Category: Relationships

Being an Overcomer

While the Israelites were en route to the Red Sea, they spoke against God and against Moses. Numbers 21:4-5

God sent snakes and some died. Others went to Moses and rebuked and asked that the snakes would be taken away. Numbers 21:6-7

Moses prayed and God gave instructions to overcome the snakes bites. He did not take the snakes away. Numbers 21:8-9

In Revelation 3:7-13, the message to the Church in Philadelphia and Revelation 3:14-22, the message to the Church in Laodicea are powerful stories of being an over comer and the benefits that are in store for those that endure.

May 2014 be a year of overcoming.

Two great videos for a positive outlook and encouragement. Both are worth watching.


Are You Refusing To Accept Any Free Gifts?

Christmas is a time of gift giving. We buy gifts for those we love whether they deserve them or not. They don’t do specific things to earn them. We just want to make them feel good and want them to know we love them. God offered Christ as a gift to everyone that would believe. He offered His Son freely that we could feel good about who we are and to know that we are loved. It is a gift we don’t deserve. We can do nothing to make ourselves worthy of God’s gift. He wants to give us His Son so that we can benefit from all that He has to offer.

We cannot benefit from the gift’s rewards unless we accept it, open it, and use it as it is intended. We can only feel the love when we have a relationship with the giver and can accept the gift honestly and resolve the things that have kept us at a distance. Christ wants to keep giving and giving. Once Christ is a part of our life and we continue to give Him all our broken pieces, He continues to give to us like we could never have imagined.

Hinder or Help

As everyone is looking to remember the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, they can read about his legacy and his presidency. Let’s look at what he challenges the Americans with. He said,

“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

We could sure get somewhere with that if we could get people to adopt that philosophy. Just think if we could plug some other words into that quote and change America and the world. We have been raising generations of people to feel entitled, looking for a hand out. We are in a lose/lose situation. If we could get people to change their view of life, we could be in a win/win situation. They say change comes from the top but I believe if this attitude would impact a few people, we could be on the road to recovery. What word would make an impact in your life and the people around you.

Ask not what your neighbor can do for you. Ask what you can do for your neighbor.

Ask not what your friend can do for you. Ask what you can do for your friend.

Ask not what your spouse can do for you. Ask what you can do for your spouse.

Ask not what your child can do for you. Ask what you can do for your child.

Ask not what your parent can do for you. Ask what you can do for your parent.

Ask not what your church can do for you. Ask what you can do for your church.

Ask not what God can do for you. Ask what you can do for God.

Let us know what you choose to do and the impact you plan to have.

Read John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961 and you can just feel how far we have fallen. America needs a change. They need to “humble themselves and pray”. It can start with a few.

Some notes from listening to Dr. James Diehl

His Sermon was from Revelation 1, John being put on the island of Patmos. He compared it to Alcatraz. We all have our Alcatraz, our tough times we have to go through. He told us the story of losing his son to cancer. Nearly all of us will face an Alcatraz of some type. We were never promised to not have an Alcatraz, but we are promised that Jesus would go through it with us and we will survive. We do win. We do come out on the other side victorious. We may not get the answers to our why’s. We have to give it to God over and over if necessary. satan (no that is not a typo, satan is little and I have come to a conclusion that I am no longer going to consider his name proper even if it is the start of a sentence) uses our Alcatraz to try to steal our joy and we can’t let him do that. We have to keep asking God to fill us. John was in the Spirit on that island with no choir to sing to him, no music to listen to and no one to talk to but God. God came and spoke to him. If we seek God in our car, our work place, our school, etc., we can also hear from God. The Holy Spirit will talk to us in our Alcatraz. We do not have to allow satan to use our Alcatraz to steal our joy. We can’t give up even if we feel like it at times. We can have joy through Jesus Christ no matter what we go through. John didn’t die there. God will be exalted. We should exalt Him and He will work. We can be on the winning side. God is bigger than all our problems and any Alcatraz that we must face. God is good.

What Answer Are You Getting From God?

God answers all prayer. He may answer with a yes, no , maybe, later, etc. He always has a reason for doing what He does and not doing what He doesn’t do and His reason is always right. How can someone think they know what is best when God is God and He knows all that has happened and all that will happen. If we are walking close enough to God and listening, we may know specifically what the answer is and may even know why. If we don’t get specific answers, it is still our job to continue to know and believe that God is God and He is making the right decisions.

It may be our fault that we get the answers we get or someone else’s fault that we get the answer we get. The only one we are accountable for is us. We can’t determine what part others play in the situation and we can’t determine what decisions they make. We can walk close enough to God to know what we are to be doing to get a right answer. God will ask us to do certain things. If we are telling Him, “no”, why would He feel obligated to tell us, “yes”? If we disobey, then we are in sin and sin will separate us from God. It is our job to get rid of the sin with a prayer of repentance so that we are no longer separated from God and He can hear our prayer. God may be asking us to do something out of our comfort  zone in order to show us what can actually be accomplished if we walk in obedience. God may be asking us to do a simple, beneficial thing like to just walk a little closer to Him. If we aren’t walking with God and we are still asking Him to move in your life, then He is probably asking us to walk with Him and allow Him to guide our steps. If we won’t do what He asks, He is not obligated to do anything on our behalf.

And, Yes, sometimes he does do things on our behalf even when we aren’t being obedient because He loves us even when we aren’t loving Him back.