Listen

What is God saying to us? Perhaps He's saying, "today is the day of salvation", or "repent", or "go make disciples", or "worship me", or "love your neighbor as you love yourself", or "be still and know that I am God", or _________ maybe we should fill in the blank. What goes in your blank? What goes in my blank?
Well whatever He is saying to us, we should be about doing it. Listen, for He is speaking! Obey, for that will bring His blessings!

It is no secret!

The song writer wrote, "It is no secret what God can do, what he's done for others he'll do for you, with arms wide open he'll pardon you, it is no secret what God can do." God is still giving to the folks who are looking for: salvation, restoration, forgiveness, mercy, love, joy, peace, patience, wisdom, understanding, righteousness, holiness, sanctification, the Holy Spirit, etc. God is the giver of all good gifts. Is it a secret or not? Some seem to find it, while others flounder through life, wondering what life is all about. If you are looking for answers, look to the Lord, for, it is no secret what God can do! He does it for me and He will do it for you!

His Name Was Charlie

I knew this old man a long time ago, whose name was Charlie. He was a funny guy who loved the Lord, and owned a dress shop. I visited him regularly trying to convince him to hire one of my students part time. I don't believe that he ever hired a student, but the best thing was that we became good friends. We would talk, sometimes, for hours on end. Each time before I left, we would pray together. I'd lead out and he would close our prayer time. When he prayed, it was like two people talking who had known each other for years. He was very acquainted with the Lord. He closed each prayer the exact same way time after time. He always said at the close of his prayers, "we ask these favors in Jesus name." Let me ask us a question today, have we asked God for any favors today? God said in his word for us to ask, and then we will receive? Lord send us a bushel full of answered prayers, or as Charlie said, "send us these favors in Jesus name."

What's It Worth?

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26
What is your or my soul worth? A modern expression says it like this, "he sold his soul to the devil. Meaning, he lost all integrity, morals, and everything else that involves being a righteous person. Fame and fortune both have a degree of magnetic pull, whereby some have lost their eternity with the Lord.
The world's approach is summarized in this saying, He who dies with the most stuff wins. Stuff and more stuff is just that, it is only stuff. We all need some stuff to function in life, but not to the degree most have acquired. Many have found that de-accumulation of stuff is very freeing. But its not just stuff, its all that the world is offering to us, under the guise of achieving happiness and success.
The best way that I have found to sort through all of this is to, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness daily, and to keep in mind that all the other stuff is just that, stuff!

Think on this

Revelations 22:1-2, "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it , and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." KJV
The children's song goes, " heaven is a wonderful place filled with glory and grace, I want to see my Savior's face, cause heaven is a wonderful place." It will be awesome to get to heaven. A wonderful place indeed. Hopefully we aren't to busy with this life to think about eternity. Christ is the way to heaven. Is He our Lord and Savior? I hope and pray that He is! Blessings to you and your's.

Living His Way

What do the following three words conjure up in our minds?

1. unnecessary
2. insignificant
3. meaningless

Are there unnecessary, insignificant, and meaningless things in our lives? If so, why? We are told in Ephesians 5 to walk wisely, and cautiously (v.15 KJV). In verse 16 (Amplified Version) we are told to make the most of the time -- buying up each opportunity because the days are evil.

How are we investing our lives here on earth? Hopefully we are living life His Way! Got thoughts and comments, please post them.

Let's all Praise the Lord

Ps. 149:1-6 "Praise ye the Lord, Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high-sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."
These verses sound like it would be okay to Praise the Lord, and even be noisy with the process. Remember now, this is only for those who have breath. If we are breathing, we are qualified. So brothers and sisters let's have a great day and weekend praising our Lord. Every day is a good day to praise the Lord.

Life's Storms

Jesus said that when we hear His commandments and do them, it is like building our house on a rock. When the storm comes, and it will come, the house built on a rock stands. Matthew 7:24-27 teaches us 3 things about storms:
1. Everyone is hit by storms. v. 25, 27

2. Everyone has the same instructions v. 24- 27

3. Everyone who acts the correct way, stands v. 24, 25

Doing life God's way brings to us blessed results. I hope that we all have a blessed day.

THE BIBLE

An unknown author wrote the following about the BIBLE. "This book is the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory , and a river of pleasure. Follow its precepts, and it will led you to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to resurrected life in Christ: yea to glory itself, for eternity." All I can say is AMEN!

God is all I need

Since God is all powerful, all knowing, and all present (present everywhere at the same time), what do we have to worry or fret about. Scripture declares that, "if God be for us who could be against us" (Romans 8:32b). We have enemies but God has defeated them or will defeat them on our behalf. It is good, if we can have these things in our hearts. If we have them, we can rest in the midst of a storm, just as Jesus slept in the back of a boat as a storm raged. Do we have any storms raging in our lives? If so, we could just choose to rest, knowing who and what our Heavenly Father is. Thank you God that you are our all in all through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

Changing Seasons

Lately there has been a bit of a chill each morning as we are taking our walk. I like Fall and all the seasons. The seasons changing, remind me of how much God loves us, and likes for us to have change in our lives. This variety also causes us to not get too comfortable with our circumstances. Just about the time I get used to sandals and shorts, it's time for flannel shirts and cords.
I hope that you are enjoying the changing seasons and each day of your life. Life is certainly short, we are like the grass that is here today and gone tomorrow. If we get tomorrow, I hope we see it as a gift from God to be enjoyed wisely. Hope your weekend goes well, and that you will be able to enjoy it.
Let's all pray for the folks that lost loved ones on 9-11. Today could be quite hard on them.
Blessing to all as we endeavour to live life, God's way.

A Cheerful Giver

IICor 9:7 "...God loveth a cheerful giver". Don't you just love a cheerful giver? You probably know the type, they dance into church on Sunday, happy and already worshipping, and can't wait to put their offering in the Church coffers. They are also the ones that are ready, willing, and able to help whenever they hear of a need. They are happy to give their time, talents, finances, and a helping hand. Where can we find such people? Just look around and we will find them, they are everywhere, and perhaps you and I are one of them, or perhaps we are becoming one of them.
Well, no matter where we are, "God loveth a cheerful giver". Have a great day, doing it His way.

Peace

"Be careful(anxious) for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4: 6,7
How is your day going? Do you sense God's peace penetrating your heart and mind? If not, why not? God put it to us in a simple way. Pray and supplicate, with thanksgiving, giving it all to Him, and then, comes the peace which quiets the heart and mind.
With each of us having so much on our plates day by day and with all our concerns and fears, we should be the ones on this planet who instantly obey this admonition from God. I hope and pray that each one of us gets to it, sooner rather than later. It's our blessing to have, as we do it God's way.

Everybody will be happy over there

"Everybody will be happy over there", is how the gospel song was worded. As I sang along, I thought, everybody is going to have every good and perfect thing over there, not just happiness. We will be Christ like, with glorified bodies. Think of it for a second, all of the Gifts of the Spirit in you, all the fruit of the Spirit in you (love, joy, peace,long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,and temperance). For us to be like Christ and to be perfect is mind boggling, but God's Word states that it will be that way. I'm looking forward to living in that state for eternity. Heaven is truly a place, a wonderful place, and some will be there and many will not be there. Eternity with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, versus the other. No thank you!

He coming for those who are looking for His return. Please pray for those who aren't. Pray that they will receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Come quickly Lord Jesus!

Rejoicing with contentment

You may have heard it before, and like me, you don't know who wrote it. It goes like this: As a rule man is a fool. When its hot, he wants it cool. When its cool, he wants it hot. Always wanting what is not. My wife and I met this person in a retail store the other day. As she checked us out she said that fall needs to get here soon. My wife responded that we have been having such wonderful weather for the entire summer, and that today was a really lovely day. Heb. 13:5 says,"Let you conversation (life) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." KJV Are we living life God's way, being content with what is going on each day? In the book of Psalm 118:24, it says, "This the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." KJV I hope that each of us are rejoicing and being content with our lives, always remembering that He said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Lord, help us to live life the way you desire. In Christ's name, Amen

Forgivieness

The smell of cooking turkey made the living room a delight. My conversation with an elderly aunt soon created a smell of a different nature. She told of her first year teaching and how she was 1 of 2 new teachers. At years end, the other new teacher won the "Best New Teacher of the Year" award, and my aunt had, according to her objective evaluation, been cheated. With flames shooting out of her inner person, she smelled up this special occasion with her bitterness. It had been over 50 yrs. earlier and yet it was as though it were yesterday.
I read in 2Cor.2:10,11 where the Apostle Paul admonished the church at Corinth to forgive a brother, "lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices". KJV We might not relate to this story exactly, but each of us in our own way has had to be forgiving when we didn't feel like it or want to. At least I hope we have been forgiving when needed. Let me ask how are we doing in this business of forgiving? Does," forgive and you will be forgiven," ring a bell? Blessing to us as we endeavor to do it God's way.

Simplicity

The apostle Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 2:12 "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you ward." KJV

Living the simple life deals with doing life, God's way, and not with our wisdom, but by the grace of God. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness in all things and matters in life. As we love God with everything that we are and have, and our neighbors as ourselves, we begin living the simple life.

Col 2:10 tells us that we are complete in Christ, who is the head of all. Let me ask are we doing life God's way, acknowledging that Christ is head of our all?