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Obey Him in the Little Things
"He who is faithful in a very little [thing], is faithful also in much." (Luke 16:10)
Have you ever wanted to take on some really big project in the kingdom of God, but the Lord just wouldn't seem to let you? If so, there's probably a good reason why.
You can see what I'm talking about if you'll read about what God did with the children of Israel after He brought them out of Egypt. He wanted to take them on into the Promised Land. But before He could do it, God had to know if they would obey Him. He had to know if they would listen to His voice. Because if they didn't, the enemies they were about to face would wipe them out.
So, do you know what He did? He tested them in a small matter.
Exodus 16:4 tells us about this simple test. "Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not."
God took a little, insignificant matter, the food they ate--and used it to see if they would listen to Him or not. He told them how much of it to gather, when to gather and when not to, and what to do with it after they brought it in.
And the Israelites went right out and violated those instructions. They showed God by their actions that His voice was not important to them. They were not willing to obey even His simplest commands.
God works the same way today. Before He sends you on a major mission, He gives you the opportunity to prove you can be trusted with small instructions.
But many of us miss that opportunity. We pray, "What do You want me to do, Lord? Where do You want me to go? I'll do anything You say." But then when the Lord says, "I want you to get up and pray in the Spirit one hour every morning," we fail to obey Him. We say, "Oh yeah, that would be good. I ought to do that." But somehow we never quite get around to it.
Don't make that mistake. Start today obeying God in the little things. Let Him see that He can trust you out there in a place of much authority. Let Him know you'll be faithful to His Words and to the voice of His Spirit. Once He knows you won't let disobedience wipe you out, He'll start sending bigger assignments your way.
Scripture Study: Exodus 16:1-28
Tags: Obey Him Little Things
Get the Two Together (be extremely blessed, this weekend, in all you do!)
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."
(Colossians 2:6-7)
Established in the faith and abounding with thanksgiving. These days it seems that's a rare combination.
A lot of people have been taught faith over the last several years, and a lot of people have been taught to abound with thanksgiving. But it's been hard to set the two together. Faith folks want to confess the Word all the time, but they don't praise God very much. And those who like to praise God just want to jump and shout and dance and have a good time in the Lord. You can't get them to get very serious about the Word.
Success comes from combining the two.
So, do it! Put them together in your life. When you run into a challenge, don't just stand around grim-faced and white-knuckled holding onto your faith. Raise your hands high and praise. Start thanking God in the midst of what's happening around you. Keep thanking Him for the answer until it comes.
Instead of just standing on the Word, let the joy of the Lord enable you to dance around on it a little. It will get you where you're going a whole lot faster...and both you and God will have a much better time on the way.
Scripture Study: Colossians 2:1-10
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Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods."
Tags: Get Two Together
Honor God and He'll Honor You
"Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." (Proverbs 3:9-10)
Proverbs gives us a very basic principle of success. It is this: If you want God to honor you and bless you in any area of your life, you're going to have to honor Him in that particular area.
If you want God to bless you financially, you're going to have to honor Him with your money, or as this verse puts it, with the firstfruits of all your increase. In other words, you're going to have to tithe.
I know that from experience. When I started my life with the Lord, I was in terrible shape financially. And I stayed that way for several years because I failed to tithe consistently. Oh, I tried to tithe, but I'd never last long at it.
Then, one day, I made a quality decision that I was going to tithe no matter what. That's when I started coming out of trouble financially. When I began honoring God with my money by tithing, He began to help me in that area in miraculous ways.
You may say, "Well, I just can't afford to tithe right now."
But let me tell you, you can't afford not to! If you don't start honoring God with your money, you'll be in the same financial position next year that you're in today.
So do it--even if it looks like you can't afford to. God is faithful! If you'll honor Him by giving Him the ten percent that belongs to Him, He'll help you with the rest.
Give God His first. Do it in faith, expecting. As you tithe, worship Him and be grateful for what He has already done in your life. You'll be amazed when you see what He can do.
Scripture Study: Malachi 3:8-12
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"Beware of reasoning about God's Word - obey It."
Tags: Honor God And He'll Honor You
Talk Like God! "Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." (Mark 11:23)
Jesus didn't say, "Whosoever shall speak to God about this mountain." He said we should speak directly to the mountain the desired end result.
From a worldly point of view, that sounds foolish. But 1 Corinthians 1:27 explains that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. It's always going to sound foolish to the world when a Christian talks as if what God has promised is reality, especially when those promises seem to contradict the natural evidence around us. But if you want to keep the enemy defeated, that's the kind of talking you'd better be doing.
The Bible says God Himself talks that way! In Romans 4:17, it says, "[He] calleth those things which be not as though they were." God doesn't wait for circumstances to line up before He speaks. He causes them to line up because He speaks. You can do the same thing if you'll make your words agree with His and speak them out of your mouth by faith.
"But what if nothing happens right away?" you may ask. "What if the circumstances don't immediately change?" When Jesus spoke to the fig tree in Mark 11:14, He didn't go back and check to see if anything had happened to it. No, once He had spoken it, He considered it done.
Follow His example. Let your faith speak. Agree with God's Word!
Scripture Study: Mark 11:12-23
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"A Christian mother does not give birth to a Christian child; it is not natural birth, but a second, spiritual birth which makes a Christian."
Tags: Talk Like God
Free Your Faith (believe Him with all your heart this week!) "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any." (Mark 11:25)
Few people realize just how closely connected faith and forgiveness are. Jesus taught about that connection in His sermon on mountain-moving faith that's recorded in Mark 11:22-26.
He said, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive."
Jesus backed those two sentences up together on purpose. He wanted us to know that releasing those who have wronged us is fundamental to receiving from God. He wanted to impress on our hearts the fact that we cannot have our prayers answered and hold grudges in our hearts at the same time.
Unforgiveness clogs the faith channel and keeps you powerless against the mountains in your life!
If you've been praying for something and you just can't seem to get an answer, check your heart for unforgiveness. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring any grudge that's hidden there to light. Unclog the channel of faith and you will soon see things you've been praying for come to pass.
Scripture Study: Matthew 18:21-35=========================================================================== ============ "If we cannot believe God when circumstances seem be against us, we do not believe Him at all."
Tags: Free Your Faith
The 2007 Darwin Awards
Yes, it's that magical time of year again when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us.
Here is the glorious winner:
1.
When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach , California , would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.
And now, the honorable mentions:
2.
The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting machine and, after a little shopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company expecting negligence sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.
3.
A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.
4.
After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.
5.
An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.
6.
A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer... $15. [If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?]
7.
Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.
8.
As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."
9.
The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti , Michigan , at 5 A.M., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away. [*A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER]
10.
When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.
In the interest of bettering mankind, please share these with your friends and family... unless of course one of these individuals by chance is a distant relative or long-lost friend. In that case, be glad they are distant and hope they remain lost.
*** Remember... They walk among us!!! ***
Tags: Comedy News 2007 Darwin Awards
"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." (John 15:8)
There's an old Full Gospel tradition that says God gets glory from the wonderful way His children bear pain and agony and that the world is impressed by that. What a lie! That's simply a tool of the devil to keep God's children in bondage.
People of the world already have all the pain and agony they want. They aren't looking for a way into it. They are looking for a way out. They don't care what you preach. It's the religious people who get worried about that. The world, the sinners, are smarter than that. All they care about are the results.
That's why they'll come to your church when they hear people are getting healed, delivered and set free from suffering. That's what they're looking for, and that's what God wants them to receive.
The Bible says that God gets glory when they see the lame walk and the blind see (Matt. 15:31). Jesus said, "Herein is My Father glorified, when you bear much fruit" (John 15:8). What is that fruit? Lives being restored and healed by the power of God.
There was a man who came to one of our healing meetings who was so far gone with cancer he had almost no energy or life about him. He didn't even know the Lord, but he came expecting a miracle. During the miracle service, the Lord told Ken someone was being healed of cancer, in the glands, in the throat, and in the chest. When the man came up and received his healing, he said, "I left the hospital this morning with cancer and I'm healed." He went back to the hospital that afternoon and the doctors checked and dismissed him. As a result, the man received Jesus as his Lord, and later that day he was restored to his wife from whom he'd been separated. He got born again, healed and his marriage put back together in one day!
Now that's fruit! That brings God glory. When we minister healing and deliverance like Jesus on the earth, that brings God glory. Let's do away with religious tradition and go with what the Word says. Let's impress the world with Jesus and give God the glory today!
Scripture Study: John 15:1-16========================================================
"God loveth a bountiful, but not a wasteful, hand."
Tags: Give God The Glory
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:31-32)
A few years ago I was in Detroit, and I met a woman who was raised in a communist-bloc country. While I was visiting with her, a news broadcast came on. And as we sat there listening to it, suddenly tears came to her eyes.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
Although I hadn't noticed it, the news commentator had said something derogatory about the president. "I don't like to hear anybody talk about this country like that," she said. "I don't care whether it's true or not. I don't want to hear it."
The newscaster's comment had slipped right by me. But it had brought tears to her eyes. Why? Because she had a sensitive heart where this country is concerned.
We need to be more like that dear lady when it comes to our pastors, our teachers, our evangelists and even our fellow believers.
We need to realize that our own insensitivity has driven the anointing of the Holy Spirit from many of our lives and our churches. We need to realize that the license we've given ourselves to criticize other members of the Body of Christ has weakened us all.
What will strengthen us again?
The power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit that falls on every sensitive and seeking heart.
I urge you to regain the tender heart you once had. Remove the callouses within you by repentance, by a commitment to live the law of love, by a renewed devotion to the Word, and by fellowship with your Father.
Don't allow the condition of your heart to hold back the Spirit of God. Become sensitive again!
Scripture Study: Ephesians 4:1-13=============================================================="Humility enforces where neither virtue nor strength can prevail, nor reason."
Tags: Become Sensitive Again
What kind of world do we live in when police are using Ghetto Handbooks? A Houston Independent School District has fired a police officer responsible for creating and distributing a booklet that mocked Black folks. This 34-year-old gang investigator, had worked for the school system for more than a decade before being put on paid administrative leave in August for creating and distributing the eight-page : The book purported to teach folks how to talk like the The man is married to an African-American woman, with whom he has three children, said he only distributed the booklet to get back at one of his supervisors. Is this man crazy or what? How can getting back at a supervisor make a person condone in such a stupid action? Does anyone have any comments on this man's actions?
Tags: Ghetto Handbook Racism Police Cops Black People
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