Mar

06

Where’s your focus?

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Where are you focusing these days? When you rise in the morning and lie down at night, are you consumed by the day’s events or personal struggles that plague you, or do you cast your cares on Him? Do you search for solace in food or drink to assuage the unrest, or do you feast on His word to find your peace?

The worldly panaceas offering relief from the cares and burdens are available, but do they really help or change the situation? For the children of God, the ones Christ calls his brethren, our solace is met at the cross.

The world is a battlefield for control of our minds. The combat skirmishes will always be here until we’re promoted to heaven, but there is assurance that in Him, our battles are already won. Our deliverance is met in Jesus.

When struggles and trials seem bound to grab your soul and squeeze out your peace, rejoice in the Lord and count it all joy as the book of James states. Why? You have the Lord! Your trials and temptations are no match for the King. He uses these things to conform his children to be more like Jesus…to make us stronger. Let Him do a good work in you by faithfully keeping your mind on Him.

Feb

28

Time to rejoice

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 Today is tomorrow’s past and yesterday’s future. It’s somewhat scary to think how quickly the days come and go. The older we get, the faster time seems to pass. We often ask, where does the time go?

God’s word tells us that we should rejoice and be glad for each day. Today is one more day to share His love with others in the time he’s given us, for no one is promised tomorrow.

With every revolution of the earth as it rotates around the sun, our heavenly Father gives us a new dawn and new opportunities. Both the sinner and the saved are blessed by the time our Creator gives us each day, and we know that every day is a gift. What we do with our time is our choice. Though we know that wasting our hours is not always prudent, and time spent with the Lord is the best way to start our day regardless of how busy we are.

“So, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom” ~ Psalm 90:12

 His mercies are new every morning. With each day having enough troubles of its own, let’s cast all of our cares upon him each day and believe his promise to give us rest as we abide in Him.

“Rejoice in the Lord always…” ~ Philippians 4:4

Feb

16

His steadfast love

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We know the Lord is coming back to earth one day and will reclaim the church to live with him in eternity. His faithfulness to us is a great thing and an everlasting promise. Though we may lack the faith to believe or waver in a shaky understanding, God can never deny his own faithfulness because He is truth.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness ~ Lamentations 3:22-23.

Through our Lord, every believer’s soul is saved from the power, penalty, and presence of sin by the Holy Spirit. How lovely to know he’s coming back in victory, and we will dwell with him in eternity forever!

Feb

08

Watching the clouds

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They say a watched pot doesn’t boil. Though when we busy ourselves with something productive or focus on other things, before long the pot of water is bubbling. Such it is with the long-awaited appearance of our Lord.

As the men of Galilee once fixed their gaze above to the clouds as the Lord ascended with the hope that he’d return, we, too, are eager to see him come back in the clouds. But  watching the clouds won’t make him come back any sooner.

In the midst of our personal storms, we often cry out, Maranatha, Jesus! Come quickly is our plea. Yet, the time has not arrived. There is work still to be done. Until that time, Jesus has prepared us to do the work, and he’s left us with a comforter—the Holy Spirit—to help us until that time.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses…even to the remotest part of the earth” ~ Acts 1:8

The message about the second coming of Jesus to earth is spoken of in the New Testament scripture. Our Lord will come back as the King of Kings and will set up His millennial kingdom over the entire earth. He will reign with righteous power from Jerusalem. Among His divine itinerary, he will:  1. Judge the nations. 2. Save Israel. 3. Sit on the throne of David. 4.  Bring a righteous government to the earth. Hallelujah! But until then, we have to patiently wait.

So, we need not be distracted with watching the clouds, for he will return at the proper time. What an assurance of glory divine that our Lord will come again, and we will share in his reign as the prophets have foretold.  Meanwhile, we don’t need to watch the pot. It’s time to work to help build God’s kingdom.

Jan

31

Got faith?

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Apostle Paul appeals to the believers in the third chapter of 2 Thessalonians and reminds them: “The Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”

God’s faithfulness is the pivot upon which turns his whole purpose for humanity. God calls, and then through his goodness leads us to repentance.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” ~ 1 John 1:9

Faithfulness is an essential part of who God is, and it’s multi-faceted. He demonstrates this to us in several ways. Through his faithfulness, God not only forgives our sins, but He protects us from evil, sets limits on our temptations, and leads us on our own individual paths to sanctification.

While God has faithfulness covered, our faith in Him has different facets as well. There are different ways to ascribe our faith to God:  Faith as belief, faith as commitment, faith in waiting on God, and faith in Him as our refuge.

The better we truly know God, the more we will want to trust, imitate, and rely on him. We cannot be faithful to our Lord without a total commitment to him as the most important thing in our lives. By having the right kind of faith, it will produce righteousness in us as opposed to pagan faith in one’s self, which leads to unrighteousness.