Firecracker or Dud

Apostle Paul makes a point in 1Cor. 15:31 that he dies daily. Dies daily you question? What does that mean to die daily? Rest assured he is not talking suicide. Apostle Paul was referring to that part of us that wants our way, when we want it, how we want it and NOW, our will. That flesh part of us, the old man wants his way but we need to be conformed to God's way and that requires some death of a sort. We have in the recent past seen WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) and death to self is choosing the WWJD way over your own fleshly desires.To get here we must first acknowledge we need a savior, if we haven't already accepted Jesus as Lord. Sometimes a religious background can hinder us from a personal salvation experience with the Lord. Being raised in church can gives a head knowledge, and intellectual knowing of God without us ever experiencing Him in our hearts. Some people even serve in the ministry without being born again. A friend of mine named Connie told me of a youth minister that she knew who led many people to the Lord. She had all the right words, was charismatic, a real soul winner. They went on many mission trips together and they knew each other well, or so Connie thought. A time came when Connie was unable to go due to time constraints and the missionaries had to go without her. She awaited eagerly for a phone call to tell her how things were going. The phone call finally came and she was astounded by what she heard. It seems that when the alter call came her friend and fellow soul winner had went forward to receive salvation. She later said, ' I was raised in church so I thought that made me a christian. I just realized tonight that I didn't know the Lord...'She had recognized that she had a need for a personal savior. You cannot see the kingdom unless you are born again. Not one of us is without sin. We all have fallen short and failed to live up to to God's requirements of holiness. Without Jesus we are sentenced to death, but because of Jesus sacrifice, God's free gift and the Holy Spirits work in us we can receive eternal life in place of the death we all deserve.
You must act on your conviction. This awakening I am talking about can not be just a mental acknowledgement   or assent. You must repent, recognize that without a personal relationship with Jesus you are undone. You must acknowledge him as Savior. He is the way, the truth and the life, no man can come to GOD but through Him.  Now that you have acknowledged your sin and Christ's standing as the only way you have to act on it,  Receive it as it were. Remember, it is not just head knowledge. James 2:19 tells us the demons believe and tremble and we know where they are. SO if we know we are lost and Jesus is our only hope and fail to act on it we are like a patient who went to the doctor, got a prescription and failed to have it filled. The prescription for sin sickness is Repentance. Repentance is ongoing and involves change. Change includes turning away from those things that stands between you and the Father. Its is through repentance and the renewing of the mind from being washed in the blood of the Lamb  that we become new creatures. God planned it, Jesus paid for it, and the Holy Spirit calls..and we must respond.  You are born into the family of God through faith. By faith you believe God to honor His word, that if we believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths  that Jesus  is Lord we Shall be saved.Then again maybe you are one who accepted the gift of Salvation years ago and to you I ask firecracker or dud? I title this blogg this because it is coming up to the 4th of July and as most Americans our minds stray toward fire works.. Nothing is more thrilling that lighting a fuse of a firework component and seeing the bright colors and the loud bang and nothing is more pitiful than the phizzt of a dud. What has it got  to do with is blogg you ask.. well Let me ask you, have you drifted, grown cold or plain ole backslid or have your grown weary? God as provided for you also. GO back to your first works...repent,confess to you the Lord, spend time in His presence and ask Him to renew your zeal. Open up your heart and walk daily with the Lord.Are you content with a lukewarm, sameo,sameo walk with God? Or are you ready to be a front line, on fire, Spirit walking, Spirit talking, firecracker for God? Firecracker or phizzt(dud)? Let freedom ring!

But you don't know how bad I've been!

I am not good enough. You don't know how bad I have been. I have sinned to much! Have you ever heard this statement or might you have said it yourself at one time or the other? Do I have good news for you! You are right, you are not good enough, you have been bad and you have sinned. You are not alone so are the Pastor,Deacon, Teacher, Prophet and every person in the congregation. Romans 3:10 tells us, 'there is none righteous, no not one. This scripture led me to one in the Old Testament that confirms the New Testament scripture.<Ecclesiastes 7: 20> For there is not a just man on the earth who does good and does not sin. When I first read this scripture  I misunderstood it and thought 'there are many people who do good works.' But then I reread it and understood that it was saying there are good people who do good works but they still sin. So good behavior and good deeds does not make us good enough for God. <Romans 3:23> says for ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
  This being the case how do we get good enough to make Heaven our home? <Romans 3:23> tells us we are justified freely by His grace, through redemption that is in JESUS CHRIST. It is only through Him, Jesus, that we are made right. Not our own works, not are cleaning ourselves up  are we made right but through Jesus. We feel like that if we grit our teeth and follow rules that we will be good enough. The only problem with that is we can only be 'good' so long and then it blows up in our face and then we are no longer good. Gal. 2:21 states, ' I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness comes through law(following rules in the flesh) then Christ died in vain.' It is very clear that we are all, NOT good enough. It is only through the grace of God through Jesus Christ that we are made acceptable. <John 1:12> Tells us how we are made acceptable- But as many as receive Him, to them He gave the RIGHT to become children of God, to those who believe on His name. It becomes quite clear that when we make Jesus our savior and Lord we are made good and acceptable. But I have sinned so much, I have done to much-<Is.1 :18>" Come now,and let us reason together," says the Lord, " though you sin are like scarlet, they SHALL be white as snow"
  SO the truth of the matter is this-we in and of ourselves can NEVER be good enough. BUT, In Jesus we are made pure and clean.  In closing, WE CAN NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH TO OBTAIN GOD BUT, WHEN WE OBTAIN JESUS AND HIS GRACE WE BECOME GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE THROUGH, BY AND IN HIM.

Running in circles

As I sit here today my heart is overwhelmed with emotion. I have people I know whose life is a life of circles. Some are broke, some are drunks, some are lonely to the point of desperation,ect. Their minds whirl with pain, confusion and hopelessness. My heart cries out to you O Lord on their behalf. There are tears in my eyes as I sense their pain. They run in circles trying this and trying that trying to find peace. They run in circles trying to keep disaster from their doors. Is there no solution? Isaiah 26:3-4 says there is. It states,"You will him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You( Jesus). Trust in the Lord forever, For YAH, the Lord is everlasting strength." We can search the nooks and crannies, we can run in circles and in our own power we will not find peace. We may if we are very lucky find temporary solutions to the craziness we call our lives. The problem is that we have an enemy, the devil, Satan himself who would like nothing better than to destroy all that God has created. Eventually the circling starts again for old slew foot takes pleasure in confusion.  The word of God tells us  how to have peace, strength and stability. We who put our trust in the Lord find  the things we need to have abundant life. God our Father teaches us how to be at peace. He strengthens us when we have a battle to face. Please, Please, turn your eyes and heart to the creator of all things, the Great I AM and His Son. Repent and join yourself to them in the most loving relationship there is and find peace. My prayer today is this--Father God, touch my friends, family and all who read this. Draw them to you and woo them until they come into salvation. Bring, my King, peace where there is no peace, Joy where there is no Joy and hope where there is no hope. Turn them to you O God and let them have the life your word says we can have. amen

show me how to love

I have come to know that in myself there is no good thing. That with out the Lord and the Holy Spirit that I can only love those who love me. I have been actively checking my heart and want to love the way the Father says to love. But how? By allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to me and CHOOSING to obey that still small voice. It is easy to love those who love you. It is easy to be kind to those who are kind; but, what do you do when someone is just plain old ugly to you? Be honest with yourself like I have been. Believe me it can be pretty scary. To be honest if I let the 'flesh' rule I would cut their guts open with  a sharp quick tongue and leave them to die or heal as best they could. That was the younger me by the way. BUT Jesus! I am not saying the urge to verbally slash has not hit me because it does quite often. I am not saying I always succeed in controlling that unruly member(tongue) and living out a love walk. I am saying that through Jesus I can do all things. What do I mean by this introduction?  Love is not always a feeling. Love is sometimes doing the right thing, the right way even if we don't FEEL like it. Take your neighbors -- they have multiple cats that mess in your garden--flesh way--scoop the poop and place it on their deck..God's way--clean up the yard, pray for them and if and when God opens the door try to reason with them.Let God take care of the results. What about someone who digs at you for months on end..flesh way--tell them to shut their pie holes, Gods way..pray for them and wait for God to either take care of it or if it is your responsibility wait for Him to open the door to deal with it in a God like manner. I guess the newest one I have learned is when someone is way uncool and hurtful. Depend on the Holy Spirit to respond in a godly manner. Even if it means walking away and waiting until a cooler head prevails..That is love. It isn't always that ooowey gooey feeling but waiting and doing the right thing. Love means being willing to suffer loss if need be for peace. Love means letting God correct things. Love mean loving God. 1 John 4:7-8 states,' Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not does not know God, for God is love.' So my fellow followers of Christ. Is there someone you you be hatin' on? Take it to Jesus. Is there someone who you don't hate but grates..take it to Jesus. Some time love is just walking away and praying for them. Take it to Jesus and He will show you the way you are to go. Remember the word tells us to not only love but to also get along with people, but, it also says as much as it is in your power. Some people will not allow peace, like I said earlier for those, love is breaking away from and praying for God to restore them. It is all done in submitting our will to God's will, our ways to His ways, our human love{or the idea of it}to His Love. Remember "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me", even love the unlovely. IT IS ALL IN, THROUGH AND BY JESUS CHRIST. Lord, teach me to love.

How to soar!

In this life of trials and toil we must find strength and stamina to go on. For many years I thought waiting meant to sit around and wait. I sometimes wonder why it takes so long for prayers to be answered and dare I say sometimes it appears that my prayer is going as far a the ceiling of my house. I came across a scripture that I had heard many times before and all of a sudden a light bulb moment happened.  First let me share the scripture with you--Isaiah 40:31--'Those who wait upon the the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not be faint.' For many years I assumed it meant sitting and waiting in the traditional sense, and it can be taken that way but with your permission let me share my light bulb moment...Wait? What does a wait staff do when the serve you? They Wait on you, dare I say minister to your need for food. What was it called in the Old Testament when the priests went into the tabernacle? They were waiting and ministering to God. So these thoughts got me to thinking. How about instead of sitting and fretting I spent my time renewing my strength with praising and praying and ministering before the Lord God. Let me say it this way-'Those who worship, hope and praise before the Lord shall renew their strength,  they shall soar over the hardships on wings like eagles, they shall run with vigor and strength, they shall not faint(fall back in futility). Lord my prayer for myself and my friends is that you teach us to truly wait on you. To worship and praise you fully, in good times and bad. That you strengthen us as we minister before you in worship. Father teach us to fly!

No more tears

Life in its complexities can be very difficult at times. We have loved ones who die and leave us to go on without them. We have health issues that cause us to despair of ever being free of pain. We have major and minor difficulties that cause us to be sad, lonely and sorrowful. I think I am safe in saying we all have something in our lives that slots into ones of these areas. We want to be free of physical, mental and spiritual pain. I feel when we lose hope we become pained in our spirit also. There is hope! Rev.21:4 state,'And God will wipe away EVERY tear from their eyes; there shall be no sorrow or crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.' We as born again believers have this as a promise. So when the things of life get a bit hectic comfort yourself with this word of the Lord.
               Joy unspeakable
               Essence of love
               Sweet peace unsearchable from
               Up above, this is our
               Savior and what he brings- We should praise Him for all these things.