GOD'S GLORY!!!

This morning, I was sitting here trying to get in the correct mindset to WORSHIP. Without explanation, I picked up my computer and one of the windows I had open was the ESV bible and it was on Exodus 14. I had recently shared the 13th and 14^th verses where GOD was telling the Children of Israel to “BE SILENT” and let HIM work! Don't get involved in MY GLORY was the message being sent!!!

Today it was as if GOD was telling me “I can cause, and do, ALL to do accomplish MY WILL”. Although we “idolize” Moses for the miracles that GOD performed using him, GOD is the one who caused the RED SEA to open up and allowed the nation of Israel to “go through the sea on dry ground.” The didn't have to fight the mud because GOD made dry ground for them to walk on! Then, God hardened the hearts of the Egyptians so that they would go into the sea chasing the Israelites and covered them with that water!!

Exodus 14:15-18 ESV “The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

And GOD got GLORY over Pharaoh and all of his host! All Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD!! GOD IS TO BE GLORIFED!! HE does not have to do anything more to prove it......TO ME!! I glorify GOD, not only out of fear, but mainly because HE LOVED ME! 1 John 4:19 ESV says “We love HIM, because HE first loved us”. The Creator of the UNIVERSE loved me (and you) that HE provided for our salvation through JESUS CHRIST! Now THAT is the correct mindset to WORSHIP!!

YOU ARE NOT GOD!!

Sometimes I get so caught up in doing things for people that "I THINK" needs to be done that I forget to pray about whether or not GOD wants me to help.  Just because a man is poor and has no money and I may have a dollar or two to help DOES NOT MEAN that GOD has plans for for me help! 

EXODUS 14:14 records a time when GOD just needed the people of Israel to "be silent" and let GOD be GOD!  It says "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”. GOD did not need the Israelites to do ANYTHING but watch!  HE was working!

Lord, help me to remember that YOU do not need me to accomplish your work!  You "ALLOW" me to be a part of your work from time to time!  If I see a homeless person on the side of the road and I stop and help him, it is not so he can have a few dollars that I may have, it is so I can be blessed by the One who allowed to have those few dollars.  Sometimes GOD allows me to be used of HIM!  Sometimes "you have only to be silent!"

It's not me!!!

Colossians 3:2-3

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

We are so caught up in "our lives" that we sometimes seem to "muddy up" what it is that GOD would have us do! Remind me LORD, that I am "hidden with Christ in God"!

Philippians 2:9-11

Philippians 2 states "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

I do not need to help GOD write scripture, but it does not say "at the name of Jesus, and Allah, and Joseph Smith, and Harry Krishna, and every other entity that you can dream up or imagine will get you to heaven!  It says as the name of JESUS!  To add any name to the list would say that JESUS was not enough!  It must take HIM and some other being to accomplish redemption.  

I am so glad that JESUS needed no help on the cross!  When HE paid the price for my sins it was HIM and HIM alone that hung there!  All of HIS disciples even abandoned HIM. IT WAS HIM!  No Buddah to help HIM defeat Satan. JESUS IS ALL I NEED!!

Todays a bad day!

Todays a bad day!  

This is posted on my FACEBOOK wall today by a friend.  Everyone see's things differently.  One FB friend just got married and today is her birthday.  Another is fighting cancer!!  Another is having marital problems.  The dad of a friend just went to HEAVEN!  

We have a CHOICE!  Today can be filled with trouble or opportunity!  We can let our problems over SHADOW our entire life or we can choose to live our lives in VICTORY!  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says " Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  I CHOOSE JOY over strife and turmoil.  I choose JESUS over death!!!

Who am I?

Job 33:31-33  (ESV)

   "Pay attention, O Job, listen to me;
        be silent, and I will speak.
    If you have any words, answer me;
        speak, for I desire to justify you.
    If not, listen to me;
        be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Sometimes I find myself with nothing to say!  No sense of direction to address the issues that face me or the world on that day. Why do the problems that face us seem SO HUGE?  The "PROBLEMS" we face are not what we make them out to be.

My HEAVENLY FATHER is sitting at the control panel of  the whole universe.  But, He also has time for me!  My seemingly busy, convoluted existence is more than I can fathom at times.  Yet, GOD is vast enough to handle all of my issues, and the other 6.5 BILLION people who live on earth, all while desiring a personal relationship with me!! 

I have a picture on my office wall of President George W. Bush with my family while he was campaigning for office.  I have always wanted to visit with President Bush and us share with each other how JESUS had brought each of us through the difficult times in our lives while drinking a large glass of "sweet tea" after cutting firewood on his ranch in Crawford, TX.  Then I realize that I have a close, personal relationship with the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE!!!!  Meeting with George W. Bush will not hold a candle to getting to sit down with JESUS and talk with HIM about how HE brought me through the darkest times while I was a visitor here on this EARTH!

Sometimes, I just have to be reminded WHO I AM and WHO HE IS!!!

WEATHERMAN!!!

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me a number of times, you are a weather man.:)”

This was posted on my Facebook wall recently. The really sad thing about this is, it is SO TRUE! How many times does the weather man on the local news totally miss what is going on with the weather? It seems as though there is a FORCE beyond their figures or calculations that is driving the wind.

Where does the wind come from from? What causes the trees to move, the leaves to fly, the birds to soar? In Genesis 8:1 scripture points out that “GOD made the wind to pass over the earth”! Shouldn't the CREATOR of the universe have control over what HE created? Why do tornado's occur? Why do hurricane's happen? Why does HE allow for natural disasters to happen? Why, if HE is such a loving GOD, does HE cause or allow a tsunami to wash away thousands of people who seemingly have NO CHANCE?

Isaiah 55:8 (KJV) says that “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” Isaiah 55 goes on to explain that just as heavenly ways are higher than earthly ways and HIS thoughts are more than anything we are capable of thinking. Sometimes we will NOT have the answers for questions in life! We are not GOD and we will not be like HIM so that we understand some of these things, until we are transformed to be like HIM!

So, don't get frustrated with the weather man if he misses his forecast! Perhaps if GOD were giving forecasts HE would be more accurate! But, we would have to listen to HIM better than I do!!