Let's Grow in Grace... and in 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!

There's Always a Silver Lining!

Silver Lining: A sign of hope in an unfortunate or gloomy situation; a bright prospect. A hopeful or comforting prospect in the midst of difficulty.

Believe me when I say that there is a silver lining in every situation! What I mean by that is there is much good in everything that God allows to cross our path. My friends, it’s so important to always keep in mind this scripture: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Once we get this truth working in our lives, we should be less likely to have such confusion and distrust in God’s master plan.

Let’s look at the good that comes from pain and suffering hardness. In hard times and in hard places, God always makes things work together for good if we do exactly what the scripture says - love Him and let Him call us according to His purpose. Take for instance the children of Israel - wouldn't you agree that God placed them in a little bit of hardness? He deliberately allowed the Egyptians to make their lives bitter with hard bondage. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were grieved because of the children of Israel (Exodus 1:12). The more pain, suffering and distress the Egyptians caused the Israelites, the more God brought His good blessing to them. So they multiplied, increased, and learned to call and cry unto the Lord. In our eyes, there may not appear to be any good in that, but when the hardness was over, there was not a feeble one among them and they left with jewels of silver and jewels of gold. God allows us to go through situations as well (maybe not as extreme as the children of Israel, but challenging nonetheless, right?), so He can bring us through them just as He did the children of Israel. The Lord's purpose and plan in the midst of every bitter and hard bondage is for us to grow and draw closer to Him.

The word hardness means not easily dented; solid; resistant to pressure. In spite of all the painful things we go through, God’s good blessing will cause us to grow. Every hard situation we go through is the place where God hides His good blessing. If we don’t see the good, we must pray and ask the Lord to show us the good.

We won’t have these wonderful experiences with God if He didn't put us in hard places, because as we see, it’s in those hard places that we learn that He works all things together for our highest good, and bring us into a more intimate relationship with Himself. Praise our wonderful Saviour for His Goodness and Mercy toward each of us!!

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

Whose Report Will You Believe?

Report - a summary

Have you ever been going through a personal situation and it seems like EVERYONE has an opinion about it... and they want to share it with you like it's the gospel? Then you go on the internet and you read this, that and the other about what you're going through and what it's going to be like. Something like this happened to me recently and would you believe that I had begun to buy into those reports? I read about all the pain that was associated with what I was about to go through and how miserable people were afterwards and I started to expect that I would feel just like what I had heard and what I had read. My friends, I'm glad to report that when it came time for my surgery, the Lord blessed me tremendously - I came through it with zero pain! I allowed myself to get all work up over something that had never happened and did not happen.

I thought about the scripture in Isaiah that says, whose report will you believe? It was then that I went to the word of God and wrote down some of His promises, like Psalms 103:3, "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy disease." When we sin, He will forgive us. If we are sick in our body, He will heal us. Now whose report will you believe? If you get a bad report from the doctor - take it to the healer! Whatever you are in need of - take it to Jesus, quote back to Him what He said in His report.

Consider the children of Israel - they saw God make a highway in the midst of the Red Sea among many other miracles. Jesus was ready to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, but some heard a different report. Moses sent out twelve men to search the land of Canaan and to bring back some of the fruit and upon their return, they said, the land is surely flowing with milk and honey, nevertheless the people are too strong for us, we saw giants and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. That's what ten of the men said. Two of them said let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. Caleb told them their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.

We often get so caught up in what we think are big things that we forget to look back on the things that God has already done for us. Ten of those men saw giants, and failed to see the almighty God in the midst of the situation. They failed to believe His report that reminds us," I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). Trust me when I tell you that the majority are not always right. Believing the right report may not always be popular, but the promises of God are always true! We must choose to believe the report of the Lord!

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

Who Do You Think You Are?

Think: To reason and work out in the mind; to visualize

As it is told in Proverbs 23:7, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." It doesn't matter what Jim says, or what Jane says - what's more important is what you think about yourself!

Friends, we must never put ourselves down or criticize ourselves by using words like "I’m so stupid!" or "I'm such an idiot!" These are not just phrases or words - they hold power. As the scripture above says, if we think it, it becomes our reality. So if we think we are stupid, we will eventually become stupid. We must feel good about who we are and what we think about ourselves. Of course, we have to be realistic - we are not perfect and we should not allow pride or arrogance to take over. What I’m saying is that you must love yourself and have a good opinion of yourself - because if you don’t, neither will anyone else!

If it's one thing that I’ve learned in this life, it's that people are going to talk about you! Whether you do something or if you do nothing - folks are going to talk about you! So keep that in mind and don’t let someone else's opinion dictate who you are!

Think about yourself as Jesus thinks of you. After all, He died for us, so He obviously thought we were special and well worth it!

Let's speak positive words about ourselves (and about others to help them on their journey!); words like "I’m blessed and highly favored by the Lord," "I’m an overcomer," "I am fearfully and wonderfully made," and "I carry the DNA of the all might God within me."  

Others can only put you down and cause you to have low self esteem if you allow it! Remember, it’s not what others think about you, it’s what you think about yourself that counts!

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

Stop Trying to Do God's Job!

Vengeance: Punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offense.

Sometimes we are like King David - we say the same thing he said in Psalms 94:3, "Lord how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?" We don’t always like suffering long with people (and it doesn’t matter who they are), especially when we feel like they have done us wrong… it's often worse when it looks like they are going to get away with doing someone else that we care about wrong. That's when we want to take matters in our own hands and retaliate, but friends - that’s not God's way.

Romans 12:19 tells us "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." As a believer, we know that the Lord will do just what He says… but every now and then, it's like we want what we want when we want it, right? It feels like the Lord's time takes too long, we want vengeance NOW! We want vengeance when we feel like we have been mistreated; vengeance when we've been talked about; vengeance when we feel like someone is talking down to us. And don’t let our spouses make us angry… vengeance can't come fast enough, can it?! And what about that person driving too slow in the fast lane when we're in a hurry? We want to ride their bumper, blow our horn, or exact our own vengeance by running them off the highway (or is that just me)? It could be just one person or a whole bunch of folks that does something wrong to us and we immediately want to be the Prosecutor, the Judge, and the Jury… but that’s not the Lord's way.

The Lord doesn’t want us taking matters into our own hands, because He knows we won’t be merciful in our search for vengeance. That's why we have to turn things over to our merciful High Priest who says, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.  If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Be not overcome of evil, but over come evil with good" (Romans 12:17, 18, 21).

I assure you my friends, the Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps. He sees all things, He knows all things, and He’s everywhere at the same time. Hebrews 10:30 (Amplified Bible) reminds us, "For we know Him who said, Vengeance is mine (retribution and the meting out of full justice rest with me); I will repay (I will exact the compensation), says the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge and determine and solve and settle the cause and the cases of His people." To sum it up in a nut shell - no matter how bad we feel that we've been wronged - we can’t retaliate - vengeance belongs to our Lord. And when you really think about it - there is no one better to handle our woes!

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