Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Unanswered Prayer

.Suddenly, a hand touched me and raised me to my hands and knees.  He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God.Understand the words that I’m  saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you. After he said this to me, I stood trembling. “Don’t be afraid,Daniel,” he said to me, “ for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for 21 days. Then Michael  one of the chief princes, came to help me after I have been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to help you ------     [ Daniel 10: 10-14] HCSB Version

Have you, as a Christian and a believer in God's Word, ever prayed for a certain thing and it seemed like your prayer was just bouncing off the ceiling and you wondered if God was ever going to hear you. Did you ever want to say: “God where are you?” Did you ever think that your prayer was never going to be answered? This has been {or is} the case of many Christians today. After reading these scriptures in Daniel we can see why our prayers are sometimes hindered and we think the Lord is not listening or He does not want to answer our prayer. In every case this is not so. We need to consider and think about this prayer of Daniel. He was very close to God and yet it took 21 days for that prayer to be answered. Why?

Prayer is heard in heaven as soon as we have prayed. From the first day our prayers are heard just like Daniel's prayer was heard. If in our prayers we believed God's angel was on his way to us, what consolation and comfort it would give us! In this passage of scripture we have a seldom seen look into the world of angels. We do not just simply face human opposition and hostility, we also must realize that powerful spiritual beings are operating in the heavenly realms. Although this spiritual opponent, in these verses, was powerful enough to delay the answer to Daniel's prayer he could not stop it from being answered, all he could do was delay the angel sent from God. We must remember that, as God's people, we are fighting a spiritual war and we must realize that every time we go to the Lord in Prayer! [Eph 6:10-18]

To many times, when our prayers are not answered right away or when we think it should be answered, some of the religious leaders in our churcheswill tell a person that what we ask for may not be granted or that God will give us what is best for us, or what we might need. I might stand to be corrected, on this statement that I'm about to make, but I have yet to find in God's Word were our Lord does not give us what we pray for as long as it is in the will of the Lord. You say what is the will of God. My answer is read the BOOK! What ever we ask for in prayer God promises to give it to us. [Matt. 7:7-11] Matt 17:20] [Matt 21:21-22] [Mk 11:22-24] [Jn 15:7] I have not seen no where, in the Bible, that God says He might not answer our prayers or He will answer it in a different way.

The Key to answered prayer is FAITH. We must have faith in what the Lord tells us in His Word. We must have faith that our prayers will be answered and they will be answered. It may be night or noon, or it may be tomorrow, but our prayers will be answered. God's word declares that and He can not lie!



Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Does The World Find Compassion In You?


AAnd behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" [Luke 10: 25-28]
We all can remember the parable of The Good Samaritan. It is a story of what most people in todays world would call going above and beyond the call of duty. When people read this parable and try to apply it to their self, they naturally avoid the portrayal of the unconcerned priest and the Levite because right away they want to think of their selfs as being more like the Samaritan. The truth is that most people in this world are a poor blend of all the ones that came across the man who was robbed and beat in this parable. In this parable the priest and the Levite are easy target for most people to come down on. When people read the story it easy to point the finger at priest or Levite, but most people in the world are just like them. They would rather not get involved when they see people in need.
Most people think that their neighbors are the ones that do right and cause no trouble. This was the same way the scribes and pharisees thought in Jesus' time on earth. According to them the sinners ( such as tax collectors, homosexuals, and prostitutes) were to be hated , but this was not so then and it is not so now. We are to love the person, but hate the sin in there life. A Christian hates sin, not the sinner! Just as God grieves over the sinner we should also. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. When you live in a glass house you can not throw stones! The only difference between the saved, born again person, and the sinner is The Saving Grace of Christ. We had the oil and the wine poured in! We met Jesus on the Jericho Road, We serve a new Master. The things that we use to do we do no more.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Do all Roads Lead To Rome


I Am the Good Shepherd] "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.[John 10:1] English Standard Version

Can we as followers of Christ prosper and grow in this day and time of our country's social structure and ethical doubtfulness? Can we as Christians be “Politically Correct” and “ Morally and Biblically Correct” at the same time? Can we serve the Lord and be Politically Correct? Our government leaders think so. But can we. Here is a issue that is in the for front for all Christians to think about. From the president on down the line the government are drilling in our heads that we are a nation that is made up of many religions and this was said for a purpose. The statement might be true but what is not being said here is that this nation was founded by our fore fathers on Christian principles. Our laws are based on the Bible. Now we have other religions such as Islam that wants there laws put into place in this country. The first Islamic temple was not built in the United States until 1938. I bet not to many people knew that! We made out okay with the laws of this land before that so what needs to be changed. We are now being told, or it is suggested, that there is more than one way to heaven. What a lie! All roads do not lead to Rome! What it is, is a road that our country is trying to head us down where all forms of religion will be blended together creating and combining different ideas, beliefs, and religious practices to form a new view that takes everyone of us away from the truths that are found in God's Holy Word. It is called a one world government. That is the road our leaders are trying to put us on. But there is only one road that leads to eternal life and that is the Narrow Road: “ You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gate is small and the road is narrow that leads to true life. Only a few people find that road. [Matthew 7:13,14] New Living Translation
Buddhism will not take you to heaven, Islam will not take you to heaven where 72 virgins will be waiting for you, Hinduism will not take you to heaven, and no other religion will either. Christians do not spread a religion of hate, but one of love, Christians do not bow to statues, because we serve a living God. We can not mix or match the truth about Jesus Christ, Because He is the only way! He is the Door, The Great Shepard, The Master of the Sea, and the Great “I AM”. Jesus is the only way! There is no religious pluralisms or more than one doctrine there. In fact there is no religion at all that will take you to Heaven and beware because religion will get you every time! It is by the shed Blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on Calvary's Cross that will take us all to heaven. “Give Me that Old Time Religion!” It was good enough for my mother and my father, and it is good enough for me.
It is time for all Christians to stop saying they are a Baptist, or a Pentecostal, or a Methodist, Or a Wesleyan, or Assembly of God, or Church of God, or Nazarene, or Four Square! It is time for all of God's Children to stand up and say: We are followers of Jesus Christ and His teachings and we will not go along with the broad road of destruction that our government and some churches are trying to put us on. Church denominations need to get the beam out of their eyes so they can see the mote, that they cry and complain about, in the eyes of other denominations. We need to fight Satan and his demons, not each other! There is a bigger issue to fight here besides doctrine issues between churches and denominations. It is sweeping all our this land, as we fight we each other over doctrine issues. I was born and raised up in a Pentecostal Church and saw with my own eyes what great things the Lord did, and still does do, but if you are of any other denomination and believe that it is by the Blood of Jesus Christ we enter in, then you are my brother and sister in the Lord. It was, what happen on that Old Rugged Cross that binds us together. Nothing but the blood of Jesus! We need to stop fighting each other and start fighting the real enemy here. There is a dark cloud sweeping over America

Thursday, October 7, 2010

THE COMING FAMINE -- Will it happen in America?



  Fig trees may not grow figs, and there may be no grapes on the vines. There may be no olives growing and no food growing in the fields. There may be no sheep in the pens and no cattle in the barns. But I will still be glad in the Lord; I will rejoice in God my Savior. [Habakkuk 3:17,18] New Century Version ]

Most people take it for granted that there will always be a super market or a local grocery store that at least once a week, if not more, that we can go to, and an push a empty cart, and begin to fill it with the food and other things that we need to survive. What would we ever do if there was not a super market that we could run to when ever we needed food? We enjoy an amazing variety of such food stuffs here in America that are easy to get and they are always plentiful at the grocery store. But hold on! Think about this. Imagine driving to that well-stocked super market and finding only empty shelves or a can of this or a can of that. Where once there was any kind of food that you could think of, you now only find only empty shelves, or a few bent cans. Picture the deli, bare and barren, with no hams, roast beef, and turkey. No cheese,no kind of lunch meat,no prepared meals, — ready for your oven, no crackers, no pickles, nothing. Just a empty counter! What would you do? In fact, imagine arriving at your grocery store only to discover a vacant building and boarded up windows. Does this sound stupid and off the wall to you? Well, if it does think again, because it could very easily happen over night!
Not many people have any thought or idea, what so ever, what it takes to make and bring about the different kinds of meats, milk, vegetables, and all the other foods that you see on those super market shelves. Everybody realizes that different types of food come from different places, like that good old milk, that we drink, comes from the cows and eggs, that we all enjoy , comes from chickens. But sad to say for most of the people, that is where it all ends. It is not like it use to be where people raised their own live stock and chickens. Grew their own vegetables. Those days are gone for most of the people. We now live in another world. What I call a “throw away world” If those blue jeans gets a hole in them just throw them away and go to Wal Mart and get another pair! If you do not like what is for dinner throw it in the trash and go to McDonalds and get something else! If you do not want it just throw it away. I'm afraid those days are coming to a end, and fast.
Why am I saying all this? Because we may all have to face this very thing down the road in a few years or maybe in a few months. I'm not saying this to scare no one, just telling you what just might happen real soon! If you are a person who reads the Bible then you know what I'm saying is not out of the question. In the Bible we are told of a great famine that will cover the earth from one end to the other in the last days. We can read in [Revelations 6: 5,6,7,8] the following: When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse, and its rider held a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard something that sounded like a voice coming from the middle of the four living creatures. The voice said, "A quart of wheat for a day's pay, and three quarts of barley for a day's pay, and do not damage the olive oil and wine!" When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill people by war, by starvation, by disease, and by the wild animals of the earth. [ The New Century Version]

In Today's Word What Are You Building?

  In a day of violence and God's impending wrath, what should a man of God be Building? Noah built an ark. In Noah's day, the earth ...