May 30 - Jesus said!

May 30

“And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” Matthew 15: 16-20.

We must beware lest we have clean hands and an unclean heart and a dirty mouth.

May 28 - Use The Tongue Wisely!

May 28

Use The Tongue Wisely!

“I said I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me. While I was musing, the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue. Lord make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am,:” Psalm 39: 1-4.

We must be careful as to what we speak with our tongue. The tongue is one of the chief instruments which Satan uses to cause us to sin. On the other hand, the tongue can be used as an instrument of praise to God, and sound instruction and admonition to our fellowmen. The psalmist promised himself that he would bridle his tongue and keep silence, but he was so overwhelmed with the truth of God's word that while he thought on these things, the fire burned within him and he was compelled to speak.

We need to listen to God's word and be so overwhelmed with the truth that he reveals to us, and desire to share his truths with others, that the fire burns within us until we use our tongue to speak right things. We need to speak only those things that God would have us to speak, especially to the unsaved. We are obligated to use our tongue to defend the faith and to teach the gospel, and win souls to Christ.

May 27 - Why Be Discouraged?

May 27

Why Be Discouraged?

Are you cast down this morning and depressed? Are you weary and discouraged? Why should Christians be discouraged when we have such a great inheritance in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us so that we might have and enjoy life, and have it more abundantly? We are alive; we have the hope and promise of eternal life with God in paradise; we live in America where we are free to worship as we please; we have a wonderful savior who is our advocate in heaven; we have food, clothing, and shelter, and many creature comforts to make our lives easier.

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Psalm 43: 5.

“This is the day that the Lord hath made. Rejoice, and be glad in it. Rejoice I say in the Lord.”

Call unto God And He Will Answer!

May 24

Call Unto God, And He Will Answer!

“Unto thee, O lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. Shew me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation, on thee do I wait all the day.” Psalm 25: 1-5.

God will not disappoint any who truly wait for him to bless them. God's ways are not our ways, and God's timing is not our timing. God knows what is the best, and God knows when the time is right. God will not allow our enemies to have the final victory over us if we truly trust him. In God's own time all our enemies will be put down, even death itself. If there is anything that our chief enemy, Satan would like to have us to do is to doubt the word of God and his faithfulness to us. God's word tells us that the just must live by faith, and when we do, we are greatly rewarded.

May 23 - The Secret Place!

May 23

The Secret Place!

As the hymn writers have expressed it: “there is a land beyond the river, that we call the sweet forever, and we only reach that shore by faith's decree...”

“There is a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we can see it afar. Where the Father waits over the way, to prepare us a dwelling place there...”

“There is a garden where Jesus is waiting, there is a place that is wondrously fair. For it glows with the light of his presence, tis the beautiful garden of prayer...”.

Faith is the vehicle which transports us and causes us to transcend the earthly realm of our material, natural existence in which we find ourselves with all the stress, and trouble, and woes of this life, to our vacation spot where no stress and trouble and woes can pursue us. A place which is known only to God and us: a secret place of quiet rest, where in the presence of God, there can be no evil, no sickness, no falsehood, no hypocrisy. In that secret place we can enjoy a quiet restful, mini-vacation, as it were, each day even as we go about our daily activites. If we will retire to our quiet place with God all during the course of the day, our joys will increase, our health will improve, stress will be less, and we will find ourselves more effective in all that we do. As we commune with God the Father, and he directs our paths, only far away will we hear the noise of strife falling upon our ears. We will hear only, but none of these things can move us because we will be dwelling in “Beulah Land”

“Be thou my strong habitation whereunto I may continually resort; thou hast given commandment to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress.” Psalm 71: 3.

May 22 - Only Trust Him!

May 22

Only Trust Him!

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3: 5, 6. “Trust in the Lord and do good: so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37: 3-7. “Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Psalm 2: 12.

What does it mean to trust in the Lord? Trust is the word frequently used in the old testament to mean the same as faith in the new testament, for example: to trust is to have faith, and if we have faith, we trust. It means to take refuge, to lean on, to follow, to wait for. To trust in the Lord is to put full confidence in the word of God for our salvation, and for our strength as Christians, and for our daily needs. We are told not to lean on our own understanding. In other words, we are not to try to rationalize or figure out God's amazing grace, or his power, or the working of miracles, or his work of redemption in our lives; but we are simply to trust in what his word tells us. God honors those who have confidence in his word.

How can we trust in something with which we are not familiar? How can we claim promises if we do not know what those promises are? This is why it is so important for us to spend so much time in God's word, and in oiur private meditation, so that we can know what God's word has to say, then we can put our trust in it.

“Trust and do good” Psalm 37: 3-5, In other words, when God has spoken through his written word or through the Holy Spirit in our lives, again, we ought not to try to figure out what is going on in our heart or to rationalize away the working of the Holy Spirit. Instead, we ought to trust God and do good. God”s word tells us the things that are good and right. We ought to obey God immediately when God speaks with the right heart attitude, and trust God for the results. As we read and study the word of God, and as God reveals himself to us and we see his glory unfolded before our eyes, we ought to delight ourselves in him. He ought to be our prime source of joy and happiness and gladness, and our chief desire and purpose in life ought to be to love, honor, and serve him. If we delight ourselves in the Lord, then all the cravings and desires of our heart will be good and pure in his sight, because they will come from on high, and we shall be satisfied when he fills us with his HolySpirit.

We ought to commit ourselves completely to the Lord. This means to surrender everything to the Lord. It is like jumping from a tall building with full assurance that someone will catch us, or we will land on something soft. We ought to let go in our lives, and let God have our family, our job, our finances, and all that is important to us.

“In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3: 6.

Worship in Spirit And In Truth!

May 20

Worship In Spirit And In Truth!

God is an all powerful, supernatural, invisible God, or he is no God at all. God is an invisible spirit, and unless we worship God in spirit, we cannot worship God at all. No man has seen God at any time, although he was manifested in the flesh in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ , God the son. No man has seen God the father. We must approach unto God the father by the authority given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” and as sons of God, we must come boldly to the throne of grace and worship God the Father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit in spirit and in truth by the thoughts of our mind, and the meditation of our heart. We must worship by concentrating our mind on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by letting God's word flow through our minds, and teach us with the help of the Holy Spirit, and allow the Holy Spirit to take the word of God as it flows through our mind and heart, and renew and regenerate within us the truth of God, the power of God, and the personality of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we are to have power with God, we must spend much time alone with God in an individual personal relationship with God and draw from his power. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he spent the whole night in the garden in prayer and meditation with God the Father. Before the Lord Jesus Christ could perform the greatest service to mankind that could ever be performed for the human race in obedience to the will of God, even though he was God in human flesh, yet he thought it necessary to spend hours in prayer and meditation, and close relationship with his heavenly Father.

In Matthews gospel, chapter 26: verse 36,we read how Jesus came to the garden of Gethsemane. This was a quiet place where Jesus was probably accustomed to coming, where he could spend many hours alone with his father. He had probably been there many times before. The hymn writer says: “There's a garden where Jesus is waiting, its the beautiful garden of prayer.” Our frustrations, and fears, and sorrows and disappointments will all be put away or eased when we come to the garden and spend much time there and talk things over with the Lord.

Unless an electrical appliance is plugged into a power source it is useless to serve us in any way. And unless we are plugged into our power source through prayer and meditation and fellowship with God, our service will be useless to man or God.

“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me, and he went a little further and fell down on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter,

What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26: 36-41.

What Can I Do For Him?

Tuesday - May 13

What Can I Do For Him?

     Jesus Christ was beaten,bruised, scourged, mocked,spit upon, forsaken, crucified and died for me, so that I could be forgiven and enjoy eternal, everlasting life.
     What can I do for him to express my gratitude for all that he has done for me?
     I can choose to love him, and serve him, and use whatever talents or abilities he has bestowed upon me to glorify his name, and tell the world of his marvelous love and grace.
     This I choose to do today.  May the Lord help me to do so.
     "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me." Psalm 13: 6.

Tribute To A Godly Mother!

Mother's Day - May 11, 2014

Tribute To A Godly Mother!

     Today, my Father of all creation, I want to thank you for causing me to be born to a godly mother.  Not perfect in all her ways to be sure, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; but one whom, I believe, early in life recognized her need of salvation and to be born again, and reached out by faith to receive the greatest gift that could be offered to her, the Lord Jesus Christ; his life, his shed  blood, his death and his glorious resurrection, for the propitiation of her sins.
     Consequently, these  many years that have passed since she left us, I believe she has  been, and is rejoicing in your presence, around your throne with myriads of angels, singing: "Worthy is the  Lamb that was slain.".
     In life she feared God, obeyed the law, and honored her husband.  She made her home a haven of rest, a sanctuary from all the tumult and strife that is in the world.  She was a friend to all, and her house was like the house by the side of the road, open to all who needed a meal or  a shelter.  She had but one son, who in her lap, and at her knee heard of God for the very first time, who was warned by her to escape hell, that terrible place, and to love and obey God who loves us all.  From a tattered old hymn book she taught me to sing:  "I am happy in the service of the king, I am happy, oh, so happy."
     Not until later years died I realize just how happy I could  be in the service of the King, but now my Father, I know that there is no other road to true happiness.
     I believe that when the trump of God shall sound, when the dead in Christ arise, when time shall be no more, and when the roll is  called up yonder, she will be there.  Thank you, my Father, for the Lord Jesus Christ.  Thank you for forgiveness of sins. Thank you for eternal life and the hope of heaven, and thank you for a Godly mother.
    

The Wicked Shall Be Turned Into Hell

"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.  For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation  of the poor shall not perish for ever.  Arise, O Lord; let not  man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.  Put them in  fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah" Psalm 9: 17-20.