Pastor, Speaker, Author, Counselor
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We can do great things, speak eloquently and gracefully, feed the poor, visit the sick and dying, even preach the word, but when we do these things without love we are nothing more than noisy and busy cymbals.
Have we lost love for our fellow man? Why is there so much division amongst us? Do we truly have love in our hearts, are our passions to feed others, visit them, speak eloquently , so others will see what good things we do, or to see souls come to Christ? Do our neighbors know Him? Do our co-workers know Him? Does our friends know Him? Does our family know Him? Do they know you know Him? If not return to your first love today, Jesus Christ ask Him to make Himself known to those around you through the love and compassion He pours through you. That His name will be high and lifted up and that everyone will see Him in all you do and say. Love is us dying to ourselves, our will, our ways, so Christ can have His way and be exalted so others will come to Him. This is why Jesus said to God the Father; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven! Every act of selfless love is an expression of Christ love, is your life an expression of the love of God? God’s word says this: “When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”Matthew 22:34-40 CSB “If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love.”1 Corinthians 13:1-13 CSB
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Sir Winston Churchill said at the end of his life “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened!”
We all face many different types of ‘burdens’ in life, some of them are very real and troubling. Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Jesus is saying I will bear them for you if you give them to me, why do we foolishly hold onto them and worry over them, get frustrated over them dwell on them, when we can simply and prayerfully turn them over to Jesus? Do we really trust Him? Do we really believe? I honestly don’t know, but we listen to our flesh and enemy because we believe we can handle it, pride sets in and takes our hearts and minds off of Christ. In America, we have 5 percent of the world's population, yet we consume 50 percent of the prescription drugs in the world and 80 percent of the narcotic drugs in the world, made mostly for depression, anxiety, and pain. We have a problem! The problem is not mental stability, or physical ailments, it is spiritual for we are weak spiritually, and have forgotten and forsaken God. ”John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace, said this” We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.” Are you tired of carrying your burdens alone? Are you weary from the journey? Are you ready to surrender to Christ, all your sorrow, all your worries, all your soul? If so then today is the day you step into freedom! God’s word says this! “Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act, making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday. Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him; do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans.”Psalms 37:3-7 CSB “Blessed be the Lord! Day after day he bears our burdens; God is our salvation. Selah Our God is a God of salvation, and escape from death belongs to the Lord my Lord. Your God has decreed your strength. Show your strength, God, you who have acted on our behalf.” Psalms 68:19-20, 28 CSB “The person who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit. The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable — who can understand it? I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve. Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise. Don’t become a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of disaster.” Jeremiah 17:7-10, 14, 17 CSB “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 CSB Following Christ will lead each of us into uncharted territory, if we knew our journey would be rough we probably wouldn't take the first step, but all our journeys will end in His presence, this is why we walk by faith, each step, every day.
This is what I know, Christ Jesus has walked where no man has walked before, and walked where each of us has and will, Christ Jesus has prayed for us, Christ Jesus is with us, Christ Jesus will never leave us or forsake us, in Him we are more than conquerors! Today is a great day to start your journey with Him, trust Him to lead you through the valley of death, and the green pastures, He has given us all we need to make it through this life into eternity. In Buchenwald concentration camp, 56,000 people were put to death by a totalitarian regime that saw the Christian faith as a threat to its ideology. One block of cells in the camp was reserved for prisoners who were deemed especially dangerous or notable. Paul Schneider, a Lutheran pastor who was called ‘the preacher of Buchenwald’, was placed in this special block because even from the small window in his cell he loudly proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ – in defiance of the orders of the Gestapo guards. Otto Neururer, a Catholic priest whose work on behalf of the Jews and other so called ‘undesirables’ had made him a threat to the Nazi warlords, was also put in this block. He too ministered in Jesus’ name to his fellow inmates in the concentration camp until he was crucified upside down. The journey they took was not what they planned, but they followed Christ to the end, and by doing so many where converted and God was glorified. Are we willing to follow Christ all the way? God’s word says this: “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me. “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours. Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine, and I am glorified in them. I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled. Now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy completed in them. I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. I sanctify myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth. “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation. Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.”John 17:6-26 CSB “What you have heard from the beginning is to remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life. I have written these things to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as it has taught you, remain in him. So now, little children, remain in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right has been born of him.”1 John 2:24-29 CSB What weathers your soul?
Trials in life? Wayward children? Financial or physical burdens? Are you tired, weary or broken? Come rest in the hands of God! Don't you know the Holy Spirit prays for you when you can't ! Don't you know that Jesus intercedes for you, even right now as you read this. He knows our name, He knows our pain, He knows our sorrow, He knows our tomorrow. Whatever is happening come worship the King of kings and turn every burden over to Him this day. “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you — you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:25-34 CSB “In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified. What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Romans 8:26-39 CSB In Great Britain a land that was once on fire for God there are only 30,000 Christian clergies of all types, and sadly more than 80,000 registered witches and fortune tellers.
What happened you may ask, preachers, professors and politicians believed themselves smarter than God, they justified in their hearts and minds that they can live as they please counter to the word of God, they taught these falsehoods to the people of this land, the people of this land laid aside the word of God to get their ears tickled, and now we can look in and see the death and destruction they have brought upon themselves and their Nation. When we stand before the throne of God, it won't matter what the preacher, the professor or the politician said that we listened to, what will matter is how we responded to what God’s word says and the knowledge He has given us all. Sadly their darkest days are yet to come. We seem to follow the pattern of the world which is if it feels right to me, it's gotta be good! What we should understand is that the weight of our choices, that is the consequences and rejecting Christ and His gift of grace and salvation is an eternity in hell, that we chose. But there is hope for them as there is for us, if they will repent and turn from their ways, God would restore them and heal their lands. Let our Nation look to the death and destruction that now lingers in this once great Nation that at one time stretched its arms around the world and see our future, let us return to God, repent and let Him heal our lands and restore our Nation to His glory. Let's stand on the gospel of Jesus Christ, for in Him alone is salvation, in Him alone is truth, in Him alone is our hope, our future and our inheritance. God’s word says this: “Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple of sacrifice. If I shut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on my people, and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. My eyes will now be open and my ears attentive to prayer from this place. And I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there at all times.” 2 Chronicles 7:12-16 CSB “At that time, some people came and reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And he responded to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well. Or those eighteen that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed — do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.” Luke 13:1-5 CSB “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith. For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen. For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error. And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Although they know God’s just sentence — that those who practice such things deserve to die — they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.” Romans 1:16-32 CSB Fear and shame hold us back from being on the move with God, the enemy lies to us, reminds us of our sinful behavior and ridicules us in our minds our enemy uses these tactics because he is a bully, a liar, a deceiver and he is fearful of what God will do with our stories to help set others free from the bondage of sin and death, and that we will lead them to Jesus.
We need to come to terms with God, if we have surrendered our lives to Him for salvation, we have confessed our sins to Him for forgiveness, then we are free from the bondage of sin and death, we are no longer separated from God we are joined with Him through Christ so we are at peace with God and no longer His enemy. We need to stop listening to our old masters, the flesh and the devil and listen to the voice of God, hide His words in our hearts be renewed in His strengths, delight in His ways and walk with Him faithfully every moment of every day. We listen to the lies of our enemy only because we know his voice he has haunted us since we were born, but he is a defeated foe, his power is limited and we now get to walk in victory because of Jesus Christ, isn't it time we start living? A.W Tozer said this; The only fear I have is to get out of the will of God. Outside of the will of God, there's nothing I want, and in the will of God, there's nothing I fear, for God has sworn to keep me in His will. If I'm out of his will that's another matter. But if I'm in His will, He's sworn to keep me." We have prayed the prayer that Jesus taught the disciples, it is now time to start fulfilling our part, when we say thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are saying to God our Father, I will obey and serve you as the angels do, without question, without doubt, I will honor you always. Today turn from the enemies of our souls, walk-in the newness of Christ, know that Christ took our fear, He took our shame, He took our sin and He nailed it to the cross, so we can be reconciled to God and be free to walk in victory and peace with Him the rest of our days. God’s word says this: “Come to terms with God and be at peace; in this way good will come to you. Receive instruction from his mouth, and place his sayings in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be renewed. If you banish injustice from your tent.. Then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.” Job 22:21-23, 26-27 CSB “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Romans 8:31-39 CSB “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions — is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.” 1 John 2:15-17 CSB Today so many struggle physically, emotionally and spiritually with depression, depression leads to health issues and health issues lead back to depression, it affects their marriages and their other relationships. It becomes almost impossible for them to really live their life, past guilt consumes them for things they did or didn't do, said or didn't say, it seems to always haunt them.
Our past sins and failures are the enemy of our soul's favorite form of torment, yet we don't see how it affects us, all we know is we just feel guilty. Here is a not so secret, secret, Jesus came to heal the sick, and save the lost, not seek the righteous, He came seeking all who are tormented, hurting, dying, He came to save us all. The scriptures tell us if we confess our sins to God, He is faithful and just, He forgives our sins, He takes our sins and separates them from us as far as the east is from the west and we are no longer condemned for them if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ, who took our punishment upon Himself so we would be free from the chains of sin and death. Most of what has tormented mankind from the beginning could be fixed with confession and repentance to God for the way we have lived. If we seek healing in our relationships, in our depression, or for our physical health, then today ask God to reveal the things hidden and not confessed, things our enemies hold against us, then confess and repent and be free today in Christ. If depression courts you and keeps you from living, ask God to help and set you free from this daily if need be, take every thought captive and start living in Christ one day at a time. If we are in Christ we do not need to live in fear or bondage, we are free in Him to live an abundant life. God’s word says this; Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord ,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.Psalm 32:1-8 ESV “Save me, God, for the water has risen to my neck. I have sunk in deep mud, and there is no footing; I have come into deep water, and a flood sweeps over me. I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head; my deceitful enemies, who would destroy me, are powerful. Though I did not steal, I must repay. God, you know my foolishness, and my guilty acts are not hidden from you. Do not let those who put their hope in you be disgraced because of me, Lord God of Armies; do not let those who seek you be humiliated because of me, God of Israel. I have endured insults because of you, and shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother’s sons because zeal for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. I mourned and fasted, but it brought me insults. I wore sackcloth as my clothing, and I was a joke to them. Those who sit at the city gate talk about me and drunkards make up songs about me. But as for me, Lord, my prayer to you is for a time of favor. In your abundant, faithful love, God, answer me with your sure salvation. Rescue me from the miry mud; don’t let me sink. Let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep water. Don’t let the floodwaters sweep over me or the deep swallow me up; don’t let the Pit close its mouth over me. Answer me, Lord, for your faithful love is good. In keeping with your abundant compassion, turn to me. Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly! Come near to me and redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies. You know the insults I endure — my shame and disgrace. You are aware of all my adversaries. Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I waited for sympathy, but there was none; for comforters, but found no one. Instead, they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table set before them be a snare, and let it be a trap for their allies. Let their eyes grow too dim to see, and let their hips continually quake. Pour out your rage on them, and let your burning anger overtake them. Make their fortification desolate; may no one live in their tents. For they persecute the one you struck and talk about the pain of those you wounded. Charge them with crime on top of crime; do not let them share in your righteousness. Let them be erased from the book of life and not be recorded with the righteous. But as for me — poor and in pain — let your salvation protect me, God. I will praise God’s name with song and exalt him with thanksgiving. That will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves. The humble will see it and rejoice. You who seek God, take heart! For the Lord listens to the needy and does not despise his own who are prisoners. Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them, for God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah. They will live there and possess it. The descendants of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will live in it.” Psalms 69;1-36 CSB “Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”John 10:7-18 CSB We are all lost or were lost at one time!
We are all in need of a Savior! We are all offered reconciliation and redemption through Christ alone! The question is why do some reject Christ and His gift of love, mercy, and grace? Reconciliation comes through redemption, redemption comes from repentance, Christ Jesus offers reconciliation & redemption we must come with a repentant heart, a broken spirit, and humble ourselves before God. No matter what our pasts, no matter where we are presently, God is waiting with forgiveness, salvation, and grace for all who come to Him and ask in this way, He has a future full of great plans for each of us, He says come to me. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. “You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:3-11 CSB “The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented him as an atoning sacrifice in his blood, received through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.”Romans 3:22-26 CSB “My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ the righteous one. He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2 CSB God never intended for us to live independent of Him, making everything depend on us. He created us for a relationship and tells us to come to Him for our daily needs. It is only when we lean on Him instead of ourselves that we experience His supernatural strength and provision.
When we feel alone, we've forgotten God is always with us and has told us He will never abandon us or forsake us, when we feel unable to press on it’s usually because we’ve forgotten to acknowledge God’s presence and power in our lives and our need for Him. Simply looking to God’s presence and power won’t help us if we don’t truly believe He alone is sovereign, we need to know and believe how mighty God is otherwise we’ll look at our own limitations and limit Him. This is where most people get stuck in their faith, in their walk with a God who is just a little bigger, stronger, wiser than them limited to their own thoughts and feelings. That makes God small Ultimately how we live our lives and not what we say is what we truly believe about who God is in our lives, we either live by faith, or in fear, let's not forget we’re not alone in this world, we are made to depend on God and we are responsible for how we live, therefore turn everything over to God and see how He makes things turn out. God who created all things is capable of seeing us through whatever we face each day nothing surprises Him, nothing is greater than Him, nothing can separate us from Him, we are His and He is ours. What areas of your life need to be turned over to God today? God’s word says this: “Lord, how happy is anyone you discipline and teach from your law to give him relief from troubled times until a pit is dug for the wicked. The Lord will not leave his people or abandon his heritage, for the administration of justice will again be righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.” Psalms 94:12-15 CSB “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew 6:9-13 CSB “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me. “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours. Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine, and I am glorified in them. I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled. Now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy completed in them. I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.” John 17:6-15, 20-23 CSB “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.”Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”Romans 8:28,31-35 CSB Jesus came to liberate us by the power of forgiveness of our sins through His work of redemption on the cross and He has sealed us with His Holy Spirit. We are free to love others as God loves us.
When we come to understand forgiveness, we will see it at the heart of every relationship we will see that It is the essence of love. This is why Jesus came to forgive our sins and show us the love of God, and when we learn to live and love like Jesus, we will never condemn or condone the sin of others, we will though lovingly challenge (starting with ourselves) others to leave sin behind, and live a better way, God's way. Love doesn't condone or condemn sin, for sin leads to pain and death and love never rejoices in seeing others suffer. When we come to understand that Jesus paid the price for all sins, yours, mine, the whole worlds, that no one is excluded by God, rather they exclude themselves for Christ did not come to condemn the world, but to save it. Jesus came and brought forgiveness, grace, salvation, and love to all mankind, the Greek word used for ‘to forgive’ also means ‘to liberate’. Jesus came to set us free from the bondage of sin and death through the forgiveness of our sins, through the price He paid at Calvary. Today is the day of your salvation, Jesus is calling all who are burdened come to me, be free for I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. God’s word says this “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.” John 3:16-18 CSB “Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 CSB “The end of all things is near; therefore, be alert and sober-minded for prayer. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. “Be hospitable to one another without complaining.” Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God. If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:7-11 CSB There is always a new trend the devil starts, and foolish people fall for, nowadays it is ”I self identify as” and that is where the problem begins with ”self”.
If we call ourselves a Christian we should never fall in these traps we should only identify ourselves in Christ, we cannot identify or live as the world does, we must live our lives as God’s word says. As a child of God, we need to be reminded that our identity is in Christ, we are not held to the worlds standards but Gods and He says we are different because we are His, to be Holy for He is Holy, this means we are set apart from the world, we do not live to please ourselves, we live to honor God. Light and darkness cannot dwell together, our ways do not become God’s way, His ways become ours when we are His, God is calling, God is separating the darkness from the light and He is at work in His children, when we love God more than ourselves we live as He has called us. God’s word says this: “Don’t become partners with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you. And I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 CSB Let's face it the world we live in is unfair, we are overrun at times with the ugliness of life in this sinful fallen world.
The wicked seem to prosper and hold positions of authority while we always seem to be playing catch up and defending our position just trying to make it day by day. It can be disheartening but it is only for the moment, rest assured God is in control and we already have the victory. Our daily battle is not for victory, but from victory in Christ, it is easier to face each day knowing Christ has overcome whatever comes our way. Remember that demonic influence is everywhere, we may not think of things this way but they are, things such as alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, racial hate, sexism, adultery, fornication, sex outside the bounds of marriage the way God designed it, gender confusion, lyrics to songs, government injustice, slavery, murder, lying deceitful tongues, prideful hearts, greed, gluttony, the list could go on and on, and while they can influence us and the world around us we do not have to submit to that influence as children of God, we should only submit to Him, yes these things can be overwhelming but we must not focus on these things. While they may overwhelm us they must not overtake us, David gave us simple instructions on how to live, in a world that quickly changes. The Holy Spirit shows us how to live a life for God in a fallen world how to lay ourselves aside, as God rises up and shine in dark times. Gods word says this: “Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong. For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender green plants. Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act, making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday. Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him; do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans. Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated — it can only bring harm. For evildoers will be destroyed, but those who put their hope in the Lord will inherit the land.” Psalms 37:1-9 CSB “Do you really speak righteously, you mighty ones? Do you judge people fairly? No, you practice injustice in your hearts; with your hands you weigh out violence in the land. The wicked go astray from the womb; liars wander about from birth. They have venom like the venom of a snake, like the deaf cobra that stops up its ears, that does not listen to the sound of the charmers who skillfully weave spells. God, knock the teeth out of their mouths; Lord, tear out the young lions’ fangs. May they vanish like water that flows by; may they aim their blunted arrows. The righteous one will rejoice when he sees the retribution; he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. Then people will say, “Yes, there is a reward for the righteous! There is a God who judges on earth!” Psalms 58:1-7, 10-11 CSB “Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.” Romans 15:1-6 CSB There is a great story about a
water-bearer in India who had two large pots, both hung on the ends of a pole, which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot always arrived half full. The poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water-bearer one day by the stream: ‘I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologise to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts.’ The bearer said to the pot, ‘Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.’ God uses what others throw away! He uses the broken, forgotten, the cast away, He uses the humble in spirit,we do not need to be perfect for God to use us, only Jesus was perfect for He is God, everyone else in Scripture was imperfect. Everyone of us wants our lives to count for something. If we want to be useful to God then we must surrender to His will and see what He will do. Let God grow the flowers He has on your path, it doesn’t matter how old we are or young, what matters is God using us to reach others so they may see His glory. God’s word says: “Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world — what is viewed as nothing — to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence. It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us — our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 CSB “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 CSB Our past does not define us,
Our present does not confine us, It is Christ alone that reminds us, who we are in Him. Who will you listen to? God calls His children sons and daughters, The devil calls us sinners “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs — heirs of God and coheirs with Christ — if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” Romans 8:15-17 CSB God calls His children victors The devil calls us failures “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him. This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey his commands. For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden, because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.” 1 John 5:1-4 CSB God says His children are new creations, old things have passed away. The devil wants you to hold onto the past and will remind us of who we were. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2 CSB “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB “I know pain, and I am sorry you hurt.”
I will never forget those words. As I was doing rehab, there was a middle-aged man who had shattered his legs in a freak accident after a few years and 7 surgeries, a few steel rods and a couple of new knees he was learning to walk all over again, and the look on his face of pain was excruciating, the pain made him gray as the therapist tried to help him walk. A few feet away from him was a young man, wheelchair-bound and almost unrecognizable as a human being, he had suffered burns over 75 percent of his body, one hand was gone, and he had two fingers on the other, his face seemed like a canvas of graphs clinging to one another he hadn’t healed much since he was burned, but he moved his wheel-chair over to the man, laid his fingers on him and said these words “ I know pain, and I am sorry you hurt,” I sat in awe as this incredible scene, unfolded, and then the guy in tears hugged him and thanked him as they exchanged stories, both incredible but the young man's story went deeper, soul touching deeper. As he told the story of how the ones who were supposed to love him, protect him, provide for him, had almost killed him, you see he had suffered greatly at the hands of his parents ,about 5 years ago they wanted to be free of their child and they set him on fire as he slept. My heart sank as I heard these words, and then the young man told his new friend how God had spared him and has great plans for him, how every other day he gets to come in here and meet people, talk to them about Jesus and comfort others as he has been comforted. There are no words that can describe the emotions of this day, no way I can ever forget the words I heard, the face I saw and the presence of the Holy Spirit I felt. This young man knew great pain, but he knows greater joy, a joy that is beyond skin deep, this joy, this peace, this hope is found only in Jesus Christ. I understand we all have pain, pain can be a game changer if we let it, we can surrender to that pain or surrender that pain to God every day, ( this is my prayer daily) I made a vow to not complain about how I feel, for I don’t know pain like this young man, he suffered physically and emotionally at the hands of his parents, but in that pain Jesus rescued him, for Jesus knows his pain, the same Jesus that knows his pain, knows my pain and your pain, and He took all of it, the physical, emotional and spiritual pain upon the cross and said “it is finished”declaring victory over it all for us, for by His stripes we are healed. Wherever you are in life, know this there is a God, He cares deeply for us and has great plans for us,He loves you and I so much He left heaven took on human form as Jesus and gave His life as a payment for all our sins, He made a way for us to be reconnected to God the Father, He knows pain like no other, He was betrayed by a follower , abandoned by his friends, falsely accused of a crime He didn’t commit by religious leaders and crucified on a cross by the Roman Government, He died, was buried and rose again from the dead so we could be healed and set free from sin and death, and all He did, He did for us. Are you missing joy, hope or peace they are only found in Christ Jesus. God’s word says this: “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”John 16:33 CSB “Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was taken away because of oppression and judgment; and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.”Isaiah 53:1-9 CSB “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith — more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:3-9 CSB |
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