Children

It says in Ephesians 6:1-3, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”’  Think of what this is saying and the promise that goes along with it, would you like to live a long life here on earth?  Then try the best you can to keep this command.  

Does this mean to mind your parents only?  I don’t think so; I think it means to respect your parents, regardless of their personality, whether they are kind or harsh and even overprotective at times.  I know that young people think they know more than their parents today but they usually find out in the end that they don’t.  

Children and parents have a responsibility to love and care for one another, treating one another with respect, trying to understand each other and be committed to care for each other.  Even some of the best parents make mistakes, sometimes over reacting to situations or circumstances they find themselves in and realizing it too late.

I remember when my wife and I started having kids, I had so much baggage emotionally and psychologically that I had no idea how to raise kids, at first I couldn’t even go to my kids, they had to come to me because I had no idea what love was.  When the kids misbehaved or when I got angry I would rant and rave, shouting and slamming things and become somewhat out of control.  Even after being committed and dedicated to the Lord, being delivered from alcohol and drugs and the party lifestyle, I still had psychological and emotional problems and it took many years for me to realize that God loved me and forgave me.  God finally got through to me because of the way my wife loved me, which I always thought was unconditional.

I believe that all parents, whether they are Christians or not, have some kind of baggage they seem to carry around with them, none of them are perfect or ever will be perfect although some seem to do a better job at parenting than others.  The fact is that the promise is for the children that honor their parents regardless.  And parents have a great responsibility to raise their kids up in the love and admonition of the Lord, showing and teaching them to have a healthy fear of the Lord and to keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man, as well as parents.  And let me throw in this point, children are not commanded to obey their parents if they are told to disobey the Lord.  But no matter how old you are, if your parents are alive, you are commanded to honor them.

Children when you love, honor and respect your parents, you will do the same with the Lord, who must come first in your life.  Parents when you love and respect your kids, showing them by the way you live, they will find it much easier to accept, love, respect and honor the Lord.  Something to think about, have a great day and may the Lord bless you!!                     

Whom Are You Fighting

I have been very discouraged for a long period of time with what I see going on in our society, our Nation and some other nations as well.  As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, I see many of our Christian rights being taken away as well as the government taking control of what we used to call our freedoms.  With so much red tape and so many regulations it is stifling our economy and strangling our job growth.  

The private sector jobs are being riddled with so many of these regulations that the people who would benefit the job growth, have their hands tied, so to speak, so they hesitate hiring any more employees not knowing what to expect in the future.  It seems like the only ones that are benefiting are the public sector jobs that continue to grow and benefit the government making it larger and larger.  The government is getting to be somewhat like an octopus with its tentacles wrapped around every aspect of our lives.  

It seems, according to our government, that our Constitution is outdated and our judges rule from the bench, eliminating our constructional rights and freedoms.  Welfare is on the rise and so is unemployment.  Freedom of speech is being undermined by those that are trying to control what is said to suit themselves and their objectives.  Prayer has all but been banned from the classroom in most of our schools and some other facilities.  Legalizing marijuana and prostitution are being considered.  Our debt is to the point, and rising every day, that our grandkids and even their grandkids will never be able to pay it off.  There is talk of raising taxes, how crazy is that in the situation we are in, and think of it, in a recession.  Robbing the rich to give to the poor is all being done in the name of fairness, I call it ridiculous.  

I have heard of a hundred million dollars being spent bashing a candidate, how crazy is that, think of how many people could have been housed, fed, clothed and taken care of with that kind of money, plus a whole lot more money will be spent before it is all over.  Instead of using that money, and a whole lot more, to ruin someone’s character, they could use that money to help build the economy, support job growth and help people, like I said.  

Babies are being murdered every single day in the name of women’s rights, there are riots in the streets in other countries and people are being slaughtered in the streets.  There are gangs in our streets killing each other over their turfs plus there are drug czars raging war with anyone who opposes them, ruling parts of cities.  Homosexual marriage has been legalized in many cities, giving them all the rights of heterosexual marriage, and is being taught in our schools as normal behavior.  Tolerance is being taught and is good for everyone except Christians.  The day we celebrate as Christ’s birth, God’s gift to the world, is now deemed just a winter holiday.  

We are branded with all kinds of names and persecuted because of our faith, but we are called to love and endure all these things, although many times that is not how we respond.  We get angry, bent out of shape, and act and say things that we shouldn’t.  We forget who we are fighting against.  The Word says this in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

We make a big mistake when we take our revenge out on people.  There is a war raging behind the scenes that many are unaware of.  The enemy and his demons are manipulating people who don’t even know it.  Our war is not with people, it is against the rulers of the darkness of this world who blind the eyes of those that don’t believe.  We need to love and pray for these people that the Lord will open their eyes and ears and remove the veil from their minds, so they can hear the gospel, repent of their sins, turn from their wicked ways and pray for the gift of godly sorrow and the fear of the Lord in their lives.  It is easy to get discouraged and then become angry and then become bitter and want to take revenge, but before you get to that point, remember what the Lord said in Romans 12:19, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.”  The Lord will do it out of love and you, more than likely, wouldn’t.  Something to think about, may God bless you and have a great day!!        

Unconditional Love

If you have a dog you love you know something about unconditional love.  A dog seems to be loyal regardless of how you treat him.  You can holler and scream and mistreat your dog and he will still be loyal to you.  You can ignore and belittle him and he will still act like he loves you.  Some people say they think more of their animals than they do people.  I don’t think a dog can really understand what love is, I think what is inbred in them is loyalty.  To humans love and loyalty go together, so that may be why many people say that animals love, but I think because they are so loyal that we may mistake it as love.  

I want to talk about unconditional love today.  I was reading a book I have this morning called, “199 Reasons To Be Thankful,” written by Janice Hanna, and I was reminded of God’s unconditional love for his people.

What is unconditional love?

Unconditional:  not conditional or limited : absolute, unqualified

Love:  1.  unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of

               another: as the fatherly concern of God for humankind   

          2.  brotherly concern for others

          3.  a person's adoration of God

God loves us because God is love, it is His character.  God loves us not because of our performance or our outward appearance, He loves us because He chooses to, no one can comprehend the love of God.  

Paul spoke to the Ephesian Church about this subject saying this on bended knees in Ephesians 3:14-20, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us..”  

We should pray that we would know God’s unconditional love more and more each day and also pray that we will love him like Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God,” and remember Paul’s words in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Praise the Lord, we can never be separated from God’s love, this should be an encouragement to you.  God bless you and have a great day!!   

Furthering God’s Kingdom

This ‘Tidbit’ is very important for every believer that is interested in furthering God’s kingdom.  We are not saved to just sit around and twiddle our thumbs and wait for the Lord to return. We are to be doing the work that the Lord has prepared for us to do.

Sometimes people can get works mixed up.  Salvation, or being saved, has nothing to do with our works, it is by grace you are saved through faith and the Word makes it very clear that it is not because of anything we can do, it is primarily the gift of God to us.  Our works are nothing but filthy rags in comparison, and will accomplish nothing toward anyone’s salvation.

But Ephesians 2:10 says this, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

I talked to a man that thinks works after salvation is not important at all, that all you have to do is tell everyone about the Lord.  I have tried to explain this to him I don’t know how many times, but he refuses to believe me no matter what scriptures I tell him about.  Although salvation is God’s unmerited favor, we show our appreciation by responding with grace towards others by what we do; praying, visiting or helping others do things or by giving financially or witnessing to them, telling them what the Lord has done in our lives.

When Jesus talked about believers being the light of the world in Matthew 5, He said this in verse 16; “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Meeting needs is very important and it shows Christ’s likeness in us and in our character.  Encouraging and blessing others are commendable and they honor the Lord and I think are good things to do, I would say that they come under the category of good works.  If we are Christians we should be willing to do good works for those in need.  When we put the Bible into practice and let our light shine, God will receive glory through us.  I have read or heard this statement at times and it seems to make a lot of sense, “I would rather see a sermon than to hear one anytime,” or something close to that.  Seeing a sermon is seeing the change that sermon has made in someone’s life.

What about what it says in the book of James about faith and works in James 2:14-26, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can faith save him?  If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’  Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  You believe that there is one God.  You do well.  Even the demons believe—and tremble!  But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?  Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?  Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?  And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’  And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.  Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

If you are in Christ you have to have faith because the Word says in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  The result of that faith will be good works.  So don’t get these two meanings of works mixed up, and be about your heavenly Father’s business like He was when He walked the earth.  There is much good work for you to do, so get busy.  May the Lord bless you and yours and have a super day!!     

Imagine

Have you ever been stunned by something that you have seen or heard?  Sometimes we hear of things that we cannot imagine because they are so unusual or bizarre.

Sometimes I watch a show called, “It’s a Miracle,” hosted by Sid Roth.  I believe most of what I see and hear, but many of the things are hard to imagine.  Because I have had miraculous things take place in my life, I can accept many of the things to be true, although if you were to watch and hear some of the things that are being portrayed, you may not believe them, because like I said, some are hard to imagine unless you have experienced a miracle in your life, as all true Christians have, but many don’t seem to realize it.  

The reason I say this is, that all true believers have been washed, cleansed and set free of the domination of sin in their lives.  They have been delivered from bondage and sinful habits that have held them captive for many years, in many cases.  They have been taken out of darkness into God’s wonderful light; their eyes and ears have been open and the veil has been removed from their minds.  They have been given the gift of godly sorrow to experience the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their lives so that they can truly repent and turn from their wicked ways.  They have received mercy and grace from the only true God, the three in one.  Plus their bodies have become the Temple of the Holy Spirit of the living God.  It seems that many believers don’t think of these as miracles but that is exactly what they are.  Remember miracles are something man can’t do, only God can perform a miracle and the things that I have put here man cannot do; only God can do them in and through a person.  Because of God’s great mercy, grace and love, He has chosen to do these things for us, praise the Lord!!

Since you became a believer, can you think of times when you were shocked, amazed or, as they say, totally blown away at what God had done in and through your life?  If you have been, you know what I am talking about and if you haven’t just stay faithful and hang in there, today may be the day that God may amaze you, this may be a day that you will never forget.  Think about Jesus’ disciples, they were amazed many times.

I think about the time when they were fishing all night and caught not one fish, then Jesus showed up and told them to cast out on the other side and when they did their nets were so full they were about to break and they needed help to get them all in (John 21:1-14), I think they were all amazed.  What about the many times they saw Jesus heal and the time Jesus walked on the water (Matthew 14:24-32) and the time He fed the four and five thousand with the little He had (Matthew 14:16-21 & Matthew 15:30-38), I think they stood in amazement, don’t you?  And, what about the times He taught as one with authority and not as the scribes and Pharisees.  Also the time He talked to the Samaritan woman and told her all she had ever done, I think she was amazed, but so were the disciples seeing Jesus talking to a Samaritan, because Jews and Samaritans hated each other (John 4:7-19).  I think Jesus loved to amaze people, and I could go on and on but I think you got the message.  Remember, Jesus is not a respecter of men, He loves us all, so don’t be too surprised at what Jesus may do today for you, to amaze you.  Expect amazing things to happen and always thank and praise the Lord!!

The most amazing thing that happened was Jesus being crucified, dying, buried and rising again, but another amazing thing was when Jesus appeared to His disciples, who were behind closed doors, and it terrified them, thinking they had seen a spirit.  When He opened their understanding and they realized who Jesus was, I think they may have been amazed.  Praise the Lord for His amazing love and grace as well as the amazing things He has done in and through our lives, we should always stand in amazement of Him.  God bless and have a great day!!        

Web

I heard this said the other day, something I have said many times, and while I was studying this morning it came back to me, you have probably heard it before, it is this: “What a wicked web we weave, when we practice to deceive.”  Have you ever been deceived by anyone before or maybe you were the deceiver?  

There are times when people deceive people, or purposely mislead people, to their advantage.  Deceiving people seems to be an epidemic in our society; and many seem to have perfected this lifestyle.  The noun deception has 3 senses - a misleading falsehood; the act of deceiving: an illusionary feat, considered magical by naive observers.  When you mislead, tell a half truth, or trick someone, you are deceiving them.  Many in our government use deception to get what they want.  Television commercials are deceptive many times, plus many of the things you read and hear.  I would say that most all of us have either been deceived or deceived someone else in our lifetime.  

Let me ask you this question: do we ever deceive ourselves?  Yes, I think we have all been there at one time or another, sometimes without being aware of it.  When you have the ability to do something but you lack the confidence to do it and you say you can’t, you are deceiving yourself.  Deception doesn’t only affect non-believers but also believers as well.  When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, or something we need to do or say, and we push it aside, we deceive ourselves.

There is a story about Joshua where he was lied to, tricked and deceived by the people of Gibeon.  God commanded Joshua and the Israelites to make no treaties with the people of Canaan, but when the Gibeonites came and tricked them by deception they signed a treaty with them, without consulting the Lord as Joshua normally would do.  How many times do believers get deceived because of not consulting the Lord about matters of importance?  You can find this story in Joshua 9:3-27.  Because of Joshua not consulting the Lord, they broke God’s command and ended up having to deal will some angry people plus an awkward alliance.  Joshua and the people were deceived.

Now I want to hit on a story that many people know about, and it is the book of Esther.  In this book there was a man named Haman who was second in command under Persia’s King Ahasuerus.   His desire was to be the most important and to control others.  He was blinded by arrogance and self-importance when he planned to do away with a man who was a Jew, named Mordecai, as well as all the other Jews because Mordecai would not bow down to him.  His problem was pride.  Because of one man, Haman devised a plan to do away with all the other Jews in the King’s province.  He went as far as to have a gallows built 50 cubits high to hang Mordecai on.  Haman thought his plan was foolproof; all he had to do was convince the king and he would have it made.  He deceived the King by telling a half-truth, hiding the real reason he wanted the King to destroy the Jews.  Like I said before, “What an evil web we weave, when we practice to deceive.”  In the end Haman was hanged on the very gallows he had, had built to hang Mordecai on, it was like the web tightened on his own neck.  You might say the words in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall,” came true in this circumstance.  If you want to read this story, it is found in the Old Testament, in the book of Esther.

So be careful of pride or anything that would cause you to fall into the sin of deception.  Pray and ask the Lord to keep you from being deceived or deceiving anyone else or yourself.  Have a great day and God bless you!!