Never Fear: God Is In Control

Joshua 1:9 

 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

God is in control and His ways are higher than our ways. We cannot see the whole picture no matter how much we wish to see it. Our human condition is limiting, and we don't always understand why God allows certain trails and tribulations to occur in our lives.  But we know that He is with us during all of these sad times of suffering.

He will take us through them and hopefully our character is refined and that spiritual growth takes place. We learn how to trust in God's providence. We strife to live for His will and glory. We chose to go through the learning process to become better people and to become righteous Christians. We are not righteous because our deeds make us so, we are righteous when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord & Savior. We are righteous because we choose to live for God and to live according to His standards.

We are His children, so He will not allow anything in our lives that we cannot handle. Once we go through the trial, we will turn back and see everything we have gone through and everything that we have accomplished despite all of our problems, and then we will praise the Lord of Heaven, for His grace, His Wisdom, and His Providence.

PRAISE BE TO THE LORD OF HOSTS FOR HIS WISDOM IN SENDING HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST INTO THE WORLD, TO LIVE FOR US AND TO DIE FOR US, FOR THE REMISSION OF OUR SINS, AND FOR THE PEACE AND JOY OF LIVING IN HIS PRESENCE FOREVER AND EVER MORE!

What Prayer Should Be Like

Matthew Chapter 6 vs 9-13 

 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.
 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
 And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one...."

The Anatomy of a prayer to God:

1. Invocation - honoring the Lord and His Kingdom expressing your appreciation for Him and who He is in your heart.

2. Petitions - next are your petitions  and the reason for the prayer and to express your gratitude for His answer

3. Doxology - praise to God and your official thanks for the answer to your prayer

Prayer should be:

Sincere- from the heart

Secret- personal time with the Lord

Simple- not complicated or ritualistic

Serenity- peaceful and full of faith

Sincere - prayer comes from the heart and not from the mind. The mind interprets what you are feeling from your heart. You can tell the state of a person's character and personality from what they believe from their heart. If you pray just with your mind or from an intellectual exercise, your prayer is not sincere and the Lord will not hear it or respond to it. The Lord has nothing to prove to the world, however we as human beings must demonstrate that we are willing to believe in Him and that we are willing to follow Him and His Word.

Secret - we must take time to pray in His presence alone. Corporate public prayer is good and necessary, but our private time with Him is essential if we are to develop spiritually. Quiet times with the Lord strengthens our faith and our resolve to live for Him and to never give up or give in regardless of our circumstances.

Simple - We are talking to the Lord, not lecturing to Him. We don't need big words or ritualistic phrases to get Him to listen to us. We don't have to repeat the same words over and over again. We just need to be honest and open our hearts to Him. He already knows what we need. He is waiting for us to come to Him and to tell Him our petitions while we believe in our hearts that He is listening to us and that He is willing to answer our prayers. He can do anything, so when we ask for anything, we must know that He will give us what we need according to His will.

Serenity - When we pray, let us pray with faith in our hearts. We can ask Him to help us to see Him as He truly is, the one who loves us and who is willing to answer our prayers. When we are suffering and filled with deep emotion, we can come in His presence and pour out all our pain, and He will bring comfort, peace and joy into our hearts. 

There is no one like Jesus, there is no one like our Lord. He reaches from heaven to pour out His love into our hearts. He is waiting to hear from you so that He can be close to you and to give you everything that you need to survive and thrive in this world, so let me encourage you to pray, because if you do not pray, you will never know Who He is until you receive the answer to your prayers!

Opposites: Love and Hate and which is stronger?

1 Corinthians Chapter 13  vs 8-13

 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Love and Hate, forever opposites of each other, forever warring against each other in the struggle for dominance in this world. We choose to be hateful or loving, and our choices in life make it harder or easier to be hateful or loving.  What does God say about love? He is Love, and there is no greater force in the universe.

Why does hate seem to be a more powerful force in the world? Because a choice was made a long time ago that changed the course of history in this world. Adam and eve chose to believe in themselves and not in God.  They believed the lies that were whispered into their ears by our enemy, the devil,  and that is when hate and discord became woven into the very fabric of their souls and their lives. This legacy of wrong choices has been repeated in every generation until today. We cannot forget what was done in the past because our own weak human nature compels us to do things that go against the Will and the Word of the Lord.

But God loved us so much that He provided a solution to our sin problem in the form of His Son, Jesus. He was willing to die a shameful death on a cross to redeem us from the destructive force of hate and sin. We can come to Him and ask for forgiveness and He will give us the free gift of salvation. Now, as children of God, sin no longer has a destructive hold on us if we allow the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts and to transform our hearts and minds.

Right now it might seem that hate has a stronger influence in the world, but that is because the world doesn't know how much God loves them, and they don't realize that Jesus' gift of love and salvation is the cure for the problems of the world.  The Lord has a plan to show the world just who He is and the power and authority of His Son, Jesus Christ.

So, if you are a believer, what should be your outlook on love and hate? Why are they opposites and how can you tell when a person is full of hate or full of love? You need to know the attributes of both conditions:

Opposite of Loving Acts & Feelings:

Impatience

Proud Boasts

Jealous Feelings

Self Serving & Selfish Desires

Negative Speech & Actions

Consistent Anger

Overly Critical

Bitterness

Acts of Revenge

UnForgiveness

Not Willing To Trust Others

Hopelessness & Despair

Deceptive Actions & Lying

Enjoyment of Evil Acts & Encouraging Others To Do The Same

Not Willing to Sacrifice or Commit to Others

Drawing Attention to One's Deeds & Accomplishments To Receive Their Approval and Praise

Shameless

Gossiping

A Spirit of Rejection

Being Dominated by Fear and Weaknesses

Hateful Thoughts & Gestures

A Spirit of Evil

Unfaithful & Unbelief in God

Hate will be a temporary state in this world and it is destructive

Now, let us see what loving gestures produce in the heart and in the world:

Opposite of Hateful Acts & Feelings:

Loving Others

Having Patience with Others

Kindness

Humility

Being Considerate of Others Needs

Thoughtful & Caring

Giving & Sharing

Encouraging Others

A Spirit of Acceptance

Positive Speech & Thoughts

Forgiving

Cooperative in Action & Speech

Trusting

Hopeful

Peaceful

Joyful With a Sense of Happiness

A Spirit of Love

A Spirit of Repentance

Courageous and Strong in the Lord

Thinking Before Acting

Drawing Attention to Other People's Deeds & Accomplishments

Enjoys Doing Good & Avoids Doing Evil Acts

Truth in Speech & Actions

Willing to Commit to Others and to The Will of God

Sacrificial Actions of Love

Faith & Belief in God

Love is never temporary, it is eternal and  will one day rule absolutely on our world by the will, power and authority of its master, Jesus Christ

We all must learn how live our lives in opposition of hate. We won't always win that war in our hearts, because we are not perfect, but with the help of the Lord and His word, with the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we can accomplish more that we ever hoped for, and  we will definitely see less of the effects of hate in our world if we continue to live for Jesus Christ and never give up the struggle to show the world what real love is..........