Faithful ? or Foolish ?

Psalm 85: 8
I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people.
But let them not return to their foolish ways.

When you read the word of God and you feel his presence alive in his words, that gives you peace. When you listen carefully to his words, you will hear him speak peace to your heart and mind. The word of God prompts us not to return to our foolish ways. It certainly would be foolish to return to our previous way of life after we have discovered his way of peace. Returning to any past fear or past insecurity after we have heard his words of peace would be a foolish thing to do. To hear the peaceful words of God and then close your mind and heart to the remembrance of what you just read would be considered foolish.

Notice that God's word says specifically that he speaks peace to his faithful people. It is by your faith in his words of life that you will find the peace your soul is longing for. It does you no good to hear his words or read his words if you not going to be faithful to obey his words. You must be faithful to accept his word as truth. To hear it, read it, believe it, and live it. That is being faithful to God. And in return for your faithfulness he will fill you with his peace.

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How much bread do you have?

Mark 8:1-10
(Jesus feeds four thousand people)
Please go and read the entire story for yourself... You will also be fed.

In Mark chapter 8 Jesus stated that he felt sorry for the people who were hungry in the wilderness. He told his disciples to feed them and they replied "How are we supposed to feed them out here in the wilderness?" Jesus reply is one that points to hope, it's an answer that gives us a clue as to what we should do when we feel hungry for more of God and feel far away from him. Jesus cares if we feel lost and hungry. Literally and spiritually. He cares if we are lost in the wilderness of our soul, or lost in the wilderness of our problems. He is showing us that we are never to far away for God to show up and help us. Jesus replied to his disciples question by simply asking them "How much bread do you have?"

Jesus is the bread of life. How much of his word do you have in you today? Yesterdays praise and yesterdays bible reading was sufficient for yesterday but what have you done to sustain your life in Christ today? When Jesus asked them how much bread they had, he wanted them to look at the blessings that surround them at that moment and not at the lack of something that was tormenting there minds.

The disciples told Jesus that they had 7 loaves of bread and Jesus took the 7 loaves and he thanked God for them.

This was his example to you and I  to look at what we have been blessed with and thank God for it and believe that he can and will supply all of our needs. Don't look at your situation with lack of faith or vision. Look at what God has already done and see in faith all that he can do.

Verse 8 states "They ate all that they wanted". How much do you want from the word of God? You can have as much as you want. Do you sometimes feel hungry to be closer to God and his word but yet you fill that void with television, music or sports? How many times have you felt the Spirit of God prompt you to read his words and yet you felt distracted to do something else?

You can have as much of God as you want and even have overflow just as there were 7 large baskets left over after everyone was finished eating.  You to can have overflow in your life. It's up to you. God is able to provide you with all you need and to have overflow but it's your choice to actually sit down and feed your soul the living bread of life.

Jesus solved four thousand individual problems in a matter of minutes simply by being thankful  for what God had already provided.

So let me ask you this question: How much bread do you have?

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Philippians 1:9-11 (Paul prays for the believers.)
"My prayer for you is that you will over flow more and more with love for others and at the same time keep on growing in spiritual knowledge and insight, for I want you to see clearly the difference between right and wrong and to be inwardly clean so that no one will be able to criticize you from now until our Lords return. May you always be doing good things which show that you are a child of God, for this will bring much praise and glory to the Lord."

Lets read this in a more personal way by replacing the word you with the name of someone that you want God to bless today.

Praying for others is a way of overflowing with love for them. What a wonderful way to build each other up and live a life that brings glory and praise to God.

Fill in the blank

My prayer for _____ is that he/she will over flow more and more with love for others and at the same time keep on growing in spiritual knowledge and insight, for I want _____ to see clearly the difference between right and wrong and to be inwardly clean so that no one will be able to criticize _____ from now until our Lords return. May _____ always be doing good things which show he/she is a child of God, for this will bring much praise and glory to the Lord.

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1Chronicles 14

Are you looking for Baal-perazim?

This is a story about a break through. It's about breaking out.
What holds you back? What causes you to fear to move forward? Fear is not from God because in his light you can see everything. Fear comes when you are in darkness and you can not see your enemy but you know he is there.  When you are living in darkness his movements are unknown to you and this  causes your imagination give him more power the necessary. But when you live in the light of the truth of the living God you can walk within his light and he will guide you and keep you from falling into a pit of fear and despair.

I read today in 1Chronicles 14 a story about  King David and in that story he asked God a question. He asked Him, "If I go out and fight them, (his enemies) will you give me the victory"?  And the Lord replied, "Yes, I will". 

So David did attack his enemy with the assurance that God Almighty was with him and would be his defender. As I read the account of this battle I became very excited when I saw what the name of the place was where the victory took place. The place was called " Baal-perazim" which means.... THE PLACE OF BREAK THROUGH!!!!!........

God has the victory set for you. Jesus Christ died to conquer fear, sin and death. There is nothing in this world that can stop you from receiving victory in your life. Your enemy... the devil is out searching for you, searching to steal, kill and destroy your relationship with God. He wants you to fear the battle, to fear the thought of loss. He is out to take from you your peace of mind, your family, your finances, he is even out to steal your faith. If he can stop you from believing without seeing then he has made great progress toward binding you in fear.

We need to be like David. God called David a man after His own heart. We need to do as David did when he knew his enemy was approaching. We need to ask for God to guide us through our time of trouble. We need to believe that God is God and to remember that the victory has already been won. The issue was settled when Christ died. If you have a battle with drugs, alcohol, sex, anger, laziness, or any other sin that stops or slows your relationship with God, then you need to go to the "Place of Break Through".  

Don't worry, your not the one that does the breaking through, God is........ but you are the one who must carry the shield of Faith. All that is required of you is to walk by faith and God will make a way for you when all seems hopeless. You must keep that shield of Faith in the forefront of your mind because that is where your enemy the devil likes to tread. You need keep your mind clear and focused on the Living True Words of God and not on the dying, lying words that come from the father of lies. AKA.... the devil.
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YUCK!

Ecclesiastes 10:1
"Dead flies will cause even a bottle of perfume to stink! Yes, a small mistake can outweigh much wisdom and honor."

Wow..... that's pretty bad. Do you see a comparison? I do. I see that we who are created in the image and likeness of God are as beautiful in his sight as a fresh fragrant perfume, but when sin enters we start to die. Asking God to forgive you of your sin is a way of renewing your freshness.  God's word tells us that a small mistake can outweigh much wisdom and honor. We who are saved have a responsibility to live as children of the light. God gives each of us  wisdom  through the gift of his Holy Spirit and it is an honor to carry that wisdom to a dying world. The problem is that as ambassadors of Christ we must be careful in the decisions and choices we make because the world is watching us. Most of the time they watch for us to make a mistake because they believe that we are all hypocrites anyway.

Don't take lightly your duty to represent Christ. Before you walk out your door in the morning you better be ready to choose right from wrong so that you don't dishonor God. People who know you as "the Christian" can be mislead into thinking that Christianity is not much different then the worlds view if they see you acting worldly. As a child of the living God you are beautiful in his eyes. If you make a mistake, ask for forgiveness. But what ever you do....... don't stink up this world with your small minded selfish ideas that lead you into sin.

I looked up the definition of stink weed just to see how it was described. You know what it said? It said "The plant has an unpleasant odor, particularly when the leaves are crushed".  Now that says a lot.... it says that sin in its self is bad, but when you allow it to crush your inner soul, the smell of death gets worse.

Have you ever noticed that when you come to the cross roads of a decision that you should not be entertaining anyway that  you find yourself feeling a little bad about the compromise your about to make? But... it kind of really does not seem so bad?....  Until you do it! Then you realize that you fell into sin worse then you thought it was going to be.

Now..... back to the flies and the perfume. When is the last time you saw just one fly hovering over something dead? You didn't, because flies.... like sin, swarm in when something is dead or dying. When you start to think about compromising...... the devil swarms in just like those awful flies and he tries to get you to sin so that he can laugh at God and enjoy seeing one of Gods beautiful people fall.

Because sin separates us from God we must be aware that every bad decision has a bad consequence. If you have to think twice about doing something......  it's probably not right because truth is easy to see and you never have to think twice about it.

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2 Timothy 2:9
Gods word is not chained

After reading  2 Timothy 2:9 I got a picture in my head of a church with a chain around it and on the end of the chain was a bible that was hooked to it and flying high above the steeple but not going out into all the world.

This is an example of people who go to church every Sunday but don't take the word of God with them through out the rest of the week. They are Sunday Christians. They are keeping the word of God chained to the building instead of taking it into every day of their life.

But God said that his word is not chained. If you don't  let God use you he will use someone else. If you are a Sunday Christian, God can not use you to be a blessing to others and you yourself will begin to feel chained by the problems of this world. Keeping the word of God chained to one day a week will cause you to fail to become all that he has created you to be.

If the word of God is only available inside a church building it becomes chained and confined to those in the building. But what about those people who don't enter the building? What about those who have been offended and hurt by those who sit inside that building? The word of God can not be chained to a building, it must go freely into all the world so that it can reach the hearts of the hurting, the desolate, and the lonely who are living in darkness and don't know that there is a light that can free them from their lack of knowledge. The knowledge that Jesus Christ loves them, the knowledge that God loves the sinner not the sin. The knowledge that forgiveness is for everyone with no exclusions.

We as believers must take the word of God from the building into all the world. You can have church while having lunch with a friend, or while standing in the check out line at the store. Having church means that you are using all your God given ideas to rely a message of hope to those around you. You can use your smile to lift someone's spirit who seems lonely or sad. You can give a compliment or extend words of blessing to a stranger.

Let us never be afraid to loose the word of God on a dying world. The rewards are eternal for them and for you.
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Mercy on the mockers

Luke 9:51-56
As the time drew near for his return to heaven he moved steadily onward toward Jerusalem with an iron will. One day he sent messengers ahead to reserve rooms for them in a Samaritan village. But they were turned away! The people of the village refused to have anything to do with them because they were headed for Jerusalem.
When word came back of what had happened, James and John said to Jesus, "Master, shall we order fire down from heaven to burn them up?" But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went on to anther village.

Gods word tells us that Jesus moved steadily with an iron will toward Jerusalem. Jesus is our greatest example of how to live and how to be pleasing to God. Jesus knew his goal was to enter Jerusalem so that he could fulfill his purpose in life which was to give his life in trade for the sins of the world.

James and John knew that Jesus was God who came to earth in human form so that he could set free all those who are imprisoned by sin. Because James and John knew the truth and had been set free from the darkness that used to linger in their souls they wanted everyone to experience that same freedom and it frustrated them to see people respond in ignorance when the truth was standing right in front of them.

The blissfulness of walking in the light with the Light of the world among them caused them to respond with quick anger to those who were rejecting the freedom Jesus had to offer.  It makes no sense to refuse freedom when it is being freely offered. John and James wanted to call fire down from heaven and destroy that town  when they refused to accept Jesus. They were offended by the peoples reaction to reject the truth that Jesus came to save them.

Jesus response was quite different then that of James and Johns. Jesus never changed his focus no matter who was denying him. He turned and rebuked his disciples for thinking about vengeance instead of mercy. It was mercy that was leading him to the cross. Jesus had mercy on the mockers.

Perhaps this was the thought on Jesus mind as he continued his walk to Jerusalem:

I know my mission, I know I have my reasons. I came from heaven and there I know I will return. You my followers are thinking with the mind of man.... Stop!.... Don't you remember that I split the atom before Adam was created?
That I broke the dark silence with my voice and life erupted with choice.

I have mercy on the mockers because I know how small minded they really are, for if they would only extend a hand upward they would see that glory falls when praise arises.

I know who I am, now you must know who you are. You are all that I say you are. You are made in my image and likeness, you are victorious and you are blessed beyond expression. You are a child of the living God created to praise him from here through eternity.

Those who mock are following a different flock. Don't be angry. Have mercy, have pity and pray for those who mock that someday they to will answer the knock.
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Colossians 3:12-14

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowances for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.

When you get up in the morning your clothes do not just get on you automatically. You have to choose what you want to look like that day and then put on your choices. It is the same for this list that we are given here in the book of Colossians. We must choose to put on love, to put on mercy and kindness and we must choose to put on gentleness and patience. Notice that these things are listed as something that we should clothe ourselves in, something that we can choose to do. But look what is said about forgiveness. Forgiveness is not so much seen as a character trait to put on as a choice, but it is given as a command. The word of God says that we MUST forgive others and that we should never forget how much God has forgiven us.

Daily we must choose to put love on our hearts and minds. The word of God says that it is love that binds us all together. So when you clothe yourself with these character traits of God you must remember that he will draw us all together with his love. Don't worry if everyone else is not listening to what God says to do, that is not your concern. It is your concern to do as God expects you to do.

Daily you must choose to put mercy on your mind. Because there will be times when you feel tempted to show no mercy toward others. You need to remember that if you refuse to show mercy, mercy will not be shown to you.  You will be forgiven with the same measure that you forgive others. You must choose to put kindness, gentleness and patience on your mind and heart when you find yourself in the mood to make a judgment against someone.

Love is the belt of truth that keeps us walking in harmony. The truth of love keeps all the other character  traits in there proper place, for it is love that binds us together and reminds us that we are one in the body of Christ. Without the belt of love we would slip into a condemning judgmental attitude  when we see our brother fall. But when the truth of love is wrapped around you, you are able to help your brother find his way back when he falls. If you are slipping and tripping by not living the way God expects you to live then how can you expect to help anyone else who is falling away from the Lord and his glorious light?

In James chapter 1 verse 5 we are told to ask for wisdom if we need it and God will give it to us. Do you notice how we are told to put on this list of character traits of Christ but when it comes to wisdom God tells us to ask for it and he will give it to us. Wisdom is not an action that we can take on our own, it is a blessing given from above to help us measure our thinking and our hearts. Wisdom is given as a gift that allows us to see more clearly through the eyes of Christ. Wisdom allows us Gods view of a situation. When you clothe yourself with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness patience and love, having Gods wisdom will insure that you don't overlook an opportunity to be the person God created you to be. With these character traits of Christ alive in you and with his wisdom allowing you to see what he sees, you begin to understand why it is love that binds us together. With out love you are nothing. Wisdom is the accessory that makes us completely able to be pleasing to God. Without his wisdom we stand as fools in the face of the almighty.

Gods wisdom is a magnifying glass that shows us his love, his mercy, his gentleness, his kindness, patience and humility. For we should never forget that Jesus Christ is God and he humbly left his throne in heaven to become a human being just like you so that one day when you needed to know that he understands how you feel, he could say yes he does and that he brought with him all the love in heaven down to earth to show you the way to have eternal life with him.

So just remember that God didn't put you here just to leave you wandering alone and helpless. He placed you here on his earth with a purpose and for a season in time. He gave you ten laws to live by and a list of his character traits to follow. And he offers his wisdom and insight if you ever need to see more clearly what it is that he expects of you. So make sure to put on the right clothes. Don't wear any attitude that would be offensive to God and make sure to magnify his love to everyone you meet today.

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Rambling thoughts from a busy mind.

I sit and reminisce at the table of the Lord.
No eye has seen no ear has heard what wondrous secrets the heavens behold. The bejeweled majesty of my King radiates light into my soul as I reflect on His goodness.
To sit in your presence and gaze at your wonders.......  O yes that is what I long to do all the days of my life.
It has been said that you cant be so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good.....  I understand that concept to the fullest but I long so urgently to just sit and be lathered in the luscious words of life that cleans my soul and my mind.

I have noticed that the more heavenly minded I become the more urgent my earthly missions seems to chase me. The more I know the more I want to tell it to others.  I think that I find it impossible to be of no earthly good. For it was of a purpose that I was created to walk this earth and do good.  To have no other God then Jehovah Jesus Christ on high as my savior and to love my neighbor as myself. That's my mission. No good comes from me except that of  which flows from Christ through me. There is true goodness that comes from swallowing the sweet song of my Saviors words. His sweetness in me draws others to want to taste and see what it is I have found...  kind of like I rub off on others who get to close because they were attracted to the sweetness.... not my sweetness,..... for I am nothing with out Him. But the way that I am able to become more and more like Him in the presence of my enemies does truly amaze me. For when I am weak He is strong, when I am tempted he guards my thoughts.
I'm not patting my self on the back.......  I'm just stating a fact that all who follow Christ with a renewed spirit become more and more like Him.

The funny thing is that the closer I get to Jesus the more the world thinks I'm useless ....LOL  ..... I think that's funny.
They see me as useless because I am no longer able to support their way of thinking, no longer able to laugh at what they think is funny and they certainly don't agree with me on the fact that one day every knee will bow every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Ya.... that really gets em going when I tell them they can freely choose now or they can wait till they are in the presence of all that is Holy and when they see that they were wrong they will bow their knee and they will confess that Jesus is Lord of all.

Come to think of it...........  I really enjoy being different..... I always wondered why God would make a salmon to fight his way to swim up stream and then die after such a long hard struggle...... but I can kind of relate to that.... Why swim in an ocean with no purpose when you can swim in a stream full of obstacles that make you swift in your thinking and make you stronger as you go.?  As I swim in the opposite direction from the vast majority of the worlds way of thinking, ....who refuses to find their true God given purpose.... I find it quite fulfilling to fight my way into my Lords arms.  The thing is ......  the farther you swim up stream the more you start to realize how much more fun life is in that stream instead of just floating in the vast deep lonely waters waiting to die and not knowing for what purpose you were created.

Ok.... I'm done for now...lol.....  

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