Month: July 2019

July 31, 2019

“Don’t Abandon Me”

8 The Lord will work out his plans for my life—    for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me. — Psalm 138:8 NLT

Do you ever have those days when you feel like you have never accomplished anything significant in your life? Most of us have had days when we wondered why we were even here on earth now. But God had a plan for us before the earth was created and He still has a plan for us today. God has never made a mistake and it wasn’t a mistake when He chose us. Even if we mess up over and over, as long as we sincerely repent, it is God that devised the plan and it is God that will carry out the plan. So, wherever we are right now, either God led us here or He allowed the circumstances that brought us here. So, look up, focus on Jesus and expect God to do something wonderful in our lives today. He knows when a hair falls from our heads, so you can be sure He is interested in everything we do. So, let’s take His outstretched hand and walk with Him today.

Eph 2:8-10 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 07-31-2019

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July 30, 2019

Spending Time With God

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. — Psalm 1:1-2 NIV

Psalm 1 NIV

How do we show Jesus that we love Him? To love someone, it is necessary to get know that person, to get to know a person requires us to spend time with that person. When you love someone, you want to spend as much time as possible with them. How much time do you spend with Jesus each day? He has written a book full of love letters to us, have you read them? When we love someone, we think about them most of the time. How much time do you spend meditating and thinking about Jesus? If we examine our lifestyles and find out where our heart is, what treasures would we find? Don’t hang onto temporary, worldly “treasures”, fix your thoughts on eternity and Jesus. Nothing can separate us from God’s love and those treasures we lay up in heaven.

Matt. 6:19-21 NIV

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 07-30-2019

July 28, 2019

“How God Loved”

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.— John 3:16 NLT

John 3:16-20 NLT

God made the plan of salvation very simple. Believe that He sent His Son to die for our sins. The name of Jesus is the only name in heaven or earth that can save us. We say, this is easy, I know all this, but we need to be reminded daily that our redemption cost more than we can ever repay. We need to be reminded that we are bought with a price. A price that only God’s great love could pay. Often those in the world and some Christians, as well. have the idea that God is looking down on us, just waiting for us to mess up, so He can zap us. Nothing could be further from the truth. He is looking for someone who is obedient and faithful. Someone that He can bless. Someone who is spreading His story. Make it a habit to tell someone every day about God’s great love.

6 My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land,That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me.  — Psalm 101:6 NKJV

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 07-28-2019

July 27, 2019

“Things That Are Excellent”

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. — Phil. 4:8 NLT

Philippians 4:4-8

If we follow Paul’s advice, we will pray and be thankful for all things that God has done for us. We must continually guard our thoughts and the desires of our hearts. We need to focus on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, excellent and worthy of praise. Then we will become God-conscious. Witnessing for Jesus will be a natural outflow of this kind of thinking. Our actions will be Christ-centered and people will know that we have something they don’t have. If we let our guard down, satan will rush in and have us thinking about the pleasures of the flesh. Then, satan will keep telling us about all the things we don’t have. After listening to that for a short while, we become sin-conscious. In that state of mind, we are of little use to God, ourselves or anyone else. Fight the good fight and stay focused on Jesus. Then we will enjoy God’s peace, joy will overflow and it will be completely natural for us to praise Him for His goodness.

Phil.2:1-5 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 07-27-2019

July 26, 2019

Rejoice! For He Is Risen”

6 He is not here, but is risen! — Luke 24: 6a NKJV

Luke 24:1-9 NKJV

The swaddling cloths are gone! The burial cloths are laid aside! Now, we see the real gift, unwrapped and resurrected! Now, we can understand the reason for the celebration of His birth. A birth that would have gone unnoticed if not for His death and Resurrection. Unto us a Son is given, a Son who was obedient unto death on a cross that you and I might have eternal life. He was born in a lowly station of life, but now He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords with total authority over all creation. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord! 

Rejoice!  for He is risen!

9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.  — Matt 28:9 NKJV

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 07-26-2019

July 25, 2019

Tempted Just As We Are

13 When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.  — Luke 4:13 NLT

Luke 4:1-13 NLT

Jesus was tempted for 40 days by satan. We are not told how long each temptation lasted or how often the temptation was repeated. Since satan has probably not changed his pattern of tempting humans, it was probably a constant nagging to just go ahead and do it. When the first temptation fails, he tries another tactic, always going about like a roaring lion, but having no power. The first temptation that Jesus faced was one we are all familiar with; pride: “you don’t need God, just do it yourself”. The second temptation was idolatry and greed: “just worship me and I will give you everything you want”. Why should you wait and go through all the pain and suffering when you can have it now, just by bowing down to sin? The third temptation is the sin of presumption: “You know God is going to take care of you, just go ahead and do what you want to do, it doesn’t matter”. We are told in Psalm 19:13 “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”  Yes, God will take care of us in dangerous situations, but to think that we can do outrageous things of our own choosing and expect God to always react is presumptuous and deadly. It is one thing to test God’s faithfulness but it is completely different to tempt Him with our foolishness.  Be sober, be alert, satan is just waiting for his next opportunity to test us.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 07-25-2019

July 24, 2019

“He Lives In All of Us”

11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. — Col. 3:11 NLT 

Col. 3:1-12 NLT

God’s Holy Spirit abides in us and we abide in Christ. We are now filled with and fully clothed by God Himself. Therefore, we have access to the same attributes as Christ Jesus Himself. Just as we accepted God’s Gift of salvation, we can accept (access) His attributes or we can use our own vain imaginations. The question is this: What thoughts are we going to allow to control our words and actions? “Wrong” or “right” thinking, that is the question.  Will we continue to let our old fleshly nature control our thoughts and actions or will we allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in us?  Will we allow Him to teach us and guide us into all truth?  Will we allow Him to sanctify us on a daily basis?  The flesh says “no” so we must put to death the flesh and follow after the Spirit.  Jesus wants to be Lord over every area of our lives, not just part.  The journey begins when we accept Jesus as our Savior and continues until we meet our Savior.  It is onward and upward and it gets sweeter every day.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 07-24-2019

July 23, 2019

“And Plenty Left Over”

8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others–. 2 Cor. 9:8 NLT

2 Cor. 9:6-10 NLT

It is important for us to remember that everything we have here on earth is a gift from God. It doesn’t matter who signs the paycheck, God is ultimately our resource. We are to be good stewards of all of the resources God gives us. This includes our time as well as our finances. Just as He has the authority to raise up leaders and put people in positions of authority, He can raise us up financially or He can bring us down if we trust only in our finances. Any gift that God gives to us is to be used not just for our benefit, but for the benefit of those He puts in our paths each day. The ultimate use of the resources God has put under our authority is to expand the Kingdom of God. It isn’t that God “needs” us or our finances, He has chosen to use us in His work. That requires us to be obedient to His precepts. Unless you are using more than 10% of your time and money for God, you haven’t started giving yet. Give generously and cheerfully and be prepared for a great blessing from the Lord.

38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. – Luke 6:38 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 07-23-2019

July 22, 2019

Bring Others Into the Fold

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.  — 2 Cor. 5:18 NLT

2 Cor. 5:16-21 NLT

God’s plan of salvation is simple. If we believe that Jesus was born to a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, arose from the tomb three days later, ascended into heaven where He is today interceding in prayer for us, we are saved. Nothing more, nothing less. You have taken the first step on your journey to heaven. Once we have asked Jesus to forgive us of our sins, God’s Holy Spirit takes up residence and abides in us. This causes us to look at everyone and everything differently. We are now a new creation, our old life is gone and we are now in Christ Jesus. As we continue on our journey, we need to spend time talking with Jesus and meditating on God’s Holy Word. This is a free gift from God and we are now restored in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, we have become His ambassadors to the world. God is asking each of us to join His work in bringing others into reconciliation with Him. The more we practice this lifestyle, the sweeter our relationship with Jesus becomes. We find that He truly does “grow sweeter and sweeter as the days go by”.  Jesus becomes everything to us and provides everything for us.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 07-22-2019

July 21, 2019

Hold Firmly to the Faith We Profess”

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.— Hebrews 4:14 NIV

Hebrews 4:12-16 NIV

There are many times in our journey that we fall short of the mark. There will always be those times as long as we remain in these human bodies. When it comes to being tempted, we are very weak. Because Jesus went through the same temptations when He walked on this earth, He understands our failures. The devil will take those failures and beat us up over and over, telling us how we are no longer a child of God because we failed. But don’t let those failures stop you from repenting. Just remember that guilt and condemnation come from the devil, who is a thief and a liar. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit and calls us to the throne room of God where we can ask for and receive His forgiveness. We can be very sure that we will receive mercy and grace from our Father. We will receive this not because we have done anything to earn it, but simply because of what Jesus did for us at the Cross. Even right now, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. The Father will not refuse anything that the Son ask from Him. So, hold on and press on because Jesus has paid the price.

Romans 8:1-4 NIV

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 07-29-2019