People are afraid of so many things. The world is filled with anxieties. Some people are afraid of the dark, some of the devil and evil spirits, while others are afraid of failure, and the list goes on.
Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am our God; I will strengthen you, I will hold you in my righteous right hand.”
Psalms 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”
Luke 12:32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
The truth is, God does not want us to fear anything. He says that while we are in His will, there should be nothing to fear; however, the only time He tells us to fear is when He talks about the fear of the Lord.
Psalms 2:11 “Serve the Lord with fear, with trembling, kiss His feet, lest He be angry and you perish in the way.”
If one lives a life fearing everything under the sun except the Lord, they will perish from their own fearless actions.
To be Godless does not mean to be atheist; to be Godless means not having a fear of the Lord. If we do not fear Him, like a spoiled and rebellious child, we will do foolish things without considering Him first.
Deuteronomy 5:29 “Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their children.”
Fearing the Lord, is obedience to Him. In doing so, not only does He bless us, but He blesses our children and our children’s children. When we do not fear Him, we become disobedient, leaving a curse upon our children and the generations there to come.
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Friday, November 24, 2006
True Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is for the sole purpose of giving thanks to God with a grateful heart, not a heavy one.
Ezra 3:10 states, "When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: 'He is good; his love to Israel endures forever.'
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away."
The Israelites, including "the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem," began building the temple of the Lord. Many people, without having much to give, gave money to help rebuild the altar to the Lord. With a happy heart, they sang and praised God for the new altar they would make for Him, but there were some who were crying because they were dissappointed that the new altar would not be as great as the first one. Their cries of sadness blended in with the cries of joy from the other people. Those who cried out of sadness turned to the past and remembered "the good-old times;" because of their tears, they were not able to truly give God all of the thanks He deserved.
In many ways, we are like those people who cried at the rebuilding of the Lord's altar. Sometimes, even when things are alright, we tend to remember when things were better, and it causes us to, instead of giving true thanksgiving, rob God out of true worship, and instead, we end up giving Him thanks with semi-happy hearts rather than truly happy and grateful ones.
We should never allow the past or anything to interfere with our gratitude towards God. If a family member has passed away, we must not look to those things of the past; instead, we should thank God for those family members that are still alive today, and we should treat them with love, kindness, and respect to show our gratitude towards God. If a neighbor has "better" possessions by worldly standards, we must give thanks to God for those things that we do possess. If our family member(s) have not yet improved or changed in the ways of the Lord, we must give thanks to God that He has still given them the chance to live and receive salvation. If we find ourselves thinking that last year was a better year, we must repent and look at life and our life now and give thanks to the Lord, our provider for this new year.
The only way we can give true thanks to God is by leaving the past and negative things behind and focus on what is beautiful in our lives. He wants us to always focus on the beautiful side of life, so that we do not fall into negativity. No one can worship God or demonstrate faith through negative thinking and faithlessness.
Phillipians 4:8
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Ezra 3:10 states, "When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: 'He is good; his love to Israel endures forever.'
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away."
The Israelites, including "the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem," began building the temple of the Lord. Many people, without having much to give, gave money to help rebuild the altar to the Lord. With a happy heart, they sang and praised God for the new altar they would make for Him, but there were some who were crying because they were dissappointed that the new altar would not be as great as the first one. Their cries of sadness blended in with the cries of joy from the other people. Those who cried out of sadness turned to the past and remembered "the good-old times;" because of their tears, they were not able to truly give God all of the thanks He deserved.
In many ways, we are like those people who cried at the rebuilding of the Lord's altar. Sometimes, even when things are alright, we tend to remember when things were better, and it causes us to, instead of giving true thanksgiving, rob God out of true worship, and instead, we end up giving Him thanks with semi-happy hearts rather than truly happy and grateful ones.
We should never allow the past or anything to interfere with our gratitude towards God. If a family member has passed away, we must not look to those things of the past; instead, we should thank God for those family members that are still alive today, and we should treat them with love, kindness, and respect to show our gratitude towards God. If a neighbor has "better" possessions by worldly standards, we must give thanks to God for those things that we do possess. If our family member(s) have not yet improved or changed in the ways of the Lord, we must give thanks to God that He has still given them the chance to live and receive salvation. If we find ourselves thinking that last year was a better year, we must repent and look at life and our life now and give thanks to the Lord, our provider for this new year.
The only way we can give true thanks to God is by leaving the past and negative things behind and focus on what is beautiful in our lives. He wants us to always focus on the beautiful side of life, so that we do not fall into negativity. No one can worship God or demonstrate faith through negative thinking and faithlessness.
Phillipians 4:8
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Sunday, November 12, 2006
The Word of God
Many people do not know what to believe. Some put their faith in things while others believe in God or a god. Some belive in God but do not believe everything that is in the bible. There are those that believe in God, that Jesus is the Son of God, but they do not fully believe that the Scriptures are infallible (without error).
The Bible is exactly the Word of God. It is His words, not men's words. God gave men the words to write.
2 Timothy 3:16 states, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness"
So how does this prove that all Scripture is without error? We know that God is perfect in every way, and if God alone breathed out the Scriptures, the Bible is a book with the very words from God Himself, and it's purpose is to teach people how to live, it's meant to "rebuke" or scold, to correct, and to train people to become right (not perfect) in the eyes of God.
The only way to know if one is walking with God is if they believe in Him. And believing does not indicate knowing He exists; rather,if they truly believe in Him, they will show him by being obedient to His commandments. One cannot believe in Him and completely ignore the words that are written in the Bible. He himself says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15).
Obedience to the Word of God equals love. He does not want us to say how much we love Him, rather show Him just how much we love Him by honoring His Word.
The Bible is exactly the Word of God. It is His words, not men's words. God gave men the words to write.
2 Timothy 3:16 states, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness"
So how does this prove that all Scripture is without error? We know that God is perfect in every way, and if God alone breathed out the Scriptures, the Bible is a book with the very words from God Himself, and it's purpose is to teach people how to live, it's meant to "rebuke" or scold, to correct, and to train people to become right (not perfect) in the eyes of God.
The only way to know if one is walking with God is if they believe in Him. And believing does not indicate knowing He exists; rather,if they truly believe in Him, they will show him by being obedient to His commandments. One cannot believe in Him and completely ignore the words that are written in the Bible. He himself says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15).
Obedience to the Word of God equals love. He does not want us to say how much we love Him, rather show Him just how much we love Him by honoring His Word.
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