Marching Forth!

As the New Year begins, many people make resolutions on changes they will make in their lives.  I believe if you have the constitution and willpower to actually keep your resolutions, it's likely you do not need to make them!  With how most people live, instead of saying you have made a "New Year's resolution," you might as well say "I wish."  There is a lot we all wish we could change about ourselves.  Trouble is, it takes a new calender year to inspire us to work for one change we desire or know we need.  And when the resolution has no impact except guilt because we haven't done our part, we sigh, shrug our shoulders and say to ourselves, "There's always next year..."  The devil would love for us to wait a year between efforts at change for the better. Last night I had an interesting conversation about New Year's resolutions.  People were discussing how the New Year is a great opportunity for personal reflection upon the last year. ...

A great temptation we will face as believers is to keep what should be given to God for ourselves.  A perfect example of this is found in Acts chapter 5 when Ananias and Sapphira kept back part of the price of the land.  Under the guise of bringing the full purchase price, Ananias laid a part of the total price at the feet of the apostles.  Acts 5:3-5 reads, " But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? [4] While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." [5] Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things ." God has granted all people talents and resources.  As followers of Christ we have the privilege of being led by the Holy Spirit.  Ananias was not influ...

God intends we use every gift, talent, and ability He graciously gives us.  Our heavenly Father never intends the gifts He gives to be restricted to us.  When we receive a Christmas gift or a birthday present the understanding is, " This is for me ."  When we receive any gift from God we are responsible to first give that gift right back to Him for Him to use through us.  This will directly benefit others through the edification of the Body of Christ and glorify God.  What God gives us really isn't for us in the end.  It is for Him! When I read the Bible and God speaks clearly to my heart, it's not like a "Mission Impossible" message that is for my eyes only and will self-destruct after five seconds.  Now I have a responsibility and duty to share with others.  Think about the example of giving God has shown us.  God had an only begotten Son who He sent to be the Savior of the world.  He didn't keep Jesus to Himself.  He created th...

" Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. [4] Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. [5] Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate ."   Psalm 127:3-5 As God does not slumber or sleep, neither does the enemy of our souls.  Satan is actively seeking to pervert the straight ways of the LORD.  He will not stop his assault upon our children.  Men like Karl Marx know that the way to turn a nation is to indoctrinate the youth through media, subversion of morality, the denial of God and the absolute truth of scripture, and the fracturing of the God-ordained family.  God ordained marriage as a union between one man and one woman and this is under fire today even in kindergarten classrooms.  Children are a heritage from the LORD, but many are convinced that killing a child in the womb through abortion is...

Isaiah 54:1-17     " Sing, O barren,     You who have not borne!     Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,     You who have not labored with child!     For more are the children of the desolate     Than the children of the married woman," says the Lord.     [2] "Enlarge the place of your tent,     And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;     Do not spare;     Lengthen your cords,     And strengthen your stakes.     [3] For you shall expand to the right and to the left,     And your descendants will inherit the nations,     And make the desolate cities inhabited.     [4] "Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;     Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;     For you will forget the s...

This morning I read 2 John during my quiet time with the LORD.  2 John 1:8 caught my attention:  " Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward ."  Things that grab my attention usually make me think.  Hebrews 12:3 says we are to look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  These verses are not contradictory but complimentary.  Looking unto Jesus ought to be our primary concern and focus, since He is our Savior and Light of the World.  We ought not to be self-focused, but there is a healthy need for thorough self-examination.  We are called to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  We need to take heed to ourselves for the purpose of seeing whether we are in the faith or not, if we are abiding in Christ, and remaining obedient to the Holy Spirit's leading. What struck me in this verse is the possibility of working for something and losing the full reward....

Proverbs 16:3 says, " Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established ."  When we surrender our lives to God's control He guides us in conduct and thought.  The Christian walk is not the avoidance of sin but the active doing of good.  When we are doing good we will not be sinning.  There is no neutral position. One of the things God emphatically showed me during my trip to Australia was the need to have my family established.  To do that I personally must be established by Christ upon His Word and walk in accordance to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.  It is God's work, but I must be willing to allow God to work in me before He can work through me.  For a ministry to be successful in your home country or the foreign mission field, the family structure must not only be intact, but established. Before I left for OZ, a large potted tree at Calvary Chapel El C...