Smile, Smile, and More Smiles!

Smile: a change of facial expression to express pleasure, or affection

A smiling face has the power to take down barriers, dispel fear, and create a happy environment. Think about it - when your children or spouse is upset or angry, what's the easiest way to improve their moods? Get them to smile! A smile can break a bitter attitude in a matter of seconds. Did you know that our brains keep track of our smiles? How fun is that?! Now that we know that a smile will immediately improve our moods, let's make more of an effort to smile.

A smile is that thing that's worth a million bucks but doesn't cost a cent. Most of us don't realize the real value of a smile. You can walk into a crowded room and your smile can instantly elevate someone's mood and help relieved them of their stress. Your smile can be very contagious. And we're not just talking about people we know; a smile can affect people we don't know as well. And more importantly, a simple smile can change your attitude!

A smile is classic - it always has the same good look and it never goes out of style. A smile goes the farthest toward making life worthwhile. Unfortunately, it doesn't always seem like there are a lot of smiles  around us. If you pick up a newspaper (or read the news online), the top headlines will often be bad news. When you turn on the news on TV, there are not a lot of smiles at the top of the show. That means it's up to us! Let's smile awhile and before we know it, there will be miles and miles of smiles, simply because we smiled.

A songwriter once said; "God has smiled on me; He has set me free!" Let's take heed and smile, so we can help set someone else free.

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!           

Jesus Is Our Everything!

Everything: All things, whatever exists, whatever is needed, the only thing that really matter

Jesus is truly our everything - He’s our water when we are thirsty, He’s our friend when we are friendless, He’s our comforter when we have no peace, He’s our healer when we are on our sick bed. He’s our source of power; our source of strength. He’s the source of what we are; the source of what we are not. He’s our King of Kings, our Lord of Lords. He’s the only one that really matters.

If we were to ask Daniel who was his everything - even when he was in the lions den - he would surely tell us that Jesus was his everything. If we were to ask Jonah who was his everything - even when he was in the belly of the fish - he would undoubtedly tell us that Jesus was his everything. If we were to ask Paul and Silas, after they had been beaten, feet in the stocks, and in the inner courts of the prison or David, when he was hiding in the caves from Saul, all three would agree Jesus was their everything.

In our life today, He’s should / must be our everything. He’s our JEHOVAH-SHALOM - the Lord, our Peace! Just as He comforted Gideon and gave him peace in his situation (Judges 6:23-24); He will be our peace right in the midst of our storm. He’s our JEHOVAH-RA-AH - the Lord, My Shepherd (Psalms 23:1). A Shepherd leads and feeds. He also prepares a table for us in the midst of our enemies. He is absolutely our everything and the only thing that really matters.

He is before all things; He is above all things. He orchestrates everything and He determines everything that goes on in our life. He is Alpha and Omega. To sum it all up in a nut shell, He is Sovereign, He is whatever exists, whatever is needed, and He is the only thing that really matters. However, we must allow Him to come into our life, so that He can be those things for us. He’s everything including a perfect gentleman, He won’t force Himself on us, we must invite Him into our lives!

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

Without Faith it is Impossible to Please Him

Faith: belief and trust in God; a system of religious belief.

This week I would like to share with you the importance of having faith or a belief system in God. It's imperative that we believe in our prayers, in His word and in God Himself. Hebrews 11:6 informs us, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarded of them that diligently seek Him." If we want to please our Heavenly Father, we must have faith. The good news is that we don’t need a lot of faith. Matthew 17:20 declares, "... If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

True faith is choosing to believe that God will do just what He said. Let’s not put our faith in some thing, but rather in some one (Jesus). If we are praying for our spouse (or to get a spouse), for our children, our grandchildren, for better finances, or whatever the case may be - we can't give up just because we didn't see anything happen last week. And we can't give up based on what we see, hear, feel, or think. God is not only the author of our faith - He’s also the finisher. He is well able to do all that He has promised.

We must have faith like the lady with the issue of blood, she believed that if she could just touch the hem of His garment she would be made whole and that's exactly what happened - she was healed. You know what Jesus said? "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague." 

Look at the faith of Joshua, they were in a battle, "Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the amorites before the children of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies" (Joshua 10:12-13). Joshua was not too afraid to trust God, he exercised his faith in front of all Israel. 

Consider the two blind men that followed Jesus crying and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. Jesus said unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then touched He their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened.

Every situation we go through won't always be pleasant, but we must trust God to do in us what He needs to do in order to build our faith in Him. He has already told us that He would never leave us or forsake us and what He’s promised - He’s also able to perform!

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