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Yes that is God stirring this week

04 Apr

Yes that is God stirring this week

Romans 10:8-9    But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Before Christ I was living a life so full of sin I am ashamed. I don’t believe in glorifying the sin, but in my typical fashion I even sinned to the greatest of my ability too. But somewhere along the way God began to stir my heart and I began to listen. Then I began to respond and things started to change, and the conviction of those sins bared down on me with a weight I was ready to release. Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.  I did not want to walk in the middle of the road, I wanted to fully commit my life to Christ, and I prayed for Him to take my sins and guide me to fully following Him with all my might. I cannot accurately pen the indescribable difference that Christ has made inside me, but everything I have is available to you too.

This Holy week celebrating our Risen Lord stirs the hearts of many of you which may spur you into going to church. No other religion in the world celebrates a Risen King which separates Christianity from all others. Romans 8:34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. There is nothing that you have done that you cannot be forgiven for by One whom conquered death and presented life eternally. He is praying for you and submitting His prayers to God His Father on your behalf in hope that you will recognize your sin and allow Him to rescue you from an eternal punishment. No good deeds will ever rescue you from paying the price tag with pride of believing you can attain what is unattainable without Him.

Let God stir in your heart this week and respond to that invitation. Humble yourself before Him, repent and know there is eternal forgiveness, and let Him into your heart. You will attain a peace and a new outlook in life in a world that is far from God. Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

 
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Posted by on April 4, 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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Big Hands

28 Mar

Big Hands

Psalm 37:7-8 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret–it only causes harm.

The one I love is suffering persecution. She had removed herself from the ways of the world, and rested in her faith to carry her daily. The world is threatened by the immoveable rock of the faith that Christ places in us. When we are pushed to lash out, and we withdraw, they do not understand but become threatened by the inner strength that they do not possess. Have you ever had that calm in the storm? Have you ever had someone approach you asking “why” or “how” you are handling that situation that others would “snap” on? This is one of the greatest opportunities to share you faith and love you ever will have when you face the trials of life in the strength and peace that only comes through resting in Christ’s hands as a child of God.

Many times I pray for God to hold us in His hands so that we may rest in that assurance that He has us there, bringing with it security and peace. Psalm 37:32-33 The wicked watches the righteous, And seeks to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, Nor condemn him when he is judged. We are told there that our Lord will not uphold the unrighteous in His hand with us, but allow them judgement for their deeds. We all have heard of God reigning down fire and destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, but do you remember how He delivered Lot from there just before destruction? All things pass through God’s hands and are in His control. 2 Peter 2:9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment. When you are facing big trials, know you rest in a bigger God that has you in His hands. The inner strength He gives you is the attainable strength that He can use you to reach others as a result of how you handle life’s many tribulations

 
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Posted by on March 28, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Bracket buster or Victory?

27 Mar

If I could only let you in. This is a deeply personal devo to myself, but one that we all at some time can benefit from the trials that are game changers as we are enduring and many of you are too. I have been on a “high” recently emotionally, and with that comes the understanding of the attacks and trials that will come. Satan knows when to come after us, and God allows him to test our faith. I was with the Godliest man I know yesterday discussing these things, and even the book of James. I was counseling with a friend in the middle of their large trial later, while about to face my own. I was humbled beyond words with the prayers and concerns of my two best friends. Pslam 37 was given to me, and a great place to rest as a child of God. I choose God and allow Him to work in and through me however He pleases. I draw near to Him in prayer, Godly counsel, and His Word for the strength to endure. He has got this….and me and my family…..I KNOW.

 

Bracket buster or Victory?

John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

The phone calls that change everything, stopping you in your tracks. You see life as you know and plan for it change in an instant. You hang up in disbelief, and wonder what is your next move. Mine for many a year would have been to a substance to numb myself, now it is to my knees in prayer for wisdom, comfort, and guidance. The large trials of life will come, and many times they come on the heels of happiness. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Satan will ask God for permission to test your faith when you are full as a fattened calf; as in the story of Job 1:6-7 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

Satan is an already defeated adversary if you claim victory in Christ. There is strength and peace in the assurances of being a child of God, the Creator and overseer of all things. God can and will allow these trials to strengthen you, and to use you to encourage others. James 1:2-3 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. God does not take the easy route in anything He desires. He will always take the right way however, many times beyond our comprehension, for He operates outside of our understanding and constraints of time. Isaiah 55:8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. He can turn what you feel is the worst thing to ever happen to you, into what He has designed as a blessing. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you. Rest in Romans 8:28 that He is in control all along the pathway of your life. 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.

 
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Posted by on March 27, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Use Me

11 Mar

Use me

John  12:38-41    that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
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Christ was teaching in His last days of the scriptures being fulfilled again from the prophet Isaiah where the hard hearted prideful would not see Him for who He is. Christ was in their midst performing signs and wonders of God, yet they could not see, and were fulfilling what Isaiah has spoken of  hundreds of years prior. Isaiah was called to a discouraging ministry by God, for he was told the more he proclaimed the word of God, the less response he would get. But he was also promised that there were a small percentage of people that did hear him, did understand, and God was going to use them to bring Christ into the world.

Have you heard of the brave prayer to pray is “God use me”, and to be prepared for what He may call you to do? Isaiah had this vision and in Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” What God reveals to you as a result of those prayers, may not be grand in your eyes, but it may be glorious in His, and if you obey it will bring glory to Him. We are called only to faithfulness to Him and His word, and to be obedient to the call itself. Isaiah could not see what God planned to do with the remnant of people that were hearing His word, but Isaiah could be faithful and let God work out the details of His plans through him. Have a humble heart, pray that prayer, and be obedient to the call that he places on you. You too can be another Isaiah if you remain faithful to what you feel God stirring in your heart, and begin proclaiming the truth in a world far from it.

 
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Posted by on March 11, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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You can’t understand

02 Mar

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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