SOMETHING DIFFERENT FOR NEW YEARS

EPH. 4:24

                   It has been sometime since I last put together a blog. I have written a few articles on various topics but I will try to be more frequent in getting a new one out.

                   So here we are at the end of 2016!!   What a year!!  A lot has happened both good and bad but that all depends on who you talk to. One thing is for sure, our world is changing quickly all around us.

                    That brings me to today's thought. With the coming new year, we all make those "resolutions" that most of them won't last the full month of January and then we can't remember what they were in February!! So, I was praying one day and I thought that I really need to get back to a simpler pattern in my life.  OK, the list is long but I really don't want to mess with those "goals" that everyone else is making so I looked at my desk and I saw this scripture , Eph.4:24.  This section of the chapter is call, "Living a New Life".  It talks about taking the old self which is the natural human life and all of the natural world around us and putting on "the new man", the one that God created for each of us. 

                     In the Greek, putting on the new man is described as wrapping oneself with a coat. Think about when you get a new jacket and you put it on and it feels and looks good! It smells good and fits really well.  That's what we need to do.  We need to take on the "new coat" that God has given each of us. I don't care who you are or what you have done. God can change anyone. We just have to want it bad enough. 

                      How do we find what God wants for us?  We have His Word. We can pray. Those two things with the Holy Spirit can open the flood gates of Heaven and we begin to pursue the things of Christ rather then the things of the flesh!! We need to depend more on Him and not on our natural, dying self.  It begins with making a commitment to pray and read His Word everyday. To listen to His voice. To obey Him.  

                       That is the new resolution I need to make this coming year!!!  Sure, I could stand to loose a few pounds, be a better husband and father, be a better employee, etc.  But what I really need to do is to get back to basics and get closer to God.  That is the number one thing that needs to be at the top of my list.  My relationship with the Father is the most important thing on this earth for me.

                       The other things on my list, well, maybe they will work out to; with God's help! 

                       So, have a blessed and happy new year and lets get our "War Rooms" filled with the most important part first.......ourselves!!!

God Bless! 

Paul

REALIGNING OUR PRAYER

MATT. 6:8

       It's been a few months since I wrote my last blog. Busy summer months and enjoying this beautiful weather, I love summer! This morning when I got up I was drawn to this scripture about prayer. Yes, I know I have a few posts already about prayer but this one is a little different. 

       How do we pray? Is it a technique we use or it is the "5 Steps for Effective Prayer" book we just read or heard? These are good but it is really getting back to basics. We are a people that sometimes like to complicate things!!

       Here are some of my notes I took this morning.

--People assume prayer has more to do with technique than with internal attitudes and realities.

--True heart to heart communication with God, whether private or public, is rewarded and will have a profound effect on our spiritual growth.

**THE POINT OF PRAYER IS NOT TO GET ANSWERS FROM GOD, BUT TO HAVE PERFECT AND COMPLETE ONENESS WITH HIM.**

**WE ARE NOT HERE TO PROVE THAT GOD ANSWERS PRAYER, BUT TO BE LIVING TROPHIES OF GOD'S GRACE.**

--Prayer helps us to nurture our relationship with God.

**MANY TIMES, PRAYER CHANGES US INSTEAD OF OUR SITUATIONS.**

--Prayer can reinforce our confidence in God.

--Prayer can realign our confidence in God.

--God wants to give us an abundant life so we can pass it on to others.

--He blesses us so we can live accordingly to His plan.

**THE QUESTION IS: ARE WE LIVING IN GOD'S PLAN FOR US?**

--The answer can be found in the relationship we have with Him.

**HAVE WE SUBSTITUTED GOD'S WILL WITH OUR WILL??**

--It is so easy to get caught up in all the "stuff" going on right now. The media has a powerful influence on how we view things. This includes social media!!

**WE NEED TO HAVE THE CONFIDENCE OF KNOWING THAT GOD IS WITH US AND THAT NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, WE ARE LIVING IN HIS WILL FOR US!!**

**THIS COMES FROM A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER THROUGH PRAYER.**

    

    Ponder on these and see how your prayer life is forming. It makes me to take a second look at how I pray and where my heart really is.

God Bless!!

Paul

RESURRECTION FAITH

WHAT IS IT??

        Over the past few weeks, I have been going through the Old Testament and one of the questions in my studies is what is resurrection faith? Now at first I thought; "what does this have to do with the Old Testament??"! Because it must mean believing that Jesus rose from the dead! Well, yes it does but there is more of a meaning there that I discovered. Let's look at a good example.

         In Gen.17:15-17, God told Abraham that He would bless Sarah with a son. Now, the problem was Abraham was a 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old!! Scripture says that Abraham laughed at this but he also believed what the Lord had said when you read further.

         In the Hebrew translation, Sarah's womb was considered dead due to her age. But God was going to do something that was in the natural, impossible!

         To have resurrection faith means to believe that God can bring life out of what is dead!

God can create anything out of nothing! (Heb.11:1-3)  We are to believe that He can move in our life and others!! 

          Here is another example with Abraham. Look at Gen 22:6.  We all know the story that Abraham was told by God to sacrifice his own son Isaac.  Now this is the same son that the Lord promised them that they would have when they were old!!! What do you think of that!!! God promised them a son and now He wants Abraham to sacrifice him!!!  What would you be thinking right about now??  But he still obeyed because he believed in what God can do! Look what Abraham said in verse 5b; "... The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we'll come back to you."  You see it??  He said; "we'll".  Translated plural for him and Isaac to be returning!! Abraham believed that even with the sacrifice of Isaac, that God would bring him back to life!! 

            How do we look at the "storms" in our life everyday?  It is hard to have the faith we need to get through the stuff we walk in but God is there for us every step of the way when we make Him the focus in it!  

            He is the creator God that we call Father!!  Stay focused on Him......He will get you through it!!!

God Bless!!!

Paul

DOUBTING THOMAS

JOHN 20:24-29

Many of you have been following us about my wife's health battles she has been going through and we are so grateful to you all for the prayers and support. It isn't over and we might have some rough days ahead. But what I want to talk about is something that everyone sometimes walks through (whether they admit it or not!).

It is doubt!! And the perfect example of that is in John 20:24-29; doubting Thomas! Let's look at what happened to Thomas. Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to His followers in a locked room. Thomas was not there (for what ever reason). So when he showed up, everyone was so excited and was sharing with him that Jesus had appeared to them all! Now Thomas reacted differently than what you would expect. Was he upset that he wasn't there when Jesus appeared? Or was he maybe was so overwhelmed with what happened to Jesus that he was heart broken and he was walking in so much sorrow that he didn't really feel the excitement the others were feeling. Of course we don't know for sure but try to put yourself in his place. He walked with Jesus. He saw all the things He did and listened to the words He spoke. And then seeing Jesus being taken away, beaten, put on a one sided trial, and then put to death on a cross; he probably was devastated!!

I know I would be!! More than once the thought of why we are going through so much has crossed our minds. It is easy to be the "strong Christian" when you aren't going through what another person is going through but when you walk through something in your own life, there is sometimes doubt!

Lets get back to Thomas. He stuck around with the other followers as they were celebrating Jesus defeating death. Of course they had to remain out of sight from the general public due to the authorities were looking for Jesus's followers. He was there for eight days before Jesus appear to him and the others. Eight days!!! What must have been going through his mind? Still, he stayed there. Maybe because he was hoping to see Jesus! He had said earlier that unless he seen and touch the wounds that Jesus had, he would never believe!!

And then along came Jesus!! Right through the locked door!! (thats for another time!) And Jesus knew exactly what Thomas had said earlier!! He knows our heart. He knows what we cry out for. And then Thomas makes a statement that was unheard of for a Jewish man to make! "My Lord and My God"!!! No one had said that before!!! 

We are human and we will go through tough times and we will doubt, but the Lord is always there for us! Even though we might question where He is or why we are going through what ever, we need to seek Him and take comfort in Him.

Remember, Thomas stuck around and didn't just take off! Don't give up!! God is BIGGER than what you are going through!!!

God Bless!!

Paul

WHOM DID GOD BURY?

WHOM DID GOD BURY?

DEUT. 34

    Another one of those titles that can get your interest! I have always loved reading about Moses and how he had a great relationship with God. Think about all the times he spent with Him and all the problems Moses had. And with that relationship he had with God, he knew that he wasn't going to see the promise land even though he was leading the people there. I could picture him telling the people all the time how the promise land will be better than what they could even imagine but he himself wouldn't get to step foot on it!! I think I would get discouraged after a while!! 

     And now they get to the end of their journey and God takes Moses up to Mount Nebo and allows him a view of the land. Many would think that would make Moses mad but he and the Lord were so close that I think Moses was full of joy for knowing that he had obeyed God and led the people to it. Then in verse 5, Moses died on that same mountain. WOW!!! His "job" was over! I would love to know if there was a conversation about this! The Bible doesn't say but in verse 7 it says that Moses was in good shape and his eyes were good. So, it sounds like he was still healthy but his time was up!! He had done what he was called to do. In verse 6, God buried Moses secretly. Now there are many views about this but the scripture does say that He buried him. God cared so much about Moses! What an example of the close relationship God had with him!

       There is so much more on this that I can't really share here because it is in a message form but what I really would like to show here is that Moses had a full life that had huge responsibilities but he kept his relationship with God strong. He wasn't perfect but he strived for that daily communication with the One who was always there for him.

        No matter how many times I read the Word, God always shows me something different that I can learn from. 

        Enjoy your time with Him!

God Bless!

Paul