Miracles From Heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CldGTG6iVrU I was invited last night to see this. It was very good. Comes out in March. Great story about our God who still does miracles! When I was a kid I took my future wife to a Hollywood premier, a bad Matt Dillion movie called Rumble Fish. I paid $50 per ticket, and didn't like the experience much, except for the company. The best part was that a carriage awaited us outside, something I had arranged beforehand, it was very sweet. Last night we were treated to this special screening, given free t-shirts, and a gift bag. When God provides, He opens the doors, He does the paying for. In the movie, God speaks to this little girl. This morning God spoke my name, and woke me up. I have never heard God's voice like this. God, still, speaks. It felt like nothing I had ever experienced. He told me too that when we become loud, people taste our flavor, but when God speaks they taste His. God's flavor tastes like Love, Joy, Peace, Mercy and Grace. Miracles From Heaven - Official Trailer (ft. Jennifer Garner) From the studio that brought you Heaven Is For Real, don't miss the incredible true story coming March 16, 2016. From today's study, interesting huh? January 29, 2016 ICR.org Thanks to Answers In Genesis. Children in Heaven “And [David] said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:22-23) The death of a loved one is always a time of great sorrow, but the death of a beloved child is perhaps the keenest sorrow of all. Nevertheless, for the Christian believer, we “sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Our text verse makes it clear that, when a child dies (even one born of a sinful relationship such as this child of David and Bathsheba), that child goes to be with the Lord in heaven. Jesus said: “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).

Sin separates us from God

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. Isaiah 59:2. Sin separates us from God, so we can's see and hear Him. The more we sin, the less we hear.Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,And He shall direct your paths. So if we disobey this, and don't in all our ways acknowledge Him, and we DO lean on our understanding, and we don't trust in Him with ALL our heart...how can He direct our paths? Just this morning I went out to pray early, usually the stars greet me in their mast, lovely array; but only two were visible. Something was blocking my view of them; clouds. Sin blocks us from God. He can still break though, because He's God, but sin will always have that effect. "Repent therefore..." "Lord, forgive us of our sins. Cleanse us from all wickedness, so we can hear, and let us obey. You are good, and Your mercy endures forever, Thank You. In Jesus name, Amen."

You are God's field, you are God's building!

1 Cor. 3:4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. Another way of saying this might be, " I am a Lutheran, I am a Baptist etc.

Spiritual Schizophrenia

Ever hear of spiritual schizophrenia, or Sp Skitzo for short? It's when you walk in the Spirit some of the time, and then all of a sudden you skip to your flesh, and walk in it a bit, then back and forth, leaving your friends, family, those you're trying to reach for Christ, all confused, frustrated, bewildered. God said I have it, and I have it big time, but I don't have to. All I have to do is what His Word tells me to, things like; crucify the flesh daily with it's passions. Give no opportunity to the flesh. Live in the Spirit. Be crucified with Christ so it's no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me. My life has to be lived 100 % in the Lord, because it's no longer I that live, it's Christ that lives in me. Can I be 97% faithful to my wife. Or am I expected to be 100% faithful? If 100%, then why do I think it's any different with the Lord? Father forgive me for not being faithful. Let me be Yours, all Yours, because we can't be kinda born again, or mostly, we either are, or aren't. So Lord, I am all Yours, in Jesus name, by grace, through faith. Amen.

We all are tempted! But none of us has to sin!

You are not evil because you are tempted! We all are tempted, sometimes every hour of everyday. God wants us to know, "4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..." (2 Corinthians 10:4-6) If we don't take those thoughts captive, we are in trouble, and may end up sinning. Let's really think about every thought, run to Christ with it each time. It will also deepen your relationship with Him!

God commands; "Hear His voice."

Does God command that we hear His voice? YES! Jesus takes Peter, James and John up to a mountain, His clothes become brilliant, God overshadow's them and then says those words. John 10:4b "the sheep follow him, for they know his voice." 5: " 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." We NEED to hears His voice, because all of us like sheep have gone astray!(Isaiah 53:6) The other reason we have to hear Him is so we can believe, so we can do the things the Father says we can, like cast demons out! Sin gets in the way of us hearing, and prayer and fasting can help us deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow after Him daily. Mark 9:17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” 19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,[a] all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” Why could we not cast it out...He replied...nothing but prayer and fasting. One translation even says MUCH prayer and fasting. In order to follow after Him, we have to hear His voice, and in order to hear His voice we have to do His will, take up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow Him...DAILY! Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." Lord help us to hear You, help us to trust in You with all our heart, and lean not on our own understanding; In all our ways acknowledge You, so You can direct our paths. Lord, we believe, help our unbelief, in Jesus name! Amen! Proverbs 3:5-6

100 years of knowing about Christ, but not knowing Christ.

I got to see a 100 year old woman pray to receive Christ yesterday! I talked to her first this last summer, when she turned 100. She went to church every Sunday growing up. She was baptized as a infant. She went though confirmation. As I talked to her about Christ, she kept saying, "I've never thought about it like that," and "I've never gone that deep." She knew about Christ, but didn't know Him. Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ So she didn't quite understand how to receive Christ, because she thought she already had! Her religious tradition had not yet become a relationship, a "first love." Then I visited with her a second time, and she warmed up a bit, I got to pray with her, but not to receive Christ, she still didn't understand. Then this third time, yesterday, we talked more, as friends this time, and I was finally able to ask her, "Do you want to pray to receive Christ now?" She said, "Yes." So we prayed a very simple prayer, and she asked Jesus to be her Lord, she confessed her sin, received Christ in, and now at 100, she's born again! Both times we prayed she was touched, and would cry. It is so sweet to be able to minister to someone who wants ministry. So many of us harden our hearts and we don't want to be touched. Well, as in this woman's case, it's never too late! Hebrews 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, 15 while it is said, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME." As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." God bless your day!