God Will Meet All Of Our Needs

"And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus"
-Philippians 4:19

Sometimes we run into trouble.  There will be times when we wonder how on earth will we pay those bills that keep piling up.  We wonder and worry about our immediate future and wonder of we will have enough money to live on.  We look at the change of the seasons and we wonder if we will be able to afford fuel to heat our homes.  Then we look at our grocery bills and notice that the prices are on the rise.  We live in a world where everything seems to be rising except our paychecks.  

We work hard and we try to save, but we just can't seem to get ahead no matter how hard we try.  The Lord knows our needs greater than we know them.  He is more than capable to help us and He will.  The Lord promises to meet all of our genuine needs.  That means the Lord will provide for us everything that we truly need.

Our problem is sometimes we confuse what we want with what we truly need.  I want a new tripod for my camera, but I don't really desperately need a new tripod for my camera.  I might not want the job I have, but I know in order to pay my car payment and other bills I need to keep working at it.

Sometimes we want to stay in the same place where we have lived for years, but the Lord may have other plans for us.  The Lord always provides for us.  We just need to trust Him more.  We don't know what is around the next corner, but the Lord knows and He is already there.  

May we continue to seek the Lord and trust Him wherever He leads us.  

Lord,

Thank You for providing for us.

We praise Your Name.

Help us to trust and obey You.

Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

We Have Hope In Jesus Christ

We live in a fallen and sinful world.  The world is full of uncertainties and danger.  There are wars, rumors of wars, unrest between people groups, and anger between political parties, and the list could go on and on.  Our world is in trouble.  We can all see that just by looking around us or watching the evening news on our televisions or wherever we get our news nowadays.

The world is being shaken that is for sure and unfortunately things will grow proceedingly worse.  There is hope for everyone in our world today.  Many people feel like there is no hope, but that is not true for there is wonderful hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believers in Jesus Christ have a great hope in Him.  We have victory over sin through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Jesus overcame the world for us.  This world is not our home.  We believers in Christ Jesus are just passing through this world and we are on our way to Heaven because we have come to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior by faith.

We will still encounter rough  and tough times as we walk this earthly sod, but we know that God is always with us each step of the way.  Jesus promises us that He will never leave us and He will never forsake us.  We can trust Him for He is faithful and always true to His Word.  When the Lord promises us something we know that He will bring it to fruition.

God is Mighty and Holy.  There is nothing to hard for God.  God is always good and He is our ever present help in our time of need.  When things seem hopeless and hard we need to cry out to the Lord in prayer and trust Him to lead us through the difficulty.  He may not remove the challenge that we face, but we can trust Him to give us the strength to endure and persevere.

May we continue to cling to the Lord Jesus Christ in these increasingly difficult times.  The Lord is still there for us and He will help us.  He is our hope and we can trust Him to always provide for us.


Lord,
Thank You for the hope we have in You O Lord.
Thank You Jesus for being with us each step of the way.
Help us to sense Your presence in powerful way.
Lead us by Your Holy Spirit.
May Your will be done.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Standing Upon The Absolute Truth

Sometimes the world can seem rather upside down.  Things that are good are called evil and evil things are called good.  There is a shift going on in our world and it will grow continually worse.  The more people distance themselves from the living God and the truth of His Holy Word, the Bible, the more terribly difficult things will get.  There is a war that is going on and that is the war on Truth.

Nowadays it is very hard for us to discern who is telling the truth.  Some people think everyone has their own truth, but that is just not true.  I can't say the sky is red on a clear day when it is actually blue.  There are some things that can be true for us individuals and not true for others such as our taste for food or music and such things.  We all have our preferences that is true, but when it comes to the absolute truth and that is God's truth.

The Lord reveals the truth about who we are as people and who He is as our God in the Bible.  The Holy Bible is the only book on the planet that reveals the absolute truth about who God is, who we are, and how we can be reconciled back to God through the sacrifice if Jesus Christ on the Cross for our sins.  We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of His high standards.  We are guilty of being sinners and face eternal separation from God and being placed into a literal hell for all eternity because of our sin.  Nothing sinful can enter into the presence of a Holy God.

Thankfully God is a God of mercy and He made a way for us to be reconciled back to Himself.  God demonstrated His great love for us by sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect and sinless life.  There is not one of us that has ever done that.  We are an imperfect people.  We have all failed to do what is right at some point in our lives.  We have all lied about something sometime in our lives.  The Bible tells us that is we are guilty in even one point then we are guilty of every single point in the law of God.

Jesus Christ is the only one that has ever lived that kept God's law perfectly.  Jesus is the only One that was ever qualified to die for the sins of the entire world.  Jesus went to the Cross and shed His blood for our sins and not just ours, but for the sins of the entire world.

Jesus rose from the dead defeating the grave.  Jesus is alive!  He is now at the right hand of the Father in Heaven interceding for us in prayer right now.  One Day the Lord Jesus will return.  He won't return as a helpless baby to be placed in a manger.  No, When Jesus returns everyone will know it for He will return as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  He will bring the Kingdom of God to full completion upon the earth.  He will defeat His enemies with the breath of His mouth.

The Day of the Lord's Coming is drawing near.  He is already at the door.  Many people are so very distracted with all the things that are going on in this world that they will be caught unaware that the Lord Jesus could return at any moment.

We believers in Jesus Christ must continue to proclaim the absolute truth of God's Word.  There are many people who have never heard the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Many people in the Church are asleep to the fact that Jesus is coming back and that we have been called by the True Living God to go into All of the world and make disciples of All nations.  This world needs Jesus Christ.

The United States of America needs Jesus Christ as well as every country on the planet.  We may live in different parts of the world.  We may speak different languages.  We may even look a little different for each other, but the Lord is our Maker and He is the Creator of all things.  The Lord loves us and invites each of us to come to Him in a personal relationship through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

The world needs the truth.  We believers in the Lord must proclaim the absolute truth.  People are lost without God.  People who have not received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will have to pay the penalty for their sin on their own and that means they go to hell for ever.  Those who confess that they are sinners and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will be forgiven and have a place in Heaven.

We believers in Jesus Christ have been given the Holy Spirit to dwell within us to help us live for the Lord each and everyday.  The Lord will continue wo work on us to make us more like Jesus when we submit to His work in our lives.  That work won't be completed until we are taken to Heaven to dwell with the Lord forever.

If you have never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior won't you please take this moment and ask Him to forgive you of your sins.  I hope you will trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior before it is too late.

If you are a believers I would encourage you to continue to read the Bible, memorize some Bible verses, pray continually, make sure you are plugged into a Church that proclaims the truth about God and Jesus Christ, and attend a Bible study with fellow believers.  I would also encourage you to pray for your Pastor and his family and the leaders of your church.  Continue to run the race that the Lord has set before you with perseverance and endure whatever hardships that come your way with your eyes focused upon the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

To God be the Glory forever and ever.  Amen.


Lord,
Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
Your ways are greater than our ways.
We praise Your Name.
May the truth about You be revealed to people through the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Word.
I pray for the lost of this world for they so badly need You.
Help me and all of us tell someone about Jesus.
In Jesus Name, Amen.

Thankful For Forgiveness

There is a whole bunch of anger and animosity in our world these days.  It seems really hard to get to the truth of matters as well at times.  The main problem in our world today is the same problem that we have been dealing with since the beginning when Adam sinned against God by eating the fruit from the tree that was forbidden for him to eat from.  The problem is the human heart.

There is an ugliness to the human heart that no one really wants to think about or even recognize.  Many people want to think that they are above everyone else and that they have done no wrongs.  The heart is highly deceitful above all things.  Only God can truly know what is in a person`s heart.

We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of God's high standards.  We have all made really dumb choices and decisions.  There is not one of us that is perfect.  I am not perfect.  I have failed many times at many things.  I have sinned against God and against others many times over the years.  
I am thankful that I found forgiveness at the Cross of Jesus Christ.  I regret the sinful and foolish things I have done in the past and I have repented of them and confessed them to the Lord Jesus (sometimes many times).  I am thankful that Jesus forgives me and He takes those things and remembers them no more.

Sometimes the devil likes to remind us where we have failed, but the Lord Jesus assures us that if we are trusting in His finished work of the Cross and that if we have received Him as our Lord and Savior then we are His child and we are forgiving through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

The enemy will attack us and try to bring us down, but we must stand strong in the truth of who the Lord is and we must stand firm upon the truth of the Holy Bible.  Truth will prevail in the end.


Lord,
Thank You for forgiving me of my sins.
Thank You for not holding those things against me that I did in ignorance.
Thank you for saving a wretched man such as I and cleansing my in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
I praise Your Name O Lord.
Live through me through the Holy Spirit and make me more like Jesus everyday.
Come Soon Lord Jesus.
In Jesus Name I pray,
Amen.

Finding True Everlasting Rest In Jesus Christ

There is a feel of fall in the air and the leaves on the trees are changing.  It is getting darker earlier now and as I writing this I can hear the rain falling out on the roof of where I live.  We know in this world that things are constantly changing.  Thankfully we believers in Jesus Christ know that God never changes.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.

Our world is growing darker and things look rather bleak, but we must remember that God is still God and that He is still at work in our lives and in our world.  God is always good and He loves us so very deeply and greatly.  Sometimes we get bogged down into being negative because everything around us seems to be falling apart.

God is not in the least surprised by anything that is happening in our world in these days.  The Lord Jesus tells us in the Scriptures that in this world we would encounter troubles.  Troubles come to each one of us and trouble comes in various forms.

There are times we bring trouble into our lives by disobeying God and do things we ought not to be doing.  There are always consequences to the choices that we make.  When we sin against the true Living God we can be sure there will be consequences.  

God made a way for us to find forgiveness of our sins.  We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of God's high standards.  We have all transgressed against God and His ways.  God demonstrated His love for us by sending Jesus Christ to die on the Cross for our sins.  Jesus took the punishment that you and I so rightly deserve.  God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day and one day Jesus will return as the King of kings and the Lord of lords and He will rule the Kingdom of God in which He will bring into full completion when He returns sometime in the not so distant future.

We believers in Jesus Christ have a great hope and promise in Him.  We can have forgiveness of our sins when we repent of our sins and trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  When we trust Christ as Lord we have the promise from Jesus Himself that He will prepare a place for us in Heaven and one day He will take us to that place where will be with Him forever.  We will enter into Heaven where we will find eternal rest in Christ Jesus.

Many people nowadays are looking for and seeking rest.  They try to find rest in worldly things.  The only place where people can find rest is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to me , all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden light."


This is Jesus' call for you and I today.  We may feel drained and weary from all the negativity going around our world these days.  We may feel burdened down with health issues or accidents that hinder us from doing our jobs.  We may feel discouraged and even frustrated by the way things are turning out in our lives.  No matter what challenge, change, or trouble that we are facing Jesus still calls out to us to come to Him and find the rest that we seek.

The Lord Jesus desires to comfort us when life gets hard.  We need to draw near to Him when this go terribly wrong.  The Lord Jesus will grant us rest when we learn more about Him and who He is.  There is nothing too hard for the Lord Jesus.  There is nothing that we are going through that takes the Lord by surprise.  He is capable of helping us through any and every problem we face.  When we have Jesus as our Lord and Savior we can rest assure and know that whatever troubles and problems come our way we never have to go through them alone for the Lord will be with us through them each step of the way.

We need to draw nearer to Jesus by reading and studying the Bible more.  We need to spend quiet time with the Lord and just enjoying his presence.  We ought to be bringing our prayers to Him and make sure we listen for Him to speak to us as well.

We should also think upon Scripture by memorizing Bible verses.   A great verse to start with is the one I mentioned earlier which is Matthew 11:28-30.

May we continue to draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ and sense His rest in the deepest parts of our souls.

Lord,
We are weary and troubled.
We want rest.
Help us to find rest in You.
Pour out Your love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit and help us to sense Your rest like never before.
We come to You O Lord.
Come soon
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Time Is Running Out

The world around us is constantly changing and for the most part not for the better.  There is a growing anger and hostility afoot.  There seems like there is a total lack of peace and love in people's hearts.  There are also people who are trying to be the morality police, but in the end their motives are evil and their morals don't hold water either.

Things are definitely changing and the times in which we find ourselves living in are growing all the worse.  There is a lot of division everywhere you look.  No one can seem to agree on anything.  There always seems to be a fight.  Jesus told us that there would be troubling times before He returns and we are definitely living in those times.  People are doing what is right in their own eyes and they are lovers of themselves rather than being lovers of God.  There is a form of godliness in our world these days, but there is no power in that type of worldly godliness which is not even of God in the first place.

There is so many negative things going on these days and people tearing down one another down that I down like watching or even listening the news anymore.  There also seems to be an agenda flying from all sides that it can cause a person's head to spin.

When people refuse to listen to one another nothing will ever truly get accomplished.  When people refuse to listen and submit to the true Living God they will never come to the truth that will set them free from the bondage in which they find themselves in.  Many people's hearts are growing colder as the wickedness seems to grow day by day.

We are seeing the paving of the way for the Antichrist to take center stage and many will follow him to their demise.  The devil is stirring up trouble all over because he knows his time is drawing short.  The good news is the devil won't win for one great day the Lord Jesus Christ will come back as the Just Judge.  He will crush those wicked people who have refused to listen to the truth and those who have refused to repent of their sins.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  The day of Judgment is coming and we must be ready.  We need to repent of our sins and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  Jesus Christ is the only hope for every person on the planet.  Time is running short.

The wickedness and evil will increase.  Things will grow exceedingly worse until the day of Christ Jesus.  We need to be ready by making sure that our faith is in Jesus Christ and that we are known by Him.

Jesus loves us and He wants all of us to repent of our sins and trust Him alone as Lord and Savior.

Keep praying and calling out to the Lord for the spread of the Gospel that many people will be able to escape the wrath to come.

Lord,
The world is growing worse day by day.
We pray for Your protection.
Help us to live for You O Lord.
Help us to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ to those around us.
Come Soon Lord Jesus.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

The Harvest Field

The weather has started to change and it is starting to feel like fall here in Northern Maine where I live.  The leaves on the trees are starting to turn those beautiful colors of orange, red, and yellow.  I do like the colors of the trees in the fall.  They do make really nice photographs that is for sure.  The thing I really don't like about this time of the year is that it gets dark so early and I don't like the thoughts of things getting colder as we close in on the next season that is fast approaching, winter.

We still have time to enjoy autumn however with all of it's beauty with the changing of the leaves and people harvesting their crops.  There are many farmers here in Aroostook County that grow potatoes as well as other crops.  It is harvest season when the potato harvesters are out in the fields with workers working hard to get the crop out of the ground.

It is a busy time of the year for farmers and their workers.  I have heard that sometimes it is hard for farmers to find workers willing to go out into the harvest field and work.  That reminds me of what Jesus said when He was preaching about the Kingdom of God and He looked at crowds that He was teaching.  He saw how they were harassed and helpless.  They were like sheep without a shepherd and He had compassion on them.  We can read of that account in Matthew 9:35-38 which says,

"35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 
                                                                           

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Jesus had compassion on the crowds that He was teaching because He knew their hardships and He knew they needed help that only God could provide.  The Lord looks upon everyone of us and those all around us with compassion for He knows exactly what we need.  What everyone truly needs is to be reconciled back to God in a personal relationship and that is only available through Jesus Christ.

There are many people all around us that have never heard the life changing Gospel message of Jesus Christ.  There are many people out in the world today that are ready to hear the good news that God loves them and He sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to save them.  The spiritual harvest fields are ready, but there aren't many workers willing to go out into the harvest field and tell people about Jesus.

We believers in Jesus Christ have been commissioned by the Lord Himself to go out into all the world and make disciples of all nations and baptize them into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes it seems that we are lacking in do what Jesus told us to do.  We end up spending tons of money keeping up our local church buildings while countless numbers of people wait to hear that there is hope for them in Jesus Christ.  Sadly many people will never hear because the workers weren't willing to go into the harvest field for one reason or another.

We are sitting in a large mission field right where we are.  The Lord can and will use us to minister to those around us as long as we make ourselves available to the Lord and allow Him to use us for His Glory, Praise , and Honor.

May we believers in Jesus Christ be willing to enter the harvest field by going where the Lord wants us to go and tell someone about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lord,

Here am I, Lord, send me into Your harvest field.

Forgive us for not obeying Your commands.

Sometimes we get scared and we don't know what to do.

Empower us to do what it is You would have us to do and say through the Holy Spirit

Use us as Your vessels.

We are jars of clay with a wonderful treasure inside.

We praise You for that O Lord.

Use us for Your Glory and the expansion of the Kingdom of God.

Send more workers into the harvest field.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

                                             

               

Spreading Love and Encouragement

Sometimes life can be difficult.  There will be times that we run into trouble in one way or another.  Life isn't easy for us at times.  Sometimes we can get discouraged.  It is very easy to get discouraged especially if we are undergoing a trial of some sort.  We can also feel discouraged after looking at the evening news and see all the trouble that is going on in our world these days.

We must remind ourselves that in this world we will have trouble, but we must remember that we belong to the One that has overcome the world.  We believers in Jesus Christ have great hope in Him. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins by dying in the Cross.  It is by His shed blood that we are saved.  We must come to Him in humility knowing that we are sinners and can't save ourselves by any effort on our own part.

Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life.  Jesus went obediently to the Cross where He bled and died for our sins.  He rose from the dead on the third day showing that He is God and that He conquered death and sin.  We must repent of our sins and receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior in order to be saved.  When we receive Christ as Savior the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us.  The Holy Spirit will help us each step of the way until we enter Heaven.  The Holy Spirit will continue to work on us to make us more like Christ each and everyday.  That work won't be completed until the day we enter through Heavens gates and see the Lord Jesus with our very eyes.  What a great blessed day that will be!

When we remember all that Jesus has done for us and all the promises that are ours in Christ Jesus we should be encouraged.  When we read the Bible and learn more about the Lord we should be encouraged.  We need to remember how much the Lord loves us.  We all fail and we all stumble, but God is willing to forgive us through Jesus Christ.  We must come to the Lord by faith and trust in his grace.

We believers should go out into our world and encourage those people all around us to follow the Lord.  We should also encourage other believers to not to give up, but to keep running the race with our eyes fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

Encourage someone today!

Lord,
We praise Your Name.
Thank You for encouraging us through the Bible and through Your Holy Spirit.
Thank You for sending other believers to encourage us as well.
Help us to encourage others.
Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Seeking Wisdom From The Lord

Sometimes the world seems like a dark and crazy place at times.  Sometimes things just don't go the way we would like them to go.  Jesus told us that in this world we would experience troubles.  Troubles and difficult moments come to each of us at times.  We don't like troubles.  None of us do.

The good thing to know is that no matter what troubling times may come to us we can know that the Lord we be with us each step of the way.  We can draw nearer to Him in those times of trial and troubles.  When we read the Bible we can see how He has worked in people's lives in the past and we can be reminded how He has seen us through difficult times in our own lives.

Life isn't easy.  No one ever said it would be.  We can also know that whatever hard challenging moment may come the Lord can use it to draw us closer to Himself and during that trial we can learn more about how Awesome the Lord is.   He is indeed more powerful than any difficulty that we encounter.

I had a little trial over the past few days when my computer decided to keep rebooting and it wouldn't stop.  I was concerned and discouraged.  I prayed about it and worried a little bit wondering if all of my pictures that I have taken would be lost.  Thankfully I have learned to make backups and backups of backups.  During my times of prayer I was reminded that YouTube is full of videos and tutorials.  So I used my Tablet and went looking online and I was led to a tutorial that led me through the steps I needed to take to get my computer back up and running.  I followed the directions and now my computer works so far.

Sometimes when trials come and difficulties arise we try to handle them in our own strength and power.  When we do that things usually don't work out very well for us.  When hard times come and challenges raise their ugly heads we need to turn to the Lord in prayer right then and there and ask Him for help and direction.  God is always just a prayer away.  He is a willing helper in our time of need.  He loves us and cares for us.  He wants to help us, but sometimes we fail to ask Him for help because we are prideful and self centered.  We need to learn to be God centered and Christ focused.

I need to lean upon the Lord more then I do.  I fail to seek Him for help in prayer at times.  I can't handle things on my own.  I am weak and powerless on my own.  I am not very skilled or talented, but thankfully the Lord is my helper and He will guide my steps.  The Lord will grant us the wisdom we need.  All we have to do is ask.

Lord,
We praise Your Name.
Sometimes we fail to seek You for help and for that we are sorry.
Grant us wisdom and understanding.
Pour out Your love into our hearts in a greater way.
Thank You, Jesus, for Your help and guidance.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

When Things Go Wrong

Here I am attempting  to type my blog on my Kindle tablet.  I have to use my tablet because my computer seems to be have an attitude problem.  It keeps rebooting.  I started it in safe mode and I am running some diagnostic s on it hopefully to find out what is wrong.

Sometime s we run into problems in life.  Thankfully we can turn to Jesus and we can trust Him to see us through.

Lord, thank You for loving and caring for us.
we turn our eyes on You.
I'm Jesus Name,
Amen.

Never Walking Alone

Sometimes life can be challenging to say the least.  There will be good times and hard times.  There will be uncertain times when you have no idea what to do.  When we reach those moments and all of those in between we need to wait on the Lord and keep calling out to Him in prayer.  It is important that we never give up and lose hope.

The Lord is with us each step of the way.  Times may seem dark and the path may indeed be difficult, but we don't have to walk alone for the Lord Jesus is with us each step of the way.  We can trust Him.  We need to place our faith in Him and in His abilities.  The Lord is far greater than any challenge that we face.  The Lord knows the very beginning to the very end.

The Lord is faithful and true to His Word.  We don't know what tomorrow holds for us, but we can know the One that holds all of our tomorrows.  It's a difficult road we each must walk here on the earth, but if we cling to the Lord in faith and trust in the finished work that Christ accomplished for us on the Cross then we know that everything will eventually be alright for we belong to the Lord and He will not fail us ever.

The Lord cares for His children and He will provide for all of our genuine needs.  We look around us and we can see how God takes such good care of the birds and animals and we can know that He will take even better care for us since we have been made in His image.

God is always good always and we can trust Him each and every moment of each and every day.  Don't let the devil deceive you into thinking God doesn't care for you because God does indeed care for you.  God loves you and He is crazy about you.  He is not out to harm you.  He wants to have an intimate relationship with you.  Seek Him and love Him with all of your mind, body, and soul.

Lord,
Life is hard.
Thank You for walking with us and never leaving us.
Help us to cling to You in difficult times.
I pray for Your comforting hand to be on those in the path of the hurricane.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Turning To Jesus When Troubles Come

It has been seventeen years since the terrorist attacks in American carried our by Muslim terrorist that took down the World Trade Center Towers, hit the Pentagon, and Flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania after heroic passengers fought back.  The years have flown by, but the memories and pain are still fresh in the minds of every American that was alive at that time.  It almost seems like yesterday to me and I was no where near where those events took place.  I can't imagine the pain and scars on the hearts of those who where there and survived.

Jesus told us that in this world we will indeed have troubles and we have all seen troubles occur in our world and even in our own lives.  Sometimes we forget that we live in a fallen sinful world that is passing away.  We forget the totally depravity that exists in the heart of every human being on the planet and how the devil can influence those of this world.

The Lord Jesus has overcome this world.  He went to the Cross taking our sins upon Himself.  We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of God's Glory.  There is no one that does good.  The human heart is deceitful because of the sin nature that each one of us has.  We need to be born again.  That is only possible by coming to the Lord Jesus Christ and making Him our Lord and Savior.  Then the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us making us a new creation in Christ Jesus.

When we face troubling times we must turn our eyes upon the Lord Jesus and remind ourselves this world is not our home.  We believers in Jesus Christ have a home in Heaven where we will be when the Lord Jesus comes to take us to be with Him forever.

Lord,
I pray for Men and Women in Law Enforcement.
I uplift Emergency Service people and those in the Military.
I pray for those affected by 9-11 and those who lost loved ones in the attack.
Help us never to forget what took place, but help us even more to never forget that You are our helper and our Redeemer and our Hope is firmly in You Lord Jesus.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Understanding True Love

Sometimes it seems that the world has forgotten what love is.  There is so much anger and hostility around these days.  We see our government leaders talking bad about people and one political party bashing another political party and we certainly see the love growing there.  There is a lot of anger and violence going on all around us and there seems to be few expressions of real true love.

Sometimes when we think of love we might think of those sappy romance movies that at on the Hallmark Channel where the guy gets the girl and they fall in love and live happily ever after.  I like those stories, but sometimes those stories miss the point of what true love really is.  Love isn't shallow and it's not warm and fuzzy feelings most of the time.

Love is giving of one's self.  It denotes sacrifice.  We learn what real love is when we look a God and what He did for us.  God loves us.  We remember reading John 3:16 which says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."  God loved us and He gave us His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus showed us the love of the Father by going to the Cross where He died for our sins past, present, and future.  Jesus rose from the dead on the third day conquering sin and death.  God demonstrates a great sacrificial love towards each one of us and we are called to do like wise.

I like what I Corinthians 13 says,

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,

but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or

a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries

and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains,

but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,

but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fail.  But where there are prophecies, they will cease;

where there are tongues, they will be stilled;

where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

but when perfection comes, then the imperfect disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;

then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully,

even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain:

faith, hope, and love.

But the greatest of these is love."

We can not truly understand what love is like without at first looking and understanding what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross at Calvary.  He took upon Himself the sins of the entire world.  When we really allow that to sink into our little minds we begin to understand what true love looks like.

Jesus was fully God and fully man.  He came to demonstrate His great love towards us by dying on a Cross to reconcile us back to God through His sacrifice.  We love Him because He first loved us.  The Lord loves us with a deep unconditional love.  He wants to have a personal relationship with each and every human being on the planet.  We need to come to Him by faith and receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  We must repent of our sins and walk in the newness of the Spirit.

 When we realize what true love and receive it we will be able to express it better to other people around us.  

Lord,

We love You and we thank You for showing us how much You love us.

Help us to love others as You love us.

Teach us to love others.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

Dealing with the Temptations We Face

Sometimes when we struggle with certain things in our lives we may think we are alone, but the truth of the matter is that we are never truly alone.  The Lord is always with us each step of the way.  We can also know that there are other people who are going through similar things that we are going through.  When we are tempted by something we may think that we are the only one facing this temptation and we end us feeling isolated and all alone.

The truth is everyone is tempted by something and there are other people who face what we are facing.  Jesus was fully tempted as you and I are, but unlike us Jesus never sinned.  That is He never gave into those temptations.  We believers in Jesus Christ get tempted once in a while and sometimes more than that.  God doesn't tempt us.  Sometimes we are lead astray by our own thoughts and our hearts.

The Lord will help us to say no to temptation when we go to Him for help.  The Lord will show us a way for us to escape those tempting moments.  I like what Paul says in I Corinthians 10:13 which says,

"13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." (I Corinthians 10:13, NLT)

The Lord will never allow us to be tempted by more than we can stand.  Sometimes it can be really hard to say no to those temptations.  They can lead us down a dangerous path of sin and disobedience to God if we are not careful.

We need to renew our minds and feed upon God's Word and allow the Holy Spirit to help us to live in a way that please God.  We need to submit to the Lord and know that we are no longer our own, but we have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

We need to confess our sins to the Lord when we give into those temptations (I John 1:9) knowing that He will forgive us and cleanse us.  This does not give us permission to go out and sin.  We need to resist those temptations and flee from them.  The Lord will help us if we allow Him to.

Lord,
We praise Your Name.
Sometimes we fall short and we give into temptations and we are sorry.
Forgive us our sins of commission and our sins of omission.
Empower us through the Holy Spirit to say no to those things we feel tempted to turn to, but we know aren't right in Your eyes.
Help us to see the way of escape that You O Lord have provided.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.