You Ought To Tell Someone

Good Morning!! When the disciples were left alone, as Jesus ascended into heaven, a new beginning was just around the corner. Jesus told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Promise. That Promise came on the day of Pentecost,...a day that changed their lives forever. God's Holy Spirit came upon them with sounds of a mighty wind, that came from heaven, a demonstration of supernatural power. Tongues of fire were then dispersed ("sat on") to each person (Acts 2:1-4). This event made it very clear that something amazing and indescribable was taking place amongst these people. In the days that followed this small group of believers came together in one accord, knowing that they had been given gifts from the Lord,...and that they had been called to witness the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all...—Acts 4:33 (NIV)

The first gift given involved "great power",...as the apostles zealously told of their knowledge and personal experience of who Jesus Christ was,...and what He had done. The second gift, however, is one we sometimes take for granted,...but it is extremely crucial to the first one: "great grace." Grace, however, steps in and says that the Lord has granted us unmerited favor in His sight. He chose us. He loved us first. He called us to do His work. He gifted us for His purposes. Not of us, but of Him, by His grace.

Grace will always accompany power in our life,...Grace is connected to our faith.

Holy Spirit, allow us to make time today and look up verses on "grace." Help us to use our Bibles and concordances, reading and learning about grace. Minister to us, through spirit and Word. As we suffering, and struggling, erge and encour us to approach the Father's throne of grace with boldness,...and receive His mercy today, as in Hebrews 4:16,...that we may be blessed! Amen.

"Every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell."

I Will Bless The Lord

Good Morning!! Ever notice how much nicer, or better behave, when they think someone maybe watching? It's because we care what others think of us,...we all want to be liked, or thought of in a positive light. But it should not be all about being seen, and complimented by others,...but by God. That's why the best test to check our motives, is to examine what you do, when no one is looking. That means that everything we do, should be done to please the Lord, and not man. We can do dishes for the Lord, we can wipe noses for the Lord, and we can help someone else for the Lord. Surely you realize that God is watching,...right? The Lord is with us all the time. When we become aware of His continual presence,...we change. And the change is good because as we align up to please our Heavenly Father, we receive peace.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,—Colossians 3:23 (NIV)

Because we desire God to bless us,...and He does,...our main desire needs to be that we just want to please the Him. God has given us internal monitors that let us know if what we are doing is right or wrong before Him. If we are making choices that please Him, we have peace. If we are making choices that are wrong, we don’t feel right. We become uncomfortable with a lack of peace. It doesn’t take much to realize that we are not pleasing God when gossiping or speaking negatively. When this happens to me, I sense the quenching of the Holy Spirit and I want to get out of that conversation as fast as I can. Praise God for conviction. I don’t want to do anything that quenches the Lord because I have learned that whatever quenches His Spirit hurts Him because it is bad for me. Let’s live to bless the Lord.

We are alive to bless the Lord,...not for the Lord to bless us.

Holy Spirit, convict our hearts today. If we'redoing anything, that isn’t right before the Lord, show us, and move us away from it. One day we will each give an account of our actions before Him. If we can become aware of His presence now, we will live a life that brings Him glory,...which in turn blesses us all. Amen.

"There may be times when we're not so sure of where God is,
...but we can be confident that He always knows where we are."

Learning To Let It Go, And Loving It

Good Morning!! How do you know when a wound has healed?....when you can touch it, without pain. This weekend, Sheila and I revisited some past issues of hurts,...that I thought we had moved beyond. But we soon discovered that just because you haven't spoken of it, doesn't mean that you've let go of it. How did holding on to pass hurts, become our way of protecting ourselves from new ones? Distrust, shame, hate and all other fear based, forms of insecurity that we chain ourselves to, are not of God. Until we learn to truly let go of them, we're not really moving on,...we're just moving in place.

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.—Isaiah 43:25 (NIV)

Have you ever known anyone who truly delights in mercy? Think about it for a moment. How many of us really enjoy extending mercy to others? I am not talking about the kind of mercy that we give in times of need or extend to someone because we feel sorrow for them. I am talking about the kind of mercy that the Lord extends to us on a continual basis. And not only does the Lord grant us this mercy, but the Bible says He loves to do it. Isaiah 30:18 says the Lord waits (or longs) to be gracious to us. Sometimes we need to be reminded of how good God is to us. There is no one like our God.

Foregiveness is not just for the other person,...it frees us as well.

Father God, we pray that today can be a new day for us. We pray that we will accept Your mercy, and grace with open arms. We pray that we, in turn, will begin to delight in doing the same for others. We pray that we will fall in love with our awesome God, Who truly does delight in forgiving all of our sins, and waits just to be kind and gracious to us. We ask for Your Spirit to open our hearts to receive Your mercy,...and take hold of all that You haves for us. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

"There may be times when we're not so sure of where God is,
...but we can be confident that He always knows where we are."

The Power Within

Good Morning!! Do you know what power you have living inside you? The power that raised Lazarus from the dead,...healed all kinds of diseases, and delivered souls from bondage. That very same power, is found in us,...by way of Jesus Christ. Jesus shares, and shows, us this power through His indwelling peace. When we receive the Spirit of God, we have peace with God,...not peace as the world gives, but the peace of God that surpasses understanding. It is peace that "settles" you, in times of trial. No matter where you are or what you are struggling with,...God has allowed for a settling of your soul, to have peace with Him.

I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.—Ezekiel 37:14 (NIV)

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God, that allows us to have a right relationship with God. The Spirit of God intercedes for us in prayer, as He uses words that enter into the throne room of God,...when we can only moan and groan. He is our Counselor, our Teacher, our Comfort and our Guide. But the most important eternal promise we receive, when the Spirit of God is placed in us, is the seal of our salvation,...as we come alive spiritually for eternity.So Awesome. So Amazing!

The peace of God is a promise offered to you today.
Claim it, speak it,...and live in it.

Holy Spirit of God, help us to throw off the distractions of illness, financial loss, negative comments, guilt, and self-condemnation. And let the peace of Christ dwell in us richly. Nothing can interfere with the love God has for us, and the peace that is ours by knowing His Son. All these things on earth will pass away, but our security for eternity is fixed. Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus,...by reading His word. Move us to cast our cares upon the Lord,...for He cares for us. Amen.

"There may be times when we're not so sure of where God is,
...but we can be confident that He always knows where we are."

Is All Your Working, For Kingdom Building?

Good Morning!! Have you felt overwhelmed by too much work? Many times, we are overloaded with overbooked calendars and too little time to do the things we have to do, not to mention the things we would like to do. Most of us are always busy trying to complete the tasks or jobs for the day. Our society is works-based in every way imaginable. The eighties were a decade that made longer workdays the in-thing. Forty-hour weeks were considered short in comparison to the more popular sixty to eighty-hour weeks,...and the "Stay-at-home mom", became just another thing of the past.

Moses did everything just as the LORD commanded him.—Exodus 40:16 (NIV)

Today, with advances in technology and a "bigger and faster is better" mentality, doing more is a must. Even our kids are obliged to participate in extra-extracurricular activities, thinking they are necessary for higher education opportunities. As a result, many of us are worn out, stressed out, and burned out from so much work. We get so busy just being busy that many of us do not stop to even include the Lord in our activities.

Moses building of the tabernacle was a beautiful example of a perfect union, between God and man,
...and the results were nothing short of miraculous.

Father in Heaven, we pray that today is the day You take over all of our work. We start by asking; did the Lord instruct us to do these things? Has God given us the tools, and talents to carry out the work? Are we really working in unison with You, Father,...and are we following Your instructions and doing all that You says? We want to take the time, hear from You, so that our efforts are not wasted. In Jesus name, Amen.

"There may be times when we're not so sure of where God is,
...but we can be confident that He always knows where we are."

Same Stuff, Different Day

Good Morning!! The longer we live, the more pain, cruelty, and unfairness that we see. "I saw the tears of the oppressed—and they have no comforter" (4:1). Oppression comes via poverty, violence, illness, corruption, disability, and natural disaster,...often compounded by injustice (8:9-10). Like Solomon said; there really is nothing new under the sun.

But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.—Ecclesiastes 4:3 (NIV)

How can life make sense given the existent of undeserved, random suffering? Solomon responds with: "eat, drink and be glad" (8:15). This is part of a well-known saying, used to introduce his disillusionment with pleasures. In its actual context, it is a reminder to appreciate life's good things,...even when experiencing the bad. Another way of dealing with suffering is to comfort, and heal each other,...and trust God to eventually make all things right.

The evils you see today are not new,...and neither is the right way to face them.

"Study the Bible to be wise;
believe it to be safe;
practice it to be holy."

(DAILY BREAD, Nov. 17, 2006)

"There may be times when we're not so sure of where God is,
...but we can be confident that He always knows where we are."

A Love Beyond Understanding

Good Morning!! As I read and re-read the letters of Paul, to the churches,...certain themes seem to re-occur throughout. Paul had such a love for these newly converted Gentiles,...who were once culturally embedded in paganism, and idolatry. Knowing the temptations that they faced in living a life for Jesus, Paul wrote letters to encourage, to exhort, and to even admonish them. His primary concern was that they not turn away from what they had been taught about Jesus. Not so different from the times we live in now, there were many false teachers who were on the scene during this time,...trying to lure these baby Christians from the truth of God’s Word. Paul knew that the foundation of Jesus’ teaching was based on love, a love that was (and still is) incomprehensible. He knew that love would keep them together in fellowship, as one body in Jesus Christ,...and that the love of Christ would give them the grace to continue to live a life for Him.

...and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.—Ephesians 3:19 (KJV)

Today’s verse says that “the love of Christ…passes knowledge.” In essence, this means that we are not humanly capable of understanding the love of Jesus. His love is beyond our knowledge, our understanding, our emotions,...we can never truely understand the depths of His love. But Paul tells us to pray about it,...as he prayed for the church at Ephesus. Even though we are not capable of understanding our Holy God, we are given His Holy Spirit who will open our minds,...lead us in truth,...and fill us with His love.

We, as believers in God’s only Son, are the temples of His Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit, help us to pray without ceasing, constantly asking for You to fill us with more of Your presence. We want, and need to "be filled with all the fullness of God."

"Instead of being preoccupied with our problems,
...let’s praise the Lord for His blessings."