Power of the Word

Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  The Word of God is very powerful and when it is spoken or read it can bring such conviction that strong, proud men can be humbled and broken by it in seconds, even the strongest and hardest critic can be brought to his knees in brokenness and repentance.  

I don’t know how many people that have set out trying to disprove the Bible only to wind up believers themselves.  It has been taught and preached since it was put on parchment, close to four thousand years ago. The Word has been heard in Kings’ palaces along with most every other place you can think of.  It has not always been accepted, in fact, some have tried to rid the earth of it, to no avail.  I am not sure if it is now, but it was the bestselling book ever.  The Bible is also written in many languages.

I have heard of a drunk walking down the street when a tract stuck to his shoe.  The next morning he got up and was putting on his shoe and saw the tract, read it and he repented and gave his heart to the Lord.

Read what the Lord said about His Word and the promises in His Word. This comes from Isaiah 55:10–11, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my Word that goes out from my mouth.  It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose of which I sent it.”  The Word and the promises are there for us to claim and to stand on, to grasp and to put our hope and trust in.

Think of this, the Word says in Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.  Does he speak and then not act?”  Then in Hebrews 13:8 it says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  

How many Christians realize how important the Word is to them?  The Psalmist said in Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”  It also says in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 

The Word of God is like a believer’s food and we all need to be nourished by it physically and spiritually.  The Apostle Paul said in Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  (Taken from the NIV Bible)

Now you tell me, how can anyone know or do any of these things without studying the Word?  As you study the Word, your mind is being renewed and you are becoming a stronger believer as you put the Word in practice. If you need wisdom and knowledge it is in there.  If you need a word and a promise to stand on, it is in there.  If you need direction, it is there along with hope and encouragement.  If you need deliverance, healing or restoration, it is there waiting for you to read it. You will find everything you need for salvation and to live a victorious life.  In it you will find everything you need to resist sin and temptation and the evil one.  

I can’t stress this enough, this isn’t the first lesson I have written on this subject and probably won’t be the last, Lord willing.  I don’t think a believer can survive without studying it and putting it into practice.  Last I knew, only 20% of so called Christians read the Word, what a crying shame!  There are many people that have lost their lives because the Bible meant so much to them.  I have heard of prisoners who will stay up all night long just so they can write down one page, if they can get their hands on it.  We could go and buy a Bible in a garage sale for fifty cents or a little more and sometimes they are given away free.  If we claim to be a Christian, shame on us if we aren’t taking time out to read and study the Word.  So if you haven’t been studying, start today, you will be blessed for it.  Have a great day and God Bless.   

Can You Imagine

I was reading the Word this morning and a thought was dropped into my mind, and that thought was, ‘Can you imagine what the Lord has done for you, if you are a believer?’  

We know we have all sinned and the Bible says the wages of sin is death and that is what our punishment should be, but the Lord had another plan that He provided for all of us.  Because of God’s grace, instead of destroying us, He would redeem us, praise God!  

Now think about this, because of the Israelite’s rebellion God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to rule over them.  They were to be exiles in Babylon for 70 years.  There were prophets in that day that predicted that it wouldn’t happen, but it did.  God hates sin and there are always consequences for it.

But in the midst of it all, God’s redemptive plan was in place.  Even in our rebellion, God’s redemptive plan is in place.  It is hard to imagine the love, mercy and patience of God.  He told the Israelites what they should do and how they should act in their captivity in Babylon.  But this is the exciting part, He didn’t leave them without hope; no, this is what the Lord said, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord.  Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:10-13 

This is an encouraging message for all of us. God is able and willing to punish sin but there is always forgiveness for the person with the humble and contrite heart who repents and turns from their wicked ways.  His plan isn’t to harm us, but to prosper us and to give us a hope and a future because He loves us and wants the very best for us.  But there is something else God wants us to do and that is to seek Him with all our heart.  If we do that we will be sure to find Him.

As I sit here thinking of all the sin and rebellion that has taken place since Adam and Eve, I think how does God continue to love and forgive us?  When I think of my own sins, which if they were piled on top of each other would be higher than the sky, why hasn’t He just destroyed us all because that is what we deserve.  If you and I were honest, and we had the power God has, and we could eliminate some people that have sinned against us wouldn’t there be a few people missing, or would it be many.  Thank the Lord we don’t possess that kind of power.  It is hard to imagine a God that is so compassionate, kind, loving and merciful and much, much more like our God is.

Read these words in Isaiah 55:6–9, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.  Let him turn to the Lord and He will have mercy on him, and to our God for He will surely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Now you know why it is so hard to imagine God’s attributes and His way of thinking!

There are a lot of so called gods in this world but the one that we believers serve is the ultimate, awesome true God.  No one can compare to Him, praise His name.  When I think of what He has done for me and countless others I can’t help but thank and praise Him and I do it quite often.  I hope this encouraged you and helped you to reflect on the awesomeness of our God.  Are you thanking and praising Him daily?  I hope you are.  He is totally worthy of all our praise and thanksgiving.  

And for anyone that doesn’t know Him personally He loves you. Take your sins to Him and ask for His forgiveness and He will freely pardon and forgive you.  Don’t put it off, seek Him while He can still be found.  

 God bless you all and have a great day.  And remember God inhabits the praise of his people so usher in His presence, start praising Him.             

Born To Be Wild

There was a song out that was called “Born to be Wild.”  It depicts a person that has no restraint, that calls his own shots and does his own thing. That song takes me back to my rebellious years.

It also takes me back to the “Hippy” years when people lived in little communes. These people shunned any authority, they advocated free love, their slogan being “Make love, not war.”  They hated any war, especially the Vietnam War and protested against it.  Some wrote poetry and read it to all who would listen.  Most of them were high on pot which many grew themselves and alcohol was always available.  

Did you ever hear of the original Woodstock?  It was drug and alcohol infested, a free-for-all party. The music played was very loud and stirred up a very emotional response. They were very liberal in their thinking and many people were swayed into that way of thinking and, in many cases, we are reaping the effects today.

Question:  Were we born to be wild and throw off all restraints and just do our own thing?  No, we were born to live responsible lives.  Sometimes I think back to my old life, hating most things and throwing my own weight around, so to speak, doing my own thing as much as possible, rebelling against authority and my parents, many times getting drunk and high on some kind of drug.  Duh, where did it get me and what did it accomplish?  I think that lifestyle was the result of fear, pride and resentment and a host of inferiority complexes and all the things that go along with those things.

If you are reading this and you find yourselves in this situation or you are thinking about what it would be like to live this way, take it from me, it stinks.  Going to bed drunk and waking up with a hangover, wondering how you even got home at times, is the pits!  One time I was so drunk I think I checked the newspaper to see if I had an accident on the way home that night.  When I checked my car over there was hardly a scratch on it and it was parked the way it should have been parked, boy was I relieved.  Did it stop me from drinking? No!

Sometimes when people give a testimony, they seem to glamourize their old lifestyle more than their new lifestyle.  I want to make this clear, I was nothing but a freak, and a jerk, much of the time trying to escape reality and I think many people that were delivered from this lifestyle would agree with me relating to their own lives.

Now let’s get back to the reason we were really born.

First we were born to love, fear and honor the Lord in all we do.  We are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.  Second you are to love your neighbor as yourself.  We are also here to pray and give to the needy and to fast at times.  Jesus said, ”Some things only come through prayer and fasting.”  You were born to store your treasures in heaven not here on earth.  You were born to bear good fruit.  We were put here to make a positive difference in people’s lives.  We were not put here to just gratify ourselves, but to invest ourselves into others and to be a positive influence for them in some way.  We are to be salt and light.  Jesus said you are the salt of the earth and He also said you are the light of the world.  (Matthew 5:13-14) You are to keep and teach the Commandments. You have been born to be reborn and be a child of God!  We were put here to study the Word and apply it to our lives and to seek the gifts of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit.

To sum this up, Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12:13 – “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter.  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”   If you do this you will be blessed.  These are the reasons we were born into this world, along with testifying and winning souls for the glory of God!  

And I can’t leave out one of my favorite parts, to thank and praise the Lord!!  God bless and have a great day.     

Downfall of Nations

How will we escape the wrath of God if He did not spare His own people who sinned?  The Nation of Israel suffered because of their sin.  God is a just God, and being just, He will have to judge America, for our sins are higher than the clouds.  

When the Lord brought His judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah it wasn’t because His desire was to destroy all the people there, no, I believe he loved each and every one.  But their desire was to sin and to do their own thing.  They became a stench in the nostrils of their Creator, and the consequence was their destruction.  In Genesis 18:20–21 God said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is so bad as the outcry that has reached me, if not I will know.”  Taken from the NIV Version Bible That shows how concerned He was about these people He wouldn’t take anyone’s word for it and He wouldn’t destroy them until He saw for Himself their wickedness, but He would see for Himself.  God is truly a just God, and being just He had to deal with sin and he did.

Now think about the United States, what are the similarities?  In Sodom and Gomorrah homosexuality was the norm, it is getting the same way here.  It says in verses 4 and 5 in chapter 19 of Genesis, “Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom both young and old surrounded the house.  They called to Lot, where are the men who came to you tonight?  Bring them out so that we can have sex with them.” It doesn’t give an account of all the sins that were committed in these places but if there was this kind of sin as the norm what would they not allow.

Men without the Lord’s restraint are capable of doing anything.  When men have no fear of the Lord total chaos will take place and sin will abound in every form and lewd acts will become the norm in that society.  In my years I have seen a great change in our moral standards.  Many of the things we allow today were an abomination in the past.  Today it seems like most anything is accepted.  We have passed laws for homosexual rights and gay marriage to take place in some of our cities plus we are also teaching it in some of our schools like it is a moral act.  God calls it sin but many in our country and in our government call it normal.  

This country was founded on Christian principles and freedom of religion.  Most of our founding fathers were Christians.  If they could see what is tolerated today they would be ashamed and appalled at our liberality. Abortion, porn, illicit sex, prostitution, drugs and how easy it is to obtain these things.  If they could see what is viewed on TV, the computer or even some of the store advertisements they might roll over in their graves. If they saw what is going on in our government they would probably be shocked.  But I think some of them knew if we rejected the Constitution and people started governing from their own understanding, eliminating their Creator, it would come to this.  Schools without prayer and Bible teaching and families without faith in their Creator are a sure formula for suicide and every other detestable practice under the sun.

I am typing with a righteous anger over the condition of our Country and I could go on and on spewing out the negative.  When you think about the economy, the housing market, the government closing down and the scare tactics being used from some of our representatives it can frighten the most faithful soul if you are not careful.             

Now I want to tell you some good news.  If you belong to the Lord He wants you to come to Him with your fears and your anxieties, all your frustrations and all your problems and lay them at His feet. The Lord wants to turn your mourning into dancing.  In Matthew 11:28-29 Jesus said, “Come unto me all of you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for my yoke is easy and my burden is light and you will find rest unto your souls.”  Give your burdens to the Lord and feel the weight fall from your shoulders, He loves you with an inexpressible love.  Just imagine carrying a fifty pound bag on your shoulders and then taking it off and putting it down, the feeling of relief you would feel. That is what the Lord wants to do for you because He cares for you.

So whatever concern you have, give it to the Lord and then when you walk away don’t pick it up and take it with you again, no, leave it in the arms of Jesus, He can handle whatever it is, so trust Him with it.  Jesus will not only take it but He wants to set you free of it and He will, if you let Him, praise His Name!

God bless you and have a great day and Thank and Praise the Lord!        

Idols - Balance - Satisfaction

For some reason there seems to be no balance in most people’s lives.  This covers most everyone that has enough money to buy things or has a credit card.  We have lost are sense of balance and satisfaction.

I was at a sale Saturday and there was a lady selling purses, when she was asked how many purses she owned, her answer was 219.  She claimed the guy she was with had about 80 pairs of shoes.  The sad thing is, in America this is the norm and not the exception.  This might help the economy but where does it end?  It seems like we are never satisfied with what we have.  The poor want to be rich and the rich want to be richer.

I have an M & M collection I started a few years ago because I thought they were cute, as of today I have somewhere around five hundred of these M & M Characters, cars, trucks, phones, tins and the list goes on and on.  They are in my office in the basement and I hardly ever look at them. It seems like I have lost interest in them.  

I remember buying motorcycles years ago, I was never satisfied and I ended up buying around 11 of them.  I could have taken one of them and fixed it up the way I wanted it and kept just that one and saved all kinds of money.  But instead of being satisfied with one, I just kept pouring money into them and buying more.  Then they became an idol in my life.

Then there were the cars and trucks, and I bought plenty of them and put plenty of money in them also.  I think of all the hours I spent polishing, cleaning and talking about them.  And they became idols in my life also. The list goes on and on.  

Some of us would never admit to having idols in our lives, but think about what you own and how much time you spend with these things.  The Lord is a jealous God and He will not tolerate any idols in our lives.  We read about the Israelites and it is easy to think, ‘how could they bow down to an idol and worship it,’ but we are just as guilty as they were in the Old Testament.  Just because we don’t bow down and pray to the ‘thing’ in question, we spend hours with it.

Think about what your time is consumed with, what you think about most of the time and what you talk about mostly.  The Lord has to be number one in our lives, period, nothing else can come before Him.  When the Israelites sinned there were grievous consequences and the Jews were God’s chosen people.  How will we not be punished if we do these things? God is not a respecter of men.  He loves us all the same and He will treat us all equal.  The correction we receive may be different but we are not getting away without some kind of punishment.  

I know we live in the day of grace, praise God, but sin is sin and God will correct it in our lives.  We know that God is a loving God, and all that goes with love He demonstrates and we want to hear about all the good stuff God has for us, and we hear about them quite often.  But how much do we hear about sin and God’s correction?  These things are a part of God’s love also and we need to take them very seriously.  Let’s face it most of us are guilty of this sin in one way or another, so we need to deal with it and not put it off any longer.  Confess it and repent, tell the Lord you are sorry if you mean it, and you will be forgiven, praise the Lord!

In 1^st John 1:9 it says:  “If we confess our sins He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.”  This is great news, so just do it and you will feel so much better, plus you will be honoring the Lord.

God bless and have a great day. And don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!