A God of His Word

John 17:17 "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth".

God's promises are sure.God's commitment to allow a new generation to  inherit a land he had promised them was a solid agreement.The disbelief of the older generation did not  hinder God's faithfulness to carry out His promise he had made to their fathers.He had given this land to His children back in the time of Abraham and Jacob.Before the foundations of the world, he promised us everlasting life with Him ,and now it is time for us to lay claim to it.

The Canaanites were a formidable enemy,However God said "Israel you will drive the canaanites from the land. He assured Joshua" I will be with you".The presence and power of God guaranteed the land was theirs, it wasn't Joshua's wisdom, militaries abilities, or strategies.It was in the truth of God's promise, and the power of His word that brought this to pass.Sin also is a formidable enemy,it uses various weapons to defeat us in this present life.Through the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life, we are often defeated in our quest to live holy unto the Lord.But God's word has already given us the victory,we just have to do like the children of Israel and step out in faith and lay claim to everlasting life with our Savior.In His word he tells us "He has power over all flesh". His word tells us to be of  good cheer ,"He has overcome the world".His word tells us that those he has been given he has lost none. And His word tells us we have a new life in Christ,as we have died to the ways of the flesh and the old man.Like with Joshua, he gave us several resources to help lead us to the promised land.

He gave us a clear set of instructions that we must follow to be victorious.He told us to always pray.You can't give in to the temptations of this world if you are always praying.He told us to esteem other higher than ourselves.It is hard surrender to the lust of the flesh if you always have anothers best interest at heart.He told us to love one another like Christ loved us, thus always making a sacrifice of yourself for the salvation of others.He then gave us a promise ,that if we followed His instructions we would be rewarded and would have everlasting life.He promised to be with all the way.And God told us to be successful we would have to be strong, courageous, and have the determination to follow the path He has laid out for us.Jesus Christ, the way laid out by God that we must travel, Jesus Christ the word of God made flesh, in whom we have the victory.

Stepping Out On Faith

Genesis 12:1 "Now the Lord said unto Abram,Get thee out of thy country,and from thy kindred,and from thy father's house,unto a land that I will shew thee:"

Abram chose to follow God.He stepped out having nothing but God's word to direct him.This journey we have embarked upon is paved with nothing but Gods word and His promises.It challenges us to this day to obey God's call wherever He leads,what ever the cost. Why do we hesitate? Is that addiction really worth holding onto?Is living in a comfort-zone cocoon what we were made for?Is this life we have worth holding to.Is anger or indulgence or fear or pride or worldliness in the way of our whole hearted obedience?

No matter what challenges we may meet in choosing to obey God's call,there will never be lasting regrets.Why? Because God's faithfulness will prevail in our lives every time we trust His leadership.In fact even while"counting the cost" of following God,we can be assured that any sacrifices we may make along our way,whether real or imagined,will ultimately be eclipsed by the blessings of His love for us in this life and beyond. For example, turning from destructive habits to follow God's call leads us into freedom,peace, and often literally adds years to our lives.Letting go of our most prized and precious possessions in this life to follow our Lord carries with it the promise of eternal life as well as spritual blessings we never could have imagined.As we turn our hearts to follow the lead of God's Spirit, we are set free from the fear of other people's opinions, and we become courageous vessels for carrying the Gospel and speaking the truth, finding our delight in God's approval on our lives.These are just a few of the many ways God calls us to follow Him into the blessing of His presence as well as His promises.

No matter what God's call on our lives may be,rather to a physical move, to abandon sin, to boldness,to let go of something or someone we cherish, or some other challenge, when we answer as Abram did, God will faithfully lead us into the promised blessing He has in store for us.Don't fight to hold to that which God is trying to free you from,He knows what is best for us.

A Delieverer

Judges 10:15 "And the children of Israel said unto the Lord,We have sinned:do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee;deliever us only,we pray thee,this day".

Repentence Starts with the heart,an acknowledgement of the truth of what we have done and a deliberate turning away from the sin.Then we must make a conscience decision we will love the Lord with all our heart,soul and mind serving Him only.This love will be evident in our obedience to His word,and our love for one another.

Many time we call out to the Lord to save us from situation or a circumstance.We make various promises to God saying if you get me out of this or that I will serve you with all my heart.But once delievered, we often times fall back into the same old routine, once again forgetting God and our promise to Him.In our story today the children of Israel once again turned from God to worship idols,and when they found themselves in trouble they once again cried out to the one true and living God.But this time God told them to call on the god's they had been serving.But the Children of Israel continued to cry out even confessing their sins,they turn from their wicked ways and was seeking the salvation of the Lord.

A broken and contrite heart the Lord can't deny;The Israelites put away the forgien gods and turned to the Lord.Like a sensitive mother who can't bear to hear her baby's cry, God's heart melted,He forgave their rebelliousness, and rescued them once again from their enemies.God always hears and responds to repentant people.However the desire of every believer should be to walk closley with God moment by moment,not just in times of a crises.

I Never Knew You !

Matthew 7:23 "And then will I profess them,I never knew you:depart from me,Ye that work iniquity".

One of the best test of everything is how it will appear in the moment of death,in the morning of resurrection,and the day of judgment.Here our Lord gives us a picture of people as they appear in that day.Riches, honors,pleasures,successes,self-congratulations, etc will all be set in the light of that day. This test should especially be applied  to all religious professions and excercises, for in that day they will be tried by fire.The people revealed here in the judgement light were not gross and open sinners; on the surface they seemed like regular church folks.They made an open profession to Christ as they said "Lord,Lord".They did christian service,as they habitually prophesied and worked miracles.They had done many wonders,and did everything in the name of Christ.

But note our Lord's open confession before men and angels,and especially to the men themselves:"I never knew you".I knew about you; I knew that you professed great things; but you had no relationship with me;and whatever you knew about me,you did not know me.I was not of your company, and did not know you.See had he once known them he would not have forgotten them.Those who accepts Christ invitation to "come unto to me", shall never here him say,"Depart from me".Workers of iniquity may now come to the Savior for mercy;but if they put there hope in themselves and what they can do,and ignore the Savior, he will tell them to depart to endure the rigors of his justice.Is it not strange that preachers and those who cast out devils,and perform many wonders ,can still be workers of iniquity?They may work miracles in Christ name and yet have no part of Him.

See the tongue can be betrade by the hands.With the tongue they say Lord,Lord, but the hands don't do the will of the Father. They can use the name but not possess the nature of an obedient servant.They prophesied but didn't pray. They cast devils out of others, but held on to the devils within themselves. They spent time on the marvels but failed to do the essentials.They worked wonders but were also workers of iniquity.So the Lord said "depart from me" a fearful sentence, a terrible separation."From me",said Christ,who made himself man for our sakes, that shed his blood for our redemption."From me" that invited us to mercy and we would not accept it, that purchased the kingdom of glory for all who would believe on Him,and will honor our heads with crowns of eternal joy."Depart from me" my friendship,my fellowship, my paradise,my presence,my heaven,"Depart from me" I never knew you.

Worthy Of My Whole Heart!

Proverbs23:" My son,give me thine heart,and let thine eyes observe my ways".

Here we have wisdom speaking,the request is for the heart,the affections, the center of our being."Give me thine heart" is the first,the daily, the chief,the ultimate demand of the good spirit.Love makes this request,for only love will seek love.Wisdom persuades us to obey this request,for evil lovers will seek us,and our hearts will be given to others.But it will please God for us to love him and give him our whole hearts.Nothing else can please him, he deserves our heart,and God will not give himself to the heartless.Give him your heart at once,give it freely and cheerfully(for God loves a cheerful giver).Give him your whole heart as a half a heart is no heart.Once and for all give him your heart and let it remain in his possession.Come and believe in Jesus,and recieve power to become a son of God and serve him with a loving heart.

Of all the people and things in this world seeking our hearts,none other is worthy of them but God.You shall give it to your Father who gave it to you,so give God your heart and by that know that you are his son."My son, give me thine heart" for two reasons:Because unless the heart be given, nothing is given; and if the heart is given, all is given.Let us not think we can give him parts of the hearts and leave some room in our hearts for the evils of the world.We must surrender our whole heart to God,we must give him everything.It is God who keeps the heart beating,and it is he who prepares it for heaven.God gave us Jesus,his heart and in return we must give him our heart.

He is the regulator of the heart.Can you deny him anything,whose goodness created us, whose favor elected us, whose mercy redeemed us, whose wisdom converted us,whose grace preserved us,whose glory shall glorify us? How can we deny his request for our hearts? If you truly knew him who ask for the heart, you would not hesitate to surrender it to him.Give God your whole heart and let your eyes see his marvelous works in your life.It is more blessed to give than to take,more blessed is the man who gives his heart to God,than they which take the posessions of the world.

Jesus! All We Need

2Corinthians 9:15 "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift".

The word of God tells us that "contentment with God is great gain", yet we never seem to be satisfied with anything that we have. It seems that the nature of the natural man is to always be in want.We want bigger houses but don't keep our small apartments clean,want bigger cars but can't afford to put gas in the one we have.Want a better paying job ,but we always call in sick on the one we have now.Want to be head of Gods family, but we haven't shown we can take care of our own.We have yet to be faithful over the little yet we want to be rulers over the many.We sometimes get so blinded by the things of the world we don't have ,that we can't see all that we do have in Jesus.

Everything that God intends for man to have is in Jesus.His love for man is in Jesus.His grace,mercy, giving, forgiving, sharing and caring are all in Jesus.The word says if He will keep no good thing from us.Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with ambition,but let us not confuse ambition with greed or gluttony.Why pray for more, when you can't handle that which you already have.God cannot be tempted nor does He tempt any man.So if you are a fool with $20.00, don't ask God to bless you with $100.00, He can't do it, it goes against His nature.Let us learn and make the best of what we have,and use it to our fullest to bring glory to God, before we begin to seek and ask for more.Don't ask God to elevate you to a higher level, when you haven't made the best of where you are. Jesus said" seek ye first the kingdom of God,and His righteousness;and all these things shall be added unto you". it dosn't say might be it says shall be.Get in Jesus and you will be in the best position to prosper.

So often we pray and ask God for things that we already have.We ask for strength when all power is in Jesus.We pray for the power to love, when Jesus is the love of God.We pray for a better life,when Jesus is our abundant life promised us by God.We must begin to utilize all that God gave us in Christ, in  Christ God gave us everything as we are heir to all that the Father has,and we have not because we ask not or we ask amiss.Let us delight ourselves in the Lord, and He will give us the desires of our hearts.

You Haven't Seen Nothing Yet

Isaiah 64:4 "For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor percieved by ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God beside thee, what he hath prepared for them that waiteth for him".

  This christian journey we have embarked upon has many unknowns.It is full of challenges, obsticals, opportunities,temptations, stumblings blocks, and barriers.It is a narrow road we must travel, and along the way we will slip,trip and fall. We will stumble, have doubts and sometimes even entertain the thought of giving up. But the word of God tells us to press on towards the mark of the high calling of God, so quitting is not an option.No matter where the journey leads us we must trust that Jesus will never fail.With every twist and turn with every peak and valley we overcome, it brings glory to God and salvation to a dying soul. Every obstical and challenge we are faced with is a opportunity for us to be molded,shaped and fashioned into that which God has called us to be.No matter what it is we are going thru it is working together with Gods purpose for our good.Whatever happens is part of God amazing plan of salvation, which he ordained from the foundation of the world.

   For since the beginning of the world men have not heard; they have not either by hearing or seeing come into the full knowledge of Gods goodness. No man has seen, nor can understand the provision made by God for the future happiness of holy souls. Neither seen by eye nor heard by any ear, nor has entered into the heart of any man, what God has prepared for them who love him; those that wait for him,that await the promise salvation designed for us.No eye has seen ,nor ear heard because it is hid in God.Our true happiness is bound up in the richness of Christ, obtainable only by his guidence and through his grace. The goodness God has prepared for us and preparing us for, are laid up in the riches of Christ for those that fear him and trust him.The goodness which awaits all believers; the things made available to all who commune with him in spirit and in truth,are laid up in Christ. What God has for those who work righteousness,for those who are cheerful in doing the whole duty, as he delights himself in the Lord. Those who obey him and submit to his will, making mention of him in all that we do, as we walk in a way worthy of the name by which we are called.

  For the eye hath not seen another god beside thee O God. A God who was accused of my faults, a God tried for my charges, a God convicted of my sins and yet he never said a mummling word; a God whipped for my transgressions, bruised for my iniquities, a God who served my sentence as he suffered bleed and died on a cross that I might have a right to the good things God has in store for me. Jesus the Christ the good thing God has for all who will believe.