Tonight, before you retire and go to bed for the night, reflect on the tasks you have accomplished to enhance your productivity, and glorify the work of Jesus. Tomorrow is another chance to continue that great work, or improve on the work you have started. Rest your bodies, saturate your mind with the water of the Word, and always be open to God-ordained dreams that speak to your spirit, and teach valuable lessons you will cherish in your daily journey. Do not allow Satan to cloud your mind with dark thoughts that serve to tear down and deterriate your spiritual and personal wellbeing, belittling you with condemnation and hatred. However, when times like these arise, they can serve two purposes: To destroy and hinder your faith and your God-given joy and passion for Jesus, or take you to the next level of Heaven’s ladder of wisdom and excellence. Amen!
Category: Peace
How much more will it take?
In the news, online and on TV or cable, we are hearing about so much violence in our world. There are shooters and suicides, bombs and bombers, stabbings, wars and skirmishes and “actions”. When will all of this come to an end? Will it ever come to an end? I have noticed the news for at least fifty of my fifty-six years and the Vietnam war was going on when I was six. A few years later Martin Luther King was also murdered in 1968 and then Robert Kennedy was assassinated by a white man. There was violence and riots and all sorts of protests going on, about the war and about the murders of those two great men.
So much violence and hate seems to be in our culture today. Not just in America but around the world. Fighting about religion or someone’s right to be what they want to be even if it isn’t natural. All kinds of vile words being spewed online through social media sites, causing some people to take their own lives because of “cyberbullying”. How much more can our culture, our nation or even the world itself take?
Is there no way to bring peace to the world?
Yes, there is but it will take turning to God and repenting of our sinful ways and lives. Is it possible today? I’m not so sure actually. There doesn’t seem to be enough people who are interested in saving their lives into eternity, let alone believing in Jesus! The only way to bring peace to the world would be for most of the population of the world to become Christians. Of course then we would start arguing about which doctrine to follow. Likely this would even set off some wars and killings as well, so even that wouldn’t work without the Lord returning to rule for 1,000 years!
One in Essence,Three in Person
This is a question that has been on my mind for a few days, because I was asked about it by a very sweet lady who happens to be a Pentecostal by way of her association. Our Creator is One in essence, yet three in Person. It isn’t a hard thing to understand unless you want to deny God being God! He is God, He is the Holy Spirit of God and He is the Living Word, the Son of God!
I don’t mean that God exists as three gods, He is God in Three Persons, yet all of them…each one is as much God as the other! It is a difficult doctrine to understand unless you have some help from Him!
“And now the Sovereign LORD (the Father) has sent me (the Son), with his Spirit (the Holy Spirit).” Isaiah 48:16
Even at the time that Isaiah was a prophet in Israel, God revealed to Him that He was and is three persons in One. Not three gods, but One God with three persons Who in each are also God. Each person of the Trinity is God, but each has a different function. Just as I am a husband, a father and at one time I was a son before my parents passed into eternity. Three functions in One Person is the most apt description of God as a triune godhead.
Just as all things in the universe have a three-fold nature, so does God. Matter has substance (mass) plus energy and motion; time is made up of past, present and future; space is made up of length, width, and depth or height. Their nature doesn’t make them any less than what they are, but take away even one of their parts and you don’t have matter, space or time anymore.
If you take this to a logical conclusion which many skeptics seem to be willing to overlook, the Son of God is also God the Son! The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the trinity and He is fully God, but His influence in our lives is more of a teacher and leader in spiritual things. It is He that resides in your heart and mine, if we have given our lives to Jesus and asked for Him to come into our lives and our hearts.
The Spirit of God was the Person of the Trinity hovering over the waters before creation. What were the waters? I don’t know, you will have to save that question for God Himself. In either case each part of the Trinity is just as much God as the Other. They perform different functions and do different things in this world and in the spiritual realm, but each of them is still God.
When God told Moses that “No man could see His face and live”, He meant that. Which is why when He hid Moses in the cleft of the rock and allowed him to see His back. Later, when Scripture mentions the Angel of the Lord with a capital “A”, this is the pre-incarnate Christ, not an angel. The Spirit or Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity which carries out miraculous healings and resurrections and other signs like being understood by someone who doesn’t speak your language. He also prays for us in our time of anguish and doubt when we are so burdened until we can’t say what is necessary.
In reality, it took the intervention of all three to save each person who is a Christian. Think of it this way: God sent His Son to be the atonement for our sins, Jesus died as a human with the nature of God in order to pay the price for humanity’s sins, and the Holy Spirit convicted you of your need for salvation and brought you to the cross to meet Jesus. If it is too hard to understand, ask a little child. The only time that we will know the answers will be when we are standing in His Presence, and even then we may still not understand it.
Ooops!
Do we have times or places or even events in our lives where “Ooops!” would be appropriate? All of us have these at one point or another. The only person that hasn’t had a day or even a minute where this would be part of the vocabulary would’ve been Jesus.
I know, many of you would say “What about the scourging or the cross?”; those were already planned and part of His life before they came to be. Those of us who watched cartoons in the seventies and eighties learned from the master of “Ooops”, Wile E. Coyote. He always got the bad end of gravity or a falling rock or even an explosion which didn’t go off at the point where he wanted it to.
What do you do when this happens in your life? I know that most of us don’t have problems with gravity or with bombs going off unexpectedly, but just walk with me down this memory lane a bit. Do you fret over it or worry about it? Sometimes it is too late when you realize it, so what can you do about it? Most of the time, you can’t really do much about it. If the “ooops” has already happened, then you will just have to deal with it in one way or another.
Sometimes it is caused by something that we say, in my case it is most often done this way. My mouth gets in a gear that is running faster than my common sense and I say something that I should’ve thought about a bit before it came tumbling out in the open! Does it cause pain or anguish, sometimes it does, at other times it just causes someone to giggle or laugh, depending upon what my mouth blurted out at the time.
A moment of “ooops” can cost a lot in the long run, down the road of life but at times it can also put you in a place where things can change. Sometimes…even you change. Sometimes…I change. So many times an “ooops” moment can even make a difference in the long run, if you use it in the right way.
But, you have to follow-up and work with the feeling that this moment caused in you. Don’t think about it and then let it get away and forget about it, use it to spur you on to fix the problem whatever it might be. God uses moments like these to show us what to do or what we should do, it is up to us to realize that He is part of the equation and the answer to it as well.
Why do I bring this up? Because He is always the One in control of the outcome, whether we believe it or not. If you believe in God and have learned that you need Him in your life, then follow through and make sure that He is your answer to your life’s problems. He wants to be that answer and the One that you call on in all things, not just when there is an “ooops” in your life.
Do you have everything that you need?
Many in the world’s countries don’t, at least from the world’s viewpoint. You notice that I put in the title “everything that you need“? I did not say anything about stuff that you want!
Wanting things and more things doesn’t give you anything but a storage building that you didn’t need but it is necessary because of the stuff that you wanted. So, now what will you do with it all? Store it in a building? What good does that do you?
What about the garage with status symbols in it that cost you more than your house payment every month? You have to put a hundred dollars worth of gas or diesel in those every week at least to keep them going. You have to replace the tires on them at about two hundred dollars apiece every so often. I know that they are necessary for you to go to work or maybe you use one of them for your job, and that’s fine. They are useful, but some stuff just isn’t and it gets your money and barely any notice after that, at times.
Our needs involve food, shelter, clothing, and health. I am not speaking of having more of any of these than others but just what you truly need. The best is good as long as it doesn’t cost you more than you can afford. Enough food is great for anyone, but more than you need is bad for you. Everyone knows this, but there are many who don’t seem to care because they want more.
Did you also notice that in your needs list, I didn’t have wealth. Why is that? Because in order to have your needs met you don’t need more money, you only need enough to take care of your needs. Wealth is for those who want to do it all and have it all and it is a good thing for some people. But, Jesus said that is would be “harder for a rich man to get into Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle”. Why is that? Simply because a rich or wealthy person doesn’t feel that they need Jesus, because they have every “thing” that they want and they have money to get what they need if that need arises.
Wealth can’t buy happiness or health though. Yes, you can pay your bills so it makes the stress level go down somewhat, but that isn’t happiness. If your health takes a turn toward the cancer ward or something happens to your child, your money can help you to have the best care that money can buy. But, what if that isn’t enough? What if there is no cure or amount of medication which will take care of the problem? Money’s just paper at that point.
Your needs, your life, your happiness, and your health are all important to God because He created you for a purpose. He cares for you and loves you far more than you even love yourself. I am not saying that all of your needs will automatically be taken care of if you trust in Jesus for your salvation. Your bank account won’t suddenly swell up with cash after you become a Christian (although that wouldn’t be a bad thing as long as you give God the glory for it). But, the love and the peace which comes with knowing Jesus and His Father will make even a diagnosis of incurable cancer bearable because you now have eternity in Heaven to thank Him for His love and grace for you. No amount of money or fame will ever fill that void in your life unless Jesus fills it.
Drama and life
It seems that today with the Internet and all of the social media outlets that we have, there is more drama than ever about things which are happening all of the time. I know, years ago this was all gossip on the phones. The problem with today’s version is that this stuff never really goes away! Births and deaths, accidents and graduations, heart attacks and strokes, family reunions and funerals, they will ALL be there until the Internet and Facebook are gone! Even then, some trace of this will be available to future generations to read and wonder about.
Dramatic situations and life seem to go hand in hand today, but they really shouldn’t. Yes, life goes on no matter what is happening around us and we can make it dramatic or dramatizing if we want it that way. But…why? I know that tragedy strikes and yes, that can be dramatic and traumatic at the same time but God will see you through it! If you haven’t given your life to Him, then you really should. If you need to know why you should do so, then you haven’t gotten there yet.
God doesn’t want us to go through life alone without Him, yet we merrily do so thinking that we can do it all on our own with no help at all. Many times, we are right…as long as everything is going smoothly. Get one of those phone calls from the doctor or a pink slip from your job, and things could change in a hurry! If you have a teen in the house and you get a call from the hospital or the police or sheriff and your life may change forever.
God is there with you through these times, and all that you need to do is call on Him. His Strength is available to you through the Holy Spirit and His Grace is always available, just ask Him for it! There is no shame or disgrace in admitting that you need Him because we all do!
Granted, He doesn’t shower us with gold or silver when we ask for it but that is because He knows what is best for us at any given time. His Grace and mercy and His Peace is always available through His Word, the Bible. We don’t have to pay much for it, we don’t need psychologists or self-help books to find the wisdom for life’s problems because it is all found within the pages of the Bible.
Seek Him first for your needs, your peace, your health, your life and He will provide all of those and more because He loves you! Any who have lost children or spouses to an illness or death, seek Him out and pray for His peace and comfort and He will gladly provide it. Though it won’t rid you of your grief and the pain that you feel, it will make it more bearable because He loves you!
Think about it.
Darkness and Light
Darkness tried to invade our county this past weekend. It took out two shining lights, ones that it thought would dim our lights. It didn’t take into account the faith and love that these two lights had behind them nor how many friends that they shared in common all over the state. The amount of prayer and support their families got from the school, from their teams, and from the 4H groups that they were involved with brightened the sky with the prayers that were sent up to God. Then, He sent down legions of angels to comfort and strengthen those friends, family, and classmates. So, in trying to dim the light that is in our county, it only made it brighter. Faith and Love are powerful especially when you combine them with prayer.
I am still praying for all the people…friends involved in this tragedy, but God knew about it all along. They are now with Him and are enjoying the benefits of Heaven and that their bodies can never die. They both are praying for their families well-being and they are also asking for the Lord to give their loved ones the strength and comfort that they will need during this time.
Although some may not believe it, I believe that we can see our family from Heaven. Especially when our lives end so suddenly, because God wants us to be comforted and to lend comfort to those we left behind. We are fragile creatures, physically and emotionally, but God knows what we need and when we need it and He will provide it, especially now during this time of mourning and healing.
Our community should come together and will do so during this rough time for the families of these girls. They are clothed in their gowns of righteousness, which would make the most expensive wedding gowns look like rags. Why are they that beautiful you ask? Because, these two young ladies are part of the church, the Bride of Christ, and they are supposed to be adorned that way!
Shimmering gowns of love and light, which more closely resemble a dress made from gold and silver and colors of the rainbow that we can’t even imagine in our minds. No fashion house on Earth could come up with a gown which comes close to the beauty that they are clothed in now and we will see them one day.
The love of God expressed toward us in light, His Light, is more beautiful and illuminating than anything that we have. Even our homes in Heaven will radiate with His Love and so will everything else in Heaven. That is why there is no darkness in Heaven, because every blade of grass, the trees, the water which flows from His throne, all of it will shimmer with His Love and His Light.
The darkness which tried to cause our lives to dim over the weekend did not have the effect that it was supposed to have. Because, the love and faith of the families involved in this tragedy grew stronger and it shined more brilliantly than it had before. Not because it wasn’t there before, but because it was needed for other things. Now, it is needed for comfort and strength and as a witness to all around that the Love of God can and does conquer death, hell and the grave!
Seek Him out if you don’t know Him. Read His Word and pray that you will come to a saving knowledge of Him, before a wreck or something else takes your life. Because, standing before Him is too late to realize the mistakes that you have made while living.
A tribute to Mom
Mother’s are the first person that we ever hear speaking to us, even before we are born.
Mother is the person, in many children’s lives, who personifies the qualities of God.
A mother is a person, and occasionally they aren’t even related to you but they treat you the same as your mother would, sometimes better.
What makes a woman into a Mother? It really isn’t a “what” as it is a Whom. God is the Creator and He alone knows who is going to be a real Mother. All of the qualities which every mother possesses are bound up in a few words but it is a job that takes a lifetime. Some days, you just can’t get it right and some days, everything falls into place just right.
Those are the days that you celebrate. You never get a day off or a sick day and there are no instruction books to let you know if you are doing it right or not. Just like becoming a parent, being a Mom is one of those learn-as-you-go jobs. Some are just born with the qualities for being a mother, but being a Mom takes time, hard work, days and nights without much sleep or rest.
What is the difference between being a mother and being a Mom? LOVE
If you have had a child, then you are a mother, but to be a Mom love comes into play from the moment that your child is born. Love can change you and mold you into a person who can work for hours, without much reward except for watching your child grow and become the person that God intended them to be.
Peace in our time?
“Since its inception in the 7th century, Islam has used the sword to advance its territory. It goes on to this day. The goal is to bring the world into submission to Sharia law. This is what motivates all these “terrorist” groups. ISIS is getting a lot of attention, but what is going on with Boko Haram against the people of Nigeria today is just as horrible. This practice of using force to compel conversion is a distinctive to Islam compared to the world’s other major religions.” (borrowed from another site afa.net)
Our world here in America and elsewhere is becoming much more dangerous, especially to Christians. Why? Because we don’t believe the same as other religions. Yet, people in America want tolerance from Christians toward everyone else’s beliefs and their lifestyles, but they can’t stand our beliefs. Talk about a double standard!!
It seems that people can’t comprehend the reason that Christians believe the way that they do, and I don’t understand this at all. The Bible, which is our guidebook and our Holy Book, is available almost everywhere. Most of it is part of Jewish belief as well since their Torah and much of our Old Testament are the same. Even Islam recognizes the Book and the Patriarchs and Jesus, although they don’t give them the same reverence that we do.
Peace in our life-time has been a common theme that many have tried to bring about for many hundreds of years, yet it is something which is either fleeting in its brevity or almost impossible due to cultural and religious differences. Is it possible? Yes, but it cannot be done through force and it will not come at the hands of a man, it will come about when Jesus returns and rules from Jerusalem.
Why do I say it this way? Because it is a fact. God has prophesied it in His Word and therefore that is the way that it will be. There is no argument and there is no other way that it will happen. Many people will fight against it and they will fail in the end. Like it or not, that is the way the future will be.
Christianity is not forced upon you. You will and always have had a choice to follow Jesus or not, but peace on the Earth will only come when He is ruling from Jerusalem. I am not speaking of the Anti-Christ, but the real Messiah, Jesus.
Yes, I know, many who might read this will not agree with me which is fine. I don’t expect nor require anyone to agree. I am just stating something which is prophesied to happen and it is going to happen. Whether you believe that I am delusional or not really doesn’t matter at all, I have been called worse.
God knows the hearts of men, regardless of their religion or their doctrine, and it is He that will judge each of us according to our faith and that which we have done or not done in this life. The things which have been done for His Kingdom will last, anything other than this will be destroyed. Your possessions and your money are all part of this world and it doesn’t matter how much you have of either. When you die, regardless of the manner of your death, your “stuff” will be here for someone else to sell or enjoy. You will be in eternity and your decisions in this life for or against Jesus will determine where that eternity will be. So make the right choice.
The Living Message of Christ 