The OTHER Commandments - Part II

Command: To give an order to

Last week, we discussed the first four of eight commands that the Lord commands us to do. I pray that you were blessed by the first four. This week, let's take a look at the last four commands. We started in I Thessalonians 5:16 last time, and we're going to pick up in verse 20 today.

5.  Despise not Prophesyings. Prophesying means preaching and teaching. Some people prophesy of the present and the future; despising those prophesies means that we don’t want to hear any more teaching or preaching. Since prophesying tells us what God is saying about what’s going to happen or what’s happening right now, we must not despise those who are bringing the word of God to us and we must not shun it. Instead, we should open our ears and our hearts to receive the words the Lord is sending to us. Prophesying is not always about giving a message out, no, most of the time it’s just about listening to the word of God. Let’s not despise inspired instruction, exhortation or warning.

6. and 7.  Prove all Things and Hold Fast to that which is Good. We don’t need to hold fast to something if it's not good, but before we throw it away, we should prove it. You prove something by searching the word of God to see if that’s what the word is saying. When we take the time to dig into the word to see if that’s what the Lord is saying, He will give us a clearer vision of it and He will quicken it to us. We must be able to prove that God is the head of all things and that He is in all things. Always go back to the word, prove it, study it and then allow God to unveil His word to us.  We can (and should) hold fast to the name of Jesus. We should lift it up and  refuse to let it go, because it will save us.  Proverbs 22:1 tells us that "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold;" to that, we must hold fast.

8.  Abstain from all Appearances of Evil. Even though we may not intend to be evil in a certain situation, if it looks evil to someone else, God says that we should abstain. People are always watching and looking to see if what we are doing is Christian-like (i.e. if we are behaving the way they believe a Christian should behave). If what you are doing looks evil to them, they may start pointing fingers. It’s not always the case that we have done something wrong, however, that may be everybody else’s perception of the situation. If there's a possibility that something we are doing could appear to be evil to someone else, we should stay away from it... even when we have no evil intentions in our mind and our heart is pure. Just remember, if it appears evil, go the other way!

I'll leave you with these words from I Thessalonians 5:23, "And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through, separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete and found blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah." (Amplified Bible)

As always, be blessed my friends!

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

The OTHER Commandments - Part I

Command: To give an order to

Did you know that there are things that the Lord requires us to do? I'm not just talking about those 10 Commandments that you're already familiar with. No, there are 8 OTHER things that the Lord commands us to do. If we start practicing them NOW, they will become a habit for us and we shall be blessed by doing them.

1.  Rejoice Evermore. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22) This means rejoicing eternally, not because we got a new house or a new car. We’re not talking about rejoicing over material things here on earth, as those things are temporary. No, instead, we are talking about rejoicing in our spiritual blessings. Think about it - how much weight does God put on natural things? None - because those things are temporal - they are going to pass away. We must find something that’s going to be eternal. What do we know that’s eternal? The word of God, the spirit of God, and the will of God – that’s what! Those things are eternal and that’s what we should be rejoicing about.

2.  Pray Without Ceasing. How do we pray without ceasing? By having an omnipresent pray closet. Meaning, no matter where we are, we are in prayer. We don’t have to go in to an actual closet or to church to pray. We could be driving down the road and in our heart we begin to pray. As we walk down the street, we can be in communication with the Father in our heart; we can have an intimate conversation with Him wherever we are. To pray without ceasing means to keep in constant contact with the Father in our hearts - giving Him thanks, repenting for our sins, forgiving those that have wronged us, and bragging on how good the Lord is to us on a daily basis. Be sure to have your omnipresent prayer closet so that you can pray without ceasing.

3.  In Everything Give Thanks. What does “everything” include? Exactly what you think – EVERYTHING! If you opened your eyes this morning, you should be giving thanks. If our heart is still beating, if we are still taking breaths, if we can lift our hands, if we can walk - we should be giving thanks! That means that we give thanks every minute, every hour of the day. We always have something to give thanks for. Now, this may seem crazy to some, but this is what makes us a peculiar people. Every step we take today; every breath; every heartbeat is new and worthy of praise!

4.  Quench Not The Spirit. The Spirit provides us with power, guidance, fire, anointing. What happens when we quench it? We diminish its power and the influence that leads us, guides us, and directs us. The Spirit is the very thing that guides us to the Lord. We don’t want to shut down the power that convicts us of our sins and corrupts things in our being, so that we can get rid of them. The Spirit of God needs to be able to move and search the deep areas of our heart so that we can see what’s there. BUT, if we quench that Spirit, we shut it down. We must allow the Spirit to lead and guide us.

Next week I will share the other four; so stay tuned! Until then, be blessed my friends!

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

Anger Gets Us Into Trouble... Pride Keeps Us There!

Anger: strong emotion, wrath, rage
Pride: too high an opinion of oneself; feeling of elation

This strong emotion called wrath, and the one called rage can be found almost anywhere. If you don't believe me, let someone cut you off in traffic! These emotions are in our home, in our workplaces, and believe it or not, in our Churches too. Just let someone sit on your favorite pew or in your favorite seat or park in your parking spot! And don't mess around and hold a position in the Church - that's when that thing called pride (that high opinion of one self) will surely rear its ugly head up. Take it from me, when we feel like someone has done us wrong, we should go to that person and try to reconcile the situation before we allow pride to take over. It's very possible the other person might want to work things out as well. However, we will never know if we don't try and more than likely, all parties involved will suffer.

Anger and pride can be extremely dangerous weapons, and when the two are working together, they can easily drive people to violence. Look at all of the killing in the schools, and people killing others just because they lost their job. People get very angry, and Mr./Mrs. Pride walks in and gets them thinking, "those people are not going to do this to me and get away with it;" and "who do they think they are?" It's really best not to react in the moment. When you are done wrong or when you are insulted, take a deep breathe before you respond. Often times we get so interested in winning the battle, that we never even try to solve the problem.

Look at Haman in the Book of Esther; he was so caught up in the fact that Mordecai (a single man) would not bow down in reverence to him that he wanted all the Jews killed. His anger got him into trouble though. Haman had a gallows built for Mordecai to be hung; however, his high opinion of himself ended up getting him hung instead. Let's take heed to what Proverbs 16:18 tells us, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

Remember, God knows that we are human and he loves us just as he created us. He said in His word, "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath" (Ephesians 4:26). Verse 27 goes on to say in the Amplified version: "Leave no (such) room or foot hold for the devil (give no opportunity to him.)" We must follow in the footsteps of Jesus: "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy."

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

Praise God that We are Free from the Control of Others!

Independence: Free from the control of others

First, I want to thank God for allowing America to be free.  And that we were born into a country that’s free to worship, that has the freedom of speech, freedom from dictatorship, and freedom from one world order. We should thank God daily for the freedom to worship without being afraid, without having to go underground, and without being afraid to carry our bibles in public. John 8:36 tells us, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

In the days of Daniel, all the presidents of the kingdom said “…whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions” (Daniel 6:7). Even though Daniel knew that the king had signed the decree, the Bible tells us that “he went into his house… kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime." Some of you all might know this story – when the king found out that Daniel had defied his decree, he was cast in the den of lions. How blessed are we that in our day, here in America, we can freely serve our Lord and Savior whenever, however, and as often as we please without any fear!

The Declaration of Independence that was signed on July 4, 1776 allowed us to become a free country. These days, we celebrate Independence Day with parades, lots of good food (BBQ anyone?!), and shared time with friends and family. Quite often, there’s a family reunion or two, and we celebrate with fireworks and honor our flag and freedom. But in the midst of all the celebrations, let us not forget our troops, those men and women who have sacrificed so much to protect our country and keep it free. Remember to pray for their safety and well being, as well as for their families.

And most importantly, let us not forget our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in all of our celebrating, for He is the one who made this day and (every other day) possible. Let’s give Him our highest honor and praise!

God Bless America!

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