How Do We Approach God's Word?

  Thought For Today - February 18
  How do We Approach God's Word?
By: Robert A. Searles

    With what attitude do we approach God's word, the bible? Is it a chore to read it, and are we bored with it, and find it dull reading? Or, do we approach God's word with excitement and anticipation, expecting to see miracles performed before our eyes?While reading and studying God's word, do we hear the voice of God speaking to us, giving us direction for our lives? When God, through his word, shows us the experience of other men of past ages, some who rebelled against God and his word, and some who honored God and his word, do we profit from it?

  If we have the first attitude that reading God's word is a chore and not interesting, then it may be that we are just drawing near to God with our lips, but our heart may be far from him, and the only reason we bother with God at all is because we have been taught by parents or teachers that we ought to honor God, and this is not truly the conviction of our own heart.

 If we don't really have a deep love for God, and the things of God down deep in our heart, and if our worship and service is only with our mouth ,and hands, and not with our whole heart, then the bible will be a sealed book to us, because the bible is the only book in existence which must have its' author present when read in order to be understood. When the heart of man is not really yielded to God, then the spirit is not present to teach the meaning of God's word. 

    The bible is the most profound book ever written, yet there is no college or university in existence which can give you enough education to understand it. On the other hand, it is revealed by the Holy Spirit to small children, and the simplest of men whose hearts are in tune with God's Holy Spirit.

If we approach God's word with the attitude of boredom or lack of interest, we ought to give our hearts some careful examination to determine if we are saved, and have been truly "born again" and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry

https://telehelppublicationsbookshelf.blogspot.com

https://telehelpstoressc.com

 

Recognizing Our Enemies

 Thought For Today - February 21
  Recognizing Our Enemy!
By: Robert A. Searles

    Who is the enemy of our soul? Who is it that tries to rob us of our peace, our joy, and our happiness? Who is it that searches us out to find a weak spot in our faith and character, so that he can take advantage of us and weaken us still further? Who is it that constantly tries to hold our sins and our faults before us, and accuse us before God and all the Holy angels? Who is it that goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour?

    Our enemy is none other than God's enemy, Satan. Our true enemies are not those who can destroy the body, but those who can destroy the mind and soul as well as the body.  We must beware of our enemy and be acquainted with his tactics.

 Satan will accuse God's children before him. He will show us our past sins, mistakes, and failures, and try to convince us that nothing has changed, that we are the same persons that we ever were before we were saved. He will try to persuade us that God is not concerned with us. He will try to divide husband and wife, son and daughter, and every family member. If Satan can divide families, he has gained an important foothold, because family unity is the foundation of strength and a fortress against infidelity.

    Satan does not want you to be happy while serving God, so he causes depression, he brings morbid thoughts to the mind, and he wants us to believe that serving God is a drag, and that we are missing out on the joys of living. He would like for us to believe that the only way we can be truly happy is if we are pursuing the things of the world., so, he tries to get our minds off God and focused on the things of the world.  

 As children of God, we must be aware of him and his tactics, and put our trust in God. As the Psalmist said in Psalm 7:1 -  " O Lord my God in thee do I put my trust; save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me. Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver"

 Who is it that persecutes us and tears our soul like a lion other than the emissaries of darkness.? When we know that Satan is afflicting us we can call out to the Lord as the Psalmist did in Psalm 7:6 -  "Arise O Lord, in thine anger; lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies; and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded." Psalm 7:8 says - "The Lord shall judge the peoples; judge me O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me."

    Our defense against Satan and his demons is in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I claim none of my own righteousness because I have none, except that which I have received from Christ by his grace.

 Psalm 7: 9 says -  "Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just, for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins ." verse 10 says - "My defense is with God which saveth the upright in heart."

    Other scripture says: "resist the devil and he will flee from you." Whenever Satan tries to plague us and destroy us, sing praises in your heart to God, and remind yourselves that you are a child of God, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, ask the Lord to rebuke Satan and cause him to flee away from you. Then you will have victory, and peace and joy and happiness will return to you.

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry

https://telehelppublicationsbookshelf.blogspot.com

https://telehelpstoressc.com

Our Song of Praise

 Thought For Today - March 7
  Our Song of Praise!
By: Robert A. Searles

    "I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most high." Psalm 9: 1,2

Our song should be that we will praise God with our whole heart; we will show forth all his marvelous works. We ought to be glad and rejoice in him, and sing praise to his name.

    God truly has been so good to us, but not because of anything that we have done, but because of his love ,and grace and mercy. Many are our trials and afflictions, but faithful to deliver is our God. "And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; for thou, Lord hast not forsaken those who seek thee." Psalm 9: 10. 

   "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. for the needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever." Psalm 9: 17,18.

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." Psalm 34: 19.

"This is my comfort in my affliction; for thy word hath quickened me." Psalm 119: 50. 

"Now, thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifests the savor of his knowledge by us in every place." 2 Cor 2: 14

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8: 37-39


Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry 

https://telehelppublications.blogspot.com 

https://sterlingsilvercollections.blogspot.com

That Most Wonderful Name

 
 Thought For Today - March 6
  That Most Wonderful Name!
By: Robert A. Searles


    Who is the person that is most talked about in the world today in a derogatory way? Everywhere you go, you cannot escape it, wherever you go today you will hear most 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 born again, the recreated children of God, shy away from talking directly about the Lord Jesus Christ.  In our daily conversation with other Christians, 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, 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 grossly 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, if you will, 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, he wants to be involved in it. When we are sitting in our living room, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ should be as common in our conversation as any one else there. He wants to be part of our family group, he wants to be our guest for dinner everyday.

    Oh! how we ought to really love the Lord Jesus Christ, after all he has done for us, and 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 the apple. He made all things, and sustains all things, and freely gives us all things to enjoy.

    So many times the church, the activities, and the service , and programs which we are involved in ,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 as the result of out deep love ,and gratitude ,and personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, 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 everlasting 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, he did not send services. 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.

    Do not say: I am happy, but say rather, the Lord Jesus Christ makes me happy. Don't say - this is a good day, but rather say -  the Lord Jesus Christ has given us another beautiful day. Don't say I have a new dress, or new clothes. Don't say I have a new car or house or things, but rather say -  because he loves me, the Lord Jesus Christ 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 divinity. 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: "Oh, how I love Jesus," but much of the time he is grossly neglected and ignored from our conversation and activities, and from being actually involved in our practical lives.

    No one can proclaim with honesty the Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal savior -  Lord , and acquaintance, and the object of his love unless he has been born again. Jesus said: "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3: 3. 

 "Not every one 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." Math 7:21. 

And what is the will of the father? 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

https://telehelppublications.blogspot.com

https://sterlingsilvercollections.blogspot.com










By: Robert A. Searles


    Who is the person that is most talked about in the world today in a derogatory way? Everywhere you go, you cannot escape it, wherever you go today you will hear most 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 born again, the recreated children of God, shy away from talking directly about the Lord Jesus Christ.  In our daily conversation with other Christians, 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, 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 grossly 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, if you will, 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, he wants to be involved in it. When we are sitting in our living room, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ should be as common in our conversation as any one else there. He wants to be part of our family group, he wants to be our guest for dinner everyday.

    Oh! how we ought to really love the Lord Jesus Christ, after all he has done for us, and 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 the apple. He made all things, and sustains all things, and freely gives us all things to enjoy.

    So many times the church, the activities, and the service , and programs which we are involved in ,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 as the result of out deep love ,and gratitude ,and personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, 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 everlasting 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, he did not send services. 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.

    Do not say: I am happy, but say rather, the Lord Jesus Christ makes me happy. Don't say - this is a good day, but rather say -  the Lord Jesus Christ has given us another beautiful day. Don't say I have a new dress, or new clothes. Don't say I have a new car or house or things, but rather say -  because he loves me, the Lord Jesus Christ 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 divinity. 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: "Oh, how I love Jesus," but much of the time he is grossly neglected and ignored from our conversation and activities, and from being actually involved in our practical lives.

    No one can proclaim with honesty the Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal savior -  Lord , and acquaintance, and the object of his love unless he has been born again. Jesus said: "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3: 3. 

 "Not every one 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." Math 7:21. 

And what is the will of the father? 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

https://telehelppublications.blogspot.com

https://sterlingsilvercollections.blogspot.com

Thought For Today -March 5
 Wise Children Maketh a Glad Father!
By: Robert A. Searles

    "A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother." Proverbs 10:1

God compares our relationship to him as a father and son relationship. When we do wisely as his children, we please him, and make him glad. Walking in our own ways, and doing our own thing, and storing up treasures for the pleasure of the flesh will profit us nothing; but giving ourselves completely to God and living righteously delivereth from death.
 
    When we give God less than our best, whether it be our time, or our money, or our abilities, or our very selves, we become poor. Proverbs 10:4 says: "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich."

    If we want to make our heavenly father glad, as verse one says that a wise son should do,. and if we our selves want to be enriched, then we ought to be willing to go to work in our father's vineyard while it is yet summer, and we have the opportunity to do so. Verse 5 says: "He that gathereth in summer is a wise son, but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame." "The labor of the righteous tendeth to life; the fruit of the wicked is sin." Proverbs 10:16

    Jesus said in John 4: 35-38 "Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And here is that saying true, one soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that on which ye bestowed no labor; other men labored and ye are entered into their labors."

    Babies cannot work in the fields, they must remain behind in the nurseries and be breast fed, and nursed with the milk of the word; but, we are grown children, and no longer feed on milk alone, but we ought to be able to eat and digest meat of the word and gain the strength we need to go to work in the fields. If not we are retarded children.

 "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Heb 5:12-14

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry

https://telehelppublications.blogspot,com

https://sterlingsilvercollections.blogspot.com

Committed

 
 Thought  For Today  - January 30
 Committed !
By: Robert A. Searles

   "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished." Proverbs 16: 3-5.

    According to the dictionary, the word establish means -  to make secure or permanent;to fix firmly in a particular place, or condition; to clear from doubt; demonstrate convincingly; prove.  So, if we commit our works unto the Lord and commit ourselves unto the Lord, then our thoughts will be securely and permanently fixed firmly in him. There will be no doubt as to who we are, where we came from, or where we are going. If our thoughts are established, or fixed in him, then the things that we do will be right and pleasing to him, because the action of our bodies are motivated and controlled by the thoughts that are deep seated, and fixed down deep in our sub conscious mind, which is the heart. It is this control center of our lives - the heart- which must be right with God and cleansed and regenerated. When we make a commitment, we make a choice.

 God gave every person the freewill to choose. If we choose to believe God, and go God's way, and if we choose to turn our back on everything that is ungodly, then we have committed our ways unto the Lord, and then the promise follows, that our thought, or the controlling elements of our being will be established.

    "The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." whether they know it or not, all men were made and designed to be the instruments of God. This is the purpose of the existence of all things, even things that seem to be bad and wicked. these things were made to be used by God.

    God gives everyone the right to choose whether or not he will be yielded as an instrument of God. What most people don't know is, that they were designed and created in such a way that they can only know true joy, happiness, and peace of mind, when they choose to commit their ways unto the Lord as instruments in his hands for his use. Therefore, they pursue happiness, joy, and peace of mind in the world, and never find it.

    The proud in heart who choose not to commit their ways unto the Lord, those who say we will do our own thing, and he will not have any authority over us, will receive the punishment from God. Their lives will be shallow and drab and without purpose and goals, they will spend their lives going from one thing to another in pursuit of happiness, and never find it. Apart from God they will be frustrated and lost forever.

When our thoughts are established in God, then: " by mercy and truth iniquity is purged : and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Proverbs 16: 6,7.

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry

https://telehelppublicationsbookshelf.blogspot.com

https://telehelpstoressc.com

We Become like what we Think About

 
 Thought For Today - January 30
 We become like what we think about!
By: Robert A. Searles

"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts." Psalm 10: 4.

  Do we seek after God the very first thing that we do when we awake each morning? Is God in all out thoughts, or is God in any of our thoughts?

    It is very possible to perform services in the name of God, and to do good works in the name of God without really giving much thought to God, and without really seeking the presence and fellowship with God. Do we really worship and praise God in the spirit? Do we worship God in the beauty of his holiness, are we truly in love with God, or are we just in love with the idea of appearing Godly?

    Adolescents reach an age when they think that all that matters is being in love with members of the opposite sex. Psychiatrist will tell you that most of the time, they are not in love with any one person, but they are in love with the idea of love, because it seems to be the in thing to do. This is why it is dangerous for young people to get deeply involved with this sort of thing until they get older; but this is just an example of what can happen to us as Christians. We can become so involved in the idea of serving God, and being all wrapped up in activities and going to church, and we can get so busy doing things, that we might forget to seek God ,and exclude him from any or all of our thoughts
.
    If we are to worship God properly the way that God wants us to worship him in the beauty of holiness, we must worship him in spirit and in truth. God must be predominant in all our thoughts. What does it mean for God to be predominant in all our thoughts? It means that when we awake from sleep, our first thoughts will causes us to consciously fix our mind upon the Lord Jesus Christ and God, and that by the process of our will, we choose to keep our mind fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ all during our waking hours. Every thought that comes into our mind during the course of the day will be in subjection to him , and under the control of this primary thought which is fixed upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee." This is what it means to keep our minds and hearts stayed on him.

    We are ,and will become what we think. We can choose what we think; therefore, it is up to us really what we are, and what we will become, because by the process of our conscious will we choose the things that we think about.  If the predominate thought in our mind is on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the beauty of his holiness, then we will, more and more each day grow into his image and likeness. Proverbs 23: 7 tells us that: "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Again, we are what we think about.

"Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God." Romans 12: 2

 Our power and blessing from God comes through praying without ceasing.  1Thes 5: 17 tells us to "pray without ceasing." How can we pray without ceasing? We pray without ceasing by thinking, without ceasing, of the Lord Jesus Christ. "In all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct thy paths".

"Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things". Phil 4:8.
You are what you keep your mind on.

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry

https://telehelppublicationsbookshelf.blogspot.com
https://telehelpstoressc.com