Thankfully Yours

“And the third day there was a marriage in Cana, of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there” (John 2:1).

In the book of Exodus chapter seven you will find a story of judgment fallen against the nation of Egypt. There God caused all the waters to be turned into blood. It did not  matter if there was left-over water in a cup for it was turned into blood. Recognize that God owns the waters and the molecules that make up everything visible and invisible and He holds it all together.

We do not know the couple’s name who was married but we do know that Jesus, God’s Son, turned the water into wine. Recognize this fact: When the resources of the world runs out and dries up God is there to show you His joy. He wants us to recognize Him. He is the giver of life and all good gifts.

Our God would rather bless than judge. Invite Him to the wedding of life. God weds you and me to His life so that we may be thankful for His good gifts. If we forget and turn away from Him we invite His judgment and our souls become worried and fretful. The world doesn’t like it nor do they understand when we find Jesus to be our source of joy.

Father help us to realize that You own all things and everything. May we fall down upon our faces with gratitude and thank You. Ingratitude is when we forget the gifts You give.  You give the water and all good things. Thank You for giving us the miracle of gratitude whereby we may thank You. Amen

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  • Lane Change

    “But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid” (John 6:20).

    One can be driving on the interstate and before becoming aware, the driver could be swooped into a direction they never intended to go. Uninitiated drivers, flying along faster than they really want to go in the farthest right-hand lane, can suddenly look up in dismay to see the interstate dividing into two. Just in a blink or two, one is swept along in another direction, toward another destination.

    Could this be…her time, her release? Could this be the EXIT she had longed for all those years? Was this the one exit sign that read “HEAVEN”? Was this God’s plan? Is this God’s itinerary of being taken to a destination that calls out to Heaven? This is what Joni Eareckson Tada wondered when she realized she had breast cancer.

    Friend, all of us are on a plane that is loading and unloading passengers. We might get off of one plane in this city or in that destination, but eventually, for those who know the Lord Jesus there is Destination Heaven. Twenty-four hours before you are humming down the interstate and you miss the turn, for there is no going back, you find out for sure this is your destination–Heaven. This is it; life on earth is about to end from the way you used to know.

    I will never forget what a gentleman said to me some years ago. I was asked to come by and visit for his days were numbered. He said to me, “Joking about death is funny until it’s about me.” You see, the speedway had split, and he was heading at a different destination than what he thought he would be on for that day just twenty-four hours ago. There was no going back, no turning around, the destination was set.

    Remember what Alan Redpath, a British pastor and author, had written. “There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • All That We Need

    “For we do not walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh” (I Corinthians 10:3).

    We have secret weapons that the world knows nothing about. God has given us truth, faith, prayer, love, and service that invites our ever-present God to be with us.

    Do you long for peace? Look into God’s Word and find Him. Do you long for victory? God has given us Himself. The Word of God will give you Christ.

    Let us not go around stressed when we have the answer before us. He will never fail nor be unfaithful to His character. Look to Him and abide in His Word and He will give and give and give.

  • God Created Us for Relationships

     “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established” (Proverbs 16:3).

      When we do the right things we will experience God working in and through us that will change our minds and attitudes as well. We usually take the opposite approach. We try to change our thinking before changing or reforming our actions. Obedience and doing are the best ways to get your thinking in line with God’s ways.

       As we personalize God’s truths we will experience God working through us in touching others for Christ. Instead of evangelism being “something we do” it will become that which is natural. Why? Because it is of the outflow of the Holy Spirit working through us. It is the practicing of the truth we know.  What power and freedom!

     

  • Lost Boy

    “I looked on my right hand…no man cared for my soul” (Psalm 142:4).

    When it comes to witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ, I remember while I was in college that no one every spoke to me about my soul.  As a matter of real knowledge, I do not ever recall anyone speaking to me directly about my eternal destination.  It was all so vague to me.  As a young man, a teen of maybe fifteen, I remember shutting my Bible during a worship service and saying to myself, “One day I will understand but for now I choose to wait it out.”

    I did not shut my Bible in rebellion but in mild frustration.  I said “Maybe one day I will understand.”  I just didn’t get it.  I wasn’t trying to harm or hurt anyone; I, with all of the changes going on in my body, mind, and soul of a teen, just gave up and I just shut down.

    There are a lot of youth walking around the same way today.  They don’t know what the Bible, Jesus, the Church, and prayer, etc., is all about.  They are lost and headed toward a dream world that does not exist.  And there are hardly any out there who care enough to pray and prepare their own lives to tell the good news to them.

    Do you remember in the first paragraph that I remarked that no one spoke up for my soul?  Well there was one.  I was in my second year of college and I traveled to the State Fair in Raleigh, NC.  While there, minding my own business, I was walking with a girl and out of nowhere God appeared.  You say, “What?” Yep!  In just a moment in time this girl stopped out in front of us and asked ME “If I were a Christian?”  I said, “Yes,” for I was taken by surprise.  The next step, I took after giving her my answer, the Holy Spirit of God stopped me dead in my soul and in such a real way said to my lost soul, “You are lying.”  And He was right.  Never before had I been confronted in that manner.

    God used that girl to speak to me.  He was awakening my soul out of the lap of the evil one.  Later I understood the gospel!  He opened my eyes.  I have never gotten over it.  Someone cared for my soul.  She doesn’t know what she did for me.  I laughed inside when I saw her in front of me with her “Howdy Doody smile“.  But now it is me who has the smile.  I can’t wait to see her.  I don’t know exactly how it will happen, but one day I will thank her for her bravery, courage and her love for a lost college boy headed toward Hell who didn’t understand.  And one day I will thank the Lord God Almighty for using this young college girl in my life who stood up for Him!

  • Silencing the Voice of God

    “And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for it is written by the prophet…” (Matthew 2:4-6).

     

    Religion and flesh silences the voice of God in the soul of man. The chief priests and the scribes knew of the prophecy, birth, and location of where it would all take place, the birth of Christ, but to them God’s Word made little impact, condemning them instead of commemorating them. The signs of the Sent One were all around but not within.

     

    Herod was ANGERED by the possibility of another King intruding into his kingdom (though he imagined it was his). The KingMakers traveled many months and miles, surrendering much money to greet Him, to ADORE Him, and to gift Him.

     

    The religious leaders were APATHETIC. They pointed but did not pursue. They spoke but did not seek. They fantasized but did not find. Speed-reading may be good for other books but not for God’s Word.

     

    Christmas should warn us that hearing and reading Scripture is not good enough! It’s in the doing of what we know which counts. It’s easy to know what is happening, to know what we should be doing, and then to shut down and say, “That’s good enough”. No, the blessing is in doing, not just in knowing.

     

    Families are lost, churches are powerless, and nations are defeated because of apathy. Head belief and heart trust can be lost in the transmission of Christmas like no other season of the year. If we seek Him with our hearts we shall find Him. Religion is bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions

  • To Be Satisfied with God

    “Without faith it is impossible to please God…” (Hebrews 11:6).

     What is faith? Three components show us what is true faith.

     1. Knowledge of God. We learn of who God is by His Word taught to a surrendered heart by the Spirit of God.

     2. This persuasion of God leads us to agreement with God. Emotionally we are in agreement.

     3. Now motivation is given to us to embrace God. The will of a man is enacted and now faith says “yes” and acts to embrace Him.

     This faith is a whole-soul movement of intelligent, consenting, and confiding self-commitment to God. True faith involves the intellect, emotions, and volition wherein all three converge into Christ. The heart is fully functional in Christ.

     What does it mean to be unfaithful? When the soul is fragmented, broken, then we are not in tune with God and true faith fails because we fail to see God for Who He is.

     

    When a child of God is torn between the glory of Christ and something God has made (creation) then we are fragmented. True faith is not choosing between good and evil but to act fully, joyfully, and enthusiastically toward Him because our eyes have been opened to the glory of Christ.

     

    This is how to be firm in faith. We unravel if we are not firm in faith. If we are not firm in faith then we are not firm at all. Everything in life, not just religion, flows out of our whole-soul movement toward Christ.