think God is really going to keep forgiving you when you’re always messing up.”

“Real Christians would never say or do that. You’re not a real Christian.”

“See you’re not good enough, smart enough, or know enough for God to use you. You can’t even stop sinning.”

I seriously doubt that I am the only one that enemy attacks with thoughts like the ones above. I know this because the Word of God says that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. (Revelation 12:10) These accusing thoughts and words are straight from the pits of hell. The Accuser wants us to have a “woe is me” attitude and give up. He knows that if we are busy beating ourselves up, feeling guilty, condemned, and unworthy we will not want to enter God’s presence to receive His forgiveness, mercy, and grace when we need it most. We will be bound by these emotions, unable to be used by our Lord.

Instead of sitting and meditating on our mistakes and our shortcomings we need to remember what 1 John 2: 1-2 says.

“My little children, I am telling you this so that you will stay away from sin. But if you sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. His name is Jesus Christ, the one who is all that is good and who pleases God completely.”

You see our Heavenly Father knows that we are not perfect and that we will sin, so He has given us Jesus Christ to be our Advocate. So we can go boldly before the throne to ask forgiveness and healing. Our joy and peace will be restored because we know that all is well between us and our God.

I remember when we were kids we used to love playing kickball. For those of you that don’t know kickball, it is a mixture of baseball and dodge ball, only the ball is much bigger and softer and you kick the ball. When the pitcher rolls the ball if you miss it or kicked a foul everyone would yell “BALL!” or “FOUL!”, “DO OVER!” You then were given another try, a ‘Do Over’ to kick the ball as far as you could.

That is how it is when we fall short of God’s glorious standard and sin. As followers of Christ Jesus we are trying to live each day pleasing to God, avoiding sin, but sometimes we just miss it and mess up. But if we confess our sin and repent He is faithful to let us try again. So rebuke those negative thoughts and reject that “woe is me” attitude and remember that our Advocate, Jesus Christ gives us ‘Do Overs’. Thank God for that!

p.s.

I suggest also reading Don't Let Sin Control You

Little Lost Sheep

Jesus said “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. “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.” (Matthew 18:11-14)

Since early this morning I have heard the Holy Spirit telling me about the little lost sheep. I feel so sad for these sheep. They are so hurt and lonely. So today I write to the little lost sheep whoever you are.

Little sheep the Shephard is looking for you. He wants you to come back to the fold. You can’t stay away from His people and think that you can stand strong on your own. The enemy is lying to you and replacing the company of God’s saints with the company of the world. They are the ones closest to you who are just as lost and confused. You need to be with the other saints who love the Lord and His people. They will stand with you and often times hold up your hands in prayer.

You have excessive wounds and troubles because you have chosen to walk away from the Shephard and His ways. All He has every wanted for you is to trust Him to care for all of your needs. He loves you so much and would never leave you alone, but He has allowed you to have your own way. Now you are reaping what you have sown and you are heading towards the cliff.

I know the Shephard intimately and personally. He loves us even when we stray. He is known to go out looking for His little lost sheep. He is looking for you now. Come home. Put all of your trust in Him and stop leaning on your own understanding. If you will acknowledge Him in all that you do He will direct your path. Remember not to get angry when things don’t go as you planned because He is in control. He will always work everything out for your good, even if you don’t understand what’s going on at the time. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. However, we know that He is all knowing and He has a plan for our life. Abandon your own will and desire His will for your life. He will console you and give you beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Many will see what He has done for you and in you and praise God.

The Shephard says, “You are weak, angry, hurt, sad, confused, and dependant on the love of your other gods. You love them but they don’t love you. I love you and want you to draw close to Me. I want you to eat and drink my Word. It will give you new life and hope. You will be full of determination to live life and fulfill the destiny that I have called you for. If you will spend time in the Word, with the Word, with Me I will help you to do what my Word says. You will know who you are when you spend time with Me. You will no longer be a weak and frail sheep. You will be strong and confident because you are walking close to Me. Strength and courage to live your life more abundantly will come from the healing that My Word will bring you. I am here to guide, protect, and sustain you. Trust me and walk with me. Come home. I'll carry you.”

Slavery To The Deadly Lower Nature

“I know that I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned.” (Romans 7:25)

“I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin.” (Romans 7:22-25)

“Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble is; sin still has me in its evil grasp.” (Romans 7:20)

“My new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to the deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free.” (Romans 7:25)

I am quite sure that I am not the only one that can relate to Paul’s words regarding the struggle within. I have to battle daily with the old Lisa that was enslaved to sin who loved to gratify the lust of the flesh. She still lives in me and wants to lead me away from everything that is good, away from God. That sinful nature makes me want to react to certain situtions or people the wrong way. I am not that old person any more who was full of anger, nasty, bitter, spiteful, selfish, and vengeful. That person was being lead around by a hook in her mouth, enslaved to sin. I don’t ever want to be her again.

Although we are new creations in Christ Jesus we still live in these sinful bodies with our old nature that is still inside of us who loves to sin. It battles with the new nature that lives inside of us that desires to please God. Paul says it is a terrible predicament and I agree. However he goes on to say the best part, that we have been freed from our slavery to the lower nature by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set us free. It has been done! We don’t have to be slaves any more to the old us and its desires. We have the power through the Holy Spirit to put our lower nature in its place.

“So, dear brothers and sister, we have no obligations whatever to our old sinful nature to do what it begs us to do. For if you keep on following it you are lost and will perish, but if through the power of the Holy Spirit you crush it and its evil deeds, you shall live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (Romans 8:12-14)

I want to walk in love all the time, control my tongue, be kind, patient, and not gratify my lusts. My desire is to please and obey God. There are times when I fall short that I get so discouraged, full of shame, and guilt. If I begin to meditate on my failures, mess ups, and sins I want to give up. I forget that the battle has been won. However we can not give up when we fall down.

“But if we confess our sins to Him, He can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.” 1 John 1:9

As I am writing this the song “We Fall Down” starts playing and I am hearing the chorus in the background saying “A saint is just a sinner that falls down and then gets up.” That is so true! As children of the Most High God when we fall we must we get up. We can not allow condemnation, shame, and feelings of unworthiness to rule over us. They will keep us from entering God’s prescience to seek His forgiveness, mercy, and grace when we need it most. No..we have to be quick to confess our sin and repent so that we may be forgiven. God will not reject a broken spirit that is full of remorse and penitence. A broken and contrite heart God will not ignore. When we accept God’s forgiveness He can heal us. Then we can grow becoming stronger in our faith. (Psalm 51:17)

Let us remember that there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed us from the vicious circle of sin and death. We can obey God if we follow the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old nature within us. We are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus and it is in Him that we are made strong. (Romans 8:1-2 & 4)

The People's Choice & His First Fruits

"The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do." -- Senator Barack Obama on 7/17/07 addressing Planned Parenthood.

Hear it for yourself.

http://www.nrlc.org/foca/index.html

Proverbs 24:11-12

Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death. Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.” For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve.

"A new dawn of American leadership is at hand."

American's have made their choice. She has elected a leader who has promised that his first fruits as president of the United States of America would be to sign The Freedom of Choice Act. Signing the Freedom of Choice Act would over turn all 300 plus local, state, and federal abortion restriction laws, such as the partial birth abortion band and parental notification regulations for minors. A nation that once stood for God now goes against our country's Judeo-Christian values and principles. May God have mercy on us.

We as Christians were given the Bible (God's Word) as a literal guide for our lives and were therefore obligated to cast our votes for the candidates that best supported the positions and moral values set forth within its pages. To cast a vote that promotes or serves to further causes that are contrary to the commands and moral values given to us in God's Word by which we live, profess, teach, and witness, certainly does not reflect the will of God.

Now we will reap what we have sown because we have desired to have our own way and have become lovers of ourselves and money. The issues that should have mattered the most to us the moral issues of abortion, the homosexual lifestyle, and marriage were compromised. Many believers sided with the world and chose instead to put their hope in a man and his promise to restore our enconomy.

"When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan." (Pr. 29:2)

"Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." (Pr. 14:34)

Our leaders are to some extent a reflection of us. We often times become a reflection of our leaders! Remember King Ahab, may have been one the worst kings in the history of Israel. The Bible says that Ahab "provoked me (God) to anger and caused Israel to sin." (1 Kings 21:20-22)
One thing is for sure there will be change! Our new president will have a dramatic impact and influence on the country as a whole.

Let us pray and humble ourselves before Almighty God to have mercy on America. We know that our God is Almighty and Powerful. He is using this situation to fulfill prophecy that must come to pass. May our Lord give us the courage to continue to stand for Truth and the Word of God in the following days to come.

Is It Right In God's Eyes or Your Eyes?

My spirit is grieved within me. All day yesterday I kept hearing the Lord saying to me “In the end day’s people will do what they think is right in their own eyes.” I searched the Word until I found Judges 17:6 which says, “For in those days Israel had no king, so everyone did whatever he wanted to-whatever seemed right in his own eyes.”

God’s people did not care about their God and his standards for living. They had an attitude of doing whatever they wanted, not what God wanted for them. They had His laws and His directions but they still wanted to have their own way disregarding His Word. This sounds so familiar to the attitude that infuses our culture today. This mind-set does not just permeate the world but has also leaked into the church.

There are believers doing what they think is best for themselves, compromising God’s Word, ignoring what the Word (Jesus) says and hardening their hearts to the Truth. Have we forgotten that we are to be Christ like desiring God’s will for our life and not our own? Lord please have mercy on us.

We must be careful to not become like the children of Israel who constantly hardened their hearts against God and His will for their life. They did not believe Him, did not trust Him, and complained against Him. That generation of unbelieving, disobedient and rebellious people sealed their own fate and did not enter into the Promised Land.

“But,” God says, “I was very angry with them, for their hearts were always looking somewhere else instead of up to me, and they never found the paths I wanted them to follow.” Hebrews 3:10

“Beware then of your own hearts, dear brothers, lest you find that they, too, are evil and unbelieving and are leading you away from the living God. Speak to each other about these things every day while there is still time, so that none of you will become hardened against God, being blinded by the glamour of sin. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as we did when we first became Christians, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.

But now is the time. Never forget this warning, “Today if you hear God’s voice speaking to you, do not harden your hearts against him..” Hebrews 3:12-15

The children of Israel had no king but we have the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the standard that we as Christians are to follow. Our conduct and our opinions should be based on the Word of God. We can not allow ourselves to be conformed to this world, society’s attitudes, and ways of doing things. We are children of light and we must let our light shine for all to see by living the Word of God and standing for truth at all times. There is no room for compromise. These are perilous times. Everything we say and do counts.

“The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone.” 2 Timothy 3:16

The Word of God must be our standard for living and making all decisions in our lives because His Word stands firm like a great rock, and nothing can shake it. His Word must be our guide not our own selfish desires or our own way of thinking. The Word (Jesus) is the only way. When making decisions we should ask ourselves is this right in God's eyes? Then see if it lines up with the Word of God.

Lord help us to stay on the narrow road. Gives us courage and faith to stand for truth. Let us not follow our own agenda or man’s agenda, but let us follow you. Our faith is in You alone..In Jesus name.. Amen.

God's Discipline

Those of us who have children know and understand that when we give our children instruction and direction we expect them to be obedient. We try to be good leaders and guide them along the right path for their life and hope that they make the right decisions. We warn them of danger because we know the consequences that await them. There will be times when our children are disobedient or make the wrong choices. Sometimes we are merciful and lenient when disciplining them. Then there are other times where the offense requires a more serious punishment. Either way we know that as parents, if we love our children, then we will not spare the rod of discipline. We must be diligent to discipline and punish them while they are young for their own good. (Proverbs 13:24)

Almighty God is our Heavenly Father who lovingly leads and guides us down the right path for our lives. He has given us His Word which gives us direction and instruction on how to live successful Christian lives and bring glory to His name. His Word teaches us about His grace and mercy. We have seen for ourselves how truly awesome, loving, merciful, and forgiving our Heavenly Father is. We know that He is patient and slow to anger. However, we must not forget or be ignorant to the truth that God will discipline us if we are repeatedly disobedient to His Word.

“My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when He corrects you. For the Lord corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child whom he delights.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)

“Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.” (Deuteronomy 8:5)

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:5-11)

God’s Word is not to be taken lightly. We are not only to meditate on how merciful and forgiving our Lord is, but we must think about how sovereign and holy He is. We must have a reverential fear for God and obey his commands. We are called to be holy in all that we do.

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written; ‘Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16)

Lord, we long to please you. Please forgive us if we have been ignoring your Word. Create in us a clean heart. We know that you discipline us because you love us and want to keep us on the narrow road. Thank you forgiving us. Thank you for your mercy and grace. In Jesus name..Amen.

"I Will Not Be Mocked"

With much heaviness and concern I write this posting to the believer who claims to love the Lord but continues to go back to the pig pen. (Luke 15:11-32)

The Lord says, “If you love me you will obey me. My kindness was meant to lead you to repentance. I delivered you from your old ways so that you could live free from the bondage that you were in. Why do continue to visit Egypt. Don’t you see that there is nothing there for you any more? You are my child. You bear my name, but you don’t understand that yet. I see everything..there is no place that you can go that can hide you from my love. I will not allow you to be plucked out of my hand because you are mine and I love you. My mercy and kindness endure forever. I am loving and forgiving, but you must remember that I am a Just God and I will not be mocked! You can not continue to sin because you know that I will forgive you. Your sin will bring you shame and judgment. Serve me with your whole heart so that I can use you to spread the Gospel. Surrender completely and your whole household will be saved! I am coming soon. Do not be deceived by those who say that it is not so. I will return for my children soon! Listen to the Words of my Son..

“Blessings on you if I return and find you faithfully doing your work. I will put such faithful ones in charge of everything I own! But if you are evil and say to yourself, ‘My Lord won’t be coming for a while,’ and begin oppressing your fellow servants, partying and getting drunk, your Lord will arrive unannounced and unexpected, and severely whip you and send you off to the judgment of the hypocrites; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:46-50)

Brothers and Sister these are the end days. We are called to be diligent servants of the Lord. I am pleading with you take these words seriously. Happy and fortunate is the man who God reproves; so do not despise or reject the correction of the Almighty. (Job 5:17)

Lord please help us to be obedient to your Word. Teach us to reverence you. Please forgive us for our sins. Change and mold us to be vessels of honor that you can use to be win souls for your kingdom. In Jesus name.. Amen!

Kirk Cameron & John MacArthur on Salvation

Please take the next 10 minutes to listen to Kirk Cameron and John MacAuther on the subject of salvation.




Kirk Cameron has a ministry called Way of the Master It is an awesome ministry that teaches believers how to seek and save the lost the way Jesus did. Visit Way of The Master now to learn more on how to share your faith.