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Are you looking for help in all the wrong places?

Nov11

How are you all doing? Are you navigating well through the multiple world calamities we are currently are experiencing? The goods and food shortages, fear of illness, imposed mandates, fear of losing your job, fear of proposed power outages this coming winter, disappearing freedoms and/or liberties and I could go on and on. Are you counting on your government and those in power to come through and somehow fix all these issues and give you back life as you used to know it?

Well my friend, I think it’s time to realize that many of these issues are a direct result of the behaviors and decisions of said governments and powers. We are living in unprecedented times where globally, governments and leaders are all projecting a similar if not same agenda. This agenda is not about to be tossed aside. They are using it to usher in future plans and schemes that the Bible warns us about. What we are experiencing currently is clearly a precursor preparing the world for what is to come. The similarities are blatantly obvious.

He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead.  And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.  Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.~Revelation 13:16-18

Does some of that sound familiar to what we are currently witnessing? It should. I don’t tell you this to discourage you or cause you to fear. You were truly born for a time such as this and though at times it can seem overwhelming, we must NEVER forget God is not surprised nor alarmed at the evil plans of men and neither should we be!

I believe God is showing us that He alone is our source of help in times of trouble! We can’t rely on government plans and programs to get us through the coming difficult days. We will be required to rely on the One that created us. The One that created this world of ours. We will rely on Him. He is faithful to His own! He will never leave us or abandon us. Psalm 146 so beautifully reminds us where are help comes from.

Praise the Lord!

Let all that I am praise the Lord.
     I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
    I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.

 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
    there is no help for you there.
 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
    and all their plans die with them.
 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God.
 He made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them.
    He keeps every promise forever.
He gives justice to the oppressed
    and food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
     The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
    The Lord loves the godly.
 The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
    He cares for the orphans and widows,
    but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

 The Lord will reign forever.
    He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations.

Praise the Lord!~Psalm 146

I hope you let the truth of every word from this Psalm settle deep within your heart. This is the God we serve. This is the God who redeemed us through His precious son, Jesus Christ. He is still on the throne and will forever be! In HIM we can trust. In HIM we can rely. He truly is our help!

Did you notice this Psalm starts with Praise the Lord! and also ends with Praise the Lord? My prayer is that we will start our day and end our day with the same! Regardless of what transpires between the time we rise to the time we bed down let’s remember to praise He who is worthy of our praise and trust He who is trustworthy as a source of help in every time of trouble.

Be Blessed!

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Fess Up

Jan27

As followers of Christ it is so important that we remove a major roadblock to our prayers being heard. That may seem like a very strange comment but it really isn’t. We have a part in this. So what is this roadblock? Unconfessed sin. Too often we rush into the presence of God and start making requests when we have neglected to confess our sins first and ask for His forgiveness. We know that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness! (1 John 1:9) This is a beautiful fact to remember. However as we look at our Bibles we will see that not confessing our sins and just making our requests known will not ensure His hearing or answering of our prayers.

Psalm 66:18-20 If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,  the Lord would not have listened.
 But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer  or withdraw his unfailing love from me.

Isaiah 59: 1,2 Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is His ear too deaf to hear you call.  It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.  Because of your sins, He has turned away and will not listen anymore.

Micah 3:4 Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them: He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds.

Jesus told us in Mark 11:25, 26 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”

The importance of confessing our sins is emphasized so heavily in the book of Corinthians where we are told just how important it is to do before partaking in Communion.

1 Corinthians 11:27-29 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.  That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.  For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.

Perhaps the reason some of our prayers have not been answered is because we have approached God with an unrepentant heart and ignored just how important it is we remember He is holy. He is just. He is God. Not just a Santa Clause like figure that we can run to regardless of the condition of our heart and give Him our want list.

So why not start your day off on the right foot and confess your sins. Start your day clean and right before God, knowing that any sin barrier has been removed and you can commune with Him throughout the day. Though He hates sin, He is well aware that we are flawed humans and through Jesus Christ His precious Son, He has made a way for us to be able to come boldly before His throne in prayer. And don’t forget to take time to thank Him for the fact that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins!

Have a blessed day!

Becoming part of His family

Dec5

Isn’t it amazing how God has made it so easy for us to become His sons and daughters? Today we no longer have to try and offer up sacrifices to get in good standing with our Heavenly Father. Thankfully, through the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross, God provided a way into His beloved family!

Just let that sink in today. You can be a child of God. A son or a daughter of the Most High God, by believing in His precious Son and by choosing to follow Him! So simple, yet so profound!

Don’t complicate your way to Heaven by believing you can somehow earn it. That you have to be good enough. You and I will never be good enough on our own. We are sinful creatures. Our hearts are deceitfully wicked left on their own. The way to the Father and the family of God is solely through Christ!

Praise God this is the truth. We will never be able to earn salvation any other way. Why not enjoy this day giving praise to Him who made a way into the family? Thank Him for all He did on the cross to ensure salvation for those who choose to believe in Him. Thank Him for the gift of salvation He has made available to all who will believe. Thank Him for a love so great that He willingly paid the price of a horrendous death on the cross for us!

Thank you Jesus for all you did for each and every one of us in providing a way back to the Father!

But to all who believed in Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12

Take Time to Say Thanks

Oct21
Romans 5:8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

We, followers of Christ, are so incredibly blessed to have a Savior that willingly laid down His life for us while we were saturated in sin. When I read through the books of the Old Testament and realize some of the judgements God’s people received due to their stubborness and rebellion I marvel at the fact that through the blood of Christ, we are made clean! We can never make ourselves clean. We, just as the people of Israel, in the Old Testament, could never be clean enough. Sin is part of our DNA.

Though we didn’t and don’t deserve it, Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price with His shed blood for you and I to be able to become children of the Most High God! Let that sink in today. Let that fact wash over you today. That is how very much our God loves us. Enough to allow His Son to be tortured, abused and killed so that we can have fellowship with Him!

If I live to be 100 plus years, I don’t think I will ever get over the fact that God loves me (and you) that much! Why not spend some time today thanking Him for that lavish love He has poured out on us?

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
     Worship the Lord with gladness.
    Come before him, singing with joy.
 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
    He made us, and we are his.
    We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
    go into his courts with praise.
    Give thanks to him and praise his name.
 For the Lord is good.
    His unfailing love continues forever,
    and his faithfulness continues to each generation. (Psalm 100)