Servants Who Serve...

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
Hebrews 4:9

Only Christ can fill that empty space in our hearts, and He will as we open our lives to Him. But God's Word also points us to the future-to Heaven, where our restless hearts will be at peace.
"There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God."

Perfect Peace

The Love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5
I thought how like the gyroscope is the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Let the storms of life break over our heads. Let the enemy Satan come in like a flood. Let the waves of sorrow, suffering, temptation, and testing be unleashed upon us. Our souls will be kept on an even keel and in perfect peace when the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts. He comforts us with God's abiding presence, and assures us that God's promises are true.

An Attitude of Gratitude!

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...And be thankful.
Having an attitude of thankfulness in all of life's circumstances will help you react as old Matthew Henry did when he was mugged. He wrote in his diary, Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.

The Divine "Fire"

I will give them a new heart and a new mind. Ezekiel 11:19

With this in mind, Ezekiel said, Thus saith the Lord God...I will give them a new heart and a new mind. I will take away their stubborn heart of stone and will give them an obedient heart. Eze. 11;19
No, you will never be the same once you know Christ. What difference will He make in you life today?

God Is Our Strength...

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Psalm 27:1

What do you fear today? Failure? Rejection? An illness or physical danger? The uncertainty of the future? Whatever it is, ask God to help you turn it over to Him. "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"

He Still Sustains Us!

Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is your refuge.

God still loves us. He does not abandon us. Remember: The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Amen!

Pure in Heart...

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Matthew 5:8

Why does Jesus say we should be "pure in heart? The reason is because our heart-our inner being - is the root of all our actions. From our hearts come our motives, our desires, our goals, our emotions. If our hearts aren't right , neither will be our actions.

Jesus put it this way: "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness" (Mark 7:21-22)

Not a very pretty picture!

But God wants to give us a pure heart and He will. He does this first of all when we turn to Christ in repentance and faith, for "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin"(I John 1:7). But He does it also day by day, as we submit to the Holy Spirit and with His help flee from evil and seek what is good. "Blessed are the pure in heart."

Truly Transformed

Romans 12:1,2 Present your bodies a living sacrifice...And be not conformed to this world.

Do you see why Paul tells us to "present our bodies a living sacrifice? The reason is simple; the way we use our bodies will signal to others what we really are on the inside. We may claim to follow Christ, but if our actions tell a different story, people have a right to question our claim. Our dress, our speech, our habits.. all should honor Christ. We are to be "Blameless and pure, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation Phil 2:15

Do your outer actions signal your inner commitment to Christ?

He still working on me....Thank You Lord!

The Way of Meekness

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Only the Spirit of God can transform our lives through the new birth experience and then make us over again into the image of Christ. He is our example of true Meekness.

Facing Rejection...

Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

How did He respond to criticism and rejections? First, with steadfastness, He did not tone down His message, nor did He stop doing what He knew was right. Second, with strength, Ahead of Him was the Cross-but He did not loose courage or shrink from what He knew was God's will. Third, with submission. When Herod prodded Him to defend Himself, "He answered him nothing" (Luke 23:9) . Only one thing mattered; Fulfilling God's purpose for His life.
How will we meet criticism? I pray I would as Christ did...

Loving Compassion

I John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us.

I have good news! No matter the reason, your feelings aren't telling you the truth! God loves you, and if you begin to see yourself the way God sees you, your attitudes will begin to change. If He didn't love you, would Christ have been willing to die for you? But He did! The Bible says, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us" (I John 3:16)

God loves you. Hammer that truth into your heart and mind every day. It will make all the difference.

Hope for the Heart

Psalm 16:9 My heart is glad, and...my flesh also will rest in hope.

Men and women must have hope-and true hope comes only from Christ.
He gives us hope for the future as we turn in faith to Him-hope for eternity, and hope right now.

Lord and Master

John 13:13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.

God says our thinking must be shaped by His truth. What this world calls valuable, God calls worthless. What this world scorns, God exalts. "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways." (Isa. 55:8)

Is He YOUR Teacher and Lord--or is the world?

Fervent Prayer

II Chronicles 7:14 If my people...will...pray and seek my face...I will hear from heaven.

From one end of the Bible to the other, there is the record of those whose prayers were answered- men and women who turned the tide of history by prayer; who fervently prayed, and God answered.

Their prayers were the natural outflow of their deep inner faith. Their prayers were part of a greater whole: godly lives lived for God's glory. As the seventeenth century theologian, John Owen, said, 'He who prays as he ought, will endeavor to live as he prays."

May my faith be like theirs...I sure have seen lots of answered prayers lately and may I give ALL THE GLORY TO GOD!

Full Surrender!

Mark 8:35 Whoever loses his life for My sake...will save it.

Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). Daily Surrender--that's the key to daily victory.

The Work of Angels!

Psalm 103:20 Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word.

Angels unite in constant praise to God, giving glory to His name and rejoicing in His holiness and perfection.

Are they not examples to us? Shouldn't rejoicing and praise be hallmarks of our lives? Praise will banish darkness, and bring us closer to God. Martin Luther once said, "Come , let us sing a psalm and drive away the devil!"

So brothers and sister's in the Lord Let"s do it....let's drive away the devil...Amen! Give God the Praise!

EVERLASTING LOVE....

Jeremiah 31:3 I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

No matter what sin we have committed, no matter how black, dirty, shameful, or terrible it may be, God loves us. We may be at the very gate of hell itself, but God loves us with an everlasting love. The proof?

Jesus Christ, God's only Son, went to the Cross for us.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life"
(John 3:16)

The Hope of Heaven.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints. Psalm 116:15
Are you looking forward to that day when you will go to be with Christ, "which is better by far"? 
I sure am!

God, Our Father

I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters. II Corinthians 6:18

Fortunately, our Heavenly Father always hears our cries. Full repentance is always answered by full forgiveness. But wouldn't it have been far better to have avoided it in the first place? Don't ever--ever--think Satan's way is better than God's way. It never is.

Trust and Toil

James 2:26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

The Scriptures teach that Christian is one who trusts Christ as Savior and obeys Him as Lord. That is the essence of Christian discipleship-believing and following. 

God does His part, and we must do ours. A farmer's crop is a gift from God-but it also requires hard work. God may give a person the gift of music-but it takes practice and discipline to make it come alive.
Is any area of you life "off limits" to Christ?

Believe-and obey.

The Problem of Suffering

Job 23:11 I have kept His way and not turned aside.

Key is to understand the character of God. That is what Job discovered. But through his experience he came to realize that God could be trusted, because He is merciful and loving. And you can trust Him too-not because He always gives us all the answers, but simply because He is God.

Pray About Your Problems

Philippians 4:6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.

Instead of turning to God as a first resource, we so often turn to Him as st resort. Follow Hezekiah's formula. Turn to God first with your problems, for only He is capable of handling them in a way that will be in your best interest-and according to His perfect will.

A Happy Home..

Children are a gift from God; they are his reward. Psalm 127:3

Our primary responsibility is to be sure our children grow up in homes where God is honored and the love of Christ reigns. Do your children sense that Christ is at the center of your home?

Peace on Eath

He Himself is our peace. Ephesians 2:14

Whatever wars rage in your life, lay them at the foot of the Cross and ask Jesus to give you His peace.

Patience and Perfection!

The testing of your faith produces patience. James 1:3

God knows the final product of what is happening to us, and He would have us link patience to our faith . Ask God for the gift of patience-and then use it.

Christ-Our Example.

Hebrews 5:8 He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
The main reason Jesus died on the Cross was to save us from our sins. But the New Testament also stresses the importance of His suffering as an example for us.

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Heb 12:3..
Yes, consider Him.

Choose Life!

Deuteronomy 30:19 I have set before you life and death,....therefore choose life.

Tragically, people are lost not because God has rejected them, but because they have rejected God.
Don't make the wrong choice!

Prayer Releases God's Power!

I Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

Praying unlocks the doors of Heaven and releases the power of God. James 4:2
The Bible says, Be anxious for nothing , but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Phil. 4:6

So often our prayers focus only on ourselves. But God wants to use us, through our prayers, to touch the lives of other people as well. For whom should you be praying this day?