Family Will Fail Us….

In times of despair, in times of fear, in times of uncertainty, and in times of righteous indignation, we have the answer to its cause. Man will fail us, family will fail us, and government will fail us, but God will never fail us. Put your hope in the Lord, ask Him to surround you with His unfailing love. Trust in His Holy Name. He is worthy.

 The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes.11 But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; His intentions can never be shaken. 12 What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people He has chosen as His inheritance. 13 The Lord looks down from Heaven and sees the whole human race.14 From His throne He observes all who live on the earth.15 He made their hearts, so He understands everything they do.16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.17 Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory–for all its strength, it cannot save you. 18 But the Lord watches over those who fear Him, those who rely on His unfailing love.19 He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine. 20 We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield.21 In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name.22 Let Your unfailing love surround us, Lord,for our hope is in You alone. Psalms 33:10-22

We Souldn’t Need A Talking Donkey….

Balaam and his donkey is such a compelling story. There’s so many points in it. The one point I want to emphasize is the fact that Balaam was blind to the angel with the sword. It took his donkey speaking to get his attention. Then God opened his eyes to see him (the angel). How often do we think we are doing God’s will only to have a donkey talk to us? How often do we get caught up in our daily business that we lose sight of what’s important? We often think we are doing God’s will (doing Him a favor), but are we connected to Him? The key is connection. We may not know exactly what tomorrow brings, but we know we can trust the One Who does know. Being connected to God is more important than being disconnected and thinking we are doing His will. Pray that this connection with Him is secure and dependable. We shouldn’t need a talking donkey to get our attention. And if we do, would we recognize it when it happens?

21 So the next morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way. As Balaam and two servants were riding along, 23 Balaam’s donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat it and turned it back onto the road.24 Then the angel of the Lord stood at a place where the road narrowed between two vineyard walls. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it tried to squeeze by and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So Balaam beat the donkey again. 26 Then the angel of the Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place too narrow for the donkey to get by at all. 27 This time when the donkey saw the angel, it lay down under Balaam. In a fit of rage Balaam beat the animal again with his staff.28 Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” it asked Balaam.29 “You have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!”30 “But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,” the donkey answered. “Have I ever done anything like this before?”“No,” Balaam admitted.31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him.32 “Why did you beat your donkey those three times?” the angel of the Lord demanded. “Look, I have come to block your way because you are stubbornly resisting me. 33 Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.”34 Then Balaam confessed to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I didn’t realize you were standing in the road to block my way. I will return home if you are against my going.”35 But the angel of the Lord told Balaam, “Go with these men, but say only what I tell you to say.” So Balaam went on with Balak’s officials. 36 When King Balak heard that Balaam was on the way, he went out to meet him at a Moabite town on the Arnon River at the farthest border of his land.37 “Didn’t I send you an urgent invitation? Why didn’t you come right away?” Balak asked Balaam. “Didn’t you believe me when I said I would reward you richly?”38 Balaam replied, “Look, now I have come, but I have no power to say whatever I want. I will speak only the message that God puts in my mouth.” 39 Then Balaam accompanied Balak to Kiriath-huzoth, 40 where the king sacrificed cattle and sheep. He sent portions of the meat to Balaam and the officials who were with him. 41 The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth-baal. From there he could see some of the people of Israel spread out below him. Numbers 22:21-41

Your Mistake Is…..

I think one of the biggest problems in the church is the lack of knowledge of the Bible. How can a person know God if they ignore the way in which He chose to reveal Himself to the world? When non-believers use scripture by twisting it to suit their agenda, or confuse people, believers don’t know how to respond. Believers should never have to argue about the Bible. It says what it says, and means what it means. If more people actually read it, there wouldn’t be so much confusion. And more importantly, God wouldn’t be so impersonal, would He? Get into the Word, so the Word gets more into you. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you, to know Him and understand His word.

24 Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.” Mark 12:24

Speak Truth And Yet Not Believe It…

Is it possible to speak truth and yet not believe it? Yes, hypocrisy has that effect. There are many examples of this throughout scripture. Here’s one of them. The religious leaders call Jesus an honest, impartial person Who doesn’t play favorites. They even go as far as saying He teaches God’s ways truthfully. All of these are 100% accurate, yet they refused to embrace Him. Why? Because that would mean they would have to change. Isn’t this the reason why every single human being on this planet rejects God? Submitting our will to His will goes against our sinful nature. “I want to do it my way”, is the humanistic mantra. When it’s all said and done, and people are permanently cast out of God’s presence, the reason will be the song they chose to live out instead of embracing the truth they spoke but did not believe. It’s a popular song sung by Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way”. One reason it’s so important to stay connected to Jesus (the vine), is for its life giving abilities to recognize and believe (embrace) the truth.

13 Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which He could be arrested. 14 “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest You are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us–is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap Me? Show Me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you.” 16 When they handed it to Him, He asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”“Caesar’s,” they replied.17 “Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”His reply completely amazed them. Mark 12:13-17

God Can Be Trusted….

God can be trusted in everything He does; to meet our needs, to protect us, to honor us, to comfort us, to teach us, to be our advocate, to heal us, to discipline us, to infuse hope in us, in any and every situation. Do you trust Him?

4 For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything He does. Psalms 33:4

Prone To Follow Our Own Desires….

Without God, man is prone to defiling himself. Look around; sexual sins run rampant. Violence in the name of justice. Abuse. Hypocrisy in the name of political correctness. And on and on. Without the Holy Spirit, man will try to fill the void; he will worship whatever he thinks is worthy. Man is fickle. We are fickle. Without God we are prone to follow our own desires. That’s one of the benefits of having the Holy Spirit in our lives, He helps us manage our selfishness.

37 Then the Lord said to Moses, 38 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. 39 When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. 40 The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!” Numbers 15:37-41

Wealth Usually Keeps Us Away From God…

No matter what the world tries to tell us, money can’t and won’t save us on Judgement Day. Money has a tendency to make us believe we can say “No” to God. It falsely gives us a sense of security. We believe if we have enough, or a little more, we will be all right. This isn’t true. Having wealth usually keeps us away from God. Rich people believe in their comforts here on this earth so much that Heaven becomes a threat to them. They think “Heaven may not be as comfortable as it is here”, so they don’t want to go. However, poor people think “anything is better than here”, so they long for Heaven. Jesus did say that it’s easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Don’t put your trust in the mighty dollar, it won’t save you. Use money to meet your needs, but do not buy into the notion that it can save your soul. Only Jesus can do that. Get right with Him today, and start living real life.

4 Riches won’t help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death. Proverbs 11:4

21 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 24 I’ll say it again–it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” Matthew 19:21-24