Leave It Behind

Mark 10:17-23 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ”

GOD'S SAFETY

I was seeking the word “safety” in the scripture and was led to Psalm 91.  As I began to read this passage looking for an ending point with which to pull from, I found myself unable to stop reading.  The fullness of this passage is the WORD for today. 

Do you desire “SAFETY” in your life?

The safety of the Lord is available when we ABIDE in His presence.  To abide we must seek him by prayer and communion with Him through His word.

Psalm 91 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

The Wicked World

Last week we talked about trusting God and about submitting to His will for our lives.  A good friend of mine asked me an important question. “When we know the truth of God how do we stay true to God’s will when the world we live in is so wicked?”

James 4:3-5 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.⁴ Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

The TRUTH vs. Your Truth

The difference between “YOUR TRUTH” and “THE TRUTH” is that one is actually “True” and the other is simply an opinion.

It seems as if celebrities, including Oprah, are caught up and deceived to respond from their personal feelings and opinions of others to create a narrative that has no actual truthful foundation.  It is a false and twisted representation of people that believe their own opinion matters.  These opinions come from those that are operating outside of God’s biblical truth.  I am not passing judgment about who is saved and who is not, but the bible tells us that you will know them by their fruit.

The Blood of Jesus!

I watched a video this morning about how critical the church is about people, which means that people are putting the blood of Jesus on trial rather than the person. 

This reminds me of when Jesus who was without sin faced the Pharisees of His time and they accused Him until He was proclaimed guilty even though He had not sinned. 

First of all we are all sinners and fall short of God’s glory.

Here is the story:

-- Author Unknown

One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart. She responded to God's call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

The Lord Is My Shield

We face an enemy that is cunning and deceiving and he has a plan to destroy us.  Christ Jesus defeated him at the cross.   We can call upon His name in our time of need and He will hear our voice.

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

The Lord is our Shield in times of trouble. 

Psalm 3:3 But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
⁴ I cried to the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me from His holy hill.

When I read this scripture I gained a revelation about the “Shield”.  What is a shield and how does it work? 

For a shield to work it has to be raised into a position that will block the enemies blow.  This is a parable to “Jesus” in our life.  We must raise HIM up so He can “Shield” the blow. 

Question:  Is your Shield lifted up today?

UNDER GOD!

Yesterday I ran by the local Tag Agency in Woodward to do some business. While waiting in line I noticed this sign standing in the corner.  It was the pledge of allegiance.

God brought me a great revelation about this sign and something that is being ignored about the pledge.  

My spirit inside led me to “READ” everything after the words “UNDER GOD”. 

The revelation was that everything "following" UNDER GOD was dependent upon God for success.

The words read: Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. 

Therefore the country was originally relying on GOD’s Liberty and Justice rather than mankinds.  It was a choice by our forefathers to be “Under God” because they had seen God’s plan work to create this UNITY and LIBERTY.  It especially means that “God’s Justice” is true and unable to be perverted by man, because it requires “GRACE” at is foundation.

Jesus Is Willing

Mark 1:40 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”

⁴¹ Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” ⁴² As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

We are all in need of being healed of something.  It may be physically, mentally or emotionally, but we all have scars of different types. 

Building On The Rock!

Our daily experiences in the world are forming our life foundation.  What we allow in our heart will determine the substance of its strength in times of trouble.

Luke 6:46-49 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? ⁴⁷ I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. ⁴⁸ It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. ⁴⁹ But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

The Crown of Life

James 1:12  Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

During our daily journey through life we will be faced with many levels of temptation.  Our ability to endure these temptations will result in “LIFE”.  This is the kind of life that only God can provide and it will bring forth the JOY of the Lord and peace in our time of need.

The key word in James 1:12 is “ENDURE”

Websters Dictionary:

endure |enˈd(y)oŏr|

verb

1 [ trans. ] suffer (something painful or difficult) patiently : it seemed impossible that anyone could endure such pain.

What’s Your Opinion?

I find myself continuously needing to share this blog from July 7th.  It talks about how much our opinions do not matter when we have no foundation to stand upon.  Here is the blog that everyone needs to hear.

As I thumb through Facebook I see that everyone has his or her own opinion about everything.  This opinion usually is based on a persons past experiences.  The posts are from an intermingled mix of fleshly pride, off-based judgment and even partial spiritual truth.  For the most part, these posts have no real foundation but rather personal opinions based on the following scripture. 

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Be Thankful

The world has a way of making us want more and more.  The key word is “Want”.  God meets our needs and has a great plan for us.  We should always be “Thankful” for what we have and give God praise.

Psalm 100:4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Question:  Are you thankful for what you have?

1 Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Iron Sharpens Iron

Prov. 27:17 – “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”

To be able to grow in my personal walk with God I needed to change the environment around me.  I needed Godly relationships and a bible based church to help increase my knowledge of the Word.  I had to separate myself from the people that were walking in their flesh and pulling me into the same traps of the enemy. 

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Before accepting Jesus as savior I was the “King” of fools.  I have good friends that simply lack wisdom and instruction just as we all do, but those that choose to despise it cannot grow spiritually.

Resist The Devil

We live in a world that is constantly throwing temptation into our path.  This temptation is designed to draw us away from God.  The Word of God tells us how to turn back the plan of the enemy that is trying to control our lives.

James 4:6-8 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

To get the devil to flee from us we need to resist him.

Webster’s Dictionary

resist|riˈzist|

verb [ trans. ]

withstand the action or effect of :

• succeed in ignoring the attraction of (something wrong or unwise)

Question:  Will you resist the attraction of something wrong or unwise today?

What’s Next?

I woke up this morning with this thought on my mind. What’s Next God?

When we have uncertainty of our future we must hold on to the truth of God and trust Him.  This takes humility to turn loose of our fleshly perspective.  God has a great plan and we need to seek Him daily and rely on the fact that He will guide our steps.

Psalm 25:9 The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way.

Question:  Do we want to “learn” from the ways of the world or from God?