Author: Tracy Eldridge

This my witness for my Lord and Savior on the web. I pray that you find these posts useful in your search for Jesus. http://thelivingmessage.com

Honor God daily


Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:2)

Luke 11: 2-4 2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

In Jesus’ model prayer in Luke, we are told to honor our Father in heaven, but do we? Are we really honoring God as Jesus tells us to do or are we just saying words which we have memorized? In Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us that we should be careful of saying anything from our own mind when we come before God. Why is this? Because God is our Creator and our Provider and it is from His hand of grace and mercy that we live and breathe. While it is true that people haven’t dropped dead because of their words or their lack of respect for God, at least since the time of the apostles. We should honor God and Jesus with our words and our lives.

Think about Who it is that we are speaking of in this instance. We are talking about GOD and His Son, Jesus! The Creator of All that is or ever has been in the entire universe. We aren’t talking about Joe or Bob that we went to school with. Sometimes we give more respect and honor to our grandparents or military veterans than we give to God and that is wrong.

Do you realize that God gives you the air that you breathe and He keeps all of the physical processes going which allows you to think and eat and walk each and every day of your life? With a thought, He could end your life as it is. He could extinguish the Sun if He wished and we would truly see what an ice age would be like because the oceans would freeze solid. Our lives are only ours because God wants us to be here doing the things which we are doing! It isn’t because we are great and wonderful people or some magnificent accomplishments that we have done! He is the reason that we have the ability and the knowledge to be able to do what we do!

God loves us so much that Jesus had to come to Earth and die a horrible death in order to pay for our sins…all of our sins! He did this because He loves each one of us, not because He had to. Jesus could not even pray that “model prayer” because He didn’t have any sins to be forgiven of. It shows us how to pray because we are supposed to give praise to God first and honor Him before we ever say anything about our needs or our sins. Praying that prayer as a “prayer” is like repeating a formula or a recipe. It has all of the elements but it lacks the specifics for us.

I don’t mean that the model prayer is anything less than perfect, but if you pray it exactly the way that Jesus said to, then it is not specific to your needs. He said this is how you should pray, not what you should pray. It is the model of your prayers and mine. Give God His glory and His honor in the beginning of the prayer, repent of your sins and ask for His forgiveness and then seek His wisdom for what you are in need of, then thank God for His mercy and grace that you can bring your prayer to His throne. God already knows what we need, but like an Earthly father, He wants to hear His children come to Him and ask for their needs in humility and faith.

If we live in the Spirit we should walk in it


Lost or found, which will it be?


How many people in our world seem to be lost in their ways and in their way of thinking? If you go by the uproar and tumult on the news it seems that there are more of those who are lost than those who are at least trying to do the will of God. Why do I bring this matter up in this writing? Because it seems necessary during this time that we are living in. Many need to know that there is a way to be useful and make a difference in this world without wars and guns and lots of money! Life is not supposed to be lived in the moment just for today and then seeking more satisfaction for tomorrow! If you are living in this manner then you are living only for yourself and not for the benefit of mankind. Although, today most people, it seems, are only in their respective professions or businesses for themselves and no one else. Selfishness or “looking out for number one” seems to be the very slogan by which the world lives and breathes today.

We are supposed to be different. Christians are supposed to live as Jesus did. Not living as a beggar with no money but living a life of service to our fellow man or woman. Although in the age in which we are living many people would look at someone doing this and wonder “What’s their problem?”. Christians who are trying to be “salt and light” to a world living in darkness and hopelessness tend to move against the grain because most people around them are moving in the other direction regardless of those that they are stepping on or over to get there. It is sad but it is true in our world. You’ve seen people on the news with their phones taking videos of someone after a wreck or a shooting. They aren’t trying to help them. They are trying to get more likes on Facebook or Instagram by posting their pictures or their videos of someone who has been injured or killed.

Are you one of those who would help someone in trouble or danger or would you take pictures and video their plight? Jesus said that we, as His followers, should make a difference in the world. But taking pictures and videos doesn’t really make a difference it just brings you notoriety and a little bit of fame. What good is that? Where is “make a difference in the world” in God’s Word? It isn’t there. But…He did tell His disciples to go into the world and take the gospel to the world! Did it make a difference? It still is making a difference today. God can and does change lives when we tell others about His Son and the salvation which comes through believing in Him! Don’t discount your importance in His Kingdom. Telling one or two people about your experience in Jesus and His love for you and for them and then they can tell five or ten. If you take that idea and make it go exponential, it wouldn’t take long to reach one hundred thousand or even one million.

This sounds hard doesn’t it? Not for God! God can use you in any place, anywhere so don’t discount your influence for God’s Kingdom because with the Holy Spirit impacting your life as a Christian and you following His leading go tell somebody!

Amen!

Love the Lord!


Each of you can make a difference in the world, with the Holy Spirit in your life!

Be more like the Father


Show the gifts of being a Christian


So that others will see Jesus in your life.

Have you been foolish?


Actually most of us have been at one time in our life. Just as it says in Corinthians: ‘a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.’ (1 Corinthians 2:14). People who don’t know the grace of God or the mercy of God through the sacrifice and acceptance of Jesus as their Savior are foolish until that time when God, by the Holy Spirit, touches their heart and breaks it so that they realize their sinfulness. Every Christian has gone through some foolish times before they realized that Jesus was their Salvation.

God can and does get His message out into the world even without our help, but He calls us to be His voice in places where we can make a difference. Even if it is only to touch one person or maybe two. Some of us can reach more people by doing things like this. Some of us can do evangelism on a scale above what we can reach here but not in the league of some ministers. Sometimes we may only reach one person but you don’t know how many people that person will reach before their time is finished.

All of us are useful to God in telling others about our Savior…so why don’t we do more? Being foolish and following the world around us rather than following Jesus is spiritual suicide, maybe not in this life but in eternity. Unless you change and learn that your only eternal Savior is Jesus you will end up in the same place that Satan and his demons will be. Think about that and consider Who has given you the opportunity to make an eternal choice which will benefit you and give God the glory!

Serve Him with reverance


Amen!

Salvation is through Jesus alone


Jesus said “I AM the way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”. He is the Savior of the world, if you will accept Him as your Savior. I pray that you will not turn away from His call on your life because serving Jesus forever is better than life on this Earth. God has loved you since before the Light of Creation began to shine and He has known who you are and what you are destined to do. Obey His commandment and tell others what He has done for you because there are blessings which all of us receive each and every day because of His love for you. Amen

God gives us everything