“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous
Poat 09-30-2018
“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous
Poat 09-30-2018
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,And renew a steadfast spirit within me. — Psalm 51:10 NKJV
What is a clean heart, how do we get it and why is it important to be sure that we have clean hearts? An unclean heart is a heart that contains bitterness, hatred, deceit, lust, envy, covetousness and the list goes on and on to including anything that would cause us to sin. The opposite of that would be a heart that contains only love. It is impossible for us to clean our hearts. We need the Holy Spirit, who is love, to do that for us. We can make all the resolutions and follow all the self-help programs we can find, but in the end, without the Holy Spirit, we will still have unclean hearts. Those programs may remove the filth from the heart but they will leave it empty. An empty heart is what the evil spirits are searching for.
Our hearts must be filled with love and that only comes from the Holy Spirit. Once we accept Jesus and His Spirit abides within us, He will keep our hearts clean, if we allow Him to do so. Clean hearts are necessary because it is “out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks”. It is also where our thoughts come from, so we must be sure that the source is clean or our thoughts, words and actions will be displeasing to God.
1 I love you, Lord; you are my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. 3 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies. — Psalm 18:1-3
How blessed are the children of God! We can cry out one word and our Lord hears and saves us! How marvelous and wondeful are the works of our God! He is our all in all! He is the air that we breathe, the sustenance for our souls and our bodies, a friend in need and deed! He is a spouse to those that will receive Him, a child, a brother, a sister, a Mother, a Dad, an aunt, an uncle, a grandfather, a grandmother! He longs to fill every void in our life!
He is Jehovah-Jireh, our Provider!
He is Jehovah-Ropha, our Healer!
He is Jehovah-Shalom, our Peace!
He is El-Shaddai, Almighty God, our abundant Blesser!
He is Immanuel, God with us!
39 You will need 75 pounds of pure gold for the lampstand and its accessories. – Exodus 25:39 NLT
For those who think God has something against money, prosperity and being rich, here is something to think about. Seventy-five pounds of gold is 1200 ounces. On today’s market, gold is listed at $1203.00 per ounce. That means that in today’s world, the cost of the lampstand and all of its accessories would be $1,443,600.00 in US currency. Extravagant? If you own all the gold in the world, does extravagant even have a meaning? One could object that God took all this money from the poor, homeless Israelis. Why would He do that? But, we must remember when they were slaves in Egypt, they had nothing and when God called them out of Egypt, He caused the Egyptians to give the Israelis all of their jewelry and gold. He was the reason they had the gold in the first place, they were just carrying it for Him. The same is true of us today, anything that we have came from God and we are just carrying it for Him. The next time the offering plate is passed, we need to remember where our gold came from and give a goodly portion of it back. When we have an opportunity to share the bountiful gifts God has so freely given to us, let us share it with a joyful, thankful heart. Take a moment to remember and thank God for His extravagance in giving us His Son. We will never be able to give to God more than He has given to us. When we seriously think about it, God doesn’t really require much of us.
“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous
Post 09-27-2018
1 Brothers, if a person is caught doing something wrong, those of you who are spiritual should restore that person gently. Watch out for yourself so that you are not tempted as well. – Gal. 6:1
Being saved and filled with the Holy Spirit does not keep us from making bad decisions. If we have weaknesses of the flesh, we need to avoid those situations where we would be needlessly tempted. We don’t put ourselves in harm’s way unless we are sure that we have been called to do that. Just as it would be foolish to step into the street in front of a speeding truck to try to prove that God always protects us, it is foolish for us to put ourselves in dangerous situations if God has not called us to do so. Not many of us are David Wilkersons (The Cross and the Switchblade) who can successfully face the dangers of the worst parts of New York City to witness to gang members. Nevertheless, we all have a calling to witness to those around us. The mission field starts in the home and goes outward from there. We do not want to be like the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19) who ended up battered and naked. We must use discernment in where, when and to whom we witness, but that is never to be used as an excuse not to witness. We may not be sure of all of God’s will for each of our lives but there are two things we can be sure of in this journey with Jesus. We are to make disciples as we go, we all have our marching orders to do that. We are supposed to restore the fallen as well, but do so circumspectly avoiding the very appearance of evil.
“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous
Post 09-26-2018
12 When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” 13 Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” — Matt. 9:12, 13 NLT
13 “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home. — Exodus 15:13 NLT
God led the Israelis through the Red Sea and across the desert with the physical presence of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It was possible for them to travel twenty-four hours a day without getting lost. It must have been very reassuring to see the presence of the cloud and the fire and know that they were traveling in the exact direction God wanted to travel at all times. God did not lead them in a straight path from Egypt to Canaan. There were detours that avoided certain areas and dangers. There were delays and a lot of murmuring and complaining. We have a guide that is with us twenty-four hours a day as well. He lives inside us. But for us to know and understand His directions, we have to spend time talking with Him and meditating on His Word. There will be detours in our lives as well. All of those detours are allowed by God and are designed to teach us and to keep us safe from harm. But just as the Israelis spent way too long in the desert because of their disobedience, some of our detours are caused by our mistakes and bad decisions. Most of us will probably spend more time complaining than we do studying the Word. Nevertheless, God is faithful and forgiving and just as He eventually got the Israelis to the Promised Land, He will guide us safely to His eternal, sacred home. He has never failed and He never will. Trust Him with all your heart, mind, soul and body.
“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous
Post 09-24-2018
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. — Eph. 2:6-9 NIV
This is a familiar passage to most Christians, yet I wonder if we really grasp everything it says to us. It explains to us why God saved us and raised us up. It was not just for our benefit, though that would have been more than enough. He did it so He could show to us and the world the “incomparable riches of His grace”. The greatest expression of that grace was God allowing Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, to die on a cruel cross for our sins. It is that grace that has saved us, through faith. Not our faith, His faith, His gift to us. That is why we can be sure that our salvation is eternal. Thanks be to God that my salvation is not based on my faith, which is not always steadfast. It is based on His faith, which is steadfast and eternal. If it were based on my faith, I could be saved today and lost tomorrow. His faith is everlasting!
15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! — 2 Cor. 9:15
“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous
25 “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. — Isaiah 43:25 NLT
God forgives us of our sins and chooses not to remember them or hold them against us. No where in the Bible are we instructed to “forgive and forget”. Like many sayings attributed to the Bible, this one is not in there. While it is a beautiful expression and idea, I am not sure that humans are capable of forgetting those transgressions, either the ones we have committed against God or those that have been committed against us. While we may not be capable of forgetting, we are charged over and over with the responsibility of forgiving. That we can do, because it is an act of the will, it is a decision that we make. God has certainly told us that His forgiveness of our sins requires us to forgive others