Excited about 2012!!!

As we begin yet another year, I want to express to the LORD what an honor it is to be enlisted in His great Army!  I want to do more for Him this year than I have ever done.  My one desire is to walk in and to experience the fullness of His power through out every day of 2012.  God knows I come so short of His glory and there's not anything within myself sufficient enough to get the job done.  But through Him, there's not anything out of reach.  Jude, verse 22, says that we have the power to " make a difference!"  Thats not a difference in the meagerly things of this world, but in the eternal affairs of the hearts of people.  May God give us a burden....May god give us boldness....May God give us a blessing in 2012!!

My Soul...as a weaned child

What a wonderful Psalm of praise and thanksgiving for the good grace of God. David proclaims by his rejoicing, that humbly he has walked before Him.
In these 3 short verses, David says much about his relationship and fellowship with Him who is invisible. In so doing, there is no wonder he is deemed "the sweet psalmist".
Verse 1 describes David's Contentment. He says my eyes need not wander anywhere than where I am. If this green pasture is my calling, then happy I shall be!
Verse 2 gives us David's Confidence. I hvae quieted myself and "as a child that is weaned of his mother" my soul is sanctified from worldly things.
Finally, verse 3 gives David's Consignment of himself as well as all Isreal to hope in the Lord.

Faith without works...

The Epistle of James was written for one pupose.  To move the facts about faith in the head to faith in the facts in the heart.  Being born again is not believing a list of facts about Jesus.  James 2:19 states " the devils also believe and tremble."  There are a great number of church members that have only had their intellect moved, but this is NOT saving faith.  James calls this DEAD faith.  (Jms. 2:17)  This is not works to merit this great salvation, but works springing from this great salvation. They are professors but not possessors.  Then, in verse 19, James speaks of a DEMONIC faith.  These individuals have not only their intellect moved, but their emotions as well.  They may see the facts and be moved by them enough to accept them as truth, but this too is NOT saving faith.  Lastly, James tells us of Abraham.  No greater example of saving faith do we have in scripture than that of this patriarch.  Abraham believed God...not in word but in works!  How then can we determine what kind of faith we have?  Two ways: the relationship test and the fellowship test.  When were you reproved and drawn by the Holy Ghost and regenerated?  You may not know the date or time but you know a place in time when you met Him! That's relationship.  Fellowship will follow relationship...Calvary will affect our hungers, our hangouts and our habits.  According to Ephesians 2, when we are quickened, saved, born again, we walk a different direction.  This is DYNAMIC faith.  Heart faith that changes the life. 

Truth is not relative...

There seems to be an emerging thought that truth can be dealt with the same way that we deal with the most common of things.  Like a salad bar....take a little this and leave what we don't want.  I will say that there is not any one person or movement that has the corner on God or all that there is to know about Him, but we have one thing in this world that is our ONLY ground for truth and that is God's word.  Some things can't be disputed.  Now for those who reject God's word, I can only offer a prayer, that by God's grace your darkened heart will be illuminated to this truth.  Fundamentally, there are principles in scripture that we pattern our life after in order to please our Heavenly Father.  I have but one desire in the life which I now live in the flesh and that is to search the scripture and work out what Christ has worked in, without any private interpretation; rightly divided.  We do have liberty in Christ and are to be examples, and are not to lords over God's heritage, but over and over the truth is plainly given.  We are to be like those Berean christians in Acts 17:11...."they RECEIVED the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so".  Above all, we must have love one for another and give grace to grow.  We all come short but we should all be "strivers" to be like him for the scripture says in I John 4:17  :...because as he is, so are we in this world."  Does this world see Christ in us?  May God help us to just receive the truth and not wrestle it..

Thy word...

There are many papers and books available in this hour that at any time we could pick up and read, but there is only one that should we pick it up, it would read us.  It is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.  You know by now that I"m talking about the old black back book, the word of God.  I do not debate anyone on the inspiration of the scriptures.  You try to prove all the truths of that King James bible and you will lose your mind; try to disprove any portion of it and you will lose your soul.  Surely you understand the subtle attack of the devil concerning the word of God.  He will always provide a counterfeit for the real thing.  If there is light then you must have darkness; truth...then error.  I am so glad that I can have confidence in the word of God!  We take too lightly the work of the devil and all of his devils.  This book is the incorruptible seed by which we were born again.(I Peter 1:23; James 1:18)  May God help us to deliver it to the masses, dedicate it to memory, but never, no never, ten thousands times no never dilute its message.  God bless!

Going home....

There are many folk in this world who would rather be anywhere but at home.  I must say that  i'm not one of them.  I do like going to different places, but the saying  "there's no place like home", rings true in my heart.  When I pause to remember my home as a child, I have only warm, wonderful memories.  I remember our family, as many times we would gather for singing and fellowship where others had sorrow and fighting.  I remember having a dad that worked and provided everything that we would ever need and with anticipation sit on a bicycle and look down the road to see him coming home.  I remember a mother who kept everything held together and seemingly with little effort.  She could do things that no one else could do.  Like meeting  the needs of all six of her kids that day while preparing for the next day and have a pan of biscuits in the oven AND oh yeah, ran a beauty shop as well.  God has been so good to me and because of my home experience, that's exactly what I want to make my home like.  A welcome place for angels to dwell.  But, I can't help but look down the road to the future to a day when we will sit down again, around the throne of God in heaven and sing and fellowship once again as a family....and not just a family, but a family that is eternally and completely "HOME".

Another gospel......

I never read this passage of scripture without shaking my head in amazement.  Paul had preached the gospel to this church...the good news of Christ, offering himself for our sins and delivering us from this present evil world.  He then pens this epistle to them and he too " marvels " that they have been removed from the gospel of Christ to "another" gospel."  Thats like "christian" rock'n roll....oil and water....darkness and light...they just won't mix.  Another gospel?  What news could be comparable to the good news of Jesus' everlasting love to fallen man?  There is none.  Paul says here that it is not "another".  What happens is that the pure truth of the gospel is perverted.  Thats the characteristic of our generation.  PERVERSION!  The simple message of Christ is taken from, added to, twisted and distorted with just enough religion to send this whole world to hell!  The god if this world is the author of such and has many ministers in the pulpits spewing out this doctrine of damnation!  As in the days of Noah and Lot, we are perverted in our minds and our manners.  A social gospel is being preached and sodomy has been promoted as the accepted "lifestyle".  There is no life in that style of living....only death; both physical and spiritual.  What are we to do then?  We are to preach as Noah did.  "Get in!!"  "Judgement is coming!!"  The gospel is and will forever be good news to the sinner.