John 12:1-4, "...JESUS therefore came to Bethany..."  Six days before HIS Crucifixion JESUS went where HE was truly loved; Lazarus' home.  There HE was fed by Martha, sat with Lazarus and was anointed with oil by Mary.  Perhaps it was the JOY of reflection; recalling raising Lazarus from the dead and the many times HE was welcomed there. So, on this very day 1,979 years ago Mary attended to JESUS' feet (the work of servants) and wiped the oil on HIS feet with her hair (Jewish women rarely took their hair down in public).  All of this showed humility and devotion.  PRAYER - FATHER, let us reflect upon the character of  JESUS today and walk in HIS steps with love for others.  MEDITATION - How best could I identify with JESUS today?  THOUGHT - Love has no beginning or end; it is giving and receiving until it just absorbs your very being.  WRITE - Today I will share the peace of love with whoever I meet. 

Psalm 139: 23-24
Isaiah  43:1
GOD IS GOD!

James 4:17, "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."  Prayers not being answered?  Maybe we need Spiritual Power!  Deal thoroughly with SIN.  We have got to deal firmly with sin in our lives. We use new words with fancy names to describe sin so we don't feel so guilty.  For example we don't come under conviction any more; we get a "guilt complex" or "march to a different drummer".  Instead of confessing and repenting we go for psychoanalysis to hear excuses for our actions.  So don't call our sins by another name;  if we are jealous, call it jealousy.  If we tend to pity ourselves and don't feel appreciated, call it what it is - self-pity.  If we get angry easily, don't call it indignation, it is a bad temper.  SIN by any other name, is SIN!  PRAYER - FATHER, we are giving thanks right now for exposing our excuses and want to change our lives (and lies) through YOUR power.  MEDITATION - When we listen to the guidance of the HOLY SPIRIT we are filled with love, forgiveness and faithfulness; and there is no room for excuses and lies.  THOUGHT -  We are going to ponder on the Blessings GOD has bestowed upon us and not call our sins by another name.  WRITE - We are going to be perfectly candid with GOD, because HE knows anyway and still loves us.  CALL IT WHAT IT IS! 

Psalm 139: 23-24
Isaiah  43:1
GOD IS GOD!

John 12:24-25, "Truly, Truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit..." For the Scripture to start with Truly it indicates a matter of importance and pay attention.  But when Scripture starts with Truly, Truly, it is emphasizing that what follows is of GREAT IMPORTANCE and payCLOSE ATTENTION! JESUS' death would bring GREAT FRUITS; forgiveness of our sins, HE established the Church itself, a peaceful relationship with GOD and if we only believe in HIM we have everlasting life with HIM. As HE said, "If anyone serves ME, he must follow ME..." To follow JESUS we must die to ourselves; our selfishness, our pride, our indifference and our not forgiving others.  I can't even imagine the geometric progressions that would penetrate this world if everyone could see GOD in us!  Are our Churches filled with superficial Christians who believe Christianity is a theory to be accepted rather than a life to be actively and daily lived?  Our worldly pleasures are like an Oasis in the desert, the expectations always end in disappointment.  When we look past the cloud (lies) of temptation (what we think are pleasures), we see the SON (the Truth of our heart's desires; our inner most yearning) and we bear much Fruit. PRAYER - FATHER, thank you for revealing the Truth about ourselves to us in such a loving way.  MEDITATION - If I put my trust and confidence in anyone other than JESUS, I will be sorely disappointed.  THOUGHT - THE HOLY SPIRIT will guide me to actively and daily follow JESUS.  WRITE - I will not be deceived and become a superficial Christian or artificial Preacher.  AMEN! 

Psalm 139: 23-24
Isaiah  43:1
GOD IS GOD!

Isaiah 7:14, "...Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son...HIS name Immanuel."  Isaiah 50:6, "I gave my back to those who strike..." It further states that HE is the MESSIAH the world waits for.  If you throw a watch out in the field and leave it for a year; then go back, you will find a deteriorated, nonworking watch.  This is because the elements and even our universe are not perpetual they are destructive. Yet, flowers bloom and trees bud in the Spring,  life bursts forth in these same destructive elements and the universe continues its motion.  Life and all creation is being sustained and preserved by SOMEONE or something.  Inflation occurs when we print more money but it has less value. With all of the Churches, mosques, temples and enormous religious gatherings we should be abounding in moral values and Truth.  Perhaps religion is being INFLATED  and has less value! Religions except for Christianity have no CREATOR or SUSTAINER.  They are man-made gods, invented by man in an effort to apease and comfort his selfish desires. PRAYER - FATHER, thank you for revelation that knowledge is not WISDOM.  MEDITATION - WHO are the scriptures above talking about? It is our JESUS.  THOUGHT - When were these scriptures written? 700 years before JESUS was born.  WRITE - I am created and sustained by GOD.  

Psalm 139: 23-24
Isaiah  43:1
GOD IS GOD!

John 10:16, "...They will listen to MY voice, and there will be one flock and one SHEPHERD."  What if on an agreed upon day, all of the denominations (Churches) would agree to teach and live only what the Bible teaches; and further agreed to change their names simply to "Church"?  What if all references to denominations were removed and we were just known as Christians?  Then Christians would not be known for what divides us; instead we would be known for what unites us-our common FATHER. Is it such a crazy idea?  I don't think so, in fact I think GOD would like it.  It was HIS idea to begin with!  PRAYER - Our FATHER, thank YOU for putting upon my heart that there is ONE HOLY SPIRIT with ONE VOICE that reveals the Truth to all of us.  MEDITATION - If we all have the HOLY SPIRIT and there is only ONE SHEPHERD, and we all want to GLORIFY GOD, why are there so many denominations?  THOUGHT - There is nowhere in the Bible that is says "create" unity; we are simply told to "preserve the unity which the SPIRIT gives" in Ephesians 4:3.  WRITE - When some one asks me where I go to worship and take the sacraments; my answer will be CHURCH!  AMEN!!!!...HALLELUJAH !!!!  COME ON NOW; THAT WILL PREACH!!!! 
 
Psalm 139: 23-24
Isaiah  43:1
GOD IS GOD!
 

Philippians 3:7-14, "...I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain CHRIST..."  We read of the great people whose fervent desire for GOD had placed them in HIS presence.  Their commitment, light and faith give us a yearning to have the same  inspiration and revelation to experience GOD'S presence.  This longing soon passes as we respond to the worldly duties and the demands in our lives become too insistent.  Then we become "content" with our inadequate and imperfect and our longing for CHRIST soon passes.  How can we justify our own indifference toward Spiritual Things?  The HOLY SPIRIT constantly seeks to arouse our complacency and tells us, "...to go on and seek maturity through the HOLY SPIRIT..." (Hebrews 6: 1).  PRAYER - FATHER, Thank YOU for the HOLY SPIRIT that initiates, inspires and completes our yearning for YOU through love to fulfill this "glimpse of eternity" within us.  MEDITATION - My longing and yearning for GOD will not pass and become complacent.  THOUGHT - GOD sees me with the perfection of CHRIST.  WRITE - Before I can know the GIVER, I must asked for and receive the GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.  The LORD is my SHEPHERD I shall not want. 

 
Psalm 139: 23-24
Isaiah  43:1
GOD IS GOD!
 

Luke 24:49 - Acts 1:4-5, "...commanded them...not depart from Jerusalem...but wait for the promise of the FATHER...but ye shall be baptized with the HOLY SPIRIT..."  JESUS' death AND resurrection was the greatest news the world would ever know; but HE told HIS disciples not to go anywhere or say anything until they received the power of the HOLY SPIRIT.  Just realizing these were JESUS' last words puts tremendous importance on them.  JESUS told the disciples not to minister without the power of the HOLY SPIRIT!  Perhaps that is why so much preaching today has no effect upon the world, because without the HOLY SPIRIT there is no power, there is no inspiration and there is no anointing of the words we speak.  PRAYER - FATHER, I pray for the anointing of the HOLY SPIRIT within me to glorify YOU.  THOUGHT - The disciples were saved but yet waited for the HOLY SPIRIT to come upon them.  MEDITATION - I can do nothing without the HOLY SPIRIT guiding me.  WRITE - JESUS' last words were to be filled with the HOLY SPIRIT. FAMOUS LAST WORDS.
 
Psalm 139: 23-24
Isaiah  43:1
GOD IS GOD!
 
 

James 1:19-20, "But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;..."  We can use a hammer to "build" or "destroy"; it just depends how we use it.  How we use the hammer depends upon our intent.  The way we use our tongue can build a relationship or destroy it.  The way we speak either Glorifies GOD or Glorifies yourself.  Even when JESUS corrected HIS Disciples, they never doubted HIS love or intent.  May others see us in that "light" and it will Glorify GOD.  PRAYER - FATHER, let me listen and speak with love always and in All Ways.  THOUGHT - I am going to practice the skills of listening.  MEDITATION - Today, I am going to listen with love and speak only when it Glorifies GOD.  WRITE - I will only speak after I pray.  If I want to speak more, then I will pray more.  GLORY TO GLORY.  HALLELUIAH!


 
Psalm 139: 23-24
Isaiah  43:1
GOD IS GOD!
 

John 3:16, "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON, that whoever believes in HIM should not perish but have everlasting life."  How can I love GOD with all my heart, soul and mind?  I can't, until I realized that HE loved me with all HIS heart, soul and mind! When I try (by my own effort) to do what GOD wants, I fail miserably (because I am depending upon my own power).  But when I am overflowing with HIS love I pass through life effortlessly.  Doesn't this give us a "wake-up" call of the intensity and depth with which GOD loves us?  When GOD sent JESUS, HE was effectively saying, "I know you can't love ME perfectly until you over-flow with MY love for you.  PRAYER - FATHER GOD, thank YOU for loving me so much and giving me the HOLY SPIRIT to speak YOUR words in my heart.  THOUGHT - The Cross demonstrates GOD'S perfect love and Grace toward us.  MEDITATION - Loving GOD and others comes naturally when I know I am so loved by GOD.  WRITE - Love is the fulfillment of GOD in me. 
 
Psalm 139: 23-24
Isaiah  43:1
GOD IS GOD!

Galatians 3:2, "...Did you receive the SPIRIT by works of the law or by hearing with faith?"  How were you first impacted by JESUS? Was it through your own efforts of "obeying" the TEN Commandments, or was it HIS Grace in your life that touched your heart?  Matthew 22:37-40, "Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets.” If we accept nothing else let us realize this; we did not love JESUS because we obeyed the TEN Commandments, we are obedient because we love HIM!  PRAYER - OUR FATHER, I thank YOU that it is YOUR love and Grace that is drawing me to YOU.  THOUGHT - I am drawn to GOD through love, not my own efforts.  MEDITATE - My focus is not on me and what I have done, but upon JESUS and what HE has done.  WRITE - Love GOD with all my heart, soul, and mind.  Love my neighbor as myself.  Those are the TWO greatest commandments.  IT'S JUST TWO EASY! 
 
Psalm 139: 23-24
Isaiah  43:1
GOD IS GOD!