When you feel down…

Read the book of Psalms! Nearly every one of them is an uplifting praise of God’s wonderful love for you. True, there are some that are a bit dreary or sad but when depression got to me a few years ago Psalms got me through the days and weeks until I was out and feeling better. No medication and no psychologist trying to take all of my money that I don’t have to give away!

God created you so pray to Him when things aren’t going the way that you want them to. He knows what you need and why but He still likes to hear it from your own heart. Don’t blame Him for things going wrong because most of the time that is Satan trying to get you to do exactly that! Satan wants to drive a wedge between you and God and make you feel bad about your life. It isn’t God that is causing bad things but He will walk with you through them until the Sun comes out and life is good again!

God doesn’t leave you when you are in the valley’s. He may be silent for a time to let you feel sad or angry or hurt or even depressed but He is as close as a prayer and He will take you through the bad times. Philippians 4:19 says: “My God will supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”

He is a loving God and Creator and His love for you is boundless. All that you need to do is answer His call in your heart when you feel it. Give your heart to Jesus and He will make you a new Creation through the Holy Spirit’s work in your heart. You will never be the same when you have done this and you will be a Christian in heart and mind!

What is man that You care for him?

Do not be afraid

Dear Friend,

How are you today? I know that some of my friends are feeling sick. Some are overwhelmed by their circumstances. Some don’t know what to do with all of the blessings that they have and feel guilty about them as well. Some don’t feel that they have anything to give but in God’s Kingdom all of you matter! All of you have something that can make a difference in someone’s life.

Do you know what your gift is? I’m not speaking of money, although some are blessed with that too. I’m speaking of life lessons for the most part. Sometimes it is hard to get those lessons across to others. Sometimes they don’t want to hear them and many times they may not take those lessons of advice to heart and put them to use. Why? Because they have a better education than you or I do or they see our advice as being from someone who doesn’t know the struggle that they are going through.

The thing is simply that God does know everything that you have been through. You might not know God as your Savior yet but sometimes those trials are what will bring you to the point of knowing God and knowing that you need Him. Each of us is blessed in the specific way that we have been working toward. Some of us have abilities and even wisdom that has come from Him that we don’t use or may not even know that we have.

We can’t see our abilities because of our distance from God and His Wisdom and His Word. Sometimes we read and study God’s Word but we are thinking of our business or something else in our life. Reading and studying God’s Word is something that takes dedicated study. Not just opening your Bible while you attend church services, but actually studying it like you did in school to pass a test. That is how you get to know God and His Wisdom that will take you through life so you can help others. What do you mean that I have to help others? Because Jesus did it. We are supposed to be and do what He did and more.

Now how am I supposed to do that? He was and is the Son of God, I can’t walk on water or heal people or feed thousands from a sack lunch! There was some bit of wisdom that my grandfather gave me and my grandmother too: Can’t never could. You are living with doubt about who you are in Christ and what He has given you to be. If you doubt anything, Biblical truth or any other truth, it will not happen! If a football team goes into the game thinking “We can’t win”, they won’t win regardless of how hard they try. We defeat our own dreams and abilities even before we begin if we start with a defeated mind!

I’m not advocating “positive thinking” but study of the Bible, quitting smoking, having a successful career in business, or even passing a test have to begin with a mind that is set on DOING and not failing! If you want God to save you, pursue Him…especially when you feel His hand of conviction on you. If you want to graduate with honors go after that goal with everything you have. Living the Christian life cannot be done by us alone but with the Holy Spirit in our heart and our determination to learn more about Him every day we can do it and live it so that others will see our life and will want the life with Christ that we have.

The Lord is near…

He will help you

Loaves and Fishes

Jesus had been preaching to a large crowd of people, at least five thousand men not counting their families. So, in truth there were likely around fifteen thousand or more. Some people don’t believe the Bible or the stories told within its pages, yet Jesus was trying to get His message across to as many people as He could while He was teaching His followers. They had to learn from and come to know Him as the Messiah.

When He told His disciples that they should feed these people one of them said that a years wages worth of bread would only give each person enough bread to take a bite. Then Andrew found a young boy that had a lunch with him of five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus told him that it would be enough. He thanked God for their provision and blessed the food and told His disciples to distribute the food to all who were hungry.

The entire company of people were fed and the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers! When God blesses your offering, He can multiply it to fill whatever the need may be. At this time in His ministry, God filled them with enough and then some. God can do this for us today but we can’t ask for things like luxury items or a million dollars. God will take care of a need in your life when you have given a tithe or an offering of your money or your time. He may do it in your finances or in your health but He will take care of your needs.

Another way of looking at the loaves and fishes is that all around Galilee people were fishermen and depended upon the bounty of the lake to make their living. It was likely a meager living so they used barley rather than wheat to make their bread. It was cheaper and easier to grow.

We, as followers of Jesus today, should take His message with us everywhere we go. To the market, to our job, to the restaurant where we eat, everywhere we go…our faith in Jesus should show up in our daily lives. Our faith should be evident to all of those around us regardless of who they are or where we are. God knows who we may run into and who may be receptive to our message but we have to have a message to be useful to Him.