It Takes Time to Serve The Lord!

I once heard this elderly lady say that it takes time to raise children... and as those of you with kids can testify - that is a true fact!

I certainly thank the Lord for His patience in raising me. Most of the time, I want to go my own way, and do what I want to do - when I want to do it. But there are so many things we are not aware of. We start out as babies in the natural, just as we start out as babies in the spiritual - we have to be taught how to do things and that takes time.

My grandmother once told me that going on for God is like climbing a ladder - you don't step on the first step and then you're at the top. No, you go one step at a time. What happens when a baby begins to walk? He inevitably tries to go too fast and ends up falling down. We're like that spiritually sometimes. I can't stress enough that we must spend time with the Lord in prayer and in His Word, so that He can teach us.

Babies in the natural don't stay the same size - as you feed them, they grow; as you teach them, they learn. It's the same with us. As we feed on God's Word, we grow and we learn. We just have to slow down, be patient and spend time with the Lord. In reality, we're not just spending - we're actually investing and investing in Jesus pays the best dividends you'll ever get - Eternal Life!

So remember that when we come before Him, we should never act as if it's a chore. Instead, we should come with a made up mind to serve the Lord with gladness! As Psalms 100:2-5 tells us, we must "serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."

With all that's said, let the church say Amen...and Amen!

Count It All Joy!

Count: To command with official authority, to consider

James 1:2 says: "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." However, we sometimes lose our joy. I'm not talking about the joy that you might have by getting things on the outside; I'm talking about that joy you have on the inside that you allow to work through you on the outside.

Nearly everyone wants joy, but we often look for it on the outside. Getting a new car won't give you the type of joy I'm talking about; buying a new house can make you happy for a minute, but it still won't get you the kind of joy I'm talking about.

This joy comes from within and we must get the right thing on the inside of us - that thing that will in turn make us radiate with joy. When we have that type of joy, things that might be going wrong on the outside don't affect our joy - because it's on the inside working through to the outside.

Not everyone has joy... some people are happy - usually because something good has happened. But when you get the joy of the Lord on the inside, it doesn't matter if something does or does not happen - you are happy anyway! James 1:2 doesn't say to count it all joy... when you get a new house or a new car... no, it tells us to count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, such as being lied on, laugh at, and despitefully used.

We put this joy to work by commanding with official authority the Word of God. The world doesn't give us this joy - no, it comes from the Lord. And when we understand that, we can speak to our trials and tribulations and STILL have joy! We won't have to consider them as problems, instead, we can command them to be joy. But first, we must put the Word of God in us. We can conquer any situation by staying in prayer and by speaking the Word -- things like, "the joy of the Lord is my strength," and "this joy that I have the World didn't give it to me and the world can't take it away!"

Stay in the presence of the Lord, my friends because, as Psalms 16:11 tell us - "in thy presence is fulness of joy."

With all that's said, let the Church say amen...and Amen!

The Best Benefit Package On the Market

Benefit: an act of kindness, help, aid and/or support.

When we go on job interviews, they give us details about the job - including information about the benefits package. In fact, sometimes we take jobs based primarily on the company's "great benefit package."

Some companies offer on-the-job training; a certain portion of your salary when you are out sick; pension plans; medical and dental plans... but in the back of your mind, you're always aware that the company might go out of business; it might get bought out; or the company might have to cut out some of those "great benefits" in order to keep their overhead down. 

But let me tell you about someone that offers EXCELLENT benefits and His benefits are here to stay! You can have total confidence in the fact that He won't go out of business; He will never have to cut back because of overhead and we will never have to worry about Him going bankrupt! 

Do you know why? Because He owns everything. He said: the silver is mine, the gold is mine, the Earth and everything that dwell therein (He is awesome, He is great and He is more than enough). 

Now, using the Book of Psalms, Chapter 103, let me share a few of HIS benefits:

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

• Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases. 
• I can attest to that. Some years ago I needed a healing. I said, "I want to be healed, Lord because that's one of my benefits." 11 years later - I'm STILL HEALED!
• Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption; who beautifies, dignifies and crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies
• Who satisfies your mouth (i.e. your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation) with good; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's (strong, overcoming and SOARING)
• The Lord executes righteousness and justice (not just for me, but...) for all that are oppressed
• The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy
• He will not always chide or be contending; neither will he keep his anger for ever or hold a grudge
• As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those that fear him (with reverence, worship and awe).
• For He knows our frame; He earnestly remembers and imprints (on His heart) that we are dust.

He gives us these benefits as an act of kinds - we don't have to be interviewed for them; we don't have to wait to be called back. The thing we need to do is accept Jesus in our lives as our personal savior. Then we begin working for Him and He has so much, SO MUCH more to offer... but best of all - eternal life!

God is Able to Perform What He Promises

Perform: Execute, successful completion of a process
Promise: An assurance given that one will or will not do something

"And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform" (Romans 4:21). In fact, Philippians 1:6 tells us, that we can be "confident of this very thing." So often we think that WE have to do this or WE have to do that; that WE have to make things happen - when in all actuality WE don't. Usually when WE try to complete the process, WE mess it up.

Proverbs 3:5 reminds us to "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding;" instead, we must "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord" (Psalms 27:14).

Take Abraham for an example, he said, Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless? The Lord promised him a son in Genesis 15:4, but while they were in the waiting process, Abraham and Sarah took it upon themselves to execute God's promise. Instead of waiting on the Lord, Abraham was given Sarah's handmaid (Hagar) and had a son with her... but that was not the son God had promised him. The powerful, the awesome, the almighty God waited until they were old and well-stricken in years - Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 90 when she conceived her first son - so there would be no doubt that He is well able to perform what he promises.

There are consequences for our actions when we get ahead of God - Abraham had to send Hagar and her son away because he was not to be the heir with the child that God had promised. We must have the faith that the Lord is with us. We have to realize that just because that thing we've asked for doesn't happen in OUR time, it doesn't mean that it's not going to happen. Wait on the Lord, He's well able to perform what He promises... in HIS time!

Provisions the Lord Left for Us

Provision: A measure taken beforehand to deal with a need.

As we have said before, when going on for God, there are going to be trials and tribulations, detours, some laughter, and even some crying - but God is there... at the finish line, you might say... with His arms stretched out wide, cheering us on. He is the best cheerleader we could ever have, for He knows the provisions He has left for us to make it back to Him.

1. He left His Name - The Lord's name was on the rod that Moses carried when the children of Israel were at the Red Sea. When it didn't look like there was any way out, Moses lifted up the rod with the name of the Lord on it and the Red Sea parted (Exodus 14:16). When we are in our trials, we must lift up the name of the Lord; when we are in our happy times, we must be thankful and still lift up the name of the Lord.
2. He left His Blood - We can and should plead God's blood over our lives every day. We no longer have to use the blood of animals for our sins. When Jesus shed His blood on the cross, that was for our sins, and it gave us the right to use the blood as often as we need it. Don't allow the shedding of His blood to be in vain - plead it over your anger, your emotions, your self-righteousness and anything in you that's not like the Lord. Use the blood - the Lord wants us to!
3. He left His Spirit - His Holy Spirit is our Comforter, our Leader, our Guide and our Conductor. Let's be led by the Spirit, for we don't know how to go out or how to come back in without it. In every facet of our lives, we need the Spirit.
4. He left His Word - 66 books of the Bible, jam-packed full of instructions, wisdom, and understanding. It's our roadmap (remember that?) filled with directions; it's everything that we need.

These provisions are fully available to you each and every day. As we said before, the Lord wants you to use them... let's not keep Him waiting, ok?!