THANKFUL HEARTS

Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while others praise Him for putting roses among thorns. -Anonymous

Psalm 34:1, I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Monday is upon us again and we can either rejoice in it or we can complain because of it. I choose to have a thankful heart in it because, even though it’s a Monday, it’s the day the Lord made and He has told us to rejoice in it! Are you going to complain or are you going to commend Him for giving you another day to serve Him in?

LEARN ABOUT THEM WITH YOUR HEART

We can learn nothing of the gospel except by feeling its truths. There are some sciences that may be learned by the head, but the science of Christ crucified can only be learned by the heart. -Spurgeon

2 Timothy 2:15, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The only way a man can truly understand the things of God is to learn of them from his heart. It is in man’s heart that God works. He works there for salvation, sanctification, and to call a man to serve Him. When a man is saved, it is then that God begins to work to sanctify him making him fit to serve.

Friend, do you want God to use you? Do you want God to give you a place to serve? Be faithful in the “little” things, learning of Him and He will open up doors for you that would have never been opened otherwise! Learn about Him with your heart so you might be able to serve Him with your hands!

I AM WEAK

I might be weak, but in Christ, I am strong!

2 Corinthians 12:9, And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

If you have ever had to babysit a toddler that could not walk unassisted yet, I am sure you probably lifted them up with their hands, had them stand on your feet, and let them walk with you. That child laughed and asked to do it again when you stopped. Why; because they were made strong by your strength.

Friend, as you and I yield our weak, sinful bodies over to Jesus Christ, He gives us His strength! He gives us His grace! He takes on our infirmities and we get His power! I might be weak, but in Christ, I am strong!

READ IT

Sin will keep you from this Book. This Book will keep you from sin. --Dwight L. Moody

Proverbs 30:5, Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

Several years ago, I gave my two sisters a Bible. In the front of each, I wrote the above quote by Moody. Why that quote? Well, it has a simple but foundational truth in it. You see, the more we read God’s Word, the more it will direct where we go, who we hang with, what we do, and even when we do them.

Are you a believer? Do you read your Bible every day? It can be just a few verses, a chapter, or chapters. If not, why not? If you’re reading it, then you’re getting some help to keep you from sin!

HE CHANGES NOT

Nothing binds me to my Lord like a strong belief in his changeless love. -Spurgeon

Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Have you ever taken your concordance to look up God’s love? Have you spent any amount of time studying out His love toward us? Seasons change. People change. Jobs change. My love has changed toward my wife. (It has grown.) But believer, God’s love has never changed! His love is the same yesterday, today, and forever! Regardless of anything you have ever done, He still loves you the same. The question is--Do you love Him?

TRUE SACRIFICE

The sacrifice of Jesus is the true reason of our salvation. -Spurgeon

John 15:13, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

What a friend we have in Jesus! Not because He gave us a home, car, shoes, or any other materialistic article. He is our friend because He gave us Himself on the Cross of Calvary!

Friend, it doesn’t cost Jesus anything to give us this or that! It cost Him His life to redeem our lost, dying, and hurting souls though! That is what true sacrifice is!

IT’S MONDAY- PRAISE THE LORD

Why should we go reeling and staggering under the burdens and cares of life when we have such prospects before us?  If there is nothing but glory beyond, our faces ought to shine brightly all the time. - D.L. Moody

Psalm 33:1, Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.

Yeah, I know, it’s the dreaded Monday—again! But friend, what better day to give the Lord praise than on the day that everyone dreads? We are not looking forward to the work day. We are not looking forward to the responsibilities. We are not looking forward to the drudgery. We are not looking forward to the drama with co-workers. There is not much that we get excited about on Mondays. That my friend is the reason the believer needs to praise the Lord even more.

He has given it to us just like every other day! He is still the same God on Monday that was God over the weekend!  

CHRISTIAN PARENTS PROMOTE CHRIST

O fathers and mother, the ruin of your children or their salvation, will, under God, very much depend on you. -Spurgeon

Ephesians 6:4, And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

What a joy is it to see your children following the Lord by themselves. No pressure. No prompting. No punishment for not serving. Friend, Christian service is best done when from the heart of the believer as they desire to serve the Lord. That is not to say that we, as parents, should not train our kids in doctrine and service. No friend, that is the best way for Christian parents to promote Christ; live it before them!

PRIDE PUFFS UP

There is nothing into which the heart of man so easily falls as pride. And yet there is no vice that is more frequently, more emphatically, and more eloquently condemned in Scripture. -Spurgeon

1 Corinthians 13:4, Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

We have all seen them; the individual so full of themselves that they can barely fit through the door because they have the big head. It’s kind of sad though, especially in the church. The Bible speaks so much about pride, arrogancy, and the results of each.

Pride will puff you up, friend. However, a loving, giving, sacrificial heart will promote others, push others to good works or right choices, and provide for others when the flesh desires to go the opposite way. Will you be puffed up today or will you humble yourself before the mighty hand of God?

OBEY, IN ALL THINGS

Obeying parents is the prerequisite for obeying the Lord.

Colossians 3:20, Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

The training ground for life is the home. It is the complete home with one mother and one father. It is not this manufactured home that the world tries to get you to fall for. It’s not two men or two women. It’s not a man and a woman being shacked up. It’s a marriage of one man and one woman for a lifetime. It is in this home that God is honored and we learn how to obey in all things.

This is the reason Satan desires to destroy the home. He desires for the husband to go outside the bounds of marriage to find sexual fulfillment. He desires that the woman to go outside the bounds of marriage for emotional fulfillment.

Hey friend, guard your heart! Protect it with everything you have! Because this is where Satan will attack and if you are not prepared, you will fall to His temptation.

TRIBULATION- YES, GREAT TRIBULATION- NO

No man can resolve himself into heaven. -Moody

1 Corinthians 15:52, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Though tribulation may come in this life, true believers shall be preserved from the Great Tribulation spoken about in Matthew 24. Scofield said, “Now, if you ask me whether the church goes through a tribulation, I answer that the church is appointed to tribulation. “Through much tribulation we enter the kingdom.” If you ask me whether the church goes through the great tribulation, I ask what church you mean. If you mean Laodicea, yes. If you mean the mass of mere profession, yes. If you mean the church of the born-again ones, baptized by the Spirit into one body, the living body of Christ, I say No. That is the blessed hope of the church.” What hope would we have if we had to go through the Great Tribulation? Yes, we shall go through some tribulation in this life; death of loved ones, loss of income, viruses, hurricanes, tornadoes, and maybe war from time to time, but friend, we shall never go through the Great Tribulation! God has a better plan for His church! Are you part of His church?

HE’S COMING BACK

One glorious day, Jesus shall come for His bride.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Christ’s imminent return is the Blessed Hope that every good preacher will at some point preach on. Yes, Jesus came. Yes, Jesus suffered. Yes, Jesus died. Yes, Jesus arose again the third day. But friend, He’s coming back for all who trust Him as Lord and Saviour!

The Gospel is incomplete unless we conclude the fact of His return. He expected it. He preached it. He promised it to His disciples. Hey friend, He’s coming back; are you ready for His return?

EFFECTIVELY PRAYING

Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue. -Clarke

Ephesians 5:18, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

John Phillips said, Satan does not fear eloquence in prayer either. He does not fear perseverance. (Quite often prayer is the most spasmodic and disjointed of our activities.) He does not fear our understanding of the way prayer works. No, he fears the simple fact that a needy child of God is at the mighty throne of God. Satan harnesses all his minions to bar the way to the throne of God. But no demon, no angel-prince, no fallen angel can face the Spirit's flaming Sword. The Word of God clears the way to the throne of God for the child of God.

So, we should pray without ceasing. We should have seasons of prayer. We should pray specifically. But most of all we should, by faith, go to the throne of grace boldly, making our request known. Do you offer effective prayers unto the Lord?

GET UP, GET READY, and GO TO CHURCH

The living Church, though never neat, keeps God's world from complete disaster. -Macleod

1 Thessalonians 4:17, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

While the word rapture is no where in Scripture, the meaning of the word is. This is the essence of the Blessed Hope that every believer is looking forward to. When the church of the living God is “caught up” to meet Jesus Christ in the air, what a glorious day!

Have you heard about that day? NO? Well, you need to get up, get ready, and go to church this morning! You have; then you need to get up, get ready, and go worship Him this morning! Don’t give into the devil, your flesh, or this old world today! Find victory in Christ!  

THE WORD THAT HOLDS

The Bible is a harbor where I can drop down my anchor, feeling certain that it will hold.  Here is a place where I can find sure footing; and, by the grace of God, from this confidence I shall never be moved. -Spurgeon

Acts 19:20, So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

The Word of God is a gift to this world. For the lost, dying, hurting sinner in need of salvation, it is the light to the Truth of salvation. For the sinner that is saved and on their way to Heaven, it is the source of strength. The Word of God is what gives hope and help in this world! Without it, we would spend eternity in Hell and a life void of hope.

I am glad that God gives each and every individual the Word that holds. Has the Word of God found a lodging place in your heart? If not, it can today!

LIFE OR DEATH

Life truly begins when you die to self.

1 John 5:12, He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Death is not a finality; it is a separation from everything that is living. The plants, fish, birds, dogs, cats, and everything that has a living cell will never be within your reach again if you die without Jesus Christ as Saviour. But friend, the very moment you trust Jesus Christ as Saviour—your life truly begins! It will never be the same again. You will never die. You may lay this old body down and be raised incorruptible one day but you will never die like the sinner without Christ will. There’s a song that says, “I’m gonna live forever. I’m gonna die no never.” Can you sing that song and mean it? If not, you can. You’ll never regret it!

CREATION DECLARES GOD

Look at that beautiful butterfly and learn from it to trust in God.  One might wonder where it could live in tempestuous nights, in the whirlwind, or in the stormy day; but I have noticed it is safe and dry under the broad leaf while rivers have been flooded and the mountain oaks torn up from their roots. -J. Taylor

Psalm 19:1, The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

I have friends that have gone out west, to the Caribbean, to the beach, and other grand views of God’s wonderful creation this summer. They share their pictures of the beautiful views that only God could create. However, many of them never give the Lord the credit He is due. They say things like, “Mother Earth has blessed us with good weather.”, “Views from Mother Nature.”, or “Evolution has provided you with another WOW moment.”  

Friend, that makes me sick to my stomach! To think someone has that much faith in science and not an omniscient, omnipotent God is nauseating. When I look around and see, what I see is God’s handiwork! It’s God’s creativity! It’s God’s amazing creation He has blessed us with. What I see is God in all of it! What do you see?

HOPE IN JESUS

No affliction or temptation, no guilt or power of sin, no wounded spirit nor terrified conscience, should induce us to despair of help and comfort from God. -Scott

Psalms 146:5, Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:

With the way this old world is going, what are you hoping in? Is it the stock market? Is it your job? Is it your family? Is it your friends? What is it that keeps you moving on?

Friend, if your hope is in anything other than Jesus Christ Himself, it will let you down. He is the only one who will never disappoint you. Therefore, put your hope in Jesus!

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

In whatever we do, may God get the glory.

1 Corinthians 10:31, Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Have you ever wondered, “What is the purpose of the trial you are going through?” Have you ever wondered why you had to face so much opposition? Have you ever thought, “God, why is this happening to me?” I believe if we were all honest, we would say yes to several of those questions and could probably add to the list.

As hard as it may seem, no matter what we are going through, no matter what trial or tribulation, it is so that God might get the glory. Does that mean He will, no it doesn’t, not immediately anyway. God did not get the glory when David sinned with Bathsheba. God did not get the glory when Joseph was sold into slavery. God did not get the glory when Judas took his own life. Did God take those messes and provide a message in them—YES! Yes, He did! He eventually got the glory and He can do it for you as well! Give Him your mess and see what He can do this morning! Give Him your trouble and watch Him give a triumph! Give Him your pain and watch Him provide! Give Him praise, honor, and glory in your trials and tribulations! It may just surprise you how He works in and through your life!  

DESPERATELY WICKED HEARTS

Without a life yielded to the Holy Spirit, we are apt to do anything.

1 John 4:4, Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

In 2 Samuel 13, we have one of David’s sons that is filled with lust for his sister. He listened to advice from an ungodly friend; leading to the rape of his sister Tamar. Amnon, just like each of us had a choice when it came to the temptation he faced. Unfortunately, he let lust linger, it caught Him looking, and cost him his life.

Christian friend, the temptation you are facing right now will define the rest of your life. Will you make the choice to follow the Lord or will you follow your desperately wicked heart? You will end up with some severed relationships, an ended marriage, or maybe, as Amnon, even dead! Sin will cost you! What are you willing to pay for it?