Abundant: plentiful, sufficiently enough, overflowing

I have been on a journey with Jesus, on this journey there have been times when I have wanted to quit, thinking I could not go on, things never appear to get any better. Knowing that the enemy is always attempting to tempt me to give up, and in doing that I would become useless to the kingdom of God. Yet, each time the enemy would strike the Holy Spirit would rise up within me to remind me of all His many promises, and encourage me to keep moving forward. Well lately I have said "Lord I don't see the abundant life in me!" So we went on a journey to allow His word to once more reveal Himself to me and allow His word to show me who I am in Him. Not who I think I am, not who the enemy says I am, and not who others say I am. I am a child of the King, I am more than a conqueror, I am a branch attached to the vine and abiding in Him, therefore my life is not based on anything other than Him. So here is the journey we took together, as He enlightened me through His word. May it help one of you.

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 might have it more abundantly.

Who is the thief? The devil, he desires that we remain dead, empty, of no kingdom use. For the unbeliever he spreads his lies, "you have time", "it is not real", "you are good enough".

For the believer he speaks deception: "it is impossible", "no one really cares","you are not good enough","give up, quit, where is God?"

The enemy brings in fear which is the strangler of faith, he will attempt to kill the anointing God has placed in us by speaking doubt, which is unbelief, he will attempt to destroy our ministry by causing us to give up and quit.

I see that, I understand that,  yet right now I cry out "where is this abundant life?" each day, each week I struggle just to keep my head above the persistent waves.

So I must look at what is this life we have been promised. Our eternal life is not somewhere far in the future it is right now, the very moment we accepted the invitation of Jesus Christ for salvation my eternal life began. I like the NLT version it says "a rich and satisfying life". Too many thing "Money" when they think "Abundant"  yet I learned years ago, that has nothing to do with "Money". So I asked "Lord what does the abundant life look like? The scripture below was the first one to come to my mind:

Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.  I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Right now I am seeing John 10:10 in the spiritual with kingdom purpose. Though the enemy can attack us physically, and at times he will, his goal is to affect our inner man. Remember in the book of Job; the devil attacked Job in every area for one purpose to get Job to "curse God". He continues to do that today. Yet Christ Jesus our Lord came to bring life, to free us from the yoke of bondage to sin, to reconcile us to God the Father.

Life is the opposite of something that is dead.

Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins

Though our bodies were alive, before Christ we were spiritually dead His Holy Spirit brought life to our dead spirit, regenerating us. Now what was once dead to the things of God are made alive.

At times in my inner man I can say "My cup runneth over" I am so full of God's word, of God's presence and of God's blessings I don't know how I could take in anymore. Then He empties me and once more I become hungry for His word, for His presence and for His blessings. Yet whether I am full or empty I must be as Paul and be content. How can I be content when I am empty, you may ask? I can be content because I know that He is filling me again, that more of self will be gone, and I will be used by Him for His kingdom purposes.

Still asking the Lord, but Lord what does a person walking in the abundant life look like? Immediately His Holy Spirit brought a post my friend made this morning on Facebook.

John 15:5,8 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 8. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples. 

So here is what I have found: No matter what the circumstances of life might bring my way. My life in Christ Jesus my Lord is greater and more abundant than what may be happening around me. Contentment is not found in my circumstances it is found in His presence. Remaining in (abiding in) Jesus Christ keeps me attached to the Vine and in the care and presence of the watchful eye of the Vinedresser, God the Father. Our abundant life becomes visible to all around us by His fruit that we bear. And He desires we bear much fruit.

The end!!

WE MUST EXAMINE OUR HEARTS TO SEE WHERE WE STAND WITH JESUS

Sometimes as I read news articles and read comments other people write and some posts people place on Facebook. I think Lord can they not see You? So many people all around the world say "I am a Christian, I believe", yet do they live it, are they sold out to Jesus. I remember when I first became a Christian, I thought I was sold out to Jesus yet when the trials of life came I learned I wasn't. So I began my journey of running as far from God as I could get, yet I could not hide. He kept pursuing me until I turned from the direction I was running and ran back to Him, and because of knowing what I ran to (the world) I can now say NEVER AGAIN! So I understand Christians can get caught up with the world, it takes time to mature in the Lord and I still have not reached maturity. How do I know you ask? Because life and people can still upset me, but I am still growing even in these areas (smiling).

So why this blog on this subject? Because I believe we are living in the latter days, and I see the falling away of the church, the deceptions of the enemy that come to distract the true believer and to convince those who think they are saved, yet not, that they are okay.

This blog is not to point out all that is going on around us but to ask and examine what is going on in us.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart.

When we pray this verse over our lives we are asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of who we are to us. To convict us of our sins.

Talking about taking the communion meal Paul writes: 1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Galatians 6:4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone,  and not in another

It is a good thing for us to ask the Lord to examine our heart intent and to reveal our heart intent to us and at the same time it is a hard thing. We are in that moment laying ourselves before the Lord removing our masks, that we may put on before family and friends. We are placing ourselves on His altar and asking the Lord consume what is not of You and purify what is of You.

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Reading God's word is a mirror that God uses to show both who He is and who we are. Sometimes we may say "Lord I need a revelation." Yet what we actually need is a fresh revelation and a greater revelation of Him and of His word. What I mean by these two things is at times when life is coming at us we will forget in the dark what we learned in the light and we need to be reminded again of the revelation we already had. A greater revelation will bring a complete revelation. Example: when Lazarus died his sisters had a revelation of one day their brother would be resurrected from the dead and when Jesus raised Lazarus that day they had a greater revelation of Jesus when He said "I am the resurrection and the life". At times I will be reading the scriptures of something I thought I knew and then suddenly as if a light bulb went on, I had a greater revelation of what that scripture meant.

Then there is prayer. How would describe your prayer life? Prayers are not just for certain people in the church, but are for everyone. Our Lord doesn't just want to hear from us when we are desperate and He is our last resort. He wants to spend time with us, listening to us as we pour out our heart, as we seek Him for direction. Too often we pray and then jump up and start doing whatever, yet God still wants more of our time He wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit. But one thing we must guard against is hearing something said that does not line up with His word and believing we got a word from God. If you believe God has given you a word and it lines up with His written word then write it down, for God will keep His word, His promise to you, in His timing not ours.

Oh and fellowship, so many lack fellowship. To understand biblical fellowship we must first understand what it is not.

2 Corinthians 6:14-16 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial (Satan)? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God....

God and believers can not align themselves with religions that do not believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We can not come into agreement with them because they worship a false god and the scriptures show us over and over again that the children of God can become caught in the snare of the devil through these cult religions. The scriptures teach us that our God is a jealous God He will not share the worship that belongs only to Him with any other god.  In the eyes of God there is no "coexist".We cannot have biblical fellowship with unbelievers, yes we are to love them and always be kind to them desiring they come to Jesus. But they cannot be our best friends and our constant companions.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived" Evil company corrupts good habits."

So what is fellowship? It is the assembling together of believers who believe who Jesus is and what He has accomplished for us. We have a common goal lead the lost to Jesus Christ, serve with Him in His kingdom encouraging and inspiring one another in our Christian walk. We may differ on many other things but believing and walking in the love of God transcends the denomination barriers. Many who proclaim to be a Christian yet do not go to church nor appear to have any desire to go to church. Oh I have heard it said, "I have nothing to wear, it is my only day off, there are hypocrites in the church, I don't like the music too old or too new,  don't like the preaching too much about sin or too little about sin, and some don't go because they have a religious spirit and think they know more than the pastors and are more knowledgeable than the other members of the body, so they sit in their comfortable chairs and thank God they are not like the others." Hogwash!! People just plain do not have a desire to go and will blame everything and everyone but themselves. A true believer will have a desire to be with other believers to worship together, to pray together and to encourage one another. Even in the years I spent running away from God I would think and even said "Oh to sit in God's house again." But I would not go because I preferred my sin more than I preferred my God.

In Joshua chapter 14 we are given an account of a man named Caleb over and over it says "I have wholly followed the LORD my God". This means he had given all of himself to God. I have had to ask myself "Lord have I given all I have of me to you?" Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is "to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength". This means we are to wholly follow the Lord our God.

The bible is His inspired word, written for every believer. I worded it that way because without the help of the Holy Spirit one cannot truly receive an understanding of His word. In fact the scriptures say it is foolishness to the natural man. One can memorize scripture and even acquire head knowledge but that is all it is. His word becomes alive in us when we begin to apply His word into our lives. This word is the standard of God that as a Christian we are to live by and not to deviate from, by compromising His standard with the world's standard. I know from  experience that not compromising my convictions concerning His word will even make other Christians turn against you. So be prepared.

So what about those who say "I am a Christian" yet nothing in their lifestyle or words reflect Jesus Christ? Then I say examine your heart, I had to, ask God to show you have you just not grown, have you backslide from Him, has your heart become so hardened that Holy Spirit has quit drawing with conviction, or did you just have an emotional experience with no conversion? That is between you and God I cannot judge your heart nor can I condemn you. I can observe one's life and recognize fruit. Here are two of the saddest scriptures I know:

Matthew 21: 22-23 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I  never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

It is one thing to know of Jesus and quiet another for Him to know us.

In Judges 16:20 the last part records that Samson says this: "But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him."

Every person must examine where they are with the Lord. He is all about relationship not religion, He desires that you walk very close to Him, attached to Him through salvation and abiding in Him every moment every day, that we will bear His fruit that will be seen to all we meet.

Some may say that I am a fanatic about Jesus and a bible thumper  but one thing is for sure they know whom I believe in and where I stand on His word.

WHERE DO YOU STAND?

Sometimes as I read news articles and read comments other people write and some posts people place on Facebook. I think Lord can they not see You? So many people all around the world say "I am a Christian, I believe", yet do they live it, are they sold out to Jesus. I remember when I first became a Christian, I thought I was sold out to Jesus yet when the trials of life came I learned I wasn't. So I began my journey of running as far from God as I could get, yet I could not hide. He kept pursuing me until I turned from the direction I was running and ran back to Him, and because of knowing what I ran to (the world) I can now say NEVER AGAIN! So I understand Christians can get caught up with the world, it takes time to mature in the Lord and I still have not reached maturity. How do I know you ask? Because life and people can still upset me, but I am still growing even in these areas (smiling).

So why this blog on this subject? Because I believe we are living in the latter days, and I see the falling away of the church, the deceptions of the enemy that come to distract the true believer and to convince those who think the are saved, yet not, that they are okay.

This blog is not to point out all that is going on around us but to ask and examine what is going on in us.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart.

When we pray this verse over our lives we are asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of who we are to us. To convict us of our sins.

Talking about taking the communion meal Paul writes: 1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Galatians 6:4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone,  and not in another

It is a good thing for us to ask the Lord to examine our heart intent and to reveal our heart intent to us and at the same time it is a hard thing. We are in that moment laying ourselves before the Lord removing our masks, that we may put on before family and friends. We are placing ourselves on His altar and asking the Lord consume what is not of You and purify what is of You.

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Reading God's word is a mirror that God uses to show both who He is and who we are. Sometimes we may say "Lord I need a revelation." Yet what we actually need is a fresh revelation and a greater revelation of Him and of His word. What I mean by these two things is at times when life is coming at us we will forget in the dark what we learned in the light and we need to be reminded again of the revelation we already had. A greater revelation will bring a complete revelation. Example: when Lazarus died his sisters had a revelation of one day their brother would be resurrected from the dead and when Jesus raised Lazarus that day they had a greater revelation of Jesus when He said "I am the resurrection and the life". At times I will be reading the scriptures of something I thought I knew and then suddenly as if a light bulb went on, I had a greater revelation of what that scripture meant.

Then there is prayer. How would describe your prayer life? Prayers are not just for certain people in the church, but are for everyone. Our Lord doesn't just want to hear from us when we are desperate and He is our last resort. He wants to spend time with us, listening to us as we pour out our heart, as we seek Him for direction. Too often we pray and then jump up and start doing whatever, yet God still wants more of our time He wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit. But one thing we must guard against is hearing something said that does not line up with His word and believing we got a word from God. If you believe God has given you a word and it lines up with His written word then write it down, for God will keep His word, His promise to you, in His timing not ours.

Oh and fellowship, so many lack fellowship. To understand biblical fellowship we must first understand what is not.

2 Corinthians 6:14-16 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial (Satan)? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God....

God and believers can not align themselves with religions that do not believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We can not come into agreement with them because they worship a false god and the scriptures show us over and over again that the children of God can become caught in the snare of the devil through these cult religions. The scriptures teach us that our God is a jealous God He will not share the worship that belongs only to Him with any other god.  In the eyes of God there is no "coexist". We cannot have biblical fellowship with unbelievers, yes we are to love them and always kind to them desiring they come to Jesus. But they cannot be our best friends and our constant companions.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived" Evil company corrupts good habits."

So what is fellowship? It is the assembling together of believers who believe who Jesus is and what He has accomplished for us. We have a common goal lead the lost to Jesus Christ, serve with Him in His kingdom encouraging and inspiring one another in our Christian walk. We may differ on many other things but believing and walking in the love of God transcends the denominational barriers and enable us to be in unity one with another. Many who proclaim to be a Christian and yet do not go to church nor appear to have any desire to go to church have a lot of excuses. Oh I have heard it said, "I have nothing to wear, it is my only day off, there are hypocrites in the church, I don't like the music too old or too new,  don't like the preaching too much about sin or too little about sin." Hogwash!! People just plain do not have a desire to go and will blame everything and everyone but themselves. A true believer will have a desire to be with other believers to worship together, to pray together and to encourage one another. Even in the years I spent running away from God I would think and even said "Oh to sit in God's house again." But I would not go because I preferred my sin more than I preferred my God.

In Joshua chapter 14 we are given an account of a man named Caleb over and over it says "I have wholly followed the LORD my God". This means he had given all of himself to God. I have had to ask myself "Lord have I given all I have of me to you?" Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is "to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength". This means we are to wholly follow the Lord our God.

The bible is His inspired word, written for every believer. I worded it that way because without the help of the Holy Spirit one cannot truly receive an understanding of His word. In fact the scriptures say it is foolishness to the natural man. One can memorize scripture and even acquire head knowledge but that is all it is. His word becomes alive in us when we begin to apply His word into our lives. This word is the standard of God that as a Christian we are to live by and not to deviate from, by compromising His standard with the world's standard. I know from  experience that not compromising my convictions concerning His word will even make other Christians turn against you. So be prepared.

So what about those who say "I am a Christian" yet nothing in their lifestyle or words reflect Jesus Christ? Then I say examine your heart, I had to, ask God to show you have you just not grown, have you backslide from Him, has your heart become so hardened that Holy Spirit has quit drawing with conviction, or did you just have an emotional experience with no conversion? That is between you and God I cannot judge your heart nor can I condemn you. I can observe one's life and recognize fruit. Here are two of the saddest scriptures I know:

Matthew 21: 22-23 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I  never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

It is one thing to know of Jesus and quiet another for Him to know us.

In Judges 16:20 the last part records that Samson says this: "But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him."

Every person must examine where they are with the Lord. He is all about relationship not religion, He desires that you walk very close to Him, attached to Him through salvation and abiding in Him every moment every day, that you/me will bear His fruit that will be seen to all we meet.

Some may say that I am a fanatic about Jesus and a bible thumper but one thing is for sure they know whom I believe in and where I stand on His word.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD

It has been awhile since I have posted on my blog, in fact this is my first post of 2016. As I was approaching the new year I kept hearing within me the words "Keep moving forward". I believe that is a God given word for me as I continue in my daily walk with my Lord Jesus Christ.

Many have labeled the difficult times in our lives with words and phrases like this: storms, valleys, storm is raging, valley is deep, I'm in a dark place, can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. But in fact the meaning is the same: life and circumstances have become so difficult we don't think we can bear anymore. For me in these times I find myself saying Jesus get me out of here.

Over the years God has often spoken very clearly to me during these turbulent times; I have heard Him say "I am looking for a people who will worship Me, serve Me, praise Me, give, the same in the valley as they do on the mountain top, You need to see it from My perspective I see the whole picture, here in the storm is where you become closer to Me, seek Me as your Provider, I am your Husband." Each time a word came it would lift me up and He would place me in that moment on the mountain top that I might find rest, be refreshed and comforted so that I could continue Moving Forward on our journey together; always preparing us for the next valley/storm. Will 2016 be different from the other years? There will always be storms and valleys in this life that will never change, but my response in that storm/valley is what God is changing in me. I heard the term recently "Embrace the Suffering with Joy" at the time I really liked the sound of it, (yet wondered if it would be possible) remembering my Joy is in Christ Jesus my Lord not in my circumstances and pain,  everything is only temporary including happiness. That which I hold on to is eternal my hope, my joy, my faith in Christ, my redemption, my heavenly home. Holding on to these keeps me moving forward, enables me to ride out the storm, enjoy the valley, and see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Colossians 1:24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, the church. (Paul understood suffering and welcomed it. To suffer as Jesus did for the church Paul was willing to suffer)

James 1:2 My brethren, (that's us) count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

Any time we find ourselves in a valley/storm, it is never meant to bring us harm instead it is to strengthen our faith and draw us nearer to Jesus. So hold on to Jesus He will take you to the other side. 

WHEN THE DARKNESS IS ALL AROUND US

It has been awhile since I have written in my blog, but this morning I thought I would try to get my thoughts organized. We all look around us and see the evil that is being spread throughout the world, wars, beheadings of Christians and even Muslims by ISIS, we see terror all around us and threats of terror. But then here in the United States, we continue to see how the people and government are falling away from the Word of God. This just didn't begin yesterday or even the past few years, it began in the 1960's. First of all came the removal of prayer and then the teaching of the Bible from our public schools, then came the passing of the law that gave women a right to abort their unborn babies. Colleges began to hire liberal professors that would promote the liberal ideology into the minds of our nations youth. Remember the how during the Vietnam war Americans began to burn their draft cards, burn the American flag, fled to Canada to avoid being called to war. A new slogan came in "Make love not war" and women were burning their bras, and love feast were occurring; many times in open places, pot smoking and drug abuse began to spread openly. A deterioration of moral and family values began.  Though I might not have exact dates and time frame I believe that we see the start began when God was removed from our young people through our schools. Everything I mentioned above was a byproduct of the result of removing God and the youth began to act as if there was no God. They had no Standard to judge themselves by; that Standard that we have is the Word of God, therefore they lived life as if there was no tomorrow, no respect for those in authority and no love for our country.

Lets fast forward to 2015, and these same young people are now holding positions of authority, some are even in government positions, some have become lawyers, judges, business owners. Some have not remained with the mindset they had as a youth and some have continued that same path they were on in the 60's and 70's. Homosexuality is not a new thing, why we saw it in the scriptures in Genesis with Sodom and Gomorrah (just a side note history tells us that it was the judges 4 to be exact in the cities of the plain that legalized homosexuality) because it has always been a part of the world's perversion of a man and woman's relationship; God even gives us instructions in His law on sexual morality:

Leviticus 18:22-23 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is a perversion.

In my lifetime and I am 67 years old, there was never any pride in anyone who practiced homosexuality, they kept it a secret because even to them it was a shame. Years later they began to come our of their closet (as the say) and open declare "I am gay", many in Hollywood revealed their secret and now in this year "Gay Pride" is promoted and encouraged. And now our judges on the Supreme Court of the United States of America have legalized gay marriage, and have attacked our religious freedom by declaring it doesn't matter what we believe; pastors, clergy and court officials must perform these wedding ceremonies.  In many states marijuana is being legalized and I am certain before too much longer it will be legal in all 50 states. 

 

 

We see a falling away from the word of God that our nation was founded on. Lifting up of self, lifting up pride, lifting up pleasure, lifting up sin and tearing down the word of God. So now that I have made all of us depressed, lets look at how we are to behave during this time.

John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in Me you can do nothing.

John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.(He tells us in verse 12 that His commandment is to love one another)

Colossians 3:1-2 If then you were raised with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

The only way to disperse darkness is to bring in the light. Jesus when He gave us His Holy Spirit gave us His light to be seen in us and through us. He has told us to remain or abide in Him that we can bear His fruit, He has told us that abiding in Him means we keep His commandments which He also tells us is to love one another. He has told us not to be troubled or afraid when we see the darkness that abides in the world, but to keep our focus on Him and not on the world. But for the most part does the church look like the light to those who do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?( I want to point out right here there are many morally good people who know of Jesus but are not known by Jesus because they have no real relationship with Jesus.) Many times the world sees us as finger pointers and name callers, and sin pronounce-rs. I have been given this a lot of thought, and though we are never to compromise the word of God, we are not the Holy Spirit and we cannot convict a lost person of their sin. What we are to do is just share the good news of Jesus Christ, why He came and what He has accomplished for us, share some testimony of how He came and changed us, we were all lost and dying, we were without hope, we were just as much a sinner as anyone else, but thank God that is in the past, we are found, we are alive, we have hope, we are now His saints. The greatest gift ever given was Jesus Christ, and the greatest act of love was given on a cross as Jesus Christ took the wrath of sin on Himself. So wouldn't showing our love for another be to tell them about just how much Jesus loves them just as they are?

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Now if we through the light of Christ have lead someone to the cross, the Holy Spirit will lay the conviction for repentance on their lives and will lead them through the cross. I have in this blog been speaking of those who are not believers and followers of Jesus Christ I have not addressed the issue of Christians who have falling away from the biblical truth of the word. 

So how do we respond to the darkness we see all around us? By being the true light of Christ and when we walk in the darkness will have to flee.

 

AN APPETITE FOR CHANGE

I haven't written in awhile, but today has been one of those days when the Lord has been speaking to me this whole day, and it helps me to put it in writing.

My heart has been burdened with the need for revival, so let me share with all of you what I have been learning. The word Revive means to bring back to life or consciousness, to restore, or to give new health, strength or spirit to.

Psalm 85:6 Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?

Revival begins with a hunger after God, a hunger for His righteousness, a hunger for His word, a hunger for prayer and His presence. Before we were saved we had an appetite or hunger for the things that would satisfy our bodies and souls. A hunger like Esau had for food to fill his empty belly a hunger he was willing to sell his birthright for. Then in the day of Jesus the rich young ruler, had a hunger for possessions he desired to fill his belly up with the riches of the world, then in the early church we see that Ananias and his wife Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit because they had a hunger for recognition, then we go on to see the sorcerer desired to buy the power of the Holy Spirit because he had a hunger for power. Our flesh is always saying "feed me" with things that satisfy our flesh. But our spirit is saying "feed me" with the things that satisfy my spirit.

As we dig deeper into God's word, as we go deeper in prayer and worship, our spirit man will begin to be filled with the things of God and not the things of self and we will find ourselves growing in the Lord. But the flesh is warring against our spirit because our flesh desires for its appetites to be fed, so we find ourselves surrendering more to the Father's will and resisting the appetites of the flesh. Unfortunately, too often Christians don't resist the appetites of the flesh and will fall into the trap of the enemy, his temptation to rely on the wrong source of food. Then we find ourselves in need of revival.

The Holy Spirit will begin to bring a strong hunger for the things of God, this hunger will cause us to press in and press through in prayer. Yet, along with this hunger will come an all out involvement in spiritual warfare and a burden for prayer.

Psalm 27:8 When You said, Seek My face. My heart said to You, Your face, LORD, I will seek.

The other day someone spoke this word "You have no need to speak to the mountain, because you are going to climb to the top". Many will immediately think of the scripture that says if we have the faith of a mustard seed we can say speak to the mountain and it will be moved into the sea. But that is not what this word is saying, because the Holy Spirit began to bring back scriptures and previous messages from my pastors. One of which was titled "The Climb" in this message it was about Caleb when they entered the promise land, he said "give me the mountain". In this message we were told that God was calling us to higher ground. In another message we were told how hard the climb would be and all the obstacles that would be in our way as we climbed but it would be worth the climb when we reached the top. Too many of us, get weary and give up, we think we will never be able to reach the top and we become to weary to battle the warfare that is attacking us.

Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

In order to answer the calling of God to move to higher ground, we must change our appetites, here lies the secret of revival. In order to be like Caleb we have to take the mountain by force, and when the lies of the enemy attacks our strength, our tenacity we just keep moving forward and upward one step at a time, because we are growing and maturing in the Lord and His kingdom, His righteousness will be what we hunger for and our fleshly appetites will become less and less.

Praise God!! If all who reads this begins to change their appetites, we will see revival break out everywhere within the body of Christ. Jesus said the world will know we are His disciples by our love for one another. Is the church showing the world love for each other, if we cannot love the brethren how can we love the lost? Change our appetite and hunger and thirst after His righteousness and allow the love of Jesus Christ within us to come through us as we love ALL.

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LESSONS FROM A CHILD

On January 4, 2015 I read of a plane crash in Kentucky with one survivor, a young girl of only 7 years of age. It is reading of this child's survival, that the Lord began to teach and review lessons I had learned over the past year. This is why I am writing this because this little girl was an example for every church and every Christian, she both encouraged me and she inspired me. So here is her story and my lessons.

Her father's private plane left Florida to head back home to Indiana, on board was her father, her mother, her 10 year old sister, and her 14 year old cousin. Then tragedy struck the plane went down in a wooded secluded area in Kentucky. The young girl was clothed only in shorts and t-shirt, was barefoot when she climbed out of an upside down plane to find her whole family had died from the crash. Many 7 year olds would have caved in and later died of exposure to the cold Kentucky air. Yet, not this one, suffering with broken bones and cuts and bruises, she made a make shift torch from the fire to the planes wing, as set out in the cold and dark to find a house with a light on, and find the help she needed. When I read her story, I saw such a determination in this child, that she did not let grief stop her, she did not let pain stop her, she did not let cold stop her, she did not let the darkness stop her, nor did she let the unknown stop her. She walked barefoot through a rough wooded terrine did not know where she was nor did she know where she was going, one thing she knew she had the hope of finding a light on, she walked 3/4 of a mile emerged from the woods to find a light on at a house. So what did this teach us?

This little girl had more determination to continue steadfast, moving forward than most Christians do today. Her goal was to find help, and she would not allow herself to be moved by what was happening around her, she pressed forward to find the light which would be her help. It is said that if she had walked in any other direction she would have walked farther to find a house. I do not know why tragedy struck this family, but I do know this God said "This child will not die today" and Jesus led her in the right direction to find help. That leads me to the next lesson she taught me:

I truly believe that God's grace alone spared her life and I believe He has great plans for this little girl, I believe He led her all the way through the woods in the direction she needed to go to find help. I also believe that God is a miracle working God and could have picked her up and placed her at the door of the house, yet He didn't. He was with her yet she still had to walk the path, and though she walked it suffering, He never left her. As Christians sometimes we think that just because we are walking the path God has placed us on, the path should be free of suffering, and yet, it isn't. Lesson for me is this: Just because I am in the will of God does not mean I am free of storms and life events that will bring suffering my way. That brings me to the next lesson this child taught me:

When her father taught her survival training, he never said to himself, "On January 3,2015 we are going to be in a plane crash and die, and she will have to know how to survive." Yet, the reality is that is actually what he prepared her for. Every test we take as a Christian God has already prepared us to take, His tests are not to bring us harm, they are to help us to walk and grow closer to Jesus, His desire is for us to pass the test. So embrace the test it is for our good. Next lesson for the body of Christ to learn:

The scriptures tell us we are the light set on a hill, that when the light of Christ is in us, His light will draw men to Him. The little girl was looking for a light because it was dark, can you imagine her sigh of relief when she came through the woods and saw a light at the house in front of her. She followed the light to the door where she knocked and help waited on the other side. Church we are to be the light that when the hurt, the lost, the desperate, the forgotten see us they know they have found a safe haven. The church is about healing, fellowship, loving, restoring one another and lifting up our Savior Jesus Christ, through worship of Him and Him alone.

What I learned and wrote above was not anything new, I have been learning these things for more than a year, but what she did for me was set an example that says "Remain steadfast, keep moving forward, hold on to the hope of the gospel." She encouraged me with her determination and caused me to examine my heart and my life. I hope this too will encourage all who read it.

Colossians 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.