WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE

 

The longer I live.  The older I get.  The more

I see of this old world disintegrating around

me the more I look forward to a day that is

coming soon.

"Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven.

And everyone will see him - even those who

pierced him.  And all the nations of the world

will mourn for him.

Yes! Amen!."

(Revelation 1:7 NLT)

Even those who killed him over two

thousand years ago will see Jesus

vindicated.  All the nations that have

ignored Jesus in favor of other gods

and material things will learn their

terrible fate and mourn over it.

"Therefor, God elevated him to the place of

highest honor and gave him the name above

all other names, that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bow, in heaven and on 

earth and under the earth, and every tongue

declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory

of God the Father."

(Philippians 2:9 - 11 NLT)

O! what a sight that will be to see all those

who have given their lives to other religions

on their knees along with the very Devil him

self and his demons acknowledging that 

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD.

That coming day is becoming the fact

that I long for.  My favorite truth.

 

TODAY'S PROMISE

 

“Make thankfulness your

sacrifice to God,

and keep the vows you made

to the Most High. 

Then call on me when you are

in trouble,

and I will rescue you,

and you will give me glory.”

(Psalms 50:

WHAT IS OUR EXCUSE?

"I tell you the truth, anyone who

believes in me will do the same

works I have done, and even greater

works, because I am going to be

with the Father.  You can ask for 

anything in my name, and I will do

it, so that the Son can bring glory to

the Father.  Yes, ask me for any-

thing in my name, and I will do it."

(John 14:12 - 14 NLT)

I believe Jesus.  He only tells the truth.

Yet, I personally have never met anyone

who has done the works that Jesus did,

or greater.

Over the years I have read of great works

being done by Christians in different places.

But of the hundreds of Christians I have met,

none have done the works that Jesus did.

Yet Jesus said, "anyone who believes in me".

Do we not really believe?  Do we fail to ask?

Where is the problem?

I do not profess to have the answer.  But in

my wide reading over the years I have noticed

it pointed out that often the places God was

doing miracles was where the people were 

just simple uneducated people.

Jesus on a number of occasions indicated that

unless we become like little children we would

not even enter the kingdom of God.  One of the

features of a child is their simple trust, at least

until they have had that trust broken a number

of times.

Is it possible that we are not truly trusting God,

that we are not taking him at his word to us?

 

TODAY'S QUOTE

Accepting death to my ego 

is the only way to manifest 

the life of Christ.  Putting my

‘self’ to death is the only way

to exchange my life for His.”

- Y.P. Yohannan -

 

TERRABLE THING

“It is a terrible thing to fall into 

the hands of the living God.”

(Hebrews  10:31 NLT)

BUT, PRAISE GOD.

This does not need to be our fate.

This reference is regarding those who after

receiving the knowledge of the truth continue

to live in sin turning their back on God.

Just previous to this we were told that because

of the blood of Jesus a new and life giving way

has been provided for us so that we can boldly;

enter heaven's Most Holy Place,

we can go right into the presence of God,

our guilty consciences have been cleansed

with the blood of Jesus,

and our bodies have been washed with pure 

water.

"But we are not like those who turn

away from God to their own destruction.

We are the faithful ones, whose

souls will be saved."

(Hebrews 10:39 NLT)

 

TODAY'S PROMISE

“The LORD is my helper,

so I will have no fear.

What can mere people

do to me?”

(Hebrews 13:6 NLT)

 

LIFE'S VALLEYS

In your Christian experience you might live on

a mountain top where the sun is always shining,

the temperature is always correct and the birds always

singing.

But, I don't.

And I would bet that you do not either.  I have times

that I feel like God and I are close buddies.  Then the

next day I wonder where he went.  What is wrong with

me?  [Or you.]

I recently got a book on the life of David Brainerd.

It is largely based on his Diary, not some one writing

about him.  You probably know that David Brainerd

possibly tried to walk closer to God than any man

alive since the Apostle Paul.  True he was of a frail

nature, but he wore himself out in service to God and

died at an early age of only 30 years old.

Thus far, the thing in the book that is the most

encouraging to me is the fact that even this man

who tried to make every minute count for God,

had discouraging hours and days wondering if 

God had forsaken him.  WOW! even him.

Madam Guyon the celebrated French Mystic

who was one of the greatest Christian leaders

of all time even had her "down times".  If I 

remember correctly she went through a period

of time for seven years wondering if or why

God had abandoned her.

I am simply saying that even the best of Christians

have their low periods of time.  Consider the Psalmist:

"O LORD, how long will you forget me?  Forever?

How long will you look the other way?

How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,

with sorrow in my heart every day?

How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

Turn and answer me, O LORD my God!

Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die."

(Psalms 13:1 - 3 NLT)

"Therefore, since we are surrounded

by such a huge crowd of witnesses to 

the life of faith, let us strip off every

weight that slows us down, especially

the sin that so easily trips us up.  And

let us run with endurance the race God

has set before us."

(Hebrews 12:1 NLT)

 

TODAY'S QUOTE

"Dying to self is the door to godliness

(Galatians 2:20)

And it is a choice we must make."

- K.P. Yohannan

 

GOD GIVEN GIFTS

Do you ever get discouraged because you can't

do great things for God?  The world wants you 

to strive to great things.  Often Christians would

exhort us to attempt great things for God.  And we 

look at what some of the outstanding Christians

are doing, and that discourages us.  But, is that 

what God asks of us?

Well, probably God did not give you the gift

or ability to do "great things."

Hang on for a minute.  I'm going to make the

whole Christian world mad at me for pointing

out this fact.

Nowhere in the Bible does it call "preaching"

a gift.  Look very carefully at Romans chapter

12 and 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the gift 

chapters.  Just try and find preaching in 

them, or anywhere else where preaching is 

called a gift.

Yes, yes, yes.  I know the Scripture teaches

us that "pastors" are a gift to the Church.

But in the Bible, "preach" and "pastor" are

two different words with two different 

meanings.  Modern Christians have confused

them and mixed them up.

But look at some of the gifts listed in Romans

chapter 12, they are very common.

"serving others"

"encouraging others"

"giving generously"

"show kindness to others"

[As recorded in the NLT]

Consider why God said He even saved us.

"For by grace you have been saved

through faith; and that not of yourselves,

it is the gift of God; not as a result of works,

so that no one may boast.  For we are His

workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for

good works, which God prepared before-

hand so that we would walk in them."

(Ephesians 2:8 - 10 NASB)

God saved us to "good works".  God gives

us the gift or ability to do the simple stuff

to help others.  Let's get out there and do

anything we can to help someone else in

any way we can with a glad heart and thank

God for the chance to serve Him.

TODAY'S PROMISE

“God is our refuge and strength,

always ready to help in times

of trouble.”

(Psalms 46:1 NLT)

 

HUMAN PEACOCKS

 

I think it was Shakespeare who said something

to the effect that this world is a stage and the

people on it are the actors.  There seems to be

a lot of truth in that thought.

Consider, how many men do you know that

"strut", or women who "prance" across the 

stage of life?

Thankfully that is not true of everyone.  But

we all have a element of "pride" in us.  It is part

of our human nature. Most of us try to hid it to 

some degree.  But all pride runs country to God's

will for us.

If I checked properly there are at least 25 times

in the Scriptures that admonish us to humble 

ourselves.

But there is a day coming that ALL human

pride is going to be humbled.  It is the day 

when Jesus Christ returns,  Then those who 

have rejected Christ from their lives will try

to hid from the wrath of God that is coming

on them.

"So now they will be humbled,

and all will be brought low -

do not forgive them.

Crawl into caves in the rocks.

Hide in the dust

from the terror of the LORD

and the glory of his majesty.

Human pride will be brought down,

and human arrogance will be 

humbled.

Only the LORD will be exalted

on that day of judgment."

(Isaiah 2:9 - 11 NLT)

I prefer to humble myself before God

now when I can do it of my own free will.

TODAY'S QUOTE

 

“Someone has said that there are more than

1,000 commentaries on the book of Acts in

the English language - but not 100 Christians

living with the power of the New Testament

Christianity.

“All too often it seems we’re willing to be students

of Christianity rather than disciples of Christ.  The

fact is that most of us are substituting learning

and information for practical obedience.”

                  - K.P. Yohannan -

THERE IS COMING A DAY.

"He was despised and rejected -

a man of sorrows, acquainted

with deepest grief.

We turned our backs on him and 

looked the other way.

He was despised, and we did

not care."

(Isaiah 53:3 NLT)

This is what the prophet Isaiah 

prophesied about the coming of 

Jesus Christ.  And it came true, 

they even killed Jesus.

This is even true in our day and age.

The world at large is ignoring him,

hating him and his values, cursing 

him.

But, "THERE IS COMING A DAY.

Possibly my favorite truth or fact is;

Therefore, God elevated him to

the place of highest honor

and gave him the name above

all other names,

that at the name of Jesus every

knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and

under the earth,

and every tongue declare that

Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father."

(Philippians 2:9 - 11 NLT)

Think of it.

Every man, woman, child that ever

lived on the face of the earth is going 

to bow to Jesus some day, whether

they want to or not.

The devil himself and all his demons

in hell is going to be forced to bow

to Jesus and declare that Jesus Christ

is Lord.

I prefer to bow to him now willingly

and joyfully.

 

THIS IS A TEST

 

THIS IS A TEST.

I had trouble posting this image on

another internet platform.  So, I am

testing here to determine if it is the

image or the platform.

Thank you for your patience and may

GOD BLESS YOU

TODAY'S PROMISE

 

"But we are citizens of heaven,

where the Lord Jesus Christ

lives.  And we are eagerly waiting

for him to return as our Savior."

(Philippians 3:20 NLT)

HOW TO FISH

If you have lived as long as I have, you have

had times that it seemed that all your time and

effort was totally wasted.  It seemed futile to 

continue.

Jesus disciples had the same thing happen to them.

"Master,' Simon replied, we

worked hard all last night and

didn't catch a thing.  But if you say

so, I'll let the nets down again,'  And

this time their nets were so full of

fish they began to tear!  A shout for

help brought their partners in the

other boat, and soon both boats

were filled with fish and on the

verge of sinking."

(Luke 5:5 - 7 NLT)

What made the difference?

Jesus was there and his instructions

were followed.

I've learned to call on God for his help

before I even begin something.  Even

when he shows me what to do and gives

me the wisdom to do it - without his help

it ends up a miserable task.

Even after Jesus resurrection the disciples

faced the same problem again.  They were

discouraged and did not know what else 

to do but go fishing.

"He called out, 'Fellows, have you

caught any fish?'  'No,' they replied.

Then he said, 'Throw out your

net on the right-hand side of the 

boat, and you'll get some!'  So they

did, and they couldn't haul in the

net because there were so many 

fish in it."

(John 21:5,6 NLT)

This time there ended up being 153 large

fish caught at the instructions of Jesus.

Fishing was the occupation of the disciples

before they begin to follow Jesus.  So they

were only doing what they knew to do.

The point, if you go off to work, or go

fishing for enjoyment,

TAKE JESUS WITH YOU.

 

TODAY'S QUOTE

 

“The early Christian church believed in and prayed

for the filling of the Holy Spirit, and this was the

secret of its power.  It lived in the Spirit, walked in

the Spirit, prayed in the Spirit, and sang in the

Spirit.  Its meetings were conducted in the Pentecostal

order, or manner; everyone praying, singing or 

testifying as they were moved by the Spirit. “

- James Gilchrist Lawson -

PAY DAY IS COMING

Do you ever get tired of seeing some people's

picture, or hearing about what they did?

I do.

Let them say some thing smart, do a good

deed, or accomplish some feat and you 

never hear the end of it.

It may be true that in some cases it is the

fault of the media simply wanting news

to publish.  It might not be the person 

seeking recognition.  But in most cases it

seems that the recognition or fame is 

accepted.

Take heart.  There is a time coming when

the rich, famous, shakers and doers will

not be the "top dogs".  Things as we know

them are going to be reversed.

Consider the attitude that Jesus expresses.

"Jesus replied, 'I assure you that

when the world is made new and

the Son of Man sits upon his glorious

throne, ......

"But many who are the greatest now

will be least important then, and those

who seem least important now will be

the greatest then."

(Matthew 19:28 & 30 NLT)

Or consider when the disciples had a

squabble:

"But Jesus called them together and said,

'You know that the rulers in this 

world lord it over their people, and

officials flaunt their authority over

those under them.  But among you

it will be different.  Whoever wants 

to be a leader among you must be

your servant, and whoever wants

to be first among you must become

your slave.  For even the Son of

Man came not to be served but to

serve others and to give his life as

a ransom for many."

(Matthew 20:25 - 28 NLT)

I do not want to be a leader now,

or even then.  I do not want any fame

then either.  I just want to get there.

But I see that I need to humble myself

before God and men even now.

"The greatest among you must be

a servant.  But those who exalt themselves

will be humbled, and those who humble

themselves will be exalted."

(Matthew 23:11,12 NLT)