A Conditional Promise for the New Year

Psalm 25:12-13 give us a great promise for the New Year. "Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land."

God, You have promised that if we are the one who truly fears You, living in such a way that you are please by all that we say and do, that You will do three things mentioned here. May these promises be true in my life as I, with Your help, live this way. First, may You continually instruct me in the way You want me to live. Not just the general guidelines given for all followers, but the specific ways You have chosen for me as I minister for You in my home, Your church and the community. Second, You have promised prosperity or blessings in this life. I know that this bless and prosperity is not for me to keep but to enable me to share it with those in need. May I always be a conduit of Your blessing to others. Finally, may the life I live for you become an inheritance for my descendants, regardless if these descendants are physical or spiritual. May they receive the blessings my living a life of fearing You.

How do you want this year to go? Focus on the right things and see what God does.

What does God's Word, His Law do for you?

What does God's Word, His Law do for you? This is a good question to ask as it will help us in our study and desire to study it. Here in verses 7-8 we find four descriptions of  God's Word and the resulting benefits that come from it. We should expected to experience each of these as we spend time in His Word, each and every time. 

The first is that the perfect Word will revive our souls. Without the Word regularly put into to us (daily) our soul will begin to loose energy/strength but the daily inflow of the Word will 'super-charge' our lives. 

Second, as we read and study God's Word it will grant to us more wisdom than we had before. This will happen so much that what wisdom we had prior will seem like simple foolishness. 

Third, the Word grants joy to our hearts. As we spend time listening to God, hearing about His loves, standards, and help our spirits will be lifted and as joy fills our hearts we are filled with strength for the new day. 

Lastly, we see that God's Word is to shine out of our eyes so that others can see the difference that it has made within us. As the eyes are the windows to the soul, the only way to get them to shine with the radiance of the Word is to get the Word into our soul. This means more than just reading the Bible. It includes study, meditation and application on a daily basis. Only then will our soul be changed and the light of God's Word will shine through our eyes.

Is God Your Song?

It has been a while since I have written here. I figured when this became a burden and drudgery instead of an overflow of my heart time with God I should take a break. Since my last post many things, both wonderful and challenging have happened. These include 1000's of answers to prayer, dozens of souls saved, people being called into ministry, a new home for my family, a fire in our old home, the birth of my twin sons. Through all of this I have seen God's hand, provision and presence every step of the way.

This brings me to the topic of my post today. It is taken from Psalm 118:14 where it says; "The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation." This got me wondering. Here we are encouraged to allow God to be two very important things, things that make it possible for us to not only survive but thrive in life. First, we must let God be our strength ... meaning that He is the power behind everything we do. No matter who we are we can all learn to allow God to be more of our power. Second, we need to allow God to be our song ... this the joy or meaning in life, it is the source of passion behind all that we do. What is the passion behind all that we say and do?

Deserts by Divine Design

Often when we are filled with the Spirit we think we will be led to do something great, or least something good because we are close to God. Yet there are times when … as found in Luke 4, God's Spirit leads us into the desert and times of testing.

It is during these times that we must remember to trust God's leading. This passage goes on to give us the keys to doing this. When in those desert times remember God is with us, He led us there, and we must keep our focus on Him and His Word. Keep going to the Scriptures, they are our strength, encouragement and defense. Also remember that these times of testing in the desert are times of preparation for ministry. So let God prepare you for what He has planned for you to do next. Without these desert times we will never be ready to be used by Him.

How big is your God? How sure is your faith in Him?

How big is your God? How sure is your faith in Him? (taken from Mark 11:22-24)

People around us can see the reality of our faith through our actions and our prayers. Here the foundation for answered prayers is stated clearly...have faith in God!

Our faith determines how much God will do in our lives. I am reminded of when Jesus returned to His home area and could not do many miracles because of their lack of faith. Similarly, our amount and type of faith will determine how we see God working in our lives. In this passage, Jesus says, if we have faith in God and don't doubt, what we have prayed about will see it happen. We will see it happen and receive it!

This is a bold promise, but it is Jesus promise to us. Do you take Jesus at His word? If not, why not? In what areas is God challenging you to increase your faith?

God Want to Work Through Weakness

Thoughts taken from Mark 8:4-8
His disciples answered, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?" "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven," they replied. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

When we are in need, often we must look at what we already have because this is where God wants to start working. Yet we often discount this because it doesn't seem good enough. God often wants to take what we think is inadequate and work through that. When He does this, work through our weakness, then His grace and strength shine all the brighter.

So as you look at life, where does God want to shine brightly so others can see His glory? Rejoice in these opportunities and ask God to use them as He wants.

How to Please God in 2014

Taken from Job 1:1b.

The Scriptures are so clear here, if you want to please God and be blameless and upright in His eyes there are two things that must be done. First we need to fear God. Not be afraid of Him, but fear disappointing Him. We do this by making sure our actions are always things about which He will say, "Well done my good and faithful servant." Do all our actions, every day, make God say this to us? If not we know where we can improve so let’s get to it.

The second, which we don't seem to try and do anymore is to shun evil. To shun is to avoid, reject, turn away from or reject. Today many people seem to see how close to evil they can come, but God wants us to go the opposite extreme. He even restates it like this in another place in Scripture, “avoid the appearance of evil.” How well do we safeguard against evil in our lives. What safeguards do we have in place to make sure we don’t even get near to it? Would those who are close to us, watching how we live agree with us about this?

If we want to live lives that are pleasing to God we need to realize and act on the fact that it will not happen by accident. We must be intentional and have a plan on how to do this. Do you have a plan for pleasing God in 2014? If not, take the rest of this week to develop on and live in such a way that God will say about you, “you are blameless and upright.” When you do this you will have the best, most productive, exciting and most fulfilling year ever. God bless in all you do this year!