Grow In Grace and Knowledge!

Grace: Sweetness, Loveliness, Loving kindness.

Knowledge: a knowing, understanding.

Not only does God command us to grow in grace, He provides us with grace. Each day we can come and get a fresh new application of grace and knowledge of Him.

2 Peter 3:18 tells us to "... grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory both now and for ever." Each day we can get sweetness, loveliness, good will and loving-kindness from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. If there is anything we need as Christians, it is to grow in sweetness. You know, at times we can be rude - maybe even hostile! If we aren't mindful of it, we can easily get to the point where it makes us feel good to be sharp-spoken and quick tongued! As you already know, we can't draw people to the Lord when we behave like that! Instead, non-believers look at us and think, "well if that's what being a Christian is, I'm better off not being one!" So remember, while our flesh may love it, God's word tells us to grow in grace, sweetness, and loveliness. Now, I don't mean physical loveliness here, I'm talking about the spiritual beauty of a personality that is lovely and sweet.

I still remember one of the prayers my Grandmother often prayed, "Lord let me grow old and be sweet!" God truly answered her prayer, she lived to be in her nineties and people all around our small town talked about the sweetness of Mother Wade. Just as the Lord did it for her, He will surely do the same for me and you... providing we seek it!

God also provides knowledge. True knowledge includes wisdom and understanding, so as we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, we grow in understanding and wisdom. A lot of misunderstandings and quarrels arise because people lack the spiritual knowledge to understand one another. Many times as a situation or a decision is presented to us, we think/say, "I’ll do this or that; I can’t see anything wrong with it." Well my friends, that’s precisely the problem! We don't have the insight to see what's wrong with a certain action and we don’t know how to handle situations because we haven’t gone to the One who provides true knowledge, wisdom and understanding.

Just as Paul, David, and Joseph came out victoriously in the battles they faced, we can do the same - IF we grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

With all that said, let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!

Put The Glass Down!

I read this email the other day and it was indeed a blessing to me. You see, I am so guilty of holding on to things that just don't matter instead of just letting it go. I hope that you will be blessed by these words as well:

A Psychologist walked around the room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: “How heavy is this glass of water?” 

Answers called out ranged from 8oz to 20oz. 

She replied, “The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” 

She continued, “The stress and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. This about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything.” 

Remember to put the glass down!

Author Unknown 

 It's really that simple. Dwelling on worries or concerns won't make them better... they just occupy more and more of your mind until you can think of nothing else - paralyzed, as the author said.

My friends, I would like to leave you with these two scriptures:

"Be careful <anxious or wary> for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7.

Friends, just put the glass down and let it go!

With all that said, let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!

Get Up And Change the Channel!

Change: To become or make different, to alter.

The Bible tells us clearly that faith without works is dead. On this journey of life, we have to put in work. We can’t just sit in our easy chair, press a button, and the channel (or life situation) that we no longer want to watch (or be in) simply changes. No, on this journey there are no remote controls, we have to get up and change the channel in our life situations that we no longer want to watch.

Let’s take a look at Caleb. In Joshua 14:7 & 9, Caleb tells us how Moses sent him  to spy out the land when he was forty years old. It was then that he brought Moses the word that was in his heart. “…Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.” But come verse 10, we see that forty-five years had passed and Caleb was still on that same channel – waiting for his land. Although the land was promised to him, he had to take action to get it – he had to slay the giants that were inhabiting it. How many of us are just waiting for the giants (or obstacles) in our lives to just walk away instead of standing on the word of God to slay them?

Eventually, Caleb got up, with the help of the Lord and changed his channel (situation). He went to war and moved the giants out of the land and possessed the mountain that was promised to him. If he had not gotten up and changed things, the giants would have continued to possess the land and he would have missed out on his promise. Friends, there are no remotes in life - we have to get up and do the work to change the channel.

In Mark 10:46-48, we are reminded of the story of blind Bartimaeus, “And they came to Jericho and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out,and say, Jesus thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” Don’t you know that people will try to make you sit in your easy chair and just watch the same channel, day in and day out? Be like Bartimaeus – understand when it’s time to change your channel – get up and call on Jesus. Lord-willing, that call will be answered and Jesus will stand still for us and help us change our channel.

The Bible doesn't say that Bartimaeus was a noble man, and it doesn't say that he had spent time fasting and praying. What the Word does show us is that Bartimaeus had enough faith in God to attempt to change the channel. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a great and awesome thing to have a prayer life and to spend time fasting. The point I’m trying to make is that you can start right where you are, right now! You don’t have to be the perfect Christian to change the channels in your life that you are tired of watching. Jesus loves us and He wants to help us. Remember, there are no remotes in life; you have to get up and change the channel!

With all that said, let the Church say Amen… and AMEN!

Is there Any Thing Too Hard For God?

Hard: difficult to perform, endure, or comprehend.

Throughout the Bible, there are a number of examples of the Lord asking His people if there was anything that He couldn't do. The Lord asked Abraham, is anything too hard for the Lord? As the Lord spoke with Jeremiah, He asked him, is there anything too hard for me? We get his answer in Jeremiah 32:17, "Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee."

There is also no promise that is too hard for God to keep. In Genesis chapter 18, we are reminded of the story of Abraham and Sarah. God had promised Abraham a son with Sarah, when he was a hundred years old and Sarah was ninety. Picking up the story in verse 10 of that chapter; "And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him... Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?... Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." Those of us who are familiar know that’s exactly what happened!

Our gracious Lord woke us up this morning. If you think you woke yourself up when your alarm went off, try this one day - take your alarm clock to the cemetery and see just how many people get up when your alarm goes off. It was definitely not you or your alarm - that was the work of God! Let's allow that to serve as a reminder for us that there is nothing (not any thing, no part or portion. In no way, not at all) that is too hard for God. If some of those five thousand men (not counting women and children) were here; those men who were in the desert, hungry and tired when Jesus feed them with those two small fishes and five loaves of bread; they would surely attest there’s nothing too hard for God!

My friends, God’s power is limitless; there is no person He can’t change, no problem He can’t solve, and no situation He can’t fix! Just as He did for Abraham and Sarah, and those five thousand in the desert, He will do for me and you. There is nothing too hard for God and there is no promise He can’t keep!

With all that said, let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!