Keep Your Eyes On Him

     I was reading in the book of Ecclesiastes and this verse struck me...."Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come." 9:12 We need to live as though today could be our last day. It is a gift from God that we woke up this morning. God is the one who puts the breath in our lungs. One of the many tricks of satan is that he deceives us into thinking we have plenty of time or that one day we can get saved. Friend, that time is now, for we are not promised tomorrow. It is so easy to get caught up in the things of life-whether it is work, family or a hobby. As a Christ follower, you must understand that you are in a constant battle...a battle between your flesh and the Spirit. The Spirit living in you wants to do the things which please God, but your flesh wants its own selfish desires. If we are not careful, and staying in God's word and surrounding ourselves with other believers, we can very easily fall. Sin is a part of every one of us-there is no one righteous apart f...

     I was listening to a song that really stirred my heart today. The song was "Christ is Lifted Up." Some of the lyrics are as follows:                            Crown of thorns, sacred brow                            Nail-pierced hands reaching out                            Redeeming blood                            No greater love                            That You would choose to lose Your life                            Crucified, a sacrifice                            I'm ov...

     "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5      As a follower of Christ, we have this precious hope because of what Jesus did for us-though we have not seen Him, we love Him and He fills us with an inexpressible joy that words simply cannot describe no matter what we are facing. Jesus can and will give you peace in the most difficult situation. This is a peace that the world cannot offer. As we face trials and suffer grief, we must keep our eyes on Jesus and know that He is strengthening our faith. As we shine for Him through the trials, we will bring glory and praise to His name. You never know...

     "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 is light." Matthew 11:28-30 In this life, we all get tired, we get weary and we get discouraged. Jesus tells us to come to Him and He will give us rest. As we come to Him and trust Him to take care of us, He will give us rest. Jesus wants us to trust Him with everything...our families, our relationships, our financial matters, our time our talents and our work. As we trust Him, and let Him have anything that is weighing us down, these "problems" will begin to fade and we will experience peace in His presence knowing that He holds us by our hand. Isaiah 41:13      No matter what you are facing today, Jesus has already been there, He knows! His power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9 Stop striving and trying to do it ...

     It baffles me sometimes when I really sit and think that the mighty and awesome God of all the universe who created the heavens, the earth and everything in it, chose me and chose you. "To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord set His affection on your forefathers and loved them and HE CHOSE YOU, their descendants, above all the nations as it is today." Deuteronomy 10:14-15 Take a moment and let those verses sink in. Let them penetrate your heart. God chose us...our beautiful, wonderful God wants to have a relationship with each of us. His plan of redemption was set into motion before the foundation of the world. He knew we were all sinners in need of a  Savior.      If you go back to the book of Genesis, you will find that God says, "let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all...

     We will go through periods in our lives where we may not feel God is close to us and that He is far away. It is in these times, we need to cling to His promises. We need to remember He said He will never leave or forsake us. Hebrews 13:5. Never means never....He is always with us, whether we feel He is or not. God is faithful and true. He is One who cannot lie and does not change His mind. Numbers 23:19 He leads the blind by ways they have not known, He turns darkness into light before them and makes the rough places smooth. These are the things He will do and He will not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16      During the times we feel God is far away we need to remember that His word is truth and it is not based on our feelings. His word is still truth whether we believe it or not. We also should look inwardly to see if there is any unconfessed sin in our life. "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely heard my...

     This week a friend of mine gave me two dwarf frogs. These frogs had been in a little container so I planned on taking them home and putting them in a large fish bowl we had. I drove home with them and the water splashed and rocked. They seemed very scared. I knew I had good plans for them, but they had to endure some scary (to them) times first. When I got home with them, I set the larger fish bowl up for them with rocks, a plant and really clean water. As I finished getting their new home ready, I carefully put the frogs in the bowl.      I know you may be thinking, okay, what does this have to do with the unseen hand of God? I am glad you asked. We often go through really hard times and don't see the end in sight, however, God does. If we will keep our eyes on Him and trust that He has our best in mind, we will see His purpose in our pain. The frogs had no idea they were going to a bigger and better home-they only knew they were scared and didn't kn...

     As a follower of Christ, we have a new nature. He has placed His Spirit in us and set us free from the life we once lived. We, however, also still have our sin nature living within and this nature will fight to win. This old nature constantly calls out to us to do the things we once did-whether it is get drunk, be selfish, be deceitful, lie, steal, con others...live for ourselves and our pleasure instead of living for Jesus. Paul wrote about his struggles with this in Romans. "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? THANKS BE TO GOD-THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!" 7:21-25 Until the day Jesus comes, we will have this struggle.     ...

        "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." Hebrews 11:1-3 The word faith in the dictionary can be defined as "a secure belief in God and acceptance of God's will." Faith in itself or faith in a person/persons will get you nowhere. Our faith should be placed in the One who created the heavens and the earth. The One who sent His only Son to die for you and me so that we could have a relationship with our Father and be washed white as snow through the precious blood of Christ.       Faith is having the assurance that no matter what is going on around you or what you are going through, that God is right there with you, walking with you every step of the way. Faith is trusting God when life is good and when life is hard. Faith is standing...