Above Every Name

Thought for Today - April 15
Above Every Name  -  By: Robert A. Searles
     Who is the person that is most talked about in the world today?  Everywhere you go, you cannot escape it, where ever you go today you will hear everyone from all walks of life talking about this person, yet they speak of him in blasphemous, and dishonoring terms, and use his name in vain, and drag his name through the mud, and trample his love gift under foot.  This person is the Lord Jesus Christ.
     Yet, we Christians, who claim to be the born again, the  re-created children of God, shy away from talking directly about the Lord Jesus Christ.  In our daily conversation with other Christians, and the outside world, how often are we actually talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, and sharing with our friends how wonderful he is?  We talk about our church, and our pastors.  We talk about our Sunday school class.  We talk about all kinds of activities, and programs and service, but it seems to me that the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself is terribly neglected.
     Jesus never intended for us to separate the sacred from the secular.  He wants to be involved in everything we do.  Sometimes we tend to put the Lord Jesus Christ in a glass case and put him on the shelf and talk about things that pertain to him, but this is not his proper place.  He does not want to be an object of conversation only, he wants to be involved in it.
    When we are sitting in our living rooms the name of the Lord Jesus Christ should be as common in our conversation as anyone else there.  He wants to be part of our family group,  He wants to be our guest for dinner every day.   Oh! How we ought to really love the Lord Jesus Christ after all he has done for us!  We ought to praise his name and exalt him in all our doings.
 Even when we are eating an apple we can love Jesus because he made all things and sustains all things and freely gives us all things to enjoy.
     So often the church, the activities, and the service programs in which we are involved take the place of our actual, personal relationship with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  All these programs are good and should not be neglected, but these should come about and be  the result of our deep love and gratitude, and personal relationship with the Lord, not as a substitute for it.    What a wonderful person the Lord Jesus Christ is! How he loves us and how we ought to love him in return!  “For God so loved the world that he gave  his only begotten son that whosoever  believeth on him should not perish but have everlalsting life.” John 3: 16. 
God did not send the church to die for us. He did not send angels, he did not send pastors, he did not send activities and he did not ordain services to be the propitiations for our sins.  No, he sent the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to die for us and to be raised again for our justification.  He alone is worthy of our praise and worship.  He alone is the object of our love.  He ought to be the center of our life and conversation.
       Dont't just say – I am happy, but rather say  - The Lord Jesus Christ  makes me happy.”  Don't just say: “this is a good day”, but rather say:  “The Lord has given us another beautiful day”.  Don't say: “I have a new dress, or a new car, or a beautiful house, or things”, but rather  say: “The Lord has showered me with all these blessings to enjoy.” Don't avoid calling him by name by just saying in a vague way, “Lord, “ “The Lord, “ or “God,” or “the man upstairs,”or “the creator”, or “the divcinity”.  These are all proper names for him to be sure, but he wants to be known in a familiar way and known and proclaimed as the Lord Jesus Christ whom we know and love as our own personal Savior.
     We sing, O, how I love Jesus, but many times he is grossly neglected and ignored from our conversation and activities, and from actual involvement in our lives.
     None can proclaim, with honesty, The Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal Savior and Lord, and acquaintance, and object of love unless he has been born again.  Jesus said: “except a man be born again he cannot see the kindgom of God.” John 3: 3.  “Not everyone that  saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 7: 21.
  And what is the will of our Father?  It is to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart, all our
mind, and all our soul.  No man calleth Jesus Lord except he be led  and taught of the Holy Spirit.
Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry 

Psalm 26:7

Sing Unto the Lord

Thought for Today - April 14
Sing Unto The Lord  -  By: Robert A. Searles
     “O come let us sing unto the Lord: Let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation.  Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.  For the Lord is a great God, and great king above all gods.” Psalm 95: 1-3.
     O Lord my God, my Savior, I want you to see my heart and know that as I read these inspired words of the psalmist, I agree wholeheartedly that I ought to indeed sing unto you, and make a joyful noise unto you, the rock of my salvation, because you have been so good to me, and blessed  me with so much.  Your own blood has paid  the price of my iniquity.  Thou hast forgiven all my sins from the foundation of the universe.  Thou has pulled my feet from the miry clay and set my feet upon a solid rock and by your grace, you have caused me to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus     I want to come before your presence with singing and with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto you with psalms and songs of praise.
     I confess with the psalmist that thou art the God of all gods, King of all kings, and Lord Of all lords.  All things are yours, for you have made all  things, and sustain all things.  You alone are worthy of my worship and praise. Therefore, I want to bow down and kneel before you, and worship you with my whole heart.  You are my God, and  I am a  sheep in your pasture.  Holy Spirit, lead me in the paths of  righteousness for Christ's sake, and give me peace in mind, body, and soul.
Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Minitry 

Psalm 26:7

Created and Saved To Serve

Thought for Today - April 18
Created  And Saved To Serve
By: Robert A. Searles

     We were created and saved so that we might serve God and bring honor and glory to his name.  As we begin this new day, let us ask ourselves, how can I best serve God today and bring the most honor and glory to his Holy name.

     First, we must acknowledge him as God, the sovereign authority in the universe.  “He that would come to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him.”  We must realize that he is the Holy God and cannot look upon sin.

     We are all sinners by nature and estranged from God, but God in his mercy provided us with a Savior, our Lord and  Savior Jesus Christ, to take our sins upon himself, and to as many as would believe on him, and receive him, forgive us and justify us before God the Father.

     Having been given so great  salvation, let us love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our mind, and with  all our soul. Let us seek first the kingdom of God in all areas of our lives.  Let us have a heart filled with gratitude for all the blessings and good things that God has bestowed upon us.  Let us confess all our known sins, and claim the blood of our  Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins.  As someone has said, we ought to keep short accounts with God, and having confessed our sins, let us present our bodies as living  sacrifices to God if perchance he  might see fit to use  us as channels of his blessings to someone else or for some noble cause.  Let us not blush to name the name of Jesus our Lord among our comrades while others are blaspheming that  worthy name.  Let us be ready always with an answer for those who would  inquire of the hope that we have in Christ.  Let us open wide our lips and praise the lord with our whole heart.

     “I will praise thee  with my whole  heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and  for thy truth for thou has magnified thy word above thy name.” Psalm 138: 1,2.

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry
www.bibles-books-gifts.com
www.telehelppublications.blogspot.com

Disobedient Children

Thought for Today - April 17
Disobedient Children
By: Robert A. Searles

Parents, how does it feel to go through the pain and anxiety of child bearing to bring children into the world, to nurture them through babyhood and adolescence, only to have them rebel against you and be disobedient and disrespectful?

     Think of how it must grieve God when he has gone through the great pain and expense of saving us and redeeming us, and causing us to be born into his family, only to see us disrespect him and rebel against his laws and commandments, how he must be hurt when we ignore him!

     It hurts tremendously when the one you love with all your heart slaps you in the face, as it were, and turns against you.  God loves his children with a love that far surpasses all human  understanding; Oh ! How he must be hurt when we ignore him!

     “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;: for the Lord hath spoken.  I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people do not consider.” Isaiah 1: 2 ,3.

  These words spoken primarily to Israel, are applicable to us today as well, for we are all guilty of rebelling and disobeying God our Father.  Even dumb animals do not treat their masters the way that we sometimes treat God.

     We attempt to honor God with lip service, so to speak, and with offerings of good works, but much of the time our hearts are far from him, and he does not receive from us the love, honor and respect that he deserves.

    ”To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Saith the Lord:  I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of  he -goats.  When ye come to appear before me..  Who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts?”  Isaiah 1: 11, 12.

     God is not interested in our good works and good deeds, not even in our going to church or our tithes and offerings and service until our heart is in love and in tune with him.

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry
www.bibles-books-gifts.com
www.telehelppublications.blogspot.com

Wait On The Lord

Thought for Today - April 12
Wait On The Lord  -  By: Robert A. Searles
     “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait on the Lord: be of good  courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27: 13, 14     Oh! the sloughs of despond that we as Christians so often  and so eaily fall into when  we are anxious for our lives, and have not the faith and  patience we need to be calm, and to wait on God.  Oh! how difficult it is to believe that which we cannot see and touch.  This is part of our old carnal nature, but the gift of God is faith.  Faith even  as the size of a grain of mustard seed to believe the promises of God's word, If we exercise it properly, will be as a light in a dark tunnel that will direct our thoughts and actions toward God,  and allow us to perceive the goodness and providence of God.
     Believe God, trust his  word, stagger not at the promises of  God,  even as Abraham of old, believed God implicitly and God will not fail those who put their trust in him.   Believe to see the goodness of God in the land of the living, and you will not faint.  Many times throughout the scriptures we see that God does not seem to be in any hurry to do all that he has planned to do for our good     We honor  God when we determine in our heart to wait for the promise of God's infallible word.  If God has spoken, it shall be done as he has said.  Therefore, “wait on the lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine  heart: wait I say on the Lord.” Psalm 27: 14 Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry

God Does Not Lie

Thought for Today - Apri l2

God Does Not Lie  -   By Robert A. Searles
     Calling God a liar is a grievous and dangerous sin.  God has manifested his word in the person of his son the Lord Jesus Christ, and he has made known his word through  the printed  page and through the foolishness of preaching.  He has given us the prophets and the apostles.   More importantly, he has given us the witness of the Holy Spirit.
     When  we worry we are doubting the word of God, which if we examine it carefully, we find gives us full assurance of God's love and care and protection for us.  Doubting the word of God is akin to calling God a liar.  This is a grievous sin and keeps us from enjoying the peace  and comfort and the entering in to God's rest that he has prepared for all who will believe.
     Before we can enjoy the peace and rest of God, we must take the testimony of the prophets and the apostles, and the witness of the holy Spirit, and the teaching and example of our Lord and Savior, and allow the word of God to dwell in our hearts and be mixed with faith that God gives us to believe, and we need to encourage ourselves and others in the promise that God said it, I believe it, and that settles it forever.
     “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.  For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them:  but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.,” Hebrews 4: 1-3.
     "Take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.  But exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you be burdened through the deceitfulness of sin.  For we are made partakers of Christ.  If we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.  While it is said today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” Hebrews 3: 12-15
Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry
Psalm  26: 7

Bodily Exercise Profiteth Lttle

Thought for Today - April 12
Bodily Exercise Profiteth Little
By Robert A. Searles

     “Bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto  all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8
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     There will not be too much overall profit gained from the attention we  give to our physical bodies, for these bodies are earthly, carnal and soon to be returned to the dust from which they came; but with our soul and inner man it is very profitable to be Godly and grow and mature in him, that  we might be the reflection of him, and that we might attain unto that place of maturity and perfection whereby we might truly be called the children of God.

     Godliness has the promise of an abundant life now, and a great future forever in the presence of God.  To be carnally minded is death,  but to be spiritually minded is life, joy, and peace.

     Oh, Lord, help us to have the right and proper balance between the care of our  bodies and the attention we give to them, and the attention that we give to becoming God-like by yielding our complete being to him and by allowing  the Holy Spirit to fashion us into his divine image.

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry
www.bibles-books-gifts.com
www.telehelppublications.blogspot.com