WHAT ARE YOU PUTTING YOUR FAITH IN cont.

opposite signs on wooden signpost with the text quote truth lies engraved. Web banner format.

Last week we left off on the conversation I had with a person that sparked me to think about all the things we put our faith in. These are things that sometimes end up doing more harm than good. Sometimes these things are false gods. Sometimes these things are empty promises.

The person I had been speaking with had put her faith in her therapist. She had been for about 30 years. THIRTY YEARS!!! Think about that. Thirty years of rehashing every bad thing that ever happened to you. Thirty years of reliving every painful event and focusing on trying to remember even more.

I want you to really think about that for a moment. If you are daily rehashing every bad event in your life, you are doing yourself a huge injustice. We are all the sum product of all our events. Both good and bad. Life is full of ups and downs. Life is full of good choices and bad choices. Even in the bad choices good can come about.

God tells us in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” So even in the downs of our life, ups can come out of it. Even in the bad times, we can look forward to good times.

If you are constantly focusing on all the hurt, you have felt in your life you will always feel hurt. If you constantly focus on how people have let you down. People will always let you down. If you were told you would never amount to anything, and that is what you focus on, then guess what, you will never amount to anything.

I am not bashing therapy; in fact, there is a time for therapy. But if you have been going for a number of years and nothing has changed, maybe it is time to try letting God help you. Try His principles and His ways. Follow His guidance. Try looking for the silver lining once in a while. Try looking for something good in your situation.

Believe me when I tell you, even focusing on just one good thing will start the process of bringing you memories of other good events. I do not think there is a person alive who can honestly say they have never had something good happen to them.

My prayer for you this week is that you will try to find something good to focus on. Find something that will make you smile and focus on that. Then let God turn your life around.

A CALL TO JOIN THE FAMILY OF GOD

The Christian music concert, Holy City, is bringing together worship and praise to God in a peaceful environment. I invite you to raise your hand and join the worship.

This is a call to join the family of God. I want to ask each of you who are reading this article a question. Where will you be spending your eternity? Heaven or Hell? There is no middle ground! There is only Heaven or Hell for our final destination.

I know there may be some who do not believe in hell, some may not believe in heaven, and even some who do not want to believe in either one. There is a truth each of us know in our spirit about heaven and hell. There is a truth we know about the one true God. It is a knowing that God placed inside each of us.

Romans 1:20 says, For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.

We can look at creation and see there is a God! Some have tried to change the truth and declare we are formed from monkeys, a big bang, etc.… But the truth is staring at us in the face each and every day. There is a pattern to creation. That pattern was created by the Lord.

He is calling each of us to believe the truth. To turn away from the lies that are meant to confuse us. The truth is there is one true God. The truth is He sent his only begotten son so that we could have a relationship with Him. The truth is that Jesus, God’s son, is the only way to have a relationship with The Lord. The truth is that the Lord is calling you today.

This is a call to repentance! This is a call to accept Jesus in your heart! This is a call to turn away from the lies and embrace the truth. The truth is there is only one way to heaven. The truth is Jesus came to earth to make away for each of us. The truth is He died on the cross and rose again. The truth is He is alive and is calling you.

Won’t you call on Jesus today? Just call His Name. Ask Him to come into your heart and be your Lord and your savior. You won’t regret it.

DAY OF PRAYER

Yesterday our President hosted the Day of Prayer at the White House. He quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14 which is God speaking to His people. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Whether you like our President or do not like our President is not important right now. What is important is that our Leadership, the person who is the head over our nation is publicly declaring that we are a Nation who needs to turn back to God.

It is always the head of the thing that drives the thing. Hopefully you know what I am talking about. The head of our Nation just turned this ship back to the Lord! This is a very exciting turn of events. Only after true repentance and an acknowledgement that only the Lord can save us will true change take place.

A few years ago, we had a President who declared we were no longer a Christian Nation. That started in motion events that would begin to turn us away from the Lord and change our nation. I won’t go into many details here other than to say, our nation was surely fundamentally transformed away from the Lord.

I am excited to see what the Lord is going to do to turn things around in our nation. I would like to encourage all of us to pray for our nation. To repent for our nation. To fast for our nation and to turn from our wicked ways.

2 Chronicles 7:15 says, “Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place”. The Lord is telling us that once we turn from our wicked ways, once we repent, the Lord will heal our land. Then He will turn His ear to hear our prayers and He will be attentive to our prayers.

Let’s all use this time wisely. Let’s all make a point to turn from evil, embrace the good and the true, and pray with fervency. Pray, people of God Pray!

PRAY MAMA PRAY!

So many times, we do not realize the power of a praying mama! I have heard many mothers over the course of my 23 years of salvation tell me they have no hope about a situation in their family. They have tried everything they can think of and now they are out of options.

I have heard this from mothers who are desperate for the doctors to find answers to heal their sick son or daughter. Mothers who are desperate for their children to get off drugs. Mothers who are desperate for their older children to make wise decisions in their relationships and business options.

They have come to me crying and seem to be barely clinging on to the last bit of hope they can dig up. I have done everything I can think of, they tell me. I am at the end of my rope. My child is going astray, or my child is making bad choices, or my child is very sick with an incurable disease. I have nowhere to turn.

Then they usually say something like, maybe I should pray. Maybe God can help. My reply to them is usually something like Maybe? Maybe? God not only can help, He will help! The first thing we should do is go to the Lord in prayer. Mother’s bring your children to the feet of Jesus. Lay them at his feet! Cry out on behalf of your children!

There is a scripture in James 5:16 that says the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Which basically means to be at work in prayer. To put forth power in prayer. To speak with authority over the situation you have before you. Pray with power! Pray with authority! Speak words of truth over your children. Pray the outcome you want to see in their lives! Pray for God’s will to be done.

Many times, we go to God last. Try to remember to go to Him first. Sometimes we repeat the problem over and over again. All that does is reinforce the problem. Don’t pray the problem, pray the solution.

A mother’s heart in prayer will move many mountains. The cry of a mother for her children, there is nothing more powerful. My prayer this week for all of us is that we would remember to bring our children to the Throne room of the Lord.

BE STILL AND WAIT ON THE LORD

Did you know that blessing comes to us from the Lord when we wait on Him? He is a good God who loves to bless His children. He is also a sovereign God who has everything timed out as it needs to be.

Isaiah 55:9 Tells us that God’s ways are higher than our ways. He can see the end from the beginning. He can see all the little twists and turns in our lives, and He already has every detail worked out for our good.

Yet even though we know that God is in control, we get anxious. We get impatient. We want our situation to change now! Then what do we do? We start looking for ways to take control of the situation.

We start looking for solutions. We start thinking about options we have. If you tell me that you have never done this, I will have to question your response. I believe we all have. The idea that we know better than God dates all the way back to Abraham in the Old Testament.

In Genesis we learn how Sarai, (Sarah), and Abraham decided they were done waiting on the Lord and took matters into their own hands. Sarai was so impatient to have the child that God had promised her, that she told her husband to sleep with her maid.

That is definitely the decision of an impatient woman! Imagine being so impatient that you think that if God said He was going to give you a child, you would have to figure out how to get that child on your own. If you have read your Bible, you know that idea did not end well, for anyone in the family or in the surrounding area.

We are told that Ishmael and his descendants were like wild men. They loved war! Everyone was against them and they were against everyone. To me this sounds like a lot of drama and strife that could have been avoided by simply waiting on God’s plan.

Psalm 46:10 tells us to be still and wait on the Lord. Be still! Don’t look for your own solutions. Don’t examine the options that seem right in your eyes. Wait on the Lord! Wait for His timing, wait for His solutions. Be still and wait on the Lord!

Talk to the Lord, daily! Communication with Him is the only way to survive when you get anxious.

Taking matters into our own hands will always lead to more drama, more trouble, more strife. We cannot possibly know all the potholes that lie ahead of us. We do not have the timing of events in the power of our hands. The best option for us is to just wait on the Lord.

My prayer for each and every one of us this week is that we would choose to wait on the Lord. Whatever your situation, whatever your timeline, whatever your circumstances, wait on the Lord. That the Lord would speak to each and every one of us individually and give us the plan we need to move forward. That we would all have the patience to wait on the Lord and that we would not make a move until He tells us to.

Thank you for reading.

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS

This past Sunday evening I preached a message during the evening service. I knew ahead of time that I would be preaching on Sunday. So, it wasn’t like I was unprepared. Yet, somehow, I allowed the enemy to get in my head, and I started listening to old lies.

If you are like a lot of people, when you get in your own head, you can go down a path of unrest and displeasure. It can start with just one thought that is contrary to the truth of God’s word. That is all it takes to set you off on a path of negativity.

The next thing you know is you are unhappy and unthankful with an angry attitude. I started focusing on everything that is going wrong in my life and forgot about all the great things going on. Instead of rejoicing in the Lord and being thankful for all He has brought me through, I started focusing on the mess in front of me that I have yet to walk through or that I am walking through.

Through that experience God gave me a message of hope! He reminded me of His goodness, His mercy, His grace! I got happy as soon as I changed my focus from negative to positive.

You may be asking yourself how do you change your focus from negative to positive? How do you exchange a nasty unhappy unthankful attitude with a happy positive attitude? How do you change your way of thinking?

Philippians 4:4 states, we are to rejoice in the Lord always! In face the Amplified Bible says it like this, “Rejoice in the Lord always [delight gladden yourselves in Him]; again, I say, Rejoice!

Psalm 37:4 of the same version says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

So there it is ladies and gentlemen! The first step is to rejoice in the Lord always! Remember that is His direct instruction! Rejoice in Him. He has you and He will carry you. Whatever you are going through He will sort it out. Rejoice in who He is! Rejoice in His unfailing love! Rejoice and remember all the things He has brought you through so far! Rejoice because He is faithful to bring you through whatever you are facing now!

Do you have unanswered prayers? Then rejoice in the Lord! Delight yourself in remembering all His goodness. Thank Him for your situation! As hard as that is to do, remember that He will work it out for your good and His glory!

He is a good God; He will not leave you hanging! He will take care of you. You are His child! He loves you! Even those secret petitions that you dared not ask. He knows and he will give you the desires of your heart. Trust Him!

Before you know it the darkness will flee. The negativity will flee. You will actually feel the brightness break through the darkness, and you will be free. It might be hard to do at first. But keep focusing on the Lord and His goodness. I promise you that the words of the Lord are true!

Rejoice in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart!

TRY SOMETHING NEW!

Have you ever noticed that we get stuck in a rut sometimes? Either we are comfortable with our situation, so we do not feel the need to change or we have never had the thought that something needs to change.

I can remember a time in my life when I was in a rut that I did not think I would ever find my way out of. In fact, I never even entertained the idea that I could get out of it. I was stuck going through life unhappy and not knowing how to change my circumstances and not even thinking there could be the option to change.

It could be that things in your life are going fine, except for this one area. Maybe your relationships are good, but your finances are in shambles. It could be that your health is great but your unhappy. Whatever the area may be, you would like it to be better.

There is a quote that says,’ Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result”. It is time to stop insanity and start doing something different. Take a moment to look at your situation and find something to change.

I understand, sometimes change can be scarry. It is hard to try new things. We can be nervous about what the outcome will be when we change our behavior. We do not like the unexpected. But living in the unexpected is sometimes right where God wants us to be. Letting loose of our situation and turning it over to God can give us freedom and flexibility.

See God is a big God! He can see the end from the beginning, and He knows the best course of action for every area of our life. We are limited to seeing the little physical area surrounding us right now. We cannot know what tomorrow holds, nor can we fully remember all the details of yesterday.

Why should we keep banging our head against the wall expecting the wall to move? Why keep doing the same thing over and over again only to get nowhere? When seeking the counsel of the Lord is what will change our situation!

Proverbs 1:5 in the Amplified Bible says, “The wise will hear and increase their learning, and the person of understanding will acquire wise counsel and the skill [to steer his course wisely and lead others to the truth].

Jesus Christ is the Truth in any situation, in every answer to every question, and to every need in our life. Let’s learn to seek His counsel and change our behavior. Let’s stop banging our head against the wall expecting it to move.

ALIVE AND WELL!

This past Sunday we celebrated Resurrection Day. This is a day that has been hijacked by the Easter Bunny, but in my family, we chose to celebrate Resurrection Day.

Resurrection Day is the day we celebrate the fact that Christ has risen from the dead! As I was thinking about the miracle of Christ rising from the dead this thought came to mind.

There is only one God who is alive and well! So many people give their allegiance to false gods who are powerless to provide life, powerless to give help, powerless to heal, powerless to save.

There are religions who promise virgins in heaven, religions that talk about reincarnation, religions that provide structured ceremonies and empty promises. These religions are all coming from a dead source. Their prophets are dead; their leaders have passed away.

The one true God, who is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is alive and well. He lives and leads. He heals. He saves. He gives hope to the Hopeless. He gives strength to the weak. He is our refuge and our strong tower.

In times of need He hears our prayers and He provides our needs. He protects us under the shadow of His wings. He is the Great I Am!

This past Sunday I felt like I wanted to run up and down the street proclaiming at the top of my lungs, HE LIVES! HE STILL LIVES!

I do not know what each of you may be going through. But I do not really need to know the circumstances of each situation. Whether you need to be healed from a disease or from a broken bone. Whether you need help mentally or physically. Whether you need encouragement or comfort. Whether you need peace or finances. There is a God you can turn to who is Alive and Well.

Why would you try your luck on a dead false god? Why would you turn to superstition? Why would you base your hope on someone’s theory of god? A dead fake god cannot help you!

Why not run into the arms of Christ is who Alive and Well? The Bible tells us that He sits on the throne! He is at the right hand of God making intersession for us. Run to the only God who cares about your wellbeing. The only God who gave His life to have a relationship with you. The only God who loves you. The only God who has the ability to love.

These other fake gods cannot love! Everything else you run to will only lead to destruction and death. Christ is here for you! Christ is holding out His nail scarred hands to pick you up and give you hope. Christ is the only God who endured whippings and shame so that we would no longer feel ashamed.

Again, I do not know what you are going through. But I know who can help! Call on Jesus today! Then find a good Bible believing church and begin fostering a relationship with the only God who is Alive and Well.

Why am I here?

You ever find yourself asking that type of question? Why am I here? Why was I born? What am I supposed to be doing with my life?

I can remember asking those types of questions all through my life. There was a time I did not know my purpose. I did not understand the reason I was born. I could not understand why I was here on earth.

There was a time when life seemed like such an awful waste of time. Some people seemed to get all the breaks. They won every race, they were born to rich parents, the sun seemed to shine on them every day, and they never knew pain and disappointment. That was not my reality, and I believe there are many in town who feel the same way.

There is a scripture in the Bible that says, “In every situation [no matter what the circumstances] be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

When I was saved in 2003, I became a new creation! When I found this scripture, I found my will and my purpose! It is so simple. To live a happy life, we need to be thankful. Give God thanks for everything. Every situation you go through. Whether that situation is pleasant or unpleasant. Thank God in all things!

You ever notice, is it hard to be unhappy if you are giving thanks? Saying thank you warms your heart. When we thank God for being born, we are acknowledging that God is the giver of life. We are in His hands and He has control. I do not have to worry or fret about things I have no control over. I can just sit back and thank God for having the control.

Why are we here. To be thankful to God. To give Him thanks! I am so thankful I have been allowed to have a relationship with the Lord! Thank you, Jesus, for saving my soul and taking control of my life!

If you do not understand this feeling of thankfulness that I am talking about, I invite you to ask Jesus into your heart. Ask Him to be in control of your life, then thank Him for doing it.

LOOK UP!

Wow there is a lot going on around the world and around America! Everywhere you look there is some kind of scandal or some kind of “News Alert”! People are talking about this or that. Some of the talk is worthy talk and some of the talk is not.

For the most part I think we spend too much time talking about nothing. People are talking about their neighbors and talking about their friends, talking about their enemies and talking about their kin. But how many people are talking about the most important topic. Jesus!

Currently the Lord is moving around the world in a fresh new way. His Spirit is blowing on the young and old alike. He is revealing Himself to the oppressed in the form of visions and dreams. He is opening doors of opportunity to all walks of life. He is drawing us closer to Him. The believer and unbeliever alike!

I think we get so caught up in our talking that we do not spend enough time listening. At some point we lost the ability to just sit and listen. We can learn a lot when we listen. If we just take in what we hear without trying to come up with a response. Just listen to what we hear.

There is a chapter in Luke that talks about a variety of events that will take place in the end times. Wars, persecution, famines, earthquakes, pestilence, fearful sights, and signs in the heavens. It says that men’s hearts will fail them because of fear. These are just the types of things we keep talking about in our society today.

Talking, talking, talking! Too much talking, not enough listening.

Listen, I tell you the truth. When you see all these things begin to come to pass, lift your head and look up! As we are told in Luke 21:28 Look up our redemption draweth nigh! We can rest in that! Listening to the Lord and looking for our redemption will calm our hearts and refresh our spirits.