Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2
Alright, here it comes---I am once again going off the planned path of reading. While I was prepared to write about the 5th chapter of Ezra, I feel the need to share some other thoughts tonight.
With Dr. Billy Graham's 95th birthday last week and his message 'My Hope America' that aired last week, I have been thinking about the years of service he has put into spreading God's Word. I wondered what made him different, how was he able to reach so many people with basically the same message each night. His crusades were not full of any special affects, there were really no frills---just a simple stage, singing, and a message.
Sunday morning while reading a devotion and some scriptures it came to me...Jesus knew! Jesus was raised as a normal Jewish child, he grew up like everyone else and even became a carpenter just like his dad. I am sure he had a happy, peaceful life full of love from his family and friends, but he knew all that would change one day. He knew the day that he announced that he was the Messiah that his life would never be the same, it would never again be peaceful and everyone would not choose to love him. He not only knew this, but because he was God as man, he also knew every little detail that his future held. He knew he would be hated. He knew he would be betrayed by people he loved. He knew he would be beaten. He knew people would mock him. He knew he would be spit upon. He knew that he would be crucified, that he would die in one of the cruelest acts known to man. He knew all this but he did it anyway! He knew all this, but he loves us even more than all this pain and suffering. He knew all these things, but he also knew God and that makes all the difference! He also knew the miracles that would be performed through his hands. He knew the people that would come to know God because of him. He knew then and he knows now each soul that will come to him because of his sacrifice.
We should know too. We know that when we choose to become a Christian that our life will make a 180 degree turn. We may not know all the details like Jesus, but we know that there will be struggles, there will be heartache, there will be sadness, but we also know the same God Jesus knows! We know there will be joy, peace, assurance, blessings and miracles that will far outweigh all of our struggles! We know where we are headed, we know our reward, and we know that we will see Jesus face to face.
So, after all this---I got it! Dr. Graham's message is all about a relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Do you know Jesus Christ as your healer? Do you know Jesus Christ as your counselor? Do you know Jesus Christ as your friend? Do you really know him? Jesus was able to sacrifice everything because of his relationship with God. We will be able to sacrifice our life because of our relationship with Jesus Christ! Jesus does not want you to just know 'his story', he wants you to know him---he desires for you to know him more!
Please take time to check out Dr. Graham's message, 'My Hope America' at the following website:
http://billygraham.org/
Monday, November 11, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Don't Stop!
Ezra 4
First of all, please make sure you read the scriptures that go along with what I write. I appreciate everyone reading and responding, but it is just my thoughts, whereas, the Bible is the ultimate truth and that is what we are to live by. Besides, I promise you will get more out of it!
Have you ever heard the phrase 'silver-tongued devil'? Well that is exactly what I thought after reading chapter 4. Isn't it just like the devil to show up right when you are excited about a great work of God! Isn't it just like him to discourage you when you are starting a new journey. He wants to stop what ever is good, and he will do what ever it takes to do that. He will lie, steal, cheat, kill and use any willing soul to go against the children of God. If you have been a Christian for any length of time, I am not telling you anything you don't already know. If you are a new Christian then listen up!
The letter that was written to King Artaxerxes not only attempted to turn the king against the children of God, but it was done in a way to convince the King that by stopping the building of the temple it would benefit him. It was lies written beautifully and that is exactly what Satan tries to do to us every single day. He takes lies and makes them look like they will benefit our lives, but no matter how good they sound, they are still lies. As Christians we need to be aware of the devil's schemes, however, we are not to focus or dwell on them. Instead, our focus must be on the Lord and we should dwell upon His Word. While the devil has some power and is the father of lies, he has no power when it comes to Jesus Christ, and if Jesus Christ lives within us then he has no power over us. The Bible tells us in Luke 6:24 that "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." We have to choose and if our choice is God then nothing can seperate us from his love (Romans 8:38-39). I am here to tell you that life can be real hard sometimes, but God is greater than anything that we may encounter. We have to grab hold of the truth of God's Word and never let go of it. We have to proclaim the promises of His Word, even in the middle of the worst circumstances. It is time for us to stop allowing ourselves to be oppressed---we say so many times, 'well it is just the devil attacking me'. Listen, God's Word tells us that we have power over the devil, we can rebuke him, and he will flew in the name of Jesus Christ. He shutters at the sound of the name Jesus, so why aren't we shouting Jesus' name to the rooftops?
We are to continue building! Even if our walls are being torn down as we go, keep on---don't stop! It will be hard, but God will carry you through! Even when you see no progress or even if you have setbacks, keep on---God will not let go of you! I can say this with assurance, I have had moments when I didn't think I could hold on any longer, but I did---I was holding on by a thread, but I never let go and all the while God was working a great work within me. Don't let go and you will find yourself shining the light of Christ right in the middle of your trial!
First of all, please make sure you read the scriptures that go along with what I write. I appreciate everyone reading and responding, but it is just my thoughts, whereas, the Bible is the ultimate truth and that is what we are to live by. Besides, I promise you will get more out of it!
Have you ever heard the phrase 'silver-tongued devil'? Well that is exactly what I thought after reading chapter 4. Isn't it just like the devil to show up right when you are excited about a great work of God! Isn't it just like him to discourage you when you are starting a new journey. He wants to stop what ever is good, and he will do what ever it takes to do that. He will lie, steal, cheat, kill and use any willing soul to go against the children of God. If you have been a Christian for any length of time, I am not telling you anything you don't already know. If you are a new Christian then listen up!
The letter that was written to King Artaxerxes not only attempted to turn the king against the children of God, but it was done in a way to convince the King that by stopping the building of the temple it would benefit him. It was lies written beautifully and that is exactly what Satan tries to do to us every single day. He takes lies and makes them look like they will benefit our lives, but no matter how good they sound, they are still lies. As Christians we need to be aware of the devil's schemes, however, we are not to focus or dwell on them. Instead, our focus must be on the Lord and we should dwell upon His Word. While the devil has some power and is the father of lies, he has no power when it comes to Jesus Christ, and if Jesus Christ lives within us then he has no power over us. The Bible tells us in Luke 6:24 that "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." We have to choose and if our choice is God then nothing can seperate us from his love (Romans 8:38-39). I am here to tell you that life can be real hard sometimes, but God is greater than anything that we may encounter. We have to grab hold of the truth of God's Word and never let go of it. We have to proclaim the promises of His Word, even in the middle of the worst circumstances. It is time for us to stop allowing ourselves to be oppressed---we say so many times, 'well it is just the devil attacking me'. Listen, God's Word tells us that we have power over the devil, we can rebuke him, and he will flew in the name of Jesus Christ. He shutters at the sound of the name Jesus, so why aren't we shouting Jesus' name to the rooftops?
We are to continue building! Even if our walls are being torn down as we go, keep on---don't stop! It will be hard, but God will carry you through! Even when you see no progress or even if you have setbacks, keep on---God will not let go of you! I can say this with assurance, I have had moments when I didn't think I could hold on any longer, but I did---I was holding on by a thread, but I never let go and all the while God was working a great work within me. Don't let go and you will find yourself shining the light of Christ right in the middle of your trial!
Monday, November 4, 2013
We Can't Wait!
Ezra 3
To better understand the many stories of the Bible I do a couple of things. First, I do my best to visualize the story, to picture all the sights and hear all the sounds within the story, and I also try to put myself in the middle of each story, I picture myself as one in the middle of the crowd seeing what is going on and feeling all the emotions that surround the event. As I read through chapter 3 of Ezra, my heart became excited when the people built the alter and gave the appropriate sacrifices to the Lord, even before the foundation was laid and with fear of the people that surrounded them, they put God first and showed the world how they felt. Then I began to cry when the older people wept aloud after seeing the new foundation laid. I am sure they had seen so much in their time, they had witnessed the betrayal of God's people, God's destruction, and now God's restructuring---how happy and sad they must have been. I also listened, as best I could, to the weeping and shouting that was so loud you couldn't tell them apart. So after reading this several times and my mind racing with so many different thoughts, God revealed to me that the point of this story is that His people didn't wait until everything was rebuilt, they didn't wait until everything was just right, they didn't wait to serve God, they didn't wait to build an alter and offer sacrifices, they didn't wait for the people they feared to move, and they didn't wait to shout His praises. They didn't wait and neither can we. We can't wait until our lives are going good, we can't wait until we have enough time, we can't wait until we have enough money, we can't wait until we are healed, we can't wait until we have the right job, we can't wait to sacrifice our lives for Christ's sake. We cannot wait, we have to do what we have been called to do now. The word tells us in Luke 16:10 "If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities." If God has called you, he has called you! It doesn't matter if we think the calling is 'great' or 'small', it is a calling of God and we are called to fulfill it regardless of anything that seems to be lacking in our lives.
To better understand the many stories of the Bible I do a couple of things. First, I do my best to visualize the story, to picture all the sights and hear all the sounds within the story, and I also try to put myself in the middle of each story, I picture myself as one in the middle of the crowd seeing what is going on and feeling all the emotions that surround the event. As I read through chapter 3 of Ezra, my heart became excited when the people built the alter and gave the appropriate sacrifices to the Lord, even before the foundation was laid and with fear of the people that surrounded them, they put God first and showed the world how they felt. Then I began to cry when the older people wept aloud after seeing the new foundation laid. I am sure they had seen so much in their time, they had witnessed the betrayal of God's people, God's destruction, and now God's restructuring---how happy and sad they must have been. I also listened, as best I could, to the weeping and shouting that was so loud you couldn't tell them apart. So after reading this several times and my mind racing with so many different thoughts, God revealed to me that the point of this story is that His people didn't wait until everything was rebuilt, they didn't wait until everything was just right, they didn't wait to serve God, they didn't wait to build an alter and offer sacrifices, they didn't wait for the people they feared to move, and they didn't wait to shout His praises. They didn't wait and neither can we. We can't wait until our lives are going good, we can't wait until we have enough time, we can't wait until we have enough money, we can't wait until we are healed, we can't wait until we have the right job, we can't wait to sacrifice our lives for Christ's sake. We cannot wait, we have to do what we have been called to do now. The word tells us in Luke 16:10 "If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities." If God has called you, he has called you! It doesn't matter if we think the calling is 'great' or 'small', it is a calling of God and we are called to fulfill it regardless of anything that seems to be lacking in our lives.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
One Purpose
Ezra 2
Wow, so many people coming together for one purpose, to rebuild the temple. How exciting it must have been for God’s people during this time. We are not sure exactly how many people because the Bible doesn’t give an account for all the menservants and maidservants, but we do know that there was well over 50, 000 people that came back to Jerusalem. This chapter lists a lot of names and while I know that the names are important and there is much meaning behind many of them, I want to focus not so much on the people but on the purpose. Why do we do the things we do? Is it to please people, to please ourselves, or to please God? As a Christian we should already know our purpose, but that does not always mean we are focusing on it. I once heard this question asked … "Where do you spend your time, your energy and your money?" In the answer to this question you will find what you are focusing on. As Christians, we seem so spread out---we have who knows how many denominations and we argue over the craziest things. I have said many times that I am no theologian, nor do I understand every detail of the Bible, but I do know this, that God’s greatest commandment is to love and we don’t seem to be doing that very well. We give our money and sometimes we even give our time, but too many times we are not giving our heart and when we don’t give our heart than the other things do not even matter. One purpose, serving Jesus Christ! One purpose, loving one another! One purpose, spreading the Good News! It is really that simple, but we seem to make it so complicated. I think about all these people and the deep excitement and love they must have been feeling when they journeyed back to Jerusalem. They gave their time and their money, and they did it with a heart full of love for one purpose to rebuild what had been destroyed. While the destruction came suddenly for these people, it seems to be coming slow but steady for us now. We see tragedy through man’s fault or natural disasters and for a moment we come together, we pray out loud, and we love our fellow man, yet we don’t continue with all this way, it seems to always fade with time. So I ask you tonight what are you focusing on and what will it take for us to come together for one purpose?
Wow, so many people coming together for one purpose, to rebuild the temple. How exciting it must have been for God’s people during this time. We are not sure exactly how many people because the Bible doesn’t give an account for all the menservants and maidservants, but we do know that there was well over 50, 000 people that came back to Jerusalem. This chapter lists a lot of names and while I know that the names are important and there is much meaning behind many of them, I want to focus not so much on the people but on the purpose. Why do we do the things we do? Is it to please people, to please ourselves, or to please God? As a Christian we should already know our purpose, but that does not always mean we are focusing on it. I once heard this question asked … "Where do you spend your time, your energy and your money?" In the answer to this question you will find what you are focusing on. As Christians, we seem so spread out---we have who knows how many denominations and we argue over the craziest things. I have said many times that I am no theologian, nor do I understand every detail of the Bible, but I do know this, that God’s greatest commandment is to love and we don’t seem to be doing that very well. We give our money and sometimes we even give our time, but too many times we are not giving our heart and when we don’t give our heart than the other things do not even matter. One purpose, serving Jesus Christ! One purpose, loving one another! One purpose, spreading the Good News! It is really that simple, but we seem to make it so complicated. I think about all these people and the deep excitement and love they must have been feeling when they journeyed back to Jerusalem. They gave their time and their money, and they did it with a heart full of love for one purpose to rebuild what had been destroyed. While the destruction came suddenly for these people, it seems to be coming slow but steady for us now. We see tragedy through man’s fault or natural disasters and for a moment we come together, we pray out loud, and we love our fellow man, yet we don’t continue with all this way, it seems to always fade with time. So I ask you tonight what are you focusing on and what will it take for us to come together for one purpose?
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