Prayer

Prayer a necessary part of serving God everyday.  The Word of God tells us that
He knows our needs before we ask, but He does expect us to ask.  Much like we 
do of our own children.  Many times a day I speak to the Lord, for my needs but 
sometimes just to thank Him for all He does for me.  In those times I may not be on
my knees but I am always reverent to the Lord.  He is my friend when I am lonely, 
my protector when I am afraid, my comforter when I am hurt...  He is my everything.
I need to communicate with God.  I am supposed to communicate with God just as
you should.

Jesus gave us a direction to pray in and it is so simple to follow.  I will break it 
down for you as it was taught to me.

Prayer

    ⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
 

 ⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done,  on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts,  as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Verse 9 is telling us to Worship God in our prayer, to lift Him up before we begin to

fully pray.  He is worthy, wonderful, holy....

Verse 10, pray that God will return quickly our soul desires to be with Him but ask 

Him to help you to keep your life in His Word and Ways.

Verse 11, then ask Him for what you need and what He desires for you.

Verse 12, Always ask His forgiveness.  We fail daily.  There is not one of us that is perfect.  Also ask Him to help you to forgive others who come against you.  There

are always people who will say things or do things that might anger or hurt us.  God does not want us to retaliate but He wants us to forgive.

Verse 13, ask Him to help you against the enemy.  To be strong in His word and to 

have His strength against the enemy of God.

Of course we all then know to always Thank God for what he does for us. He is all

things for us.  Without Him we just move through life.  

This is how I was taught to pray and the explanation helped me,  I hope it helps you!

May God Bless You Abundantly today!

 

   

He Is Risen

As I sit here and read the Word of God about our "Risen Lord"  I can truly feel the
moving of the Holy Spirit in the words and my soul.  The excitement that God has 
given so much to us and asks so little in return.  Just that we believe!  Many may 
scoff, ridicule and doubt but in my spirit I know that the "Word of God" is truth.
So as Christians:

REJOICE FOR HE IS RISEN

OUR LORD LIVES!

GOD'S PROMISE IS FULFILLED

FOR US ALL!

 Luke 24:1-8

 1. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3. but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them  5. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6. He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  7. The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'"  8. Then they remembered his words. 

May God Bless You Abundantly Today!

 

Christ Our Champion

Christ is our Champion.  The Image is only a fictional representation of what Christ has done for us.  He was and will always be the Champion!

Jesus Takes The Keys To Hell And Death
 
(Rev. 1:18) Jesus took the keys of hell and death. The devil’s power is broken because the devil did not have “THE RIGHT” to break the Promised Seed’s hold on life as was stated in the (Gen. 3:15) prophesy because a certain situation existed of which no one was aware but God. (Rom. 5:12-21) “Death reigned” because God had given Adam, the first man, a simple choice that was actually a key. Eat of the tree of life and live or eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and die. Simply put, do you choose life or death? Adam disobeyed God’s command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or they will die. Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan’s way and chose death. That act gave the key of death to Satan, the devil. (Rom. 3:23 & 1John 1:19) “All have sinned” because Adam’s sin and death were handed down from generation to generation. Thus sin and death are always "hooked" together. God instituted a law of forgiveness of sin to Moses and the Jews. (Heb. 10:1-5) “But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” The Jews failed and the law failed because (Gal. 3:21) the Law could not give life. (Heb. 4:15) Jesus was human just like us but He did not sin. Satan, using people, killed Jesus; (Gen. 3:15) “bruise his heel”. Satan did not have the right to kill Jesus because Jesus did not sin and when Satan killed Jesus that unhooked sin from death.

Essentially when Jesus rose from the dead he conquered death and gave those who believe, eternal life.  He was a sacrifice for us!  At this very moment I am in total awe over what God has done for us all.  I am weak but He is strong.  May He live through me today and always!  God Bless You All!

Why Is Good Friday Called Good?

Why is  Good Friday "good"? That question puzzles not only children but many adults as well. After all, it isn't obvious that we should call Good Friday good, since it is the day on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. How can Good Friday be good when it commemorates the day on which the sins of mankind brought about the death of our Savior?

The  Baltimore Catechism  declares that  Good Friday is called good  because Christ, by His Death, "showed His great love for man, and purchased for him every blessing." Good, in this sense, means "holy," and indeed Good Friday is known as Holy and Great Friday among Eastern Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox. Good Friday is also known as Holy Friday in the Romance languages.

In the end, the historical origins of why Good Friday is called Good Friday remain unclear, but the theological reason is very likely the one expressed by the Baltimore Catechism: Good Friday is good because the death of Christ, as terrible as it was, led to the Resurrection on  Easter Sunday,  which brought new life to those who believe.

So today let us bow our heads in reverence and thank God for Jesus!   For it is through Him that we obtain the gift of Salvation.

I Am Blessed

Sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the the trees.  Everyday is filled with
trials to overcome and decisions you have to make.  If you are a parent you 
know how difficult it is to get through a day.  However the fact still remains that 
if we love God and we put our days in His hands we will always live a blessed 
life.  Even though it doesn't seem like it sometimes.  

When we take the steps to let God in our lives then He is in control of 
everything so how could we not be blessed?  Look around you at the beauty
God has created for you.  The flowers and the trees, your child's smile and if 
you haven't any children, the companionship of a sweet pet.  Your friends and 
family.  I could go on and on.  Essentially God may not give us everything we
want but he gives us everything we need.  Or as one Pastor told me, "God gives
you what you can handle!"  

When we celebrate the presence of the LORD as our chief delight, He will give us the "desires" of our hearts.  Note that the word translated "desires" comes from the Hebrew verb sha'al, which means to ask or request something.  The deepest needs, desires, and questions of our hearts are all bound up in the life and love of God.  Whatever else we might think we desire, God knows that what we truly need is His love and delight within us.

When our affections are centered upon the Lord and we delight in Him, the deepest yearnings of our heart will be fulfilled by His personal love and grace for us.  We shall ask what we will, and it shall be given unto us.  And we shall be completely satisfied in Him, since our enjoyment and worship of Him is our greatest gift and good, in this life and in the life to come.    

Here are some Scriptures that will strengthen your belief that God wants us to have good things:

Psalms 10:17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress. 

 

Psalms 21:1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

 
2 Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 

Psalms 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 

Psalms 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 

Psalms 145:16 Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. 

Proverbs 10:24 The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.

Daniel 2:23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter. 

Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 

May God Bless You Today!

God Loves Us This Much

Many of us have read these words often,  so often in fact that I wonder how 
many truly think about the magnitude of this statement.  Even before the birth
of Christ it was preordained that His life would be a sacrifice for us all.  His 
mother and His earthly father knew that He was God's and that he would be 
with them for only a short while.  The anguish that they must have lived through, 
yet they were obedient to God in all things, knowing that Jesus was created by 
God for the purpose of being a sacrifice for us all.  

Put this in perspective of your own life, your own children.  How many of you 
would willingly give one of your children as a sacrifice for another child of yours?  Now think of the magnitude of this scripture.  He gave His "Only Begotten Son"  because He loves us so much!  

Did God feel pain in this loss?  Yes He did.  The word of God tells us that when Christ died upon the cross that the sky darkened.

Matthew 27:45 

Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.

I can tell you from personal experience that losing one of your children is 
something no parent should ever have to endure.  Yet God did this willingly for us!

Meet God in a new place today.  Realize how deeply He loves you and know that 
He is just waiting for you to come to Him in all things.  Thank Him for Jesus who
took upon Him our sins and grief so that we could live eternally with the Father!

May God Bless You Abundantly Today!

Gentle Spirit

I have met many Christians over my course of living.   Yet the ones I have etched 
in my memory are  the ones who carried the word with such impact through a
gentle, loving manner.  To me a was such an example of Christ within them.


One such woman touched my heart and spirit so deeply that I still feel the impact 
of her love for others.  She played the piano in the little church I attended with my
children.  I taught the "Youth Class" there.  Her prayers were silent but you could 
see God within her face.  One Sunday morning she greeted me with a large jar of pennies, an offering for my class.  Her only words to me were that God had led her to give this offering to the teens.  This was a quiet simple blessing for this group of teenagers that served God so avidly.  A hug and a smile between us was all that was needed as we thanked God for this blessing.  Her obedience to God was a wonderful blessing for these kids.  She passed away about a year later.  After her death I received another blessing from her.  My Pastor shared with me that when he had gone to pray for her before her surgery she has asked for prayer for me...  This act of pure selflessness blessed me beyond words.  She instead of being concerned for her own self put my well being above her in prayer.  If we could all be this kind of example of God it would be wonderful.  After all this is how God expects us to be.

1 Corinthians 11:1
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

May God's Word Lead You And Bless You Today!