A Temporary Farewell

It seems like forever since I blogged last and I want to be open with my readers about where I have been. Some may fault me for this saying I don’t have to reveal my sins to the world and yet in 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul explains to us,

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain in it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 RSV)

The apostle Paul prepared himself every day to fight temptation and to exhibit self control. He did this so that after preaching to others he didn’t lose his qualification to spread the good news of the gospel and to teach Jew and Gentile alike how to serve the Lord and to truly follow Him.

Some may say to themselves that I am telling you this to be classified as Holy but the Lord knows that I am not and if there is any of that in me at all I pray for Him to put it to death and ask for your forgiveness immediately. Either way, being that I serve the Lord and not man I am deciding here and now to have no fear one way or the other, to be vulnerable. and to share this with all of you. My hope is that in my doing so, my future deliverance will encourage and strengthen my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and not cause any of you to stumble in your faith (Romans 14:21) or repeat the same mistakes that I have made. I want you as well to know that I take this blogging of the Word of God seriously and value your souls and my position.

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1)

So with all of that said I want all of you to know that I have been cohabiting with my fiance for a time. Some of you may wonder what the problem is with that and yet the bible is clear that we are to flee from sexual immorality and the temptations to sin. While this is no longer occurring with us, it was for a time, until the Holy Spirit stirred my heart with conviction. Cohabiting with ones significant other outside of marriage also goes against the Word of God which says that we are not to give even the appearance of sin.

“But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” (1 Corinthians 7:2)

²² “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:22)

For the time being I will be taking time out in prayer and seeing where the Lord will lead me. I have been waiting for some time for housing accommodations and have even brought myself to the shelter where I experienced a heightened sense of anxiety and turned myself back around. I say this to let you know that I have learned and am continuing to learn that doing things in my own strength without adequate prayer, fellowship, Godly counsel and silence is NOT the way to confess or to truly repent. The Word of God is clear that it is by the grace of God alone that we are brought to repentance as the Apostle Paul says in (Romans 2:4),

“Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”

So to end this time for now and this moment I want to encourage you with this: wait on the Lord. If you are a new Christian in all things wait on the Lord. If you have been a Christian for a long time in all things wait on the Lord. I wrote a small poem this morning which speaks mountains to what I am now facing and which will hopefully inspire all of you to keep on waiting in the desert of the wilderness and to remember that in all things even there, God is good. God bless all of you and may my return bring honor and glory to the name of our Lord and to His blessed deliverance. Amen.

You are good Lord even in the waiting.

In the middle of my suffering,

You’ll still find me waiting,

For Lord even in the waiting,

You are still good.

We Serve A Good Good Father

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8)

God is good. We know this and our response is “He is good all the time.” But in the midst of our struggles and trials can we still see Him as good? There may be times when we speak of His goodness with our tongues but our heart just isn’t in it. God wants us to know and to bear witness and testimony to His goodness in all circumstances.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

This is verse from John 3:16 is one we can probably call to remembrance very easily and I know it’s one we can stand on which testifies to the goodness of God the Father who have His only son to die for us so that we might be saved. We serve a Good Good Father. You might be starving for love but the Lord loved you first. You might be hungry for food or for mercy and God is there to provide for you. God watches over His own and He is watching over you.

The God we serve is a good good Father who provides for the sparrows and who clothes the flowers in loveliness.

“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27“And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28“And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:26-33)

The God we serve is a good good Father who has adopted us to Himself into His family. Bad childhood? Poor family values? Poor parenting? Lack of love? In Christ this no longer matters because we have been adopted into a new family,  are heirs of Christ, and have been adopted by a Father who loves us.

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families…”(Psalms 68:5-6) 

In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will…” (Ephesians 1:5)

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8:14-17)

Parenting is difficult and we know that parents are sinful and imperfect and at times they do us more harm than good. God on the other hand always means us good. God is loving and yet He is just. As a parent disciplines their child so does God. There is a difference however in that where some parents mean to control their children or to cause them harm God does neither of these things and so even as He disciplines us it is a cause for praise as He draws us ever closer to Him.

“And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?” (Hebrews 12: 5-8)

“He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” (Psalm 33:5)
“The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,” (Exodus 34:6)

God is omniscient (all knowing) and omnipotent (all powerful). We serve a God who made the heavens and the earth and who looks down on us from heaven not to belittle us but to lift us up to where He is. He watches down on You my friend and His thoughts about you are precious as our thoughts should be as we meditate on His deep and boundless love for us.

“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand– when I awake, I am still with you.” (Psalm 139:17-18)

Our God in heaven has given us a great assortment of power, authority, love, and beautiful gifts of grace and mercy. He sent His son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into the world to die for us. Jesus the unique and only one of His kind: fully God and fully man; sinless in His deity and yet able to identify with us because of His manhood. Jesus died on the cross at the hands of man voluntarily for us so that we would be saved. The precious blood of Christ covers us this day and because He rose again we have been gifted with the Holy Spirit who intercedes and prays for us, who guides us into all truth, and who gives us spiritual gifts that no man can touch or take away.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26)

“And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

We are taught in the bible to obey our Father’s commands and with such a good good Father whose commands lead to His honor and His glory and cause us to abound in blessings, joy, and peace even in the midst of our suffering we should call it joy that He touches us, thinks of us, and reaches out to us to obey where we can find blessed rest and peace with Him and in Him for all time. Worthy is the Lord! Amen.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17)

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12)

We serve a Good Good Father who grants us freedom and whose love for us never fails as we come through Him to living faith in the life, the death, and the resurrection of His son our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)
So now may we too join in with the psalmist as he says,

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:1)

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13)

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

All praise be to God the Father and may we all on this day be filled to overflowing in the love poured out from our good and gracious Father God. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Breaking The Sin Cycle

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.'”

⁴ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” (Matthew 3:1-5)

John the Baptist was a man who preached the message of God but also lived it. He came out of the wilderness living a simple life and one of self denial so that the message of the Lord could be seen, lived, and carried out by the people that were coming to him to be baptized. Too often we get stuck in the wilderness when God is doing His best to get us uprooted and a bit uncomfortable so that we will repent and turn from our old ways back to Him. As John says we must make a way for the Lord and “make our paths straight”.

Confession is what we do with our mouths and in our minds. When we agree with the Lord that we have sinned and fallen short we come to Him in confession and verbally let the Lord know that we are sorry for what we have done. Repentance on the other hand is a verb that includes “turning away” from the sin that we have committed and making a conscious decision that it goes against our Holy God and we will not repeat it by the power of the Lord’s gifting of the Holy Spirit and in confidence that we have received His power to conquer sin when we have asked for it (1 John 5:14-15).

I am finding in my own walk with Christ that confession is the easier part of the pair. It’s the turning that can be in fact most difficult, not because God hasn’t heard our prayers or listened to our cries but because we want what we want in our natural selves and don’t always do what God in Christ would have us to do. However confession and repentance go hand in hand. It is impossible without the turning away to surrender, submit to God our sins, to cast them at the foot of the cross and leave them there for Him to pick up and do away with. It is impossible for us to think that the sin will never creep up on us again if we don’t decide that sin no longer has a place in our lives because we are every day “being conformed into the image of His son.” (Romans 8:29)

Both confession and repentance are a crucial part of a Christians life. Sin hurts us and it stunts our spiritual growth. There have been times too often when I have found myself in the sin cycle of: sin, confess, get grace, repeat. There have been times immeasurable when I have thought that God hadn’t heard my prayer for deliverance when it was I who was being willful and stepping right back in to the same old pattern, of the very sin that Christ died to give me victory of.

⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:7-11)

We serve a God who is forgiving and who loves us as we are and yet let us not forget today that He is also a Holy God. The world cannot fathom that the God of the Old Testament is still the God of the new. God is not one dimensional. He is a God of love correct and yet He is a Father who offers us discipline and who corrects His children.

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?” (Hebrews 12:7)

God knows what is best for us and it pains Him when we go our own way and get separated from Him because we have sinned against the one who died on the cross for you and for me. It may pain us for a time to turn away from what may give us fleeting moments of pleasure and satisfaction. The bright side is that repentance is a gift that keeps on giving. When we have sinned and we come to our great God with our regret He is faithful to forgive us. When we repent and turn our ways and our wills all over to the one who created us, who made the heavens and the earth and all that is in it, the one who loves us with an eternal love, the one who longs to give us every good thing, the one whose hands have holes in them from being torn by nails on the cross because He loves you so much that He never wants you to be separated from Him again, all heaven and earth rejoices. The more that we turn and make it settled for once and for all that we will not keep on the sin circle of death we will finally see that on all of the pleasures that life and the one that rules over it for a time offer us, are written the words, “you will thirst again.” It is guaranteed.

So let us confess of our sins. So let us repent and turn our wills and our ways over completely to God. If you have never surrendered your sins to God and trusted by faith in Jesus as your Lord and your Savior might I invite you to do that very thing today. The choices we all make are only moments away and the evidence of them is in the fruit that they produce. But there is only one choice that leads to life. This choice yesterday, today, and forever will be the name of Christ alone.

Burn Up All My Anchors

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

Held down, I have allowed myself to be

Caught up in Egypt again, where Your Salvation set me free

Help me to rise above my anchors

Help me to set sail, to advance again

Wipe the tears from my eyes dear Lord

And rescue me again.

Far out in the wilderness, I have feared

You have left me out to dry

My broken bones

So drowned in sorrow thinking,

You could not hear my cry

Then my Lord stepped in and wrapped me up

In arms of comfort with a kiss

You took me high up above my anchors

And washed me clean, leaving me

With Your aroma of mercy, on my lips

I searched with tender wonder

For my Lord, and found Him there

Burning up my anchors with His power

Surrendering me, from their iron of despair

Burn up all the anchors!

Burn them up! Never to hold down

The crown upon my head, You have placed

So that I may never drown

Burn up all the anchors!

Those tied around my limbs and to my heart

Set me free! O my Lord please set me,

So that we may never part

Burn up all the anchors that tear Your Spirit

Down to bits!

In tiny pieces where Your grace, can’t get to settle in

Burn up all the anchors that hold down this weary soul

And set my heart and life to sailing

Where only You take hold.

We Are What We Eat

“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (Proverbs  13:20)

I want to talk about choosing your friends wisely and surrounding ourselves with like minded individuals who stand firm in the truth of the gospel and are rooted in Christ. If we want to grow in Christ it’s important to read the Bible and yet its also just as important who we listen to and who we hang around. As Christians it’s important that we share Christs love with the world but aren’t lovers of the world. We are to stand near but to stand apart. Jesus is very clear that the road to destruction is broad and if we are standing with the crowd the chances that we are going to veer from the narrow road, gets stronger and wider.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

There are times when we pray for our friends and pray for them to find Christ, surrender their lives to Him, and put their trust entirely in Him and yet that day never comes and we stay there holding on tightly in waiting. There are times when they may change and then my brothers and sisters there are times when drastically they change us. When this happens we are found to leave our first love Christ and go down the path that leads us further and further away from God.

Today I am teaching this to all of us because it’s important for us to know when to let go and let God. Yet when we let go that doesn’t mean that we stop loving our friends or that we stop praying for them. More than likely God will call us to pray harder for them and more often.

“Bad company corrupts good character.” (I Corinthians 15:33)

If we are Christians, we don’t use profanity, and are trying to do good in the sight of God, yet we are hanging around people who curse, use God’s name in vain, laugh about our faith in God, drink and party on Sunday, and do all manner of sinful things we were once ashamed of, we have a choice to pray, to remain friends with them, or to walk away. It’s important that even in this we ask God for His will and that we also take His word and heed it no matter how difficult it may seem at the time knowing that He seeks our good and knows of the better life we will have on the other side.

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46)

The Psalms and the book of Proverbs teach us the difference between the wicked and the righteous and provide wise counsel on what we need to do when it comes to who we befriend and who we keep around us.

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! (Psalm 1:1)

“Do not be a friend of one who has a bad temper, and never keep company with a hothead, or you will learn his ways and set a trap for yourself. (Proverbs 22:24-25)

It’s important brothers and sisters that we are careful about the fruit that others bear and whether it is bitter, rotten, or sweet for it is the truth when doctors say, we are what we eat.

“By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

Let’s pray together:

Lord thank You for Your Word which teaches me how to live, how to follow You, and where to seek counsel and even who to have as friends. Please help me to make the right decisions in my life in whom to trust and who to stay close to. Please help me to run from those whose spirits turn me away from knowing and following Yours. Please help my brothers and sisters to do the same. Thank You. In Jesus name. Amen.

Satisfy my Soul

Teach me how to pray for my enemies

When others around me, put them down

When I feel hatred in my heart

Help me, to bring Your love around

Tell me to let go and let You

When I find no hope in sight

When there seems no victory in the holding on

Help me, to lean into Your might

Every day this side of heaven is another one, on which I do rely

In the firm foundation of Your rock and refuge

That will help me to get by

I need not riches and pots of gold

To satisfy this soul

All I need is Salvation in my Lord,

The only thing

That can satisfy this soul.

A Vessel To Your Majesty

“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21)

I want to be a vessel to Your majesty.

Help me to do Your will.

Lead me on Your way.

The brighter side of the day is always when I wait,

To see the other side.

I want to be a vessel to Your majesty.

Where I can run and hide.

Take me to the higher places,

Where Your blessings are providential.

Lead me to the still waters,

Where the water is alive.

I long to be a vessel of Your majesty.

Where I can run and hide.

Teach me all the finer things of life,

Heaven scented sweet.

Bring me into Your presence

Where all of Your children, do abide

I long to be a vessel of Your majesty,

In which I can run and hide.

My Lord I bow down low, into Your honor.

Grace and Mercy drizzle over me,

As You take away the pain.

Of nights of tears and hollow years

That have left me to confide.

So I might be found to be,

A vessel to Your majesty

Where I have come to run and hide.

Sweet and Lovely

Let us admit, we are a people who tend to forget. The word of God is chock full of people who have forgotten the word of the Lord, gone their own way towards destruction, and done what was right in their own sight. The word of God is also a Holy Book of repetition that reminds us continually to fix our thoughts on the Lord. One thing I continue to learn in my walk of faith is that what fills my mind is what I am. If I speak words of failure and words of negativity, if I watch things which are harmful to my spirit and grieve the Holy Spirit of God, if I hang around people who speak expletives and foul language all the time… the list goes on, then my mind will tend to become clouded with thoughts, words, scenes, and lead to actions which will harm my spiritual growth. We have a choice every moment of the blessing of our lives and we can choose to as the word says, “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5) or not. Today I invite us to take heed of the word of God choosing to be doers of the word and not only hearers. In 2 Peter 1:15 Peter tells us plainly, “And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.” May we all be careful to remember to,

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.” (Proverbs 4: 23-27)

When we focus our mind on those things which are God edifying and God glorifying we will begin to notice a change in ourselves and our transformation in Christ will be more evident to others. There is power within us brothers and sisters by the power of the Lords Holy Spirit which today indwells within us thanks to the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah (Praise the Lord)! We don’t have to be partakers of sin. We don’t have to allow the negative thoughts from our past and the words people have said to bring us down, keep us in their trenches. We don’t have to give into despair at the world collapsing around us. May we never forget that,

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” (Romans 8:11)

Truly when we make the choice to give our minds over to the will of God rejoicing will take over us as we see the Word come true,

“But in that coming day
    no weapon turned against you will succeed.
You will silence every voice
    raised up to accuse you.
These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord;
    their vindication will come from me.”
    I, the Lord, have spoken! (Isaiah 54:17)

I know that times are hard and it can be difficult to change our tune when we find ourselves in a rut. I know that it can be a lot to change our thoughts about ourselves. Yet we have to realize that the choice is ours but the power is not. Victory is from the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:57) and when we give our thoughts over to Him the peace of God can be ours. Let us agree with the Apostle Paul in this,

“⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ⁹ Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

Let’s pray together:

Beloved heavenly Father please help me to guard my heart and mind today so that I don’t let in the lies the enemy has told me throughout the years, so I watch what I watch, and am careful who’s spirit I allow to drive Yours out. I believe that Your Holy Spirit indwells me and I thank You for such a powerful, victorious, and conquering gift. Help me Lord by the power of Your Holy Spirit to fix my eyes on Your good so that I don’t lose sight of You in my darkest moments. Keep my eyes fixed on You. Keep my ears open to Your voice. Keep my lips speaking words out loud and in my mind that are glorifying and sweet to You. May I rejoice in Your power though my circumstances haven’t changed. May I radiate Your joy in the glow of my face all of this day. Thank You my Lord. In Jesus name. Amen.

Standing on The Lamb

^“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Today in our belief in Jesus Christ: the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World (John 1:29), we are free. The word of God says that when we know the truth that it will set us free. This truth can only set us free once we believe it, once we receive it, and once we stand firmly on it, with it, and in it’s truth. Freedom comes when we let go. Freedom comes when shackles are broken. Freedom comes when once we are free we do as Jesus did and we set captives free (Luke 4:18) by sharing the truth of Jesus with them. The truth of God’s word is valuable and unchanging, we do well when we stand firmly upon it.

“Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” (Psalm 62:2)

Today everyone has their own truth. I have heard it said that there is “no objective truth.” and this is wrong thinking. People talk, argue, and bicker over whose truth is correct when we have all already been told. A friend of mine told me after hearing of my engagement to be married that the universe had heard my prayers. I truthfully (and hopefully gracefully) told her that all of my prayers go through Jesus Christ to our Father in heaven and that I don’t pray to the universe or consider it my God. That is standing on the truth. I have to admit that I was timid at first because I feared her rejection but was able to stand on the truth of the word of God when I remembered first that I serve God and not man

“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44)

and secondly that I would be disqualified for trying to spread this message if I did not first take the Lords teaching for myself with a disciplined mind, heart, and tongue to speak the truth of the word of God as I aught to.

“I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27)

Today as believers let us stand strong and firm in our faith that Jesus is who He says that He is and that there is only one way to get our names written in the lambs book of life.

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

In Acts 4:12 the word of God tells us,

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

We have been given a free gift by the maker of the heavens and the earth. How are we treating that gift? How are we feeding that gift? Are we accepting it or rejecting it? For it is truly the best gift that there is: it’s free and it keeps on giving.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans  6:23)

“And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

The disciples saw the glory of God and that He was among them. John says that He is full of grace and truth. There is that word again “truth”.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

My brothers and sisters the bible says that there will be scoffers and mockers abounding in the end times and we are already starting to see the beginning of that. I want to strengthen and encourage us all to stand firm and true on the rock of our Salvation.

“³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, ⁶ and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. ⁷ But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 3: 3-7)

^“8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-9)

So we must stand on truth that there is one truth and one truth only and that is found in Jesus Christ our Lord.  He said He will come back and He is coming back. He is waiting for He wants all to be saved. If you’re unsaved repent and believe. If you are saved through faith in Jesus Christ let me ask you,

Where are you standing?

Just Engaged (A Praise Report)

 “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Mark 10:9)

Lord I praise You that You have made things clear between me and my soon to be husband. We got engaged last night Lord and I want to thank You for hearing our prayers for our relationship. Things have not been perfect and all lined out for us and yet You have shown up in our relationship and in him and I want to thank You very much. Lord it’s been a blessing of 3 1/2 years with him as You know but I realized even before we were engaged last night that there is no one that I would rather spend the rest of my life with. O Lord, my God I know that things between us will not be perfect and I know that things will not always go smoothly but I need You to be at the center of our hearts, our minds, our lives, our attitudes, and our actions. Help us to grow in You alone and together and to grow strong in prayer. Help us to let idols in our lives and our hearts fall away out of love, devotion, and honor to You dear Lord. Help us to stay laughing and silly even in the midst of trials. Help us to love one another Lord even when it hurts. Lord I don’t know where either of us will be a few years down the road but I pray that we will still be fully and completely Yours and with one another. Please watch over my fiance and keep him faithful, safe, healthy, and true to You first, and to Your will, and then to me. Please watch over and bless his family too. Watch over us and keep us daily Lord with Your eye upon us leading us on Your way and in Your will for all the rest of our days. We praise You Lord for You are good. In Jesus name. Amen.