LISTEN! Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. —Proverbs 1:30-31 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. —Proverbs 2:6 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. —I Corinthians 12:7 The Lord gives wisdom, knowledge and understanding. So why would we not run to Him to seek this? How is it that so many times we try to figure things out for ourselves and do not wait on Him, listen to Him and wait for His guidance?…

JESUS DIED, ROSE FROM DEATH AND IS COMING BACK! For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. — I Corinthians 11:26 There are three things that are happening, well at least three, when we are celebrating the Lord’s Table. First we are remembering and proclaiming the Lord’s death. He was our Passover Lamb— the final, perfect, blameless Lamb of God (I Corinthians 5:7; I Peter 1:18-21). “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2). Ponder that and this is truly an astounding statement…

HE KNOWS! He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. —Psalm 147:4 It is estimated there are 10 times as many stars as there are grains of sand on all this world’s beaches and deserts. One survey estimates there are 70 sextillion stars… that’s 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars. How would you like to stand out under the night sky and count those? http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/07/22/stars.survey/ When we start thinking in terms of those numbers and the size of the universe we begin to feel very small… and we are! Yet it is truly astounding that our Lord God Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of all things, cares for each of…

TRUST HIM! Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. —Psalm 143:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. —Psalm 32:8 God has promised to guide us and we can be absolutely sure of that fact. We need to be willing to yield to His guidance however He guides. That is key to faithfulness. If we have some pre-conceived idea of what we believe God’s will is, when it is not, then we will be headed off in the wrong direction. How many times have we done that?…

LET NOT SIN HAVE DOMINION OVER ME Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds along with those who are evildoers; do not let me eat their delicacies. —Psalm 141:3-4 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. —I Corinthians 10:13 Temptations will come! They are common…

ASK FOR HIM TO GIVE YOU BOLDNESS! When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me. —Psalm 138:3 Need boldness? Do you really want it? Then call on the Lord and trust Him to give it to you! Personally I have seen this over and over. I ask the Lord for boldness to serve Him in ways that I plainly would not do in my own strength. In my own strength I would not even attempt to do many things that He has given me the boldness to do. Let me give you an example of what happened last evening. Six of us went to the University of New…

THE BLESSING OF CHILDREN May you live to see your children’s children…— Psalm 128:6 What a joy it is to see your own children’s children! I saw most of my children being born. My oldest son was a c-section which I was not allowed to go in to watch… that was too bad! It is such a joy to see your child born into this world. It is quite another joy to see your own children’s children. Yes, it is a marvel. These super six grand-girls will someday have children of their own. What a super blessing it would be to see their children— my children’s children’s children. Hmmm… I…

BE FEARLESSLY, LOVINGLY SOWING SEED Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. —Psalm 126:5-6 Do our hearts go out to the lost or are we callous toward them? Your answer will be seen in whether or not you seek to share the Lord Jesus Christ with them? If we truly have hearts after the Lord Jesus we will share the gospel with others and step out of our comfort zones and not allow fear to snare us – “Fear of man will prove to be a snare,…

BE DOERS OF THE WORD, NOT HEARERS ONLY You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. —Psalm 119:114 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. —Psalm 119:130 May my cry come before you, Lord; give me understanding according to your word. —Psalm 119:169 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate…

THE POWER OF GOD For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. —I Corinthians 4:20 Talk, talk, talk… There is so much talk put no power. But when the power of God is truly present there will be a changed life—- thoughts, words and deeds. There will be a changed focus away from the worldly and toward the heavenly. More concern will be for the eternal and not on the temporal. There will be a desire for the lost to be saved and the saved to be sanctified. Love for God and love for people will be evident. So are you living by the…