Do it for the Lord’s sake

 Matthew Chapter 5: 43-48

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

In everything you do, you do it for the Lord’s sake. This is why we are still here - we are the ambassadors for the Kingdom of God. We show the world God’s love for them. Whatever we do in God’s name will always be blessed.

When you pray, you are communicating with the God who loves you. When you clean your house, do it because you love the Lord and you are grateful for a beautiful place to live. Even if you live in one small room, give thanks to God because He has given you the one place in all of the earth to meet with Him in peace and in love.

When you hear about the bad things happening in the world, you can pray about it knowing that the Lord hears you and that He will make a difference in that situation. It doesn't matter if it happens right away or in some distant time, God will move at the right time and during the right circumstances. We live for Him and He always knows what is best for us in everything that we do.

God’s compassion is moved when we give all that we have to Him, our money, our circumstances, our pains and guilt, our talents, wishes and desires. He takes all of our illnesses and sufferings and gives us His grace and mercy. He heals our souls, our bodies and our minds. No one else truly has the final say on who we are or how long we shall live upon the face of the earth. There is only One who has the final say.

So, when you give generously to charities or to other people, you are doing so for the Lord’s sake because of your love for HIm. When you show love, kindness and compassion to your enemies, you are doing so with the love that God has placed into your heart. You will want to give to others as the Lord has given to you. When you understand that you are a child of the living God, and when you know how much He loves you, you will have the ability to love yourself and to love other people. God loves all of His people, even the ones who will never acknowledge His name.

You can find compassion in your heart for the rebellious ones, the proud ones, and the ones who live in confusion, because you know how hard they fight to get everything that they have in this world. This existence is the only place that they can claim as their own, and it is quickly passing away.

We cannot allow ourselves to become too distracted with pursuing things that will soon fade away. This is why we need to read the bible and pray on a daily basis so that we remain in the presence of the Lord - we need to remain focused upon His love for us.

It is His love in our hearts that keeps us going. The world tries to provide substitutes for what we hunger for in our souls, but these things will never satisfy our need to be loved and valued by the God who created us.

If you need to know the true and living God who loves you, pray this simple pray of salvation:

Dear God, I want to know who you are, I want to feel what it is like to be a child of the living God. I am so sorry for all of my sins, please forgive me and Jesus, please come into my heart right now. I want to know you, and I want to feel your love in my heart. Thank you so much for saving me….AMEN

God’s Promises

Exodus chapter 6 2-5, 8

 And God continued. ‘I am the *LORD.  I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai, the All-Powerful God. But with them, I did not use my name, the *LORD. I made my special promise to them. They used to live as foreigners in the country called *Canaan. But I promised to give that country to them. And now, I have heard the *Israelites’ cries because of their troubles. I know that the *Egyptians are keeping them as slaves. And I have remembered my special promise.

I made a serious promise to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I promised to give to them the country called *Canaan. So now, I will bring you to that country, and it will belong to you. I am the *LORD.”

God never made any promises that He could not keep. We are the ones who have trouble living up to His standards. We are not able to do everything perfect, but the Lord is not seeking perfection from us, He is seeking people who will believe in Him. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we have made a new covenant that the Lord will never break with us. If any of you are having problems trusting in His word, it is not because God is unworthy or unreliable. We need to examine our own hearts, and then we will see that we are the ones who have strayed from our covenant with Him.

God’s promise to the Hebrews was two fold: He would deliver them from the Egyptians, and then He would lead them to the promised land. They would need to believe God’s word and obey Him. He delivered them from the Egyptians and led them to the promised land, but sadly, most of His people never went into the promised land because of their rebellious spirit and unbelief. 

God has great promises for all of us. He promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us, He promises to take care of all of our needs, and He has promised us a great inheritance in the Kingdom of God, but we must be willing to accept His gift of salvation and follow in the steps of Jesus Christ.

God cannot use anyone who is unwilling to believe in His word. His promises are only for those who are willing to live for Him and not for themselves. The way to eternal life is the gift of love and salvation through Jesus Christ.

When you live for yourself, there will always be fear, uncertainty and doubt in your heart, but when you ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, loving Him will become more important than anything that the world has to offer. Jesus promises that you will never regret surrendering your life to Him…

If you are ready to come to the One who can save you, Jesus Christ, repeat this prayer of salvation:

Lord Jesus, I repent of all of my sins and surrender my life to you; wash me clean. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died on the cross for my sins and rose again on the third day for my Victory. I believe that in my heart and make confession with my mouth, that Jesus is my Savior and Lord. I receive eternal life, in Jesus name, Amen.

When The enemy turns up the heat, God will always be there for you

Exodus chapter 5 1-2,6-9

 Afterwards Moses and Aaron went to see *Pharaoh. ‘This is what the *LORD, *Israel’s God, says’, they told him. ‘ “Let my people go into the *desert. They must *worship me there. They must have a *feast to give me honour.” ’

 But *Pharaoh replied to them. ‘Who is the *LORD? Why should I obey him? Why should I let the *Israelites go? I do not know the *LORD. And I will not let *Israel’s people go.’

 That same day Pharaoh gave an order to the masters of the slaves. And he gave the order to the Israelite officers who were responsible for their own people.  ‘Now you must not supply the workers with straw for their bricks. Force them to get their own straw. But you should require them to make the same number of bricks as before. Do not reduce the number of bricks that they have to make. They are lazy. That is why they are crying out to me. “Let us go. We want to give gifts to our God.”  But you must make them work harder. Then they will be too busy to listen to such lies.’

Pharaoh had nothing but contempt for Moses and Aaron as they began their quest to free their people from their Egyptian slave masters. The Lord God had delivered his message to the king of Egypt through his servants, but the pharaoh would not listen to them or to the God that they served.

He did not believe in the God of Israel, therefore God’s words had no meaning to Him. When dealing with non believers, don't allow yourself to be offended by their response to His word. They are not rejecting you, they are rejecting the Spirit of God that is speaking through you.

Remember, it is not about us, it is about God’s gesture of love, grace and mercy. He wants the world to get to know Him better by our words and our actions, and the simple act of saying a kind word to a broken heart works far better than anything else you could ever do for them.

Some people could become violent or belligerent in their response to your words. The Lord may put you in a position that seems like a no win scenario, but that is where you may need to be.

We need to stand on His Word and trust Him. When the heat gets turned up high by the enemy, that is when we need to go into our prayer room and spend time with our Master and friend, Jesus. He is the only one who can bring peace and joy into our hearts while everyone else around us is sinking into hopelessness and despair.  When the world is at its darkest, that is when the light and glory of Jesus Christ shines its  brightest…

Fear Your Greatest Enemy

Exodus Chapter 4  vs 1,10-13

Moses answered the *LORD. ‘Perhaps the *Israelites will not believe me’, Moses said. ‘Perhaps they will not listen to me. They may say to me, “The *LORD did not appear to you.” 

 Then Moses replied to the *LORD. ‘My *Lord, I have never been an impressive speaker. I was not a good speaker before you spoke to me. And I am still the same now. I speak very slowly. And it is difficult for me to say the right words.’

 So the *LORD asked him. ‘Who gave to people their mouths? Who makes them deaf or makes them dumb? Who gives sight to them or makes them blind? I do those things. It is I, the *LORD.  Now go. I will help you to speak. I will teach you what to say.’

But still Moses argued. ‘My *Lord, please send someone else to do it’, he said.

When we are afraid, we tend to make excuses for our behavior. We talk ourselves out of doing things when doubts appear in our hearts. We try to justify our actions when we are reluctant to follow through on our obligations. The Lord understands that we are weak and broken vessels, but He cannot bless the messes that we wind up getting into because we failed to follow through on his directions for our lives.

If we fail, He does not abandon us. He helps us to get through all of our issues. He helps us to find a way to break free from the traps of the enemy. He always has a solution, but we must be willing to listen to Him and to follow in His footsteps.

He is very patient with us, and He will wait for us to realize that His way is far better than anything that we could ever do, we just need to let go of our need to do things in our own way. It is far better to face life with the one that created you than it is to face the darkness alone.

Moses tried to argue with God because He was afraid to go back to Egypt to face the Pharaoh. What God wanted him to do seemed like a monumental task. God is not worried about our doubts or our fears. We can speak to him candidly about everything that is in our hearts. What God is really asking us to do is to trust His judgment over the situation and to follow His advice.  When we agree to partner with Him, He is obligated to make sure that what He wants us to do will be accomplished.

If God can do great things, then He will be able to help you do what seems impossible to everyone else. It is a bit strange and wondrous to work for the Lord. His miracles abound in the earth every single day, but many people dismiss them as luck or a favorable series of coincidences. It is the Lord’s people that should be able to see above the mundane and to praise His name for every miracle in every circumstance that we find ourselves in. He is not worried if the world chooses to ignore the good things that he does, but we should thank Him everyday for all the great  miracles that we see in our own lives.

So, what should we do when God asks us to do something that seems impossible? Thank Him for including us in His plans, bless his Holy Name, wait to hear what He wants us to do and then obey Him. We will watch all of those wonderful miracles unfold in our lives….

The Burning Bush Syndrome

Exodus chapter 3 1-4, 7-10 

 Moses was looking after Jethro’s sheep. Jethro was the father of Moses’ wife. And he was the priest in the country called Midian. Moses led the sheep to the western side of the *desert. And he came to God’s mountain called Horeb. There the *LORD’s *angel appeared to him as a fire in a bush. Moses saw the fire, but the bush did not burn to ashes. So Moses was surprised about it. ‘I will go over there and see this strange sight’, he thought. ‘Why does this bush not burn to ashes?’

 Moses had gone to look at the bush. And the *LORD saw that. So God called to him from inside the bush. ‘Moses! Moses!’ God said to him. ‘Here I am’, Moses replied.

The *LORD continued to speak. ‘I have seen my people, who have terrible troubles in Egypt. I have heard them as they cry to me for help. Their cruel masters of the slaves are causing them to be miserable. I feel sorry for them, because I care about them.  So I have come down to rescue them from the *Egyptians. I will bring them away from Egypt. And I will bring them to a good country where there is plenty of space.

 It is a rich country with plenty of milk and plenty of honey. The people called *Canaanites live there now. The people called the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites live there too. But I have heard the *Israelites as they cry for help from me. And I have seen that the *Egyptians are being very cruel to my people.  So now, go and speak to *Pharaoh. The *Israelites are my people and I am sending you to them. You will bring my people away from Egypt, which is *Pharaoh’s country

Have you ever felt like the Lord is calling you to a higher place in himself? Has He given you a dream or a task that seems impossible to accomplish? Great! You are in a great place in His heart, because He is about to show you what it means to have the grace of God in your life. He wants you to accept the challenge. He wants to show the world what true power and authority is and how that power and authority can make the world a better place. 

The secular world admires rich and powerful people. What they see from these people seems to be good, but they do not know what these people had to do to get to the top of the molehill. On the outside, they look happy and content, but on the inside, they have paid a high price to be successful. They have done everything for their own satisfaction. They have few real friends and giving glory to God for their success is rarely on their minds…

The Lord wants to bless you, because of His grace and mercy we can live beautiful lives of peace, joy, and abundance. God will supply our every need, and He will bless us with great resources so that we can bless other people and support the Kingdom of God.

It is our choice to follow Him when He calls for our obedience. When we are willing to obey, He is willing to give us everything that we need. When we have doubts about what the Lord wants us to do, we need to bring those doubts to Him, and He will give us the strength and the courage to do everything that He has asked us to do. No one can stand against the Lord when He is determined to give everything that His children needs to grow and to survive in this fallen world. We can trust Him to help us conquer our fears and He will deliver us from the threats and the intimidations of the enemy. 

God knows that you will not understand everything that He is asking you to do. None of us are able to see the future or the results of our efforts like the Lord can. so He is asking us to have faith in Him and to believe that anything is possible when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ.

What Will God Do For You Part 3

 

Exodus chapter 2 23-25

 After many years, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites shouted with pain because they were slaves. They called to God to help them.  And God heard their cry. He remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob many years before.  So when the Israelites had all this terrible trouble, God saw them. And he cared about them.

Does God hear our cries of suffering and pain? Yes, and He will always help His little ones when they come to His throne room in prayer. 

The Hebrews were suffering as slaves in Egypt. The Lord answered their prayers and gave them a unique solution to their problem. He sent Moses to speak to the Pharaoh on their behalf so that eventually they were freed from their suffering. It seemed an impossible task, yet the Lord was willing to show Pharoah and the rest of the world how He could set His people free by any means necessary!

God will do what is necessary to answer your prayer, but you must be willing to allow Him to do whatever is necessary for you to get your victory. You may want Him to slay your enemies, but instead, He blesses them. You may want a different job, but instead God gives you the strength to stay at your current position until He is ready to promote you to a better job or a new ministry. 

You may need healing, but the healing may not come right away. Will you have the faith to keep praying and worshiping in His presence until you are completely healed?  God is always ready to help you, and His ways of doing things are always better than anything we can imagine or think.

Trust the Lord, because He has a plan for your life. Even when things seem desperate and downright impossible, the Lord already has the solution to your problem. You may not see the victory yet, but you can praise Him right now, because He cares about you and He will be with you until you have what you need.

He has proven His love for us in the past, we can expect more love from Him today, and we should be eager to see what He will do for us in the future…

What Will God Do For You Part 2

 Exodus chapter 2 11-15

 One day, when Moses was older, he went out alone. He wanted to see his own people as they worked. And he saw that they had to work very hard. Also he saw an *Egyptian who was hitting a *Hebrew man many times. And he knew that the man was one of his own people.  Then Moses looked round quickly and he did not see anyone. So he killed the *Egyptian. And he hid the dead body in the sand.

 The next day he went out again. And he saw two *Hebrew men who were fighting. Moses spoke to the man who had started the fight. ‘Why are you hitting another *Hebrew?’ Moses asked him.

 ‘I do not think that anybody has made you a ruler and a judge over us. Perhaps you want to kill me, as you killed the *Egyptian’, the man replied.

Then Moses was afraid. ‘People have probably heard about what I did’, he thought.

 And then *Pharaoh heard what had happened. So he tried to kill Moses. But Moses managed to escape. Moses ran away to the country called Midian. There he sat down by a well.

What happens when you try to execute God’s plan for your life with your own strength? The results will not be the same as if you trusted the Lord and waited patiently for His Word and His will to be manifested in your life.

Moses was a prince of Egypt, and he had all the power and the comforts that come with that position in the Egyptian empire, and yet with all that he had, he still had a heart of compassion for his people. He wanted to see how his people were being treated and then  he made a rash decision to help a fellow hebrew by slaying his Egyptian overlord. 

He may have saved that Hebrew man that was being abused, but that decision caused him to flee Egypt to escape the wrath of the pharoah. Our best intentions will never be as good as what the Lord can do for us.

What happens when you decide to do something that is outside of  the will of God? There will be consequences, but the Lord will help you to deal with them because He loves you and he will never leave you or forsake you. Experience is always the best teacher, and the Lord will allow you to deal with your mistakes so that you can learn from them.

It would seem from these scriptures that Moses made a huge mistake and that he missed his chance to help his people, but the Lord led him to a place where he could grow and mature away from the Pharaoh's palace. He became a humble and lowly shepherd tending sheep upon a mountain until one day, he saw a burning bush whose fire did not burn the bush at all and he heard the voice of the Lord commanding him to go and free his people from their Egyptian overlords. 

When the Lord is ready to use you, you will have the skills and the resources to do His will. No one will be able to stop what God will bring out in your life, you just need to be willing to take the first step and to follow in His footsteps…