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Who do they see?

21 Nov

Who do they see?

2 Corinthians 12:15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.

This ministry is never to be my soap box, or in any way to have any hidden agenda. It is to be a platform to bring my every days actions, thoughts, and emotions into the light of Christ. It is to bring the struggles we all deal with every day to reveal what God is showing me in them. He is pointing out my faults and pointing me to Him. Last night at dinner we had a waitress that just opened up to us. We all three shared our faith with and encouraged each other. She even touched on her struggles at work as a Christian. We discussed the same feelings that a mark of Christianity is struggling right now; for we are going against the grain of the world. There was an immediate connection and God used me to encourage her I know; it was very humbling.

I am struggling just like so many of you in so many ways. It all can seem to be overbearing, more than I can handle at times, many times the only thing I can do is to go to sleep at the end of the day to escape. I awake the next day and God shows me things in His Word every morning to open my eyes through my heart. I do believe He has called me to a tough ministry; a ministry that will not make me popular; a ministry to tell the hard truth, and not the soft news that people want to hear. The Apostle Paul spoke of his dedication to spreading the news of Christ to the Corinthians; of giving it his all even when it costs him. Paul even spoke of the area of pride in the scriptures preceding (2:11-13). Paul also speaks of pride in Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

How do you reflect Christ every day; do you reflect Christ? Do people know that you are a Christian without you telling them? The more time you spend in God’s Word the more time you will reflect Christ. The more time you spend in God’s Word the more you will see Christ at work around you. The more time you spend in God’s Word the easier it will become to hear God’s voice. John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. You cannot claim Christianity in an hour every Sunday. Christ called us to become a, and make others, disciples of His. Christianity is a verb; it requires action not simple passivity. My heart lies in prodding you to spend daily time with God. That action will cause everything else to fall into place; but it takes effort on your part.

 
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Posted by on November 21, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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The Gate Key

21 Oct

The Gate Key

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Christ had been to see John the Baptist at the Jordon River where John was calling the people to repentance and baptizing them with water. Christ was baptized by John, and then led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted for 40 days and nights. When Christ was physically hungry and weak, Satan approached Him with three great temptations. Christ rebuked Satan all three times with the Word of God, and Satan left Him. Then God sent angels to minister to Christ and strengthen Him. Christ left the wilderness and began His ministry with the same call to repentance as John the Baptist had preached. History was forever changed.

God has begun to press on me the realization of those who are truly lost without a true heart for Him. Not only those who have not heard, but those who sit in the pews every Sunday for an hour; yet live for themselves the entire week. Church attendance will never open heavens gates for you. There is nowhere in the Bible that says it will. The key to heavens gate lies within your heart, and not your head. The key is a humble repentant heart, a plea for forgiveness, and the acceptance of Christ as the only way. If there is no other evidence in your life of Christ than Sunday mornings, you have dead faith. James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. A heart that is truly given over to Christ will produce an outward expression of that faith daily in a world far from God. God places you where He wants you to witness for Him every day.

Matthew 7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. There are so many distractions in the world, even in the church, that take our eyes off God. These distractions are tools of Satan to turn our focus to the problems of the present; and take our eyes off eternity. Satan loves division, Satan loves contentment, Satan hates focused. A heart that is focused on Christ is a heart not ever content with their ‘religion’; it is a heart that is in consistent pursuit of drawing near and living their lives for His glory. A focused heart is the heart of a disciple; and that heart understands who holds the key to the gates of paradise. That focused heart will fight against the comforts that are not there, the distractions that are, and seek to remain abiding in the only One who matters.

 
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Posted by on October 21, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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I wanna hear Him

20 Oct

I wanna hear Him

Acts 2:38-39   Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

The Day of Pentecost is known as the day when Christ poured out the Holy Spirit into the Apostles. It had only been a few days at the most that they had seen Christ ascend into heaven. They were meeting together most likely to discuss their plans for the ministry Christ had laid before them, yet they had not begun to minister in Jerusalem where He told them to start. Christ had given them a portion of the Spirit that seemed to unite them; ceasing the divisions of their seeking to know which was the greatest and such. John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. They now prayed together and appointed Matthias to take Judas’s place as an apostle.

When the Spirit was fully given, those who witnessed it were amazed. Peter began to preach his first sermon and the call was to repentance. It requires a humble repentant heart to believe. The Gospel can be presented in different lights; as in faith and or repentance. Both work in accordance with each other; and both will produce the other. You cannot believe if you do not repent, and a hollow repentance does not produce faith. What do you believe? Where does your faith lie? Have you the faith in forgiveness of your sins that has led you to repent? You cannot claim faith in Christ if you have not been moved by Him to repent. That pride will be the seat of eternal punishment you receive for thinking that highly of yourself. Pride is the root of ALL sin. Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

As incredible as if would have been to have lived in the days of Christ; it is far more indescribable to have His Spirit living with you as a child of His now. You may have seen miracles that He performed, but now you can hear His voice now from within. There is a power and indescribable peace that comes with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Christ described His gift to them in John 20:21 as “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”.  If I were asked to describe my religion, or faith, in one word, it would be PEACE. The peace I have that lies in His Spirit within me is a peace that an out of control world that surrounds me cannot steal. If you do not possess this peace, try examining your heart before God. He will show you where pride is a wall; and the breaking down of that wall will let Him in.

 
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Posted by on October 20, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Night of Worship

13 Oct

Night of Worship

Revelation 22:8-9   Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9 Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

I have just completed a class that included three weeks in the study of the book of Revelation. The last book in the bible is a book of prophecy from the Apostle John who was granted a vision by God into the future events when God pours out His judgement on earth. An angel escorted John through the vision, and John was so humbled he was led to fall at the angels feet and worship him. The angel quickly told John of his error and pointed him back to God; they both were brothers in the faith, lovers of Christ, and worshipped only God.

The book of Revelation is for our benefit for this glimpse into the future. It is a complex book full of symbolism, but it speaks of the return of Christ as a central theme. Revelation may be full of war and pain to the lost and those that do not turn to God; but Revelation is also full of the hope and glimpse into heaven we receive as believers in chapters 21. Revelation 21:21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. So magnificent that it’s doorway is a pearl; do you grasp that ideas of natures rare specks of sand creating small pearls; yet the Creator makes the gateway of His (and yours) future home with them, and paves the street in pure gold. Interested?

We had an awesome night of worship last evening at CCC where the majority were fully engaged in the praise and worship of our God. It is so moving to see all the hands in the air, and many tears on the cheeks where the realization and impact of some song stirs your heart. You realize your sin; you realize Christ died to save you from it; you realize your life without or before Him, you realize your future with Him. You are moved to raise your hands in praise for thanksgiving for the grace you did not deserve. You are thankful for the promises of the book of Revelation, and not the fear of Revelation. Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

 
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Posted by on October 13, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Preach the Word…..today

20 Sep

Preach the Word…..today

2 Timothy 4:1-5  I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

The apostle Paul was in prison again and he seemed to know he was nearing his execution. There is urgency in his letters to Timothy whom he is investing so much in. He knew the society that Timothy was preaching the gospel to was a society that followed any wind that may blow. They were not strong in their faith, but followed whatever sounded good, or better yet was something that felt good. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (ESV) A religion that does not point out the bad news has no good news to deliver. We must humbly realize we will all die in sin without God’s saving grace through Christ.

We find ourselves surrounded by a world far from God with countless religions and even the great heresy (false teaching) that they all point to God. We have a world in escalating wars in the heart of all these religions. We have here at home a heresy called prosperity preaching that says if you don’t have enough blessings in your life, you don’t have enough faith for God to bless you. God is never about materials possessions but about the heart. Once God truly comes into your life, and your humble heart begins to hear from Him, the “stuff” of this world will seem to matter now more. Your focus instead of possessions becomes accomplishing God’s will for your life.

2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. There will come a time when you feel the need to share your testimony, to share your faith, to share the difference that Christ can make with someone. The time that you spend with God every day prepares you for these times; prepares you to preach. You do not have to go to seminary to be Christ’s disciple. You are the church; and you are his preacher. You take Him everywhere you go every day, and He places before you those you can preach to. Do not be scared, but be obedient. Do not be scared to let God use you to draw others to Himself. Preach the Word to a world that desperately needs it…….today.

 
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Posted by on September 20, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Missed it

29 Jul

Missed it

Luke 11:3  Give us day by day our daily bread.

The past 48hrs have been a blur filled with quality family time on a quick road trip and packing in a lot in a short amount of time. I knew going into this I was not going to be able to have my alone time with God, or to write every morning like I do. I was ok with that. But yet as the day wore on I craved what I had missed out on.

If I can share one word of encouragement to anyone outside of Salvation, it would be to follow Matthew 6:33 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. It is such a large part of my testimony and where God really began to open my eyes and my heart. If you have all the worries of changing or understanding the things of God, if you will first seek God on a daily basis, all of these things shall be opened to you also. Seeking God on a daily basis is where you begin to experience true change in your life after Salvation.

Do you want to change? Do you really expect God to reveal great things to you with little effort? Start making a change tomorrow by spending some time alone with God in prayer and His word. I know I am looking forward to.

 
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Posted by on July 29, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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The Foundation

22 Jul

The Foundation

1 Corinthians 3:11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

I am building a massive deck/treehouse for my boys. I have been explaining the importance of the foundation to them and struggling with getting it right. The land falls three ways, and I missed it 1/2” from perfect. It will drive me crazy. All my work is built upon that foundation which is not perfect. What is the foundation of your faith? What is the base of your beliefs that your house of faith is built on?

There are so many ways to err as we build our faith, but is our faith built on the rock of Jesus Christ as the only way to heaven? We must get this right. If we do not understand whom Christ was, is, and has done for us; our faith will fall when tested by God. Christ was fully human and fully God when He came to earth. He died a painful death to justify you before a Holy God. He is the mediator between you and God and only through Him may you enter into heaven. Matthew Henry puts it; “The doctrine of our Saviour and his mediation is the principal doctrine of Christianity. It lies at the bottom, and is the foundation, of all the rest. Leave out this, and you lay waste all our comforts, and leave no foundation for our hopes as sinners. It is in Christ only that God is reconciling a sinful world to himself, 2 Co. 5:19 .”

Don’t let the world convince you there are many ways to God. We all do not end up there, and many will pay for their mistake for any eternity. There is only One way, and it is not through living a good life full of good deeds that make you feel good. It is by a humble heart, repentance of sins, and a plea for forgiveness. That is the rock upon which you build your faith that will stand in God’s testing of it. Ephesians 2: 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.

 
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Posted by on July 22, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Got it. Now use it.

05 Jul

Got it. Now use it.

1 Peter 4:10-11   As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

You have it, now use it. God has given you a spiritual gift. It can be many things, but deep in your heart you know what it is. It can be encouragement, teaching, giving, praying, etc. Any gift that God has given you is the result of the ultimate gift through the sacrifice of His Son. Being a good steward is not wasting what has been given to us; honoring the gift by using it to honor God. 11 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

These gifts are not for us to draw glory to ourselves, but to show honor and glory to the One who has given us them. If we are saying, “Look at me”, the gifts have become wasteful and idolatry drawing attention to ourselves. If you love to give, do you want the credit for the gift? The bible tells us to do it anonymously and God will reward us. Matthew 6:4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. The joy that you feel inside with gifts like those is the joy God feels seeing you give them sacrificially.

There is a point in your Christian walk and growth that you begin to understand it is not all about you. The perfect Sunday service, or sermon, or many things you once felt. God begins to open your heart and reveal to you that you are here to serve others, to use your gifts to draw glory to Him. In the verses before these above, Peter spoke of loving one another. 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” An outward expression of that love is using the gift you have been given in the serving of those around you. This is expressing your love for them, and your love for God, through your gift.

 
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Posted by on July 5, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Well this is what Christ did for me……

02 May

Well this is what Christ did for me……

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

Looking back on yesterday I had the opportunity to share my faith 4 times running service calls. Four different situations, yet the result was a time of sharing faith, and sharing testimonies. We all have a story, or a testament of our life, and how Christ has worked in it. If you have received Christ into your heart, simply put your life before and after Salvation is your testimony. You have now become a testament to the power of God to save a lost soul, and the story of your life before Him, and now the changes as a result of accepting Him into your heart. Your testament should not glorify you or the past sins, but point to the power of the Cross to forgive the sinner.

Everything that has happened in your life is for a reason, and everything that has happened can be used to glorify God. Your testimony can relate to someone who stands before you on common ground, sharing the same struggles you once did. God has allowed you to go through these things to attest to the power of Him to deliver you from them. They can see the difference in you as in 1 Corinthians 1:6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. You are now living your life as ‘before’ and ‘after’ Christ. The after is the hope and faith that resides in you that God wants you to share with those around you. They see something that makes you different, and the Spirit inside you wants you to share. Don’t be afraid to share your story, for your story is unique and written by God to share that hope that lies within you of the healing power of the blood of Jesus Christ for all sin.

 
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Posted by on May 2, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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BFF

03 Apr

BFF

John 15:13-15 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

His friend….really? How do we move from humbling ourselves before Him, to becoming what He would call a friend. Christ was speaking to the apostles here in John and encouraging them from how their relationship has grown. We cannot call someone a friend that we have had one chance meeting, maybe at a time of despair, and then never spoke again. Friendships are really cultivated relationships that develop and grow together. Friendships are highly valued to us by the way God wired us at creation, and no other friendship should carry the value that Christ does. He is the only One who can truly promise to be our BFF (Best Friend Forever). After our first meeting with Him upon Salvation, how do we grow into becoming friends of Christ? It is through time with Him just as in any relationship, and becoming intimidators of Him, to live as He lived.  Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

It is a fact that those we spend the most time with, we begin to resemble. They rub off on us, and unknowingly we become more like them in how we conduct ourselves. When we begin to seek God, and the things of Christ, we begin to spill out the love of Christ in our thoughts and actions. God is a God of love and Christ set the example of love through his humble servant heart for us to follow. John 13:15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.   We begin to think and speak differently for we begin to see things as Christ sees them through the eyes of God’s plans for redemption, and the sacrifices He made for us. A peace comes over our lives and we seek to do the Will of God in our lives to follow His plan and play a small part. Matthew 12:50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” To become a friend of Christ, you must first humble yourself and accept Him into your heart for eternity. At that point, for eternity, you can begin to develop your friendship with the Creator and Savior of the universe of whom all blessings flow.

 
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Posted by on April 3, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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