Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Vine and the Branches

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:1-4
Branches display the beautiful leaves and lovely blossoms of the vine. The blossoms then mature into the wonderful fruit of the vine. However, the branch cannot do anything of itself; the branch is totally dependent upon the vine. If the branch is dislodged from the vine, it withers and dies. The branch can only produce when it is connected to and nourished by the vine.

Branches that do not produce are removed, while fruit-bearing branches are pruned (or cleaned) to help them keep producing. The part of the branch that is no longer useful is taken away so that the branch can be revived. In the same way, God purifies all Christians so they may be more useful. He does this by taking away that which hinders our usefulness.

What hinders your usefulness? Relinquish those things today. Fully surrender yourself to the working of the vine so that you may be the bearer of beautiful fruit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23a
Merciful God, I surrender fully to You. Mold me and make me after Your will. I pray the fruit of the Spirit be manifest in me for Your honor and Your glory. Amen.

God Bless!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

How Do We Honor God?

"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken. Isaiah 58:13-14
If you read Isaiah 58 you will find the people were being chastised because their worship was not sincere—they were going through the motions of worship. We honor God by obeying Him; in word, in actions, in attitude, etc.

Paul, in Ephesians 5:1, writes, we are to, “be imitators of God…and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” We are not to be deceived—for God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient (v. 6).

Christ is the light of the world and we are to live as children of the light (v. 8); honoring God, as imitators of Him; obedient to Him. Simply going through the motions, acting as the “Great Pretender” will get you nothing but the wrath of God. On the other hand, honoring God through obedience will bring blessing. Note the order here is obedience first; then blessing!

(Remember: “be imitators of God”, denotes action!)

God Bless!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Victory in Jesus

No weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and this is their vindication from me,"
declares the LORD. Isaiah 54:17

"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:16, 17, 20
Our pastor is fond of saying, “Folks, I’ve seen the end of the book and we win.” It’s true for we have victory in Jesus.

How about you? Are you on the winning team? You can be and Jesus wants you to be. Surrender your life to Him today. Repent of your sin today in heartfelt prayer. Confess your need for the Savior and ask Him to come into your life. Celebrate victory in Jesus.

God Bless!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Righteousness Through Faith

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Romans 3:21-22
The law made man aware of his sin. Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, a man is convicted of sin and drawn to the Father through the Son. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him”, John 6:44a.

How does the Father draw men to Him? He does this through the work of the Holy Spirit. In telling His disciples of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said the Holy Spirit would “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment”, John 16:8b.

The work of the Holy Spirit is to guide men to the truth of God, convicting them of their sin and their need of the Savior. Acceptance of the truth of God, response to the conviction of sin and the realization of their need for a Savior, brings men to salvation in Christ Jesus—righteousness through faith to all who believe. Adrian Rodgers said, “The law says you must earn salvation, while the Gospel says salvation is a gift.”

Have you received the gift of salvation? If not, do so today. Stop; pray—repent of your sin and confess your need for a Savior. Ask Jesus to come into your life; He’s waiting for you.

God Bless!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Taste and See

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Psalm 34:8
Eden=God's perfect world.
Sin=mankind's fall.
Jesus Christ=redemption.

The entire theme of the Bible is redemption and restoration. In the Old Testament, Jesus Christ is predicted; in the Gospels, He is revealed; in the Acts, He is preached; in the epistles, He is explained; in the Revelation, He is expected. AMEN!

God seeks an intimate, personal, loving relationship with you. He is calling your name; are you listening; are you answering His call? Taste and see that the LORD is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.

God Bless!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Purposeful Hand of God

"This is what the LORD says to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
so that gates will not be shut:
I will go before you
and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
I will give you the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me", Isaiah 45:1-5,NIV
God uses those who do not know Him to accomplish His purpose. The above text references Cyrus (the Persian; mentioned in the Old Testament books of 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Isaiah, and Daniel). Even though Judah would be taken into captivity they would be preserved and the walls of Jerusalem and the temple would be rebuilt under the order of Cyrus.

In Isaiah 46:9-10, God declares that He is a God like no other for He knows everything from the beginning of time to the end of time and He says in verse 10: “My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”

The children of Israel, while they have suffered greatly (e.g., WWII), they will never be completely annihilated; there will always be a remnant. God, the Creator, has declared it and so shall it be; His word always stands.

God’s perfect purpose is always accomplished in His perfect timing. God’s revelation “will certainly come and will not delay” and “the righteous will live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:3-4). Amen.

God Bless!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

God the Father

Do not withhold discipline from a child;
if you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
Punish him with the rod
and save his soul from death.
My son, if your heart is wise,
then my heart will be glad; Proverbs 23:13-15
As parents, in our eagerness to provide our children with all the best we sometimes forget character is built; not bestowed. How differently we teach our own children compared to how God teaches us as His children. However, as parents, we are certainly able to realize more fully the heartache God feels when we disobey Him.

Praise God for His love, His mercy, and His grace!

God Bless!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

God Always Cares

The good news is that God, the Creator of the universe, knows your thoughts and your needs and He cares for you; you never escape His notice. That is always true! What God has promised, He will do. Habakkuk 2:3 says this:
For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.
“Though it linger, wait for it.” Good things come to those who hope or wait upon the Lord. Most certainly this requires patience for God’s timetable is different from our own. We have grown up in an environment that literally worships instant gratification. But the truth is good things come to those who wait and this is most true when we are waiting upon the Lord.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31
God Bless!

Monday, September 20, 2010

The Author of the Universe

I enjoy reading the book of Isaiah. Mine you, I am not a Biblical scholar and depend on the notes of those who are when reading through the book. It is a book of extremes in that it describes the greatness of God but also describes the judgments of God.

Chapter 40 of Isaiah is one of those chapters which describe the greatness of our God. If you look at verses 12-18, you find a description of the enormity of our God in relation to Creation. Then through a series of questions in verses 13, 14, and 18, you have a description of the magnificent sovereignty of our God.

However, I want to focus on Isaiah 40:26 which reads,
Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
Our great God, the author of the Universe, knows each star by name! When I read this I was immediately drawn to the internet to do a search on, “How many starts are there?” Of course, the first thing I found was what you might expect—no one knows for sure. However, universetoday.com gave the following estimate:
Almost all stars in the universe are collected into galaxies. For instance, our own Milky Way galaxy seems to contain about 200 billion stars. On average, galaxies contain between 100 billion and 1 trillion numbers of stars. Now, how many galaxies are there? Astronomers estimate that there are approximately 100 billion to 1 trillion galaxies in the Universe. So if you multiply those two numbers together, between 10 sextillion and 1 septillion stars in the Universe. (http://www.universetoday.com/24328/how-many-stars/)
I hope you are as filled with wonder about this as I am. I am completely in awe of the fact that our great God, the Author of the Universe, the One who knows each star by name, loves me—knows me—even me—by name!

Do you know the One who knows you by name? Get to know Him today. He’s waiting for you, right now.

God Bless!

Friday, September 17, 2010

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17, NIV
Not only does the Lord have the whole world in His hands, but as the late Adrian Rogers has written, “He has the whole universe in His hands. He’s the one who spoke it into existence. He regulates it, He rules it, and He runs it.”

Make time today and everyday to offer praise to our Almighty God for His unspeakable love, mercy and grace, thanking Him for the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ who suffered and died on the cross, then rose again, conquering death that we might have life eternal. Amen!
I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.

For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
and let your glory be over all the earth. Psalm 108:3-5
God Bless!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

My Help Comes From the Lord

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
or seek help from the LORD. Isaiah 31:1, NIV
Judah had formed an alliance with Egypt to protect them from their enemies instead on relying on the Lord. They placed their trust and confidence in the strength of a worldly empire instead of placing their trust in the strength of the Lord.

Consider for a moment: reliance upon God—reliance upon worldly things; the two are mutually exclusive—they are contradictory in every way. To declare allegiance both to God and to the world is hypocritical.

This was true in the day of Isaiah and it is still true today. With whom does your allegiance rest?

The Lord fights for His people; there is no doubt about that. Verse 4 of Isaiah 31 portrays the LORD Almighty as a great lion coming to do battle on behalf of His people. Verse 5 says that like a bird hovering over and protecting it’s young the Lord will shield and defend His own.

I don’t know about you, but like the Psalmist:
I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2
God Bless!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Where Will You Be?

Last night I caught a glimpse of a teaser on the msn.com website. It was a list of searches on “end-of-the-world-theories”. There was also another list of searches on “end-of-the-world-myths”. I didn’t run either of the searches. I couldn’t be less interested in either search. Why? Because God’s word tells me all I need to know about the subject and most important of all; I know (that I know that I know) that my future is secure in Christ Jesus.

Do I know how the world will end or when it will end? No. Only God knows the answer to either of these questions. Why? Because He is the Creator and He is in control; always has been; always will be.

I did find the MSN teasers interesting however, because recently I have been reading through the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah tells of the invasion of Jerusalem and what the city would suffer at the hands of her enemies but it also records some very descriptive verses concerning the end of time.
Terror and pit and snare await you,
O people of the earth.

Whoever flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit;
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.

The floodgates of the heavens are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.
The earth is broken up,
the earth is split asunder,
the earth is thoroughly shaken.

The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion
that it falls—never to rise again.

In that day the LORD will punish
the powers in the heavens above
and the kings on the earth below.
Isaiah 24:17-21
Pretty frightening description isn’t it? Not to worry, however; for Christians, the end is victorious and verse 23 of the same chapter records,
The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed;
for the LORD Almighty will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before its elders, gloriously.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 assures Christians of where they will be at the coming of the Lord:
According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Where you will be when the end comes? Do you have the assurance of being with the Lord forever? If not, settle it today. Accept Christ as Lord and Savoir of your life today. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Stop what you are doing right now and pray—repent of your sins; confess Him as Lord of your life. He is waiting for you to open your heart to Him today. I pray that you do.

God Bless!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Spirit’s Work in You

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful”. John 15:1-2 NIV
The Holy Spirit works within us to live the life of Christ Jesus through us. Are you surrendering yourself fully to the working of the Holy Spirit? Is this evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
Our Heavenly Father is the creator and keeper of the vineyard. Jesus said He was the true vine and His Father, the gardener. We, as Christians, are the branches.

What is the work of branches? The work of the branches is to bare fruit. How? The branches bare fruit through the work of the vine through the branches. The vine is planted/rooted in the garden by the gardener/vine-keeper/husbandman…our great and awesome God.

Dr. Charles Stanley explains it this way: A grape branch doesn't bear fruit because of its determined efforts to get sunshine; rather, it simply abides in the vine, and fruit appears. The vine does all the work.

As branches, our job is to fully surrender ourselves to the working of the vine. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Amen! God Bless!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Be Ye Doers of the Word; Not Hearers Only

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22, 25 NIV
James says that faith calls us to action; as Christians we are to be participates, not sideliners or benchwarmers.

Jesus says in John 13, verses 34 and 35:
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Please note—this is a command; not a suggestion. The result of love is action; love is not and cannot be passive.

The following is a thought I’ve borrowed from my pastor and I’m using it with some poetic license:

Sow a good thought; reap a good act. Sow a good act; reap a good habit. Sow a good habit, reap good character. Faith in action, my friends—that is what we should all be about and as James says, “…but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”

Be a blessing to someone today!

God Bless!

A thought from Max Lucado:
The sign of the saved is their love for the least . . .

No fanfare. No hoopla. No media coverage. Just good people doing good things. For when we do good things to others we do good things to God.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

You Ask Me How I Know He Lives

Then he said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest." Luke 9:48
He Lives Within My Heart. I love to feel the quickening of the Holy Spirit in my heart! When I stop to think about this, I find it unbelievably difficult to write about because I am so flooded with thoughts and emotions about the significance of knowing, without a doubt, that I am a child of God! That the indescribable, all-powerful Creator, Author of salvation would look down upon an unworthy, undesirable, creature like me…to consider me…to save me…through His unmerited mercy and amazing grace; accepted in the Beloved!

You too, can know and experience those same feelings. Have you, are you, searching for a love that satisfies; do you seek peace in a world of chaos? Look to Jesus. Accept Him today. Confess today your need of a Savior. Gather together all your wrongs and misdeeds and place them at the foot of the cross and leave them there; He is waiting for you to open the door of your heart to Him. Just go to God in heart-felt, sincere prayer. He will not disappoint. Don’t delay; do it now.

Dear God, Your word says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”, (Romans 10:13); I need and desire Your saving grace in my life; I don’t deserve it but I need it and I want it. I need Your forgiveness—I ask for the forgiveness only You can give. Please come and live within my heart today as Lord and Savior of my life. Thank you. Amen.