If You Stay Ready, You Won't Have To Get Ready!

Prepare: To make ready or qualified

You know how it is my friends, when we get that call and find out that company is coming over - to make my point, let's say it's the President. We get busy making things ready; throwing things out - things that probably should have already been thrown out. We start cleaning the house, making sure that everything is in its rightful place. We would really put a lot of energy into it, right? No spots or blemishes in sight; we would work as long and as hard as it takes to get everything just right- after all, the President is on the way!

Getting prepared is work, but just like we would do it in the natural, God is requiring the same in the Spiritual!

When a runner has a track meet, he doesn't wait until the day of the meet to get prepared. No, instead he starts a long time in advance, because if he waits until the day of - it will be too late and he won’t be physical or mentally prepared. That means that every day he should/must be out there doing something to get his body in shape, so that he can qualify for the race. Mentally, he's meditating on it; he's seeing himself first at the finish line. He's going to bed with that thought and he's waking up with that thought. Are you seeing the bigger picture yet?

We are on a spiritual mission and there is someone who's coming who's much more important than the President and much greater than any track meet we could participate in. Our Commander and Chief is coming and His name is Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 3:14-15 reminds us, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in Heaven and Earth is named."

It's a bit difficult to say that you don’t know that He’s coming, it's all over the Word!

• Matthew 24:44 - Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh. 
• John 14:2-3 - In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 

Friends, He's preparing for us and He expects us to be preparing for Him as well. Remember, at the end of this race, the prize is eternal!

• I Thessalonians 5-2. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 

It doesn't matter that He's coming as a thief in the night, if we have been putting time into getting our Spiritual house in order, we will not only be ready, but we will also be equipped! It’s imperative that we schedule a prayer time as well as a study time... in the hustle and bustle of today's world, if we don't plan and set aside the time, it's likely that we won't do it and those things that are critical to our preparation will be neglected. God is watching - let’s get prepared!

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

We Are All On Death Row

Death - the end of human existence

Our life is like a vapor that appears but for a short period of time and then vanishes away. In other words, from a "natural" standpoint, I supposed that we can say that our lives are more similar to an death row inmate then we might think. Just as that inmate lives in constant uncertainty over when they will be executed, we too live with uncertainty. We don't know when the Son of God is coming for us, for as the word says, He's coming like a thief in the night. Just as inmates have no control over their sentence; neither do we. God is the only lawgiver and the only one who has it all in control.

Many of us say, "oh, I can do that later," or "that work can wait until tomorrow," but in reality, none of us really knows what tomorrow will bring. Which is why you might have heard people say, "if it's the Lord's will, I will do that later," and "God willing, that work can wait until tomorrow." Otherwise, it might seem as we are boasting about our own plans and not the Lord's. Such self confidence never pleases God. Remember, we are all on death row - our life is just as uncertain as an inmate's.

It's important that we don't end up like the rich man in Luke 12:16-20 who said, "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he said, this will I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my  goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." That rich man used an awful lot of "I's" in that passage! He clearly did not realize that his life was uncertain and that he was on death row.

Of course, thankfully, we are not on lock down like an inmate, but we have to understand and respect the fact that we are not the true bosses of our lives. We must respect the Lord and come humbly before Him - not instructing Him about what we are going to do - but rather reverencing Him enough to say, "Lord if it be your will and if it won't interfere with your master plan, do I have your permission to do this or that." Remember, we live every day with uncertainty, because we all are on death row.

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

Praises To Our Gracious God!

Praise: To express approval; to glorify
Gracious: Full of compassion; merciful

Often times we don't give the Lord the praises that are due to His name. So this week, I want to do just that -- take a few minutes to brag on the merciful and gracious God. Our God who was, who is, and who will always be good!

If you have kids, then you probably know how much they love it when you praise them for what they have done. Well, it's not just our children who enjoy that, but if we're honest with ourselves, we would admit that we, as grown ups love it as well - and we have typically only done small things!! If we apply that same theory to our Lord and Savior, then it stands to reason that our heavenly Father loves our praises too, for He has surely done great and mighty things!

We will praise you, my God and King, and bless your name each day and forever; for you are great and greatly to be praised. You are full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord lifts the fallen and those who are bent beneath their loads. The eyes of all mankind look up to you for help; and you give them their food as they need it. You constantly satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. We praise you Lord because you are fair in everything you do, and are full of kindness. The eyes of all look up to you for help; and you give them what they need exactly as they need it.

The Lord is close to all who call on Him sincerely. He fulfills the desires of those who revere and trust Him. He hears our cries for help and rescues us. He protects all who love Him, and destroys the wicked. I will praise the Lord and call on all men everywhere to bless His Holy name forever and forever, for He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His wonderful name together, for He has done great things and His mercy endureth forever and ever! He is our rock, our fortress, our deliverer, our strength, the horn of our salvation, and our high tower. To sum it all up in a nut shell, He can do everything but fail - so why wouldn't we want to brag on our Lord who is so very worthy to be Praised?!

"O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth" (Isaiah 25:1)
                                                                                                                        
With all that said, let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!            

If You Pray For Rain, be Prepared to Deal With the Mud!

Rain (verb): to offer, bestow, or give in great quantity
Mud (verb): to cover, smear, or spatter with mud

In the natural, when it rains, there is usually going to be some mud left behind. Things work similarly in the Spiritual realm. However, we cannot allow our Spiritual mud to take us down like quicksand; instead we must understand that it is preparing us for the greater things in life. We must learn to endure, for after all, we're the ones who prayed for rain! It’s not up to us to decide what comes along with that rain.

A long time ago, I had a family member who prayed and asked God for a way out. Their spouse had a serious drug problem, to the point where they had become afraid for their life. It was also a bad environment for their two kids. The spouse would wake up at night saying he saw things climbing the walls and he thought there were snakes in the bed with them. My relative became a nervous wreck and began praying for a way out (or in this case, the rain). Wouldn't you know it, but nearly two weeks later their house burnt down (can somebody say MUD). As many of us would, she began asking the Lord why He would allow their house to be burn down. She then heard a voice that said, "you asked me for a way out." What she didn't realize was that burnt house was just step one in the process of her getting out of that rough situation.

Isaiah 49:15 says, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." My friends, the Lord won’t forget his children. Just remember that when you pray for rain, you had better be prepared to deal with some mud!

Ladies and gentlemen - if you are praying for a mate, you might as well put your boots on RIGHT NOW! I don’t think I need to say any more on that particular line of thinking... I'm sure that we all know what time it is in regards to that!

Even on the job, we might pray for a promotion or for another position. Our God is so faithful and will bless us with it in His time... but look out, because there is likely to be some mud coming right along with it. Mud in the form of longer hours, less freedom, and possibly less family time. You might find that people who used to be your coworkers will now try to take advantage of your relationship or that the boss seems to be harder on you than they are with Jim or Jane. And that’s just a bird's eye view; there are so many things we have to deal with. Just remember, "... promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another" (Psalms 75:6-7). Both the rain and the subsequent mud all comes from the Lord.

So here's the good news - God is too Holy, too Righteous and too Good to allow anything to cross our path that is not for His Glory and for our good. He allows the mud to show up so we can learn to trust in him and not in others and to help us grow. The Lord wants us to get to a place where it doesn’t matter if we're knee-deep in a pile of mud; we simply accept His headship with thanks and praise.

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