So That We Can Be Blessed!

I am so thankful that the Word of God gives us specifics re: the blessings alotted to His children. But, they are optional based upon hearing God and prompt obedience. I know that there are alot of Christian people that will disagree with me on that. There is a common misconception that God is Sovereign and what will be, will be. From what I have gathered in exhaustively studying the word of God on the subject of faith and provision, I've found that all of God's blessings hinge upon the choices we make. The reasons why some seemingly wonderful Christians have such a difficult time in life will only be revealed in heaven. It is not for us to judge others, but to love and encourage them because we don't have all of the answers to the "why's" in all of their situations. Nevertheless, we are to judge everything with regards to the Word of God for our own benefit. This is so that we may comprehend and appreciate the gifts bestowed on us by God>so that we can recieve the wisdom of God for our glorification> so that we can experience what eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor can be imagined. These are the things God has prepared FOR:those who love Him (who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed)>and so that we can have the mind of Christ, (That is to think like Him and do things His way>2 Cor. 2:1-17 Amp version). I know some Christians who are in the thick of despair and yet still seem to have joy, the peace of God, and possess their faith. Jesus likes this, but He also requires this for victory! In Luke 18:1-8, He told a parable to the effect that people always ought to pray and not give up. He talked about a widow that kept coming to the judge asking Him to defend her. Jesus said to listen to what the judge said. The judge decided to defend her because she essentially had persistent faith. Jesus then asked if He would find persistent faith like this on the earth when He comes back. This is the most important thing when encountering trials and temptations>keeping the faith. We must also have His peace and joy regardless of our circumstances>2 Thess. 3:16 Amp. ( FYI: I continually stand on the promises of God. I confess and meditate on His promises everyday, off and on all day.) Another misconception is the idea that "salvation is free". The literal Greek translation for "free gift of salvation" in the scriptures is a favor granted in kindness, it is a grant, a pardon that we can accept with terms. Jesus said that we must take up our cross and follow Him to be His disciple>Luke 14:26. Nothing of value is free. Salvation requires agreement to God's offer with faith and obedience. It requires death to self will and a lifetime committment to His plan. Our salvation costs us everything and yet it's invaluable. Life is not perfect in this world and neither will we be, but we can be victorious and glorify God when we experience His goodness and faithfulness. I study the subject of God's blessings profusely! I am fully aware of them and I daily rely on God to make these promises available to me and my family! God wants us to remember His covenant. He wants us to know it and then to keep it>(do a study on the covenant of God that He has with His people). I lived under the pressures and the curses of the devil for too many years. I now rejoice in God's provision for an abundant and blessed life for me, my children, and my children's children (if the Lord tarries!). I fully expect the blessings of God to abound in our family now and in the generations to come for the glory of God! I know that this life will never be perfect, but I am going for the gold! I am hoping to recieve all that the Lord Jesus has done for me through His suffering and death on the cross. Now I can recieve all of the benefits due to a child of the Most High God, and you can too! Hopefully I've inspired you to rise to the next level of knowledge and expectancy re: the rich blessings of our heavenly Father. The key is to be committed to God forever! Then we must endeavor to always have faith and hope. Keep your head up and your eyes on Him. He won't disappoint even though you go through tough times. It will all turn out right>Rom 8:28. I have never seen the righteous forsaken (Ps 37:25). After 30 or so years of relying on Him, I tell you, you can count on Him and I am here to vouch for that! A MUST READ: Hebrews 6:11-20

The Garden of Our Mind

I love gardens. I love the beautiful flowers. I love the delicious vegetables. Guess what! I don't love the work it takes to have a wonderful garden, but the payback is huge and well worth the effort. Even as a natural garden is planted and designed for beauty, so our mind, like a garden, was designed for beauty. If we work the fertile ground of our mind God's way, then it will be a beautiful thing, with delectable fruit for all to behold and partake of. Whatever we do with our mind is evident to all>Prov 23:7 "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." With stress, pressures, and thoughts coming at us in this information age like a machine gun, we need to know that God's way of dealing with it all is our only true consolation. It's awfully weedy out there and those weeds are aggressive and strong! We can take pills (only a temporary fix), cling to a therapist or barrage our family and friends (don't get me wrong, we do need to talk to someone sometimes), but God has given us some keys to success in keeping our mind beautiful. In Ps. 131 we see the exhortation to quiet ourself like a weaned child: "...surely I have calmed and quieted my soul (mind) like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me (ceased fretting). In 2 Cor 10:5>We then see the A. Paul saying to take every thought captive to Christ and focus on Him. Phil 4:8-9 says to only allow yourself to think on good things. That's not to stick your head in the sand and deny the occasional ugliness of reality. But, it's to essentially have faith and hope in every situation. Thoughts are tools that we are to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They are to be used as we so choose for the glory of God. Are our thoughts glorifying God? The thought life is private and hidden from view initially. But, our prominent thoughts will eventually be seen by others. Our thoughts are seeds that become plants. The bad thoughts must be plucked up and rooted out, and the good thoughts must be nurtured and cared for continuously, like in a garden. The fruit from the garden of our mind can be so so, contorted and twisted( I had weird deformed cukes one time...Uck!), wilted, dead, or beautiful to behold. It's a fact, the garden of our mind will bear fruit in our life evidenced by blessing or cursing. In John 14:27, Jesus says not to allow ourselves to be anxious or troubled with cares. In Matt 6:25 (Amp), He says emphatically to stop being uneasy about our life. We've been given a mind, and we've been given the responsibility to care for our mind. As we do, it will serve us well. In Gen. 6:5-6, God said that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually, that He was grieved in His heart, and He regretted making man. What do we do with this dilemma? If we go with God's remedy for the evil condition of our heart, we will be pleasing to Him! I want to please Him! God's remedy> #1.) Eph 4:22-24>Forget your former nature and manner of life, corrupted through lusts>put on the new (God's) nature and be constantly renewed in your mind, by the washing of the water of the Word> Eph 5:26 (get brain washed!). #2.) Rom.12:2>Don't conform to the world's social and moral standards, BUT be transformed by the renewing of your mind, THAT you may prove what the perfect will of God is. #3.) 1 Pet. 1:13> Brace up your mind and be sober or discreet and guarded. #4.) James 4:8>Come close to God and let Him purify your mind. I am so very grateful that my Father in Heaven wants me to be His child and wants to help me become more like Him because He is perfect and wonderful! It's my heart's desire to be more like Him everyday! It is His desire to bless us with an abundant life>Jn10:10-11, Jesus said that He came so those who trust in Him will have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance or to the full. He is the good Shepherd. I always thought as I grew up in church that most Christians were miserable and struggling. This passage now makes sense of it all! Trust Him! Love Him! Stick with Him! It will be worth it all!

God Works in Mysterious Ways

Have you heard this before? God does things in ways we don't understand sometimes. Some of the spiritual principles found in the Word of God can confound and confuse, but God wants us to be familiar with the way He works so that we can conform to His way of doing things and accomplish His will here on earth as it is in Heaven. It's like trying to get a one year old to understand why it's dangerous to play in the road. We just have to accept the fact that Father knows best! That's faith! Mic. 4:2 suggests we go to the house of the Lord so He can teach us His ways because in Hos 14:9 we find that the ways of the Lord are right! And in Is 55:8-9 God says that His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts, (unless of course, we have the mind of Christ>1 Co. 2:16 Amp. Here are some principles of what has been called "the upside down kingdom" #1. Jesus says to give and then it will be given to you>Luke 6:38 #2.Be a servant and then you will be the greatest!>Matt 23:11. #3. Be humble and then He will exalt you> 1 Pet 5:6 #4. Believe and hope for what you do not see regardless of the circumstances and then you will see what you hope for!>Heb 11:1 #5. Seek God's kingdom, a right standing with Him and His way of doing things first before material things, and then you'll get everything you need.> Matt 6:33 #6.Lose your life for the Gospel's sake and then you will save your life!>Mark 8:35... And that's just to name a few. Rather than clawing your way to the top of the ladder, stressing out, killing yourself (or somebody else,Ha!), God says essentially to not worry, trust and obey, prefer others over yourself, and He will take good care of you! Prov 3:5 exhorts us to trust in and lean on the Lord with all of our heart and not rely upon our own understanding. His Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom! We will live for eternity and the fruit of our faith will be rewarded eternally>Heb 10:35-39. Our faithfulness and obedience will be rewarded in this life too>Matt 10:29-30. This passage is "what I'm talkin' about"-*Rom 11;33-34 "OH THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES AND WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD! HOW UNFATHOMABLE ARE HIS JUDGEMENTS AND UNTRACEABLE HIS MYSTERIOUS WAYS. For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has understood His thoughts, or who has ever been His counselor?...For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. TO HIM BE GLORY FOREVER! Amen." My prayer: Show me Thy ways O Lord, and teach me Thy paths.

Stumbling Stones

I want to share with you today a great concern that I have in my heart. It is the fact that there are people in this world who make it their mission in life to defile and corrupt others. Jesus addresses this subject in Matthew. He speaks harshly of those who make others stumble and sin. In Matt. 18:1-7, He talks about children in their innocense and how He admires their trust. He also mentions that it is important to care for them. He says that the way we treat them, is how we are treating Him. He takes it personally! In vs 7, He then mentions the fact that it is inevidable for temptations to come in this world, BUT WOE to those people by whom they come. He says that, (vs 6)>It would be better for this person who tempts and corrupts "little ones", to "have a great millstone hung around his neck and be sunk to the bottom of the sea". Wow! Jesus sounded angry! (A righteous anger.) I am reminded of a friend's son who was corrupted by their neighbor. The man would invite the 12 year old over to their garage, give him alcohol to drink, and Lord knows what else, year after year. Now the son is grown and has a very sad life. He has a son out of wedlock, involvement in drugs and heavy drinking, the mother of his child is in prison, and you might can imagine what his life is like. What happened? I know that instead of a godly influence, the "devil in disguise" defiled him, and he then made poor choices because of the evil baggage he carries. It really breaks my heart because he is such a good-looking guy, smart, and from a well-off family. He certainly "had it all" from the world's point of view. BUT, no one took the time to regularly impart God's love and godliness to him like the neighbor who made the concerted effort to impart evil. Could a godly influence have made all the difference. I think so. I saw him recently, before "all hell" broke out in his family. I felt that the Lord wanted me to speak strongly to him to do things God's way and that he would be blessed. As I was speaking to him I wondered if I was getting too strong and personal with him, but I was deeply concerned in my spirit. He agreed with me and yet didn't take the necessary action to follow the Lord. It almost seemed too late. Well, soon there after it was. Major damage came into his life that will never be completely redeemed in this world. I want to strongly exhort all who read this blog to take time to be God's love and hand extended to the young, the innocent, and the babes in Christ. If we are not kind, reaching out and caring, then I believe that we will be held responsible to some degree. Consider the heart of our Shepherd> in Matt. 18:11-14, we see that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost." He says that it is not His will that any would be lost or perish. We prove our love for the Lord by reaching out to others with His heart of love. Kindness and caring go a long, long way in encouraging others to follow Him. Love is more powerful than evil! Love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8). We will never fail as we allow the love of the Lord to flow through our lives. Let that be our mission. This is my prayer: Forgive me Lord where I may have caused someone to stumble in some way. Please help me to love and reach out to others as You want me to. I want to make a difference in someone's life for good! Thank You for Your mercy and for Your grace that enables me to be a blessing to others!

GPS

I have gone on a few trips in the car this past week to Tampa. I was fortunate enough to be able to experience looking for my destinations with a GPS>global positioning system. I don't know how in the world I ever found myself around in a strange town without it before or for that matter, found my way home! I began to think about what a blessing the GPS is! Although at times while I was following the directions the lovely lady on the GPS was giving me, I became panicky! It really didn't make sense to me that I should follow her directions at that point. It looked like to me, and it was a matter of fact, that I was going in the opposite direction of my destination. I hung in there... low and behold...I arrived at my destination! The GPS knew of detours, one way streets and ramps that I did not know of. Immediately the Holy Spirit revealed to me this fact>when God leads us in a certain direction, and it doesn't look like the direction we think is right, we then tend to look at the circumstances and panic. Rather than trusting God's ability and knowledge to get us to where we should go, we are tempted to take matters into our own hands and stop or veer off course. God works in ways that we naturally do not>Is.55:8-9, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways, says the Lord...". Since God loves us, has all knowledge and wisdom, and we have limited knowledge and wisdom, shouldn't we have enough sense to know that we need the HSGPS (Holy Spirit Global Positioning System)? We may not get to our heavenly home without it! And if we do, it may be a laborious and frustrating journey. In my next posting, I will reveal some of the different ways God works. This knowledge encourages us in times of confusion when we need direction and the circumstances don't "line-up". In Haggai 1, the prophet of the Lord was rebuking the people of God for doing things their way rather than His. As the story progressed after evaluating their situation, they repented, followed the Lord's directions, and were encouraged by the prophet with these words>Hag.1:13 "...I am with you says the Lord". Isn't this the most important thing in the world? The Lord's presence and goodness will be with us as we follow Him. In Ex. 33:14-15, the Lord told Moses that His presence would go with him and He would give him rest. Moses then said to the Lord, "If your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here." In other words, Moses asked God to not allow them to go ahead without His desired direction. Let this be our prayer and passion>God, keep us with You! Don't allow us to indiscriminately or intentionally live our life without You! You are our everything! Be our Commander, Master, Lord, and God!

Our Only Obligation

Our only obligation is to love. The 1st commandment is to love God-(Matt. 22:37). The 2nd commandment is to love others-(Matt 22:39). Love is the anchor of our soul. The anchor that holds us close to the Lord. It's the plumbline that keeps us lined up with God. Love is the guard that keeps us on the narrow way, the level that keeps us "on the level". Anyway, why is it that so many Christians obviously do not realize this? Why is it that I haven't realized the importance of love as much as I have in the past few years? I didn't focus on love for approximately 30 years of my Christianity. I've focused on different things off and on throughout the years such as ministry, gifts of the Spirit, evangelism, Bible study, etc. None are as vital as love. At times I would remember reading 1 Cor. 13 and casually thinking that I should be more loving. I even would pray at times for God to help me love others more. Well, I now realize that out of my love for God and personally experiencing His love, I am able to truly love others. I want to suggest to you that we are not taught enough to love and submit to the fact that without love in our hearts and life...we are NOTHING or a USELESS NOBODY (1 Cor. 2). These are very strong words. Is all that we do in vain if we are not motivated by the true love of God? Now let's look at Rom 13:10>it says that "love does NO WRONG to others. We are not obligated to like everybody. We are not obligated to live our life for everybody else (only for God). But, if we ever wrong someone or cause harm to them, we are not acting in love. I believe that covers bodily harm, neglect when it is in our power to care for someone truly in need> (ex.-the "good Samaritan"), emotional abuse and insensitivity, not speaking the truth (in LOVE) to someone who really needs to hear it, being gentle, kind and caring, just to cover a few characteristics of love. 1 Cor. 13 is an overview of what God's authentic kind of love looks like. I think we Christians need to meditate on 1 Cor. 13 regularly. We do not naturally walk in love as we ought. In John 15 we find that if we don't abide in the Lord and His love, then (vs 6) we are considered withered, dead, and will be gathered up to be thrown into the fire. (You determine what He means by that!). Thank the Lord, (vs2), He will prune us as needed. Just don't refuse His pruning work. The alternative isn't pretty. That's why I'm soooo glad He loves me, and that He disciplines me. One of my first memory verses was Heb. 12:11, "No discipline for the moment brings joy, but seems grievious and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Vs 8 says that you are a child of God only if you are being disciplined by Him. Welcome His love and discipline. And rejoice in the fact that He loves us enough to change us! Make it your priority to let Him reduce you to love>the only thing that will count!

The Evil of Dead Works

To continue on the last posting, I want to touch on the subject of how one falls from grace (Gal. 5). It's by seeking justification in religiosity (the Law and dead works) as opposed to the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus (which is daily walking in the Spirit, and submitting to God's will>Gal. 3). First of all, I believe that the temptations Christians face today are the same in nature as the temptations all Christians have faced from the beginning of Christendom. But, there is a difference and that is the temptations come in contemporary forms. It's one of the saddest things in the world when a gifted Christian becomes prey to pride, bringing self-deception, and they fall from grace into an irreversible pit of darkness and destruction. One of the pitfalls that I believe take many wonderful men and women of God down from grace is the grasping of a ministry and recongnition. In our world today people idolize movie stars, rock stars, politicians, etc. In the Christian world, we have the same sin of idolatry. Many Christians lust for spiritual positions where people will look up to them and this is creating in many a lust for recognition. If the recognition is not found, this becomes their ambition. If it is found, then the temptation for pride and self-righteousness raises it's ugly head. The evidence is striving and self-promotion. Ps 75:6 says in essence that God promotes and lifts up. We don't always understand why we don't get promoted or honored when others do. One thing I've noticed is that when I think I need to be promoted and am not, and if I can't be honestly happy for the one that has been, then I am committing the sin of jealousy and envy. (James 3:16) This is EVIL! I am not humble and therefore God will resist me>1 Pet. 5:5-6. Jesus said that the greatest in the kingdom of God will be a servant>Matt 18;23. And the wisdom from God that prepares you for promotion is evident by peacefulness, one being courteous, yielding to reason, full of compassion and good fruits, impartial, sincere, agreeable, harmonious with others, undisturbed, free from fear and moral conflicts>James 3:17-18. I challenge you and myself today to hold true to these things: stay humble by always being a servant, check thoughts and motivations. I want God's recognition, even if that means that's all the recoginition I may ever get.