The Wonderful Works of the Lord!

Wonderful: a feeling of amazement, or admiration

Works: the action or labor required to accomplish something

Praise ye the Lord, I will praise the Lord with my whole heart (not divided, but with all that is in me) in the assembly of the upright (honest), and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great (remarkable, impressive, and first rate), sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable (worthy of honor) and glorious (magnificent; delightful, full of glory); and His righteouness endureth for ever. He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered (recalled, retain, and memorized): the Lord is gracious (showing kindness and courtesy) and full of compassion (sympathy). He hath given meat unto them that fear Him: he will ever be mindful of His covenant (a formal binding agreement).

He hath showed His people the power of His works, that he may give them the heritage (something handed down from past generations) of the heathen (a person or nation that does not recognize the God of Christianity). The works of His hands are verity (absolute) and judgment (balance); all His commandments are sure (not liable to fail). They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. He sent redemption (Jesus Christ) unto His people: He hath commanded His covenant for ever: Holy (sacred) and reverend (respected) is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise endureth for ever. Psalms 111:1-10.

What an awesome and great God we serve! He is so worthy of our praise for His amazing works! Deuteronomy 32:4 declares, He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He. The Lord did a wonderful work in the life of my Son, he had a mild heart attack, a blockage going to his heart, a gland on his kidney that caused them not to perform properly and pneumonia - all this at the same time - but all praises to the Lord, he's fine now. Just reflect my friends, on just one of the many wonderful works that the Lord has done in your life and give Him praise for it!

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

We've Become Too Relaxed!

Relaxed: not strict; easy; informal

We've become too relaxed; we're in a microwave generation where we want thing to show up right now. For example, if we're sick, we want to be healed right now. Out of work? We want a new job right now. Car broke? We want it fixed right now. When praying, we want answers RIGHT NOW. But there are no shortcuts and no bypassing with God - we must learn to slow down and prevail in prayer and learn to conquer this unrestful nature that's on the inside of us.

1) If we don't learn how to slow down and stay on our faces continually before the Lord and allow him to work on us, we might become like Solomon. He became too relaxed; which allowed his wives to turn his head from following the Lord. I Kings 11:4 tells us, "For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that this wived turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God..."

2) We can't have such an informal spirit that we become lazy like David. II Samuel 11:1 says, "And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when the kings go forth to battle that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem." He became so relaxed that he did not go off to battle with the other kings. Instead, he stayed home and saw Bathsheba washing herself, he took her and later had her husband killed.

Let's not allow the spirit of relaxation to come upon us. Instead, we must remember to prevail in prayer, to conquer our unrestful nature, and simply trust in God. When in doubt, remember Proverbs 3:5-6 - "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

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

The Good News!

News – Current information and happenings.

I thank God on this Wednesday for the opportunity to share with you the Good News. If you turn on CNN or any other news station this morning, I can guarantee you that you will be bombarded with bad news. When you read the newspaper it's bad news and when you turn on the radio it's bad news. But my friends, I'm here today to tell you that there is light at the end of the tunnel! That light is the Good News, and that Good News is that Jesus left His Holy habitation and came into this mean and cruel world and died so that you and I could live and have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him! In eternity, there won't be any lying, no murders, and no thieves. Everyone in eternity will have found their place on God Tepereith will, where there is no jealousy and no envy. There we will all be one with the Lord - transparent and crystal clear on the inside. Now that's the Good News, but that's not the end of the story...

Until we get back to that place (eternity), we must keep in mind the Good News that God has given to us while we're here on this earth. He said I'm your provider, so whatever you have need of, God's got it! If you need a healing, Jesus doesn't need tools or medicine and He's still the greatest physician that has ever lived. If you need a lawyer, He's the only one I know that has never lost a case! As David said in Psalms 46:1, He is "...a very present help in trouble" and He is more than enough. If you need a financial blessing, He said everything in Heaven and everything in earth is mine, and the bible tells us that He is able to supply all of our needs according to His riches and glory. Deuteronomy 8:18 tells us, "...for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth." If your children look like they are going totally astray, just keep praying and believing, because He said that He would save your whole household (Acts 16:31). If you need a roof over your head, He said that He would give you houses you didn't have to build, and vineyards you didn't have to plant!

The Good News doesn't stop there! If we need protection, He said in Isaiah 43:2-7, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (That's what He did for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.) The Good News continues, "Fear not; for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the East and gather thee from the West; I will say to the North, Give up and to the South, keep not back: bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him."

I don't know about you, my friends, but that's what I call Good News! Especially considering that He loves us not because of, but in spite of. He also said that He would never leave us nor forsake us. Let me leave you with one more thing - the word declares, "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall he not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). Now, if that's not Good News - I don't know what is!

                                                                                                 

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

Change Your Thoughts, God will Change Your Ways!

Change: to alter, to be come or make different

The Word of God informs us, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7). In other words, if we change our thoughts, God said that He would have mercy on us and abundantly pardon (i.e. to forgive some one for an offense) us. God is not concerned about how bad we used to be or how we missed Him in the past, we can start right now changing the way that we think and the way that we do things.

Isaiah 55:8-9 explains, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." God is letting us know that we need to change our thoughts - because it's our thoughts that influence how we feel and how we feel influences how we act (or our ways). When we allow God to change our ways, He will change us from the inside out!

Psalms 37:1 says, "Fret not yourself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity." God is telling us not to focus on what's going on in the world. Instead, we need to change our thoughts and the ways that we think and act, and we need to get in His Word. There is SO much going on around us in the world, but what they are doing or what's not happening is not and should not be our concern. God wants us to step into His law and get into His word. As we get into His word we will start to soar into another realm. God wants us to get rid of our old way of thinking that we have to make things happen. Focus on His way by getting into His word and building ourselves up in the word so that He can begin to lift us up.

We can't just read the word. We can't just meditate and think on the word. We have got to believe it and trust in it. It does us no good to read the word and know its there - no, we must develop a belief in it. When God sees that we are delighting in His word, He will give us the desires of our hearts... which means we don't need to depend on the government, our employers, or anyone else - it's between us and God. He did not say that we would have to meet any kind of special condition.

When our thoughts match up to His thoughts, it's a game changer! As we stay in His word, He is going to change our ways and give us the desires of our hearts!

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