Recently God has branded two scriptures on my spirit man.
1. John 15:7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted
2. Romans 8:31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
I have turned these Scriptures in my head like never before, and I can honestly say believed them like never before. Well a few weeks ago, I began searching for a dear friend that I haven't seen in probably 6 years and had no clue where he was. I searched the internet and couldn't find him, so I just casually asked God to help me find him. And look out within a few days I come face to face with him. A friend who had lived in the Dallas area, and has been living in Winnsboro for a couple of years now, and in Sicily Island God works it out. There are so many details to how God brought us together that would take hours to type, but the bottom line is God gave me exactly what I asked. And not only that, God gave far above what was asked and now it is obvious that God put the desire in my heart to look for my friend for a reason. God knows what we all need, right when we need it.
Sorry I can't go into great detail, but I will say this, the devil got kicked in the face by God bringing the friendship back together, and lives have been saved as a result.
I leave with this verse about the Holy Spirits purpose
John 16:14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.
The Holy Spirit, unknowing to me, was telling me that Jesus wanted me to find my old friend. And much Glory has been brought to Jesus Christ as a result.
Whatever we ask, truly will be granted!!! And when we are abiding in Christ, Christ is leading us in what we ask. Just think about it like this, if God puts the request that we ask in our Spirit man, why would He not answer His own request?
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Isaiah 41:10 Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
It is has been a long time since I have updated this blog, but I think its time for one today.
Why is it that, the same struggles the Isrealites had when leaving Egypt are the same struggles most believers still have here 1000's of years later. Throughout the old testament, God was continually building up his people, by reminding them that He would hold them up, and that He was in control. God was continually telling His people "Don't be discouraged, don't be afraid, I am with you." Now here we are in 2009 and the believers of today are still getting scared or discouraged when we don't get what we think we immediately need. Maybe we need to remember that God knows what we need and when we need, after all He is God.
If God didn't mess up when He created the world, and Jesus didn't fail in carrying out his mission on earth, and the Holy Spirit has always given power to overcome, then why do believers freak out, stress out, worry and get bad attitudes when a situation is not what they want.
Remember the Isrealites, they didn't like being in Egypt and God delivered them, and they whined about the way they were delivered. Once the Isrealites got the reports of the giants in the land that God had given them, they whined and lost the land. Joshua and Caleb, didn't worry and didn't whine, and they possessed God's promise of the land.
Maybe we need to be reminded that there is no need to be discouraged, or afraid. The people of the bible who missed out on the promises God had given them, were the people who's attitude was based upon their situation. On good days, they were all good, on bad days they were all easily set off and upset. The ones who's personality and attitudes followed their faith and not their situation received great promises from God.
John 15:7 But if you remain in Me and My words remain in you, you may ask for ANYTHING you want, and it WILL be granted
It is has been a long time since I have updated this blog, but I think its time for one today.
Why is it that, the same struggles the Isrealites had when leaving Egypt are the same struggles most believers still have here 1000's of years later. Throughout the old testament, God was continually building up his people, by reminding them that He would hold them up, and that He was in control. God was continually telling His people "Don't be discouraged, don't be afraid, I am with you." Now here we are in 2009 and the believers of today are still getting scared or discouraged when we don't get what we think we immediately need. Maybe we need to remember that God knows what we need and when we need, after all He is God.
If God didn't mess up when He created the world, and Jesus didn't fail in carrying out his mission on earth, and the Holy Spirit has always given power to overcome, then why do believers freak out, stress out, worry and get bad attitudes when a situation is not what they want.
Remember the Isrealites, they didn't like being in Egypt and God delivered them, and they whined about the way they were delivered. Once the Isrealites got the reports of the giants in the land that God had given them, they whined and lost the land. Joshua and Caleb, didn't worry and didn't whine, and they possessed God's promise of the land.
Maybe we need to be reminded that there is no need to be discouraged, or afraid. The people of the bible who missed out on the promises God had given them, were the people who's attitude was based upon their situation. On good days, they were all good, on bad days they were all easily set off and upset. The ones who's personality and attitudes followed their faith and not their situation received great promises from God.
John 15:7 But if you remain in Me and My words remain in you, you may ask for ANYTHING you want, and it WILL be granted
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Lambs Among Wolves
Luke 10:2-3
2 These were his instructions to them: "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. Pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, and ask him to send out more workers for his fields. 3 Go now, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.
This really nailed me this morning. What a crazy statement, what a non encouraging statement in the physical sense. Think about this, a lamb and a wolf, the lamb doesn't stand a chance. The lamb always gets eating by the wolf, the wolf always wins. I think a lot of christians think they are beaten and that the wolf is treating them like this.
or maybe sometime a christian has felt like this against the world.
It is the defeated attitude, like "oh I am just a poor sheep, help me Lord in this world of wolves."
But you know the beautiful thing about sending us out as lambs among wolves. The beautiful part is the impossibility, God works only on the level of the impossible. He heals the sick, He raises the dead, He rebukes the demon and He gives this power to lambs which is able to change or convert a wolf to a lamb. Do we realize that before we come to Christ we are all wolves, we are as the bible calls it "enemies of the cross." But by the saving power of Jesus Christ a wolf can instantly change from a selfish, arrogant, mean, filthy wolf, to a pure, spotless, beautiful lamb. A lamb is not a defeated wimp, maybe a more accurate picture of a lamb which has His/Her spiritual armor on would look more like this.
OK so maybe that's a little extreme, but I like the picture.
Maybe instead of feeling like we can't take it anymore at our job, or in our house, or in a place you have to be all the time. Maybe it is time we view ourselves as God looks at us. We are more than conquers, through Christ Jesus. In this lamb among wolves world, we are the strongest, we are the most powerful, we are called to reach the lost, we have the person living inside us who can change a wolf to a lamb.
And if the power God has given a lamb is not believable to you, well think about who the One is that protects the lambs. The Lion of Judah, God Almighty, is the One who strongly protects us.
And He treats His lambs like this
(I take no credit for my grammar skills, so please ignore them)
2 These were his instructions to them: "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. Pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, and ask him to send out more workers for his fields. 3 Go now, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.
This really nailed me this morning. What a crazy statement, what a non encouraging statement in the physical sense. Think about this, a lamb and a wolf, the lamb doesn't stand a chance. The lamb always gets eating by the wolf, the wolf always wins. I think a lot of christians think they are beaten and that the wolf is treating them like this.
or maybe sometime a christian has felt like this against the world.
It is the defeated attitude, like "oh I am just a poor sheep, help me Lord in this world of wolves."
But you know the beautiful thing about sending us out as lambs among wolves. The beautiful part is the impossibility, God works only on the level of the impossible. He heals the sick, He raises the dead, He rebukes the demon and He gives this power to lambs which is able to change or convert a wolf to a lamb. Do we realize that before we come to Christ we are all wolves, we are as the bible calls it "enemies of the cross." But by the saving power of Jesus Christ a wolf can instantly change from a selfish, arrogant, mean, filthy wolf, to a pure, spotless, beautiful lamb. A lamb is not a defeated wimp, maybe a more accurate picture of a lamb which has His/Her spiritual armor on would look more like this.
OK so maybe that's a little extreme, but I like the picture.
Maybe instead of feeling like we can't take it anymore at our job, or in our house, or in a place you have to be all the time. Maybe it is time we view ourselves as God looks at us. We are more than conquers, through Christ Jesus. In this lamb among wolves world, we are the strongest, we are the most powerful, we are called to reach the lost, we have the person living inside us who can change a wolf to a lamb.
And if the power God has given a lamb is not believable to you, well think about who the One is that protects the lambs. The Lion of Judah, God Almighty, is the One who strongly protects us.
And He treats His lambs like this (I take no credit for my grammar skills, so please ignore them)
Friday, March 27, 2009
Forgiveness
Luke 17:1-5
1 One day Jesus said to his disciples, "There will always be temptations to sin, but how terrible it will be for the person who does the tempting. 2 It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck than to face the punishment in store for harming one of these little ones. 3 I am warning you! If another believer sins, rebuke him; then if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, forgive him." 5 One day the apostles said to the Lord, "We need more faith; tell us how to get it."
This is really a neat passage to me, if you think about it forgiveness is probably the area most looked over in people's lives. So often we are so quick to get mad when we feel like we have been done wrong, but Jesus basically says "who cares what anybody does to you, forgive them." Have you ever taken the time to think if God really wants us to forgive in every circumstance?
Well the amazing part of this passage is that Jesus is talking about forgiveness and the disciple's first statement is asking for faith. The disciples reply to Jesus seems to give the impression that they heard him and then said "yea, yea, that's nice but tell us about this faith stuff, we want to do some cool things." Today as I was reading this passage, I was hit with a whole different perspective. The disciples in their reply simply realized something far to many people never do, they realized that forgiveness at the level Jesus required cannot be achieved without faith. So often we are guilty of trying to make ourselves forgive, and yet it seems that the harder we try to forgive, the harder it is. Man does not have the righteousness level needed to forgive when we have been treated wrong. True forgiveness, complete real forgiveness, is only attainable by trusting Jesus to work through us, so that we can forgive people as he requires of us. What a great feeling to truly forgive someone to the extent, that even when they wrong you again, you don't remember about the past times that you have been done wrong.
What a wonderful, beautiful, and free life we can have if only we decide to believe Jesus in every single circumstance.
1 One day Jesus said to his disciples, "There will always be temptations to sin, but how terrible it will be for the person who does the tempting. 2 It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck than to face the punishment in store for harming one of these little ones. 3 I am warning you! If another believer sins, rebuke him; then if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, forgive him." 5 One day the apostles said to the Lord, "We need more faith; tell us how to get it."
This is really a neat passage to me, if you think about it forgiveness is probably the area most looked over in people's lives. So often we are so quick to get mad when we feel like we have been done wrong, but Jesus basically says "who cares what anybody does to you, forgive them." Have you ever taken the time to think if God really wants us to forgive in every circumstance?
Well the amazing part of this passage is that Jesus is talking about forgiveness and the disciple's first statement is asking for faith. The disciples reply to Jesus seems to give the impression that they heard him and then said "yea, yea, that's nice but tell us about this faith stuff, we want to do some cool things." Today as I was reading this passage, I was hit with a whole different perspective. The disciples in their reply simply realized something far to many people never do, they realized that forgiveness at the level Jesus required cannot be achieved without faith. So often we are guilty of trying to make ourselves forgive, and yet it seems that the harder we try to forgive, the harder it is. Man does not have the righteousness level needed to forgive when we have been treated wrong. True forgiveness, complete real forgiveness, is only attainable by trusting Jesus to work through us, so that we can forgive people as he requires of us. What a great feeling to truly forgive someone to the extent, that even when they wrong you again, you don't remember about the past times that you have been done wrong.
What a wonderful, beautiful, and free life we can have if only we decide to believe Jesus in every single circumstance.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Oh This Is Good
Ephesians 3:10 God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
I have never understood the whole evil spirits in heavenly places stuff, but I accept it. The thing that gets me excited here is that if you put these verses together, you instantly get a complete package.
Many people are famaliar to some degree with Ephesians 6:12 but I would imagine Ephesians 3:10 is not very well known. Thoughout the Bible God is constantly telling us to get our eyes off the physical circumstances and physical obstacles and to look at things from a spiritual view point. For example, a person involved in adultery has a spirit problem and the physical actions are only because of the spiritual problem. To know God is to love Him, and to love Him is to obey Him. So therefore any disobedience to God, or any insecurity or selfishness problem or pride is not just a person's character, but the person's character is a reflection of their spiritual condition.
Well maybe it will be easier to fight off these evil powers and authorities if we recognize our high calling as the body of Christ. Ephesians 3:10 says that the purpose of the Church (followers of Jesus Christ worldwide) is to show off God, His wisdom, His power. What an awesome privilege to be the object that God points to, in order to show the devil why the evil powers and authorities are the losers. God has designed and appointed believers to be powerful people of faith, who walk and live in a manner that shames the devil.
To me that is a reminder of the high calling and responsiblity God has given, and also a reminder of the power He has given to those who believe, to cast out devils, heal the sick, raise the dead, and most importantly convict those who don't know Him and bring them to repentance. Let's walk in that power today. Let's honor Him as a people He can point to and tell the evil power and authorities "look at what I jus
t did."
Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
I have never understood the whole evil spirits in heavenly places stuff, but I accept it. The thing that gets me excited here is that if you put these verses together, you instantly get a complete package.
Many people are famaliar to some degree with Ephesians 6:12 but I would imagine Ephesians 3:10 is not very well known. Thoughout the Bible God is constantly telling us to get our eyes off the physical circumstances and physical obstacles and to look at things from a spiritual view point. For example, a person involved in adultery has a spirit problem and the physical actions are only because of the spiritual problem. To know God is to love Him, and to love Him is to obey Him. So therefore any disobedience to God, or any insecurity or selfishness problem or pride is not just a person's character, but the person's character is a reflection of their spiritual condition.
Well maybe it will be easier to fight off these evil powers and authorities if we recognize our high calling as the body of Christ. Ephesians 3:10 says that the purpose of the Church (followers of Jesus Christ worldwide) is to show off God, His wisdom, His power. What an awesome privilege to be the object that God points to, in order to show the devil why the evil powers and authorities are the losers. God has designed and appointed believers to be powerful people of faith, who walk and live in a manner that shames the devil.
To me that is a reminder of the high calling and responsiblity God has given, and also a reminder of the power He has given to those who believe, to cast out devils, heal the sick, raise the dead, and most importantly convict those who don't know Him and bring them to repentance. Let's walk in that power today. Let's honor Him as a people He can point to and tell the evil power and authorities "look at what I jus
t did."Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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