Today is my 54th birthday, and I just want to praise the Lord for His healing upon me so many years ago, for His giving a neurosurgeon a reason to call me a "medical miracle," and for His many blessings. Thank You, my Lord, for Your love, Your mercy, Your grace and Your patience. Your blessings are new every morning, and You are the passion of my soul! I love You, Lord Jesus!!
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34 NIV)
Jesus prayed the above to His Father in heaven as he hung on the cross. How many of our sins do we commit that we DO know what we're doing, and how many do we commit that we DON'T know what we're doing? I imagine that we commit many of our sins knowing that we're sinning, but we're unable to stop ourselves. For example, we just have to share that juicy bit of gossip with someone. We know we shouldn't, but---what harm could it do? Or, the person that just has to have a sexual escapade with someone because they just can't help themselves. Their mind and heart tell them that it's a sin, but their body just isn't listening. God will forgive us of the sin we've committed if we go to Him and confess in true repentance. He loves us, and He wants us to have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever [Whosoever! Anyone!] believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
The next time you read in the Bible the account of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, try to read it from God's eyes, from God's heart. His only Son praying in anguish for the cup to be taken from Him---but only if His Father's will. Jesus being strengthened by an angel from heaven and praying so earnestly that His sweat fell like drops of blood to the ground (Luke 22:42-44). God had to turn His back on His Son when He was praying in that garden. He had to turn His back on Him when He had placed the sin of the world on His precious Son's shoulders, as Jesus hung on the cross. Why? Because God loves us that much!
Ex 10:3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble y yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
Ex 10:4 If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow.
Ex 10:5 They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.
Ex 10:6 They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your fathers nor your forefathers have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’ " Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.
EEEK! This scripture really makes me perk up and pay attention, because many of our area's trees are currently filled with screeching locusts, also called cicadas. UGH! When I go for a walk and those locusts jump on me (again I say, "EEEEK!"), I break out in a rash where their nasty, little feet touch my skin. Needless to say, I'm allergic to those little rascals! If one of those Old Testament locust swarms were sent here, you all would have to drag my body into the Emergency Room for treatment! I don't know about you, but I don't want to disobey my Lord God Almighty! I love Him dearly, I respect Him, and I fear Him. If He can send swarms of locusts to the disobedient, you know I'm gonna be toeing the line! How about you?
1Th 4:11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,
1Th 4:12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody (NIV)
So many people are addicted to gossiping, and it becomes such a part of them that they don’t even realize they’re doing it. The Bible clearly speaks against gossip. As it says in the 11th and 12th verses of 1 Thessalonians, we are to "lead a quiet life" and mind our own business. We are to stay busy in our work for the Lord so that unbelievers will respect us. Proverbs 11:13 says, "A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret." People like to know that they can trust us, but if we repeat something that someone has confided in us, that person who trusted us will never trust us again. Proverbs 16:28 says, "A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends." Someone who gossips separates close friends! They cause trouble, even if they don’t mean to cause trouble. Gossip usually sneaks up and bites us in the rump. It never causes anything good to happen. Proverbs 26:20 says, "Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down." Gossip causes trouble to erupt. It’s just like piling wood onto a campfire, but if we don’t gossip, the trouble will die down and go out on its’ own. It says in Romans 14:19, "Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification." We are to build each other up, not tear each other down through gossip. We must say and do things that bring about peace, not disruption.
Mt 8:26 He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. (NIV)
There was a storm raging on the sea of Galilee, and Jesus was asleep in the boat. Waves were sweeping over the boat as the disciples held on, but Jesus slept. They woke Him and said, "Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!" They were in a boat with Jesus, and still they feared. So many people are addicted to fear. They cling to it as if it is a life raft in a storm, not realizing that it is a heavy weight that will pull them to the bottom of the sea. So many books are written on fear in an attempt to help people, but God says in Genesis 26:24, "Do not be afraid, for I am with you." Psalms 23:4 says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." God is with us, and we need only to surrender to Him. Many people are afraid to surrender their lives, their situations, their problems to God. They feel that they have to try to control everything themselves. God wants us to step back and let Him be God. When we give in to our fears, we are allowing ourselves to become God by trying to take control, and that is what Satan wants us to do. Satan knows that we are incapable of controlling our circumstances and that we will surely make a mess of things. Fear keeps us from becoming the Christians that Christ wants us to be. Fear keeps us from God. Psalm 56:3 says, "When I am afraid, I will trust in You." Trust in the Lord destroys all fear. In Mark 5:36 Jesus told the synagogue ruler whose child was dead, "Don’t be afraid; just believe." Just believe. In Matthew 14 Peter believed, and his fear disappeared. He stepped out of the boat and onto the stormy sea so that he could walk to Jesus. When he took his focus off our Lord, he saw the wind and became fearful again. He began to sink, and cried out to our Lord for help. "You of little faith," Jesus said, "why did you doubt?" And Jesus saved him.
Heb 7:18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless
Heb 7:19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. (NIV)
The Pharisees were so addicted to law that they couldn’t find their way into a relationship with the God that stood before them. They constantly spewed out rules and regulations, even to God Himself. There are people in God’s congregations today who are addicted to laws and regulations that aren’t even in the Bible: "You have to be quiet in church," "You must praise the Lord in silence," "We shouldn’t spend money on that," and on and on and on. That adherence to nonexistent laws saps the joy of the Lord right out of those people. That addiction to laws also threatens to sap the joy out of that person’s brothers and sisters in Christ---if we believe that we must adhere to that person’s addiction to laws. When we stop to think about it, there are many addictions within God’s church and within its’ many ministries. God doesn’t want addictions in His church. God doesn’t want addictions within His ministries. Addictions can divide congregations, and addictions are traps that Satan uses to his advantage. In Matthew 15:8-9 Jesus Christ says, "‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’" Laws prevent proper worship of the Lord, because that person’s heart is held back by shackles created by that person. The Lord wants our hearts given in total surrender to Him when we worship Him. He doesn’t care about rules and regulations. 2 Chronicles 7:3 says, "When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, ‘He is good; his love endures forever.’ The Israelites thanked the Lord by giving true worship. In John 4:23-24 Jesus Christ says, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." God doesn’t want worship of Him to be bound by laws and regulations. He wants His people to worship Him in spirit and in truth, because He is spirit and truth. Some people within God’s congregations are so addicted to their work for Him, that they let it come between themselves and God. They don’t realize that their work is taking from their worship until they feel that He is distant from them, but in reality, they are distant from Him. James 4:8 says, "Come near to God and He will come near to you." We cannot come near to God if our works for Him stand between us. We cannot come near to God if an addiction to rules and regulations stand between us.
Lev 19:11 " ‘Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.’"
Many people are addicted to lying, and some don’t even realize it. Some tell lies, and admit that they can’t help themselves---the lies somehow make their way out of their mouths all the time. Some people are addicted to lying, because they have low self-esteem, and they think the lies make them look better in other people’s eyes. Some people think it’s okay to tell ‘fibs’. In Leviticus 19:11, God said that we are not to lie. A lie is a lie, no matter why it’s told or how it’s told. In John 8:44, Jesus said to the Pharisees, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." Satan is the father of lies. Does that mean that liars are the children of satan? Colossians 3:9 says, "Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." When we become a Christian, we are no longer the person we used to be, the person who lied or stole or killed or lusted. We are a new person, re-created, re-born, and we begin to have a mind, heart and soul like that of our Creator. Becoming Christlike is a difficult and daily struggle, but with the help of our Lord God Almighty, we will succeed. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me."
