Unchanging

Everything around us is constantly changing. The leaves on the trees change in color and texture. Highways progress and steadily change. People develop, mature, age and change. But God remains constant and changeless. The God who was faithful to you in times past is the same God (unchanged) today. In Malachi 3:3 the Word proclaims, “I, the LORD do not change..." 

He never gets tired or impatient with you. He is longsuffering. He never forgets (except on purpose) to put your sins into a sea of forgetfulness, no longer to be remembered. He never grows weary of helping you in times of need. He never forgets to provide constant care and protection for you. He is definite, constant, changeless. Hebrews 13:7, "... Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

God offers you the same forgiveness, the same compassion, the same everlasting love today that He offered you some time back when you refused to accept Him. Jesus stands at the door of your heart, knocking. Won't you let Him in? His love is changeless.

No matter where you have been or what you have done, God & His love for you is changeless. Even when we botch up some  things in our lives, His promise is to rebuild us. "Again I will build you and thou shalt be built O' virgin of Israel..." God desires to rebuild you and make you over, if you will but give Him an opportunity. Lay yourself today at the feet of Jesus and pray, O' God change me.

Listen

The Word is clear that man has difficulty listening because we have not learned to be quiet. We absolutely love to hear our own voice and we are sometimes selfish when it comes to having a conversation with another. James encourages us, "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God." 

If we could be honest with each other today, we would confess that we often talk too much. And often when we are swift to speak, our words come out all wrong. 

We say things that we do not mean and sometimes disclose information that is better left unsaid. I do it. You do it. We all do it.

We seldom take time to truly listen when others speak.  We sometimes cannot wait for others to hush so we can say something in return. We are selfish and have not cultivated the art of listening. This is something we must learn.  We must learn to be courteous in conversation and realize it includes both talking and listening. Listening reflects value in the other person and declares that what they have to say is important to you. 

Be "swift to hear, slow to speak" and watch your relationships change and improve. We must learn to simply listen.

Walk in Love

We must daily practice "love walking."  It is a choice to walk in love with the way we display our attitudes, actions, and conversation.  We must work at it and practice every day. It's also important that we maintain a positive attitude in our dealings with others.  And vital that we continually reflect on the goodness of God and His blessings on our lives. 

Ephesians 5:2 instructs us to "walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour."  Later in this same chapter in verse 19, Scripture teaches: "speak to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."

Sometimes, we sing the wrong song and do not share the love of Christ. And sometimes we dwell on negative circumstances that we cannot change, when we need to sing praises and rejoice that God is Sovereign and in His Providential care He is watching over us.  

We are such a blessed people, chosen of God, who have experienced the love of God.  We must walk in that love and be thankful for God's benefits.  This week try "love walking."  And let your life impact someone else. 

Discouragement

Discouragement can make you very tired and weary, but God’s promise for you has not changed.  When we rest in God and keep His commands, we are carried by an Almighty God in high places on eagles’ wings.  This example of God’s provision shows the security and peace we can find in a solid relation with Christ.  You are the apple of God’s eye.  He loves you and desires for you to serve Him.

The Lord declares in Exodus 19:4-5, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.  Although the whole earth is mine.”

Several times in Scripture the Lord compares us to a great eagle who soars the altitudes.  The eagle is known for flying high in the atmosphere and for being an extremely strong bird.  Keen eyesight and the ability to see miles into the distance is another amazing quality of the eagle.  This incredible bird is documented for precisely and successfully identifying and attacking his prey. 

Ezekiel 17:3, “And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, long winged, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar.”  The eagle dominates the sky and is not to be reckoned with.  We often see the eagle in Scripture in HIGH places.  God gently reminds us repetitiously to be strong, climb up HIGH and SOAR.

The circumstances that have knocked the wind out of you - have no power over you.  God is greater and has promised you the altitude.  My prayer for you is that God would renew your strength, and you would find yourself climbing the atmosphere again.  Be encouraged, take flight and SOAR.

Peace in God

Did you know you can stand strong and courageous when you know God holds your Hand tightly?  You are secure in Him. 

God told Joshua before he stepped out into battle that He (God) was in charge of the situation.  This brought great confidence to Joshua in a time he could have been very fearful about the circumstance he faced.  In Joshua 8:18 God declares, "Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand."

When you walk in relationship with Christ each day and prayerfully surrender to the Lordship of Christ, you can remain secure in faith that God has got you covered. His grip is secure. You do not seem to fear what the day will bring forth or how troublesome relationships will eventually turn out because deep inside you know that God's got your back. 

There is great assurance in walking in that type of closeness with God. Nothing compares to it and nothing can replace it. It is a life of peace when you stand in God's grip.

If you long for this type of confidence today, then ask God to help you to rest in Him and keep your hand tightly in His.  Because when you know that your hand is in the Hand of God, the security you experience is like that of a very small child hanging onto his 6 foot tall, strong Dad when he stumbles and begins to fall.  In that instance, you know that your Father's grip is strong and sufficient and this gives you peace.

His Presence

There is nothing quite like standing in the presence and the power of God - in a Holy Place.  The Psalmist declared, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity..."

When we come to Christ with a heart of repentance and ask him to cleanse our hands and our hearts, He does just that. His blood paid the debt that made our righteousness possible. However, you and I must then strive to maintain a life of holiness and purity before God. 

Daily, we must surrender wholeheartedly to the Lord. We must acknowledge that apart from Him we are nothing and He holds the answers for all of life in His hands.

Scripture teaches us to balance a daily life of walking upright before God. This takes discipline and a surrender of heart and mind and will. God said, He would "keep us from falling and present us faultless before the Presence of His Glory with exceeding joy." That means no more excuses. 

God has made the way for us, now walk it that. The result will be a stable walk in the refreshing of God's Spirit and a confident faith that God will see us through where-ever life takes us.

Live

Scripture in Amos 5:6 declares, "Seek the Lord and Live..." It seems this record of the very words of God have not made an impression on believers today.  Often, we overlook what God requires of us. We seek our own way and our own will. We go about our day forgetting the necessary precept of seeking direction from the Lord and listening to His voice. If we truly want to enjoy and understand what living is all about, we must place God first. "Seek the Lord and Live."

Farther in Chapter 5 of Amos instruction continues, "Seek good, not evil that you may live."  Yet somehow our puny mind thinks we want to live apart from the teaching of the Lord. We want to continue to do our own thing and go our own way. 

The Word continues, "Hate evil, love good." But sometimes we run to evil and shun doing good. When we seek the Lord, our heart is changed by the power of the Spirit. Our desires also change as we seek the good of others instead of ourself. Then, we can seek to serve others with lovingkindness and understand what it truly means to really live.

Most Wanted

When I watch a crime television program, I notice the description of the suspect is placed out in the forefront. And often when the authorities are searching for someone they first ask the witnesses to describe the person and give them any defining marks or items of distinction. They ask did the person have any scars or tattoos?  Was he tall or short, dark hair or light, skinny or heavy? The law enforcement investigators are trying to provide a clear description, so they can provide a successful search.

We should also take time to think about how someone might describe us. Do we have any distinguishing marks that identify us with Christ?  Do others think of our caring and kind spirit? Do they see the love of God in us? Or do they first ponder our snippy, hateful demeanor?

Every Christian should carry the marks of Christ. We should have clear, defining marks like love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. But our lives should also be defined by maintaining a secret place of prayer that transforms our attitudes to that of Christ.

Sometimes, its' easy for the Christian to pray publicly or in a group for a specific need. However, when we neglect our private prayer time and fail to worship God in personal prayer, we are disobedient.  God help us to refresh our passion to pray, so we might carry the incredible marks of Christ.

In Matthew 6, Jesus instructed us, "When you pray, go into your room/closet and shut the door and pray..." There is nothing that will replace a personal, intimate time alone with God in prayer. We must strive to discipline ourselves daily to keep that appointment with God. Prayer strengthens our walk with God. Prayer lights a flame back into our spirit. Prayer connects us to a Sovereign and personal God who desires to guide our steps and speak to us daily. 

Through time with God and reflection in His Word we begin to look more like Christ.  And then, we begin showing the marks of Christ to the world.  

Being Awake Gives Opt

Today, you have a brand new day full of new opportunities. When you rise out of bed today, take advantage of this time to start with a brand new song and a fresh new heart with the Lord. Find a quiet place and sing God a song. Make melody in your heart. Thank God for a brand new day.

A new song comes first with a heart of repentance. A confession of our own failures, shortcomings and sin. Because there is a refreshing that comes when we lay everything in our heart before the Lord of Glory. There is a cleansing that takes place when we sincerely pray and confess. He then refreshes us by His Holy Spirit and gives us a new song to sing. Our outlook is renewed even when facing our bleakest situations.

It is imperative that you always have a song in your heart to sing. Can you at any moment break out in song? Scripture declares in Judges 5:12,  "Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, break out in a song".  When all trouble breaks loose against you, when the enemy stirs up havoc and lays a net for your feet, when life throws lemons at you.... you must have a song to sing. So turn up the music and get ready!

Did you know that song changes the atmosphere? Because song actually changes our attitude. God created the birds of the air to sing and He instruct us to sing a new song. So if your tune is a little off-key, take time to find your melody, get out a new song and just SING! Scripture declares that you and I make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Our song restores the joy deep in our soul.  And God is certainly worthy of a new song from us!

Stuck

There are things that clog our spiritual lives and require action on our part. Sometimes, we just get stuck spiritually.

When we are stuck we must get rid of paralyzing thoughts. Paralyzing and poisonous thoughts drive us to continue in sin, depression, anxiety, anger and dozens of other critical patterns of thought. This outlook is carnal and only creates a hindrance to our personal relationship with Christ and others.

Our mindset actually controls our will, our attitude and our daily outlook on life itself.  Thus our actions are controlled by the way we think.  How we speak to others and the things we do are justified by our thought pattern.  If we do not want to be stuck, we must learn to change the way we think.

“Finally, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.”  (Philippians 4:8)

We must get rid of the distractions in our lives. Meaningless distractions will always attempt to stand in your way and keep you stuck.  Learn to prioritize your ‘to do list’ and focus on what is the most important.  It may also be helpful to make a list of time-wasters and place it on your desk, your refrigerator, your car dashboard, your phone, or the bathroom mirror.  Remember not to allow these obstacles to distract you in your walk or prevent you from a path of success and victory.

Hebrews 12 declares, “….. Let us throw off every weight and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set before us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1-3)

We must endeavor to change our thinking.