Keep Your Eyes On Him

  "Early in the morning, as He was on His way back to the city, He was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then He said to it, 'May you never bear fruit again!' Immediately the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. How did the fig tree wither so quickly? they asked. Jesus replied, 'I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea, and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer (Matthew 21:16-22)."       We all have mountains, or rather difficult, seemingly impossible situations in our lives. It could be the lack of a job, a wayward child, a dead relationship or a sickness. When we are at this point in our lives, we have a choice to make. We can either stand on the word of God and believe His promises, or we can l...

     "The Lord said to satan, 'The Lord rebuke you satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?' Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, 'Take off his filthy clothes.' Then He said to Joshua, 'See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.' Then I said, Put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him while the angel of the Lord stood by (Zechariah 3:2-5)."      These verses are a beautiful picture of what the Lord does for us once we are saved. In Christ, our filthiness is removed, and in return, we receive His righteousness. He takes away our sin-all of it-and washes us white as snow. It is not because of anything we have done. We could never do enough good works to earn righteousness. It is only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and ...

     "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of the sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness." Romans 8:5-10      As we read the above verses there is one thing that is clear; if you belong to Christ, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. And because He lives inside of you, your body is dead because of sin but your spi...

God makes all things new. If you are in Christ, you have become a new creation. God has taken out your heart of stone, given you a heart of flesh and put His Spirit within you (Ezekiel 36:26-27). The "old man" is gone and you became a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). All of this is a gift from God. This has nothing to do with who we are or what we have done. It is solely based on the marvelous grace of God. He made Christ, who knew no sin, to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. All we have to do is simply accept God's gift. "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart, that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the scripture says, anyone who trusts in ...

     "Praise be to You O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; You are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious name (1 Chronicles 29:10-13)."      No matter what you are facing today, you can know with certainty that God is in control. It may seem as though your world is falling apart, but because God reigns and is sovereign, He has it under control. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Not one thing happens that He doesn't already know about. He has already been there. He knows the end from the beginning and He knows what is best for you. "I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the En...

      "How great is Your goodness which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You. In the shelter of Your presence You hide them from the intrigues of men; in Your dwelling you keep them sat from accusing tongues. Praise be to the Lord for He showed His wonderful love to me (Psalm 31:19-20)."      Though we try with all of our might, we are not in control. Death, loss, sickness, devastating circumstances, wayward children, relationships that come to an end are some of the things each one of us will experience while on this earth. We cry out to God. We plead with Him to fix it, but sometimes, His answer is no. We cannot understand. We think we know what is best, but we must remember that God's ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). When tragedy strikes, as His beloved child, we need to remember that God is still good and He causes all things (t...