HOLD ON HELP IS ON THE WAY

Have you ever been in the place where you knew you had to hold on, yet you really wanted to just let go. A place where the storm was coming so hard and so fast against you, you had called out to Jesus over and over again and yet, wondered if He was listening.  I have been in that place more often than I would like to say. In fact I believe I have written about it at some time or another in another post. But here I am again, faced with a storm, and really tired of going around this mountain one more time.

I have been working on a bible study about Guarding the Gateways to our Inner Man and have been praying in a prayer ministry at my church about pressing forward through the storm. And where do I find myself, you guessed it in the middle of a storm. The enemy sends his lies into my thoughts saying things like "You might as well give up, lay down and die, it will not get any better" I rebuke and rebuke declare the truth of God's word and yet, inside there is this little part of me who wants to just lay down and die. Have you ever been there? In fact to be very honest, I have been angry. Angry at my situation and angry at Jesus for not changing my situation, when I called out His name. I won't be typing a lot of scriptures but I will be sharing from scriptures that God is showing me on this journey through the storm.

In Matthew 8:23-27 an account is recorded of Jesus telling His disciples that they must go to the other side of the lake. Then He laid down an went to sleep while He was sleeping a storm came up and His disciples were struggling in the storm for they were sinking. Finally they woke up Jesus and He calmed the storm and then rebuked them for their lack of faith.

What I have always seen in this account is that Jesus made a promise in the beginning, His presence was with them, His peace was with them and He displayed his power when He calmed the storm. Yet friends when you find yourself in the middle of a storm; and we all have them, I become like the disciples and begin to scream out JESUS wake up do You not care that I am drowning. Surely I am not the only one who has felt this way.

I recently said, that I thought perhaps God was getting tired of my crying (that was a thought from the pit of Hell). But the Holy Spirit brought a verse in Luke 11:9-10 to my memory. The one that talks about keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. This is persistence and one I will continue to do. I will keep asking, seeking, knocking and will not give up.

In Deuteronomy 2:3 God told Moses: "You have skirted this mountain long enough, turn northward"

I love that verse. I said recently two things I desired to hear from my Lord. First is "Well done good and faithful servant" and the second is "you have skirted this mountain long enough" I understand that in this journey I am on God is teaching me areas that need His touch, areas in my life that are hindering my walk with Jesus, areas that I struggle with and perhaps my faith is weak in these areas or better yet I need to see through God's eyes and not my eyes. I have heard the expression that we need to soar above our storm the way an Eagle soars above storms. I realized apparently I didn't know how to soar above the storm I found myself in. So I inquired of the Lord, "Lord how do I rise above the storm?" He answered me saying "You are looking into the storm, in order to rise above the storm you must see it with My eyes." Can you guess my next question? "Lord how do You see my storm?" His answer "I see it as a place of trust, a place of faith and the place where I will be glorified."

I know all the truths of who I am in Christ. All the quotes to say to you and to myself when troubles arise. But in that moment, when the storm is raging, and the enemy is shooting his darts into your mind, when you are screaming out for Jesus to help and you don't see the help. In these moments you really don't want to hear the encouragement you really want to lay down and die. Yet the Holy Spirit rises up in you and speaks into your spirit and says "Hold on Help is on the way" It is this small still voice that makes you get up and keep going. Recently I was told and will share with you, "get up keep doing what is right and your faith will follow" That is a good word, yet the hardest thing to do is to get up when you want to lay down, keep going when you want to give up and HOLD ON when you want to let go.

So what am I learning on this journey with Jesus? To be content with who I am in Christ Jesus, to understand that Jesus is Enough in spite of the storm, to hold on, Jesus is sending my help. The problem is most of us are looking in the wrong place for our help. We are looking with our natural eyes and they see the impossible, yet we walk by faith and not by sight, so we need to see through the eyes of faith and expect God to take our natural and make it His supernatural. Look for it, Hold on, Help is on the way.

If you are looking for an online bible study check out www.lindagroberts.com

LIVING IN GOD'S GREAT LOVE

Someone asked recently "Explain God's love". As I reflected on this, I asked myself how do you explain such a great love as this. Oh some simple answers came to mind, yet none truly revealed the depth of His great love. You see as a Christian each day of my life is living in His great love. A love that forgives, a love that listens, a love that blesses, a love that chastises and so much more. So lets look at what our human finite minds can understand.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

Have you seen the sunrise in the morning? Have you seen the beauty of the changing colors of the leafs? Have you seen the waves washing on shore at the ocean? Have you seen the mountains and all their magnificent glory? Have you reached down and smelled a flower? Have you seen the smile of a child as they delight in the small things? Have you looked into the eyes of the one you love? Have you felt the rain on your back as you dashed to the car? All of this the creation of the world, the creation of the pets many of you love, the creation of human life all of this was God's love being poured out, the beauty of His creation is more than we can fathom. I could talk about the fall, the sin that entered this earth, the sin that corrupted the beauty of all He created. And that would take me to:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Do you see the two little words 'HE GAVE"? This is God Grace, His love being poured out from heaven to earth. How great a love that God would extend His grace to us as His Son, that we might have everlasting life. In Romans 5:8 it tells us that while we were still sinners God demonstrated His love for us by allowing His Son Jesus Christ to die in our place. (Now that is not a quote just what it means)

When I was in the middle of the pit, sinking deeper and deeper into my own sinfulness, not knowing how to save myself and not knowing who could save me. God in His great love and through His loving Grace extended His hand to me and cast me a life line. That life line I grabbed hold of was Jesus Christ. Very soon I will write of how His great love, grace and mercy has sparred me from death on more than one occasion, but not today I am still in the middle of something and must see more.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves it is the gift of God.

That grace that saved us, was His love for us. It is hard to imagine that as God watched Jesus the Lamb of God hanging on a tree, He thought about you and me. He turned for a moment because seeing mine and your sin on His Sinless Son was more than He could look at. That is when Jesus said "My God, My God why have You forsaken Me" This is the first and only time that Jesus did not refer to God as Father. You see my friends God's love for us was so great that He could forsake His Son so that we would not be forsaken.

So how can I being me begin to describe such a great love as this. I can't but this one thing I know I love Him because He first loved me. He continues to pour out His grace (love) into my life each and every day. People may get mad at me, people may even stop loving me, people may forsake me, people may hurt me. But not my God He never gives up on me, He never forsakes me, He never stops loving me, He loves me in spite of me. And I say thank You Jesus for Your great love, Your great grace has set me free from the bondage of sin and the bondage of people.

Looking for a bible study check out wwwlindagroberts.com When you go here to see all the studies not listed on the front page click on the Galatian Study and you will see all the others. Right now I am doing a study on Joseph you will find it in the Galatian area.

Be Blessed and know that you are Loved by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

AMERICA ! WHERE ARE YOU ?

I have been considering the times we are living in, the way our nation is turning more and more from our God and more and more the people are looking for the government to take care of them. As I was praying about this, the Lord began to speak a word into my spirit. That word is what I am going to write.

Going back to 1Samuel 8 and 9 we see the account of how the children of Israel were demanding a king to rule over them. You see God was their King, yet they desired to be like the other nations.

1Samuel 8:6-8 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." So Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7. And the Lord said to Samuel, "Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. 8.According to all the works which  they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day-- with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods --so they are doing to you also.

Then in the next few verses God told Samuel to tell the people the kind of king they would have and the heaviness their king would demand from them. Then after hearing the prophecy of the king they would have read these words.

1Samuel 8:18-20 And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day. 19. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said "No, but we will have a king over us. 20. that we also may be like all, the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.

So God said "Heed their voice, and make them a king". Back about 1975 or 1976 I heard the pastor at the church I worshipped at; say in a message in these passages "God gives the people the king/president they ask for" Well that is all I remember of his message but it has remained a part of me all these years. But last night the Lord took me back to these scriptures and here is what He was showing me.

When America was founded by men and women who had left England, looking for a land of freedom, a freedom to worship God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. They founded America on godly principles, based on God's holy word. Many today have been taught the lie that this is not true, they go back to saying that they wanted a separation of church and state among other things. That is a lie from the pit of Hell, my friend. What they wanted was not to have a religion rule over them and dictate the word to them according to that particular religion's belief. Sure they had their problems they didn't do everything as they should but do we?  At that time they fled from the Catholic tyranny that was taking place in England. Now people, I cannot give you details and recite documents and repeat the constitution. But some things in history I remember and I understand completely. God's grace and mercy spread through America and though we had many a troubled time, God blessed us and that could never be denied. America the land of the free and the home of the brave, that's what we sing. Then something began to turn. In the early 60's there was a shift that began to take place, the land was prosperous, times were good but the people began to think that was God really needed? So many began to speak and laws were made, the killing of unborn babies became legal, they took prayer out of the schools,  When was the last time you or your child said the pledge of allegiance in school? When I was in school we said it every day. They took God out of school activities, they took God out of government buildings, they took God out of the work place. In other words, my friends, they rejected God and all that He stands for. Now look at us today!!!!

The people of Israel did not want God to reign over them and apparently at some point neither did America. The people of Israel would prefer a king that would bring them hardships rather than have God reign over them, apparently so did America. The people of Israel wanted a king that would battle their battles and take care of their problems, apparently so did America. In other words just like Israel God gives us the king/president we want. When we reject His reign over us and over our nation, He says "give them what they want". You see often we want to blame the unbeliever, the liberal, the president, the congress, the leadership in government offices. Yet, God says where were you when you could have made a difference? Where were you? Did you close your eyes, shut your ears, stop your mouth? Are you afraid of what others may think, what others may say, do you feel the need to be politically correct to the point of denying Christ Jesus, your Savior? Many will not like this post and many will find fault with how I view our country, but that is okay. You see I stand on the word of God and His word tells me that I am to please Him and not people. But there is hope for American, even now and that hope is found not in the government, not in religion, but in Jesus Christ, those who are in a real relationship with Jesus Christ, those who desire to walk in the Spirit, those who desire and hunger after the kingdom of God and His righteousness, those who desire to lay aside self and be more like Jesus. We have a scripture that speaks to all Christians.

2Chronicles 7:14-15 If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.

Friends, it isn't the unbeliever that God is saying to seek His face, and repent from their wicked ways, and to get rid of the prideful, arrogant attitude but be humble before the God of Heaven. The problem with most who call themselves Christians is that their is no Awe of God, no fear of who He is, when you see yourself in light of His holiness, how can man stand? Man must humble himself before his Maker, and pray with a right heart, and God will hear and God will answer. So my question is: HOW BAD DO YOU WANT TO SEE AMERICA COME BACK TO GOD? Bad enough for you to change, and repent and seek God!!!!!!!

It is time to return to our Christian roots. We  have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, He founded His church on His Blood. Rise up Christian and be the Christian Jesus died for, be the church He died for, be the Christian He rose from the dead for, be the church He rose from the dead for. Arise Christian and do not deny Him anymore.

looking for an on-line bible study try www.lindagroberts.com

DRESSED FOR BATTLE

How are you dressed today?

Do you realize that each day we face an enemy? That enemy is the enemy of God and he is our enemy; he seeks to steal, to kill, and to destroy as Jesus said in John 10:10. So what is he trying to steal; your anointing, to kill you and your ministries, to destroy your marriage and your family. In 1 Peter 5:8 it says " Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Also look at Ephesians 6: 11-13 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you will be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

You ask why have you chosen this to write about today. Well, my friends it is because each of us will experience the attacks of the enemy. And as the days draw closer to our Lord's return the attacks will increase. There are times when God is getting ready to use you for His glory and an attack will come, the enemy will attack a weakness, or a spot of weakness. He will attack your thoughts, he will attempt to take your income, even your life.  These are areas where I am attacked yours may be different but it does come and will come. I want you to be ready so you will be able to stand against any onslaught of the enemy. Always remember the word says "No weapon formed against you shall prosper". Also in Ephesians 6 Paul speaks of the armor of God and what it consist of and what its purpose is. Remember that Paul was looking at a Roman soldier when he wrote this, the armor he describes is the armor of the mighty Romans who were victorious in battle. This armor was to protect areas on their bodies that would be a deadly wound if the enemy penetrated. The same with God's armor it is to protect the areas of our bodies that would be a deadly wound, for us God's people. I will not quote each verse but speak of each piece of armor, This is found in Ephesians 6:14-18

The first piece is the belt that is girded about our waist, it is called the belt of truth. Now on a soldier this belt had medal strips hanging down to protect their private area and it also held their dagger, their sword and their small hand to hand combat shield. When we the children of God place the belt of the truth of God's word around our waist, it holds everything else in its place. God's word is true that is the first thing we have to agree and stand on,

The second piece is breastplate of righteousness, for a soldier it guarded his heart from a fatal blow, for us we have put on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, His righteousness is imparted into our hearts and by His righteousness we stand.

The third piece is have the feet shod with the gospel of peace. You need to understand a soldier did not wear flip flop shoes to battle, their shoes had spikes of the bottom, so that when in a battle and if it were muddy they could get their feet dug into the ground and during the battle they would not be thrown down because they were standing securely. This for Christians is simple we are to be grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ, He is the Prince of Peace and He has secured peace for us with the Father and we have His peace in us. Knowing this the enemy cannot destroy our peace nor steal our peace for we are grounded in the Him and we stand secure.

The fourth piece is the shield of faith. As a soldier they had two shields one was a hand held small shield, the other was approximately 4 to 6 ft tall and was covered in leather. This leather they had to keep well oiled so it would not become dry and cracked (Hmm does it remind you of something) right before a battle they would dip it in water so that it saturated with water and when the enemies fiery darts came the watered leather would but out the fire. (Hmm does it remind you of something). These shields could also interlock and when the enemy advanced the shield bearers would form a circle about the warriors and raise the shields up like a tortoise shell and protect the warriors from the arrows. So as a Christian this shield of faith that we carry needs to stay well oiled, refreshed in the water, and sometimes we need to lock our faith with other believers in the battle. There is a difference in a dart and a fiery dart. Satan will from time to time send a dart into your thinking, but once you begin to dwell on it and not dismiss it, it will turn into a fiery dart and consume your thinking.

The fifth piece is the helmet of salvation, A soldier wore this to protect his head (no brain damage). When we are saved we are instructed by the word, to renew our thinking. This helmet of salvation will enable us to think differently and align our thinking up with the word. Now when the enemy sends a thought we will recognize that does not line up with the word and cast the thought out.

The sixth piece is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Just as a soldier used his sword to battle the enemy we are to use God's word to fight the enemy for us. Jesus when tempted in the wilderness by Satan, used the word of God when speaking to him, and he had to leave. Same with us when we speak the word out loud even just to ourselves, the enemy cannot fight against us and as we speak the word out loud our faith will grow.

Then Paul tells us to pray always, praying in supplication in the Spirit, he tells us to be watchful to the end with all perseverance and supplication. In other words he is telling us not to surrender to the enemy, but in all things be prayer, continue don't give up, to be watchful of the attacks. In the scripture it says be watchful to the end, the end of what? Well to either the end of live here on this earth when we depart this world, and the other meaning is for those who are still alive when Jesus returns be watching, be praying, stand fast, He is Coming; Praise the Lord, we have a King and He will return for His bride.

So my friends on this journey let us maintain the faith, be courageous, stand fast, pray more, study the word, gather with fellow Christians, and love more and give of yourselves, this is the example Jesus set before us.

Be blessed you are victorious in Jesus !!

LIVING IN THE ORDINARY DAYS



MY SOURCE OF LIFE IN MY ORDINARY DAYS

I have been considering my walk with Jesus, I have been reflecting on the God Moments in my life. These are the moments when God has stepped in and revealed Himself to me and has come to my rescue. Moments when I was in need of a Savior, moments when I needed a miracle to survive, moments when I needed direction, forgiveness and on and on but you get the picture. I love the scripture I am going to enclose now:

Jeremiah 33:3 Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

We all like those great and mighty things that God desires to show us. We call these our God Moments and rightly so. The scriptures are full of people who had their God Moments.

Moses had a God moment at the Burning Bush, Ruth had a God moment in the field of Boaz, Esther had a God moment in the presence of the king, Peter had a God moment when the rooster crowed, and another when Jesus rose from the dead and said go get Peter, Lazarus had a God moment when he was in the tomb, Paul had a God moment on the road to Damascus, Stephen had a God moment when he was being stoned and he looked up into heaven and saw the face of Jesus standing beside the Father. I could go on and on but I will let you add to the list.

These are God moments that are very real, unforgettable moments that change your life permanently. Then we have the miracle God moments, you know the ones; a bad report from the doctor and in faith by prayer Jesus steps in and healing occurs, the times you find yourself in a dangerous situation and Jesus steps in and you are in His protection. Everyone likes the miracle, right. I heard a pastor say one time "that to be living from miracle to miracle means you are living from crisis to crisis" I must agree, I do have my share of crisis and need a miracle that can only come from God. But what about the "Ordinary Days". And there is my title.

You know those days, that we call day after day, getting up, going to work, cooking meals, taking care of home, taking care of kids, etc. etc. etc. What about the God moments in those days? Each day with Jesus is living and trusting in His direction.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.

So does that mean we do not have God moments when living in the ordinary days? Of course we do! The same pastor I quoted above said this "Instead of living from crisis to crisis he would rather be living and walking in the blessing of God each day" I must agree.

Ephesians 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

So here is my ordinary day; I woke up !! ( a God moment) I said Good morning Lord, He said good morning (a God moment) I said I love You Lord, He said I love you ( a God moment ) I got ready for work and thanked Him for having a job, He said you are welcome ( a God moment ), I thanked Him for the food I ate ( a God moment ) at work as I begin to get tired and my legs and body will ache I say Lord give me the strength to do this job, and He gives me the strength to finish my job ( a God moment ) I come home to take a nap and say Lord please let me rest only one hour and in one hour I wake up (a God moment ), I work on the ministries He has given me and I see Him at work in them and we have (a God moment), It becomes late and I am ready for bed and I say good night Lord and I love You He says good night and I love you ( a God moment) I wake up later unable to sleep and know I need to be praying so I ask Lord what do I need to be praying about? He tells me by given me a prayer (a God moment ). Tonight I woke up with this post in my heart, I know that Jesus is directing this so I am writing it now and I know this is ( a God moment ) because someone needs to hear this. Just living and walking in the ordinary days are filled with God moments we just need to learn to look for them. Learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, learn to watch for God's movement around you, learn to pray continually and ask God to give you a prayer, believe me He will. GOD MOMENTS HAPPEN IN THE ORDINARY DAYS.

Be Blessed this day. If you are looking for a bible study check out the Lion of Judah Bible Study at www.lindagroberts.com we just finished the Book of Galatians and will be beginning next week a study on Joseph a Man in Training.

INCREASE MY FAITH

As I have been on this journey; I have noticed that the church today does not experience the supernatural manifestations from God with healings and miracles, as the early church did. Why, when I speak to my mountain it just stands and laughs at me. In my prayer time I asked the Lord "why do we not see healing and miracles today?" Jesus answered "Faith is the problem". I said but Lord I have the faith to believe You heal, I have faith to believe I can speak to my mountain and it be moved" He answered "you have enough faith to believe, but not enough to receive" So I get it we have some faith but not enough faith in these areas. So what brought the church to this?

The church has developed a mindset over time that says things like this: Healing and miracles was for the early church not for the modern church, or they did not have the doctors and medicine we do, God uses doctors today to heal, or I believe He will heal you, but will He heal me or well if it is God's will. So lets examine each one.

God is an unchangeable God, the Word says Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday. Jesus is the Healer.

Yes, God will use doctors and medicine to bring healing. But what has happened is the people of the founding church were desperate for healing and they only had Jesus to turn to. Today we turn first to the doctor then when we receive a bad report we become desperate and turn to Jesus. You see we should always seek first Jesus and also go to the doctor, take our medicine but place our trust in the healing power of Jesus, not the doctor nor the medicine.

"IF" is a big word, it really says "DOUBT" and doubt says "UNBLIEF". So when we doubt He will do it for us we are saying we don't believe He loves us enough to do it for us. Oh we so need to wake up to this one thing. He loves me and you enough to go to a cross for us, to die for us, is that love not enough to cause us to believe?

Yes, no matter how long we pray or how hard we pray His will overrides and like He spoke to Paul "My grace is sufficient".

The disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith in Luke 17:5. So I asked Lord increase my faith, and immediately the Holy Spirit took me to the two scriptures below. He spoke to me "Do you understand what you are asking for?"

JAMES 1:2-3 NLT

² Dear brothers and sisters,^[a] when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. ³ For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

 

1 Peter 1:7 NLT

⁷ These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

 It is through the fires and trials of life that we walk through that increases our faith in Jesus. On the path that leads to increased faith, we will learn more of Him and He will reveal more of us to ourselves. Testing and trials are never pleasurable but the end result will be worth it all. Some trials we bring on ourselves they are consequences of bad decisions, some race into our lives by the enemy to tear down and destroy, though God will never tempt (these are not temptations) they are testing's to shape us and change us to be more like Christ. Job, Daniel, Moses, Abraham all understood whatever comes must pass through the hand of an Almighty God. Listen to what is recorded in Daniel chapter 3: three Hebrew men stood their ground they would not compromise their faith by bowing down to a false god. Because of this they were to be thrown into the ovens. They declared our God will deliver us and if not we will never bow down and worship another god. So they turned up the heat, in fact it was so hot the men taking them up were consumed by the fire. Yet, guess who was there in the fire waiting on them, JESUS. Whatever fire we go through here in this life JESUS goes with us. In fact in Daniel 3:27 it is recorded that the fire had no power over their bodies. Did you get that; no circumstance, no situation, no test, no trial, no FIRE has power to destroy us, for the BLOOD of my JESUS is greater and more powerful than any fire I might face.

So after all this I said "Lord I am willing to walk in the fire"

So do you do Facebook if so pull up the following page on Facebook search and click like: We Support Jesus Christ it is to lift up Jesus and to encourage one another, we encourage by testifying of God's work in our lives and by praying for one another.

Are you looking for a bible study? check out www.lindagroberts.com we are finishing a study in Galatians and then we may be looking at the life of Joseph.

LET IT GO & BE SET FREE

Well, the journey continues. It seems like when you believe that area of your life has been set free and you have been delivered. OOPS somewhere down the this road  called life, it shows its ugly head again. Why I asked does this happen?

As we grow from early childhood we develop habits and ways of thinking that are not good for us and do not line up with the word of God. For me I have had a lot of insecurities about myself, these have caused self-doubt to be a part of my adult life. Recently, the Lord showed me that self-doubt will come when we refuse to see ourselves as God sees us.  Listen to the scriptures:

Romans 12:3 For I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Galatians 4:6-7 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out Abba Father 7. Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Hebrews 3:6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

It is true we are not to think more highly of ourselves ( this is pride) but we are not to think too lowly of ourselves either. People sometimes confuse this low thinking to be humility. But, God says: He because of  the propitiation that was a Calvary by His Son Jesus Christ,  now sees His redeemed children through the blood of Jesus. We are to line our lives and our thinking up with His word and His promises. This will enable us to see ourselves in the correct view. Often He will send the conviction of the Holy Spirit to reveal areas that need to be repented of and surrendered to Him. Look at John 8:31-32  Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him. If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So this one scripture tells me that when I change the way I think and line my thinking up with the truth of His word and stay there, this truth will release me from the bondage of self-doubt. My confidence is not in myself nor is it in what family, friends, and others may think of me. My confidence rest in Jesus Christ He alone is my hope and in Him I am being sanctified daily. Each day is a day to surrender more to Jesus, to receive an impartation of Him into my very life.

So why is there still such a struggle? Simple as my spirit is bearing witness as I write this, I have read and heard these things and I have said yes I believe and have even taught this. But!! I truly have not by faith received the truth of this for myself. WOW what a right now revelation. Until I truly receive this as the truth for "me" then I will not be truly, and permanently delivered.  I need to pray right now because this is so strong on me.

Holy Father, blessed be Your name, thank You Lord for speaking wisdom into my life right now. Lord Jesus I know that in You I am made forever free, You alone are my Savior, my Lord, my King, it is in You I desire to live each day. So Lord I say I am sorry and I repent by changing the way I see myself. I believe You when You say that I am Your daughter and that You love me. You have made me and You keep me. Thank You Lord Jesus for right now I permanently receive the truth that you have said to me about me and Satan can never again attack my mind with self-doubt. I receive in Jesus name this word right now. Thank You Lord in Jesus name I pray Amen.

Never put off praying when you are prompted to do so. May God be glorified and you be blessed.

If looking for an on-bible study check out my website www.lindagroberts.com

Are You A Prayer Warrior?

Approximately 15 years ago, I began to ask the Lord to make me a prayer warrior. Oh, I prayed a lot, but honestly if you asked me to pray for you because you were having surgery, my heart was willing to pray, but at times my memory would fail me. But I kept desiring to be a prayer warrior and asking God to make me into one. Had I really understood what a prayer warrior was, perhaps I would not have asked so fervently. (Smiling)

You see the scriptures teach us to press in, pray through and persevere in our prayers. Look at the parable Jesus told His disciples about the widow woman and the judge in Luke 18:1-5. She was wearing the judge out with her persistence until he answered her. God wants to know if we are serious about what we are asking for? Always keep praying until God changes your prayer, or you receive your answer. Sometimes God will change your prayer, recently I was told I needed some eye surgery. So I prayed that Jesus would bring healing into my eyes without the surgery. I truly believe that the God I serve can heal completely, I also believe that He will use medicine and doctors to bring His healing into our lives. I had to wait several months on the surgery, because I had no insurance at the time, but would have some shortly. When I began to realize Jesus was not going to miraculously heal me, I felt in my spirit to begin to change my prayer. I began to pray for the surgery to go well, that I would have swift, complete and no complications in my healing. This is exactly what God did. Why, even the eye doctor said "God has answered your prayer" he had never seen healing that quickly and so complete.

So you ask did I ever become a prayer warrior? Let's just say about a year ago God began to transform me into a prayer warrior, I am still growing in this area. But I see and know God's hand is on me changing me into His creation.

Did you ever wonder God's definition of a prayer warrior? Well let me tell you it was not the same as mine. You see I had been praying, & praying and had become uncomfortable in the way the Holy Spirit was having me to pray. I was praying for the bride of Christ and He was showing me and directing me in some areas that His bride needed to make some changes. Since I was not comfortable with this, because I was new at it, I attempted to change the way I was praying. It is important to know that if you are not being led by the Holy Spirit it is just self praying. Jesus spoke to my spirit and said "The battle a prayer warrior is enlisted in is not always pleasant, it is not sweetness nor sugar coated, it is a war and wars are always messy, dangerous and bloody. Our prayers are a battle in the spirit realm, a battle for the souls of man and a battle for My bride ( the church). Jesus said I am your leader in the prayer battle and I will lead you in the areas of battle of My choosing. Where I lead He said you must follow and when I am leading there will always be victory."

It goes without saying after this reproof from Jesus I didn't attempt to change the way the Holy Spirit was leading me again.

Prayer is essential in the lives of God's people, it is our life line to the Master. He desires for us to seek Him in prayer and then to be silent and listen as He speaks to our innerman. Often we fail to hear a word from God, because we are so busy talking and then we are up and gone, and truly don't take the time to listen for Him to speak. Yes, he does speak to us through His word, but He will also speak to us with that still, small voice that Elijah understood.

Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love Me, And those who seek Me diligently will find Me.

 So as I am writing this blog update, I am learning how important it is to be a prayer warrior in God's kingdom. If you are a child of God and have not been much in prayer. I encourage you begin right now set aside time to spend with our Lord in prayer, seek Him diligently and you will find Him. He has promised it. Prayer will help you to grow and become more aware of God's activity all around you. One more thing; Satan hates it when we pray, he will attempt to distract you any way he can to keep you from growing closer to Jesus through prayer. He will send many distractions, and discouragement, but don't give up. Keep praying you will be blessed beyond measure.

If you are looking for a bible study check out my web site www.lindagroberts.com  we are just beginning to look at the book of Galatians. I put a new lesson on usually on Tuesdays, so bring your word and check it out.

May God be glorified, and may you be blessed.

JESUS IS COMING, BE READY

 ARE YOU READY FOR THE RETURN OF JESUS?

 Many who claim to be Christians are in fact not ready.They are living deceived lives believing that a prayer once said long ago is all they needed to go to heaven. Sure we want to go to heaven, yet following Jesus is not a prayer said, it is not church attendance, it is not just giving a tithe, it isn't even just about being dunked in water. All of these are necessary in a believers life, yet following Jesus is about walking as He walked, talking as He talked, loving as He loved. Did we forget the scripture that says:

Matthew 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven 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 (sin)

Wow, did you hear what Jesus said? It is one thing to say you know Him and it is another to really know Him. When we are walking and following Jesus we are obedient to His word. Our lives are a reflection of what we believe. In Proverbs 23:7 it says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. What this is telling us is that our lips may tell someone one thing but the real you is in your thought life (your heart).  Throughout the scriptures we are told to be renewed in our mind, to be renewed is to put away the old way of thinking and line our thought life up with the word of God and around the promises of God.

 In Matthew 15:18-19 Jesus said "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

In 2 Corinthians 10:5 we are instructed to cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

In other words we need to put a guard on our thought life and make sure that the thoughts we are having line up with the image of Jesus and with the word of God. The enemy (Satan) has no control of a Christian, the way he gains access to us is through our thought life. If he plants a thought that is contrary to God's word and the image of Jesus cast it out. Take control of what you are thinking about, some of those damaging thoughts are from your own thinking not from Satan.

There is a pattern in a persons thinking: 1. a wrong thought 2. a bad decision, 3. a wrong action, 4. bad habits, 5. develops character 6. determine destiny.

When walking with Jesus we must on a daily basis, hourly, minute, second check our thought life. Be renewed in our minds, keep our thoughts on heavenly matters not on the earthly. Jesus is coming back for His bride will He find you ready?

check out my bible study online www.lindagroberts.com

Seeking Direction

As you are walking with Jesus, He alone can be your guide. There is never anything that will arise in my day that I don't seek the direction of my Lord Jesus Christ. In Jeremiah 29:11 I am told that God has a plan for my life and it is for my good. So if I want to follow His plan for my life then I must seek His direction.

In 2Chronicles 26:5 He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had an understanding in the visions of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. The word sought means to inquire so often that a path is worn to God's throne room. That is what I do, inquire continually to my Lord.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path.

So I press in through prayer and seek His word to light my way.  How often do you stop and consider are you where God wants you? We understand that when we are saved God gives gifts and callings into His people, that they might serve Him within the local church and within the community and sometimes beyond. Have you considered what your gift or calling is and if so are you walking in it?

Do you have a dream that God has placed in your heart? Yet, you seem to do nothing about it. For many years I have known the I had the gift and yes, I believe a calling in my life to teach the word of God. In my local church I do teach both children and adults and enjoy any opportunity to share the word. But I had another dream He had given me that takes me beyond my local church and into my community and yes, even beyond. With the technology we have today I have been whispering a prayer about beginning an on-line bible study. Though I understand how technology can be a great tool, really I am sort of ignorant of how to do things. I did learn how to blog, do emails, facebook and google but set up a web page was out of my league. This past Sunday my whisper exploded into a definite request and God's reply was "you have to start it". When God parted the Jordon River the priests had to step in first, when Jesus told Peter to come to Him on the water Peter had to get out of the boat. It is called a leap of faith. So if I truly believed this is what God has for me then I needed to take a leap of faith and set up a web-site and begin. That is exactly what I did. Just me and Jesus went to the computer and in just a short time there it was ready to go. I have put one week's lesson on it and plan to put a new lesson each Monday. This is to glorify God and bless the one involved with the study. So I am going to share my web address with you and ask that you check it out and invite a friend to check it out with you.

May God bless you as you seek His direction for your life. My web address www.lindagroberts.com

When Praise Turns To Worship

So much has been happening with my Daily Walk With God, I hardly know where to begin. So I will begin with worship.  Often times we attend church and think the the time of singing praises to our Lord is offering up our praise and worship, and yes it is the beginning of worship, some think that our prayers are our worship, and yes that is part of it, then some think the message is our worship it can be but not all of it.

Psalm 95:6-7 says "Oh come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. or He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep under his care. Today, is you will hear His voice."

Philippians 2:9-11 says "9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and of those under the earth 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

To worship the Lord our God is commanded of His people now and one day even the lost will acknowledge who He is. So how do we worship? In John 4:22-24 we are told we must worship Him in spirit and truth. This means our worship is personal it is about our relationship. We worship with
our regenerated spirit, before being born again our spirit was dead but at the time of our new birth the Holy Spirit quickened and brought to life our spirit. Now we can worship with our spirit and now we understand the the reality of who Jesus is. He is The Way, The Truth, The Life no one can come to the Father but through Him John14:6 .

Now let's put is all together, When we worship Jesus we begin with exalting Him, lifting Him up declaring from our lips praise for who He is. He is the Word, the Creator, the Promised One, the Rock, the Cloud, the Fire, the Giver of the Law and the Full filler of the Law, He is our Kinsman Redeemer, He is our Deliver, our Mighty Strong Tower, our Shelter, our Shield, our Provider, our Protector, our Messiah, our Counselor, our Prince of Peace, our Rose of Sharon, the Lamb of God, Son of God, Son of Man, Teacher, Healer, our High Priest, the Anointed One, the Risen Lord, Soon coming King, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Holy One of God, Alpha and Omega, Just and True, He is Faithful. He and He alone is worthy of all our praise. Keep pouring out your love on Him and Him alone thank Him for who He is and what He has done for you. Now begin to enter His presence to worship Him, Now begin to pour out self as a drink offering on Him, give up your pride, you anger, you selfishness, your fears, every thing that hinders you from your worship and from your walk. Pour it all out hold nothing back, let the distractions be gone, clutter removed from your thinking. Now watch what happens you are at the feet of Jesus He desires to love on you, to speak with you, but to get there you have to diligently seek Him. Your desire is all about pleasing Him and not yourself, you line up your life with His promises and begin to walk with Jesus desiring to live a life worthy of your calling. When you have sat at the feet of Jesus you will leave changed you can never remain the same once you have experienced this kind of worship. It takes your breath away and you look forward to the next time.

Something you should know, some people show what they believe is worship inside the church building on Sundays, but never worship Him at home, in fact worship is not a part of their relationship with Jesus, therefore the worship they display at church is false worship, it is worship to get the attention of those watching and not to get the attention of Jesus. Worshipping God and Jesus should be a part of your every day life. If it is not then begin today WORSHIP Jesus and see what happens.

Join me in an on-line bible study at:www.lindagroberts.com