Be Still....

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46:10-11

Have you ever told a child to be still and to wait?? It seems almost impossible for most children to sit still isn’t it? That is how we are when God tells us to be still. Notice the second part of that sentence though, and know that I am God. God is not only telling us to be still, He is also telling us to know that He is God. In other words – RELAX and see what I am going to do. Don’t worry about how things are going to play out or what the outcome will be. Relax and watch how I will work it out is what God is saying. Leave it in my hands and don’t worry, I have it all under control. I can imagine God smiling when He says that. J Yet as human beings, we become anxious because we don’t like to wait. I believe that is why God teaches us patience and shows us how to wait. When we don’t wait we attempt to help God do what He does best and we mess it up, but when we are still, He glorifies Himself as only He can. The next sentence says I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. There are times when we have no choice but to be still and watch the Lord do His thing because the situation is so out of our control. There are things that happen that we can only give glory to God for, because there was no way we could’ve possibly made it happen. Take for example, the blind man in Chapter 9 of the Gospel of John. This man was born blind, yet when He met Jesus, he received his sight. Mind you, he had lived all of his life visibly challenged and was an adult by the time he met Jesus. Doctors could not reverse his handicap, there was no cure for blindness and in those days there was no such thing as laser surgery. This man received his sight to glorify God. In verse three the disciples asked him by whose sin was this man born blind, his or his parents and Jesus answer was neither but that the works of God would be revealed in him. Only God could give sight to a man born blind! If you read about Gideon in the book of Judges, chapter 7, God gave him victory over the Midianites with an army of only 300 men! Why? To show them that it is He who gives the victory and the glory belongs to Him. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. If God is with us, who can be against us? God is with us and He is the One that fights for us. He is our fortress and our strong tower. He goes before us in battle and all we need to do is keep our eyes on Him. He will be exalted among the nations and in all the earth, for He is God Almighty, the God of Jacob, our fortress!! Praise the Lord!! All glory to the Creator of the heavens and the earth!!

Stand on the Rock

Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7

Think back to the day when you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior. What did you feel? I can tell you what I felt, I felt relief! Like this huge boulder was lifted off of my shoulders and released a dam that was built up inside of me for too many years. I cried tears of joy and relief. It is different for everyone I would think but one thing I believe we all experience is the peace that Christ gives us when we are born again. So now Paul is telling us to continue to live in Him. Remember that feeling of peace and love and joy that filled you in that moment that you said yes to the Lord and continue to seek Him, continue to live in Him. Be rooted in His word and built up in Him the Rock of Ages. When we are built up in Him it means that we are standing firmly on His word. Our houses are built on the Rock so no matter what storm comes, what winds may blow; our houses will not fall because they are built upon the Rock! We build ourselves up in Christ through the word of God. Jesus told Satan when he tried to tempt him in the desert that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. The Bible is God’s word. In order to build ourselves up in Christ we must eat that word. We must read it, study it, and apply it to our lives daily. We must believe it. In this way we are also rooted in Him. They will be deep roots that will be hard to pull out. Strengthened in the faith as you were taught – the word of God strengthens your faith. When you think you are the only person going through whatever you are going through, the Bible tells of someone who went through it too. Jesus knows how we feel because He too suffered as a man here on earth. Our faith is strengthened when the word of God comes alive daily in our lives. For those of us who think or say that reading the Bible is hard or boring – ask God to bring it to life for you as read it. Imagine the different scenarios that the Bible speaks of. Imagine David running from Saul when Saul wanted to kill him. Imagine Joseph fleeing Potifar’s wife when she tried to have her way with him. Imagine Abraham speaking with the Lord and two of His angels before raining fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah. Imagine Jesus healing the blind, the lame, the deaf, and the mute. Imagine that woman that who’s faith made her believe that if she just touched the hem of Jesus garment, she would be healed. Praise the Lord!! Can you see it?? The word of God is awesome and God speaks to us through it everyday, telling us how much He loves us and wants to walk and talk with us. To think that God would want me to be His friend is just amazing. I mean He is God, why would He want a mere mortal to be His friend? Because He loves me and He created me and you too! Praise God! We must be grateful for all things that God Almighty provides for us. He protects us, He loves us, He cares for us and He saved us! I may have gone off topic a little but my point is that we must stay in the word to be built up and rooted in Christ and continue in Him. We must show gratitude for all that God has done, is doing and will do in our lives. Stand on the Rock of Ages, continue in Him, as you did when you first believed. Hallelujah!!

Honor Your Parents

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Exodus 20:12

Good morning and God bless from the Big Apple! Yeah I miss Florida already..lol Look at the wonderful promise God makes us in this verse but there's a catch. The catch is to honor your father and mother. The promise is our days shall be long upon the land which He gives us. For some of us it is easy and natural to honor our parents because they have taught us the fear of the Lord and have been godly examples in our lives. But what about those of us who's parents were not the examples we would have hoped for? Or those of us who's parents were abusive or unloving or absent all the time? Do we still have to honor them? Yes!! Why? Because we are no longer our own. Our lives belong to our Heavenly Father now and we must live according to His word and that means that we have to forgive all those who have hurt or offended us in the past, including our parents. How do you honor parents who have abused or abandoned you? By forgiving them and praying for them. By treating them with love and respect despite the past and despite their reaction to it. To honor your parents no matter what kind of parent they may be is to love them unconditionally and see them the way God sees them and us. Forgiveness makes way for reconciliation, love and peace. If we have anything against our parents today, let us give it to the Lord and ask Him to show us how to forgive them and love them so that we can be in obedience to His word and honor them. When we honor them we are promised a long life. Not just a long life, but a long life of peace, joy, and the fullness of God! Praise the Lord!! Everything God commands us to do in His word is for a purpose and for our well being. His commandments are for our growth, our healing, our faith, and our relationship with Him.

Get Ready!

Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:44

I had a conversation yesterday with one of my co-workers concerning certain things he did not understand about the Bible. One of those questions was what happens to the people who have different religions? My answer was the bible says that no one can come to Father except through the Son. Anyone who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior before they die or before He returns for His church, with the exception of the specific number of Jews mentioned in Revelation, will go to hell. So he says “Then 2.5 billion people are going to hell!” The conversation continued and I explained to him that everyone will have the opportunity to receive Christ before He comes back for His church and that God will give man every opportunity to accept His gift of salvation. If man rejects this gift he will burn for eternity, however if he accepts it, He will see the Father. He then asked me when Jesus is returning. I answered him, “we know not the day or the hour when the Son of man will return, which is why we have to live every day as if His return were today.” Matthew 24:44 tells us the same thing! We must be ready because He will come at a time when we least expect. We must try to always be in that expectation that when we wake up in the morning it may be the day the Lord returns or when we go to bed at night we may not wake up in our beds the next morning but find ourselves in glory with the Lord! However if we are not ready, we risk losing it all. I know, it is too early for such gloomy thoughts, but the reality is that we have to examine ourselves everyday and look to see if we are ready. We are human and fallible, which is why we must stay in prayer, in the Word, and walk in the spirit! Everyday I wake up, I say Lord I want to be ready when You return. There are so many things that we have to be mindful of in our daily walk with the Lord. We must not neglect our communication with the Lord; our personal time of devotion and prayer. We must not neglect studying His word and we must not neglect congregating with the saints. Most importantly we must not forget our reason for living – Jesus our source of life. We live because He lives. We exist because He created us and He created us with a purpose. We live to worship and adore Him. That is our purpose! Humanity is fallen and therefore those of us who have freely received the gift of salvation must give freely of what freely we have received. Or as they say in Spanish “Dad por gracia lo que por gracia has recibido.” For my friends who don’t speak or read Spanish, that is the Spanish version of give freely of what freely we have received. Not trying to throw you guys off here with the Spanish. J We must live each day as though today were the day that we would be caught up to be with the Lord always. That is our hope! That is what we are waiting for! To me the greatest reward is to see the face of my beloved Savior Jesus! I know there are beautiful and tremendous things in heaven but the only person I want to see and if I don’t see anything but His face, I will have seen all of heaven!! Praise God! I don’t know about you guys, but I find myself thinking more and more of that day when we go home to be with the Lord. When we will no longer live as strangers in a foreign land but as citizens of heaven! Glory, glory, glory! My brothers and sisters let us live everyday with the expectation of the return of our Lord. Let’s live today as if today were the day that He would find us laboring in His vineyard, with our lamps full of oil and burning, and ready to meet our bridegroom! Praise the Lord!!!

Afterthought: Like the song says “People get ready, Jesus is coming, soon we’ll be going home. People get ready, Jesus is coming, to take from the world His own.” Hallelujah!!!! (Crystal Lewis – People Get Ready)

God Keeps His Promises

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Habakkuk 2:3

For many of us, matter of fact, for all of us, at some point or other, God has made a promise concerning our lives. Maybe you’ve seen that promise fulfilled. Maybe it is being fulfilled in this chapter of your life. Maybe you are still waiting for it to be fulfilled. I am! This verse speaks to our faith. Why do I say that? Because you have to have faith to believe that a promise is going to be fulfilled no matter how long it takes. How many of us, when we were little, believed wholeheartedly when our parents promised us something? Sometimes our parents failed in keeping their promises yet we believed it when they said it and waited anxiously for it to come to pass. GOD DOES NOT BREAK HIS PROMISES. It may seem like it’s not going to happen. It may seem impossible. You may even think God has forgotten His promises to you. Quite possibly you may have forgotten His promises to you yourself! Be sure of one thing, God does not forget His promises! Whatever He promised you, if it hasn’t been fulfilled yet it is because it is for an appointed time but it will happen. Wait for it! Expect it! Because it will surely come, it will not tarry! Praise the Lord for His promises! We get discouraged when we are waiting on the Lord for something He promised and we don’t get it right away or we don’t get it when we want but God reminds us through this verse that it will surely come! He is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man to change His mind. He knows the appointed time for the fulfillment of His promise to you. And when you finally see it come to pass, you will be in a position to appreciate it and glorify God for it. He tells us to wait for it because He keeps His word. No matter how long it takes, we should hold on to the promises of God for our lives. Remember that nothing is impossible for our Lord. He will come through. You will see it! You will rejoice in it! He is always on time. Praise God!! When you least expect it, God will remind you that He promised you something and will fulfill it at that time.

Battlefield of the Mind

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

God bless all! These verses speak about spiritual warfare but directly to the battlefield that is in the mind. We cannot fight the enemy with our own strength. God has given us His Spirit and an armor to fight with and weapons that can overcome the enemy and give us victory. What are they? The Word of God, the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, prayer, praise and obedience. The one that is used offensively and defensively is His Word. The Word of God is alive and powerful and Satan can’t stand against it. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. When we call on the name of Jesus during times of attack or battle He is there to help us. He is a very present help in times of trouble. The blood of Jesus that washes us of all sin also has power. When we plead the blood of Jesus over our lives, over our situations, we are asking to be covered by the blood. Satan can’t stand the blood because the blood cleanses us and therefore he cannot come against it. Prayer is your communication with the Father, when you pray without ceasing, there is no room for the thoughts the enemy throws at you. Praise is a mighty weapon against the enemy, no matter what you are going through when you praise God the enemy has to withdraw. Obedience to God is very important and key in a victorious life. We must be obedient to overcome and to obtain victory no matter what the cost. As you yield to the Lord and allow Him to govern your life, as you fill yourself with His Word, and maintain a relationship with Him, you will be able to tear down strongholds from your past, old thought habits, and replace them with what the Word of God says about you and your walk with Him. You will be able to discern when the enemy is trying to creep in with thoughts of pride and boasting or anything else that does not give God glory and exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We can take those thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ by professing the Word and rejecting those thoughts. Victory is ours through Jesus Christ who has defeated Satan and has given us the power to overcome. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

The Potter and the Clay

The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! Jeremiah 18:1-6

In this passage of Scripture, God is showing Jeremiah an illustration of Himself and His creation – man. The Creator (God) is the potter and the creation (man) is the clay. If you go back to the book of Genesis, chapter 2, verse 7, what did God shape or form man from? The bible says dust! God formed man from dust and what does dust become when you add water to it? Mud or clay! When we first come to the Lord, we dry, cracked, broken vessels. As we put our lives in the hands of God, He begins to put the pieces of our hearts, souls, minds, and lives back together. As we begin to grow in Him, He puts us on the potter’s wheel and begins to form and shape us into who we were originally intended to be. He cleanses you, purifies you, gets rid of all the junk that you don’t need and He can’t use and begins add virtues and mold those qualities He already gave you according to His purpose. The final outcome is a beautifully made, complete vessel, ready to be used by the Potter.

Being on the wheel is never pleasant. You are being stretched and scrubbed and shaped which can be quite painful as you let go of things that hold you back, things that you thought were of value, things that perhaps caused you more pain as you hid them away inside your heart. Let me encourage you today. God’s ultimate goal is to bring out the true you in Him and to do that you have to let go of the old you and your old ways and allow Him to shape His image in you; the image of Christ in you. Paul said we must decrease so that Christ may be increased. That simply means that we must deny ourselves of our fleshly desires and desire the will of our Father in our lives. When this is done daily, we decrease and Christ is increased. People see the difference. They see Jesus instead of you. They see Jesus instead of Christine. But it requires a process that you must allow God to do in your life. If you don’t submit and allow Him to have His way, people will only see you and not Christ. They will only see Christine and not Christ. How sad that would be, to profess Christ and the transformation that comes from salvation is not evident. When the Potter has finished molding the clay, He will bring forth a beautiful vessel for His glory and His honor. Allow Him to have His way with you from this day forth, you will not regret it.