Nothing is completely perfect, except…

Posted: April 18, 2015 in Holy BIBLE [Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth]= God's Truth & Love for you
Tags:
0

David, king of Israel, the anointed psalmist who wrote truth through music long before today’s popular Christian artists tells us in Psalm 119:96 that “Nothing is completely perfect, except your teachings.” NOTHING. Wow! Everyone looking internally for perfection in a “Type A” world that runs a t full speed, full tilt 24-7…will not find that elusive longing. Perfection is found in God’s teachings….His truth. Later in this same psalm, David goes further and amplifies and compares God’s teachings as being:

“….sweeter than honey” (verse 103)

“…a lamp that gives light wherever I walk” (verse 105)

“…mean more to me than the finest gold” (verse 127)

So put all together, you get God’s word is a sweet gold light that illuminates the lives of ordinary people and reveals the extraordinary truth that God wants a personal relationship with mankind. (“Understanding your word brings light to the minds of ordinary people” Psalm 119:130). John, the apostle, tells us in the very opening verses of his eyewitness account of Jesus’ life and ministry that “In the beginning was the one who is called the Word. The Word was with God and was truly God. From the very beginning the Word was with God.” (John 1:1-2). John is famous for succinctly sharing God’s plan of salvation in very few words:

1. “The Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us.” (John 1:14)

2. “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.” (John 3:16)

Everyone will acknowledge these truths, that Jesus is God’s word, in human form…come so that we might know the Father, who is spirit and truth. Choose him here on earth so that Jesus might represent you to the Father in heaven when you eventually cross that great divide between this earthly existence into eternity.

“Whether we live or die, it must be for the Lord. Alive or dead, we still belong to the Lord. This is because Christ died and rose to life, so that he would be the Lord of the dead and of the living.” (Romans 14: 8-9)

“For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, And every tongue shall confess to God. So that each one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:11-12). I want Jesus to be standing next to me on that day, acting as my intercessor…the only bridge that God offered between himself and our world. How about you?

Why must we choose Jesus of our own free will through faith in God’s word, His truth? Because…”Christ was humble. He obeyed God and even died on a cross. Then God gave Christ the highest place and honored his name above all others.

So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, “Jesus Christ is Lord!” (Philippians 2: 8-11) When you cross into eternity, it will become abundantly clear that God’s truth is truth. No one at all will be able to escape the reality that God sent his son for us.

Are you stubborn or submitted?

Posted: April 11, 2015 in Chains from sin truly broken off...by JESUS...Mighty to change your life!
Tags:
0

In Jesus’ day, the crowds surged around him viewing hundreds of healing miracles day after day for three-and-a-half years proving He was indeed the Son of God he claimed to be. Mark 3:10 records for history: “After Jesus had healed many people, the other sick people begged him to let them touch him.” Common, everyday folks like you and me recognized Him and put faith in Jesus. In the Gospel of Mark 3:11 even the demons immediately recognized him: “And whenever any evil spirits saw Jesus, they would fall to the ground and shout, ‘You are the Son of God!'” Now remember, the Bible is a book of truth, holy-inspired scripture of the Holy Spirit given to God’s loyal prophets to record because God is truth. There is no falsehood (lying) in Him.

Immediately before this scene in Mark 3:  , Jesus heals a man with a crippled (useless) hand on the Jewish Sabbath, or holy day in full view of the religious leaders (Pharisees). Instead of submitting to Jesus as the Messiah and giving God glory for this amazing act of mercy and healing, scriptures record in Mark 3:6 that “The Pharisees left. And right away, they started making plans with Herod’s followers (politicians of the day) to kill Jesus.” THEY WANT TO KILL HIM!

Jesus knows this full well. He responds in Mark 3:5. “Yet he felt sorry for them because they were so stubborn.” This is just one of the many instances recorded where pride wrestles with faith, as is the theme for much of recorded biblical history. So my question for you is are you going to choose the side of stubbornness or submission? Ask Jesus to be Lord and Savior over your life today. Every chain connected to those evil spirits from verse 11 will fall off of you. You will be a new creation.

Madman or Savior? One or the other must be correct.

Posted: March 31, 2015 in Holy BIBLE [Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth]= God's Truth & Love for you
Tags:
0

When Jesus walked the earth before being crucified circa 32 a.d., he freely healed all who were brought to him sick, and offered them salvation for their souls as the Good Shepherd who watches over his sheep. In John 7:40 the crowds in Jerusalem take sides: “He must be the Prophet!” Others said, “He is the Messiah!” Another crowd arguing with Jesus’ teaching further on in John 8:48 says: “We were right to say that you are a Samaritan and that you have a demon in you!”  (Samaria at that time was known as a city full of the spirit of witchcraft and sorcery.) John 10:19-21 again has a crowd arguing, “The people took sides because of what Jesus had told them. Many of them said, “He has a demon in him! He is crazy! Why listen to him?” But others said, “How could anyone with a demon in him say these things? No one like that could give sight to a blind person!”

So…is he a madman or your savior? Mankind still hedges and says,” Well, he was a good man..an example of kind behavior.” But He, himself, claimed to be one with the Father — God in three persons — so he can’t just be a prophet or example.  He is either telling the truth about following Him to eternal life or he was a lunatic claiming to be God. Mathematical and geometric proofs serve as an example from the natural world that something can’t be both true and false at the same time.

One side has been chosen by you to this point in your life. One side is truth. One is a lie determined to steal your eternity with Almighty God. Jesus is the faithful witness and states definitively in John 8:42-47: “If God were you Father, you would love me, because I came from God and only from him. He sent me. I did not come on my own. Why can’t you understand what I am talking about? Can’t you stand to hear what I am saying? Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is NOTHING TRUTHFUL ABOUT HIM. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies. EVERYTHING I HAVE TOLD YOU IS TRUE, AND YOU STILL REFUSE TO HAVE FAITH IN ME. Can any of you accuse me of sin? If you cannot, why won’t you have faith in me? After all, I am telling you the truth. Anyone who belongs to God will listen to his message. But you refuse to listen, because you don’t belong to God.”

Choose Christ as your Savior this day because the only madman, father of all lies, tries to hide the truth from you. Walk with the one who brings light and hope. John 8:24 has Jesus’ own words: “If you don’t have faith in me for who I am, you will die, and your sins will not be forgiven.” People of this world say, “Well that is narrow and not all-inclusive.” Exactly!  We have been slowly indoctrinated these last 75 years to expect choice and pluralism as many streams of thought have reached America’s shores. But God has provided one way only — using His plan set from the foundation of the world. Choose life eternal and abundant. You were given free will as an awesome choice and responsibility. God does not order you to love…He invites you into relationship. John 3:16 gives God’s entire plan for salvation in ONE VERSE — For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him would not perish but have eternal life.

Simple, yet profound. Choose wisely. Eternal means forever. Don’t gamble away your soul.

Live by Faith

Posted: March 30, 2015 in Uncategorized
Tags:
0

Ancient words from the prophet Habakkuk (2:4): “I, the Lord, REFUSE TO ACCEPT anyone who is PROUD. Only those who LIVE BY FAITH are acceptable to me.” God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, so this key to our eternal destiny is so very important today in 2015. All the paths to God devised by mankind are considered as PRIDE to Him. God’s path through faith in his beloved son Jesus, the perfect Passover lamb, born as a sacrifice for sin — a substitute for the Old Testament’s practice of blood from an unblemished animal sacrifice being offered by the priests for the sins of God’s people. This year the ancient Jewish celebration of Passover coincides with Good Friday, the day God’s only son, the perfect sacrifice willingly gave his life — to be lifted up on a cross of wood as a perfect sacrifice.  While Jesus walked in the flesh amongst mankind, he asked the one most defining question one must face in their own lifetime. It can only be answered individually, not by a family or corporately: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36) This same quote is recorded also by Jesus’ disciples Luke and Matthew…three times in the Bible = a truth so important it must not be missed.

The way is narrow — but chosen for us by our Creator — on His terms. Why not choose life this Easter season?

Effective prayer

Posted: March 21, 2015 in Holy BIBLE [Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth]= God's Truth & Love for you
Tags:
0

How amazing is it that our Father in heaven knows what we need before we ask”? Our prayers to Him just confirm our needs to ourselves…we aren’t delivering new information to the one who knows everything…

“Your Father knows what you need before you ask. When you pray, don’t talk on and on as people do who don’t know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. Don’t be like them.” (Matthew 6:8-7)

God invites us to relationship..humility…the emptying of ourselves to be filled up with the Holy Spirit. Interestingly, the goal of meditation is to empty your mind and search within yourself for knowledge.  God tells us he is the author of all true wisdom and knowledge. The secret to joy and strength? Focus on God and not yourself. Worship your creator freely, with joy and abandon.

“But I will sing about your strength, my God, and I will celebrate because of your love. You are my fortress, my protection in times of trouble. I will sing your praises! You are my mighty fortress, and you love me.”

Impossibly, improbably…the creator of all things in the world’s past, your present and mankind’s future…loves YOU!”

In a personal side note, I sell pillow covers online. Three mailed to Texas February 21st in a priority envelope did not arrive two weeks later. Out of earthly hope, I refunded the $46.00 — but prayed to the One who knows where everything is for their safe return. Nothing. I keep praying. We are told to worry about nothing but pray about everything…even the “small” things. My customer emailed me March 18th — almost a month later — the pillow covers have miraculously been delivered to her home that day. God truly does care about the small details of our lives. We are both filled with joy. What was once lost has been found.

Break every chain…

Posted: March 14, 2015 in Chains from sin truly broken off...by JESUS...Mighty to change your life!
Tags:
0

I find two songs very moving and anointed for that truth that God wants to break every chain that has been wrapped around you by the enemy of your soul. Afflictions and disease are not from God…he wants you well and healed.  The power of Jesus Christ living in you frees you from the snare of addictions as a replacement for the empty hole in your heart that powered that need for worldly replacements of love and activity-substitutes through addiction. “came so that we could be free indeed.

Song 1: “Break Every Chain” by Jesus Culture sings the truth that there is power in the name of Jesus to break EVERY chain.

Song 2: “Set Me Free” by Casting Crowns sings of a man tormented by demonic activity who is set free by lifting his chains to the God-man (Jesus) who walks by and freely offers healing and hope to all who believe in His name and saving grace.

Try loading them onto your listening devices and listen to truth…tune out the lies of the enemy.

Where has the Lord’s glory gone?

Posted: March 14, 2015 in Peace that Passes Understanding vs. deceptions
Tags:
0

In 2 Chronicles, Solomon builds a temple in Jerusalem for the Lord to be worshipped. In chapter 6 he prays to dedicate that building to the Lord God of Israel. As Chapter 7 opens, we read this: “As soon as Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and burned up the offerings. The Lord’s dazzling glory then filled the temple and the priests could not go in.” (2 Chron. 7:1-2). God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, so why do we as a modern church people settle for less than a manifest presence of God’s glory in our buildings? When Christ died for us at the cross, and rose again on the third day, we all became eligible to become God’s temple — by accepting the free gift of His Holy Spirit — so the glory of God lives in all believers — but why not in church buildings? When did we settle for less than God’s glory in our corporate houses of praise?

Continuing on, in verse 3, the people at this dedication ceremony respond to the glory cloud with this rousing affirmation: “When the crowd of people saw the fire and the Lord’s glory, they knelt down and worshiped the Lord. They prayed:

“The Lord is good, and his love never ends.”

Let’s all start praying earnestly, in faith, for the glory of the Lord to return to our churches and synagogues..that God’s Holy Spirit would be encouraged and welcomed — sought after with clean hands and pure hearts. What could we accomplish then as God’s people? Let’s not settle apathetically for less than what is available through God’s grace.

“May you, my God, be honored above the heavens; may your glory be seen everywhere on earth.” (Psalms 57:11)

“Think of my prayer as sweet-smelling incense…”

Posted: February 13, 2015 in Holy BIBLE [Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth]= God's Truth & Love for you
0

Psalm 141:2 reminds us of how our interaction with God matters: “Think of my prayer as sweet-smelling incense, and think of my lifted hands as an evening sacrifice.”

Your prayers to God the father are heard! They are registered. They are answered! They leave our hearts and mouths as praise, requests for intervention, healing, help in times of trouble, and arrive in heaven as incense.  You matter! Your prayers do not just stop at your ceiling…they are counted and become a gift to the Lord. How wonderful that this is something we, as humans, can give back to the king of the universe.

When I first attended a Holy Spirit filled assembly of worshippers at Family Church in Roseville, CA (connected by “The River” to Bethel Church in Redding), I was struck by their active worship. They would leave their seats and come to the front. They would lift both hands in worship to the Lord instead of sitting politely in their chairs as I had been taught to do in my mainstream protestant churches all my life. This was 2010. My teenage daughter who brought me warned that I might find it extreme — which I did — extremely refreshing. I immediately was drawn to this active heartfelt form of worship, and still am.

“Every good gift and every Perfect gift is from above.” Hand healing miracle 8/28

Posted: January 27, 2015 in Uncategorized
Tags:
0

Our son had horrible hand eating all-over rough warts on both hands, top and sides…even eating at his cuticles for years.  Doctors could not cure him even with their specialized medicines. No one wanted to hold hands with him in Kindergarten or First Grade. My heart broke for him.  Writing was a chore due to warts where a pencil is normally held.

He went to a summer camp where they prayed over his hands. I cried out to God for healing after school began for him in 2nd grade middle of August.  My sweet child comes to me nonchalantly the night of August 28th, 2013 and says, “Mom my hands are all healed.” I’m like…what? Let me see. Sure enough,  EVERY SINGLE WART is gone and new pink skin has replaced where they were, even the few on his knees. ALL GONE ALL AT ONCE. A miracle healing that I will never, ever forget. My heat sang for joy at the goodness of our God.

“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) It pleased God to send Jesus to perform his healing miracles, then the Holy Spirit during the apostles’ times.  But here is the secret that should be shouted from the rooftops. God is still healing today…”there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

There is NO Mother Earth, only Father God

Posted: January 25, 2015 in Holy BIBLE [Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth]= God's Truth & Love for you
Tags:
0

Evil has a common playbook response to truth which is used over and over and over. Take the truth from Father God and twist it backwards into a lie. So…in this case, Father God is packaged as “Mother Earth.” A convenient, palatable lie for the masses. Have you noticed that for every time you have heard the phrase Mother Earth in films, commercials, new articles and books, Father God — who actually did create the Heavens and the Earth — is nowhere mentioned. Why are people so easily led astray into lie after lie about God? Because truth requires a cessation of rebellion. An honest response that God is indeed faithful and true…and to be trusted…rather than believing in our own, arrogant selves.

Warnings against idolatry permeate God’s word. Over and over warnings are issued. So often people think of idols as little statues sitting on a shelf, but ANYTHING that does not focus on God the Father, Jesus his son, and Holy Spirit as truth and comforter becomes subtle idol worship.

Psalms 147:15-16 and 18 states, “As soon as God speaks, the earth obeys. He covers the ground with snow like a blanket of wool, and he scatters frost like ashes on the ground…At his command the ice melts, the wind blows, and streams begin to flow.” There is no earth mother here. Satan specializes in cheap imitations and sleight of hand switches. Thus instead of being grateful for each new day to the true Creator of the universe, evil is thrilled with each Mother Earth festival and pagan earth worship ceremony.

There is only truth in God. “God is not man that he should lie.” (Numbers 23:19) in KJV.  Contemporary English Version (CEV) says this verse like this, “God is no mere human! He doesn’t tell likes or change his mind. God always keeps his promises.”

Psalms 146:6 states, “God made heaven and earth; he created the sea and everything else.” There is little room for misinterpretation here. Either we believe Him, or we, the people, create New Age mythologies to circumnavigate truth and open the door once again to Satan’s eternal lie, found in the beginning of Genesis that knowledge created by ourselves can make us like unto God. Nope and dope rhyme for a reason.

The earth and everything on it belong to the Lord. The world and its people belong to him. (Psalm 24:1). Imagine how all your arguments will fail you when standing before the god of our universe some day.

Newer Entries