Last summer, me and my wife took a trip to Virginia. We were on a tight budget, so we carefully planned for the trip, not wanting to spend a cent more than necessary. The wife packed meals for us to each every day. We stayed in a nice hotel, but ate all their meals in our room. At the end of the week, as they checked out of the hotel, we learned that the hotel had been offering a special that week--lunch at the hotel restaurant had been included in the price of the room!!!! Are you kidding me?? We had missed out on having free lunches because we were unaware of the resources that was available to us.
Many Christians live their lives the same way. They've never considered the resources that are available to them in Christ, so they fail to take advantage of the privileges that belong to them. The result? They live like non-believers......
As Christians, we have some wonderful privileges that are available to us. God has give us the Holy Spirit. And He comes and dwells inside us and gives us power, peace, and all the resources we need to get through the day.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
What is fear?
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." -2 Timothy 1:7
If you want victory, you must expose the place of your doubts and fears. Many of us are not willing to do that. The devil has intimidated so many of us that we hide our eyes from the Sonshine of God's Light. There is really nothing to be afraid of when it comes to the devil.
Do you know what fear is? It is False Evidence Appearing Real. You can be fooled by false evidence. Take a bank robber with his hand in his coat pocket pretending it is a gun. His power comes from the power of deception. His power is the power of fear! Friend, victory's arrows cannot be shot through closed windows.
Is there any area of your life that you have been unwilling to open the window on? Humbly turn your face to His light and give your fears to God.
If you want victory, you must expose the place of your doubts and fears. Many of us are not willing to do that. The devil has intimidated so many of us that we hide our eyes from the Sonshine of God's Light. There is really nothing to be afraid of when it comes to the devil.
Do you know what fear is? It is False Evidence Appearing Real. You can be fooled by false evidence. Take a bank robber with his hand in his coat pocket pretending it is a gun. His power comes from the power of deception. His power is the power of fear! Friend, victory's arrows cannot be shot through closed windows.
Is there any area of your life that you have been unwilling to open the window on? Humbly turn your face to His light and give your fears to God.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
What is on your face?
"For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." -Acts 4:20
Somewhere in California during the gold rush of 1849, the story is told of two gold miners who struck a particularly rich vein of gold one day. They decided not to tell anyone else, so they could keep it for themselves. They went into town to get better equipment to mine the gold, but when they left scores of people followed. Their jubilation was written all over their faces.
Is what is in your heart written all over your face? Oh, how I pray each person reading this today will not hide what they have found in Jesus Christ. I want people who see you today to say, "I don't know what is going on with her, but I want what she has. I want what he has." The gift of salvation is for you, but it is also for others to behold and desire in you.
Somewhere in California during the gold rush of 1849, the story is told of two gold miners who struck a particularly rich vein of gold one day. They decided not to tell anyone else, so they could keep it for themselves. They went into town to get better equipment to mine the gold, but when they left scores of people followed. Their jubilation was written all over their faces.
Is what is in your heart written all over your face? Oh, how I pray each person reading this today will not hide what they have found in Jesus Christ. I want people who see you today to say, "I don't know what is going on with her, but I want what she has. I want what he has." The gift of salvation is for you, but it is also for others to behold and desire in you.
Monday, February 13, 2012
The Son of the living God
"....We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." -John 6:69
Jesus Christ is a fact of history. All secular historians who have any merit admit that regardless of what they believe about Him, Jesus lived!! There is no way to explain that the Christian Church exists apart from the fact that Jesus Christ was here.
What did the early church preach? Not only that Jesus was here, but that He walked out of the grave. How do you explain that? Somebody said, "Well, they must have made up the story. They just said they touched Him, they said they ate with Him." Oh? We're talking about men who died for their faith. Do you think they would willingly, knowingly die for a lie?
Are you willing to die for the cause of Christ? This man who died for you--are you willing to die for Him?
Jesus Christ is a fact of history. All secular historians who have any merit admit that regardless of what they believe about Him, Jesus lived!! There is no way to explain that the Christian Church exists apart from the fact that Jesus Christ was here.
What did the early church preach? Not only that Jesus was here, but that He walked out of the grave. How do you explain that? Somebody said, "Well, they must have made up the story. They just said they touched Him, they said they ate with Him." Oh? We're talking about men who died for their faith. Do you think they would willingly, knowingly die for a lie?
Are you willing to die for the cause of Christ? This man who died for you--are you willing to die for Him?
Friday, February 10, 2012
Can God save you?
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." -Romans 10:9
Have you ever done something so awful that you are serving or have served time in prison? Maybe you murdered someone, abused a child, embezzled money, or raped someone. To many, you are a heinous criminal and the judicial system has declared that you have no redeeming value to humanity. Well, I am here to tell you, God can change all that. God says, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). Every blur, every blemish, every stain that ever came upon your soul can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
Jesus said, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Jesus will save you if you ask Him.
Have you ever done something so awful that you are serving or have served time in prison? Maybe you murdered someone, abused a child, embezzled money, or raped someone. To many, you are a heinous criminal and the judicial system has declared that you have no redeeming value to humanity. Well, I am here to tell you, God can change all that. God says, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). Every blur, every blemish, every stain that ever came upon your soul can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
Jesus said, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Jesus will save you if you ask Him.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
God is concerned with you
"O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me." -Psalm 139:1
God sees everything you do. God knows all about you. God loves you. It is an amazing thing that the Lord would feel this way about any of us, when we are smaller than a grain of sand compared to the universe He has created.
There is no more reason for God to be interested in us, than for the President of the United States to be interested in an ant floating on a piece of cheesecake in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And yet, God is interested.......very interested. The sun that stays in the sky and warms the earth will ripen a bunch of bananas like it has nothing better to do. In the same way, the Almighty God runs the universe and is concerned about you as though you were His only concern.
God sees everything you do. God knows all about you. God loves you. It is an amazing thing that the Lord would feel this way about any of us, when we are smaller than a grain of sand compared to the universe He has created.
There is no more reason for God to be interested in us, than for the President of the United States to be interested in an ant floating on a piece of cheesecake in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And yet, God is interested.......very interested. The sun that stays in the sky and warms the earth will ripen a bunch of bananas like it has nothing better to do. In the same way, the Almighty God runs the universe and is concerned about you as though you were His only concern.
Friday, February 3, 2012
The Resurrection
"Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justificatin." -Romans 4:25
There was a skeptic who was talking with a little girl one day. She love the Lord Jesus with all of her heart. He was trying to shake her faith and he said, "Young lady, Christianity is not the only religion, you know. There are plenty of religions in the world. There are plenty of Christs. Which Christ do you believe in?"
She thought for a minute and said, "I believe in the One who was raised from the dead." AMEN! That's the One I believe in, too! The death of Christ on the cross without His resurrection cannot save you.
If Christ died on the cross and that is all that happened, then Jesus was just one more religious leader. Do you know what the proof positive is that God accepted His payment for sin? He raised Him from the dead. If Jesus is still in the grave, your hope of Heaven is not worth half a hallelujah.
Why not celebrate this week by remembering the powerful promise of His resurrection, replenishment, and restoration?
There was a skeptic who was talking with a little girl one day. She love the Lord Jesus with all of her heart. He was trying to shake her faith and he said, "Young lady, Christianity is not the only religion, you know. There are plenty of religions in the world. There are plenty of Christs. Which Christ do you believe in?"
She thought for a minute and said, "I believe in the One who was raised from the dead." AMEN! That's the One I believe in, too! The death of Christ on the cross without His resurrection cannot save you.
If Christ died on the cross and that is all that happened, then Jesus was just one more religious leader. Do you know what the proof positive is that God accepted His payment for sin? He raised Him from the dead. If Jesus is still in the grave, your hope of Heaven is not worth half a hallelujah.
Why not celebrate this week by remembering the powerful promise of His resurrection, replenishment, and restoration?
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Step out!
"Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love him?" -James 2:5
Perhaps there is a decision you need to make today, but you don't know what to do. Friend, let me tell you the way to find what God wants for you. Take hold of the Lord with both hands and in faith, tell Him, "sink or swim, live or die, once and for all, now and forever, I'm going for You, God."
John Dryden, the famous English poet, said "Reason saw not, till faith sprung the light." Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, "Faith goes up the stairs that love has made and looks out the window which hope has opened." You don't know what God can do through you until you step out in faith.
Perhaps there is a decision you need to make today, but you don't know what to do. Friend, let me tell you the way to find what God wants for you. Take hold of the Lord with both hands and in faith, tell Him, "sink or swim, live or die, once and for all, now and forever, I'm going for You, God."
John Dryden, the famous English poet, said "Reason saw not, till faith sprung the light." Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, "Faith goes up the stairs that love has made and looks out the window which hope has opened." You don't know what God can do through you until you step out in faith.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." -Colossians 2:8
Jesus never approved of putting the traditions of men above the Word of God (see Mark 7:1-13). What about you? Are you willing to change your life in order that God may use you or had you rather hold on to your traditions?
There are 3 qualities, which i believe every Christian should exhibit: availability, expendability, and adaptability. We need to be walking with the Lord so closely that we ought to be ready to witness at a moment's notice.
It is God's ability and your availability. It is His power and your personality. It is His work and your witness. That's God's plan!!
Jesus never approved of putting the traditions of men above the Word of God (see Mark 7:1-13). What about you? Are you willing to change your life in order that God may use you or had you rather hold on to your traditions?
There are 3 qualities, which i believe every Christian should exhibit: availability, expendability, and adaptability. We need to be walking with the Lord so closely that we ought to be ready to witness at a moment's notice.
It is God's ability and your availability. It is His power and your personality. It is His work and your witness. That's God's plan!!
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