RSS

Tag Archives: holy spirit

It Really is Good News!!!!!

20 Sep

It Really is Good News!!!!!

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

 

 

Wait – do you mean to tell me I don’t have to get my life right before I can get to God? Do you mean to tell me that He is offering me something for FREE that I do not have to earn? The understanding of God’s grace puts an entire new light on the Gospel. The understanding of God’s grace makes it very easy and exciting to share the Good News. Gospel defined is Good News; this good news is available to all. This erases all the works based faith systems out there. All other religions point to the duties of one’s self to get you right before any of their Gods. The understanding of the Gospel points to the Free Gift through humble, repentant hearts that is available to all. It does not require, nor does it accept, any works based faith system to God. 

 

This gives us incredible news to share with all those who God puts around us. It should be a burning desire to share the good news of Jesus Christ to whom we can. There is nothing required but answering that tug that God places on your heart when you hear this good news. Being a disciple gives you the ability to share and experience the work Christ did for you, and he can do the same for them. This alone allows us easily to step into discipleship.

 

We have been ingrained all our lives, the importance of our last words as we leave this earth as we know it. Hollywood has made millions on movies that close with those famous last lines. There is weight in one’s last words. I ask you today, what where Christ’s last words before he ascended into heaven to sit at his fathers right hand after accomplishing his work at the Cross? Matthew 28:19-20   Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Wow! His last words to us were to go and make disciples. Not to sign a card, pray a prayer, but to make disciples. We must be a disciple first, before we can make one. You cannot be a teacher until you are taught. We are to live our lives with the evidence of the power of Christ in our lives every single day. The evidence of our love for Him and the redeemed and eternally secure life we live, allows him to use us to witness for Him and draw others to him. How you live you life seven days a week is the measure of your discipleship. If integrity is what you do when nobody is looking, discipleship is how you live when everybody is looking. Do they see Christ in you?

 

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on September 20, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Living water

08 Aug

Living water

John 7: 37-39    On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

What do you feel inside
Is the Spirit yearning to get out?
Is your hearts desire
To share what life is truly about?

Are you so close to Christ
That His proofs from you show?
Living the Great Commission
In faith you will go.

When He dwells in you
Your hope you cannot contain;
Peace and security are found
For in you He will remain.

He brings light to scripture
He opens your mind through your heart;
He brings scripture to memory
His words never depart.

He gives you hope to share
He gives you life they do see;
He uses you to draw
Them closer to Thee.

He brings comfort like none other
He dwells in you to teach;
His greatest work is found
In humble hearts as they preach.

Living water is inside you
Eternal life it will bring;
Open your mouth and share
From it He will spring.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 8, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Marching Orders

09 Apr

Marching Orders

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

In the days after Christ’s Resurrection, He was appearing (and disappearing) to those whom He loved. He was encouraging them and preparing them for the ministries that they would spend the rest of their lives pursuing in His name. All of these appearances were to solidify His returning from the dead, even appearing to over 500 as in 1 Corinthians 15:6. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. Then just before He ascended into Heaven, He gave them their marching orders known as The Great Commission above in Matthew. To spread His name, to live righteously, and to have the assurance He would never leave them.

Do you follow Christ’s marching orders? Do you not only try to live right, but try to share what He has done for you? We are all called to become disciples putting Him first in all things. Luke 14:33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. When we began to truly realize what Christ did for us it begins to stir our soul. The Spirit inside us begins to prompt us to share what we possess. Do we deny the Spirit and those promptings never to share our faith with those He puts before us? When those opportunities arise, they are designed by Christ for you to encourage them through the guidance and strength He provides. Moses was scared to death when God called him to speak. But through God He delivered a nation. Exodus 4:12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” The Holy Spirit that resides inside you upon Salvation is that same voice that will lead  you in times of sharing your faith with others. Be ready, willing, and able through the strength that lies within to share what you possess following Christ’s marching orders to you also.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 9, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

The eternal well

16 Feb

My heart lies in encouraging others to spend daily time with God. It is when and where you will truly begin to see real change in your life, by following the principle of Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first….” As I was studying this scripture, I saw that application there. Returning to the well to nourish ourselves. If you will do this one thing, God will take care of all the rest for you, it will simply fall into place. Daily time with God will change you like none other next to Salvation.

 

 
The eternal well

John 7:38      He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 

Many times in the bible we hear of Christ as the Living Water. Here He is speaking of the Holy Spirit that will dwell in us as the great supplier of our needs for our time here on earth. He is the fountain that continually flows, providing wisdom and discernment through the revelation of the scriptures to us. He is the great Enabler. John 6:35 says, “ 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.” These are His promises for eternity.

How many times do you satisfy your thirst every day? We are told that we can only live for 3-5 days without water, so how often do you replenish your Living Water by spending time at the fountain in God’s Word? If this Word through Christ and the Holy Spirit is the fountain of life, then we must return daily to replenish what has been poured out on us, and hopefully through us to others, in the previous day. Are we robbing ourselves of the eternal water daily and the blessings that will come to us, and through us by coming to the well? How can we not go the the well to meet Jesus every day?

 
1 Comment

Posted by on February 16, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Now I lay me 01/24/12

26 Jan

We are always in a hurry, to work, to bed, to the next thing. We don’t have time to pray….Satan gets a victory in that thought and action. He wants to keep us from praying for he understands the power that lies within us when we pray. Have you ever noticed that when you open your bible, or you start to pray a distraction immediately comes? That really is no coincidence, that is your enemy hard at work to keep you from deepening your relationship with your heavenly Father. Press on through that distraction, or immediately after it is resolved with renewed vigor as a result of the distraction. Just talk to God……and then be still and listen to that small voice deep inside you.

Now I lay me

Matthew 7:7     Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

How often do you pray? How often do you seek the things of God through meditation and prayer? Is it simply the routine blessing at meal times, and the effortless “now I lay me down” type prayer in the evenings? It is so easy to say we pray regularly, but how would those close regard us if we spoke to them the same way?  God has prepared us for much more than that. I must confess that I am not an elegant prayer person myself, but yet I pour my heart out to God in my simple prayers.

Matthew Henry said “Pray; pray often; pray with sincerity and seriousness; pray, and pray again; make conscience of prayer, and be constant in it; make a business of prayer, and be earnest in it. Ask, as a beggar asks alms.” Prayer is not asking what God can do for you, it is not asking what we can do for God. Prayer is the alignment of our lives, into God’s Will for our lives. Prayer takes us to God, and even when we cannot find the words, the Holy Spirit inside us will utter the words only God can hear for us. Prayer is the most feared tool of Satan, and the power that resides in you through Christ is available only when you humble yourself and talk to God….daily.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 26, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Newer posts →