Do You Conform

Question: How do you live as a believer?  Do you seek the truth for yourself, or do you just take someone else’s word for it?  It would help if we all knew Hebrew and Greek and a half dozen other languages.  It is so easy to take God’s Word out of context and make it say what we would like it to say instead of what it really says, and don’t get me wrong, I am not a language scholar either, but I do the best I can to bring forth the truth!!

Question: Do you conform to the world, or are you being transformed daily by renewing your mind in the Word of God?  It is so important that we not only read the Word of God but that we put it into practice and hide it in our hearts that we might not sin against the Lord.  Memorizing scripture is very important also.

Now think of this, do you praise the Lord in the good times as well as the hard times, or when the hard times come, do you think ‘woe is me’ and start complaining, like I do at times, instead of just accepting what you are going through and doing the best you can in the situation?  We can always complain, which will do us no good, or we can grow through the hard times by asking the Lord to help us to know what He is trying to teach us in the situations we find ourselves in.

These are just some things to think about that I think would help us on our spiritual journey.  Think of this, do you seek the Lord in prayer for a Holy Spirit filled revival that would start in you first, then go around the world or don’t you think we all need to be revived?  Myself, I think the whole world, plus the church, needs to be revived.  I know I sure could use a revival within me.  I think doing blogs and praise songs and some of the other things that I do helps me spiritually, but I truly feel that being revived

and renewed in our inner being dally is so important.  

I have heard or read about past revivals where people were smitten and convictions had taken place, where people fell before the Lord weeping and repenting, where true godly sorrow took place, where there was a change of heart and mind towards the things of God and sin.  The altar was full of people for hours and confession and repentance were taking place.  Backsliders were renewed, and healings were taking place, and people were being set free, where God’s grace and mercy and love and forgiveness were being poured out.  These meetings lasted day after day, week after week, month after month for a long period of time and this is truly what we need all over the world today!!  We need to keep repenting when we need to and keep seeking the Lord for a true Holy Ghost revival, please let it happen Lord!!  

Enough said on this topic: Until next time, may all of you have a super day and keep looking up and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!

Hope

What do you put your hope in?  Hope is something everyone needs, for without hope, all is lost.  There are many things people put their hope in.  People put their hope in other people, money, religion, fame, health, their 401K accounts and their retirement benefits, the stock markets, and their investments, and on and on it goes; hope is very essential for life.  If all we have is hope for this world, and for the different things we put our trust in, we will perish, with no hope for the next life.  

Now think of what it says in Mark 8:36-37, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what could a man give in exchange for his soul.”  

I am talking about eternal life that goes far beyond this life and can be only obtained through the Lord.  The Lord is not willing that any be lost but that all would come to repentance!!  This is the reason why your hope should be in the Lord, the creator of all heaven and earth, the One who said that whosoever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.

Think of this, He loved us so much He made us in His image and likeness.  Now think of this, God had an eternal purpose when He sent His Son into the world and it wasn’t to condemn the world, but through Him the world might be saved.  Does God need us?  No, God is fully complete in Himself, He needs no one, but He chooses to love us.

Think of this, He created us so we could have fellowship with Him and also have a relationship with Him through true repentance and confession which means turning in the other direction and forsaking our sins by having a change of heart and mind and by receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  I think I would be amiss if I didn’t add this, no one can have a relationship with the Lord by their own merits.  In other words, you cannot be right with the Lord by what you may say is your good works or what you might redeem as your own righteousness!!  Please read Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves—it is the gift of God. It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast.”

The word of God also says in Isaiah 64:5, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a filthy garment, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away, like the wind.” 

It also says in Romans 3:10, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” 

And, it also says in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Our only hope for this life, and the one to come, can only be through our faith and trust in the Lord!!  This is the greatest message there is, a message of grace, hope and love!!  If you want true hope, the only way you will ever find it is in God, the Father and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ!!  

My prayer is that this message is a blessing and help and an encouragement to all who read it.  May the good Lord bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love, joy and health and happiness and may each of you find your hope in Him!!       

Praising

I’d like to honor the Lord and give Him praise like I try to do each day, and this no exception, for He is worthy!!  I think He has been showing me for a while that I am too proud, and I am agreeing with Him.  I also think He’s been showing me that pride does go before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction.  I had to repent and confess this horrible sin.  

This is one of the seven sins that God hates and one that we should hate also, along with all sins!!  Why would God hate this sin?  It’s because it is a sin that is hard to detect by the person that has it and it not only harms the person that has it, but it can destroy relationships in marriages and other friendships also.  Being proud and puffed up is not an attribute that anyone should want to have.  Being all puffed up and proud, thinking that you are all that, thinking you are more important than others, looking down your nose, thinking you are better than the next person and standing in judgement of everyone except yourself, is a very sinful, terrible act!!  I think that there are many who have this sin in their lives but they either are not aware of it or they don’t want to admit it.  I heard a pastor make a statement a long time ago that went like this, ‘Pride stinks and the only ones that can’t smell it are the ones who have it.’  

Pride is hard to detect at times because it seems to be easy to blame other things for it.  For instance, you may have spent a lot of time studying and memorizing God’s word, then you go around letting everyone else hear how much you know.  Not for the right reason, but mainly just to show off.  Remember this, wisdom puffs up, but love builds up.  We should all be using the word of God to win souls, with the Lord’s help, and to transform our lives to honor the Lord and bring Him praise, not to build up and edify ourselves!!  I could give other examples of pride, but I think most people know what it is and how destructive it is.     

Have you ever heard someone say to you that you are a very prideful person, and you just blew it off, thinking that the person was just jealous and just trying to hurt you?  There are times when we must examine ourselves to see if we are a prideful person.  After examining ourselves, if we realize that we do have pride in our life, we need to be careful to not excuse it.  We need to acknowledge it for what it is, sin, and then repent and confess it and ask the good Lord to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness!!  Like I said, pride stinks and the only one who doesn’t smell it is the one who has it, that is what I was told.

I pray that this is a help and a blessing to all that read it.  May the good Lord bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love and joy and health and happiness.  May you all have a super day!!  And don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!