Stop Waiting --- Start Finding
09.25.05 (8:10 am) [edit]Right now you are going through something. Your mind, your heart, and your spirit are troubled. You feel as though you can't go on, as though you have nothing to go on for. And you feel that nobody, nobody is on your side. Nobody understands or even wants to.
You love the Lord, and as much as the enemy is trying to persuade you, as he did in the trials of Job, you refuse to blame God for your plight yet, your sense of helplessness and insecurity grows deeper.
Thoughts and ideas you never imagined would ever be yours make their way through your mind, and you find yourself afraid of your own thoughts.
What to do?
What can you do?
How do you deal with this, who do you turn to?
As a minister of the Lord, hearing those questions would almost certainly give rise to the pat answers and responses that are given the most under such circumstances; "go to the Lord in prayer", "wait for your change to come", "have faith in the Lord, he will see you through" , "wait, I say on the Lord", etc.
Make no mistake, all of these are good advice and all are scriptual, all of them can and do work on behalf of many.
But, the Lord has given me a word for those of you who feel you have tried many of these things and still feel that weight pressing down on you.
The Lord reminded me of the time, 1st Samuel 30:1-6, when David and his men reached his camp in Ziklag and found that the Amalakites had raided the camp, attacked and burned it and had taken captive the women and all who were in the camp both young and old.
Finding the camp destroyed by fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive, David and his men wept until they couldn't weep anymore.
To make matters worse for David, even though David was moaning his loss too, he was distress because the men were talking about stoning him, because by following him, they had lost everything they owned including their wives, sons and daughters.
1st Samuel 30:1 says, "But David found strength in the Lord his God. Let me repeat that, "But David found strength in the Lord his God. Having found strength, David asked the Lord two questions, 1st Samuel 30:8 says, David inquired of the Lord, "Shall I pursue this raiding party?" "Will I overtake them?" The Lord answered David, "Pursue them," "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue."
Why? Because, David operated out of the box. Read through the book of Psalms and you find David praising, praying, calling on the Lord and acknowledging the blessings of the Lord. But here was a situation that required David to do something on his own. The camp was burned, the people had been taken. David had to reach down inside of David, and by doing so, he found strength in the Lord.
1st Samuel 30:18-19 says, David recovered everything the Amalakites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. Infact, they brought back their own plunder, 1st Samuel 30:26-31, and David shared it throughout the entire region and among his fellow camp members.
David found strength in the Lord his God.
Unfortunately, due to space limitation, we will have to continue with this on another page. Please click below.
STRENGTH
The Apostle - A Man Named Paul
09.17.05 (2:16 pm) [edit]Do you have any heroes? You know what I mean, those people that you admire and think the world and consider them to be superstars. I'm sure you do. We all seem to know someone who affects us that way. I have discovered that one of my mentors, teachers, brother in Christ and a fellow saint whose name happens to be Paul, is also one of my heroes. Paul and I have much in common, our lives are full of similarities. However, Paul has done something that I can only aspire to do in the time that I have here. Paul has taught, preached and shared the word of God for hundreds of years. We find his writings in a book called the Bible.
Because the word of God is unchanging, Paul's work for the Lord is as true today and it was the day he performed it. To Paul, it was a gift from the Lord.
Like my hero Paul, you and I are also blessed with gifts from the Lord.
The question is, are we using our gifts on His behalf.
Let's talk about your gift. Click Here, Please.
New Orlean-Mississippi-Alabama and beyond
09.06.05 (2:19 pm) [edit]We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed .....
Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison
(2 Corinthians 4:8, 9, 16, 17).
Consider it all joy, my brethen, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing
(James 1:2-4).
Blessed is the man who perserveres under trial for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him
(James 1:12).
Ane we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose
(Romans 8:28).
