Broken

We are broken to become more beautiful!!  If we feel that we are being broken, it may be that we are being humbled because everyone has some kind of pride in their lives or it may be some other sin in our lives that we haven’t dealt with.   That may be just what we need to become the beautiful person that the Lord wants us to be!!

In Hebrews 12:5-6 it says this, “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him: For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”

Sometimes in these situations we can feel broken and hurt, not knowing what is taking place in our spiritual life.  Sometimes we may be being tested like Job and just like he didn’t understand what was going on we don’t understand either but in the end Job was more beautiful because of the testing that he experienced.

Read what Job said in Job 42:1-6, “Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; you said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ ‘I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.’”  

Job thought he was so righteous, but testing brings out the real truth in all of us if we will receive it.  At times we may feel like we are being attacked by everyone and nothing seems to be going right.  It may be the Lord is testing us and trying to get our attention.  But regardless of what we are experiencing we know that the Lord loves us and is working all things in our life for our good.  If this is so, and I believe it is, we may have another problem, we may have sin in our lives that we need to repent and confess and try never to do it again. Remember the Lord’s purpose is not to hurt us but to prosper us and give us a hope and a future because He loves us.  I think the reason He does what He does is because He feels it is necessary, yea, something He feels is needed for us to become more beautiful people.

Please read verses 10-11 in Hebrews 12, “For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them (Earthy Fathers), but He (God) for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

As I said earlier we are broken to become more beautiful. Think of the potter’s house and the flawed pots that He made, he would then make them into anther pot that he was pleased with.  Read Jeremiah 18:1-4, “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.”

The Potter made things beautiful out of flawed clay.  Now we need to think of ourselves being the flawed clay and God being the Potter, He is making something beautiful out of us if we let Him.  So when we are corrected or chastised we need to examine our own hearts to see if there be any wicked way in us and, if there is, we need to repent which means to turn away from the sin and turn to the Lord and ask the good Lord to forgive us and to restore us back to fellowship with Him!!  And, if we are being tested we need to honor the Lord and be patient and let the Lord work out the details.

Please read Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

So if you feel broken you may be in the best place you can be.  Enough said may the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super, super day!!  Don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!

Seeking The Heart of God

Seeking God’s hand is not near as important as seeking God’s heart.  So many times it seems that we seek the hand of God in prayer for what we can get from Him but we seem to neglect the weightier things like seeking Him and His heart’s desire.  How many times have you just thanked the Lord for who He is and what He is and what He has done and what He is going to do?  How much do you praise Him and thank Him for his unconditional love and His mercy and grace?  Do you thank Him for Him forgiving you of your sins and cleansing you from all unrighteousness with His precious blood?  And, think about this, we are convicted of sin through His precious Holy Spirit, have you thanked Him for that?

I have been in different prayer groups and it seems like I hear more give me this or that or do this or that and I have been guilty of this also, so I am not just talking to whoever but I am talking to myself as well.  I think praising the Lord and thanking Him while in prayer is very important.  The Lord inhabits the praise of His people, He loves it when we praise Him and when we acknowledge Him as our Lord and Savior.  How many times do we thank the Lord for keeping the devourer from our door and giving us a good night’s sleep and for waking us up in the morning so that we can honor Him through another day?  And how many times have we thanked the Lord for correcting and chastising us when we have sinned and thanked Him for humbling us when we get prideful?

Read what it says in Hebrews 12:4-14, “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.’ If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.”

How many times have you ask the Lord to humble you or to keep you humble so you can become more like Him?  Many times we ask for blessings but having a humble and contrite heart is a great blessing in itself.  Think of this, if you are feeling spiritually dry it may be because you have become too proud.  Instead of working with others it may be that you have started to compete with them.  In a competitive state it is easy to become proud and arrogant, especially if you come out ahead a lot.  It seems like being a humble person is easy but that was the kind of person our Lord was and we should seek to be like Him!!

Please read Matthew 18:1-5, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.’”

Now you know why being humble is very important in the Lord’s eyes.  I think that is one of the ways that we can seek the Lord’s heart and not just His hands.  I probably can’t say this enough, humble yourself before the Lord that He might lift you up in His time.  I think you got the message.  So when we pray, let’s start seeking God’s heart first then if we need to we can seek His hand!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!

No Other God

Anyone that is a true believer knows that there is only one God and we can have no other gods before us!!  If we have any idols in our lives we will make the Lord jealous because we belong to the Lord if we have been born-again.  Please read Exodus 34:14, “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

Now please read what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, “Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.”

For the true born-again believer there is only one God, Yeshua, the Messiah the creator of the heaven and the earth along with its entire array.  You can read about this in the Word of God in the first book in Genesis, the first chapter; and  after He was finished He rested on the seventh day.  Just think, He did it in just six literal days, praise the Lord!!  And it also says this in the fourth book of the New Testament in John 1:1-5, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

And who was John talking about?  Read John 1:14-18, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

If you want to know the only true God in a personal way you will have go through His Son, Jesus.  Please read John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”   

I have spent many years in the Word and have listened to many preachers and teachers and have read a multitude of books over the years and spent many hours in prayer, so I don’t take lightly the Word of God or my walk with Him.  I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet or a pastor and at this point I am not even a teacher but I believe that God speaks to those that are intent on listening and are in His Word and those who seek His heart.

God’s Word says this in Jeremiah 29:12-14 when the Israelites were in exile in Babylon, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.”

Some teach that there is more than one way to get to God or to heaven but as for me I believe the Word of God is the most authoritative word there is and the real truth!!  If it says there is only one way, there is but one way and that settles it for me!!  

If you want to know the only true God, you will have to have a personal relationship with God’s only begotten Son, Jesus, because you cannot get to God the Father except through His Son, Jesus.  If you are fed up and sorry for your sins I believe that is the starting place.  Then ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you of all your unrighteousness and to come into your heart and be your Lord and Savior; if you are sincere, I believe He will.  But don’t be in a hurry, spend some time in the Lord’s presence and just praise and thank Him for what He has done.  The preachers in the past didn’t rush people into this decision, they first made sure that people knew where they stood before God, that they were enemies of God and there was a gulf between nonbelievers and God and far more extreme things than this.  There are only two roads to travel, the narrow road that leads to the kingdom and the wide road that leads to destruction.  The choice is yours, I pray that you make the right one.

Before I am done let me throw in some grace here.  Check out 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”       

Now read John 3:16-17, “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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you all have a super day!!  PS don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord, for He is worthy!!

Beauty Out Of Brokenness

Think of this, not until you are broken and humbled can the Lord make something beautiful of you.  Read Matthew 23:11-12, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

Now read Proverbs 16:18-19, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

Think of what the proud person does and how they act.  It seems that everything is focused around them, they can do everything better than anyone else, at least it seems that way when you hear them talk.  They nitpick and judge everyone else like they never do anything wrong themselves.  They can be very negative, cutting and stabbing with their tongues seemingly always finding fault with others because of not looking at their own lives and what is in their own hearts, and somehow they always seem to justify their own actions. Read Proverbs 3:34-35, “Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.”

Now read James 4:5-10, “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

If you are a believer, you probably know how Peter denied the Lord when He said He would die with the Lord and that Jesus told him that Satan wanted to sift him as wheat, but He had prayed for him and when he returned to strengthen his brothers.  After Peter denied the Lord He went out and wept because he was broken and because of his brokenness Peter became something beautiful that the Lord could use to further His kingdom.  Pride puffs up but humility is used to build up, to make something beautiful out of a person’s life!!

You may not know about King Nebuchadnezzar and how proud he was so check out Daniel 4:25-34, “That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:”

King Nebuchadnezzar was in this humbling, purifying state for seven years before he was restored to his kingship.  God’s Word says to humble yourself before the Lord, but if we refuse God knows how to humble us if He so chooses.  Enough said, may you have a super day and don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours!!

Think about this; if a person is willing to humble themselves before the Lord they will become beautiful in the eyes of the Lord and He will lift them up!!  A humble and contrite heart the Lord will not despise but He will always resist the proud!!

He Knows You

I want to talk about the Lord and the human race, especially if you are a believer, although this pertains to all of us.  The Lord is all-seeing and all-wise, His ways and thoughts are higher than ours.  The Lord is omnipresent and sees and knows all things.  He created us in His image and likeness.  

I have had some real struggles in my Christian walk and much of it had to do with my understanding of the Lord’s love and His ways in my life.  I don’t know who else struggles like I do but I am sure that I am not alone.  I have always had a problem with people loving me and it has affected my walk with the Lord and how He loves me also.  I guess I always looked at love like this; someone that looks out for your best interest and doesn’t cause you pain.  It has taken me a lot of years to get hold of this concept; that pain happens, even in a great relationship where you know that your spouse loves you and tries their best not to hurt you!!  Also, pain may be the best thing that has happened to you.

The Lord is always working things out for our good.  This is not a new concept to me and it is not like I have never heard it before but it seems like there has been a wall in my mind that I couldn’t break through that recently is starting to crumble, praise the Lord!!  I know the enemy is very powerful but the Lord is all powerful and if you are struggling with this and you can’t quite get ahold of this truth, I want you to keep on keeping on and ask the Lord for His wisdom and His power to break down any wall that you may have allowed in your life from past experiences.  Maybe something that your enemy can use against you to try to keep you paralyzed in that area of your life.

Read what it says in Isaiah 59:19 in the King James Version Bible, “So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.”

Some people have this notion that the enemy has already been defeated and he has no more power so they don’t have to worry about him anymore but that is not the case.  In God’s Word it says this in 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” 

Think about Peter and why Jesus said this in Luke 22:31-33, “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.”

Peter’s enemy wanted to destroy his faith and destroy his walk with the Lord completely and without Jesus praying for Peter he may have accomplished his goal.  Now think of this, not long after this took place Jesus and the disciples went to the Mount of Olives to pray, but the disciples fell asleep instead of staying awake and praying and Peter ended up denying the Lord on three different occasions; don’t you think that Satan had something to do with that?  But thank the Lord that He interceded for Peter and, even though Peter yielded to temptation, he didn’t lose his faith and he was restored to fellowship with the Lord, praise the Lord!!

It also says in the Word to resist the devil and he will flee from you.  The problem is many of us don’t even know that it is the enemy of our souls that is harassing us and we start blaming the Lord for things that He hasn’t even done and we also blame the enemy for things he hasn’t done.  Many times we open the door to the enemy of our souls by our own choices and decisions and there are times when we don’t even realize it.  Think about your prayer life, is prayer a priority or are other things far more important?  I have heard it said that prayer is the engine that runs the church and I believe it.   

Other times we are reaping what we sow because of the choices that we make.  There are also times when we forget that the Lord chastises, or corrects, those He loves like it says in the 12^th chapter of Hebrews.  There are other times when He may test us like in Job’s situation; in the end he repented and the Lord blessed him abundantly.  Maybe we have sin in our lives that we need to repent of also.  

Pain is not always an enemy, sometimes it can be a good friend and very helpful if we think about it positively.  Think about a bad burn, if not for the pain you may not notice that you have it and that may result in an infection that could even become life threatening.  The reason some illnesses can’t be cured is because there is no pain until it is too late!!  Now meditate on this truth; that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are the called according to His purpose!!  So please if you are struggling as a believer, or not, God loves you and wants the very best for you and even if He has to chastise, or correct, you it is only done because He loves you, praise the Lord!!

I hope this has been an encouragement and a help to you; that is my purpose why I write these things, not to condemn, but to bless you!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!  Don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!