Thoughts!

Isaiah 5:21

21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Proverbs 1:7

7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Sometimes it is "Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt"!  

Whether you are speaking or writing, your words leave a legacy that is NOT easily overcome.   WORDS cannot be "UNSAID".   Guard your tongue.   An old African Proverb quotes "The fool speaks, the wise man listens"!  

That is not YOURS!

Exodus 3:20-22

20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.

21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty,

22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians."

GOD has a way a using others to provide the needs of HIS children. Sure, sometimes HE provides "manna" from heaven, but HE can also use resources that others believe are theirs!  When I leave this world, I will carry NOTHING with me, as no one else ever has.  I pray I use things GOD allows me to hold temporarily to be used for HIS glory!  

LIVING and ACTIVE!!

Sometimes I am confounded by being able to read the BIBLE exactly where I have read it before and it minister to me in a totally different way.   Some people don't understand.  They ask how can words that were written so long ago have such a varied interpretation?  

Hebrews 4:12 offers that "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."  

The "Word of God" is LIVING!  The "Word of God" is ACTIVE!  The bible itself says that there are not very many who are going to believe.   Matthew 7:13-14 (KJV) says "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 

For understanding and reproof of scripture to occur, you must be directed by the Spirit of GOD.  I pray Lord, that I constantly yield my will to the guidance and direction of Your HOLY SPIRIT!  

SLOW DOWN!

On my Facebook page I keep this verse as a reminder that when life gets TOO busy, that I must slow things down and refocus/reprioritize my life!

Psalms 46:10 says "Be Still, and know that I am GOD."

The JOY and PEACE that I enjoy when I am "in tune" with GOD is indescribable.   The enemy will cause so much "busy ness" to enter our lives that we forget WHO our focus is on!  Sometimes I just need to "Be Still"!   

Why do we trade in such JOY and PEACE for worry, fear, and turmoil?   Ephesians 6:12 states "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."  

We (I mainly) need to realize and understand  that there is a HOLY war going on for control of our bodies and minds!   The devil will use anything he can to win a battle!   He will even use those we love to drag us down. 

But, in the end, the BIBLE tells us what is going down!   We need to ALWAYS remember that death and hell have been defeated and JESUS is LORD OF ALL!  

This is all.

James 4:17

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

The weight of DOUBT!

Matthew 21:21-22

"And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen.  And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."

Doubt is a tool the devil uses to cause you to become an ineffective Christian..... and eventually be a  defeated one!   Anything he can use to get you out of GODs will is a WIN for him.  

I am not smart enough, influential enough, rich enough,  wise enough, or HOLY enough to be successful without HIM, but I am CHOSEN!  Thank you LORD JESUS for the confidence and blessed assurance that is in YOU when satan tries to get me down!  

1 Peter 2:4-10 reminds me of who HE is in me!!

The Battle is OVER!

And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD." And they did so.

Exodus 14:6

GOD got glory over Pharaoh and his army.  My Pharaoh is usually something that I have made big in my mind (thoughts)! 

Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.

Exodus 14:31

GOD loves for HIS people (and their enemies) to believe and fear HIM!  

The BIG question in my life.....how many times does GOD have to show me HIS LOVE FOR ME!   HE has the battle WON!  

REST IN HIM!!

Desires vs Needs!

Yesterday we were privileged to attend a college football game as the university from our state played an evening game.   My team won, but had to endure a severe thunderstorm which caused the game to be delayed, and eventually "called-off"!   The excursion cost me dearly, but hey, my team won!

After the game was over, we had to take some people home and then come home ourselves  because my "puppies" were left outside and I didn't want them to be left out in the storm.  I drove for almost 5 hours to get home!  

The money spent for this trip and the stress of driving five hours in a driving rain storm was a price that I was willing to pay for a day of family enjoyment.  But I started thinking!   How many hungry children would have been fed with the money we spent on going to the game?  How many months of groceries could have been bought?  How many doctor bills paid?  How many monthly utility bills paid?  

Now, it's not as if we go somewhere every weekend.   EVERY family HAS to have time together.  However, I pray that when I will SEE needs and GOD directs me to fill the need, that I am obedient.  Please join me in seeing needs that are too often overlooked or ignored as we serve others while serving HIM! 

"Now I SEE"

Many of you know I suffered a hemorrhagic stroke five years ago.   I was in the hospital for 31 days and Rehab for 21 days.  Hemorrhagic Strokes are EXTREMELY fatal.  Eighty percent of the people who have them die!

This morning, while reading my bible, I ran across a verse that STOPPED me in my tracks!  John 9:25 says "He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."   

The young man who had been healed could not explain what medical mystery had happened to him.  All he knew was he could see!  I can not tell you what happened to me.  All I know is when I awoke everything was in slow motion for about six months and then it gradually started getting better.  

Sometimes I think GOD does things that CANNOT be explained!   Just like this young man, I cannot explain why the stroke happened nor why I recovered so FULLY.  All I know is I once was "Disabled" and now I am not!   The young man, when questioned by JESUS later said "He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him."   

I will WORSHIP and PRAISE HIM for eternity for HIS mercy and grace!  

POLITICS!

With the election of a President less than a month away,  I thought I would delve into what "Politics" is and where the term came from.   Some people say it came from the words "poly" which means "many", and the word "tics" meaning "blood-sucking parasites.   A more straight-laced definition is found at Wikipedia.  "The word politics comes from the Greek word Πολιτικά (politika), modeled on Aristotle's "affairs of the city", the name of his book on governing and governments, which was rendered in English mid-15 century as Latinized "Polettiques".[3] Thus it became "politics" in Middle English c. 1520s (see the Concise Oxford Dictionary)."

"The affairs of the City" is what politicians SHOULD be concerned with.  But most politicians are concerned with their political career and NOT what is best for their constituents.    

In Ephesians 3:8 The Apostle Paul, recognized by some as the greatest among Christians says  "To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ". 

If Paul considered himself the "very least of all the saints", where would he fit into today's society?  

Christ Jesus lowered Himself to the cross for my sin!  If I am to be "Like Christ" shouldn't I be willing to do the same? LORD continue to mold and make me into what YOU desire me to be.  

The REAL problem!

This morning I have been listening to a sermon (http://youtu.be/3X8Nl3zcK6s)   by Bishop Robert E. Smith of Outreach Christian Center in Little Rock Arkansas.  (www.totalouteachforchrist.com).  Although it was lengthy, it hit the nail on the head.  When you can allow a couple of hours you should listen to him. 

Folks, neither the Democratic Party nor Republican Party holds the answer to any of the problems facing our nation today.  Debt, dependence, healthcare, Social (In)Security......all of these are symptoms of a problem we fail to recognize.  Unless WE as a people return to GOD JEHOVAH, we are doomed!

I feel like many Old Testament prophets warning the children of Israel to "Repent and Turn".  The first "temple vision", in which Ezekiel sees God leave the Temple because of the abominations being practiced there (meaning the worship of Gods other than Yahweh, the official God of Judah (Ezekiel 8:1-16) come to mind.  

I have a quote from C.S. Lewis on my iPhone.  "You don't have a soul!  You ARE a soul.  You have a body!"

Until we realize that we are more than just a physical presence, we will FAIL to become what GOD intended for us to be!     

A NEW COMMANDMENT!!

John 13:34

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."

My pastor preached on this Sunday and got me to considering.......Is this not the most complex verse in the Bible?  GOD (in flesh) reminds us that HE loves us (no greater statement EVER made) and then turns right around and let's us know we are to love one another with the SAME love! 

How are we suppose to love the child molesters, and murderers, and cruel people in the world?  Some of those people I would celebrate their demise!  I would even facilitate the downfall of some of them!   

But, JESUS died on the cross for them, just like HE died for me.   Isaiah 64:6 says "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.."   The ONLY way  GOD can even bear to look at me is the covering of me with HIS SON's blood!   

LORD remind me not only where I came from, but where WE are going!  "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."!!

WHAT did you say?

Today I read in the local newspaper about the high school team I support losing their game last night. In a few hours the college team I support will take the field. They are not having a “successful” season. Last night, the major league baseball team closest to where I live lost their game and was put out of the playoffs. When I got on FACEBOOK this morning there were MANY posts about all of

the teams.

But….WHERE ARE THE POSTS ABOUT PEOPLE DIEING AND GOING TO HELL? Where are the posts about the hungry needing to be fed? Where are the posts about a woman losing her husband to cancer? Children are abused everyday. Where are the posts helping people identify signs of an abuser?

This reminder is for me! We get SOOO caught up in what SATAN tells us is important when the REAL things that are important are hardly acknowledged. LORD, cause me to be more concerned with what is IMPORTANT TO YOU! I need to minister to others, not discuss the football, baseball, or basketball game with them. Revelation 22:12

"Repent" and "Turn"

Ezekiel 14:6-8

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.  For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the LORD will answer him myself.  And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the LORD."

Sometimes what GOD lays in my heart is not pleasant or uplifting.  I am not an Israelite, but GOD's warning is still as plain.  Unless we "Repent" and "Turn", GOD is honor-bound to discipline us.  

Please pray for our country that the people will "Repent" and "Turn" before GOD has to "cut us off" as a people!

I can't found any need!

Luke 14:1-6

One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.  And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.  And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"  But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.   And he said to them, "Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?"  And they could not reply to these things.

FATHER GOD, I beg for mercy and forgiveness for the times I am so caught up with things related to church that I miss seeing the needs that are all around me. 

Son, go bring my children home!

Son, go bring my children home!

I CAN HEAR A DISTANT CRY 

SHOUTING OUT THE TIME IS NIGH 

AS THE FATHER TELLS HIS SON 

WORK ON EARTH THIS DAY IS DONE 

SON GO BRING MY CHILDREN HOME 

FOR I WANT THEM GATHERED 

‘ROUND MY THRONE 

IT’S TIME TO REAP 

THE HARVEST YOU HAVE SOWN 

SON, GO BRING MY CHILDREN HOME 

WHAT A JOY TO SEE HIS FACE 

IN HIS ARMS WE WILL EMBRACE 

NEVER MORE WE’LL HAVE TO ROAM 

FOR WE’VE FINALLY MADE IT HOME 

SON, GO BRING MY CHILDREN HOME 

FOR I WANT THEM GATHERED 

‘ROUND MY THRONE 

IT’S TIME TO REAP 

THE HARVEST YOU HAVE SOWN 

SON GO BRING MY CHILDREN HOME 

IT’S TIME TO REAP 

THE HARVEST YOU HAVE SOWN 

SON GO BRING MY CHILDREN HOME 

SON GO BRING MY CHILDREN HOME.

My daughter-in-law has been on a mission trip to South Africa for a couple of weeks.  I watched as she flew across the Atlantic Ocean on a website called flightaware.com.  My son was excited (to say the least) to see his wife.  He has yet to respond to me since she got home.   His bride of three years is home!

Don't you know that Jesus is a lot like my son?  HE is at the throne in great anticipation of coming get HIS children.  One of these days, not too much  in the future, the FATHER is going to say it is time!  There will be NO more waiting!  Are you ready???

NOT MY OWN!!

A friend of mine posted this scripture and, although I have read it many times, today it caused me to hover over it much like a helicopter does.  I pray these words will impact you as you make your journey through your daily life.   

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV) states  "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

Our bodies (flesh and bone) are operated by our spirit.  Much like an airline operates an airplane for a time, our bodies are temporal!  The plane WILL wear out, but the flight will remain   The Holy Spirit is available to take the journey with us.  We can "invite" HIM in and enjoy the JOY and PEACE from above, or we can choose to journey ALONE!  Sooner or later, this Journey, called life, will end and where will we be then?  

The words that REALLY stand out to me are "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.".   My mind goes to a slave market.  I can see JESUS in a bidding war with the Satan over my soul.  Finally, JESUS says HE will give HIS blood for me!   The blood of the SON of the LIVING GOD was spent for my spirit!  

It humbles me to know that GOD ALMIGHTY wanted me enough to give HIS SON for me!  #grateful  #unworthy