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Monthly Archives: March 2012

Do you have a heart to hear?

Such an awesome morning with God, wishing I did not have to stop. Ohhhh how I hope you will respond to that instant when He knocks at your door. It is never too late, until it is.

 

 

 

Do you have a heart to hear?

1 Corinthians 1:18  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Do you have an ear to hear? When you hear things of God, do you immediately put up a wall, or does something first stir inside you before put up your fight, or your reasoning for dismissal? That instant, that second of stirring before your pride steps in, is God knocking at your door. If you never have that second of curiosity, then my prayer is that one day you will.  We are told in 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. God must first seek you, and you must respond, as an act of free will to His invitation by humbling yourself before Him. These things are the first things to changing your life for an eternity.

The revelation of that stirring inside you, that the Creator of the universe is pursuing you, should provoke humility and acceptance on it alone. How could you deny the one whom breathed the stars into existence, and life into your lungs? How could pride step in and deny that stirring you feel is greater than Him? 1 John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. With the understanding of Whom is knocking at the door of our souls, comes an eternal gift of spiritual wisdom from the Holy Spirit that will reside in you, and reveal God to you for eternity. Your ears will be opened through the ability to hear the voice of God in your heart, not entering as all the static this world brings to our ears. Do you have a heart to hear?

 
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Posted by on March 6, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Yep, we can’t do it ourselves

Yep, we can’t do it ourselves.

 
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Posted by on March 5, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Yep, we can’t do it ourselves

Much of what I have been watching and listening to recently has dealt with this. The feelings in today’s society of the “deaf ears” to sin. The idea that we are living overall good, overall better through our good deeds, and finding ourselves in Gods favor. There is even the idea out there that all ways lead to God, that Coexist idea. All ideas do not lead to God, and that idea is WRONG. Their is only one way, through Christ, and all others will pay for their mistakes for eternity.

 

Yep, we can’t do it ourselves

 

Romans 3:23   for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

I say this in love, or as Adrian Rogers says in anguish, we really are all that bad. We all have, and all will sin every day of our lives. If we awake a day determined to make that day perfect we fail and sin in that beginning thought. There was only One, that could and did achieve that, Christ. We must realize and accept our depravity, for we are born into sin from the great falling away in the Garden of Eden. But if God only accepts perfection, He also provides the Way to become justified in His sight. Justified is a legal term that means declared righteous, or not guilty.

Romans 24-25 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. Through the sacrifice of His perfect Son, the door was opened for us to spend eternity in paradise with Him. We must realize our sin, and the unattaiaibility  of our justification through any good works that simply make us feel better about ourselves. That comfort that you feel when you do your good work to attain Gods favor outside of the acceptance of His Son as the only pathway; that comfort is from Satan. Satan wants you to feel as though you can earn your way into heaven. He places those thoughts inside your head. Once you humble yourself realizing you cannot obtain God’s grace outside Christ through any good deed, you can accept Christ knocking at your door as the only Way. John 14:6 I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. You can’t do it by yourself….you can’t.

 
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Posted by on March 5, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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We can’t do it

We can’t do it.

 
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Posted by on March 4, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

We can’t do it

It has been an interesting morning, a difficult morning in a few personal ways. Maybe because I am spending the time out here writing of pride, and that is one of my struggles, God will always convict me when I speak of it. I always pray for a humble spirit, and seek no glory, but pride is the root of all sins, and it rears it’s head whenever it pleases. Lord help me, for I cannot help myself…..only through You.

 

We can’t do it

Matthew 12:14-16    Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him. But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known,

What drives you? Is it the ideas that make you great, the ideas of self glorification to show others what you have accomplished? The new car, the new house, the new toy? I believe we all have been guilty of that, for no other generation has seen the life of excess as ours has. But with it being removed, has brought a humility. In these scriptures, when they began to seek to plot to kill Him, Christ could have performed any miracle to change our remove Himself to alter the situation. He chose to take the lowly path, and flee. He was setting an example for us to follow. Matthew10:23  When they persecute you in this city, flee to another.

Our hearts may burn with the desire to convert, to lead others to Christ. Those feelings that well inside us are the Holy Spirit, and an assurance of Salvation. But there are those that have deaf ears, hard hearts, and just refuse to hear. Our pride will lead us down the path of pursuit, which may lead to persecution through those we are seeking to show the Light. We must be able to swallow our pride and as in Matthew 10:14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. The work is never accomplished by us, but only through Christ. Beware of pride creeping into the most glorious message out there, that should carry a humble tone to all those that can and will listen. John 14:6 I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.

 
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Posted by on March 4, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Spring storms in Winter?

Spring storms in Winter?.

 
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Posted by on March 3, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Spring storms in Winter?

This morning it seems amazing how God has led me around the bible learning of the weather. I could not believe I ended up in Job. I personally believe that all this weather craziness that has been escalating the last couple years is a sign from God. The weather is an undeniable event that affects everyone, every day. If He uses it to raise awareness, then it brings Him glory and draws those of us closer to Him. I would urge you to let God speak to you in these chapters below I have listed. Spend this rainy day in the best book, and the only book that can change your life for an eternity, before you miss the signs laid before you.

 

 

Spring storms in Winter?

Job 37:11-12    Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds; He scatters His bright clouds. And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, That they may do whatever He commands them On the face of the whole earth.

Can even the lost soul deny the weather, the seasons, seem to be changing? Tornado’s all winter; spring storms in winter; the lack of a winter? The events are happening out of sync with what the calendar would project? Weather is unavoidable, it affects us all. Read the chapter of Job 37 entirely for an awesome description of God’s power, “God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend. For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’; Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.” Matthew Henry spoke of  “it is not for us to know, no, not that concerning the times and seasons.” The undeniable truth is that they are changing, and many speak of that as a sign from God for the end of time.

Matthew 24 is Christ’s discourse of the coming end of times. He was speaking to his disciples, and their curiosity of what to look for to prepare. I urge you to spend time in this chapter.  Matthew 24: 6-8 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. All over the world, these things are happening. All over the world there are signs being set before us for the coming days. In Matthew 16 Christ stood before those religious leaders speaking of who He was standing before them. Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. I hope and pray that you will see all these signs set before you to prepare you for what is to come. There will come a time, when you will look back and be glad the signs were given, or a day you will regret you denied the signs for an eternity.

 
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Posted by on March 3, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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You can’t understand

You can’t understand.

 
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Posted by on March 2, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

You can’t understand

This morning I am still in thought about the things facing me at registering for school, and the daunting tasks that lie ahead. The title of this post easily describes me.

 

 

You can’t understand

John 18:4     Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?”

“Knowing all things”, outside the traps of time, outside our finite minds, we simply cannot grasp the Omnipotence of God. Webster’s dictionary description is an ‘almighty or infinite in power, as God’. There is none other than our heavenly Father that can carry such a title. In the garden that night Christ knew the fate that faced Him. He knew all the sufferings that He was about to endure, and He approached the Roman detail in peace. He had hidden when early in His ministry  the Jews sought to make Him a king (John 6:15), yet at this time of suffering He stepped forward to meet His fate as He understood was the plan laid out by His Father.

Matthew Henry says of our suffering “it will do us good to expect suffering in general, so that when they come we can say, It is what we looked for, the cost we sat down and counted upon.” God limits our ability to understand, therefore that is where our faith and our reliability of His omnipotence comes in and grows. If we understood many of these things, would we face them as Christ, or take another path that would lead us away from Him? Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Rely and rest in the power and design of the plans He has laid out for you. You cannot and will not understand what you may face today or tomorrow, but you can rest if you are a child of His that as Romans 8:28 says And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. It is in these things I rest, and describe my walk as Peace.

 
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Posted by on March 2, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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In every place

In every place.

 
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Posted by on March 1, 2012 in Daily Devotions