Good News

On June 17, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 16: 15        (NIV)

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
This passage is from when Jesus commissioned his disciples after his death and resurrection. He told them to go and preach the “good news” to all creation. Sometimes as Christians we forget how Jesus phrased this and we lose sight of our commission. He did not tell us to go into all the world and correct others and criticize their life styles. He did not tell us to go and preach fire and brimstone on them until they repent. He told us to tell them the good news; that he, Jesus, came that they might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10: 10). We are supposed to preach that he came into the world so that all could be saved and can enter into a personal relationship with the Father of all creation. He breached the gap between people and God so that we could be reconciled to Almighty God as our own father. This world needs love. People everywhere suffer from a lack of love. We need to tell them that our Father is love and that he loves them. Don’t preach John 3: 16 and skip the word love. Preach it the loudest.

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Dad!

On June 16, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 8: 15

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ” Abba! Father!”

Some people do not appreciate that we have been adopted in the Holy one’s family. We are no longer strangers or trespassers. Also, He went to enormous lengths to adopt us. This relationship as Father and child should become very real to you. It can become so real, in fact, that you begin to see Him as your father foremost, even more so than your biological father. God was a father to you before you were a child of your biological father. God is keenly aware of this child/parent relationship and longs to have you treat Him as your father. Yes, He is God almighty but He is your Dad too. He hears every word you speak to Him and is ready when you cry out Abba, father.

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Preserved

On June 15, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 31: 23 – 24

O love the Lord, all you His godly ones! The Lord preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses the proud doer. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord.

This verse reminds me of Psalm 23 where it reads, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me.” What an amazing statement. God will sustain you, protect you and preserve you no matter what kind of situation you walk through. He will be with you even in your darkest day. He is not going anywhere without you. So even though you walk through some scary times and places, you can have confidence. You are secure in his care. Be strong, take courage, you are not alone. You have an attentive father who also happens to be the most powerful being in the universe as your right hand guard. Take heart. You are okay.

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Are You There God?

On June 14, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 31: 22

As for me, I said in my alarm, “I am cut off from before Thine eyes”; nevertheless Thou didst hear the voice of my supplications when I cried to Thee.

Here is a song of David which reflects a time of panic in his life. David said that it was a time of alarm. He was enduring a stressful and anxious period. His distress was so complete that he felt blocked off from anyone who could help him, even God. He did not even think that his prayers could get through to God because he felt so completely cut off. None the less, God heard all of his prayers and answered all of his petitions. God heard every tearful word. How did David know that God heard every supplication? It is because God answered David in this time of need.

God’s presence is much closer than you think. When we are really stressed and over wrought it becomes very difficult for us to feel God’s presence around us. He is there with us none the less. We cannot always go by our feelings because feelings are fickle. We have to know and say that our God is with us all of the time. Even when we cannot feel you, Lord, you are with us for you will never leave us nor forsake us.

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Good God

On June 13, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 8: 32      (New Living Translation)

Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
Our God is a good God. That cannot be said enough. So many times we think that God is punishing us when something bad happens in our lives or that God is trying to teach us a lesson. That just is not true. Our Father loves us. If He loved us enough to let His only son die a cruel and horrible death for us, will He not also give all good things to us? Is it reasonable to suggest that He did not withhold His son but is withholding all kinds of other good things from us? The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6: 17 that God “richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” We are increasing in our knowledge of God and His nature. As we do we also increase in our trust in Him because we come to know that He wants to perform good works in our lives. Then the relationship with Him also grows and we come to trust Him even more. The more trust we put in Him, the more we are able to walk faith. It all keeps growing to our benefit but the first step is ours. We must let him be a good God to us and expect good things from Him.
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Ready, Willing and Able

On June 10, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 14: 28 – 31

Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (emphasis added).

I want you to notice that Jesus did not hesitate but rather when Peter needed him, He moved immediately. Many of us have the idea that God waits until the eleventh hour to move on situations. I have been guilty of that myself. Now that I have seen this verse I must reevaluate my thoughts. Jesus did not wait to see if Peter could work it out for himself. He did not let him sink a bit in order to let Peter exercise his faith or grow. As soon as Peter cried out, Jesus saved him. Jesus did teach Peter that it was his lack of faith, his doubt, that caused him to begin to sink but He took hold of his hand first. Jesus works that same way with us today. He wants to teach us and he wants us to walk in faith but He always provides for our safety first. He will not throw you out in water over your head and expect you to walk on the water all by yourself. He will always have you by the hand. Not only that but also He will teach you all you need to know in order to succeed in your endeavors.
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Having Heard

On June 9, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 30: 21

Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

God means that you should hear his voice. He wants to talk with you. He also guides you with his voice. It seems that hearing from God has been relegated to a few people but that is not God’s intention. It is our tradition that has developed that idea. 

The big secret about hearing the voice of God, if you are not already, is that it takes practice. You begin to recognize the voice of God and it becomes easier and easier to hear him. One time I went on a trip and took a suit with me for the occasion. Then I had this idea occur to me to take an additional suit. I thought about it and said to myself, “But I don’t need two suits.” The thought persisted though so I packed the second one. As it turned out, I did end up needing two different suits. That was when I realized that it had been God telling me to grab the second suit. I learned a lot from that. First of all, I began to learn how God’s voice sounds in my ear. Sometimes it is just a thought that occurs to me from out of nowhere. I may be thinking of something totally different and a thought comes to me. Recently I left my house to go to an appointment. I got to the end of the street and the thought came to me that I had left the garage door open. I thought about that for a minute and in my own thinking I did not think that I had left the door open. The thought persisted though so I turned around and drove back to the house. Guess what? Sure enough the door was open. 

That is the way God communicates with us. In the example about the suit, it would not have been the end of the world if I had not listened to Him and packed only the one suit. Even with the garage door, I am sure that He would have protected my house in my absence but it sure is nice that He does tell me these things because my life is much better for all of the things He tells me. 

And that brings up the second lesson I learned about hearing from God. He often starts out teaching you to hear his voice by talking with you about small things. It did not take much faith for me to turn my car around and go check the garage door. He has built my faith in Him and in my hearing Him in these small things. Now when He says something big to me, I am better able to recognize that it is His voice speaking to me and I have more faith in hearing Him so that I do what I hear without arguing it away.

The thing you really have to do to start hearing God’s voice is to turn off some of the noise around you. If you are like I was you always have some noise machine on. In my case I had the TV or stereo on every minute of my life. There was no quiet time in my life for Him to speak in. The other thing that I had to do was to quiet my mind. My mind was so busy and so loud that there was little chance of me hearing Him. Quiet your mind. And lastly, I absolutely prayed about hearing the voice of God. I knew that other people heard God’s voice and I absolutely insisted on hearing also. If anyone is receiving a blessing from God, you are entitled to that same blessing because it is one and the same Jesus that has bought that blessing for each of us. Don’t let any of God’s blessings evade you.

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