FAITH WORKS

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” —Matthew 21:21-22

What has the Lord God Almighty put on your heart to do? Then do it and trust Him for the results. That which the Lord desires you to do He will establish the circumstances and give you the ability to do it. So move forward and trust Him to accomplish what He has put on your heart! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3cSH5g7msU

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2). This “race marked out for us” includes “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Now we are “his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds” (Titus 2:14). May this be so!

So let us spend time with Jesus expressing our desires and lining up with His desires.

Dear Father may this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. So be it!

BE A SERVANT-LEADER

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. —Mathew 20:25-28

You do not have to look too far to see “high officials” in our nation or any nation exercising authority over people. So many times what they tell the people they have to do is not applied by them. They tell the people to do one thing and then the officials do whatever they want as if the law does not apply to them. They love to have power over people, seeking to control and manipulate them.

Jesus makes it clear that the greatest among His people will be the opposite of worldly leaders. The authority of Jesus followers comes not with excising power over people, but a willingness to serve all people. This is totally contrary to the world’s system of wanting to be served.

Our Savior Servant King is our example. Think of who Jesus is and He was willing to be a Servant. He was willing to come to this rebellious planet to do so. He lived among us, received insults, beatings and allowed Himself to be crucified on a cross. All of this was because of His Servant attitude (Philippians 2:5-8). And now His desire is for us to be servants as well. Who will you serve today? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfPfDIslP08

Dear Father, please help me to have a servant’s attitude today and serve those You put into my path. May this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus.

SHINE!

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” —Exodus 19:5-6

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. —I Peter 2:9

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. —Revelation 1:5-6

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. —Revelation 5:10

We are to show forth His glory as His witnesses in this world. This is what Israel was to do and now this is what He has called His church to do. Will you shine and show forth His glory today… in your family, in your neighborhood, in your school, in your workplace or anywhere you may be? May it be so that others would see and come to an understanding of who Jesus is.

Dear Father, be pleased to shine Your glory through me today that others may come to know You. May this be so in the in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus my Lord. So be it… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OIwSQmyCg4

KEEP YOUR EYES FIXED ON JESUS!

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. —Exodus 13:17-18

The Lord did wonderful things in leading the people out of Egypt. They had just seen ten miraculous judgments take place on the Nation of Egypt. But the people were not ready to face particular experiences yet or they might change their minds and turn back to Egypt. So the Lord guided them away from such experiences like war so they would not turn back. So instead of going the shorter way through Philistine country He took them on the desert road toward the Red Sea.

There may be shorter ways to accomplish what God wants to do in our lives, but He knows that those shorter ways may include obstacles that could discourage us and so He takes us on the longer route instead. The longer way is for our benefit, even though it might not seem like it— especially here in the U.S. were people want things “right now.”

Our responsibility is not to forge out the path to walk, but to follow the One who has blazed the trail for us. Jesus said, “Follow Me…” and not “Take the lead.” He is the One leading. He is the “author and finisher” of the “race marked out for us” and we are to keep our eyes fixed on Him (Hebrews 12:1-2). So it matters not if we are going the long or short way, what matters is if we are following Jesus. When we keep our eyes fixed on Him we are on course! Keep your eyes on Him! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Sx_U0Ztr8

Dear Father, may I keep my eyes fixed on Jesus and follow Him. Thank You that You have not left me to find my own way, but to follow Jesus. May I do so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus.

FORGIVE!

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” —Matthew 18:21-35

We will be a lot more apt to forgive the more we understand what the Lord has forgiven us! Let us think of the magnitude of our sin. One sin, the first disobedience in the Garden of Eden, impacted all of creation. It is estimated that our universe is 100,000 light years across— a light year being the distance light travels in a year— 5,865,696,000,000 miles. Think of the corruptive and destructive nature of sin. That one sinful act in the Garden of Eden affected the most distance reaches of creation and all of it (Romans 8:19-22; II Peter 3:13; Revelation 21-1). And what is it that we cannot forgive another person?

It is staging to consider what God has forgiven us from and saved us to. For those who believe, in the ages to come He is going to “show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7). We need to ponder the immense sinful debt we could never in all eternity pay, but that Jesus did that for us. How awesome is that? Now let us not be like the wicked servant in the parable above who was not willing to forgive another after he had been forgiven an enormous debt impossible for him to ever pay back. No, let us be quick to forgive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ZWEO36jok

Dear Father, I am overwhelmed when I think of the debt of sin You have forgiven me because of Jesus’ payment for me. Oh, out of the gratitude of my heart may I be quick to forgive and live a life that is pleasing to You in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus.

HARDENED OR MOLDABLE

But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said. —Exodus 8:18-19

The magicians understood their limitations. There were things they could not do and only God could and they acknowledged that “This is the finger of God.” But when they told Pharaoh this, he hardened his heart “and would not listen” to them. As long as the magicians worked their “magic” to please Pharaoh according to his will, he accepted them. But when they acknowledge” the finger of God” he did not want to hear their counsel and would not listen.

Isn’t this how it goes with so many people? As long as they agree with what you are doing or saying they will listen to you. But as soon as you mentioned something contrary to what they want to hear, they harden their hearts.

As followers of our Lord Jesus, may we not harden our hearts when He is speaking to us. May we have pliable, yielded hearts to Him and to those He is speaking through. Oh, that we wouldn’t only listen to those who are doing and saying what we want… may we truly be yield to what God wants however and through whoever He might bring His message to us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41pBHt6MyTc&index=68&list=PLKYBweMzuOpveUCvoIXoTgQdFbE-luu7N

Dear Father, may this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus.

LEGALIZED MURDER

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” —Exodus 1:15-22

There is nothing new about the targeting of the innocent in the womb or of infanticide. Evil people through the ages have no problem slaughtering those who are most helpless in their nations. In the context of the verses above it was the leader of the nation of Egypt that ordered Hebrew midwives to murder all the male Hebrew babies. When the godly Hebrew midwives would not do it then Pharaoh gave the order to all his people to murder all the male Hebrew babies. How horrible it is when the leader of a nation makes is lawful to kill the most innocent of their nation— babies. http://nortonsafe.search.ask.com/search?chn=1000&ctype=videos&doi=2017-05-24&geo=US&guid=AED97D97-D79F-4632-93DB-C85FE112C903&locale=en_US&o=APN11912&p2=%5EEQ%5Eis10us%5E&page=1&prt=NS&q=video+testimony+of+those+who+have+survived+abortion&tpr=sbt&ver=22.11.2.7&vidOrd=3&vidId=ecHvQUy7fIs

And yet the United States and so many nations around the world are doing the same thing. They have made it legal to kill babies. Millions upon millions have been slaughtered in the womb and outside the womb. The people of God’s outcry have not been very loud. Thank God for those that have been crying out for those babies being murdered, but the vast majority of God’s people, it is safe to say, have been silent. If you have not been speaking out, contacting your Senators or Representatives on a regular basis, would you start doing so? Will you cry out for those who are being silenced by abortion? May it be so. http://theabortionsurvivors.com/testimonies/

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). You is mentioned 5x in this one verse. It is a “personal pronoun.” Jeremiah was a person after he was born, while in the womb being formed and known by God before he was even formed in the womb. Abortionists are destructive to God’s creation of people. They are anti-God, against God and will answer to God whether they believe it or not. May they come to their senses, have their blindness taken away and see from God’s perspective. May it be so!

Dear Father, thank You for the life You have given to me. May we truly cry out for those whose lives are being taken from them. May it be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus.

BOOKS OF HOG-WASH KEEP PEOPLE FROM TRUTH

Recently someone was talking about a book they were reading and how the author said something like “If we ever travel to a distant planet and find life there, we will ruin it by bringing sin there.” I immediately said, “The author is dead wrong. Sin has already affected the furthest places in creation.” Go to Pluto… sin has already affected it. Go to Canis Majoris… sin has already affected it. Go anywhere in all of creation and sin has affected it! That is the fact of the matter because God says through Paul that “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:18-22).

Listen, all of creation was impacted by the first sin in the Garden of Eden…ALL OF CREATION! Billions and billions of light years away and everything in between was affected by that one act of disobedience to God by Adam and Eve. Grasp the magnitude of sin’s devastation and destructiveness. Yes, all of creation was impacted, but one day God will make it right.

Now, let’s just imagine that alien life was found. Are they not sinners too? Would they not be part of God’s creation? See part of this whole finding life on another planet is to “prove” that God does not exist. Let me tell you, if life was ever found anywhere it would be just as affected by sin as we are. Why else are people trying to find life other than to say God does not exist. But all of creation is impact by sin. It is all winding down. God, my friend, is not put into your little box of this world. No, He is eternally more glorious than that and we can’t hardly even begin to imagine His eternal majesty.

Denying Him is ludicrous. Rejecting Him preposterous. Intellectually dismissing Him is ridiculous. And not seeing Him is blindness to Satan, is ensnarement to Satan, is captivity to Satan… is imprisonment by Satan to do his will. And Satan’s will is to keep people denying, rejecting, dismissing, blinded, ensnared, captive, and imprisoned so they will not trust Jesus and live for Him. That is Satan’s will and if you are reading this and have not called on the Name of Jesus to save you, then you are doing Satan’s will. That is what God says…

But… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqTFNfeDnE

God also says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2). Call on Him now!

Dear Father, help us see the Truth of Your Word and not be swayed by the non-sense writers that do not understand who You are. May we encourage people to look to you for truth and not some book of error. May it be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus.

BE COURAGEOUS!

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” —Matthew 14:27-31

Peter started out walking on the water with courage, but then he focused on the situation he found himself in— walking on deep water, waves all around and the possibility of things going wrong and he would die. He stopped trusting Jesus and began to slip below the waves of circumstances. Fortunately He came to his senses before disappearing beneath the waves and called out to Jesus. “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him” or Peter would have drowned. Then Jesus said, “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” Courage motivated Peter to trust the Lord’s Word to walk on the water and above the circumstances. Doubt caused Peter to allow the circumstances to pull him down to drown him. Don’t allow circumstances to that to you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_VaiBLo3hg

So what circumstances is the Lord calling you to be courageous in? Trust Him and live above the circumstances. If you begin to doubt, be wise like Peter and call out to Jesus. He will hold you above the circumstances. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20) and “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUWbmtbzDno Be courageous!

Dear Father, I am grateful that Jesus is totally trustworthy regardless of the circumstances I find myself in. Please help me to focus on Him and not on the circumstances. May I be faithful in this in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus.

HE’S ALIVE!

They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” —Genesis 45:26-28

When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. —Mark 16:11

Twenty two years had gone by since Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. At least that is what Jacob believed because of Joseph’s brothers bringing back his bloody coat to their dad! Twenty-two years believing his son to be dead and why wouldn’t he with the “evidence” his other sons brought back?

But now he hears Joseph is alive. How can that be? He is dead. He has seen his bloody coat that his brothers had brought to him. He had grieved for Joseph. He’s alive? Jacob would not believe it. How could he believe it? For twenty-two years he had believed that Joseph was dead! His mind would not let him accept this new information that was so contrary to the previous testimony of the cloak and his sons. Now it was these same sons that were saying Joseph was alive. How could this be? And how could he be second in command of all Egypt? Jacob was stunned! Yet through further information from these sons the spirit of Jacob revived. He would see his son! His son was alive!

Think of the disciples. They had seen the results of the brutality the Romans had carried out on Jesus, then His death and burial. He was dead in the tomb and they were huddle in the upper room, door locked and fearful for their lives. When the disciples were told by Mary Magdalene that she had seen Jesus, they did not believe it. How could He be alive? He was in the tomb not one day, nor two days, but three. How could He now be living? No, they would not believe her.

“Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen” (Mark 16:14). Thomas had said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). These men had to see Jesus alive before they believed, but “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). We have believed on the testimony of others. The testimony written down in God’s Word as they were led by the Holy Spirit to write what He desire them to write (II Peter 1:20-21; II Timothy 3:16-17) and by the testimony of those whose lives have been impacted by Jesus (Acts 1:8). He is alive and because He lives, we will live as well. Rejoice, Jesus is alive! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QCF_QyQ0x0 Share Him with others!

Dear Father, I am grateful for what You have done in raising Jesus from the dead, proving that He is Your Son. Thank You for the life You have given me. Now may I live it in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus that others may know Him as well.