H.I.T. Videos by the Skys

Hi Everyone!

      In the last post I let you all know about our new 3 Minute Game Changer series. We have just completed our second video however we have made a change to the title calling them The Sky's  H.I.T. Videos   Standing for - Humor In Truth. God has given us a lot of simple yet important lessons and has really been directing us in different ways of getting them out to people.

     Also in the beginning of the new year we are going to be launching into radio here in the maritimes and by God's help, quickly expanding throughout New England and everywhere else that God makes a way for. It will be a half hour show once a week. If you have a local radio station that you think would also like to be involved with this just let me know. I will post the messages in audio here for all of you as they start coming out.

     Keep us in prayer as we press forward in the service of our wonderful Savior!

               God bless!
                   -Seth


Episode 2 -  Reality Check

http://youtu.be/3Nd0niT8b_0


Episode 1 -  Jesus Came To Save Us From What?!

http://youtu.be/vlk0VfasV-I

Extra Bits and Bloopers from episode 2

http://youtu.be/m8xsI_lPCi8

Jesus Came To Save Us From What?!

     I Just wanted to share our new video series called "H.I.T. Videos  by the Skys"

It will be an ongoing series bringing inspiring truths in short segments that hopefully will make it easy for anyone to find time to watch in their busy schedule. 

Be sure to subscribe to the youtube channel so you don't miss each one as it comes out!

Also feel free to share as much as you like among your friends! We hope it will be a blessing!

God bless!

-Seth

The Work Of the Holy Ghost

    Excerpts from D. L. Moody

from Evenings With Moody and Sankey

  The Work Of the Holy Ghost

  Now I have a great many letters against that hymn “Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,” and I hear a great many people complain about our singing that hymn and praying for the Holy Ghost to come. They say He came on the day of Pentecost, and has been here ever since. But when we pray for Him to come, it is that He may anoint us afresh, that He may endow us with fresh power. There is such a thing as a man just having life, but not having the power, and so when we pray that the Holy Ghost may come upon us with power that we may be anointed, that is a different thing. - D..L.

  And  a thought I want to call your attention to is this, that God has got a good many children who have just barely got life, but no power for service. You might say safely, I think, without exaggeration, that nineteen out of every twenty of professed Christians are of no earthly account so far as building up Christ’s kingdom; but on the contrary they are standing right in the way, and the reason is because they have just got life and have settled down, and have not sought for power. The Holy Ghost coming upon them with power is distinct and separate from conversion. If the scripture doesn’t teach it I am ready to correct it. - D. L.

  I believe we should accomplish more in one week than we should in years if we had only this fresh baptism. - D..L.

  If a man is only converted and we get him into a church, we think the work is done, and we let him go right off to sleep  Instead of urging him to seek the gift of the Holy Ghost, that he may be anointed for work, we let him sleep and slumber. This world would soon be converted, if all such were baptized with the Holy Ghost. - D..L.

  When a man is full of the Holy Ghost, he cannot help working for the Lord. We would indeed have a stir in the church if we were baptized with the Holy Ghost. The cry would be, “Here I am Lord; use me!” We would all be anxious to be used in God’s service. - D..L.

  A great many think because they have been filled once, they are going to be full for all time after; but O, my friends, we are leaky vessels, and have to be kept right under the fountain all the time in order to keep full. - D..L.

  In the 19th chapter of Acts, they went down there at Ephesus, and they found twelve men, and said to them, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?” The early Christians looked for that; but what would our converts do now if that question were put to them? They would rub their eyes and say they never heard of such a thing, and, what do you mean by receiving the Holy Ghost for service? That is the reason men dare not speak to their neighbors about Christ, and the reason why every night so many go away from here that are anxious about their souls, and yet the man, the Christian who sits next to them, has not the moral courage to speak to them about Christ and salvation. - D..L.

  As you seek to be effective for the Lord it is good not to forget that it is not you that can convert a man, woman, or child. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that reaches into their heart and brings about the change. It is so important to seek the Lord for more of His Spirit and though the Holy Spirit has been made a mockery of in many circles whether in places of false signs and wonders or scoffed at by groups that deny He is at work in this present day, the reality is that if you care about the people around you and want to see them saved, you need His help. Without Him you can do nothing because you can’t reach in and break the addictions people are under. You can sympathize with them, maybe even make their lives a little more comfortable but you can never break them free from the bondage of sin. This is the Holy Spirit’s domain and He can and will accomplish this work through you if you seek for His help.

  So let us seek Him out today and ask for His help that we may be effective in our service of the King!

                         God bless!

Link for things to read on D.L. Moody  http://www.biblebelievers.com/moody/contentsext.html

Pressing on in the service of our Lord

John 21:25

Pressing on in the service of our Lord

     “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the whole world would not contain the books which were written.” –John

     Jesus calls Himself the first of many brothers! The path He walked before us was one of great courage and many wonderful signs. His life was one continuous demonstration of the love and support our Heavenly Father has for us. What a wonderful example He has left for us! I get so excited when I think about what John is saying here; that the world could not contain all of the books it would take to write down all that Jesus did during His time on earth. The four Gospels give us different highlights of Jesus’ ministry in order to give us a glimpse into all that Jesus did while He was here. I marvel at Jesus feeding the five thousand people with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. Creating something from nothing was as simple as breathing to Him.

     We who have been saved by Him have a wonderful heritage. It is so important to dedicate our lives to Him so that the rest of our time on earth will be spent in preparation for a glorious eternity with Him! We need to make the most of the days and years that we have in front of us taking the talents God has given us and multiplying them. I get so inspired when I read about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 how as soon as the faithful servants received their talents they immediately started working with them and doubled what they had been given. The joy of being diligent with what God gives to us to work with is something not to take lightly. It is a wonderful thing to feel God’s approval as we step out to witness or help someone in need. He is so pleased with even our faltering steps.

     It is time to ignore the distractions of this world and to ask God for His help in overcoming our lazy human nature and set about making the most of the time we have left! I know that I have shared this before but it still keeps me focused. Jesus gives a parable of a land owner who hires workers for his vineyard and every few hours he goes out and finds new people standing around waiting for work and he promises each of them the same wage for their labor even though some have worked longer than others. Finally at the last hour of the day he finds more people waiting for work and he sends them to his field. Now when the day is over he proceeds to pay each man the same wage and the ones who worked the most began to complain about the ones who worked for only an hour. My friends we are in the final hour before Jesus returns and our work is short! So let us work hard so that the ones who worked the longest will have nothing to complain about as we make up for the hours we missed!

     So let us press on with the time that we have and encourage one another to do more for our dear Savior that it may also be said of us that the world could not contain an account of all that we have done to serve our Savior!

          God bless you all!

Spend Some Time With The Lord

Isaiah 30:15, 18

Spend Some Time With The Lord

For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.”

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him.

In my times of reading the Bible this past week I have been noticing more than usual that God is continually being praised for being a God of justice. Every verse has been that He will bring down the oppressor and those who rob the poor and who deal unjustly with their fellow men. Just making it clear that the wicked will not go unpunished and those who try to keep His laws will not go unrewarded. Verse after verse says, Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord! Rejoice in the Lord for He will raise up the humble and do good to those who have placed their trust in Him! Each verse speaks so confidently of God that He is faithful and will defend the oppressed and bless the righteous.

“How blessed are all who long for Him.” Do you find yourself thinking about the Lord a lot during the day or are you someone who is just realizing right now that you almost never think about Him at all unless something goes wrong in your life and you want it fixed? There is a big difference between those who long for the Lord and those who just need something fixed. Imagine the garage mechanic, who you only see when your car breaks down and sure you appreciate the work he does in keeping you mobile. He helps you to be able to carry on with your life with no delays, but that is as far as it goes. As long as everything is working you are fine without him in your life. 

God is someone who actually wants to be completely involved in your life. Every part of it. He is not far off, and keeping Himself out of your life. He is patiently waiting for you to come to Him. He is not the mechanic. He is a best friend full of wisdom, advice, and amazing plans. He is a shoulder to cry on, an ear that will listen as you pour out your grief. He can comfort a weary heart and if you are close to Him you can actually feel the warmth of His comforting arms as He puts them around you. He can put the pieces of whatever mess you have made back together. He is the best friend you could ever hope to have and never is at a loss when you bring Him your problems.

If you have not made Him your best friend, He is longing to be part of your life. These verses tell the simple path to having Him as your best friend. 

Now, to seek Him out, you must let go of your pride and every thought of how good a person you think you are or even how bad a person you think you are. So many people won’t come to the Lord because they think they are to bad for Him to want them. He says, “Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore waits on high to have compassion on you.”  If you simply say, “Lord I’m sorry for my sins, please help me to keep Your  laws.” He will come quickly to you and establish the wonderful relationship He has for you. He longs to be your best friend. “How blessed are all those who long for Him.”

The Lord has such a simple and yet marvelous plan for people. He wants to love them and raise them up to be His friends. Such a simple concept and yet so few people will take Him up on this blessing He has for them. Those of us who already know the Lord, still have such little understanding of the blessing of having Him as our best friend! We are continually putting Him to the side in pursuit of other things and neglecting the best gift ever for the sake of other things that will pass away. I was marveling the other day at the beautiful trees changing color and how God designed each one to grow from a little seed with the entire blue print of their size, shape and color all packed inside. Truly a marvel! The truth is that we are not smart enough to appreciate and know what is truly going on inside of all the things He created, to marvel at them. If we were we would be beyond amazed at every little detail of this world. Our God is a genius! Did you know that He covers a tree with thousands of little solar panels called leaves that bring forth and produce all the energy for the tree? Then when they are not needed they fall off and regrow in the spring. There is more amazing design in one leaf than we could possibly take in and yet these marvels happen in every area of creation! Now tell me, doesn’t that make you want to get to know our God better? He is offering Himself as our closest companion! 

          Let’s spend some time with Him today!    :)

Waiting upon the Lord

John 20:29

Waiting upon the Lord

     Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

     It is a step of faith that Jesus calls us to. Jesus is speaking to Thomas – one of his disciples who spoke out to the others that he would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead unless he was able to see Him in person and put his fingers into Jesus’ wounds. Jesus says to him, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

     Jesus will often come to our aid in a very visible way and yet there are many times when we are enduring some hardship or period of waiting for something which we have asked Him for and we start to doubt that He will come to our rescue or answer our prayers. We start to doubt even though we have many witnesses to the contrary. We have so many proofs of His faithfulness to keep His promises to us and yet sometimes we are like Thomas and declare that unless we see proof we will not believe that He will do as He said. Jesus words, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed,” is His promise of blessing for us if we hold fast to His promises no matter what things look like. He will come through and take care of whatever it is that we have asked Him for.

     So how does this translate into our everyday walk with God? Well, quite simple really. The Devil is always trying to offer us things that we don’t have to wait for or don’t seem to require any pain to achieve, things that we can have right now if we are willing to overstep a few of God’s laws. He often stirs up our hearts so that there seems to be no other alternative than to do things his way. He likes to fill us with such passion that we refuse to look at the consequences of our actions and do things in the heat of the moment that will cause us a lifetime of misery. God on the other hand, desires for us to have what is truly good for us and part of this is working on our character so that we will not waste what He gives to us, but will make the best use of it. So He allows delays to test us and to work patience and trust in us. God has our eternity in mind when He takes care of us and He is constantly working to conform our character into His image. We are His children forever and so He takes great pains with us to set our lives on a good foundation.

     So how do we hold onto the truth of these things when we are in the midst of a temptation or trial? It seems like it is just too hard to remember when we are fighting with a desire or test and we are contending with our weak nature. The answer is to hold onto God’s love for us and to not be afraid to cry out loud for His help to overcome what we are struggling with. If we cry out, He will refresh our spirit and renew our confidence, and give us a fresh wind to go forth and endure until He has finished all that He is accomplishing in our lives.

     So let us keep eternity in our hearts, and God’s love for us and our love for Him, continually on our minds. A good verse to dwell on is Proverbs 16:17. “The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; He who watches his way preserves his life.” 

          God bless!

Why do we resist God’s will for our lives?

John 18:10-11

Why do we resist God’s will for our lives?

     Simon Peter therefore having a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slaves name was Malchus. Jesus therefore said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

     Why do we resist God’s plan for our lives? The Father’s plan for Jesus was leading Him to the cross. I need not explain that this was going to be a painful event. Submitting to God’s plan very often will lead us into painful experiences that our bodies do not want to undergo. So many of God’s lessons for us can be quite painful and we would never have chosen to go through them of our own will. God often brings things to pass where our most precious possessions get taken from us and we are unable to stop it from happening, but when the ordeal is over our heart has let go of another idol and we gain a peace in Christ that is deeper then before.
     Jesus’ word – “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given Me” is full of strength and encouragement for us when our hearts are torn with the loss of something we hold dear or when we are at a crossroads in our walk with Him and He is asking us to freely let go of something we have been holding onto. The cup that the Father has for us enables us to let go of the world and be free to love Him completely.
     However, there is another factor in the cup that the Father has for us and it is this. It will save souls! The cup that God has for you is going to make your life fruitful and exciting! This is the joy that is set before us, that in enduring all of these things great fruit will come forth. Our flesh recoils at the pain of the experiences therefore we must look past it to the joy of the eternal fruit that will be produced as we walk in the steps that God desires us to walk and fulfill the plans that He has for us.
     Why is it hard to except God’s will for us and endure these things? It is hard because we are not focused on the love for our neighbours and seeing them brought into the kingdom of God. Brothers and Sisters, we need more love for those around us. We need the love that gladly endures all hardships for their salvation. We get so caught up in our own pains that we stop looking outside of ourselves. We want to set ourselves aside and become a blessing to everyone around us.
     These trials produce two things, they refine us into God’s character and they draw others into the kingdom of God. Therefore, shall we not drink the cup that the Father has for us? Let us pray for perseverance and courage and love that we might endure these things that we might not only please our Heavenly Father and make His heart glad, but that we might bear fruit that will endure for eternity and have many friends who have entered in because of our labors. Jesus is returning soon! Let us be found diligently working in His vineyard when He comes!        God bless you all!

One In Christ

John 17:22-23

One In Christ

     “And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.”

     What does it mean to be one with Jesus and our Heavenly Father? Let us consider what it would be like if you went to grab a glass of water and your hand picks up the spoon next to it. Your hand has disregarded your body’s desire for a drink and decided it liked the feel of holding a spoon. This is kind of a funny illustration but we have been called the body of Christ and He is our head. For us to work as one body the head of the body must direct the rest for the good of the entire body. To be one in Christ is to be of the same mind, heart, and action with Him. His desire is our delight to carry out. Everything we do affects the entire body of Christ and when we are stubbornly set in our earthly pursuits, refusing to let go, it can have consequences that can take a long time to recover from.

     We need to look more closely at what this signifies in terms of the unity Jesus has said we are to have with our brothers and sisters. The comfort of the entire body is dramatically altered when all of its members are working together under the leadership of the head. Caring for one another, bearing with one another’s faults, and forgiving one another, is the muscle and tissue that keeps us together. Having hearts set on helping one another everyday should be an active thing rather than waiting for something bad to befall a neighbor before we feel any kind of need to help them. Our love and concern should not be cause and affect but continuous. 

     This is significant because it pulls us out of ourselves and into a life of service and blessing to everyone around us. If we let it, everyday will consume us with pursuits for our own gain, and concern for our neighbors, family, and friends will be forgotten. It is so easy to get caught up in these things that we don’t even notice. To be one with Jesus is to be filled with His love for everyone around us and to find ways to help them. To be one with Him is to seek His plan for our lives so that we can be doing the job that will most benefit the body of Christ. To be one with Him is to be filled with the joy of serving Him and seeing Him work through our lives.

     So I want to encourage all of you today to earnestly seek His plan for your life. It can be hard to lay down your earthly ambitions in order to do this but only someone who is truly willing to do whatever God’s plan is will receive His plan for their lives and carry it out. You cannot want your own plan and His because invariably your plan will hinder the effectiveness of His plan and the two will get in the way of each other. We cannot be divided when we serve God, but must serve Him with our whole heart. When we have committed all our heart and all our life to Him, His joy and excitement will come pouring into us to the point where we cannot even contain it.
    God desires to fill your life with excitement and the most amazing adventure, but it requires counting the cost of what you are going to let go of. His plan for your life will fill the rest of your life. It is all or nothing and will not be joyful and exciting unless you have committed everything to Him.
     So let us renew our commitment to Him and serve one another joyfully. Encouraging one another and spurring one another on to greater works in Christ!           God bless you all!

The Testimony Of A Christian

John 17: 3

The Testimony Of A Christian

1. John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”

2. John 17:18 “As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”

3. John 17:21 “That they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they may also be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.”

4. & 5. John 17:22-23 “And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.”

6. John 17:25-26 “Oh righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me; and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them.”

     We are to be living proof that God is the only true God, and that He sent Jesus Christ to save us and to give us eternal life. Jesus says that eternal life is knowing God, and believing in Him, and His Son Jesus, whom the Father sent to us. If we are to be witnesses and the living proof that Jesus is Lord of all, then how are we to do this? There is nothing supernatural about us; we do not stand out or show God’s glory in ourselves. In point (3.) Jesus requests of God that we be made one with Him, and with Jesus, that we might truly know the Love that the Father has for us and be able to share it with the world.

     It is time for us to ask for help. It is time to pray for Jesus to take His rightful place in the center of our lives, as He did when we were first saved. Too many things are trying to steal our hearts away from Him, and we lose our connection to His life-giving presence. It is time to pray for a revival in our hearts, that we might be centered on Jesus. When He is the center of our desire, we will bear an overflowing testimony of His sovereignty in our lives. 

     In points (4 & 5) Jesus tells His Father that He has granted to us the glory that God has granted to Him that we might be one in Himself. What is that glory which He has passed on to us? The glory is unity with God. Jesus, having removed the barrier of sin from between us and God, has given us complete access to the thrown of God and to the wonderful works of God through prayer. We are open vessels able to convey the glorious truths of God. Again, what is that glorious truth? It is the reality that He is the only true God and that He has sent His beloved Son Jesus to us to be our Savior.

     Point (6) The world, having lost its ability through sin to be able to see God and to know Him, was in need of a witness. Jesus was sent to be the mouth of God and to bring the light of God’s word to mankind. I think this is an amazing picture. A world in darkness which could no longer see the glory of God is given the light of Jesus Christ and yet if God did not open the eyes of the people still no one would be able to see His glory. What kind of darkness is it that we are dealing with here on earth? If Jesus was invisible even to those who were teaching the laws of God, this is a deep, spiritual darkness. This is why Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the brilliant light of Christ. We too, can expect an impossible task of bringing the Gospel of Christ to people if we do not have the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit with us to open their eyes. We must pray earnestly for the awakening touch of the Holy Spirit on those with whom we share the Gospel. The world cannot see the truth even if Jesus Himself were here in person to present it. Jesus relied on God to send the Holy Spirit to awaken the hearts and minds of the people and to be a witness to the truth of what He taught.

     Therefore – eternal life is – That we may know God, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent.

Jesus Has Overcome The World

John 16: 31-33

Jesus Has Overcome The World

     Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

     The question for today is, “Have you been scattered”? Have you been holding on to Jesus as your Savior and support and yet your confidence has been shaken because of the great trials that have come upon you, and you have asked – Where are you Jesus in my hour of need? Have the trials been so great that you have fled for your life in despair that not even God could save you from them anymore? Jesus’ words are as much for us today as they were for His disciples. Jesus was about to be publicly executed which He knew would greatly weaken their belief and confidence that He was indeed the promised Messiah for whom they had forsaken their earthly comforts and homes to follow. The disciples had given up everything in this world to follow Him and suddenly their trust and faith was going to be tested. Jesus promises them that He will be their peace in the midst of the trial and that though there was going to be tribulation, He had overcome it.

     Why does Jesus’ “overcoming of the world” give us courage? What did this mean for them and what does it mean for us? Jesus’ words were His confirmation that He had not bowed to any of the temptations and that He was about to give the final blow to the hold that sin had upon their lives. His last great battle was about to be won in which the devil’s power over us would be crushed once and for all, opening the door to the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit upon all who believed in Him and forever changing the world. Jesus was clearing the road that led to our Heavenly Father that we might be reunited with Him and become a new creation. Jesus was not saying that they would have no more tribulation on earth, but that He had purchased the peace of pardon so that our souls would no longer be at war with God, but full of His Life and Power. Jesus is telling them that He was going to be victorious in spite of their inability to stand up in the midst of the trial.

     So what does this mean for us? Jesus’ words, “Take courage, for I have overcome the world” are for us in the same way, that though the trial may have caused us to lose our confidence in Him, yet He will be faithful to rescue us anyway. He is with us even when we have forsaken Him because of our doubts and fears and He will complete the good work He has started in us because He loves us and has already overcome the world on our behalf.

     So take courage my brothers and sisters – in this world you will have tribulation that will cause you to stumble in your faith, but God will surely rescue you for He loves you and has overcome the world for you that you might be with Him forever! 

     God bless you all!

Christ Glorified In The Life Of A Christian

John 16:13-14

Christ Glorified In The Life Of A Christian

     “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.”- Jesus

     Jesus has sent His Holy Spirit to be our teacher and to open our eyes to the scripture. He desires to reveal all that God has for us, both here on earth and also in eternity. Jesus says that whatever the Holy Spirit hears from God He will pass along to us. The Holy Spirit is our direct connection with God and our greatest companion. Not only will He instruct us but He will also glorify Jesus physically as well. In Mark 16: 17-18 Jesus gives us some pretty astounding promises of what the Holy Spirit will do. “And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” These are some very physical manifestations of the power of God that He says will accompany all who have believed and follow Him. In Matthew 10:8 Jesus describes how He views these gifts. “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you have received, freely give.” Jesus considers the gifts He has promised us to be freely used for the benefit of others. They are a free gift to us and therefore we should not hold onto this blessing but freely give it to others. These things are not mysterious happenings; they are a gift to be shared.

     The Holy Spirit wants to move with might and power in our lives and He does not desire to be some mystical religious force, but to be our instructor, teacher, and companion in bringing forth and spreading the glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The reason I am dwelling on these things is because Jesus wants us to walk victoriously in His name, not being afraid to speak up for Him, and continually benefiting from all He is truly able to do in our lives. He wants to give us complete victory over every sin and at the same time, fill our minds with the wisdom and beauty of God. He wants to show us new things about God’s creation every day that will only feed our growing desire to learn more, and at the same time, to pour out His compassion on the blind, lame and weak of this world.

     Jesus wants to affect our lives as never before, but we must lay down our lives to follow Him. We cannot pick up this new life He offers us while hanging onto our old lives. The two cannot mix. One is based on selfish desires and pride while the other is the life of a servant, full of compassion for others and demonstating a sweet, Godly humility. Jesus’ love can only come forth from a humble heart. So let us humbly seek the Lord that we might let go of the world each day and serve Him with our whole heart that the Holy Spirit might be free to glorify Jesus in our lives.

Encouragement In Bearing Fruit

John 15:16-17

Encouragement In Bearing Fruit

     “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.” -Jesus

     I really want to encourage everyone this week that God will bless every action and every prayer that you make on behalf of your family, your neighbor, or your friend. He will bless your efforts to draw them into the Kingdom of God. Jesus says that He has appointed us to bear fruit and that the fruit will remain. He is encouraging us to earnestly ask for their salvation and to step out in faith that He will answer. Every little seed of truth that you sow into their lives will come up and bear fruit. I know that we all get discouraged when after years of praying for someone we don’t see any changes in their life. We have an enemy that wants you to give up in your prayers for that person and he will do anything he can to discourage you from praying with your whole heart, for he knows that God will answer if you persist.

     This is a great word of encouragement for those of us who have been asking the Lord for years on behalf of others and going out of our way to draw them into God’s kingdom. It seems like we can go forever and still see no good coming from it. But let us look at the example that Jesus has left us with. When He hung on the cross all of His disciples had deserted Him and the Jews whom He had tenderly cared for and ministered to were crucifying Him. There was no earthly hope of seeing any good fruit from all of His work. He was staring at a total loss even of His own body and yet, the day He died, all of the seeds He had planted started to come to life! His church grows bigger by the day and there will be no end to the fruit for which He has labored. So for us – we need to take courage from this example He has left us with, and not despair or let go of our prayers for people or stop going out of our way to draw them to God even when we see no fruit. Jesus has promised that there will be fruit!

     So let us step out and start thinking of what kind of seeds we can be planting. There are seeds of action like visiting neighbors or nursing homes or going out into our local communities and helping out. We could be writing letters to friends and family in which we share the love of God with them. We can hand out tracts or join a group that is spreading the Gospel in our communities. I just want to encourage you that anything you can come up with to do for someone, will grow and bear fruit. So let us seek God earnestly today that He will give us new ideas for what we can be doing to spread His kingdom so that we will have fruit for our labors at the end of this age and that the fruit will remain for all of eternity.           God bless you all!

The Joy Of Christ

John 15: 9-11
The Joy Of Christ

     “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 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. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”- Jesus

     The question for today is, why does Jesus say that we are to keep His commandments in order to abide in His love? What is the love He is talking about? Jesus gives us a point of reference when He says, “I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” This love that Jesus is telling us to abide in is our source for being alive. It is the kind of life, bubbling up inside, that causes us to be excited to be alive. Jesus says that if we keep His commandments our joy is going to be made full. He equates keeping His commandments with abiding in His love.

     We have a funny teaching in our churches called – “God knows we will never be perfect in this life.” Yes it is true that we stumble and sin all the time but it is not an excuse to not commit ourselves to trying. Jesus says to resist the Devil’s temptations and he will flee from us. All besetting sins are temptations and within our power to resist by God’s help. God doesn’t want us to use the excuse that we will never be perfect. He is pleased with us when we resist, and the harder it is to resist the more pleased He is when we overcome it. It delights His heart to see the faithfulness of His child to persevere under such challenges. 

     When we resist the temptation to break the commandments there is a purity that comes into our lives, and with each passing day that we hold fast, our lives start to get more exciting. Think of an alcoholic. Everyday that he doesn’t drink he is able to think and work and get his life back together. Everyday builds on the last and his life becomes exciting. But if he is constantly falling back into drinking he is always starting from square one with nothing to build on. So our lives become more exciting the more we build them on keeping the commandments. God has built a great reward into each of His commandments if we keep them, an eternal reward with promises like He gave to Abraham that will last forever. We serve a God Who has great wisdom which He desires to pass on to us, but it is a wisdom that can only build off of obedience. I used to pray for wisdom all the time (I still do) and God would teach me many things, but His wisdom always affected my life, causing me to have to change the way I lived and I used to think – wisdom is only as good as it is made use of. If God teaches you something and you don’t use it, it does you no good and He is not going to give you more until you use what He has given you already. Keeping the commandments is the foundation stone to all wisdom. If we keep them our joy will be made full because we won’t always be starting from square one but will be building on those principles that bring peace and order in our lives so that we can learn new things.

     There is no fun in learning the same lessons over and over again and as we keep the commandments we will abide closer with Jesus, ever growing in His character and love. The Ten Commandments are like sight to the blind, they give understanding as to why our lives keep falling into trouble and they show us the path we should walk on in order to keep from doing it again. The commandments were given for our blessing, so let us meditate upon them and live in the fullness of joy that Jesus has promised for all those who would walk in them.         God bless!

Number Your Days

Psalm 90:12

Number Your Days

So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Today, take a moment to examine your life. Where are you going? What are your goals? What is the end result of the life you are trying to build for yourself? Are you happy? Have you ever been happy? Do you think the next thing you are seeking is going to make you happy? These are very good questions to ask ourselves and in doing so we will begin to draw conclusions about things that we have rarely stopped to think seriously about and learn from.

The word in this Psalm is asking these questions. He says, teach me to know and understand that my time might be very short and how am I spending it? It also may be long, and how am I spending it? It may be long?? Why would that help me think? I thought that life being short is the scary part because I might die before getting my life right with God or without accomplishing something good for Him? Yes, your life might be long. Why is this scary? It is scary because it means that every decision you make will have long consequences for you. So when you wake up after a party where in the moment you chose to do a reckless thing, you find that you can’t shake the consequences. Or if you had an abortion your life goes on and now you find out everything they don’t tell you at the clinic. Regret, guilt, the feeling of having actually committed murder intentionally. Did you know that most of the people in jail will never have the regret that you do or the intense guilt because their crimes were relatively harmless compared to yours. Most of them have actually never killed a person before and if they did, they usually have a motive against someone for something they did to them, but you have chosen to kill someone who never harmed you. These things will stay with you forever. So if you live for the moment as though life is short, you will find that life is long and every day that goes by feels like a lifetime.

We now realize that if we had known that life would go on we would never have done the things we did. We would have considered our days that we might have chosen more wisely. This despair and guilt is why so many people want to end their lives early. The consequences of their actions won’t leave them. They just go on and on. There are so many things we can do that have horrible consequences. These are just a couple, but I’m sure you can think of more. They make life miserable don’t they? 

Here is the miracle. Jesus has offered us a way out. He has offered to take the pain, guilt, despair and suicidal thoughts from us and to replace them with peace,  joy and rest for our weary heart. This is the miracle of salvation. He takes our destroyed lives and begins to rebuild them. He takes away the spirit of despair we are under and gives us a new joy and a reason to wake up in the morning. Those who have received Christ know exactly what I’m talking about. You wake up in the morning and your just actually glad to be alive! Nothing outward has changed. Your life is still full of the consequences of your actions but suddenly the weight is gone and your glad to get up! Maybe for the first time that you can ever remember! This is just the beginning! Jesus will give you a desire to live, and a joy to begin living for Him. He will reshape your life and turn the worst things you have done into something beautiful. He will take the humility of your heart as you give it to Him and grow something new and beautiful out of it. He will save you from your despair and give you a joy that you never knew was possible.

So for all of you who have never experienced this, take some time to consider and remember your days. Jesus can make you brand new today if you humbly come before Him right now and say, “Jesus, please take away my old life and all its horrible consequences, please forgive me and give me a new one that is full of Your joy and peace. I want this joy that I have just been reading about. Please make me a new person in Jesus.” If you take some time and do this, I guarantee your life will never be the same.

And for all who know Jesus, take some time to consider your days. Don’t waste time on things that only please the flesh. Consider how little time you have before Jesus returns and seek to do all you can for His sheep before He comes. Let us be found faithful when He come back, that He would be able to say to us, “Well done My good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master.”

Abiding In The Vine

John 15:1-4

Abiding In The Vine

     “I Am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He (God) takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”- Jesus

     Jesus is showing us the emphasis that God has placed on bearing fruit and that it is the outward sign of where our hearts are. Anyone can call themselves a Christian but it is the fruit of our lives that will show whether we truly are. In fact, God says that every branch in Him that does not bear fruit will be removed which is even more thought provoking. For if a branch already was with Him but stopped abiding in Him it would cease to bear fruit and be removed. Certainly a word of warning to us not to take our daily walk with God for granted. Ezekiel 33:13 puts it even more clearly. “When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die.” This is where the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom as Solomon says.

     So what does it mean to abide in the vine and how do we do it? To abide in the vine is to take our time for seeking the Lord, seriously. It is to make time for Him everyday where we put aside everything in order to be with Him. What friendship have you ever had where spending time with that person no longer mattered? A true friend desires to spend time with you even when it is not possible because of time or distance. So also, our relationship with God does not grow without an effort to make time for Him. So why can it be so difficult to make time for God? It is because we have an enemy who tries to fill our time with pressing things, and other loves that will consume our time that we could use to spend with the Lord. We pursue a sport or a romance or our career as if these things are truly the only thing that will keep us alive or are worth living for. How can we tell if these things have become too important? Look at your reaction if they are taken away. We fall into despair – you got injured and your future in that sport is lost forever, the person of your dreams has left you, someone has seen your business idea, liked it, copied it, and is now undercutting your business. Just look at your response to these things. Anger, despair, getting even, anger at God for not stepping in, these reactions show what our hearts are in love with.  The only way to let go of them is to start spending time with God on a daily basis. As we spend time with Him He places His hand upon us and removes the despair and bitterness and frustration from our spirit and replaces it with His peace. He is able to do the impossible – which is to bring peace and contentment back into our lives. Our hearts let go and are free to take hold of Him and to enjoy His company. The more faithful we are to spend time with Him the more often we enjoy this peace and contentment and the more we look forward to being with Him. This is the beginning of true love for our Savior. Not just the first love of being saved by what He did for us, but a sustainable and ever-growing daily love relationship with Him. The more time we spend with Him the deeper it grows and we find it is not possible to get to the end of it! With the pleasures of this world you reach the maximum it can offer in literally moments, but with God you can never get to the end of it. With God’s love you will never find the end where you feel empty and have to find some new love.

     So let us start spending more time with Him and enjoy the everlasting blessing He has given us which is to have a personal relationship with the Creator of the universe! And let us bear much fruit which grows so naturally as we abide in Him. God bless you all!

Patience While Being Pruned

John 15:1-2

Patience While Being Pruned

     “I Am the true vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.”

     “Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.”    Jesus has called us His branches and said that His Father tends us and prunes us that we might be healthy and bear fruit. However, this pruning that God does is not pleasant and often leaves us feeling less than loving thoughts towards Him. We are going along trying our best to serve Him when suddenly the world falls apart around us and we lose our most precious earthly possessions. At first we feel like God has abandoned us in spite of our constant pleading with Him for help, but far from this being the truth, our Heavenly Father is jealously tending us that we might bring forth fruit abundantly. 

     God’s pruning sets us free from the excesses we have let grow up around us that take up all of our time and energy. He prunes things that our hearts are attached to so that we might be free to set our hearts on the treasure in Heaven. Jesus says it well in Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” As we draw close to God very often there are things that we know we need to let go of and yet we can’t do it and we leave them in our lives for a period of time. However, God is faithful to remove those things for us as He watches and sees that we truly desire to be free from those things and yet cannot let go. He steps in and prunes us.

     Many times, however, He prunes us from things that we have no desire to let go of and this is where we can get angry with God for His work in our lives. There are things we have that we feel we could never live without and God says, – “They are holding your heart hostage to the earth which is passing away and I have promised to set you free and preserve you for eternal life.” I call this pruning – A Severe Mercy – a blessing that we only truly appreciate years after He has done it. However, it is not fun for Him. He listens to our anger towards Him and endures it for our good. We are very often not grateful for this pruning process! If only we could bless His heart by patiently enduring it with a cheerful and hopeful heart. However, this hopeful heart is only attained by having our treasure in Heaven and it is our treasure on earth that He is pruning which means that our heart is being torn in the middle of it.

     So what can we do to more quickly come to peace with this pruning process? Surrender – we need to surrender the things that God is pruning rather than trying to re-grow those branches. The pain remains while we fight to re-grow what He has pruned, but if we surrender and focus on our roots – digging deeper into Him and drawing from His Living Water, we will grow and mature our roots so that we will be able to support the fruit that will come forth as the season changes to summer in our lives.

     I want to encourage you to not resist God’s pruning in your lives, but embrace it and bear it patiently. Set your heart on our treasure in Heaven so that your heart will be at peace and no longer feel the loss of this temporary earthly life. May God bless and encourage you in your walk with Him!

The Oil of the Holy Spirit

John 14:16-17

The Oil of the Holy Spirit

     “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.” – Jesus

     Jesus says that He will send us the Holy Spirit and the world cannot receive Him or know Him, but we will know Him because He will abide in us. I think that it is interesting that Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will be our Helper forever. That means that He desires to be part of our lives and to instruct us in the ways of our Heavenly Father for all time. In other words, the Holy Spirit will truly be our closest companion. Think about what that means, the Spirit of Righteousness and Truth abiding in you. You will never be without a constant reminder of what it truly means to live a holy life before God. However, not only will He teach us what righteousness is but will be our helper in being obedient and in overcoming our sinful desires and weaknesses. He will both convict and overcome our sinful nature. What a wonderful blessing.

     Now let me ask each of you, have you truly in your heart desired such a Holy Being to be in your life? One with whom you can never get away with any sin because He stands there with conviction in His hand? It is the most fearful and yet the most desirable thing in the world to have Him reside in you and to have His Holiness upon you. You will truly never be the same again. It’s amazing how much compromise we desire to have in our lives even after we have become Christians. There are parts of our old lives that we hope we can incorporate into our new lives with Christ. However, to have the Holy Spirit dwell in you is to know that you can never pretend ignorance to the sin you desire to keep in your life.

     Brothers and Sisters, it is time to rise and wash our sin stained robes once again and pray for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit and to recommit ourselves to the changes He wants to bring into our lives. We need to go back to the days when we first were saved and wanted to be free from sin more than anything else in the world. Over the years we have fallen back into the sleepiness of the world’s distractions and temptations and have become unfruitful. Jesus gave us the parable of the ten virgins who fell asleep. Brothers and Sisters, it is time to wake up for our Savior is coming soon! Not only do we need to stop sleeping but we need to wake up everyone around us that we might refill our lamps and not be caught without oil at His return! 

     Time is short and our brothers and sisters need us to rise and wake them. Let us ask God to refill us with the oil of His Holy Spirit! God bless you all and may you go forth and bear much fruit for our Lord and Savior!

A Wake-Up Call

John 14:12-15

A Wake-Up Call

     “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”- Jesus

     “The works that I do shall he do also.” Let us explore the works that Jesus did which He has for us to do also. As we look through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John we see that the miracles Jesus did all related to helping others, and when someone asked Jesus if he could join Him Jesus replies by saying that He has no place to rest His head. In other words, He has no home and the life He leads will be an uncomfortable one. When Jesus sent His disciples out two by two they were not to take any money or extra clothes with them but to live wherever they were welcomed and to eat whatever was set before them. Jesus was not concerned with His own comfort and support. His every effort was for the sake of other’s needs and salvation.

     If I could I would just like to open our eyes as Christians to show us how selfish we have become. We complain to God for every inconvenience that comes upon us and we strive every day to make our lives more comfortable. We rarely have time for a neighbor in need or a sick family member. As brothers and sisters of Jesus – these things should not be this way! Jesus was only concerned with His neighbors and never took a thought about Himself. His life was so busy helping His neighbor that He would have never even had the time to think about Himself. Can we see how far from our Savior’s example we have come?

     Jesus is not speaking poetically and romantically when He says, “Sell all you have and come follow Me.” Jesus is turning our lives as we have known them upside down, and every fleshly love is getting scraped off of us. We think we know Jesus already, but is He removing your foundation from under you right now? Are terrible things happening in your life right now and your’re finding yourself saying, “These things aren’t coming from the God I know”? I tell you – don’t resist this upheaval in your life. Your God whom you thought you knew is real, and He is changing your comfortable view of what it means to be a Christian! You say, “This is not the God I know.” You are right for you have not known Him as well as you thought and He is shaking out your false foundations so that He might replace them with His solid Rock.

     Give your lives anew to Him and say – Lord, your ways are above mine and Your wisdom for my life is higher than mine and from now on I will no longer create You in my image but will become like You! Show me who You are! God has to shake us out of our sleepiness. We need to be out on the streets serving Him with passion. We need to speak boldly to our coworkers and really care that they are heading for eternity in Hell!

     Brothers and Sisters, wake up! Turn off your TV’s and go out and see the world as it is, full of sin and hopelessness. Rise up and save this upcoming generation that has no hope of escape from the constant bombardment of sin and temptation!

     Where are my brothers and sisters of God? Rise up and take back this country! Get on your knees and pray like you have never prayed before! We have been asleep in this world’s pursuits but the time for sleep is over! Wake up and save our land! These are the works that Jesus did and greater things will He do through us!
     God bless you all and fill your lives with new life and encouragement!

What We Are To Be Doing While We Wait For Jesus To Return

John 14:18-21

What We Are To Be Doing While We Wait For Jesus To Return

     “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.”- Jesus

     What can compare to the love of God! What can compare to knowing that the Creator of all has His eye on you and that His heart is fixed on you? If we love Jesus and desire to keep His commandments with all our heart, this is a good indication that we have been born again! “After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.” We live in the days where the world does not behold our Savior for He has gone to prepare an eternal home for us and has not come back yet. However, to each of us who eagerly await His coming back, He has promised to reveal Himself to us and to send His Holy Spirit to be our constant companion. I urge us not to treat this gift lightly or to take it for granted. Our Lord and Savior reveals Himself to us daily and desires us to walk among the world and do the work He would be doing if He were here in person. He desires for us to take care of one another. He said before He left, that we would do the works which He did and greater works as well, and what things did He do? He healed the sick, preached the Gospel to the poor and made disciples. If we are to follow in His steps these are the things we should be doing. I want to talk a little bit about preaching to the poor. It gives us the proper heart attitude as we serve the Lord, for the poor have no way to repay you for your work in a physical way and so all of your provision for the work must come from God. This is a good lesson because it weans out selfish ambition and greed from the hearts of all who serve in this way. Love becomes the motivation for all that is done and Jesus says that if we give even a cup of cold water to the least of these we are doing it to Him.

     To keep the commandments means that we have God ordained work that needs to be done. He has work for each of us to be doing so that we might be a blessing to one another and strengthen one another. Isaiah 58:6-8 says, “Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and to bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh (family)? Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth; and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.”

     God wants us to love one another and to consider the wellbeing of our neighbor before ourselves. It is a life of real love that God has called us to and it is a deep and sincere love that He has for us. Let us rejoice and depend upon His love that we may go forth without worry as we set out to love one another as He has taught us.

     God bless you all!

Jesus’ Desire For Us To Know Our Heavenly Father

John 14:8-12

Jesus’ Desire For Us To Know Our Heavenly Father

     Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.”

     Jesus’ words in this passage are so sincere. He longs for Philip to understand that He and the Father are so completely one that to know Him is to know the Father. He says to Philip that He doesn’t even speak on His own initiative but that whatever the Father desires to share or do is what He does. This is a very touching conversation Jesus is having. He is about to be crucified and He really wants to convey what is in His heart to Philip, the other disciples and to us. He really wants us to know that He and the Father are one and to know Him is to know the Father.

     How do we apply this heart stirring conversation to our own relationship with Jesus? He has told us many times that He desires for us to be one with Him just as He and the Father are one. And He explains how He lives every moment in such close fellowship with His Father that He is continually speaking His Father’s words and acting on all He has for Him to do. This is our guide to how close a fellowship He desires for us to have with Himself. We can see the heart of God through Jesus’ tenderness towards the blind and the lame and the hungry, His tenderness towards those who are condemned to be stoned to death and for the ones who were horribly demon-possessed. We can see His tenderness for the dying daughter and for the woman who came to the well to whom He gave Living Water instead, and His tenderness to the handful of rough fishermen who became the pillars of His church. We see His heart when He looked down upon Jerusalem with anguish saying how many times He desired to gather them under His wing like a mother hen gathering her chicks, and with His final words, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

     The final word for this message is this. We have been called to share in this intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. He desires for us to be so close to Him that we are constantly conveying His love and compassion to others both speaking and doing all the things that are on His heart. Jesus says that because of His finished work on the cross not only will we do the work that He was doing but would do even greater things. So we have to ask ourselves, “How closely have we been fellowshipping with our Heavenly Father?” Enough to always know what He is thinking, enough to always know what He would have us to do, enough to be completely one with Him in every area of our life? It is such a close relationship that He desires for us to have with Him and these are some of the facets of it. This kind of relationship with Him requires keeping the final commandment that He left for us which is to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.

     Let us renew our desire to walk this closely with Him. We need Him this much in order to avoid all the temptations and to be fruitful workers in His vineyard. May God bless each of you and fill you with a fresh love for Him that willingly puts down all distractions to follow Him.      God bless!

I Go to Prepare a Place For You

John 14:1-3

I Go to Prepare a Place For You

     “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am you may be also.”- Jesus

     Where is your heart today? What are you striving to achieve? What drives you when you wake up each morning and confirms to you that you’re on the right path? I know that I have days when my life makes sense and I’m excited to be alive, however on other days I wake up and wonder, “What am I doing with my life?” “Where is it going?” “Does it have any purpose?” There are days when my trust in God falters and my faith is weak and I say, “Jesus are You really there? Are You really watching over me because so many things in my life just aren’t making sense?”

     Jesus wants to assure us that His love for us is great and in these few verses He redirects our sight to eternal things. We get distracted and discouraged by the everyday occurrences and forget that these days are only temporary. “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me, in My Father’s house are many dwelling places.” “I will come again and receive you to Myself.” These are words Jesus means for us to take to heart. He says these things with compassion knowing how easily our hearts are troubled – minute by minute, day by day. He desires to assure us that He has an eternal place prepared for us and that He will return to bring us safely home to Himself.

     I want to encourage us all to redirect our hearts today towards our Savior. He is faithful and whatever earthly thing you struggle with, He will see you through it. He left us with words of comfort and assurance that we might meditate upon them and be comforted by them. In Jeremiah 33:19-22 God confirms that His promises to us cannot be broken. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘If you can break My covenant for the day, and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed times, then My covenant may be broken with David My servant that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.” As God has promised that nothing can break His covenants with His people or with the day and night, so also He will not break His promises that He has made to us that we would become part of the heritage of Abraham by being grafted in to his family.

     Let us remember His promises to us today and let us renew our vows to walk in holiness before Him each day. He loves us and will be our Heavenly Father for all of eternity! God bless you all this day!