June 11, 2016

MY FRIENDS, STAY FOCUSED GOD IS IN CONTROL!!

Job’s trials begin in Job 1:12 (KJV) with God giving Satan the go-ahead; “all that Job hath, is in thy power.” all, meaning every situations and circumstances that involves one’s life, Satan now has power over, “but don’t touch His body.” God tells Satan. Now all of this is going on behind the scenes without job’s knowledge. My friends, it’s personal so let’s exchange our life with Job. Our entire world is about to take a turn for the worst.

All that we hold so dear, will now disappear, and we “do not know what tomorrow will bring….For [we] are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” James 4:14 (ESV) Satan can’t believe Job’s faith even after he has lost everything. So now he ask God for permission to touch his body and God grants it. “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” Job 2:6 (NKJV) What this narrative of Job tells us; nothing is done against us without God’s knowledge or permission.

But as God’s children. He knows the point at which we get to where Satan becomes the victor. So He will not allow that to happen or allow us “to be tempted beyond what [we] are able, but with the temptation [He] will also make the way of escape, that [we] may be able to bear it.” 1 Cor. 10:13 (NKJV) My friends, Job lost everything even His children. And now in (v,7) Satan strikes him “with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.” Then his wife makes a suggestion in (v, 9) “Do you still hold fast to your integrity?

Which means, she knows job’s pure and moral character and His faithfulness to God, but she does not understand God will never “leave, nor forsake his faithful children.” My friends there will be those that question our integrity also and like job’s wife wonder why are we still faithful to a God that has deserted us because there is a easier way for “wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it” and like Job our response must be “…….Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”

So now Job cries out to God as he asked for help, But the Lord does not answer and sometimes we will not here His voice either, but we must remember God still guides our foot-steps and when God does answer job His words were,“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?“ Where were you when I laid the foundation of the world………Job 38:2-5 (NKJV) My friends we must understand God knows “the plans [He] have for [us]……plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you [and I] a future and a hope.” Jer. 29:11 (ESV)

So we must stay focused and like Job in the end “the Lord blessed his latter days more than his beginning.” Remember we are closer then we have ever been before, so God is preparing us for that time of “great tribulation, [like nothing that has] occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.” Matt 24:21 (NASB)

So today He prepares His elect for such a time so when it does occur we will remain  “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain….” [as we move out on-to the front lines of the battle field seeking souls for God’s kingdom] 1 Cor. 15:58 (NKJV) and one day if we are faithful and endure until the end we will be saved “and our latter days will be more than our beginning” in God’s pure and holy kingdom.

June 9, 2016

MY FRIENDS, “BUT” AND “NOT” ARE THE KEY TO OUR PERSONAL NARRATIVES

Narrative is defined as “a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or false.” And since it is about you and I it’s personal meaning each circumstances and situation is unique to our character and our own journey as we travel with the assumption from within that we will enter the promise land one day soon.

And my friends as each narrative is played out, we all seek the same ending, to live happily ever after in a place “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Cor. 2:9 (NKJV) The main characters are, You and I, and the Trinity. Those with a supporting roles will be the holy angels of God Satan and his forces of evil. We begin with four of God’s holy angels standing on the four corners of the earth, “holding the four winds of the earth.

And the merciful eye of Jesus gazed on the remnant that had not given there all to God. “Christ pleads with His Father, “that He had spilled His blood for them. Then another angel was commissioned to fly swiftly to the four angels and bid them hold, until the servants of God “were sealed with the seal of the living God in their foreheads.” Rev. 7:2-3 (NKJV) (E. G. White, Early Writings, p. 38) Consistent with this you have the forces of evil causing many of God’s children to fall in combat, right here at the threshold of the promise land. Some narratives end in the arms of Christ, but many die in their own sins.

As the holy angels go back and forth as the process of finishing history in each of our narratives is played out. Our accuser Satan, harasses our protecting angels, tell your Boss He actually died for Betty who abuses her body with unhealthy eating and gossiping John and lying Mary and whore-monger Ben and thieving Kathy. And what will lazy Peter do in heaven surely he will be bored to death without a TV and a XBOX.

Satan knows our over saturation of the things of this world along with our propensity to sin against his enemy and our Lord and Savior. So we must all look into our mind body and soul and see if the accuser of the brethren is correct or have we completely destroyed self and given our all to Christ. Remember my friends, sin “shall not rise up the second time.” Nahum 1:9 (KJV) Calvary, made sure of that.

In addition, “NOT every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; BUT he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matt 7:21 (KJV) Those two words “NOT” and “BUT” shows “the overwhelming contrast” between those whose narrative is to do the will of God and those who feel because they go to church each week and get entertained by the Holy Spirit that they have a right to “the tree of life.”

Remember we no longer “speak, understand, or think as Children, but we are men and woman who know the difference between right and wrong” So “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. So in the eyes of God we must be “safe to save” so when Satan makes his final accusations against us, God can say “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 1 Cor. 13:11 (KJV paraphrased) 1 John 2:4 (KJV) Rev 7:14 (KJV)

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June 6, 2016

MY FRIENDS, ARE WE HAPPY WITH THE SEASON OF OUR LIFE TODAY?

“We have to understand it will always be darkest just before dawn which at times it seems like it is the Hardest Season of our life.” But we must endure through our faith as we make God the center of our life because “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17 (NKJV)

My friends, we are closer to victory than we have ever been before.” And closer to a child of God means entering those pearly gates into that place “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man [or woman] The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Cor. 2:9 (NKJV) My friends, its personal today because we all have separate seasons of our life that will change with each situation and circumstances that arises.

And at times, the change from season to season is a very slow process because that insurmountable mountain seems to only get steeper. But Paul tells us to be “stedfast [and] unmoveable [in our season], always abounding in the work of the Lord” 1 Corinthians 15:58 (KJV) Yes my friends, we must serve God continually. And at night we may “cry more then we pray” but our God is still our Savior who gave it all for our salvation. So thank God for where we are on this Journey and this season we are at today.

In addition, every heartaches and pain of our life, like the seasons, is only temporary, like this temporary home we call earth. But we must be strong until we hear “well done, thou good and faithful servant because those two words, “well done” are the only words that matters on this journey to the promise land along with Christ approval of the way we have served him on this short probationary period He has given His Chosen while on this earth.

So our daily prayer should be Lord thank you for my Season because in the depths of my despair your promises tell me to be strong and courageous [in my season and out of my season and] not to fear or be in dread of [anything, for it is the Lord my God who goes with me every step of the way because I know with full assurance that] He will [never] leave [me] or forsake [me].” Deut. 31:6 (ESV)

And so my friends, if our desire is for life eternal in God’s kingdom we must allow God to set limits and established his will in our lives. Yes it is true, we would prefer the perfect season throughout our life, but that would not prepare His children for those “great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” Matt. 24:21-22 (NKJV)

So as we move closer to Christ second coming, Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4:2 (ESV) to “be ready in season and out of season;” So friends, as of today, I don’t know how God does it. Can’t explain the where why or how I manage to get through it all day after day, but what I do know is the season that I am in today and I pray you feel the same, it is only that part of our life which will prepare you and I for the next level of our life, which is Life eternal in God’s pure and holy kingdom.

June 5, 2016

MY FRIENDS, ABOVE ALL ELSE GUARD YOUR HEART!!

“Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.” Prov. 4:23 (NASB) My friends, it’s personal today because when we talk about one’s heart or mind, we are talking about one’s anatomy that cannot be exchanged with our neighbor down the street. A transplant is incapable of producing any results of who we are spiritually in the sight of God. In addition, it is the heart that changes the entire trajectory of our life where we begin to call, evil good, and good evil; [and we begin to] put darkness for light, and light for darkness; [and] bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Is. 5:20 (NKJV)

And friends, this change can take place “in a moment in a twinkling of an eye.” How else can we explain the narrative in 2 Sam. 13, where Amnon the son of David loved his sister Tamar. And not as a brother would love another sibling but as one would love their spouse. Consistent with this, he loved her so much that he became distressed and physically ill. And so he plotted, and the plot turned into him physically rapping his sister.

(v,15-17) tells us, as soon as he finished this great sin against God and man, “he hated her exceedingly, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Arise, be gone!”………..Then he called his servant who attended him, and said, “Here! Put this woman out, away from me, and bolt the door behind her.” My friends from love to hate “in a moment in a twinkling of an eye.”

This is why it is so personal, because only God’s Spirit can change our life in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” Eph. 6:4 (ESV) and not in just a “twinkling of an eye” But from the point we begin the process of eliminating self  and establishing a personal relationship with Christ His word and Spirit, all the way throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. But we must have a passion to love God and serve God.

Amnon’s life ended with his brother Killing him. What a tragedy brought on by Satan when we don’t guard our heart. But then you have Moses who was raised from a Child to a man of forty years old in Pharaoh’s court. But it was the early years of Moses life where His parents taught Him to love the Lord with all his heart and soul. And to always guard the heart against enemy infiltration for “this is essential for a life without sin,” “for it is out of the good treasure of [our] heart [that] brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart [will] bring forth evil.” Luke 6:45 (NKJV)

Remember, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it [except the one who made it and who can change it, except the one who made it?] Jer. 17:9 (NKJV) “So Moses left Pharaoh’s court after killing an Egyptian and fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, and for forty years God transformed His heart into one where He had a passion to love, and defend God.

And he lead the children of Israel out of Egypt to the threshold of the promise land, “after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years……. Acts 7:23-36 (NKJV)  And now my friends, He resides in the courts of Heaven. Oh the power of the love of God when “we guard our heart”

June 4, 2016

MY FRIENDS, CAN WE FIGHT SATAN AT UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS?

Today, we are in the trenches of this world. And the enemy has us surrounded on all sides along with many minefields of doubt and complacency. But my friends, we can never let the enemy scare us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Tim. 1:7 (NKJV) And that sound mind should give us the power of discernment to understand that we “do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age………” Eph. 6:12 (NKJV)

So now we must remember that Satan is a strategist and a master of manipulation and as he “sees the Lord’s servants burdened because of the spiritual darkness that enshrouds His people. He hears their earnest prayers for divine grace and power to break the spell of indifference, carelessness, and inactivity.” (E.G. White Snares of Satan p 519) And as the faith of many begin to waver and the endurance level weakens, Satan gains a renewed zeal.

And as he hears the prayers of the weak, he applies his art of manipulation at unprecedented levels that we are witnessing today in the 21^st century as he begins to scare many into getting off of that narrow road that few will remain on that leads to that beautiful home where he once lived. Onto that wide and easy road that many will travel that leads to perdition as the indulgence of appetite, television, internet and other “forms of self-gratification begin to benumb our senses.

And at that point we fail to hear God’s Spirit and see the very things that a child of God needs to finish this journey Christ has placed us on. But my friends that is when fasting and prayer and a renewed study in the word of God must also be taken to unprecedented levels. remember friends we are children of the Most High God, and Satan has no power over us, “because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 (NKJV)

And because of that power that is attempting to destroy each of us daily we must forever seek that righteous power source of Christ at unprecedented levels as we “lift up [our] eyes [daily] unto the hills, from whence cometh our help, which is from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. In addition, He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth His faithful will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth His children shall neither slumber nor sleep.

So we must remember, the Lord is our keeper, also the Lord is our shade upon thy right hand. And the sun shall not smite His faithful who endure by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve us while we are in the trenches of this world from all evil and He will preserve our soul and the Lord shall preserve our going out and our coming in from this time forward and throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity when we will be living in that place.

Yes my friends, that place “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”  and For them that renewed their faith each day. and For them with a passion and a zeal to serve, and went out and sowed the seeds of God’s message to the world. and for them that endured till the end and were saved.] Ps. 121:1-8 (NKJV paraphrased) 1 Cor. 2:9 (NKJV)