DON’T BE AFRAID

“Jesus spoke to them at once.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said.
‘Take courage! I am here!”
Mark 6:50 NLT
~~~~~

As a youngster growing up on the South Dakota prairie, I remember frightening storms that came rolling in from the west. Dark clouds built up until they became an ominous black wall with lightning flashing and thunder changing from a rumble to loud crashes. Then about a half mile across open fields, black dust clouds would start rolling toward us and we knew this could be dangerous. We had seen enough flattened crops - destroyed farm buildings - overturned and mangled machinery - to get fearful thoughts as those dust clouds came flying toward us.

Our farm house was small and not that sturdy. I remember a particular storm that had us worried. The wind was so strong and the rain so heavy it was feared that the dining/kitchen window which faced west would blow in, so large pillows were held against the window to reinforce the glass. What made this storm memorable was that an itinerant German AG preacher, his wife and their teen age son had come to visit us that day. As the storm raged and we were filled with anxiety they were singing praises to the Lord until the storm died down. When the storm was over, the window was still intact – no buildings were damaged - only the tops of some hay stacks had blown off. Could the praises of God’s servants have made a difference?

We know the presence of the Lord in the midst of the storm can make all the difference! The disciples found that out one stormy night on the lake of Galilee. Jesus had told them to get in the boat and go to the other side while he went up into the hills to pray. When they were in the middle of the lake, a violent storm swept down upon them. They were in serious trouble as they struggled with the wind and the waves, trying to control the boat with their ores. Jesus saw what was happening and about three o’clock in the morning he came to them walking on the water. They were terrified! Jesus knew what was going on in their minds, so he called out to them: “Don’t be afraid, Take courage! I am here! Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped.”

Life in this world can have its frightening storms. Some we see building up. Others hit us with hardly a cloud in the sky. Whatever the nature of our storm, Jesus sees what’s happening – he knows our struggle. Can you hear him over the noise of the storm? He is saying: “Don’t be afraid, Take courage! I am here!"

NEVER GIVE UP!

“Everyone who asks, receives.

Everyone who seeks, finds.
And to everyone who knocks,
the door will be opened.”
Luke 11:10 NLT
~~~~~~~

I recently read about Winston Churchill’s last public speech – a commencement address. He was so frail he had to be helped to the podium. After standing there for a long time, he finally spoke – “Never give up! Never give up! Never give up!” Turning from the podium he was helped back to his chair. There was a dead silence - then the entire audience exploded into thunderous applause.

No matter how noble our cause, we will never succeed if we lose heart and give up. In this age of “instant this and instant that” we want results at the flip of a switch - the click of a mouse - a voice command or the touch on a screen. We sometimes wish we had that kind of control in our prayer life, but we don’t, and that’s good! We don’t always know what’s best. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to know what we should pray for. John tells us: “We are confident that the Lord hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.”

We all have people or situations we have been praying for, and we believe we are asking for what “pleases him,” but nothing seems to be happening. There have been times we have gotten discouraged and felt like quitting.

“One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.” He told the story of the widow who repeatedly asked a wicked judge to grant her justice, but he kept ignoring her. Finally he said, “this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!.... Then the Lord said, Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night?”

Teaching about prayer at another time, Jesus told the story of the man who had unexpected company late at night. At midnight he knocks on the door of a friend asking for bread. The friend says, “we’re all in bed and everything is locked up, I can’t help you now.” But the man shamelessly keeps on knocking till he finally gets the bread. Jesus concludes the story by saying, “So I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”

NEVER GIVE UP!!

LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

“For the Lord is the Spirit,
and wherever
the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.”
2 Corintians 3:17 NLT
~~~~~~~

Tomorrow is the 234th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the representatives of the original thirteen United States of America. Part of that Declaration declares, “We hold these truths to be self–evident, That all men are created equal, That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Our founding fathers did not say that government gives us the right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, but rather that these rights are gifts from God, and they committed themselves to protect those rights for the people. But, in our time some of these right are in danger!

I don’t mean to belittle our national government- For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. However, I wish to call attention to a higher level of unalienable God given rights.

Spiritual life- To all who believed on his Son he gives the right to become children of God, reborn—not physically, but spiritually by the Holy Spirit who gives birth to spiritual life. Jesus promises all who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

In the kingdom of God, spiritual freedom is guaranteed. Jesus assures us you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free - you live under the freedom of God’s grace. Paul says, For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. Even creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

The pursuit of Happiness is not the right to acquiring material things or the ability to control what happens to us so everything works out the way we want it to. For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

THIRSTING FOR GOD

“As the deer
longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God.
I thirst for God, the living God.”
Psalm 42:1-2 NLT
~~~~~~

I grew up on a farm in South Dakota and often worked out in the fields under a scorching summer sun. I can remember the hot dry winds of the “dirty thirties,” and how thirsty a person would get when the water jug was empty long before quitting time.

David spent a lot of time out in the open fields as a boy taking care of his father’s sheep and he knew what it meant to be thirsty. As an adult, he spent a lot of time running from his enemies, hiding in hot rocky barren places. He was always searching for water. Finding water, I can imagine him seeing a thirsty deer waiting near by. As he observed the deer, he may have thought, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God.”

God has made us to thirst after him. Sometimes God sovereignly moves in our life, causing us to hunger and thirst for a closer walk with him. Other times we are drawn to know him better as he allows us to go through trying times which cause us to become keenly aware of how much we need him. Still other times the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and coldness of heart, and if we respond with true repentance, we realize a fresh thirst for God. But most commonly our hunger and thirst for more of God flows from an open hearted study of his word, and a prayer life rich with gratitude and praise.

Thirst for You
CeCe Winans

We thirst for You
We search for You
In a dry and barren land
W're longing for Your hand
To guide us to
A place where You
Can cleanse us with Your rain...
Baptize us once again
We thirst for You

Oh Lord we are waiting
Let Your river flow
Come flood our hearts again
Quench our thirsty souls

We thirst for You

Turn up your sound and listen to > AS THE DEER

A WORLD FILLED WITH GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

“We are looking forward to
the new heavens and new earth
he has promised,
a world filled with God’s righteousness.”
2 Peter 3:13 NLT
~~~~~

God created us in his own image so we could have perfect fellowship with him which would never end! He gave Adam just one restriction – not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because that would bring death into the world. Adam and Eve ate, and death came! With death came every other evil. It got so bad that God had to wipe out the human race with the flood - destroying everyone except Noah, his family and the animals that miraculously came into the ark.

God started all over again with Noah and his family. But the consequence of Adam’s sin still brought death. Sin continued to rule in the hearts of people resulting in all sorts of corruption, violence and wars. God raised up prophets who foretold the coming of the messiah who would save repentant believers from their sin.

Two thousand years ago that messiah came in the person of Jesus, the sinless son of God, who died and rose again for our salvation. Though there are more believers in the world today than ever before, the vast majority of the world’s population does not believe in him. Wickedness is constantly increasing - lawlessness, immorality, violence, terrorism and wars are rampant around the world. Is God’s judgment going to fall again? Scoffers mock at the thought of another worldwide judgment.

God gave the rainbow as a sign that he would not destroy the world again with a flood. But Peter writes that “the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed." Like believers in Noah’s day were kept safe in the ark, so we as the believers of the end times will be kept safe in Christ no matter what we may have to suffer for our faith.

Peter continues: We are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

This has been God’s plan from the beginning! Some day it’s going to literally come to pass!!!

ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

“God saved you
by his grace when you believed.
And you can’t take credit for this;
it is a gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward
for the good things we have done,
so none of us can boast about it.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT
~~~~~

Some people, for whatever reason, have concluded that there is no life after death. They believe when they die it’s all over – they cease to exist. Those who believe in reincarnation think they once lived as someone else, and when they die they expect to come back again as someone else – hopefully someone better. Ideas like these come from the father of lies.

The Scriptures clearly teach that we are created in the image of God, and like God the spiritual part of us exists forever – either in heaven or in hell. In Matthew 25:31-33 Jesus, teaching about the final judgment says, “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.” Then in verse 46 equating the goats with the unrighteous and the sheep with the righteous he adds, “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.” Jesus came to this world, died and rose again, so we could have the privilege of choosing between eternal punishment and eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13 says, “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.” It’s not hard to see which is the best choice.

As clear as such scriptures are, there still are some Christians who can’t say with full assurance that they are going to heaven. They come up with a weak “I hope so.” Why is that? Here are two basic reasons. Not remembering a specific time when we accepted Christ. However, knowing that we are now trusting him as savior, is more important than remembering a time or place. The other common reason for the lack of assurance is thinking we have to be good enough to go to heaven. We can never be good enough!! “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

Turn up your sound and click on > BLESSED ASSURANCE

FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS

“All Scripture is inspired by God
and is useful to teach us
what is true and to make us realize
what is wrong in our lives.
It corrects us when we are wrong
and teaches us to do what is right.”
2 Timothy 3:16 NLT
~~~~~~~

Some people have the tendency not to read instructions. They start putting the thing together - or start trying to operate the gadget – not really knowing how it works.

In this digital age, new communication devices are hitting the market in a steady stream – only to become obsolete in a very short time because somebody created something new and better. Replacing a ten year old computer or switching from a PC to a Mac certainly requires a good look at the owner’s manual. A brief overview will probably enable us to work some basic functions, but if we want to enjoy all the latest features of the new machine, we really need to become familiar with the instructions and follow them.

It is amazing how people go about attempting to live life without consulting God’s instruction book. They see what other people do, and pick and chose what suits them. The result of lives lived like that fill News Programs every day. It doesn’t have to be that way! God has provided life’s instruction book through inspired prophets and apostles - The Bible, and it never becomes obsolete! “It is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”

It instructs us how we can be set free from the deadly consequences of sin – (something everybody needs to know and take advantage of). It tells us how to best get along with people – how to cope with life’s problems – how to see God’s loving hand, even in the hardest of times. It tells us how to experience his joy and peace - a sure hope for the future – the assurance of being raised from the dead and spend eternity with our Lord in heaven!!

James, our Lord’s half brother wrote, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” Just as with any instruction book, it is not enough just to know what it says - we need to FOLLOW ITS INSTRUCTIONS in order to reap the benefits.