Honoring the Lord

Please read this to start out; 1 Kings 2:3, “And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.”

I know this was written to the Jewish people but I think it’s applicable to all believers, and I know we don’t live by the law but by grace, but I think this applies to all believers to the point that we should try our best to keep all the commandments of our God.  We should get to the point where we love our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and love our neighbor as ourselves.  Plus, we should hate sin, whether it be ours or anyone else’s sins and we need to love ourselves and even our enemies and pray and bless those who persecute us also.  It is very important to walk in a manner that will bring glory to God, please read Matthew 5:15-16, “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”     

Jesus said, “If you give a cup of cold water to the least of these, you have done it unto me.” No, we are not saved by our good works or our righteousness, because we have none; but after we are saved, there are good works for us to do.  Please read the story of the Good Samaritan, it not only reminds us of who our neighbor is, but it also reminds us of the good works that we can do to help others, and, also glorify God at the same time.

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  The Lord has prepared works for us to do after we have been converted and born-again, which involves our neighbors.

Now please read Romans 15:2, “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.”  It is a good thing to love and bless our neighbors, in that way we may be able to win them over without saying a word.  God’s Word says to do unto others as you would have them do unto you!!    

Please read Matthew 25:34-40, “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”

It takes more than just talk, it takes actions, it takes getting dirty at times and sometimes we may end up being somebody’s miracle, something I heard in a song, and I think it is true.  I have heard it said that all we can do is witness to people to honor God, but I have also heard it said I would rather see a sermon than hear one anytime.  Anytime we do anything for our neighbors or anyone else with the intention of honoring the Lord and blessing whoever, I think the Lord is pleased with it.

I think you got the message and I hope this has been a help and an encouragement to 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!!     

Happy

Who are, or should be, the happiest people in the world?  The ones that are covered and cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus and forgiven of all past sins and are born-again!!  

I remember my first experience with the Lord, what a traumatic experience it was.  Some guys were canvassing the area and stopped at my house and told me about how to be saved and I was ready, so I got on my knees and prayed and it felt like someone put their hand across the front of my chest and I felt so clean, all the guilt and shame was gone and I felt like I was free for the first time in my life.  I felt like I could jump from the ground to the top of my house and, as you can see, I never forgot that experience.  That was back when I was around 21 years old, but it took many years after that, before I was fully committed to the Lord.

When I was fully committed to the Lord what excitement I had, I couldn’t wait to share what had happened to me with others.  I shared it with many people, those that I worked with and most everyone I saw, plus my family and my wife’s family and my neighbors and many responded to my message, praise the Lord.  God has used me in many ways since that day.  I remember the hunger I had, that the Lord put within me for His Word, so I was reading it quite often and just couldn’t seem to get enough of it.  I had two or three Bibles just start falling apart, I read them so often.  I know that the Lord spoke to me on more than one occasion and that the Lord healed me of asthma that I had for many years extremely bad, praise the Lord.  After I prayed, I had two more attacks and I haven’t had another one in around 7 or 8 years or more, praise the Lord!!

It may sound like I never had a problem since I was truly recommitted to the Lord after a lot of years passed, but I had many struggles.  God’s Word says this, “in this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.”  I think what this word is saying is, there will be trials and problems but through them all, we can overcome through Him with His help!!  God’s Word says, “the joy of the Lord is our strength.”  It just stands to reason if you are all down and depressed you lose your perspective and your strength, and you tend to become weak and lethargic.  But, if you are encouraged and on the mountaintop, so to speak, and very excited and full of joy, you tend to gain a new vigor and strength that seem to result in a positive by product of that euphoria, that God given joy, praise the Lord!!

Now please read Psalm 1:1-3, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,

that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”

This talks about the Word of God and how His laws are the tree of wisdom and how happy the people of God are, the ones that get into the Word and allow God’s Word to get into them, it helps keep them from conforming to the world. It also helps them to transform their lives into God’s image and likeness more and more each day!!  The more each of us does that, the more we please the Lord and His blessings overflow, praise the Lord, He is truly worthy.   

If you are reading this and are not a believer and you are tired of your sinful lifestyle, then repent and ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins and to dwell in your heart and life.  Then ask Him to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and to make you a child of God.  And before I forget, repentance is an action word, which means that you are willing to turn from your sin, a hundred-and-sixty-degree turn, and turn to God forsaking all sin and unrighteousness.  Please read 2 Corinthians 7:10, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

Enough said, have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours and I hope this has been a help and a blessing to all of you who read this!!

Testimony

Did you ever hear a testimony from someone that was deep in sin in their past life, then they choose to give glory to God by sharing what the Lord has done in their life?  Of how he had delivered them from a life of terrible sin, most people would pay attention, because the person that is sharing was being transparent   sharing their own experience and not someone else’s.  How can you refute the experience of someone that is being truthful, and you know they are?  I know that every true believer has a testimony that they can share and not all of us have had the same experiences, but I think the best testimony is from a person that had found the Lord when they were quite young who have been kept from many of the sins that other people have experienced.

One person that comes to mind is Jimmy Swaggart, who I was told gave his life to the Lord when he was 8 years old, according to my brother.  He never smoked anything or tasted alcohol or been into any kind of drugs from what I was told and that is a great testimony.  Don’t get me wrong, we are all sinners according to God’s Word and Jimmy Swaggart has a sin nature just like all the rest of us, so he is guilty of sin also, but at that age he wasn’t even at the age of accountability yet.  

I would love to be able to say that I have been a believer since I was 8 years old and lived it all the rest of my life, but I was a late bloomer you might say.  I had a couple experiences in my younger years with the Lord but never really got committed until I was about 35 years old and I have been committed ever since.  Before that I was on what you might say was a suicidal path with the things I was doing.  I never thought I would make it past 30 years old.  I know beyond a doubt that if not for God’s mercy and grace and unconditional love, I would have destroyed myself years ago and almost did on more than one occasion.  I was always looking for love because I had no idea what real love was all about.  I think this is what I’ve always thought of it like, just as the Word says without knowing it at the time, they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.  In other words, it is much more talk than walk.  I’m sure that many people can relate to this also, if the other person can benefit from the words that are spoken, they use the word love.  

Even after being committed to the Lord, I struggled with this problem and the Lord has showed me many times He loves me, maybe I expect too much.  When I meet the lady I am married to now, I was real nervous when we were going to get married, then she looked at me and said if you marry me you will never be sorry and she has kept that promise ever since and now I know what it means to be loved as unconditionally as a human can be loved and I thank the Lord for her.  Believe me there have been times I have made it very difficult, but she has never wavered, she has always responded with love.  I can say honestly that I haven’t responded to her that way to my shame.  She committed her life to the Lord about 2 years after we were married, after I had recommitted my life to the Lord and I can’t praise the Lord enough for what He has done in our lives through the years that we have all been together that includes the Lord and my wife and I.  After having five kids, 11 grandkids and 1 great grandchild, the Lord just continues to bless us and our relationship, praise be to God.       

I could say so much more but it would take a lot more space and I tend to go on and on at times, maybe I will add more on my next blog.  If you have a testimony that you could share that would honor the Lord, let me encourage you to think and pray about it and if you feel led, jot it down on paper and share it, you may be surprised how the Lord may use it to His glory.  Let me encourage you with this. Don’t just write what the enemy encouraged you to do and participate in, but remember to add how the Lord delivered you and what He set you free of and what the Lord has done in your life since, and don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!  I hope this has been a help and encouragement to whoever reads it.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super, super day!!