The Lord is not slack, but we are!

2 Peter 3:9, the Lord is not slack concerning His promises...but is long suffering...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
If we are to be evangelists, because He wishes for none to perish but for all to come to repentance, shouldn't we be working feverishly to see people being called to repentance? Should there not even be a certain percentage of the Church whose focus is this?
"Thank you Lord for not being slack concerning Your promises, You are so kind to wait for us, more than a perfect gentlemen, holding the door open for his lady, You wait patiently for Your Bride, hold that door open for years, waiting...let us not make you wait, with hand extended. For 2,000 years now you've been standing at the door knocking, waiting. Please wait a little longer, please help us to be obedient not frittering away the time you give us. It's precious and short the time we have, help us not barry it in the ground for fear of what You may think, or worse yet of what "they might thing, help us to be obedient to Your word.
In Jesus Name, amen."

Do we steal from God?

Do we steal from God, YES WE DO! 1 Cor 6:20 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body[a] and in your spirit, which are God’s.& PSalm 24:1 1 The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. 1 Cor 6:19 & 20: 9 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body[c] and in your spirit, which are God’s.
So since we are not our own if we do whatever we want with our bodies, and don't even ask the Lord, or do things with our bodies that He would not approve of, are we not stealing what is His? If I take a neighbors lawn hose and poke it with a bunch of holes soI can see how cool it looks when it sprays in all different directions because I think that's neat, isn't that stealing? Or if I stretch out that hose by stuffing it full of stuff to see how much it can handle, and I cause all kinds of problems and end up ruining it, don't I owe that man a new hose, because it's not mine? Even if I borrow it for 20 years and plop it on his lawn all stretched out, or full of holes, I have still taken what is not mine and done what I want with it. The biggest difference is, we still think our body is ours, so we use it like it is! We are robing God!It's time we start living in every way for our Lord, our Great and Mighty God, who paid an incredible price for us that we may live for Him.


There's a new Sanctus Reel song on the radio and part of it say, "Lead me with strong hands" and it's talking about how we as men need to lead with integrity, faithfulness, not with weak faithless hands, it just really touched me! Here it is:

“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can't
Don't leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight
That I'm still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone

Let us as men lead with strong hands and glorify God who is in us! Here's 1 Cor 6:12-1815 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”[b] 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
Thanks Bible gateway .com! & elyrics.net & Sanctus Real! (Way to go guys, write them lyrics from God's hands!

Hate this life? Honored by God?

John 12:25 & 26 "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."

Imagine being honored by God! Wow. Because of insecurities this verse is hard for some to understand. Hate this life; usually people who hate this life are not happy people, but unless you love this life a lot less than you Love the Lord, love this world and the things of this world a lot less than your heavenly home, there is at least a misplaced loyalty there and at worst some idols. How many loves can we have and still remain faithful, the Lord says only one, Him. "Lord help us to Love You way more than anything else, in Jesus Name!"

Titus

We need to live this way everyday! Titus 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

It is hard to deny ourselves, but it is possible, and through His grace can be incredibly rewarding. Sobering, as if we're in some kind of drunkenness, giving in to our desires instead of His! "Lord forgive us for being like drunk men chasing after our own lusts and being controlled by them as in a man who is controlled by the alcohol he gives into, forgive us and free us, please Lord in Jesus Name."

Lord we love You, or do we Love another?

The bible warns us of giving into the desires of our flesh. If our flesh drives us, instead of the Spirit our hearing will become dull. If we become dull of hearing, and we can't hear God's voice and direction in our lives, we become lost sheep seemingly without a shepherd. With no guidance, because we can't hear, then we go astray, and start believing in other things that come our way. If we can't hear the Lord we become susceptible to things that will even pull us away further from our God we once loved more than anything, but now seem to love less and less as other things become more and more important.
"Lord let us see You, hear You, obey You, follow after You, let us Love You with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul and with all our strength. Let us Love you with everything we have. In Jesus Name, amen."

Why have we come?

In Hebrews 10:7 an old testament verse from PSalms 40 is repeated...I have come, in the volume of the book it is written, to do Your will oh God." If Jesus came to only do the will of His father in heaven, which He says in yet another place, why then have we come?
What is our purpose here. If His was to do the will of God, isn't that at least our reason for being here as well? If our whole lives are not made up with the passion of doing His will and His will alone, what are our passions? WHat does drive us? The things of this world which are passing away? i hope not, and that's what I'm tempted with, to be driven with, and if I give into them, that's what then drives me.
So what drives us? A passion for cars, a passion for food, unforgiveness, a root of bitterness, what lusts hang us up, and how is that effecting our relationship with Christ?
"Lord we Love you, take us over, again, make us new, again, bring us closer, let us realize again why we were made, for Your precious purposes, "To do Your will oh God."
In Jesus Name, amen.

Amish forgiveness

We watched a movie called Amish Grace, based on the true story of a man in Oct 2006 who shot 10 Amish girls at an Amish school. I remember the event but especially remember how the Amish support the killers family. I just read today of how the Amish sent a delegation the same day to the killers family to comfort them in their loss of a father and husband. Wow.
What's interesting is that we watched the movie on the weekend of the 4th anniversary of the attack. I had received the movie a week earlier as a birthday present, but to watch it on the anniversary is an amazing thing.
God is an awesome merciful God and showed that through the Amish and their reaction to what many deem as an unforgivable act, yet they forgave.