Isaiah 57:10, "You were wearied with the length of your way, but you did not say it is hopeless..." There was a Preacher walking the streets of Detroit when he came upon a group of boys surrounding a stray dog. They were "spinning yarns" and the next lie was greater than the one before. The Preacher asked what they were doing, and they replied; we all want to take this dog home with us and we decided whoever told the biggest lie could have the dog. The Preacher was astonished that they would do this. He said, to lie is wrong; why when I was your age "I never told a lie! At hearing this the smallest of the group, picked up the dog, handed it to the Preacher and said, "you win"! How many times do we continue to pursue wealth, ambition and selfishness for the temporal happiness we think we can achieve on our own? When it doesn't give us the permanence we seek, we continue trying to find true happiness with our own efforts which fail miserably. Only after we have tried everything do we come to GOD broken and contrite. Then we find permanent JOY in HIS way and HIS Blessings. So are we hypocrites with all of our failures? Perhaps Saints are sinners who keep on going. King David committed many sins but was a "man after GOD'S own heart; Peter was forgiven much and was able to preach boldly; and Paul persecuted Christians and yet he preached the truth. Perhaps those who judged them as hypocrites should have seen that they too were "sinners" not hypocrites on their way to eternity with our LORD JESUS CHRIST. The next time you want to quit it is because the world becomes all gloom and disappointment. Remember, you are just wanting more and that is when we turn to GOD. There is nothing that compares to the eternal friendship with GOD, then the Blessings of salvation are sought with a full heart.
Psalm 139: 23-24 Isaiah 43:1 GOD IS GOD!
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1 John 3:2, "...because we shall see HIM as HE is." A lady and her young daughter sat in the seats next to me at the bus station. The little girl looked up at me and asked with her "lisp"; Mithter did you have freckles when you were a little boy"? I replied, yes. She burst into tears and turned to her mother saying, "you lied to me, you told me my freckles would go away when I grew up". As I read the scripture today I had to smile at our theological conclusions. For instance, from this scripture we deduce that morally we will be without sin; intellectually we will be without superficiality; we will be filled with the HOLY SPIRIT and Yes, our bodies will have no weaknesses or IMPERFECTIONS. Don't you just wonder sometimes what we call imperfections? Maybe GOD sees beauty in our cleft palates, droopy eye lid, shapes of our nose and YES, maybe HE sees great beauty in FRECKLES! The scripture says we shall see HIM as HE is... do you think, just maybe, the GOD in us will begin to see the GOD in each other and our whole idea of imperfection and beauty will transcend theological (or Theo-illogical) conclusions. You know, there really might be freckles in heaven.
Psalm 139: 23-24 Isaiah 43:1 GOD IS GOD! Isaiah 54:17, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgement you shall condemn...and their righteousness if from ME..." You see, it is when we know that our righteousness is from the LORD that no weapon formed against us will prosper, and every tongue of accusation will fail! GOD wants us to use our faith to believe that even when we fail, HE still justifies the ungodly and makes us righteous. This is Grace! It is easy to confess our righteousness when all is well. But what about the times we fail, get tempted, make a mistake or get depressed? This is when the evil-one (who is the "accuser of our brethren", Revelation 12:10) will come against us and scream accusatory thoughts of condemnation in our ears: "You call yourself a Christian"? Do you really think GOD will hear your prayer this time? My friend this is the time to start speaking your righteousness, and no weapon form will prosper against you. We should put our faith in HIS unmerited favor instead of our works. Being righteous is not based on our perfect performance; it is based on HIS perfect work. We are to use our faith to believe that we are righteous by faith. We will live an overcoming and victorious life. YES, I CALL MYSELF A CHRISTIAN, IN THE NAME OF JESUS, GO BEHIND ME SATAN!
Psalm 139: 23-24 Isaiah 43:1 GOD IS GOD! 1 Samuel 3:9, "...Speak LORD, for your servant hears..." Let us today read our Bible with purpose, with expectation, and in prayer. To receive wisdom from the scriptures, we must accept in our heart to obey what we hear (Psalm 119:33). Our expectation is that HE is speaking specifically to us (not some generalized idea that the words in the Bible are hard to understand). Approaching the scriptures prayerfully prepares our hearts to listen prepares our hearts for purpose and expectancy. We can experience GOD working in our lives when we come to the scripture with a prayerful, expectant, purpose-filled heart. Pray this simple prayer before you start reading your Bible today: "Speak LORD, for your servant is listening.
Psalm 139: 23-24 Isaiah 43:1 GOD IS GOD! |
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December 2015
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