I'm not the shoes I wear
I'm not the clothes I buy
I'm not the house I live in
I'm not the car I drive
I'm not the job I work
You can't define my worth
By nothing on God's green earth
My identity is found in Christ
Monday, June 21, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Staying Faithful
Faithfulness in Our Calling
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Friday, June 18 2010
"He went out to meet Asa and said to him, 'Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.'" - 2 Chronicles 15:2
Asa was the king of Judah from 912-872 B.C. He reigned for 41 years and was known as a good king who served the Lord with great zeal. He reformed many things. He broke down idol worship to foreign gods; he put away male prostitutes and even removed his own mother from being queen because she worshiped an idol. The Scriptures say that as long as he sought the Lord, the Lord prospered his reign.
However, Asa was not totally faithful in his calling. There came a time in his life when he made a decision to no longer trust in the God of Israel. He lost his confidence in God as his deliverer. The prophet Hanani came to Asa to inform him that God's blessing was no longer on his life because of an ungodly alliance he had made.
Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war (2 Chronicles 16:8-9).
There are no guarantees that if we began well we will finish well. The life of Asa tells us this. It is only through God's grace that we can be faithful to our calling. Each of us is capable of falling away from God. Pray that God will keep you faithful to the purposes He has for your life. He strengthens those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Friday, June 18 2010
"He went out to meet Asa and said to him, 'Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.'" - 2 Chronicles 15:2
Asa was the king of Judah from 912-872 B.C. He reigned for 41 years and was known as a good king who served the Lord with great zeal. He reformed many things. He broke down idol worship to foreign gods; he put away male prostitutes and even removed his own mother from being queen because she worshiped an idol. The Scriptures say that as long as he sought the Lord, the Lord prospered his reign.
However, Asa was not totally faithful in his calling. There came a time in his life when he made a decision to no longer trust in the God of Israel. He lost his confidence in God as his deliverer. The prophet Hanani came to Asa to inform him that God's blessing was no longer on his life because of an ungodly alliance he had made.
Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war (2 Chronicles 16:8-9).
There are no guarantees that if we began well we will finish well. The life of Asa tells us this. It is only through God's grace that we can be faithful to our calling. Each of us is capable of falling away from God. Pray that God will keep you faithful to the purposes He has for your life. He strengthens those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Cost Of Broken Covenants
The Cost of Broken Covenants
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Monday, May 31 2010
"During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord." - 2 Samuel 21:1a
There was a famine in the land, and David equated that famine to the blessing or lack of blessing from God. He sought God to know why there was a famine. The Lord did not take long to answer: "It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death" (2 Sam. 21:1b). Many years earlier, when Joshua entered the Promised Land, the Israelites were tricked by the Gibeonites into believing they were travelers when they were actually enemies of Israel. The Gibeonites tricked Israel into making a peace treaty with them. It was one of the first major mistakes Israel made after entering the Promised Land. As a result of the peace treaty, the Gibeonites were kept as slaves to Israel. This was never God's intention for Israel. He had wanted Israel to destroy all their enemies, but they made an error in judgment that required that they honor a covenant with the Gibeonites.
Saul made a decision to disregard this covenant with the Gibeonites and sought to annihilate them. David sensed there was something preventing God's blessing on Israel. As a nation they had violated a covenant made before God. Now they were reaping the consequences.
There are two things we can learn from this story. First, when we make a covenant, God expects us to fulfill it. God is a covenant maker. He made one with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He made one with each of us through Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are numerous regarding the importance of honoring our commitments.
Second, God is a very longsuffering God. He gave Israel many years of grace before He exercised judgment for their sin. However, there always comes a day when God must uphold His standard of righteousness.
Are you failing to walk in God's blessing due to some failed commitment? Calamities can befall us for many reasons; sin can be one of them. In the case of Israel, David had to make things right with the Gibeonites. When he did this, God removed the famine, and Israel again was prosperous. When you feel you lack God's blessing on your life, ask the Lord if there are any past - generation sins that you may need to repent of. He may be waiting on us before He can release His blessing on our lives.
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Monday, May 31 2010
"During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord." - 2 Samuel 21:1a
There was a famine in the land, and David equated that famine to the blessing or lack of blessing from God. He sought God to know why there was a famine. The Lord did not take long to answer: "It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death" (2 Sam. 21:1b). Many years earlier, when Joshua entered the Promised Land, the Israelites were tricked by the Gibeonites into believing they were travelers when they were actually enemies of Israel. The Gibeonites tricked Israel into making a peace treaty with them. It was one of the first major mistakes Israel made after entering the Promised Land. As a result of the peace treaty, the Gibeonites were kept as slaves to Israel. This was never God's intention for Israel. He had wanted Israel to destroy all their enemies, but they made an error in judgment that required that they honor a covenant with the Gibeonites.
Saul made a decision to disregard this covenant with the Gibeonites and sought to annihilate them. David sensed there was something preventing God's blessing on Israel. As a nation they had violated a covenant made before God. Now they were reaping the consequences.
There are two things we can learn from this story. First, when we make a covenant, God expects us to fulfill it. God is a covenant maker. He made one with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He made one with each of us through Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are numerous regarding the importance of honoring our commitments.
Second, God is a very longsuffering God. He gave Israel many years of grace before He exercised judgment for their sin. However, there always comes a day when God must uphold His standard of righteousness.
Are you failing to walk in God's blessing due to some failed commitment? Calamities can befall us for many reasons; sin can be one of them. In the case of Israel, David had to make things right with the Gibeonites. When he did this, God removed the famine, and Israel again was prosperous. When you feel you lack God's blessing on your life, ask the Lord if there are any past - generation sins that you may need to repent of. He may be waiting on us before He can release His blessing on our lives.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Be Strong and Courageos
"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."
Deuteronomy 31:6, NAS
One of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century thought he was a failure at the age of forty. Harry Truman despaired that he would never amount to anything as he struggled for twelve years to pay off the debts from his failed clothing business. Little could he have imagined that just two decades later, on a warm spring day, he would receive a phone call that would change his life and forever list him among the great men who would help to change the world. April 12, 1945, Truman took the oath of office and became the thirty-third President of the United States. He was quoted as saying, "I feel as though the moon and all the stars and all the planets have fallen upon me. Please . . . give me your prayers. I need them very much."
John Maxwell writes about failing backward and failing forward. Harry Truman failed forward. We fail backward, Maxwell says, when: (1) failure keeps us from trying again, (2) we become negative or bitter. (3) we make excuses and blame others. We fail forward, he says, when: (1) we learn from our failure, (2) we discover our own true self, (3) we turn everything over to God.
Our text begins with an encouragement to "be strong and courageous." It reminds us not to fear. More importantly, it teaches us to trust in God-commit ourselves to confidence in a God who is infinitely more powerful than the forces of failure. We are taught that "God is the one who goes with you." He is incapable of failure! Moreover, His perfect success is your companion. "He will not fail you or forsake you."
Take Maxwell's inventory. Are you failing backward or failing forward? We all fail. Not one of us is immune to the very "fallen" characteristic of failure.
Deuteronomy 31:6, NAS
One of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century thought he was a failure at the age of forty. Harry Truman despaired that he would never amount to anything as he struggled for twelve years to pay off the debts from his failed clothing business. Little could he have imagined that just two decades later, on a warm spring day, he would receive a phone call that would change his life and forever list him among the great men who would help to change the world. April 12, 1945, Truman took the oath of office and became the thirty-third President of the United States. He was quoted as saying, "I feel as though the moon and all the stars and all the planets have fallen upon me. Please . . . give me your prayers. I need them very much."
John Maxwell writes about failing backward and failing forward. Harry Truman failed forward. We fail backward, Maxwell says, when: (1) failure keeps us from trying again, (2) we become negative or bitter. (3) we make excuses and blame others. We fail forward, he says, when: (1) we learn from our failure, (2) we discover our own true self, (3) we turn everything over to God.
Our text begins with an encouragement to "be strong and courageous." It reminds us not to fear. More importantly, it teaches us to trust in God-commit ourselves to confidence in a God who is infinitely more powerful than the forces of failure. We are taught that "God is the one who goes with you." He is incapable of failure! Moreover, His perfect success is your companion. "He will not fail you or forsake you."
Take Maxwell's inventory. Are you failing backward or failing forward? We all fail. Not one of us is immune to the very "fallen" characteristic of failure.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Ministry to Men
I will start the ministry to help men beak the chains of LUST.
"I am dancing before the Lord who chose me above your father and all his family. He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord so I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes." 2 Samuel 7:21-22
Proverbs 17:9 Lover prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends
"I am dancing before the Lord who chose me above your father and all his family. He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord so I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes." 2 Samuel 7:21-22
Proverbs 17:9 Lover prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Only God can Fulfill His Vision
Has God given you a vision that is yet unfulfilled? If that vision is born of God, He will raise it up in His own way. Do not try to raise the vision in your own strength. Like Moses, who tried to fulfill the vision of freeing the Hebrews by killing the Egyptian, it will only fail. But wait on your heavenly Father to fulfill the vision. Then you will know that it was His vision when He fulfills it in the way only He can do.
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. - John 12:24
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. - John 12:24
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Trust God and His Commandments 2 Samuel 24 - if not you or your people will suffer
In 2 Samuel 24, David counts his troops to see how strong they are which God forbids him to do.God wants him to rely on God and not the numbers of troops. After David does this, he realized he sinned greatly and repented but the repercussions were already in place - God allowed him to choose from three options to punish him and the people. Even though David realized and repented, the earthly consequences still had to be served.
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