God is With Me - Psalm 91

For as long as I can remember this Psalm was one of my mother's favorites, and it has come to be one of my favorite passages. When I need a "little time" with God , and a little reassurance of His presence in my life. I turn to the Psalms. The Psalms are full of comfort and peace. They are also the place where King David left  some of his notes and prayers to God. King David was a sinner of the highest magnitude, BUT, he also had God's ear, and God's favor. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, and actually had her husband sent into the heat of battle to be killed so he could marry her. He became convicted of his sin and David got on his knees and begged God for forgiveness. He admitted his sin, publicly, and David was forgiven by God. God elevated him to the status of one of Israel's greatest kings. God was also faithful to David's children. Read in 1 King, 2 Kings, 1 Cron., 2 Cron, and the Song of Solomon. Do you ever feel like your sins are so bad, so horrible that God could never forgive you for them. Well, forget that notion. God is all powerful, all seeing and always faithful. God doesn't want any of His children to be condemned in sin and be cast into the firey pit with Satan. God wants all of us to be heirs in His kingdom through His Son Jesus Christ! Paul also thought that he was the worst of sinners, yet all of his sins, and they were terrible sins, were forgiven and God elevated him to a place of honor. He filled him with the Holy Spirit through knowledge of His only Son Jesus. Remember that  Paul was first a pious Jew, as were all of the deciples, and had been persecuting those who followed Jesus and His way of life. Paul was even present at the stoning of Stephen. He was trained in the traditions of the Pharasees. BUT, he was forgiven all of that and ended up being one of the strongest believers in the "Good News" of Jesus Christ and worked hard all the rest of his life to spread this Gospel to the world.
Romans 8 (KJV)

16 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. . ." 
 
 John 3:16 (KJV)
16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
 
While we were yet sinners God sent His only Son, Jesus to die for us!
 
Romans 5:8(KJV)

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:7-9

 Galatians 3:26-28(KJV)

For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus

Psalm 91 (KJV)

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

All of the Psalms are wonderful revelations of God and God's love and faithfulness to all of His children. God does not want us to be cast down and depressed. He wants us to be at peace. We can have that peace through a personal relationship with God. The best way for us to do that is by accepting Jesus as our personal Lord and savior. When we are in Christ , we are counted as one of God's children. See the verses from Romans 8: 16, 17 above for the Biblical proof of this. I urge you to repent of your sins and sinful ways. Turn to God. Turn to Jesus to be your pathway to that salvation trhrough the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus knows you and knows your sins. They are what He went to the cross for. Jesus was beaten, spit on, mocked, and the hairs of his head and beard were pulled out. Imagine that suffering. Imagine all of that pain. Imagine the pain and humiliation of being nailed to a cross.  Now believe that He went through all of that and went to the cross to die for you so your sins could be washed away by His blood. Jesus was the final and perfect Lamb, sacrificed for your sins!     

Thoughts on Winter storms / God's Creation & God's Plan For Our Salvation.

Howdy folks; Well, here it is the 10th of January and snow is predicted for our afternoon forecast! I have to say I have had enough snow to last me a lifetime after all the years I spent in New England. The last year I lived in Northern Maine we had a season snowfall of 22 feet, yup, that's right, 22 feet! Most of that was still on the ground in April! We had to use a bucket loader, sometimes, just to clear our driveway and door yard. I can remember climbing out a second story window so I could shovel down to the back door to get out of the house. I loved it back then. I was a lot younger and I loved to cross country ski, snowshoe and go sledding and snow mobiling with friends. A buddy of mine and I also ran a trap line back then and we were out in it every day or at least every other day to check our traps. A very dear friend of our family used to call spring snow "God's fertilizer" because it would make the ground softer to plow and it seemed to give the spring planting a "boost" in it's sprouting and growth. As I got older I noticed it really did give things a bit of a head start, at times. The very best thing about it is that when the days  started to get longer and a bit warmer you could really tell that spring was just around the corner. Folks would say that "winters back is broken" and some of us would even have mid-winter parties to celebrate the death of winter and the new birth of spring. Having grown up in an agrarian community and living in small farming towns most of my life I could really see why the ancient prehistoric societies would have winter solstice celebrations. Native Americans also had such celebrations. The "circle of life" had a deep and rich meaning for all people, as it still should for us. As we have "progressed" into an industrial society we have lost the connection to the land. We have lost our connection to the "Circle of Life".  What has always amazed me is that ALL of the world's religions have creation stories (much like Adam and Eve), flood stories (like the Noah story), special "king" or leader stories (like the David story), and Savior stories (like our Jesus story) and many other similarities. My Honor's Thesis (which I got an A+ on, by the way) for my Philosophy degree was just that. It was based on the concept that God has revealed himself to many peoples in many different ways. I firmly believe that. We serve an awesome God! The Bible is God's revelation of Himself to His people and the story of the history of His creation's relationship to Him. I accept the Bible as the inspired word of a living God, and how God has revealed himself to many people, and how they wrote God's stories down after years of oral tradition, and finally when He saw just how far people had fallen from His path, and the Law, He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to be the "perfect Lamb" sacrifice for all of His creation.

Romans 5:7-9 (King James Version)

7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.



 I also know in my heart that the God of Adam and Eve, Noah, and Abraham sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners!   I know a lot of folks will say that it is narrow minded and not "politically correct" to say that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way for one to find salvation, but that is too bad. I have to stand on the truth! And the truth is, that God created all of the universe, the earth and all the things in and on it, and that looking down on it He saw how His creation had moved away from Him and His plan for us in the garden of Eden and through one man,Adam, sin entered the world.
  
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
 

 
          Psalm 14:1-3 (King James Version)


1The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

3They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Romans 3:23 (King James Version)
23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

God wants ALL of us to be saved. He wants us to WANT Him! He wants us to be with Him through out all of eternity. The only way that He saw for His sinful and willful creation to find that salvation, and be worthy of a place in heaven was through the one PERFECT Lamb sacrifice. Jesus Christ! Time is growing short my friends. The time of Salvation is at hand. If you are born again then you are sealed in God's book of life and if you are NOT yet born again ask God NOW for Him to save you. Admit you are a sinner, tell Him you are sorry for your sinfulness and that you repent, Tell God you believe His Son Jesus was sent to be our savior and ask the Holy Spirit to come into your heart! That is all you need to do to be born again. Jesus is the path to your salvation!     

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

Howdy y'all; it has been a couple of months since my last posting so an apology is in order. I have been pretty busy, but I have to say that some of it is procrastination! How many times have you used or heard the words in the title of this posting? I know I have used it a lot and I even made a bunch of buttons with my button machine that said it. I also made a bunch that said "Merry CHRIST mas" on them. Our society here in the good old U.S.of A. has, in recent years, tried to "numb" us to the Christ in Christmas. For years we have been bombarded with all of the commercialism, and "politically correct" desensitisation to this special time of the year. I remember when I first saw "Xmas" when I was a kid. I thought the people were just to lazy to write out "Christmas" and didn't think too much about it! The "wrongness" of it finally hit me when I experienced my first Christmas as a born again believer. Suddenly it ALL seemed so wrong. I looked around me with the new eyes of a true child of the Living God and really SAW all of the world's commercialism, all the "hype" for toys, cards, expensive gifts for your "special someone" and decorations that left Jesus out of the picture. I was actually nauseated by all of it. We, as believers, must take a stand and say a loud "NO" when we hear of someone calling it a "holiday tree", even though some really fundamentalist Christian's believe that the Christmas tree is a pagan symbol, and that it wasn't popularized in this country until the 18th century. From a certain perspective it's history does hearken back to pagan, or at least "non-Christian" roots. It really doesn't matter! What really matters is what it has come to represent with it's star or angel tree-topper that symbolizes the night when the star shown over Bethlehem and the angels proclaimed the good news of Christ's birth, and the lights that represent the good news that the "light" of truth and Jesus Christ has come for all of mankind. Granted a lot of folks over do it a bit, but it is still Jesus that is to be worshipped and recognized as the true and everlasting truth and light for all of us. It is a shame that "Jesus is the reason for the season!" has become so cliched. It has lost some of it's punch. Freedom of religion is one of the fundamental "RIGHTS" provided for us by the constitution of this great country, and I stand by it and believe it deep in my heart. Some people have perverted the right to freedom of religion to mean every other religion EXCEPT Christianity. I had a teacher in my high school civics class (it was called "Problems of Democracy" at that time) who taught us that my rights end where another persons begin and their rights end where mine begin! I took that to heart. Everyone in this country is guaranteed the right to worship as they desire, or NOT to worship anything if that is their belief. I don't have a problem with any of that. Really. I believe that they are wrong not to worship Jesus Christ or to believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that God was, is now and will be for ever and ever, or that God created the whole universe. BUT. . .I will never try to cram Jesus down their throats or condemn them for not believing. I must confess that I would, and do, talk to non-believers about Jesus. That is really one of the main reasons why I started this blog; to try to introduce folks to Jesus. I find it a bit odd that in some communities it is okay to display a Jewish menorah   or other symbols for other religions but it is against the law to display a Manger scene, Creche or other Christmas decorations. It is okay to display Santa Clause in some cities but it is considered a religious symbol in others. There are a lot of other religious blogs out there in cyber space and they have a right to run them just as much as I have the right to run this one! Back to the title of this posting. Jesus IS the reason for the season. When you say it . . . mean it! When someone says "Happy Holiday" to you , don't be offended; just say "Merry Christmas" to them. I love Jesus! I love Him for going through all of the torture, the punishment and finally going to the cross to die for me and my sins! Without Jesus I believe I would have been condemned to hell for all of eternity. With Jesus in my heart and being born again. I believe that I am saved from that condemnation and that I will be in heaven with my loved ones who were born again believers, and better yet I will be in the presence of my creator, God and with His only son Jesus Christ! How wonderful is that!? The only way that can happen is if you are truly "Born Again"; and the only way to be born again is to accept Jesus Christ as you personal Lord and Savior.  How do you do that you may ask. First, you must truly repent of your sins (". . .for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"). Second, you must ask Jesus to come into your heart and to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Finally, you must confess that Jesus is the only Son of the ONLY Living God. It is one of the hardest choices you can make and also one of the easiest things to do. Pray this prayer:
       "Lord God I know that you are the creator of all things and that you sent your only Son Jesus Christ to die for me and that His blood was shed to wash away my sins. I confess that I am a sinner and I do truly repent of my sins. I thank you for sending Jesus for me and the rest of the world. I believe that He is no longer among the dead, but that He was resurrected to sit at Your side to rule in heaven. Please, Lord God, send the Holy spirit into my heart and give me the strength to turn away from my sinful ways, my evil thoughts and wash away any doubts you may find in my heart. Please, Lord God give me the knowledge, strength and faith to stand up for you in the world and to spread your word by teaching others about your Son Jesus." 
            God is ALWAYS faithful and true. He always keeps His word, and He  promised that if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and truly believe that Jesus is His only Son sent into this world to die for our sins that we would be "saved".  Without Jesus we are not worthy of being in God's presence or going to heaven when we die. God's grace is a free gift! It is only by our faith and by God's grace that we can be saved. I don't know about you . . . but as for me I want to go to heaven and be with God; and I want to be with Jesus through all of eternity! I also want see my brother, dad, mom, grandma, great grandma and the rest of my family that were/are believers! To be with all of those believers that have gone on before me, Moses, King David, Peter, Paul and the rest of the disciples. I want to see and reside in that heavenly home, that mansion not built by human hands. Thank you God. Thank you Jesus! I truly love you and want to please you Lord.
 YES; Jesus IS the reason for the season! AND, He died for you and me, He was raised from the dead to rule in heaven with His Father  so that we could claim eternal life and so that we could be washed clean and worthy of that place in heaven!                   

Thanksgiving & Fall Posting

Howdy y'all; I know it has been a while since I last wrote and for that I apologize. I was doing a study in the Muslim faith and the impact it is having in the world, and I want you all to know that all around the world Muslims are impacting life, laws and the way of life in England, Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain. They are moving in to all of the countries in the European Union and are bringing court cases to the forefront for rulings on Sharia Law. They are trying to push for Muslim women to be forced to follow Sharia law and wear complete veils, and to be able to punish women if they break any of the rules put forth in the Koran! So far ALL of the countries have been successful in blocking their efforts, thank God! IF they are ever able to have their laws passed into national legal systems we are all one step closer to being attacked and killed because we are Jews, Christians or any other faith but Muslim (Islam). I urge you all to keep praying that all of their efforts to get Sharia Law into ANY country. Especially the United States, fail. We are in danger because we have a president (for a little while longer anyway) who is very supportive of the Muslim faith, and has even put them into positions of leadership in some of our Federal departments.
We have a lot to be thankful for as this year comes to a close! We are still very blessed even though we are heading for financial ruin as a country. God will continue to bless us and protect us, BUT it is our responsibility to keep OUR religion and our beliefs in God and Jesus Christ lifted up, and to keep reminding our senators and representatives that we need to keep our country ". . .under God,. . .". We are a christian nation even though it is not specifically entered into our Constitution and Bill of Rights. More than half of the framers and signers of the Constitution were ordained clergy! Many of their private letters and writings support the Christian faith and the importance of keeping it part of what we do in the world and in this country. See for yourselves if you feel so inclined. Google the writings of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Hancock, George Washington and the other founding fathers and you will find out just how much they valued their Christian beliefs. Even Benjamin Franklin, who was a professed agnostic, still valued the "Golden Rule" and the Christian Faith. They did want to keep a separation between "church and state" ; BUT that was only because they wanted to guarantee that EVERYONE was able to worship as they pleased! Freedom of religion was the promise and yes, that goes for everyone; Jew, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Bahia or whatever. The RIGHT guaranteed by our Constitution was to guarantee our worship as we pleased; but NOT to keep others from the practice of their faith or to demand that all signs of their religion be destroyed or removed from public view! Long ago I had a teacher who taught us that; "Our rights end where another one's right begins." What that means is that I do not have the right to infringe or prevent another person's rights and that they do not have the right to infringe upon or prevent their rights! Kind of a different way of saying; "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Jesus Christ's greatest commandment was; "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind and spirit and to love your neighbor as yourself." we are all commanded to do so and the Ten Commandments are also a directive to Christian and Jew alike. One of the other things we should do is to continue to pray and to pray continuously as Paul directs us. Pray for our loved ones, pray for our country, pray for all of those we know who are not "Born Again", pray for our military, pray for every person who asks us to pray for them and also to pray for our enemies!
Now IF you are not "saved" or "Born Again" I ask you to pray this prayer; Dear Lord, Father God, I believe that Jesus Christ came to earth to be your representative and that He is your Son. And that He came to suffer and die and then be raised again for my salvation. Lord, I repent of all of my sins and I ask that you cleanse and purify me and my heart and take away my sinfulness and my sinful nature so that I may be more like Jesus, and be worthy to enter your kingdom when the time comes. Lord God, I ask that you fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you God for your Son Jesus Christ, thank you for your forgiveness and you grace. I praise you and worship you! In the name of your precious Son Jesus I pray; Amen.
If you have prayed that prayer and REALLY mean it you are saved and you are "Born Again". PRAISE GOD!! I praise God and pray for His blessings on you and your life. If you have a Bible I suggest you start reading it every day. If you have been doing it, keep it up. I find that if I study a few verses in the Old Testament and a few verses in the New Testament every day you will find that you will be able to read it cover to cover in less than a year. God bless you all. In Jesus Name I pray! Amen.

Homecoming Report

It is still hotter then a Jalapeno pepper outside. It has been over 100 for so long I thought my thermometers were broken! Oh well, God must have a reason for it and it is His plan not mine. I cannot complain. God is so good all the time. Homecoming was awesome. Brother Josh Mills preached an amazing word of God. The Holy Spirit was moving throughout the whole congregation in an awesome way. You could actually feel the Spirit in the air. The more he preached the more the air sparkled and danced with the Spirit of God. The music was wonderful as usual, but the "specials" were also Holy Ghost filled and they made you want to dance and sing right along with them! Marvelous! With the Homecoming service being so amazing I can hardly wait for the Revival to begin on the 16th of August. We had two new members come forward and accept the Lord. WOW! It was truly wonderful. You know there are Angels rejoicing in heaven when that happens. Many old members that had not been able to come regularly were there, and a special prayer was offered up for those members who have gone on to their reward in heaven. There are so many! It was both sad and wonderful at the same time to remember them. The wonderful thing about being "Born Again" is knowing that when the time comes I know I will be seeing all of the members of my family and all of my friends that were (and still are) believers again. The most wonderful part though is knowing I will be in the presence of my Lord and Savior! Glory to God, won't that be wonderful! Anyone who might read this and not be a believer in Jesus Christ please understand that the time is coming when Jesus Himself will be returning to this world and if you have not accepted Him as your Lord and Savior by then it will be to late. I urge you to accept Jesus as your Savior pray the "sinners prayer" renounce Satan and all of his imps and demons in the name of Jesus and ask for forgiveness. Let the Holy Spirit come in to you, and give you the peace that ONLY He can give. That empty, gnawing lonely feeling that is in you can only be filled by God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Nothing else can fill it with the peace you seek. Not drugs, not sex, not alcohol nothing else can fill you up to the overflowing with Peace except Jesus! Trust me, I have tried it all and I know by personal testimony that ONLY Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit can take away that longing of the spirit you may feel without Jesus. It is easy, just pray: Jesus I repent of my sins, I renounce Satan and I accept you, Jesus, as my Lord and Savior. Thank you for going to the cross and suffering that awful torture and death for me. I praise you in your victory over Satan at the cross and at the gates of hell. You are the Resurrection, the Way and the Light. Thank you Jesus for the Holy Spirit! There you go! If you prayed that prayer you are made brand new, you are "Born Again" , and ALL of your sins are washed away. Praise God. Find a good spirit filled church. Study the scriptures! Read the book of Acts, the book of Romans. Study to show thyself approved. When you read the book of Revelation to the end you find out that WE WIN! Satan is defeated, and that is why he is putting up such a fight now, because he knows in the end he looses, and he wants all the company he can muster in hell to share in his torment. Born again believers will be reigning with Jesus until the end of time. We will be able to command angels! All praise and Glory to God the redeemer of us all! God bless y'all for now. More after Revival services.