What Is The Desire Of Your Heart

  What are you waiting for or what is the desire of your heart; is it to find a job, a house, a business, so you can be rich, a wife or a husband?  Are you looking for a friend or a relationship, or for your ship to come in, so to speak, by the way have you sent one out?  What is it that you are waiting for?  Are you waiting for something great to take place in your life, or for a healing or to kick a bad habit or settle a dept?  Maybe you’re waiting and desiring a drastic change in your life to take place from the inside out.  We need to be very careful, especially believers, what our wants and the desires of our hearts are. 

Not long ago I watched a movie and there were many things taking place in this movie, but the main thing was centered on a man and a woman who eventually fell in love with each other and got married.  The big problem that they had was embedded in the husband’s heart.  Now please read this statement: (Where your treasure is there will your heart be also). There was a gold rush that had taken place and he got involved in it, no matter how hard he tried he could not get it out of his heart and mind.  He wanted so bad to hit a gold vein and get rich, that it was like a driven desire that he had, and he couldn’t get rid of it.  He wanted it so bad it overshadowed everything else in his life.  He would lie to his wife over and over again, then he would wind up looking for a stake, in other words he had to find someone to borrow money from so he could buy the things that he needed to get back on that mountain and look for gold.  He needed someone to back him, or stake him, or he couldn’t accomplish his main heart’s desire, finding gold and getting rich, and that completely consumed him.  He kept this up until he was a very old man who eventually struck it rich only to be swindled out of it all.  He was so angry he wanted to kill the swindlers, but his friend stopped him.  Then he finally got back with his wife.  But think of all the years he wasted, some of those years all alone in the mountains looking for something he wanted so badly but was never able to have.

As believers we need to be very careful of what we desire because what we desire may ensnare us and hold us captive.  The enemy of our souls will use anything to take us captive, many times things that we rationalize in our minds to be good things, the enemy can use to entrap us, like I said, we need to be careful!!  I know, I have been there.

I hope this has been a blessing and a help.  May the good Lord bless you and yours, have a super, super day!!

Rainy Day

 It all started with a rainy day and a man named Noah who was building an Ark and also the rebellion of the people of his day.  Please read Genesis 6:1-7, “Now when humankind began to multiply on the face of the ground and daughters were born to them, then the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were good and they took for themselves wives, any they chose. Then Adonai said, ‘My Spirit will not remain with humankind forever, since they are flesh. So their days will be 120 years.’ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, whenever the sons of God came to the daughters of men, and gave birth to them. Those were the mighty men of old, men of renown. Then Adonai saw that the wickedness of humankind was great on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil all the time. So Adonai regretted that He made humankind on the earth, and His heart was deeply pained. So Adonai said, “I will wipe out humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the ground, from humankind to livestock, crawling things and the flying creatures of the sky, because I regret that I made them.’”

This helps us to understand the reasons why God responded the way that He did, destroying all of mankind, outside of Noah and his family.  Did you notice that it said that His heart was deeply pained?  God didn’t create people to do wickedness and everyone was created in His image and likeness.  The reason I say that, is that there are people who think that the Old Testament God was not the same as the New Testament God.  Some think that He was cruel and mean in the Old Testament and nicer in the New Testament.  In His Word it says in Hebrews 13:8, “Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  It also says in 1 Samuel 15:29, “Moreover, the Eternal Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind. For He is not human that He should change His mind.”

God is the ultimate, ultimate, He is complete in himself, needs nothing or no one, but God was and is a just God and a righteous God and a loving, merciful and kind and a forgiving God and much, much more!!  And He is the same God in the New and Old Testament!!  Things got so out of hand in Noah’s day; and the wickedness was so outrageous that I feel like it was breaking God’s heart, it hurt Him so much.  In His foreknowledge, He knew that these people would not repent and turn from their wicked ways.  And beside all of that, we could never understand the hatred God has for sin because He knows how destructive it is.  One thing we do know is that there is always a penalty for sin, but there is also forgiveness, grace and peace and joy in the Lord, if repentance is evident in a person’s life.  Their penalty, for horrendous sin, except for Noah and his family, was death.

It is pretty ironic that God could only find one righteous person in that day, which was Noah!!  And, just like in that day, God still blesses the righteous and the wicked, but when it is all said and done, He condemns the wicked that will not repent of their sins and turn from their wicked ways and He also blesses them by allowing them to go where they have chosen to go!!  

The storm lasted forty days and forty nights until the whole earth was covered with water and everything was destroyed that God wanted destroyed, then the rains subsided and all the animals plus Noah and his family came out.  Like I said, it all started with a rainy day!!  This we can be sure of, God will never destroy the earth again by water, please read Genesis 9:8-17, “Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ‘Now I, behold, I am about to establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, including the flying creatures, the livestock, and every wild animal with you, of all that is coming out of the ark—every animal of the earth. I will confirm My covenant with you—never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again will there be a flood to ruin the land.’

Then God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you for all future generations. My rainbow do I place in the cloud, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the land. Whenever I bring clouds over the land and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant that is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the rainbow is in the cloud, I will look at it, to remember the perpetual covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the land.’ Then God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between Me and all flesh that is on the land.’”

I hope this has been a blessing and encouragement to each person that hears or reads this.  May the good Lord bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love and joy and health and happiness.

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 [JP1]

From Dirty Rags to Righteousness

 God’s Word says this to everyone before they are covered by the righteousness of Christ, your righteousness is as filthy rags.  All the things we have done, including me also, because we wanted to help someone was a  blessing to them, but as far as we are concerned thinking it will help us earn brownie points to get us into heaven, or get us in right standing with the Lord, we are just deceiving ourselves.  We cannot contribute anything as far as our salvation is concerned.  

Jesus Christ made that possible for us by presenting himself on our behalf as the spotless sacrificial lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  I believe that repentance on our part is required when the precious Holy Spirit convicts us of the sins in our lives, and then we repent by turning from our sins, having a change of heart and mind, turning to the good Lord and confessing and rejecting our sins, receiving the good Lord as our Lord and Savior!!  Then I believe we will be born-again and covered by the righteousness of our Savior and Lord!!

God’s Word says this in the book of John, in the third chapter, that we must be born-again, please read John 3:3-6, “Yeshua answered him, ‘Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus said to Him. ‘He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?’ Yeshua answered, ‘Amen, amen I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.’”  

We can never be saved by our good works; but after we are saved, there are plenty of good works for us to do!!  Please read the following verses:

Titus 3:8, “Trustworthy is the saying, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have put their trust in God may be careful to devote themselves to good deeds. These things are good and beneficial for people.”

Titus 2:14, “He gave Himself for us so that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and so that He might purify for Himself a chosen people, zealous for good deeds.”

Hebrews 10:24, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds.” 

1 Peter 2:12, “Keep your conduct honorable among the Gentiles. Then while they speak against you as evildoers, they may—from noticing your good deeds—glorify God in the day of visitation.” 

Acts 9:36-39, “Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and alms deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.”

Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before men so they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”   

As long as no one gets these works backwards, everything will be fine, don’t always just look for the miracle but be the miracle in someone else’s life.  I hope this has been an encouragement and a help and may the good Lord bless you and yours with His perfect, peace, love and joy and health and happiness, and don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!

Intimidation

 

The enemy of our souls loves to intimidate people by trying to get everyone to believe his lies!!  In fact, he is the father of lies and a great deceiver.  He is very angry at God and he is very angry with God’s people.  The fact is, he was a beautiful angel at one time, that stood in the very presence of God.  But that was not enough, he was very jealous of God and he wanted to build his throne above God’s throne.  In the process he was able to deceive one third of the angels, and in the end, he was thrown out of heaven, down to the earth.  He knows where he is going and who is the real power, God himself, he is the almighty, all powerful true God.  

As far as God’s people are concerned, the enemy can only go as far as God allows him to because God is the ultimate authority, and our enemy is under God’s control at all times, along with all the fallen angels.  If anyone really stops to analyze this mystery, it may shock them; think of this, Satan was the first created being to sin and that without a sin nature.  Following that incident one third of the angels fell into sin and none of them had a sin nature either; then Adam and Eve also sinned without a sin nature.  

We, being believers, realize that we naturally sinned because we know that we are born with a sin nature, which many say is unfair; but, what makes you think you wouldn’t have sinned without a sin nature knowing that many have sinned without one?  The facts are that there would have been a good possibility, that we may have sinned also.  

Now think of this, our enemy is very much alive and well and he has been around for many years perfecting his intimidation tactics, plus lies and deception.  He actually blinds the eyes and minds of those that are lost so that they will believe everything and anything but the truth.  Manipulation, lies and deception are the name of his game.  Many are, and will be, separated from God for eternity and end up in the lake of fire because of the choices they made while walking the earth.  When they were drawn and convicted by the precious Holy Spirit and the veil was lifted from their eyes and minds, they refused to listen to the truth and believe and repent and turn from their wicked ways, with a change of attitude and heart and mind.  So, they have no one to blame but themselves!!  I don’t believe that God throws anyone in hell without them having the opportunity to repent.  I believe that God extended is love, grace and mercy to every person that ever lived, and it is very clear in his Word, in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”  Please read it and meditate on it.

What we need to do is put on the whole armor of God and resist the enemy and he will flee from us and humble ourselves before God and he will lift us up in due season!!  Praise the God of Heaven and Earth, Jesus our Savior and Lord, and the precious Holy Spirit for they are truly worthy!!

May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you all have a very, very special day!!

 

The Righteous Forsaken

 I have never seen the righteous forsaken, have you?  I have seen them in all kinds of situations; discouraged, in pain, angry, hurt, persecuted, sad, lonely, scared, rejoicing, happy, deceived and rejected and in doubt, tired, proud and arrogant and complacent and also sick, I am sure if I thought about it more, I could come up with even more things, but I have never seen them forsaken!!

Think about Jesus’ disciples, all of them went through some of these things, if not all of these things, but none of them were forsaken.  You are probably thinking what about Judas, but remember he made the choice to forsake and betray Jesus, it wasn’t Jesus that did the forsaking, it was Judas.  He was in charge of the money and would help himself to it whenever he felt inclined to!!  He was a very greedy person, who had a free will and choose to sin just like Adam and Eve, and also Ananias and Sapphira, think of this, the Lord will always judge sin.  

Now think of this also, God is complete in Himself, He needs nothing or no one, but He chooses to love people, even the most hardened sinners with their never, ever ending Jesus mantra, never Jesus.  Everyone should love the Lord because love, grace and mercy exude from His innermost being because He is love!!  Remember when Jesus was mistreated terribly then crucified?  He said something profound about the people that were responsible in Luke 23:34, he said, “But Yeshua was saying, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’”

Jesus’ very purpose was to be the sacrificial Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world; that’s how much God and His only begotten Son, Jesus, loved us, Jesus was willing to lay down His life and did just that!!  If he would have refused, we and every other believer that ever lived would have never been forgiven of ours, or their sins.  

The thing that is so remarkable is that no one could have taken His life, He had to voluntarily give Himself into their hands and He had a free will also.  But out of an unconditional love for God, His father, plus all us sinners, He made the right choice, praise his Holy name!!  He suffered, and we benefited from the choice he made.  

God’s Word says in Hebrews 9:22, “And nearly everything is purified in blood according to the Torah, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”  Jesus’ blood was shed, meeting that requirement.  So, if we truly repent, having a change of heart and mind and turning from our sins to God by faith, confessing that we are sinners and are sorry, and mean it, we will be candidates for God’s kingdom.  And we will never be forsaken either.

Have a bright and beautiful day and may the good Lord bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love and joy, and health and happiness!!